Nah because I was just scrolling, looking for a new movie to watch and I came across this poster...
The photo was kind of small but I was like 'That kind of looks like Adam Ant, but nah it can't be. Surely I would have known if he was in a movie (Let alone a movie about a vampire) seen as I was so Obsessed with him.
So I kept scrolling, but it was bugging me so much that I went back up and search it AND IT IS ADAM ANT.
I screamed and yes, I will be watching this now because it has many good reviews on Letterboxd.
I'm also not going to watch the trailer, I want to go into it blind.
Happy Birthday to Stuart Leslie Goddard aka Adam Ant, lead singer of Bazooka Joe and post punk / new wave group Adam and the Ants, born on this day in 1954 in London
Fantasy Book Review: The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard
JJ’s rating 4.25/5
How feral did it make me: 4.9/5
My book reviews
So, I wasn’t initially planning on reviewing this book anytime soon as I have gone back and forth a bit on my feelings on this book since I read it in October of 2023. However, with all the horrible shit that is going on in the world right now, I kind of realized that this kind of escapism is sometimes extremely necessary to keep one’s sanity.
I want to start off by briefly detailing why I have gone back and forth on this book. When I first read The Hands of the Emperor, I absolutely loved it. It was easily one of my favorite reads of 2023, I was gushing about it to people, I cried reading it at the airport, I was highlighting my favorite quotes on the kindle and then going back to reread all my favorite quotes. However, as a bit of time passed, I started to think of this book sort of on the level of Parks and Rec. Something that presents a fantastical utopia version of politics that could never be realized in the real world. Like, in the real world, Ron Swanson would not be BFF’s with Leslie Knope. Real life Ron Swanson would have voted for Trump. Similarly, someone like Kip would never be handed Kip’s level of power, and no one who grasped for Kip’s level of power would have Kip’s morals and politics.
But, the thing is, I still love Parks and Rec despite the fact that it’s unrealistic, in fact sometimes because it’s unrealistic, because it presents a form of escapism. And I think that a small amount of escapism is absolutely fine and even necessary at times. I don’t think it’s necessary for all fiction to present a radical plan for revolution, though I do think those works are incredibly important. I think it is okay for a book to just paint a picture of a beautiful ideal world and allow readers to live in that world for a brief time. It’s lovely to just think that there are people out there like Kip, who want to do all of these amazing things, even if I don’t think that the policies that Kip implements would ever be implemented in our world without the people demanding that they be implemented.
With all of that out of the way, here’s a summary. The Hand’s of the Emperor takes place in a larger universe that all of Victoria Goddard’s books are set in, but you don’t have to read any of her other books for this one to make sense. This book follows Cliopher, aka Kip, the secretary to the Last Emperor of Astandalas, who is thought of as a god. There’s a lot of interesting lore around the timeline of this story and the now fallen Empire of Astandalas that is slowly revealed (and I do mean slowly) throughout this book, so don’t worry if you are a bit lost now and there. Kip decides one day to break all protocol and ask the Emperor if he would like to come to Kip’s homeland for a vacation. Kip is from a highly insular small island community that draws heavily on Polenysian culture and imagery. The story basically follows Kip and the Emperor’s relationship, however you may interpret it, as they get to know each other in a new context. It also follows Kip as he struggles to explain to his family why he does the job he does instead of coming home, and even struggles to explain what it is that he does. If that explanation does nothing for you, it’s basically The West Wing meets Moana meets the Scouring of the Shire with queer undertones. Or overtones. Also, lots of great fealty vibes. Lots of longing looks, lots of “Oh how I wish I could reach out and touch him but I can’t!!!!”
What I loved about this book right away was the relationship between Kip and the Emperor. These are two guys who are either in their fifties or are centuries old, depending on how you look at time, and they have spend either decades or centuries working together to make a better world. But one day they kind of stop and both realize, “Is this work all I am? Do I have any friends? Any human connections at all?” And so they both try and reach out to the only person they really can reach out to, which is each other. Kip does have other friends, especially by the end of the book, but there is really only one person who can really understand Kip’s vision and experiences, and that is the Emperor. Here’s a quote from early on that really hit me:
“And it occurred to him, somewhat later, after they had settles into their usual work, that if he, who was the chief member of his Radiancy’s household, had never before dared offer a gift to his Radiancy beyond the tithes and service expected of him, then apart from his Radiancy’s sister, who barely wrote and even more rarely came to court, there was no one else to do so.”
Sometimes, you view someone in such a way that makes you think that they could never need anything from you. What could you possibly offer? But this book argues that we can all offer ourselves, our humanity, our friendship, our empathy. Like, so much of this book is also about the isolating influence of power and celebrity. That once you are at a certain level, people stop viewing you as human, and stop thinking that you need the love and support and connection that every person needs and craves. Kip’s story and character arc is very much about him learning to hold two disparate things at once: his culture and heritage and his personal dreams and ambitions, but the Emperor’s character arc is just about wanting to be a human. It honestly kind of made me think of child stars. People who are formed into something beyond human from a very early age and become disconnected from themselves and from others.
All in all, I absolutely loved reading this book, and if you feel like you need a bit of escapism from the horrors of the real world, this book will absolutely deliver. It is extremely long though, just a warning lol. Like I said at the top, I have a LOT of quotes highlighted that I absolutely loved, but I will leave you with the one that has stuck with me the most.
“One thing I have learned is how rarely we get to stand up for the great things. Or rather: how rarely we know we are standing up for the great things… Public opinion is like the sea. It seems vast, primordial, unstoppable, immutable. In some ways it is. But the individual is a stone.”
Javicia Leslie (Batwoman) is set as a lead opposite Kaitlin Olson and Daniel Sunjata in ABC‘s character-based procedural drama pilot based on TF1’s popular detective series HPI (High Intellectual Potential), from top TV and film writer Drew Goddard and ABC Signature, where Goddard and his Goddard Textiles are based.
Stuart Leslie Goddard, better known as Adam Ant (born 3 November 1954) is an English singer and musician. He gained popularity as the lead singer of new wave group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring 10 UK top ten hits from 1980 to 1983, including three UK No. 1 singles. He has also worked as an actor, appearing in over two dozen films and television episodes from 1985 to 2003.
🌟 "Stand and Deliver" is a song by British new wave band Adam and the Ants, released as the lead single from their third studio album, Prince Charming (1981). It was the band's first No. 1 hit in the UK. The phrase "stand and deliver — your money or your life", used in the lyrics, is commonly associated with highwaymen in 18th century England.
‘Adam already had this idea about a highwayman. He'd gone off in the kitchen to make some tea and by the time he'd come back I'd come up with the “galloping” verse. The verse is the same as the chorus, but there is a little descending bit which he came up with. And then there's the verse and different key for the guitar solo. Adam came up with the “Da diddley qa qa” lyric. He'd had that line knocking about for ages.'
-Marco Pirroni.
Adam picks up the conversation: 'Marco and I wrote the music together and I wrote the lyrics and top line. My inspiration for the song came from the idea of the heroic English antihero highwayman holding up a stagecoach, but stealing people's attention instead of their valuables.'
‘I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.’ Adam explains.
‘A revolution took place in the early 80s. Music suddenly had to look as provocative as it sounded.’
-Adam Ant.
‘We wrote "Stand and Deliver" and Prince Charming at the same time,’ says Pirroni. ‘Before I even picked up the guitar, I knew they were going to be No.1. That wasn’t me being arrogant. In my head it was just a fact.’
🌟 Marco Pirroni recalls going round to Adam’s house in Kensington to write "Stand and Deliver".
🌟 "Stand and Deliver" earned Adam and Marco an Ivor Novello award in 1982. It is published by SONY/ATV Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing.
Mónica Mayer, artista, curatrice, critica d’arte e attivista femminista, ha esposto e tenuto conferenze in diversi paesi del mondo.
Critica il sistema sociale patriarcale attraverso l’arte con performance, grafica digitale, disegno e fotografia.
Si è sempre posta in una posizione di rottura rispetto alle definizioni tradizionali di arte. La sua opera è caratterizzata da spirito irrequieto, spiccato senso critico e grande umorismo.
Ha iniziato con dipinti e collage per poi dedicare grande attenzione alle performance e installazioni. Negli anni, il suo contributo artistico si è sviluppato anche attraverso la scrittura, l’insegnamento, l’archiviazione e la partecipazione attiva nella comunità.
La maggior parte delle sue performance consistono in interventi sociali interattivi progettati per contesti specifici.
È nata a Città del Messico nel 1954 e si è laureata in Belle Arti all’Università Autonoma del Messico nel 1976.
Il suo attivismo è iniziato quando, ben presto, ha realizzato quanto fosse discriminante essere una donna nel mondo dell’arte. Nel 1975, ha preso parte al Movimiento Feminista Mexicano e al Colectivo Cine Mujer.
La sua prima esposizione è stata Collage íntimo nel 1977. L’anno successivo ha partecipato alla Muestra colectiva feminista.
Nel 1978 alla biennale Salón 77–78: Nuevas tendencias al Museo d’Arte Moderna di Città del Messico, ha presentato l’installazione interattiva El tendedero (La corda da bucato), che ha inaugurato il suo stile e la ricerca di nuovi mezzi per comunicare attraverso l’arte.
Nello stesso anno si è trasferita negli Stati Uniti dove, nel 1980, ha conseguito un master in Sociologia dell’arte al Goddard College, con una tesi intitolata Feminist Art: An Effective Political Tool (Arte femminista: uno strumento politico efficace). In quel periodo ha frequentato il Feminist Studio Workshop presso il Woman’s Building di Los Angeles con pioniere del movimento artistico femminista statunitense come Suzanne Lacy, Leslie Labowitz e Judy Chicago.
Al suo ritorno in Messico, nel 1983, ha fondato il collettivo artistico Polvo de Gallina Negra diminutivo di Polvere di gallina nera per proteggerci dalla magia patriarcale che fa scomparire le donne, che combinava critica sociale radicale e umorismo e che è stato attivo per una decade.
Nello stesso anno, ha tenuto un seminario su Donne e Arte presso la Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas, che ha poi portato alla creazione di un altro collettivo artistico femminista, Tlacuilas y Retrateras.
Nel 1989, col marito, Víctor Lerma, ha fondato Pinto mi Raya, spazio artistico indipendente e archivio online la cui funzione principale è stimolare il sistema dell’arte in Messico attraverso incontri, workshop e performance collettive di attivismo comunitario.
Un’esperienza che si è gradualmente trasformata in una piattaforma da cui lanciare progetti di arte concettuale applicata per cercare di trovare soluzioni. Per lubrificare il sistema dell’arte per farlo funzionare più agevolmente.
Come estensione della sua pratica artistica, Mónica Mayer ha parlato e scritto ampiamente di arte, donne e femminismo.
Tra il 1988 e il 2008 è stata editorialista del quotidiano El Universal e ancora oggi scrive per diversi blog.
Ha pubblicato diversi libri, saggi e contribuito a creare riviste d’arte e dibattito femminista.
Nel 2012 ha partecipato alla creazione del Sistema Nazionale di Artisti per il Finanziamento Nazionale per la Cultura e le Arti messicane.
Nel 2016 il Museo d’Arte Contemporanea dell’Università Nazionale Autonoma del Messico le ha dedicato la mostra “Si tiene dudas… pregunte: una exposición retrocolectiva de Mónica Mayer” (In caso di dubbio… chiedi: retrospettiva di Mónica Mayer).
Nello stesso anno, l’Istituto femminile di Città del Messico le ha conferito la Medaglia Omecíhuatl per la sua “eccezionale partecipazione all’istruzione, alle arti, alla cultura e allo sport, che hanno ispirato e influenzato lo sviluppo e l’empowerment femminile”.
Today, we celebrate a musician who brought us iconic tunes and timeless style. Let's dive into the fascinating world of Adam Ant and his hit song "Room at the Top."
"Room at the Top" from his 1990 album 'Manners & Physique' skyrocketed to success, capturing the essence of the '80s sound with its catchy melodies and innovative production. The song not only dominated the charts but also became an anthem for a generation, showcasing Adam Ant's unique blend of rock and new wave.
Born Stuart Leslie Goddard, Adam Ant's journey to stardom was nothing short of remarkable. Growing up in London, he navigated the music scene with passion and determination, eventually forming the iconic band Adam and the Ants. His theatrical performances and flamboyant style set him apart, making him a trailblazer in the industry.
Beyond his musical prowess, Adam Ant's personal life and resilience in the face of challenges have inspired millions. His charisma and creativity continue to captivate audiences worldwide, proving that true artistry knows no bounds.
As we celebrate this musical icon on his birthday, let's remember the magic of "Room at the Top" and the impact Adam Ant has had on the music industry.
Did you know that Adam Ant's real name, Stuart Leslie Goddard, was inspired by his love for film and classic Hollywood stars?
Join us in honoring Adam Ant's legacy and let the rhythm of his music fuel your day!
Submissions are now officially closed! Thank you to everyone who sent one in! In the end, we have a grand total of 163 different actors for the tournament.
The full list of actors can be found below. People who have been added since the last list was posted are all at the bottom.
I'll be getting to work on the match-ups; I'm gonna aim to hopefully have the polls start going out by the end of the week. I'll make another announcement before the first polls go up.