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sheetmusiclibrarypdf · 1 year

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My old Flame - Jazz Play Along - Favorite Standards

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Jazz Play Along - Favorite Standards (Aebersold Vol. 22) - My old Flame - avec partition, sheet music

https://vimeo.com/725659248 Jouez des Jazz Standards avec les partitions + audios MP3 de la Sheet Music Library! "My Old Flame" est apparu pour la première fois dans le film Belle of the Nineties de 1934 lorsqu'il a été chanté par Mae West, soutenu par le Duke Ellington Orchestra. Six semaines après le tournage terminé avec West, Ellington a enregistré la chanson avec la chanteuse Ivie Anderson, sortie sur Commadore 585. Il est devenu un succès n ° 7 pour Guy Lombardo plus tard cette année-là, mais ce n'est qu'au début des années 1940 que l'air a réapparu, entrant dans le répertoire des orchestres de Benny Goodman et Count Basie. "My Old Flame" est une chanson de 1934 composée par Arthur Johnston avec des paroles de Sam Coslow pour le film Belle des années 90. Il est depuis devenu un standard du jazz.

La marque d'insinuations sexuelles de West était son fonds de commerce, et la version initiale du film a été jugée moralement inacceptable par un représentant des producteurs et distributeurs de films cinématographiques d'Amérique (connu sous le nom de bureau Hays pour son chef, Will Hays). Après un changement de titre et une réécriture, le film est sorti sous le nom de Belle of the Nineties. "My Old Flame" est depuis devenu un standard du jazz, et chanté par Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee, Dinah Washington et Helen Humes, avec des interprétations instrumentales par Charlie Parker pour le label Dial en 1947, Gerry Mulligan avec Chet Baker en 1953 , le tromboniste JJ Johnson sur son album de 1957 Trombone Master, Sonny Rollins sur son album de 1993 Old Flames et bien d'autres. L'air a également été enregistré par l'orchestre Stan Kenton et Zoot Sims dans une "interprétation sensible" selon le magazine Jazz Improv.

Jazz Play Along with the Sheet Music Library Structure La musique a une structure AABA. Il est écrit dans la tonalité de sol majeur et comporte un changement en B ♭ dans la section «B». En tant que véhicule pour West, alors que les paroles contiennent «des lignes typiquement désinvoltes –« Mon ancienne flamme / Je ne me souviens même pas de son nom »– cela suggère que sa sexualité effrontée est la carapace d'un amour de jeunesse perdu»: «Mais leurs tentatives à l'amour/ N'étaient que des imitations de/ Mon ancienne flamme'. My Old Flame Composé par Arthur Johnston, avec des paroles de Sam Coslow "My Old Flame" a été écrit pour que Mae West joue dans le film Belle of the Nineties de 1934. On se souvient de West aujourd'hui comme d'un sex-symbol risqué qui a modifié les sensibilités prudes de l'époque d'avant-guerre, plutôt que comme un chanteur de jazz; mais elle avait prêté une attention particulière aux chanteuses de blues Ma Rainey et Bessie Smith en créant son propre comportement sur scène. Et elle tenait à s'entourer des bons accompagnateurs – dans le film, elle est soutenue par le groupe de Duke Ellington. Les dirigeants du studio ont d'abord hésité à faire appel à un groupe nommé, mais West a insisté sur Ellington. Même après avoir accepté sa demande, les honchos de Paramount ont tenté de persuader West d'autoriser les acteurs blancs à servir de remplaçants à l'écran pour les musiciens noirs jouant sur la bande originale, mais l'actrice a de nouveau tenu bon. La chanson est intrigante, secouant l'auditeur dès le début lorsque la phrase d'ouverture tombe pour s'attarder sur le plat à 7 dans la mesure deux. Cette chanson est peut-être écrite dans une tonalité majeure, mais le ton psychologique de "My Old Flame" tend définitivement vers le mode mineur, et je me demande si la chanson aurait été plus populaire si elle avait fait ses débuts dans un film noir mieux correspondait à son humeur. Le mouvement harmonique est extrême, mais la chanson elle-même apparaît comme paresseuse et non précipitée. Cette combinaison - d'indolence et de complexité - est étrange, mais jette un certain charme sur les performances de la norme. Paroles de My old flame I can't even think of his name But it's funny now and then How my thoughts go flashing back again To my old flame My old flame My new lovers all seem so tame For I haven't met a gent So magnificent or elegant As my old flame I've met so many men With fascinating ways A fascinating gaze in their eyes Some who sent me up to the skies But their attempts at love Were only imitations of My old flame I can't even think of his name But I'll never be the same Untill I discover what became Of my old flame I've met so many men With fascinating ways A fascinating gaze in their eyes Some who sent me up to the skies But their attempts at love Were only imitations of My old flame I can't even think of his name But I'll never be the same Until I discover what became Of my old flame Read the full article

#partitura #sheetmusic #sheetmusicdownload #sheetmusicscoredownloadpartiturapartitionspartitinoten楽譜망할음악ноты

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carmenvicinanza · 2 years

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Ma Rainey. La madre del blues

https://www.unadonnalgiorno.it/ma-rainey-la-madre-del-blues/

La musica fa questo, riempie i vuoti. Tu non canti per stare meglio, tu canti perché in questo modo comprendi la vita. Il blues ti aiuta ad alzarti dal letto la mattina, ti alzi e sai di non essere solo. C’è qualcos’altro nel mondo, una cosa in più, aggiunta da quella canzone.

Ma Rainey, cantante statunitense definita la Madre del Blues termine che ella stessa avrebbe coniato.

È stata la prima artista a rompere la barriera degli spettacoli di cabaret e vaudeville e a portare il sound nero al pubblico bianco.

Prima donna a diventare professionista in ambito musicale, nera, apertamente bisessuale in una società che tendeva a schiacciare, emarginare e stigmatizzare, è riuscita a compiere la sua autodeterminazione.

Era lei che pagava i musicisti della sua band e in anticipo, senza mettere mai in secondo piano il suo talento.

Prima vera anima del blues, col suo stile ha influenzato generazioni di musicisti e musiciste.

Nata a Columbus, in Georgia, col nome di Gertrude Pridgett, il 26 aprile 1886, ha iniziato appena adolescente a esibirsi come artista di vaudeville.

La sua storia si fonde con il mito, ma è di certo la musica che l’ha determinata.

La sua voce era profonda e stridente, viscerale, malinconica e piena di dolore, aveva persino uno stile di gemiti che ha affascinato migliaia di fan, colpiti dalla sua presenza sul palco e dai costumi appariscenti che indossava.

Nel 1904 sposò il cantante William Rainey, detto Pa e da quel punto iniziò a farsi chiamare Ma Rainey. Insieme suonarono attraverso tutto il sud degli Stati Uniti con il gruppo Rabbit Foot Minstrels cantando un miscuglio di blues e canzoni popolari. Nel 1912 anche una giovane Bessie Smith entrò nella band e ci rimase fino al 1915.

È stata la prima artista nera a firmare con una grande casa discografica, la Paramount. Consapevole del fatto che una volta che la sua voce era su vinile, avrebbe iniziato ad essere sfruttata e usata da altri. All’epoca i musicisti neri non venivano pagati equamente per il loro lavoro e, spesso, erano costretti a cedere i diritti della loro musica ai produttori bianchi.

Ha inciso centinaia di canzoni in soli cinque anni, il primo disco risale al 1923, quando aveva già un ventennio di esperienza alle spalle.

Erano gli anni dei race records prodotti e venduti soltanto nei negozi riservati ai neri, fino a quando l’industria discografica bianca, in crisi dopo l’avvento della radio, non ha annusato l’enorme opportunità di guadagno.

Ma Rainey ha lottato per rimanere fedele al suo stile e alla sua identità nonostante gli scontri con il suo produttore e manager, interessati solo al profitto.

Il suo successo non è durato a lungo, il mondo stava cambiando e il jazz iniziava a dominare la scena musicale. La Grande Depressione, che aveva causato il calo del numero di tour e spettacoli, la spinse a ritirarsi nel 1935 per diventare direttrice di un teatro in Georgia, dove è morta, a Columbus, il 22 dicembre 1939.

Cantava con l’anima, la voce limpida e solida, con il fraseggio raffinato e uno stile duttile. Aveva assorbito l’influenza del vaudeville, appannaggio dei bianchi, e la sua teatralità, sciogliendolo nel blues del Sud più profondo, mutuando senza remore gestualità e linguaggio degli uomini, superando confini geografici, canoni stilistici e tabù di genere. Cantava della vita quotidiana, senza mezzi termini, dai tradimenti amorosi alle ingiustizie del lavoro, dalle sonore ubriacature al soprannaturale.

Nel 1983 Ma Rainey è stata aggiunta alla Blues Foundation’s Hall Of Fame e nel 1990 alla Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

La sua vita è stata raccontata nel dramma di August Wilson Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom che, nel 2020, è stato trasposto in un omonimo film che ha visto protagonista Viola Davis.

La sua storia è quella di una comunità, di una donna, del potere salvifico della musica, di come l’arte stessa sia parte attiva della società e diventi un atto politico, della costruzione identitaria, della coscienza di sé e della rivendicazione di libertà fondamentali.

Il blues non è stato semplice intrattenimento. Ha scandito la vita comunitaria, accompagnava il lavoro nei campi e nei cantieri delle ferrovie, alleviando la fatica e curando la solitudine.

È stato l’unico strumento che le comunità afro discendenti hanno avuto per scrivere e tramandare la propria storia. Con la forza delle parole che gridano di non soccombere, passivi, all’esistenza.

#unadonnalgiorno #ma rainey #blues #musica

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theloveladygc316-blog · 2 years

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April 28, 2022

Peace Family

We pray you are blessed and highly favored by the most high, and you, family, job, church and community are feeling well. We pray you have a blessed day at church.

Do you have contact information for Evangelist Rainey Spillman (phone, email, address, church)?

Apostle Sharron Arthur is collecting money to help a Pastor fix his church roof. Would you please donate $10 right now today? Or at least $1 right now today? The roof is leaking and needs repairs immediately.

Thanks

Apostle Sharron Arthur – Founder & CEO

Fixing Your House Ministries

267-601-2574

[email protected]

Geraldine Churchwell – Executive Assistant

215-954-3799

[email protected]

1 Union Ave # 2754

Bala Cynwyd PA 19004-6754

PayPal.me/circleoflifeinc Please send donations today. Please make a paypal note: pastor’s roof. We are collecting for several projects.

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historymeetsliterature · 3 years

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Ma Rainey

Ma Rainey (née Gertrude Pridgett, 1886-1939) - women in history (28/?)

Ma Rainey (neé Gertrude Pridgett) was born on April 26, 1886 in Columbus (Georgia) and is also known as the Mother of the Blues. (note: some sources suggest that Ma was born in September 1882 in Alabama.) Ma was recognized as the first great, professional blues vocalist.

While she wasn’t the first blues singer, but what is now known as classic blues is greatly influenced by Ma Rainey. Unlike many other blues singers of her day, Ma wrote most of her songs herself. In the 1920's, she also had a reputation for being one of the most dynamic performers in the United States, because of her songwriting, showmanship and voice.

Ma often portrayed the black, female experiences in her lyrics. In her songs, she also talked about her black female sexuality, including those bucking heteronormative standards. Although she married William Pa Rainey, she continued to sing about her love for women. (lyrics of Prove It on Me). Ma helped to mainstream narratives of black, female autonomy.

They said I do it, ain't nobody caught me. Sure got to prove it on me. Went out last night with a crowd of my friends. They must've been women, 'cause I don't like no men. It’s true I wear a collar and tie. Makes the wind blow all the while

Angela Davis states in her book Blues Legacies and Black Feminism that the characters in Ma's songs rarely allowed themselves to become dependent on a male partner, or any agent of the law.

Want to read more? Overlooked No More: Ma Rainey, the ‘Mother of the Blues’ in The New York Times. 'All they want is my voice': the real story of 'Mother of the Blues' Ma Rainey' in The Guardian Ma Rainey on The Legacy Project

#on this day #historical women #women in history #ma rainey #gertrude pridgett #female artists #african american history #black history #blues #lgbt #lgbt community #african american women #black women #black femininity

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zelda-ffitzgerald · 3 years

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IA here. The MET anon. And it's early still and I'm hungover so I apologize if this comes across as harsh. BUT WHAT THE FUCK HAVE SOME OF YOU BEEN ON??? Cole is an abuser. That is not from me. That is not from these blogs or Riverdale fans that is from his gf of 3 motherfucking years who accused him, who has not backed down, who has been consistent in her story and from Lili indirectly through her poems and memes she has liked and even how she has talked about that relationship. So why are anons talking about him and the longevity of his 'relationship' like we can use normal parameters for it. Oh she has met his friends- so the fuck what? so has rainey, so has elisha, reina etc. She met his family? again so has a bunch of other people. he went to rainey's ranch, went to reina's bday family dinner. let's set aside that it is clearly transactional - ffs i will not explain for the 1000th time that no it wasn't just a coincidence that Daniela filer lined up several jobs for Ari BEFORE Ari even set foot in Vancouver or that Ari's agent confirmed a two month relationship or that they went out for pap walks got articles and then she applied for a checkmark or that Ari wanted until AFTER Cole posted her on his grid - within a fucking week to announce an agency change when that shit gets negotiated over months! Wait is finally over - from her own fucking mother- what were they waiting for? oh that is right COLE. So even discussing it like it's a normal hetero romantic relationship is dumb as balls. It's transactional. It's like asking if mIchelle will stay Cami's PA. Sure she seems like she's doing it for cheap, makes an efforts to get along with everyone and conveniently has Canadian passport. I'm sure Cami and Michelle like each other just fine, refer to each other as friends and have inside jokes, hug or whatever but should Michelle not do her duties, ask for too big a raise or finds a better offer she's going to bounce. Same. As. Ari. Take a fucking look at Ari's best friend Mara and Evander. In any other relationship, if a man cheated on me so constantly that he had to take out a billboard to apologize, told people I was a sex worker with many sugar daddies, married one of the women he cheated on me with, had multiple children with her that would be the end of that relationship. BUT NOT FOR THESE WOMEN. They are the roaches of relationships, as long as they god forbid don't have to do an honest day's work, they'll be around. So even trying to figure out how long it'll last is futile. There is nothing that is going to pry her hands of her meal ticket. Cole could anally rape every single one of Maman's stallion and Ari would just hand him the Sutil.

👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻

IA, louder for those in the back.

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rapturerecords · 3 years

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Song: Slave to the Blues / Oh My Babe Blues

Artist: Ma Rainey and her Georgia Band

Record Label: Paramount 12332

Recorded: ca. December 1925

Location: Project V13 teaser

A rare song from a rare label. Here’s “Slave to the Blues” presented by the infamous Paramount Records label. Regrettably due to both its age and the somewhat non-standard practices of recording and pressing at the label, the audio quality leaves something to be desired, but I have tried to clear up some of the noise.

This year is rather auspicious as it is the 10 year anniversary of the 2010 teaser for Project V13 on the Fallout website and also the recent release of a new film Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom on Netflix. This record happens to have been made two years before the recording session depicted in the film.

When logging into the now-defunct Fallout Online website, players were greeted with a series of Polaroid photographs being tossed onto the table offering shots of buildings and concept art while this song emanates from the glowing record player and radio combination console on the right.

Recorded in late 1925 in the winter, this song is one of the few songs from the 1920s used in Fallout and would have been the oldest recording used in the series.

A period Chicago Defender print ad for Ma Rainey’s “Bessemer Bound Blues”, recorded during the same session. Also listed are other Paramount Record titles.

Born Gertrude Pridgett, though otherwise known as Ma Rainey, she lived a fairly colorful life rife with intrigue and rumor. Even her birthplace is uncertain with various sources giving credit to Alabama or Georgia.

As her named suggests, she is dubbed the “Mother of the Blues”, combining elements of vaudeville and early “jass” (later spelled as jazz). She and her husband William “Pa” Rainey toured extensively throughout the South in the 1900s and 1910s with live performances in minstrel shows and vaudeville. It’s around this time she coined the term “blues” to describe her music as well as developing a relationship with Bessie Smith, also up and coming.

Though demand for recordings by black musicians was high, the color barrier meant that Rainey was not able to be shellacked until 1923 by signing with Paramount.

While she recorded with many jazz stars of the day and made over one hundred recordings with Paramount, the film focuses on her last years with the label which would also go bankrupt by the 1930s.

Regrettably, there are comparatively few photos of Ma Rainey, but her voice still echoes from the grooves.

Left: A still of the 1984 Broadway cast, Center: A Playbill for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”, Right: A reverse shot of the same scene from inside the recording room from the 2020 film

Strictly speaking, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is not an biographical film, but rather a restaging of the 1984 August Wilson play of the same name which dramatizes a 1927 recording session in Chicago. Many of the scenes take place outside of the recording room and focuses on conversations between the band members. With the exception of Ma Rainey herself, while the roles of the musicians, the recording engineer and so on undoubtedly existed, the characters are largely fictional.

The title refers to a song and dance of the same name, and of course Ma Rainey’s version of it as yet to be recorded until near the end of the story. The above record label represents the central MacGuffin which is never directly seen in the film, but drives the plot forward. While much has been said about the characters portrayed in the film including the last film role of Chadwick Boseman, here’s a closer look at one of the more muted mechanical stars of the 1920s recording process documented in the film.

Triptych of a heat wave: an electric fan, an ice-cold 5¢ bottle of Coca-Cola, and a box of discarded lacquer discs.

A slight change to the script of the play is the changing of the setting from winter to summer as foreheads glisten with perspiration. While dialing up the oppressive heat brings more prominence to the electric fan and Coca-Cola scenes (the character Levee also attempts to repeatedly open a door for ventilation), the original recording session for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” was in the winter of 1927. Perhaps the winter release of the Netflix film was meant to be a reminder.

This also has an impact on the recording session itself. The film depicts the recording session using smooth black lacquer discs (sometimes called acetate discs though they do not contain that material). As the recording engineer tosses the bad takes into the bin, it shows they are thin metal discs covered with a thin layer of nitrocellulose lacquer.

Industry films showing wax blanks used to make the initial recording before heading to the plating process. Note how the wax is polished to a shine, the disc is thicker, and of a lighter color than lacquer. The text intertitles indicate silent film footage. The first three rows date to the 1920s with the third for a Columbia Records pressing plant. The last row is a film from the 1940s showing RCA Victor still using wax recording blanks. All are for shellac 78 rpm records as the vinyl LP would be introduced in 1948.

Industry films showing lacquer covered blanks used to make the initial recording before heading to the plating process. Note how the blanks are glossy black and much thinner. The first row is from the late 1930s showing lacquer discs being used to eventually cut shellac 78s for Variety Records. 1948 would bring the invention of the vinyl LP and more common color footage. The second row shows updated footage from RCA Victor in the 1950s now using lacquer discs to press newly invented vinyl LPs. The last row also shows lacquer blanks for Capitol Records. If you don’t recognize Mel Blanc’s face, you may recognize his voice from innumerable Looney Tunes cartoons.

Contemporary film footage from record pressing plants during the 1920s more commonly show thicker one-inch discs made of wax being used in the record lathe. Lacquer discs were more commonly used in the decades following.

A wax disc would have melted in the sultry summer of Chicago which gets as hot as it does cold in the winter. While it was easy to keep a wax disc warm, cooling technology had not progressed so far during that period. Many of Ma Rainey’s recording sessions appear to have been made in the winter or at least the cooler months in Chicago and New York. A humorous anecdote about a 1930s Bob Wills recording session details packing the wax master recordings on couple hundred pounds of ice to beat the Texas heat.

Though phonograph cylinders were made of wax a few decades prior, these wax discs made during the recording process was the origin of the term “spinning wax” popularized by disc-jockeys.

Regardless of wax or lacquer, this recording is extremely fragile and unable to be played very much. Similar to today, the process still continues to metal plating where multiple more durable metal copies are mirrored before eventually stamping out the right side up grooves into a vinyl slab, or more appropriate for the era depicted in this film, a shellac record.

Production designer Mark Ricker called the record lathe the “fifth star of the movie”. There are scant details about where they obtained the record lathe except it was from a recreator in the Los Angeles area. It is possibly related to the work of Nicholas Bergh who had restored a working 1920s record lathe which was featured in the documentary film series American Epic. The series explores this period of early recorded music and the people in front of and behind the microphone including Ma Rainey. In addition, contemporary artists attempt to adapt their music to the rigors, quirks, and restrictions of a 1920s recording studio. Jack White also produced on the film as well as producing the extensive Rise and Fall of Paramount Records box sets. Admittedly, the two machines aren’t a perfect match, but there is a very similar brass weight driving the entire mechanism which spectacularly snaps and crashes to the floor in a recording session.

With lacquer discs being used to preserve radio broadcasts by the late 1930s, it is likely the record lathe was adapted to work with lacquer discs since they are still in use today and more common to come by than wax discs.

Also notable during the session is that all the instruments and the vocalist share one microphone. The request for a second microphone was likely for dramatic effect. Similar to the acoustic era, the early electric microphone era were still experimenting with proper placement. It is a testament to the power of Ma Rainey’s voice that it can be picked out amongst the surface noise as the instruments and vocals move in and out of focus.

These were the days before the invention of magnetic tape and a substantially reduced recording booth without hulking amplifiers, control boards, and tape machines reflects that. Multi-track recording, overdubbing, or even audio editing was very difficult to accomplish in the pre-tape era. One microphone, one take, and direct to disc, otherwise the recording had to be done over.

While wax could be remelted or perhaps shaved, a flubbed take on a lacquer disc could not. Despite what some of the characters say, 6, 7, 8, 9 takes for the first song of a set-list would be expensive. Paramount would go bankrupt in the following years.

Paramount Records had a storied history nearly rivaling Ma Rainey herself though the record itself largely serves as the MacGuffin in the story. While the name of the record label was never directly mentioned in the film, there are some loose references. The advertising placards around the door mention offerings from a chair factory which Paramount originated. The Wisconsin Chair Company added making phonograph cabinets to its list of operations before delving into making their own phonographs and a record label in 1918.

Like Ma Rainey’s manager, the roles of the recording engineer and the record producer were likely combined into one character, Sturdyvant of Hot Rhythm Recordings, as the sign outside says.

Due to the popularity of the “race records”, Paramount had actually rented or owned recording studios in New York, Chicago, and in Wisconsin. Jay Mayo Williams or “Ink” Williams served as an unofficial liaison between Paramount and the African-American community, even convincing Ma Rainey to record for the label.

However, the label was plagued by low-quality pressings and inconsistent recording practices. Some records even have other songs heard in neighboring rooms. Williams would leave to produce his own record label Black Patti and later was head of the race records department at Decca.

The coming of the 1930s and the Great Depression spelled the end for Paramount Records. Employees were let go or reportedly paid in the metal record masters. Though many were sold for scrap metal, local rumor has the disgruntled employees throwing the masters into the Milwaukee River.

As a result, much of the Paramount Records catalog has become exceedingly rare or outright lost to the ages.

As a coda, a final scene was added to the film which was not present in the original play. A white orchestra plays a restrained version of a composition heard earlier by the Levee character. The bandleader is not named, but strongly resembles Paul Whiteman, one of the most recorded of the dance bands of the day. His trademark mustache and oval head were frequently caricatured even on his own record labels. Though he never recorded for Paramount, he was at the Victor and Columbia labels at the time, in addition to the circumstances of the recording session in the film there is an added layer referring to the background of his controversial self-styled moniker “The King of Jazz”.

Listen to the flip side “Oh My Babe Blues” here.

#Slave to the Blues #Ma Rainey #Paramount Records #Project V13 #Fallout Online #Ma Rainey's Black Bottom #78rpm #_rpm78

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doctors-star · 3 years

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13 and/or 17 (... cowboys 🥺 pretty pls?) (but totally fine if u wanna do smthin else)

prompt list

cafune - the act of running your fingers through the hair of someone you love

cruore - it literally means “flowing blood”

It’s a warm day out, dusty and dry under an impossibly large, impossibly blue sky. Now that it’s early afternoon and the worst of the midday heat has burned off and dissipated, the town is bustling out again into the streets, in and out of shops and ducking around riders and carriages. It sure isn’t the ideal time to unleash a room’s worth of unruly children who’ve all been cooped up since lunchtime upon the town in the vague hope they’ll make it home in one piece, but in all honesty there’s no good time to do that and they’ve got to go eventually.

Ainsel will get ‘em reading and writing, but they sure as hell ain’t some kind of charitable institution for bored youths.

Opening the door on such brightness and warmth requires serious blinking and squinting and no small amount of internal sorrow as the wall of heat hits Ainsel square in the chest and invades their cool, shaded front room. Not for the first time, they consider the merits of simply opening one of the rear windows and posting the children out of it one by one; not for the first time, the idea is dismissed. The kids would enjoy it entirely too much. Said children are presently scrambling up off the floor and making a break for the door, slates and tin lunch pans hastily shoved into small satchels, baskets, or simply jammed under one arm, and Ainsel steps neatly to one side to allow them free access to the door. For all that the kids bullied Ainsel into teaching them, they sure are always glad to get out at the end of the day.

“See you on Monday, then,” Ainsel says easily. The elder Diaz boy and Mary Wilder both twist to wave at them over their shoulders, but then they’re back to corralling their littler siblings and trying to get them to hold hands nicely for the walk out of town and up to their family ranches. The other kids pay him no mind at all - just tumble out into the street and turn their faces to the sun like little sunflowers. Little Jesse Rainey turns a little circle in the dust, swirling her skirts carefully so as to show off the new printed calico to best effect; she’s a little too used to being the saloon’s darling, if you ask Ainsel, all dressed up in pink with blonde hot-ironed ringlets, but she’s also one of the brightest kids in the class at only six years old. Ainsel reckons she could be the next schoolteacher in ten years or so, if an established schoolmaster could be prevailed upon to examine her and find Ainsel’s informal schooling up to scratch.

Two of the boys have immediately begun a small scuffle, the way young boys are apparently wont to do; Ainsel sighs, and steps forward to separate them (curse all, if one of them isn’t a loose Wilder at that) - but is beaten to the punch. There’s a sharp whistle and the clink of spurs as boots go from horseback to street, and to Ainsel’s great surprise Max Wilder jumps back and sticks his hands in his pockets, looking up at the sky as his bare feet scuff at the dirty street. Were it not patently absurd, given the quantity of eye witnesses, Ainsel would say the boy was attempting to look entirely uninvolved.

Ainsel, amused, turns to raise an eyebrow at the newcomer. Will Williams catches their eye for a fraction of a second - enough for Will to roll his eyes, barely, in commiseration - and then he turns his unimpressed gaze upon the Wilder boy.

Max feigns surprise and delight well, for a nine-year-old of no particular theatrical bent; he beams at Williams with his hands tucked neatly behind his back. “Hiya, Doc,” he says through a gap-toothed smile. “How d’ya do.”

“All the better,” Will says, all dry and proper, “for knowing that you are safe at home after school and not fighting with the other boys, just like you promised me you would be. After all, we agreed on good behaviour if you were to come out to Plum Creek with me tomorrow. Didn’t we?”

Ainsel presses the knuckles of their fist to their mouth to ward off a smile as Max darts apologetically forward, spouting apologies and promises of better behaviour for ever and ever if only the Doc - that is, Mr Williams - wouldn’t tell his pa and would still take him out to the river to look for tracks. It’s more grovelling than Ainsel’s ever managed to extract from a pupil for bad behaviour, but then, Ainsel only ever promises letters and numbers, and Max seems under the impression that Williams is going to provide frogs and snakes and half a dozen other natural wonders, so.

Will scratches the back of his neck. “Well, alright,” he relents. “I - I am going to tell your pa, mind, but if he doesn’t say otherwise I don’t see why you shouldn’t come.” Max does a little victory dance and then returns to his classmates, bragging all the while about the things he’ll see out by the creek. Will himself tips his hat politely at Ainsel. “Afternoon.”

Ainsel is aware that they make Will Williams nervous. Many things do, but Ainsel reckons they do a better job of it than most folks; this is somewhat ironic, in many ways, as a fair few things make Ainsel anxious too. If they could get the measure of each other, Ainsel thinks they oughta be friends - they’d like a person to commiserate with about being thrust into a job they ain’t really qualified for, and not-a-doctor Will Williams seems like a good choice - but Williams keeps careful distance from Ainsel, even in broad daylight in a street full of children, and Ainsel ain’t hopeful. They offer a smile anyhow. “Afternoon, Williams. What can I do you for?”

Will nods gently at Miss Rainey, his own face turning gentle. “This one’s wanted at home,” he says with a smile and Jesse blushes and beams, pleased with the attention. “She’s to pick out a new ribbon at the store if she can keep tally of how much we spend and write it up neatly in the saloon books. How’s that, Miss Rainey?”

Jesse puffs up her chest with pride. “I shall have a blue ribbon like Mary Wilder’s,” she says with certainty.

Will offers Ainsel a flicker of a grin. “Jayne Rainey figures your schooling ought to be good for something,” he says, and if anyone else in the town had said it Ainsel would have winced - but Will’s got more books than clothes, same as Ainsel, so they offer a quick grin back. If only Ainsel could remember what they were doing before they woke up in Danser some years back: that way, they could say for sure if they went to college like Will, and Ainsel might feel a little less like, maybe, the local nice, nervous naturalist oughta be taking classes instead of the local amnesiac with a scary-clever horse and the books which they may or may not be qualified to own and read. Knowing that kind of thing, actually, might go a long way towards some kind of friendship with Will Williams, too.

“I figure so too,” Ainsel agrees, instead of voicing that, or anything like it. They beat down the impulse to seek answers, confess worries, force a confidence - to say hey, Williams - you wanna take a look at Edelweiss? Nah, nothing’s wrong; only, sometimes I don’t reckon she’s really a horse. You know anything about that? Only Will wouldn’t. Ainsel knows as much as they reckon they’re gonna, honestly - there was a trade, and for whatever they gave up they got Edelweiss in exchange. And maybe something else, too, but they’ll be damned if they know what.

Ainsel tries very hard to unthink that particular thought.

“Ainsel says I could keep a school,” Jesse is telling Will with pride.

“I’m sure you could,” Will replies with a little smile. Ainsel hadn’t figured Will as one for children, but then Jesse Rainey and Max Wilder are small forces of nature; if they take a liking to a person, it’s hard not to be endeared. And Jesse is the saloon proprietor’s daughter, and Will rents a room in the saloon, and Jesse is the saloon’s darling. Will shoots a glance at Ainsel. “You’re - you’re training up a replacement already?”

Ainsel inclines their head at Max Wilder, who is crouching in the dust with a stick and drawing around the hooves of Will’s square, broad-chested stock horse. Ainsel remembers Will defending his choice to Finn - Will’s horse looks more like a small draught horse than a good or fast rider, but she’s quiet and she stays still while he’s out watching animals - and indeed, though the horse is gently nosing at the boy, her hooves are staying obediently planted as he natters away at her about prints. “Should say you were, too.”

Will huffs gently at Max, who entirely fails to notice. “It was an accident. Alright, let’s get going before your parents come after me wondering where you kids are. Max, are - are you going to walk us home?”

Max bounces up, catching up the horse’s reins and bringing her over with the practised ease of anyone born and raised on the Wilder ranch. “Sure! Can I ride?”

Will carefully lifts Jesse up into the saddle. “Ladies have to ride, Max,” he corrects. “When I was little, my brother always-”

And though Will stutters into silence, Ainsel - sort of hears the rest of the story anyway. Their cards have made their way into Ainsel’s hands without them noticing and the odd paintings are switching and shifting before their eyes as they shuffle idly, and then stop. The card is of what might be a tower, and what might be a cart, and what is almost certainly a lady; the colours twist the eye and every line slides into the next until what had started as one thing is something else entirely by the end.

If you were going to play poker with these cards, you’d probably call this one the Queen of Spades.

Do not play poker with these cards.

But Ainsel looks at the cards, and the strange, illusory lines that leave only impressions, and sees with odd and abrupt clarity a young man with Will’s face but without his glasses and with a shadow of unruly stubble. He is perhaps broader than Will, too, but the resemblance is clear. And in the card, the young man grins and sweeps a small child up into a massive bear hug. He kisses the child’s hair - once plaited, Ainsel thinks, but now entirely loose and wild after a day of playing - and places them with great care and reverence on the back of a tall, thin black horse. The child, the little girl, giggles as the boy kisses her hand, says she is a princess, and runs an affectionate hand through her loose, dark hair to tidy it away before placing his hat on her head. The girl’s hands push the brim up out of her eyes - eyes which are doubtless, doubtless, Will Williams’ eyes - and Ainsel closes their own eyes, and wishes they had done so sooner.

When he opens them again, it’s just the Queen of Spades once more. Like nothing ever happened.

“Well, I, I guess you can ride behind and keep Miss Rainey steady,” Will is saying when Ainsel folds his fingers over the painted cards and looks up once more. He doesn’t seem quite so steady as he did before as he hoists Max up onto the horse’s back.

There’s no way to tell him what Ainsel knows. They wouldn’t, anyhow - Will never said, and wouldn’t thank them for disrupting the life Williams has carefully built for himself. But Ainsel would like, somehow, to communicate that Will’s big brother had seemed nice; that Will, as a kid, had seemed happy with him; that Will didn’t have to give up on his childhood and on the nice boy who had run his fingers so gently and fondly through his kid sibling’s hair, just because he’d changed over the years.

Ainsel kinda misses the memory of their own childhood, sometimes. Maybe someone had once been so affectionate with them, too.

Will catches Ainsel staring and tilts his head in query. Ainsel shakes themself and offers a small smile. “Y’all ride safe, now,” they say. “Oh, and Max Wilder - you tell your ma you’ll need shoes for the walk before the next week is out, ‘cause it’ll be getting colder and you can’t have Will Williams carting you home every day.”

“Sure will,” Max calls back, grinning and swinging his bare feet from high up on the horse’s broad, grey-dappled rear. “Bye, Ainsel!”

“Goodbye!” Jesse says, holding firm to the pommel as she shifts to look back. “I’ll show you my ribbon on Monday.”

Will just inclines his head and takes the reins in one hand.

Ainsel fidgets the cards in one hand. “Be seeing you, Williams,” they say carefully. As the party moves away, heading for the general store, the Wilder ranch, and home, Ainsel flips the top card over and over in their fingers, and hopes against hope that they wouldn’t be seeing Will Williams at all.

There are days, Ainsel knows, that they don’t sit fully right with Finn Holden. It’s a different kind of discomfort to wrong-footed Will Williams, but it’s there nonetheless - sometimes they catch Finn trying to look at them without looking at all, out of the corner of his eye or in a mirror or in the eyes of someone else who is looking at Ainsel, and they know that he knows that they know.

Like now: hunched over a little table in the saloon littered with glasses and an incomplete set of dominoes, just the two of them, and Finn’s looking over Ainsel’s shoulder. Ostensibly, eyeing up the liquor behind the bar; in reality, examining the back of Ainsel’s head in the smokey mirror behind the glasses. Ainsel prods the double six morosely and tries not to let it bother them. It does seem unfair, really, that Finn doesn’t bother people the way Ainsel does. That Ainsel bothers Finn, but not vise versa.

They think maybe choice comes into it. But Ainsel doesn’t even know if they made a choice, way back whenever they did whatever it was to land them in Danser Town with a horse and cards and no recollection at all of how this came to be. They might have been totally helpless to their fate, same as Finn had said he was, when Ainsel had cornered him after two weeks and demanded to know what, exactly, the fuck had happened to Finn to make him smell permanently of clay and sawn pine planks and blood.

(If Ainsel is honest with themself, they suspect that they did have a choice. They suspect they made a deal. The knowledge that their fate has been entirely self-wrought is not helpful.)

“Hey,” Finn says, looking at the table rather than Ainsel and tacking a domino on the end of the six. Is that better? Ainsel isn’t sure. “You been...well, lately?”

Ainsel regrets that Finn has cause to have concern for him. Unfortunately, there are only so many times a person can be seen screaming blue bloody murder at a horse for being a demon in passive, judgemental mostly-horse form before people start taking that person aside and asking about how things are going at home, and that number of times is one. “Grand,” Ainsel says levelly. They’re not wholly lying, either; they haven’t found themself lost and memory-less in a forest for nearly three weeks, Edelweiss hasn’t tried to bite them for their many and varied sins today, and Johnny McPherson had offered them a friendly holler across the street that had actually done disproportionate wonders for Ainsel’s mood. But, also, Finn isn’t looking at them straight. He’s looking the way that Will says you oughta, when you’re a little too close to some creature that can kill ya but hasn’t tried yet; with the kind of caution which is always recommended in old wives’ tales about ghosts and devils and the fae.

Finn nods. “Glad.” Then, abruptly, as if bored of being careful (not unlikely) Finn slumps back in his chair and eyeballs Ainsel straight on. It’s - oddly comforting, actually. “I’m sick of dominoes. We don’t even have half the damn pieces.”

They have all bar two. Ainsel sweeps the tiles together into a pile and starts dividing them into two sets of seven and a discard pile, pushing them across the sticky table with long, pale fingertips. “You want to play that Matador game Johnny was trying to teach us?”

Finn huffs. “Tryin’ is the word. If you can remember the rules, then I’m Saint Bridget. I sure as hell can’t.”

Ainsel tips their head, conceding the point. Something about sevens, and it being annoying that their set lacked the five-two; Ainsel had been a bit drunk at the time. “Well? We’ve got to play something. I ain’t gonna just sit here and talk to ya, no-one’s got that patience.”

Finn laughs, loud and inelegant, and Ainsel grins. “Aw, you ass,” he says cheerfully, spinning his glass on the table with careful flicks. “Let’s play cards or something. I’m a demon at rummy.”

“The saloon hasn’t got any cards any more, remember?” Ainsel points out.

Finn frowns. “It don’t? Why not?”

“Jesse Rainey nicked ‘em and gave out the picture cards to the other kids as favours. And, also, as a kind of basic hierarchy system, far as I can figure it.”

“Aw, hell. Why does that kid get away with everything?”

“Y’all reckon she’s cute.”

Finn grins. “She is! It’s like being mad at the kid on the Pear’s soap ads, or a gopher.” Ainsel spreads their hands - well, there you go - and Finn laughs. “Alright. You got cards, though, right?”

Ainsel rides the sudden lurch of horror at the idea of anyone else even seeing the cards, let alone using them. But - they want Finn and Will and everyone else to see them as normal folk, they gotta Be Normal. Have a normal horse, and a normal life, and normal playing cards. Any number of things can cause amnesia - hitting your head real hard because your horse, which maybe hates you, kicked you or bucked you or something. Trauma. Heatstroke. Normal shit, which ain’t magic no matter how much you side-eye it or examine it in mirrors. Finn might’ve just - imagined it, or had a vision like some religious folks do. Ainsel could have dreamed up any number of things and thought them real - what he’d seen of Will could be nothing. Probably says more about Ainsel than it does about Will anyhow.

Be Normal. Ainsel reckons they can do that. Most all other folks seem to.

Ainsel brings out their pack from the inner pocket of their duster, shakes out their wrists with a confident movement, and manages two whole shuffles before dropping most of the pack. The beautiful cards flutter and spin as if caught by some wild, summer wind and scatter over the table and floor in an unstoppable cascade. Finn tips his head back and laughs like a hyena.

“You’re the clumsiest fuckin’ card shark I ever seen,” he says delightedly.

“I am not a card shark,” Ainsel says rather absently as they scrabble to collect up the cards on the table.

Finn snorts. “I believe it! But what else you carryin’ all these damn cards all the damn day for, huh?” He gets off his chair and drops to the saloon floor, hunting down Ainsel’s precious cards before they get trampled or lost between the boards.

“I don’t know,” they bite back rather crossly; one of the cards, the Jack of Hearts, has just jumped away from Ainsel’s grasping fingers and they have to stand and lean over the table to snatch it up from Finn’s chair. Ainsel glances at it habitually as they sit back down and briefly forgets how to breathe.

The card, like every other, is not a standard face card. The young knave depicted always seems to form out of the swirling lines upside-down, no matter how Ainsel looks at the card, with an inverted heart on his chest like a drop of ruby-rich blood. And for a moment, whilst Ainsel watches, the Jack looks out at them with Finn’s eyes that are not Finn’s eyes. The heart pulses, once, and slides away and dissipates; the eyes go dark and glazed; and Ainsel is looking at a dead man in a churchyard. Some shadow oozes into the edges of the card and at the same pace blood leaks thick and dark from the man’s chest. There is no helping him; he is gone. Ainsel knows it. And then, he sits up. Abruptly, like he’s awakening from a nightmare. He inhales hugely, or tries to, as though he had been drowning, but chokes on his own blood. The man spends quite some time on all fours, coughing and retching and hacking up blood, but this slows and he sits back on his haunches to assess the pool of blood. He wipes at his chin with the back of his hand and grimaces - not with pain, more like disgust. And then he looks up - and this time, it is Finn with Finn’s eyes who is looking straight out of the card at Ainsel.

Ainsel’s fist closes around the card, barely managing to avoid crushing it. They look up in time for Finn’s head to appear in triumph over the edge of the table, clonking his temple gently against the underside as he does. Finn brandishes a handful of cards at Ainsel with a grin, and Ainsel sees him bleed out and wake up over and over in their mind.

They take the cards. Slide the pack back together. Tuck them deep down in an inner pocket.

Finn blinks at them for a moment. “So no cards today, then.”

“No,” Ainsel says shortly.

Finn nods solemnly. “You wanna talk about it?”

Absolutely fucking not. Ainsel slides the dominoes back across the table a little too violently, sending ivory tiles skittering against their empty glasses and shoves a couple Finn’s way. Finn, who is alive and well and not all that damn normal either, so damn it all; maybe no-one in this town is normal enough to start shit with Ainsel, and everyone ought to fuckin’ remember it. Ainsel fixes their gaze on the base of a glass, in whose curving reflection they can watch Finn without actually looking at him. “Come on, Saint Bridget,” they say roughly. “Double six starts.”

There is a short pause, and then Finn’s hand closes over the glass which Ainsel is using to look at Finn without looking at him, and they can’t see Finn’s reflection anymore. “Alright,” Finn says quietly. “Matador it is.”

#cowboy content (yeah!)#ainsel's creepy as hell what fun #the supernatural's creeping in chaps #or is it #i'm aiming for ambiguous truth #hope you enjoy! playing with other people's ocs is funa dn also nervewracking #*fun and #this is your captain speaking #a town called danser

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filmcompletdezola · 3 years

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Avant Zola d'A24, l'inspiration réelle du film clarifie certaines choses

2015 est une année qui vivra dans l'infamie et l'histoire de Twitter pour une raison simple: le fil Zola. Zola, alias A'Ziah Wells King, a écrit un fil de 148 tweets sur la façon dont elle a été arnaquée par une fille blanche en Floride qui est instantanément devenue virale. La narration dans son fil était si convaincante et hilarante qu'elle a incité A24, la société derrière Minari, à faire un film basé sur celle-ci. La bande-annonce de Zola est maintenant sortie et vous penseriez que le reste, comme on dit, serait de l'histoire. Eh bien, pas tout à fait, car l'inspiration réelle du film s'est à nouveau portée sur Twitter pour éclaircir certaines choses.

regarder Zola film complet en ligne

regarder de nouveaux films en ligne

Dans son fil de discussion initial, A’Ziah Wells King a parlé de nombreux événements fous - proxénètes, fusillades et tentatives de suicide, pour n'en nommer que quelques-uns. C'était tellement fou, en fait, que les gens n'avaient que plus de questions et encore plus d'hypothèses. Suite à l'énorme réaction à la sortie de la bande-annonce de Zola par A24, l'un des scénaristes du film s'est défendu contre la perception qu'en raison du matériel, King devait être «du capot» et «drogue». King s'est également dissipée contre ceux-ci sur son compte Twitter d'origine:

Cela pourrait être une surprise pour beaucoup qu'un ensemble d'expériences aussi extravagantes au cœur de Zola ait été fait si complètement sobre, sans courage liquide ou quoi que ce soit d'autre. Mais A’Ziah Wells King et le scénariste Jeremy O. Harris abordent quelque chose de beaucoup plus nuancé dans leurs récentes déclarations que la simple sobriété. Il s'agit de savoir comment l'intersection de la race, de la classe et de la perception peut élever sa tête laide même dans quelque chose d'aussi amusant et amusant qu'un fil Twitter.

En revanche, le personnage blanc «Jess» dans cette histoire a reçu plus d'indemnités en raison de sa race lorsqu'il s'agit du film Zola. De nombreux utilisateurs de Twitter ont même demandé si «Jess» devait être payé pour l'histoire originale transformée en film d'A'Ziah Wells King. King a précisé que «Jess» était le méchant de l'histoire qui avait menti et aurait signé des documents officiels du tribunal qui l'empêchaient de profiter de l'histoire. Elle a également fourni des mises à jour sur certains des autres personnages de l'histoire dans un autre tweet

L'histoire originale de Zola est une lecture sauvage, sans aucun doute, mais elle a souvent fait l'objet d'accusations selon lesquelles «basé sur une histoire vraie» était un mensonge. Pourtant, le Washington Post a déclaré en 2015 qu'il était «en mesure de vérifier de grandes parties de l'histoire de Wells», malgré son refus de leur clarifier les détails à l'époque. Maintenant, le film Zola, mettant en vedette Taylour Paige et Riley Keough dans les rôles principaux, semble indiquer qu'il n'y avait pas d'alcool ni de drogue dans la bande-annonce nouvellement sortie. Mais nous ne saurons avec certitude que quand il fera sa première mondiale en juin.

La bande-annonce de Zola semble en fait aussi prometteuse que le fil viral lui-même. Le slogan d'ouverture n'est qu'une partie de sa brillante audace. Taylour Paige, qui vient de remporter le succès de son petit rôle dans Black Bottom de Ma Rainey, semble s’associer à la bombe aux côtés de Riley Keough, et A24 ne déçoit gén��ralement pas. Plus important. la réaction extatique au premier regard indique que le mythe et la puissance du fil Zola continuent de vivre quoi qu'il arrive.

#zola #zola movie #movie #film

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extrabeurre · 3 years

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MANK part en tête d’une course aux Oscars bien bizarre

Je me suis réveillé tantôt, j'ai parti la cafetière, puis en checkant Twitter, je me suis dit: "Ah oui, c'est vrai, les nominations des Oscars ont été dévoilées."

C’est la première année depuis une éternité où je ne suis pas au poste au moment où les nominations des Oscars sont annoncées. Je l’ai déjà dit, mais je suis assez désinteressé cette année par cette course aux remises de prix où sont honorés des films que presque personne n’a pu voir sur grand écran, pandémie oblige.

Oui, il y a d’excellents films en lice, comme Nomadland, Sound of Metal et Promising Young Woman. Il y en a aussi que je vais essayer de voir prochainement, Minari notamment. Mais je n’ai pas l’impression qu’il y ait de gros titres qui ont enflammé la planète cinéma comme par exemple Parasite, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood ou même le divisif Joker l’an dernier.

J’ai vu Mank de David Fincher sur Netflix, j’ai trouvé ça correct, mais c’est loin d’être un film marquant pour moi. Je reviens quand même sur Nomadland, un de mes préférés de 2020 (même s’il ne sortira techniquement pas en salle au Québec avant avril 2021) - ce sera un bon moment de voir Chloé Zhao probablement remporter l’Oscar de la Meilleure réalisation. Il y a plein d’actrices et d’acteurs talentueux qui sont en nomination. Je serais content que Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross soient récompensés pour la musique de Soul. Je trouve ça plate que TENET de Christopher Nolan ait presque été complètement ignoré.

Mais dans l’ensemble, je suis assez indifférent face à tout ça. Je vais sûrement regarder le gala quand même, en espérant que ce ne soit pas un désastre avec des fenêtres Zoom comme les Golden Globes...

Best motion picture of the year

“The Father” David Parfitt, Jean-Louis Livi and Philippe Carcassonne, Producers

“Judas and the Black Messiah” Shaka King, Charles D. King and Ryan Coogler, Producers

“Mank” Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth and Douglas Urbanski, Producers

“Minari” Christina Oh, Producer

“Nomadland” Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey and Chloé Zhao, Producers

“Promising Young Woman” Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell and Josey McNamara, Producers

“Sound of Metal” Bert Hamelinck and Sacha Ben Harroche, Producers

“The Trial of the Chicago 7” Marc Platt and Stuart Besser, Producers

Achievement in directing

“Another Round” Thomas Vinterberg

“Mank” David Fincher

“Minari” Lee Isaac Chung

“Nomadland” Chloé Zhao

“Promising Young Woman” Emerald Fennell

Performance by an actor in a leading role

Riz Ahmed in “Sound of Metal”

Chadwick Boseman in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”

Anthony Hopkins in “The Father”

Gary Oldman in “Mank”

Steven Yeun in “Minari”

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Sacha Baron Cohen in “The Trial of the Chicago 7”

Daniel Kaluuya in “Judas and the Black Messiah”

Leslie Odom, Jr. in “One Night in Miami…”

Paul Raci in “Sound of Metal”

Lakeith Stanfield in “Judas and the Black Messiah”

Performance by an actress in a leading role

Viola Davis in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”

Andra Day in “The United States vs. Billie Holiday”

Vanessa Kirby in “Pieces of a Woman”

Frances McDormand in “Nomadland”

Carey Mulligan in “Promising Young Woman”

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

Maria Bakalova in “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”

Glenn Close in “Hillbilly Elegy”

Olivia Colman in “The Father”

Amanda Seyfried in “Mank”

Yuh-Jung Youn in “Minari”

Adapted screenplay

“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” Screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Dan Swimer & Peter Baynham & Erica Rivinoja & Dan Mazer & Jena Friedman & Lee Kern; Story by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Dan Swimer & Nina Pedrad

“The Father” Screenplay by Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller

“Nomadland” Written for the screen by Chloé Zhao

“One Night in Miami…” Screenplay by Kemp Powers

“The White Tigers” Written for the screen by Ramin Bahrani

Original screenplay

“Judas and the Black Messiah” Screenplay by Will Berson & Shaka King; Story by Will Berson & Shaka King and Kenny Lucas & Keith Lucas

“Minari” Written by Lee Isaac Chung

“Promising Young Woman” Written by Emerald Fennell

“Sound of Metal” Screenplay by Darius Marder & Abraham Marder; Story by Darius Marder & Derek Cianfrance

“The Trial of the Chicago 7” Written by Aaron Sorkin

Best international feature film of the year

“Another Round” Denmark

“Better Days” Hong Kong

“Collective” Romania

“The Man Who Sold His Skin” Tunisia

“Quo Vadis, Aida?” Bosnia and Herzegovina

Best animated feature film of the year

“Onward” Dan Scanlon and Kori Rae

“Over the Moon” Glen Keane, Gennie Rim and Peilin Chou

“A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon” Richard Phelan, Will Becher and Paul Kewley

“Soul” Pete Docter and Dana Murray

“Wolfwalkers” Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Paul Young and Stéphan Roelants

Best documentary feature

“Collective” Alexander Nanau and Bianca Oana

“Crip Camp” Nicole Newnham, Jim LeBrecht and Sara Bolder

“The Mole Agent” Maite Alberdi and Marcela Santibáñez

“My Octopus Teacher” Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed and Craig Foster

“Time” Garrett Bradley, Lauren Domino and Kellen Quinn

Achievement in cinematography

“Judas and the Black Messiah” Sean Bobbitt

“Mank” Erik Messerschmidt

“News of the World” Dariusz Wolski

“Nomadland” Joshua James Richards

“The Trial of the Chicago 7” Phedon Papamichael

Achievement in film editing

“The Father” Yorgos Lamprinos

“Nomadland” Chloé Zhao

“Promising Young Woman” Frédéric Thoraval

“Sound of Metal” Mikkel E. G. Nielsen

“The Trial of the Chicago 7” Alan Baumgarten

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

“Da 5 Bloods” Terence Blanchard

“Mank” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

“Minari” Emile Mosseri

“News of the World” James Newton Howard

“Soul” Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste

Achievement in production design

“The Father” Production Design: Peter Francis; Set Decoration: Cathy Featherstone

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” Production Design: Mark Ricker; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara and Diana Stoughton

“Mank” Production Design: Donald Graham Burt; Set Decoration: Jan Pascale

“News of the World” Production Design: David Crank; Set Decoration: Elizabeth Keenan

“Tenet” Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Kathy Lucas

Achievement in costume design

“Emma” Alexandra Byrne

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” Ann Roth

“Mank” Trish Summerville

“Mulan” Bina Daigeler

“Pinocchio” Massimo Cantini Parrini

Achievement in sound

“Greyhound” Warren Shaw, Michael Minkler, Beau Borders and David Wyman

“Mank” Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance and Drew Kunin

“News of the World” Oliver Tarney, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller and John Pritchett

“Soul” Ren Klyce, Coya Elliott and David Parker

“Sound of Metal” Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés and Phillip Bladh

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling

“Emma” Marese Langan, Laura Allen and Claudia Stolze

“Hillbilly Elegy” Eryn Krueger Mekash, Matthew Mungle and Patricia Dehaney

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson

“Mank” Gigi Williams, Kimberley Spiteri and Colleen LaBaff

“Pinocchio” Mark Coulier, Dalia Colli and Francesco Pegoretti

Achievement in visual effects

“Love and Monsters” Matt Sloan, Genevieve Camilleri, Matt Everitt and Brian Cox

“The Midnight Sky” Matthew Kasmir, Christopher Lawrence, Max Solomon and David Watkins

“Mulan” Sean Faden, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury and Steve Ingram

“The One and Only Ivan” Nick Davis, Greg Fisher, Ben Jones and Santiago Colomo Martinez

“Tenet” Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley and Scott Fisher

Best documentary short film

“Colette” Anthony Giacchino and Alice Doyard

“A Concerto Is a Conversation” Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers

“Do Not Split” Anders Hammer and Charlotte Cook

“Hunger Ward” Skye Fitzgerald and Michael Scheuerman

“A Love Song for Latasha” Sophia Nahli Allison and Janice Duncan

Best animated short film

“Burrow” Madeline Sharafian and Michael Capbarat

“Genius Loci” Adrien Mérigeau and Amaury Ovise

“If Anything Happens I Love You” Will McCormack and Michael Govier

“Opera” Erick Oh

“Yes-People” Gísli Darri Halldórsson and Arnar Gunnarsson

Best live action short film

“Feeling Through” Doug Roland and Susan Ruzenski

“The Letter Room” Elvira Lind and Sofia Sondervan

“The Present” Farah Nabulsi

“Two Distant Strangers” Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe

“White Eye” Tomer Shushan and Shira Hochman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

“Fight For You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah” Music by H.E.R. and Dernst Emile II; Lyric by H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas

“Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of the Chicago 7” Music by Daniel Pemberton; Lyric by Daniel Pemberton and Celeste Waite

“Husavik” from “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” Music and Lyric by Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus and Rickard Göransson

“Io Sì (Seen)” from “The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)” Music by Diane Warren; Lyric by Diane Warren and Laura Pausini

“Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami…” Music and Lyric by Leslie Odom, Jr. and Sam Ashworth

#oscars #mank

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theherstorybuff · 4 years

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Ma Rainey

Ma Rainey, born Gertrude Pridgett (c. 1882 - 1939), was one of the earliest African American professional blues singer and a part of the first generation of blues singers to record. The second of five children, she was born in Alabama. Her parents were minstrel show performers, and she began singing at a young age.

She first performed in a local talent show at fourteen and began touring soon after. She acquired her stage name as Ma Rainey after a marriage to Will "Pa" Rainey in 1904. They continued to tour until they formed their own group. Around this time, she also met and began to mentor young Bessie Smith.

Separated from her husband in 1916, Ma Rainey subsequently toured with her own band for the next eight years. She was a big influence on the popularity of early blues, and she herself even claimed to have penned the term "blues" for the style of music she performed.

In 1923, Ma Rainey made her first recording. In the next five years, she would record over 100 more. She would record with famous men such as Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, and Coleman Hawkins.

Some of her music referenced lesbianism and bisexuality and Ma Rainey would date both men and women throughout her life. She was also a foster mother to seven children. As live vaudeville declined in the late 1920s, she at first still recorded and toured with Paramount.

In 1928, Paramount terminated her contract as that style of blues began to fall out of fashion. She performed on the vaudeville circuit for a few years, but after the death of her sister and mother, she returned to Georgia. She ran two theatres and doing charitable works there until her death from a heart attack in 1939.

#ma rainey #lgbt history #queer history #women's history #womxn's history #black history #african american history

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phantomofthepairofdice · 3 years

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The Rosscars 2020

Wow. It’s that time of year again, only this time it’s different because it’s on a blog that no one will read! (hold for applause) Welcome to the first annual online publication for the Rosscars (hold for applause while the reader acknowledges how positively droll it is that I combined my name with “Oscars”). Who can forget such indelible Rosscar memories like when Steven Soderbergh surprised us all and won Best Director for Out of Sight or Bill Irwin’s beautiful speech upon winning Best Supporting Actor for Rachel Getting Married?! The Rosscars mean something different to everyone, but we all know that they mean quality choices made by a committee of one schmuck. This year’s Rosscars are bizarre because in an effort to be more like the Academy guidelines, film’s nominated have been released between January 1, 2020 and February 28, 2021. As usual, theatrical windows be damned, streamers are welcome. Of course, I have my gripes. I like categorizing movies by release year – specifically, when they become available to the plain old public like yours truly – not at festivals, limited runs in NYC and LA. Well, the Oscars are still weeks away and I feel like everybody wants to forget about last year and move onto this one that we’re already three months into - So here are my awards for the films, performers, and craftspeople that stood out in a pretty exceptional year for movies even though distribution was stranger than ever.

**A few caveats and guidelines to Rosscar newcomers (which I imagine is just a formality since we all know the Rosscars so well)**

The rules and categories are a little different around here. First, not every category is honored directly. That’s for a few reasons, chiefly that I don’t feel qualified to reward the technical categories properly – I suppose I should say that I feel less qualified to do so than the “above the line” categories. In keeping with the Academy standard, there are five nominees in each category, except for Best Picture, Best Non-Fiction/Documentary Feature, and Best Ensemble Cast which allow up to ten. Every category, save those three, will have the possibility of honorable mentions, because I want to highlight some things that just barely missed the cut. The narrowing down of a lot of these categories was awfully tough.

Nominees are listed alphabetically, and the winners are in bold and italics.

Also, it’s important to keep in mind that I couldn’t see everything (this isn’t a job and it’s still $20 to rent The Father, y’all) and that these are just the opinions of one (self-described) “bozo on the internet.” If you’re a reader and have different picks, feel free to share!

Special Commendations for some things that I want to recognize: • Ludwig Goransson for his Tenet score which is an absolute banger • The costumes of Emma. (Alexandra Byrne), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Ann Roth), and Small Axe (Jaqueline Durran, Sinéad Kidao, and Lisa Duncan) all struck me as exceptional • Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross with their scores for both Soul and Mank. Crazy that Pixar is working with the guy who made “Closer” • The cinematography of Da 5 Bloods (Newton Thomas Sigel), First Cow (Christopher Blauvelt), Beanpole (Kseniya Sereda), and A White, White Day (Maria von Hausswolff)

The Rosscars red carpet was, as usual, a bizarre affair. People filed into the theater and it seemed like the only encounters were awkward ones. Vin Diesel showed up in character as Bloodshot, Aaron Sorkin started getting really verbose about what a lovely night it was, and it became clear that most of the celebrities in attendance didn’t read their invitations closely enough to realize that this was not, in fact, the Academy Awards.

Everyone’s seated, and the show is under way. After a medley about the nominees this year by Common and Seth McFarlane that was more corny but clever than it was funny, the first official category is here, and the presenter is none other than... Ross!

Best Supporting Actor:

1. Chadwick Boseman for Da 5 Bloods

2. Matthew Macfadyen for The Assistant

3. Jesse Plemmons for Judas and the Black Messiah

4. Paul Raci for Sound of Metal

5. Glynn Turman for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Honorable Mentions:

• Lucas Hedges for Let Them All Talk

• Orion Lee for First Cow

• Bill Murray for On the Rocks

Best Supporting Actress:

1. Vanessa Bayer for Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

2. Candice Bergen for Let Them All Talk

3. Gina Rodriguez for Kajillionaire

4. Amanda Seyfried for Mank

5. Yuon Yuh-jung for Minari

Honorable Mentions:

• Jane Adams for She Dies Tomorrow

• Charin Alvarez for Saint Frances

• Talia Ryder for Never Rarely Sometimes Always

• Debra Winger for Kajillionaire

Everyone loves a montage. The audience gets comfortable in their seats as the video screens start to show a montage of some of the most famous moments from Hollywood’s most magical movies. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers waltz, gliding across a dance floor like two hovering angels. There’s a clip of Leo declaring himself king of the world in Titanic, the flying bicycles in ET, Bogart stares longingly into Bacall’s eyes, and then there’s some scene where Tom Cruise rides a motorcycle from 2010′s Knight and Day. The audience all seems confused how that last one got in there. The John Williams music swells as little Kevin McAllister screams when puts on aftershave. We see clips of Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver, Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia embrace Harrison Ford’s Han Solo, Bruce Lee smoothly declares that boards don’t hit back and... wait... was that a clip from Michel Gondry’s Green Hornet with Seth Rogen? And that’s a clip from What Happens in Vegas... Bad Teacher... Vanilla Sky... Shrek 2... Any Given Sunday... Everyone is flummoxed. The last clip fades out and a sole editing credit appears: Cameron Diaz. The lights come up and there’s some applause, but mostly confused murmurs.

The ceremony has had a bit of a misstep, but nothing it can’t recover from, especially as the next category is announced over the PA, and it looks like the presenter is... Ross!

Best Ensemble Cast:

1. Bacurau

2. Da 5 Bloods

3. Kajillionaire

4. Let Them All Talk

5. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

6. Minari

7. Nomadland

8. Pieces of a Woman

9. Small Axe

Best Original Screenplay:

1. Danny Bilson and Paul Dameo & Spike Lee and Kevin Wilmott for Da 5 Bloods

2. Lee Isaac Chung for Minari

3. Brandon Cronenberg for Possessor

4. Sean Durkin for The Nest

5. Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles for Bacurau

Honorable Mentions – a very difficult task to weed this down to five.

• Shaka King and Will Berson for Judas and the Black Messiah, from a story by Kenny and Keith Lucas

• Steve McQueen, Alastair Siddons, and Courttia Newland for Small Axe

• Kelly O'Sullivan for Saint Frances

• Thomas Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm for Another Round

Best Actor:

1. Ben Affleck for The Way Back

2. Chadwick Boseman for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

3. Delroy Lindo for Da 5 Bloods

4. John Magaro for First Cow

5. Mads Mikkelsen for Another Round

Honorable Mentions:

• Riz Ahmed for Sound of Metal

• John Boyega for Small Axe

• Daniel Kaluuya for Judas and the Black Messiah

• Hugh Jackman for Bad Education

• Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson for A White, White Day

We have a break in the action and it looks like Darius Rucker has showed up to perform what he would have nominated for Best Original Song. The crowd is absolutely furious as he starts playing a song that apparently was in Trial of the Chicago Seven. An ocean of sonorous boos and curses overtakes the the once docile crowd. The Rock just ripped his chair from out of the ground. Jane Lynch somehow smuggled in a civil war era flintlock pistol that she’s now pointing at the stage! Suddenly, the crowd unifies around what started as a confident chant of one lone audience member - John C Reilly. It’s growing... Ja Ja Ding Dong, Ja Ja Ding Dong, Ja Ja Ding Dong - it’s like the macabre circus performers from Tod Browning’s Freaks, but instead of chanting “Gooble Gobble” they’re clearly pining for Darius to change his tune to the silly and delightful jam from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. Darius, scared for his life, leaves the stage, but here come Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams to deliver the goods. Busy Philips and Michelle Williams burst into tears. Tom Hanks nods in approval. A segment saved by brave artists placating a toxic group of fans... we’ve just witnessed a live version of the Snyder Cut, folks.

Jack Nicholson seems completely unfazed, giving a thumbs up to the camera and blowing a kiss to the next presenter. Coming to the stage is... Ross... again...

Best Actress:

1. Jessie Buckley for i’m thinking of ending things

2. Carrie Coon for The Nest

3. Han Ye-ri for Minari

4. Sidney Flanagan for Never Rarely Sometimes Always

5. Vasilisa Perelygina for Beanpole

Honorable Mentions – these cuts were especially painful

• Haley Bennet for Swallow

• Morfydd Clark for Saint Maud

• Frances McDormand for Nomadland

• Christin Milioti for Palm Springs

• Geraldine Viswanathan for Bad Education

Best Adapted Screenplay:

1. Charlie Kaufman for i'm thinking of ending things from Iain Reed's novel

2. Sarah Gubbins for Shirley from Susan Scarf Merrell's novel

3. Kelly Reichardt and John Raymond for First Cow

4. Simon Rich for American Pickle from his short story "Sell Out"

5. Mike Makowsky for Bad Education from Robert Kolker's "The Bad Superintendent"

Best Non-Fiction/Documentary Feature:

1. Boys State

2. Collective

3. David Byrne’s American Utopia

4. Dick Johnson is Dead

5. Feels Good Man

6. In & Of Itself

7. The Painter and the Thief

8. Time

Jimmy Fallon has come out on stage to do a bit about the pandemic and watching movies at home. People are just absolutely not having it. He tries not to laugh at his own jokes while doing what I guess is technically a pretty good impression of Dr. Fauci interviewing James Corden as Martin Scorsese (the less said of this impression, the better) on what is or isn’t cinema. The bit doesn’t track and Fallon is absolutely tanking. The producers cut away from the stage to spare the viewers at home from this monstrosity. We see crowd shots of Millie Bobby Brown shaking her head in dismay, Colin Firth is simultaneously grimacing and trying to stave off laughter, Cynthia Erivo is texting, and director Tom Hooper is taking notes for his next film. Corden yells, “Carpool Karaoke! Remember?!” Ron Howard has fainted. This thing is almost completely off the rails.

Coming back to the stage is the next presenter, a clearly embarrassed... Ross! He’s in a total flop sweat, but stumbles his way through a joke about how Fallon should try co-hosting the Oscars with James Franco sometime. There are scant chuckles throughout a crowd that mostly just wants to see who won and go home.

Best Director:

1. Christopher Nolan for Tenet

2. Spike Lee for Da 5 Bloods

3. Steve McQueen for Small Axe

4. Kelly Reichardt for First Cow

5. Chloé Zhao for Nomadland

Honorable Mentions:

• Kitty Green for The Assistant

• Eliza Hittman for Never Rarely Sometimes Always

• Charlie Kaufman for i'm thinking of ending things

• Thomas Vinterberg for Another Round

Best Picture

1. Bacurau

2. Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

3. Da 5 Bloods

4. First Cow

5. i'm thinking of ending things

6. Judas and the Black Messiah

7. Never Rarely Sometimes Always

8. Nomadland

9. Small Axe

10. Tenet

Accepting the award for best picture is none other than Eve, the cow actor who played the titular First Cow! The audience is enamored with how graceful she looks in her cow gown, and her speech, though indecipherable, is likely simple, observational, and deeply profound for those who speak cow.

Wow, what a ceremony! Hearts were broken, property was damaged, dreams were fulfilled... blood was shed? Damn it, Meryl Streep came in and mugged Charlie Kaufman before absconding with the trophy. Oddly, she’s a previous winner, so the attack isn’t out of need for hardware. People are reading through articles about production on Adaptation for potential motives. Streep made time for a photo opportunity, but remains at large.

I could go on ad infinitum about all of these nominees and winners themselves and why they did or didn’t make the cut, but that’d be better served in a different piece. For now, my thoughts on most of these can be found on the Best of 2020 write-up and over on my Letterboxd. And, as always, these awards can be revoked and redistributed at will, so don’t get too cozy with that statue, Danny Bilson!

On behalf of the RAOGL (Rosscars Association of One Guy at a Laptop), thanks for reading, and stay tuned as we’re establishing a tip line for anyone has seen Ms. Streep or her stolen valor Rosscar. We’ll see you next year. Keep watching movies, and keep arbitrarily quantifying them in terms of subjective quality!

#awards #movies #film #Rosscars

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jessgartner · 3 years

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2020 Life Olympics

The real Olympics may have been canceled in 2020 but the Life Olympics persevered like the postal service of Olympics.

First, I’d like to apologize for my role in the chaos of 2020 because I think I had a slight miscommunication with the powers that be and I feel partly responsible. Here was my plan for 2020:

My theme for 2020 is Intention because I want to take the energy I feel right now and deploy it with more intentionality next year - bringing increased mindfulness to how I spend my time, money, physical and mental energy. And because I love wordplay, I also literally want to spend more time camping “in-tent” to enjoy more peace and quiet and beauty in nature.

The universe was like, “Oh, she wants to spend less money and more time outside? Well, shut it down. Shut the whole planet down.”

I mean, mission accomplished, I guess? I did spend less money and more time outside and had to be VERY intentional with my mental energy to survive the day-to-day morass of 2020. Next time, I will be more specific with my annual manifestations. Sorry to all.

2020 was brutal for pretty much everything and everyone. I don’t know anyone who isn’t in some state of grief right now, including myself. I debated doing a Life Olympics at all this year, feeling like-- what is the point? Hundreds of thousands of people died, our democracy is hanging on by a thread, and millions of people lost jobs, businesses, and homes.

Like many people, I’ve been struggling with anxiety and depression this year which intensified as it got darker and colder outside. At a low point, I talked with my therapist about the struggle of just not wanting to do any of the things that usually bring me joy-- and how periods of relief were so fleeting. “But you have to keep doing those things,” she said, “even if they’re not working right now, you have to keep doing those things and trust the process; the joy will return.”

So even though I don’t really feel like it and kind of feel like it’s dumb, I’m writing the 2020 Life Olympics. I’m trusting the process.

2020 Life Olympics Recap

Work - Participation Trophy

Starting a company is hard, operating a company is harder, but running a company during a global pandemic and economic crisis is something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. 2020 was not a fun year to lead a business; it was hell. On March 15, the plan for the year pretty much went out the window and everything went into survival mode. I never take the company or my team for granted, but I’m particularly grateful to be able to usher this work into 2021.

Despite the craziness, we still had some big wins this year. We launched new product partnerships with PowerSchool and Amazon Business. We rebuilt our tool for equitably calculating district funding formulas. And I got to flex my creative muscles with EdFinToks! Throughout it all, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by a team of people who are as compassionate as they are talented.

I’m worried about public education more than ever after this year, but I’m going to keep fighting every day to make it work better for kids.

This is Work-Lite but I also spent a good chunk of time this year leading the modernization workgroup for Bill Henry’s transition committee after his spring primary election to become the new Baltimore City Comptroller, ousting a 25-year incumbent, Joan Pratt. This was an enlightening (and infuriating) experience for me that gave me a glimpse into the operations of a segment of the City government. This process also really helped crystallize how much I enjoy making public agencies function more efficiently; I’m excited to see what Bill does with the recommendations (some are already being put in action!)

Health - Gold

This is the second year in a row (and ever) that I’m giving myself a Gold medal for Health. This was easily a year that I could have regressed on all of my healthy habits and no one would have blamed me. Instead, I leaned into protecting and improving my physical and mental health in 2020. It’s not an exaggeration to say that walking probably saved my life this year. I spent a lot of time walking around my neighborhood and various state and city parks-- walking is maybe not the best word; I stomp and charge around like I have a score to settle with the ground beneath me. My walking increased 370% in 2020. This is a habit of 2020 that I’d like to keep. My brain and body are happier if I can spend a little time walking-- stomping-- around outside each day.

I also did a lot of biking this summer. My cycling increased 200% this year-- with much more time spent cycling outdoors. My crowning achievement this year was biking to and from Annapolis:

I spent a LOT more time outside this year which was critical for my mental health. On the downside, I only did 90% as much yoga and 60% as much strength training, so I want to try to be a little more balanced next year.

I also invested a lot in my mental health this year. I kept up with therapy every 2-4 weeks and in October I decided to pursue a formal diagnosis for ADHD which I definitely have! Needless to say, staying in one place this year has been a special kind of hell for me.

Home - Silver

Well, I definitely spent less money this year. And the way I did spend money made me (mostly) sad:

Travel down 70%

Auto & Transportation up 200% (boo cars)

Shopping down 60%

Personal Care down 35%

Gifts and donations up 200%

Food and Dining down 40%

Entertainment down 35% (I kept up my singing lessons virtually which accounts for a lot of this category)

2020 was quite the palate cleanser from my 2019 year of hedonism but maybe we can go for a happy medium in 2021? Just kidding-- I will resume my hedonist ways the minute the world opens.

I also redid my home office like every other work-from-homer on the planet and replaced my crumbling kitchen floor so the house got some TLC.

But nobody enjoyed having me home all year as much as Darwin:

Relationships - Bronze

What a weird year for relationships of all kinds. I’m giving this a Bronze because while I invested a lot into a few relationships this year, there are also a lot of people in my life to whom I haven’t been able to give my time and love.

One of the most important relationships in my life this year was with one of my former students. After bouncing around in the foster system for many years, we reconnected around the holidays in 2019 and he started crashing with me while we tried to figure out stable housing and employment. He was arrested in January and was incarcerated for the next several months awaiting trial. Finally, we were able to negotiate a plea agreement with the State’s Attorney and he came home around Independence Day. We spent the next several months getting him set up with a phone and various identification documents-- a nightmare in normal times and a total abyss during the pandemic. I got him registered to vote when we got his ID card and I took him to vote for the first time (a supreme treat for this former social studies teacher):

He’s now got a full-time job and stable living situation. Calling this THE success of 2020. Thank you to everyone who helped me with resources all year for housing, legal processes, and documents. It takes a village.

It was a bizarre year for family. We lost my grandmother in September, so not being able to spend the holidays together felt like an especially cruel loss. Other big losses this year include a trip to France to celebrate a milestone birthday for my mother and my brother and sister-in-law’s wedding (Mosby seemed pretty ok with the alternative plan, though):

But in many ways, my family has been more together than ever this year thanks to prolific group chats and photo-sharing. Mostly, I’m just glad everyone else is safe and healthy. As my father often reminds me, “Our problems are small.”

And dating? What to do with this weird Jane-Austen-esque dating scene-- as if modern dating weren’t fraught enough. Is this the universe punishing me for ending my 2019 dating hiatus early? I, for one, have given up. You win this one, pandemic. I’m just going to have my little Twitter crush and call it a year. Next year, though...

Horizons - Silver Gold

You know what? It’s hard to expand your horizons without people or places.

I did the best I could. I finally got back on track with my Goodreads challenge and actually had a really good year of reading, including finally embracing audiobooks through my Libro.fm subscriptions. I especially enjoyed Michelle Obama’s book Becoming and Mike Birbiglia’s The New One on audio-- both narrated by their authors.

I camped in Pocomoke (MD), Western MD, Lake Michigan, and Ohiopyle (PA):

I explored over 30 new hiking/biking trails-- some favorites including the Youghiegheny River trail in PA, the NCR trail, Catoctin Mountain, the C&O Canal Towpath, Annapolis Rock, and of course, Stoney Run in my backyard.

I left Facebook and started the Life Olympics newsletter. I’ll be honest, I don’t miss Facebook but I also don’t understand where that energy, time, and brain space went. I was spending cumulatively hours a day mindlessly scrolling Facebook and I quit cold turkey and barely noticed-- what black hole of our brains does social media occupy? I kind of thought that with all that extra time I would write the next great American novel or something. I’m probably spending a little more time on Twitter, which I could stand to cut back on. Other than that, I think I was just trying to process the shitstorm of this year. Maybe I’ll write the next great American novel post-pandemic.

For the first time in my life, I feel somewhat ‘caught up’ on pop-culture. I finally watched Parks and Recreation (twice); I watched The Mandalorian and finally actually watched Star Wars (episodes IV-IX); I watched the final seasons of The Good Place and Schitt’s Creek; I’m caught up on Insecure; I watched The Prom and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Jingle Jangle; I even started Bridgerton. I know what everyone is talking about and I’m catching so many more pop-culture references these days. (I guess instead of writing the next great American novel I watched Netflix?)

2020 Lessons

I’ve spent plenty of time mourning the missed opportunities of 2020 and will probably always wonder what this year could have been in an alternate universe with a functioning government. But we only have this reality for now, and we made the best of it.

I wanted to slow down in 2020, try to be more intentional, more mindful, and...

No thank you! I liked the pace of my life; it makes my brain and heart happy. I’m happiest when I wake up in a different city three days in a row. I like darting around every borough of Manhattan for nine meetings and three cocktails and then taking a red-eye to Europe. I want to run around to eight conferences for 18-hours a day for three weeks and then sleep for 22 hours. I miss overloading my brain so much that I need a deprivation chamber to sleep. This is who I am. This is how I like to live. And when I was locked down alone in the house for a year, slowing down, being mindful, I never once thought, “I should have... when I had the chance.” Because I always did. And I always will.

2021

We shake with joy, we shake with grief.

What a time they have, these two housed as they are in the same body.

Mary Oliver

We’ve had enough grief. 2021 is going to be all about joy.

Universe, let me be clear: this is not a euphemism or code or secret signal.

I want pure, unadulterated, abundant, joy. I want multi-course dinners in restaurants with lots of close friends and good wine. I want the virus so far gone that I can make-out with handsome strangers. I want a rollicking good time in France and/or Brazil and/or Prague and/or New Zealand and/or Bali. I want to spend the day after Christmas in NYC with my father. I want to be a glutton for theatre and art and music. I want celebrations and parties and sequins.

I want to shake with joy.

If you’d like to receive the (shorter) monthly Life Olympics, subscribe here.

#lifeolympics

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