#but hal can be compelling too and also he has so many great moments i love like when he goes nuts when lois is out of town | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

brightbeautifulthings · 4 years

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Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

"'What if sometimes there is no choice about what to love? What if the temple comes to Mohammed? What if you just love? without deciding? You just do: you see her and in that instant are lost to sober account-keeping and cannot choose but to love?'"

Year Read: 2014, 2020

Rating: 5/5

Context: It's hard to know where to begin writing a review for this book. I read it for the first time in graduate school in about five weeks (alongside everything else I had to do in grad school, so I don't recommend that), and it basically blew my mind. At the same time, it's hard to imagine tackling it any other way for the first time. Despite its difficulty, there are things obsessive and immersive and, appropriately, even addictive about it. Full immersion might be the only way to read it for the first time, and I obsessed about it for months afterward. Since I'm not on any deadlines, I took it more slowly this time (21 weeks) so I could enjoy the writing and the nuances without the pressure to finish. For my less coherent weekly updates in real time, see my blog posts. Trigger warnings: Everything, everything. Death (on-page), child death, animal death, suicide, suicidal ideation, rape, pedophilia, possible incest, child abuse/abusive households, graphic violence/gore, eye horror, severe injury, drug use, addiction, alcoholism, mental illness, depression, OCD, grief, racism, ableism, transphobia, sexism, inexplicable hostility toward Canadians.

About: If it's difficult to know how to write a review, it's equally hard to describe what Infinite Jest is about. It's about so many things, tennis, addiction, communication (failures), and entertainment among them, but I'll do my best. Beneath all the numerous characters, timelines, and subplots, the main plot is about a film so entertaining that it kills anyone who watches it, robs them of all desire to do anything but watch it until they die, and what a faction of Canadian assassins will do to possess it. The auteur is James Incandenza, a suicide whose son, Hal, is a prodigy at Enfield Tennis Academy. Next door to E.T.A. is Ennet House, a drug rehabilitation center where Don Gately, former thief and Demerol addict, is taking it day by day to stay sober. Though they don't know it, Hal and Gately are connected, and the deadly Entertainment and those who seek it draw their paths closer and closer together.

Thoughts: It's rare to find a book that is actually as smart as it claims to be, but IJ is--certainly much smarter than I am, despite all my attempts to make sense of it. It starts off strong and doesn't let up for several hundred pages, which is a huge achievement all by itself. Wallace excels at writing extremely polished sections that could almost function alone as short stories, and the first chapter is one of my favorites in all fiction. It's reassuring, I think, to start the book off on a strong note, in case we worried we were in for a thousand pages of tedious slog. It can be both, but it's often heartfelt, insightful, and funny as well, and the payoff is well worth the effort. I don’t know how Wallace manages to pack every page with so much meaning. Anybody can put tedious lists in their books or make reading purposely difficult (and I have attitude about writers who do this for no reason), but there’s nothing haphazard about this book, despite its size and varied focus. Everything seems utterly intentional. The conversations are really top-tier; Wallace has a great ear for how people talk, and it's a fascinating look at how communication works and doesn't work.

Thematically, I think the book succeeds on more than any other level, including plot or structure. If we could say this book is "about" anything, we would almost certainly start with the themes and not the plot, which is often secondary to whatever point Wallace is trying to make at the moment. It takes an in-depth looks at things like addiction, depression, loneliness, failed communication, sincerity v. irony, critiques of postmodernism and metafiction (while being very meta itself, at times), and the very specific selfishness of an American culture that insists on freedom even to the point of self-destruction. At times, it feels a little heavy-handed or like it was yanked right out of an intro to philosophy course, but I suppose something in a thousand pages has to be obvious if we're ever going to pick up on it. A lot of these themes resurface in his other work, from "This is Water" and "E Unibus Pluram" to Orin Incandenza's Brief Interview style Q and A (and he would be a perfectly fitting character in that book).

The characters are some of my favorites in literary fiction as well, particularly the Incandenza family and Don Gately, and to a lesser extent Joelle Van Dyne (although Wallace typically doesn’t write female characters very well, and she comes with some issues). Hal and Gately couldn't be more different; Hal excels at everything he's ever done, and Gately has a record that includes accidental homicide on it. Hal is the hero of non-action, since little that happens in the book is engineered by him, while Gately is closer to the more typical hero of action, who defends the undeserving at great cost to himself. Yet their struggles with addiction are similar, and they both manage to be incredibly sympathetic characters. In my opinion, the book is always at its best when we’re with Hal or Gately, but I’m strongly driven by good characters. Despite being dead, James Incandenza's presence is also felt all over the book, from the Entertainment he created to his haunting ETA and sticking beds to the ceiling (probably the weirdest ghost I've ever seen in fiction). He's a tragic character in a book full of tragic characters. The others are too numerous to name, from the other tennis players at ETA and recovering addicts at Enfield, to the various bystanders populating Boston. We get brief glimpses into almost all of them, and while they may not all feel relevant at the time, most are memorable or heart-wrenching or slapstick funny, or all three. It's a book that contains multitudes.

That's not to say it's always on point though, and it isn't. There are a number of very serious problems with representation in this novel, and they're as bad as its detractors claim. A lot of the 90s humor aged very poorly, but that's not an excuse for some of the unabashedly racist depictions of African Americans, the uncharitable descriptions of Steeply's and Poor Tony's cross-dressing, or--however much I love him as a character--the fact that Mario Incandenza’s descriptions are ableist in just about every possible way. Wallace thinks he's capturing "voice" when he's really encouraging harmful stereotypes. The humor of the novel often doesn’t depend at all on these stereotypes and would in fact, be a lot more funny if I wasn’t spending so much energy cringing at it. So many of the little racist and ableist asides could have easily been edited out of the entire novel to make it less offensive. There are also sections where he seems at pains to be as gross as possible for its own sake. There are plenty of things grim or uncomfortable or flat out distasteful about this book, but sometimes the graphic violence kind of jumps out and stabs you in the eye, say, with a railroad spike.

If there are times when I was totally absorbed in the little tragedies of the Incandenza family or Gately's struggles, there are plenty more where it's like pushing something heavy up a hill. No lie, some of it is slogging through tedious minutiae and various experimental writing styles (some more successful and less offensive than others). Wallace has a gift for purposeful tedium; it’s at its peak in The Pale King, but he gives it a nice warm-up round here. The novel is difficult and meant to be, since Wallace maintained that some of the best pleasures are the ones we have to work for, and he's not totally off base. There's something very satisfying about living, for a time, in a book that spans a thousand pages, that demands focus and perseverance, and manages to give back (almost) as much as it takes. The book is always structurally interesting, but it starts to get more complicated toward the end as various characters and plots begin to almost slide into one another. I forgot how frustrating it was to near the end and realize--again--that it wasn't going to wrap up with any kind of satisfaction; the various plots slide, but they don’t meet. I thought if I paid closer attention on a second read that I would pick up more of the plot things I’d missed on my first, but I think the problem is that those answers simply aren’t to be found in the actual text. Of course, they can point us toward various conclusions, and the novel certainly encourages us to speculate and make connections, but I don’t think the actual answers are there.

That brings me to some of my final thoughts, for now. There's no doubt that this is a hugely successful book, and I believe it accomplished exactly what Wallace meant it to do. He jokingly referred to it as a failed entertainment, much the way Jim considered his lethal Entertainment a failure, but I have the sense that Wallace, unlike Jim, failed on purpose. The book purposely pays more attention to structure and theme than it does to plot or character, yet the plot and characters are hugely compelling for what we see of them. Imagine the book it could have been if he had paid equal attention to all of them. Wallace attempted to create a book that people wouldn't want to stop reading. Reaching the end certainly encourages us to begin again, as the first chapter is actually the last in chronology, but that trick only works the first time. By my second read, I realized that starting over wouldn't help me fill in any of those blanks or answer any of my questions, and I was content to let it go. On the one hand, IJ depends upon its structure to tell the story it's telling. On the other, think of the book it could have been if it spent more time telling a story and developing its characters and less time belaboring a point. It's one of the best books I've ever read, and the tragedy is that I think it could have been even better.

#book review #infinite jest #david foster wallace #literary fiction #adult fiction #5/5 #rating: 5/5 #2020 #bookoween

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goodticklebrain · 5 years

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Q&A August: Austin Tichenor of the Reduced Shakespeare Company

They say you should never meet your heroes, but obviously “they” were never enlightened enough to consider Austin Tichenor of the Reduced Shakespeare Company a hero. Like many Shakespeare geeks, I was exposed to Reduced Shakespeare Company’s performance of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) at an impressionable young age. Once the DVD came out, I watched it over and over again, soaking up the irreverence and affection for Shakespeare like a sponge. It never occurred to me that I would one day meet the curly-haired pompous idiot in the black pants whose antics had entertained me so much, let alone be lucky enough to call him a friend, but that’s exactly what has happened.

I first met Austin (after exchanging mutually admiring tweets with him) in April of 2016, during their world premiere of William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged) at the Folger Library. I was prepared to be utterly starstruck, but Austin was so wonderfully down-to-earth that within minutes I felt like I’d known him forever. Totally lacking the pomposity and idiocy of his stage persona, Austin was overwhelmingly encouraging and supportive of my work, immediately welcoming me to play with him in the Shakespeare comedy sandbox. I had literally just started working full-time on Good Tickle Brain, so his enthusiasm meant the world to me.

I could gush about Austin for many more paragraphs, but I’m sure you’d rather hear from him, so here he is, my Comedy Fairy Godfather, in his own words!

1. Who are you? Why Shakespeare?

I’m Austin Tichenor, a playwright, director, and actor. I'm the co-artistic director of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, a three-person comic theatre troupe that reduces long serious topics into short silly comedies.

My first exposure to Shakespeare was undoubtedly in the original series of Star Trek! I read Shakespeare in high school English classes and got to see fantastic productions of Shakespeare at American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and the Berkeley Reprtory Theatre, but I didn’t get to actually WORK on Shakespeare until grad school where I both played Claudius in a production of Hamlet and reduced my first Shakespeare (it was a directorial exercise: a five minute reduction of Much Ado About Nothing). My first professional theatre job was creating plays for young people so I went to Shakespeare immediately, creating 45 minute cuttings of Much Ado, Midsummer, and The Tempest.

So the opportunity to join the RSC in 1992 and perform its signature work The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) (written by the RSC’s founders) in London’s West End for eight months combined all my theatrical loves: smart silly comedy, non-realistic theatricality, and Shakespeare — which is kinda redundant, now that I think about it

2. What moment(s) in Shakespeare always make you laugh?

My favorite moments are typically when characters make incredible discoveries about themselves, and these are usually comic. Malvolio’s “I am…happy!” Terrible actor Francis Flute fully committing to the moment on “Dead, my dove?” Benedick’s “There’s a double meaning in that.” Hamlet toying with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, or telling Claudius he “shall nose” the dead Polonius as he goes upstairs. Olivia’s “Most wonderful!” when the penny drops and she realizes “Cesario” is actually Viola (and Sebastian’s twin).

3. What's a favorite Shakespearean performance anecdote?

I have two!

1) We were performing William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged) for the Shakespeare Theatre Association conference — the savviest and most knowledgeable group of people I’ll probably ever perform for, ever. I was playing Richard III and limping downstage to say my first line, one of the most famous first lines in all of Shakespeare. But I was distracted because I saw there were people sitting on the sides and I didn’t want to limp too far downstage for them to see — and in my distraction I said, “Now is the moment of our...” As soon as the word was out of my mouth, I knew I’d blown the line (it’s supposed to be “Now is the winter of our discontent”) and I knew I couldn’t pretend that it hadn’t happened; not in front of that crowd, not in our style of show. So I quite audibly said, “Oh f&$# me,” and limped back offstage to come in again. This time I said the line right and emphasized the first word: “Now is the winter of our discontent!” It brought down the house and everyone asked whether I’d planned it. Sigh…no, I hadn’t.

Mya interjects: I was in the house for this performance and this moment remains one of the highlights of my theatre-going career. What Austin neglects to mention here is that Reed, who had been left alone onstage after Austin had retreated, went over to the wings as if to confer with Austin, and said, sotto voce, “No, I don’t think anybody noticed.”

2) We were performing The Complete Works on a stage that had a little runway that circled the orchestra pit. In one of the scenes, Adam Long (one of the RSC’s founding members) decided to hop over the pit, from the stage to the runway, and he ended breaking the runway floor and falling through the boards. Thankfully uninjured, and delighted that he had this opportunity, he immediately uttered the immortal words, “Don’t worry, it’s just a stage I’m going through."

4. What's one of the more unusual Shakespearean interpretations you've either seen or would like to see?

I’m glad that nowhere in here have you asked what my favorite play is. I don’t have favorite Shakespeare plays, but I do have favorite productions. Here are two:

1) The Folger Theatre at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC’s production of Love’s Labor’s Lost was delightful from start to finish: Incredibly smart, wildly funny, and wonderfully charming. The director and her team made the King’s desire for “a little academe” quite literal by re-creating the Folger Library’s handsome reading room onstage. (I wrote about this terrific production here.)

2) The Chicago Shakespeare Company production of The Tempest, co-directed by Aaron Posner and the magician Teller, turned Prospero into an actual wizard and filled the production with literal magic. (There must have been magic in Shakespeare’s original production as the First Folio has a stage direction that mentions that characters disappear by means of “a quaint device”. Teller filled his production with many quaint magic tricks and devices!) With music by Tom Waits and great comedy from its clowns, it was the most entertaining and completely realized production of The Tempest I've ever seen.

Favorite moments?

When Henry IV (Jeremy Irons) slaps his snotty son Prince Hal (Tom Hiddleston) in The Hollow Crown adaptation of Henry IV, Part 1 taking him (and the audience) by total surprise.

When Francis Flute’s (Sam Rockwell) emotions bubble to the surface unexpectedly in the ridiculous “Pyramus and Thisbe” in the film version of Midsummer.

When Juliet (Claire Danes) stirs and almost wakes up in time to prevent Romeo (Leonardo DiCaprio) from killing himself in Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo + Juliet.

When Antigonus (Gregory Linington) distracted the Bear, dooming himself but preventing the death of Perdita, in the Goodman Theatre production of one of my least favorite plays The Winter’s Tale.

5. What's one of your favorite Shakespearean "hidden gems”?

The hidden gem of Shakespeare is actually right out in the open: He’s written incredibly theatrical plays, filled with rich and elusive characters that still fascinate us 400 years later, and even the most serious of his plays (including his Histories and especially his Tragedies) contain more comedy than is generally realized (or pulled off). Shakespeare was a showman whose livelihood depended on entertaining his audiences, so he created plays filled with music, devices, comic bits, fascinating characters, time jumps, changing perspectives, and shifting tones that are always serious (especially his Comedies) but never solemn.

(You don’t ask what my Shakespearean pet peeve but here it is: Productions that lack urgency and ignore the above, as in: Comedies that are beautiful-looking and melancholy but not funny. Histories that ignore the comic chaos that Shakespeare layers in. Tragedies that are one-note, over-the-top, and not in any way believable. Romances that equate pastoral with languid and not compelling. Argh.)

6. What passages from Shakespeare have stayed with you?

Oh so many...

Beatrice’s “Kill Claudio,” which comes seemingly out of the blue and yet is so right.

Falstaff’s honor speech, when done right, in front of a live audience.

And I find Miranda’s “O brave new world that hath such people in’t” just incredibly moving. (I’m always moved by Joy. Tragedy can suck it.)

Mya interjects: “Tragedy can suck it” might be my new personal motto now. Thanks, Austin.

7. What Shakespeare plays have changed for you?

Henry VI, Part 1. Reading it again recently, I was struck by the level of chaos Shakespeare depicts in a kingdom struggling without a ruler. It’s almost like Monty Python meets Veep: Sentences can’t get finished because people are running in and out, declaring “I’m in charge! I’m in charge!” with grand impotence. Of course Shakespeare would write it like that: He needed to entertain his audience, who were probably also nervous about their aging queen who had yet to declare a successor. Shakespeare created a chaotic warning that England shouldn’t descend into that kind of comically dangerous madness again — a warning that wasn’t really heeded, unfortunately.

8. What Shakespearean character or characters do you identify the most with?

Having played so many of them (albeit in reduced forms), that’s a tough call. But because I’m also an actor and a playwright, the ones I probably identify with the most are Shakespeare's seemingly autobiographical ones: Peter Quince, the only (I think) actor-playwright in the canon. Hamlet, the Danish prince with surprisingly strong opinions about theatre’s power and how certain speeches should be played (and how annoying comedians can be). Benedick, who struggles with his writing so comically. Suffolk, who in Henry VI, Part 1 declares, “I’ll call for pen and ink and write my mind.” And Bottom, of course, who thinks he can play anything.

Mya interjects: PETER QUINCES OF THE WORLD, UNITE!

9. Where can we find out more about you? Are there any projects/events you would like us to check out?

I’ve spent the last several years doing incredibly deep dives into Shakespeare, across many media:

My RSC partner Reed Martin and I wrote Pop-Up Shakespeare, an incredibly fun (and useful) introduction to the Bard’s life and works with beautiful, amazing, and funny illustrations by Jennie Maizels.

I contribute monthly essays about the intersection between Shakespeare and popular culture for the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Shakespeare & Beyond blog.

My weekly podcast (now in its 13th year) is a backstage glimpse into the life and works of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, featuring interviews with our many comedian, actor, playwright, author, director, composer, dramaturg, and artist friends and many many deep dives into matters Shakespearean.

Reed and I also wrote the definitive irreverent reference book, Reduced Shakespeare: The Complete Guide for the Attention-Impaired (abridged), which is still inexplicably in print (perhaps cuz it’s definitive).

We also wrote the stage play William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged) (“An absolute resolute hoot of a bawdy comedy of errors!” Broadway World), which premiered at the Folger Theatre in 2016, has toured the US and the UK, and is available for licensing via Broadway Play Publishing.

And in November 2019, the RSC will perform the international premiere in Israel of our brand new script Hamlet’s Big Adventure (a prequel) — what would happen if Tom Stoppard wrote Muppet Babies. It’s the comedy of the Prince of Denmark!

If after reading all this, for some insane reason you still want to get in touch, come find me here on Twitter. I think Mya will agree that it’s a much more civilized and fun place than its reputation suggests.

(Back to Mya) Thanks so much to Austin for taking the time to answer my questions! If you want to HEAR us actually talking to each other check out:

Reduced Shakespeare Co. Podcast #493

Reduced Shakespeare Co. Podcast #532

Reduced Shakespeare Co. Podcast #653

Q&A August continues next week with two phenomenal women who are using Shakespeare to build the most amazing things.

#Q&A August #shakespeare #reduced shakespeare company

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ohmy7hearts · 6 years

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Being the daughter of Barry Allen and Jason Todd’s significant other includes:

A/N: I hope this is up to your liking! If not, just request again with more details! And if you want a second installation to this which includes Bart, just ask, don’t be shy.

Requested by: @gradeatrash123

Your dad adores you so much; you’re his baby girl

I’m going on a limb here and say that you’re the oldest of your siblings - Don and Dawn

So growing up with your family, you’re a mix of Barry and Iris - dorky, silly, stubborn and flirty when need be

You’re also a speedster and Barry is a really great mentor. An easily jealous one, Iris may add, because whenever Wally tries teaching you, your father has this pouty look on his face. Jay merely smiles and will personally mentor you when he wants to tease Barry. Of course, all these speedsters are your mentors; you’re a family

Whenever you need help, you know you can approach any of them for help. And if it involves you crying, someone needs some beating up to the future and back, of course not literally. Maybe literally. Just don’t tell Iris and Joan

He brings you to meet the other heroes a lot, especially Hal and Oliver/Dinah. They grow to love you and see you as their own baby girl, much to Barry’s displeasure

You become a sidekick to your dad as much as Wally is

Hal will teach you the ways of flirting but you never have the heart to tell him you are an expert in that area thanks to your mother

Dinah will bring you (and occasionally Iris and Dawn) for a girl’s night out which includes going to the mall, mani and pedi, etc with some ass-kicking at the end of the night. Iris will be just a happy and proud by-stander

You got to meet Roy when he was still under Oliver’s mentorship and you both hit it off well. You guys become great friends, partners-in-crime even. Not really in crime, maybe sometimes, but just harmless pranks

Wally is usually the victim of these pranks and it always ends with a cold shoulder from him but with some affections, he will forgive you. Roy, not so much

When Oliver and Roy fought, both of you drifted and you hang out more with Wally instead

But, Wally has the (teen) Titans and even if you are invited to it, you refused. So you spend these time with your siblings or doing your own gig

Your siblings love you and whatever tricks they pick up from you always end with Barry just sighing and Iris giving you a disapproval look

But you are there with a proud grin and it is hard to be mad at them considering how they’re always looking at you for approval of some sort

You are the best older sister they can ask for as you help them with homework, hero missions, heartaches and everything in between

Having your own gig - after blessings from your mother and a hesitant father - means racing across the country and the world

You are more involved with missions overseas as America itself has heroes stationed across the country so there is little work for you within the country

During these missions overseas, you will take your time - sometimes it’s good to slow down as advised by Iris - to explore the city and of course getting some souvenirs for your family. Gag gifts are usually given to Wally, he still keeps them though

You meet the outlaws once on a mission overseas. While they are fighting off some goons, you are there for sightseeing after a mission well-done the morning before

After defeating them and seeing you are the only one around other than them, Roy realise how familiar you look and call out to you

You run to him to hug him and in your excitement, you forget about your powers so Roy ends up with more bruises from you than the goons themselves

Jason link your speed to the Flash fam and take note that you are the girl he always see with Wally when he was Robin so it all click in his head on how you are Barry’s daughter

Kori, not so much

After a hug session with Roy which ends with his almost death, you introduce yourself to the other two and Kori take an instant liking to you. If Iris was there, she would say how it is a perk of being a West-Allen

Jason couldn’t care less but seeing his best friend being more hyped with you around, he does not mind you sticking around

He realise why later on when he sees you two crafting some weapon together. At that moment, he realised he made decision

You didn’t really stay with them but return home when the day ends. But you’ll always come back after finishing your mission the following day

When Roy and Kori hook up, you and Jason feel compelled to spend more time together and leave them be. So there are days where both of you will explore the city together

“And you didn’t invite me? I thought I was your best friend?”

“We shall leave them be Roy, I sense love brewing within them.”

“OOooOOoo. I get to be best man!”

Jason wish you stay overnight sometimes

When Wally is lost in the speed force and everyone forgot him, you too forgot about him. But, you always had this empty feeling in your chest whenever you work at Star Labs without him there

At attempts to get the empty feeling in your soul, you travel more often and that means spending more time with Jason

Roy is with the Titans and Kori with the Teen Titans so it only leaves you two

Jason didn’t mind and find your presence to be calming. You two always joke around and sometimes flirt with each other. Okay, maybe more than just sometimes

Jason is overprotective of you so whenever the people he’s dealing with are uncultured swines, he makes sure they will not be interacting with you

After missions, you two will spend the rest of the day walking through the city and if it’s late, to the bar you will go

You can’t get drunk and Jason has a high tolerance for it but it’s funny seeing a dorky side to Jason when he does get drunk

So when you didn’t show up one day and the few days after that, he gets a bit lonely but he brushes it off since he has missions to do

So when all is done and over, he returns to Gotham and all he can think of is you. He tries filling his days by helping his family, he’d rather be beaten by the Joker again than admitting that, but when the nights get a bit too long for his liking with no criminals to beat up, his mind always wanders back to you and what you’re doing in his absence

Dick, being the ever-perceptive older brother, knows he has girl troubles so he messages you

And one silent night, you speed over to the clock tower in Gotham, and there you see Jason sitting with his favourite gargoyle

When he turns to find you instead of his brothers, he is taken aback but before he can say anything, words tumble out of your mouth at the speed of light and he cannot understand a single thing

So he approaches you, put his hands on your shoulder and tell you to slow down which you did and repeat the whole thing and he understands that you have been spending those days with Wally after him getting out of the speed force

You apologise over and over and to stop you from apologising again, he kisses you, after taking out his mask of course

Your eyes widen before fluttering to a close and you pull him closer by his leather jacket

His brothers are in the building over and are witnessing the whole thing. Dick is taking pictures and sending them to Wally

Wally sends them over to Barry and he is screeching

#jason todd #jason todd x reader #jason todd headcanon #jason todd imagine #red hood #red hood x reader #red hood imagine #red hood headcanon #flash x daughter reader #flash #flashfam #barry allen x daughter reader #barry allen #rslwrites #rslcreates #request #the red hood and his speedster #dc imagine

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fibula-rasa · 6 years

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As Noirvember Ends...

Before I begin, I’m going to clarify that, unlike the first list, the following films are personal favorites of mine that can be categorized as Noir. So, they may not be the best illustrations of the style/genre nor necessarily the best films that happen to be Noir. Honestly, the first list is better for that, though it has less detail.

In a way, you can view this list as “further viewing.” I will also be pairing this list with where you can find the movies at Movie Madness.

Here are my personal go-to Films Noir as Noirvember careens away down an abandoned highway on some rainy midnight. All films are profiled in detail BELOW THE JUMP. Happy viewing!

Ministry of Fear (1944)

87 min. | Director: Fritz Lang

Screenwriter: Seton I. Miller (Novel by Graham Greene)

Stars: Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds

What’s the story?

Stephen Neale (Ray Milland) is making his way to London after his release from a countryside asylum. Neale happens upon a village fair run by the Mothers of Free Nations and wins a cake in a guess-the-weight contest he wasn’t meant to win. After boarding a train to London, Neale is accosted over the cake but manages to escape unscathed. With the backdrop of London in the midst of the Blitz, Neale and a private investigator try to get to know what the Mothers of Free Nations is all about. Carla (Marjorie Reynolds) and Wili (Carl Esmond) are refugee siblings who run the charity and they begin to lead Neale down a serpentine path of espionage.

Why should I watch it?

Like The Third Man (1949), Ministry of Fear is an adaptation of a Graham Greene novel. Greene did not collaborate on the screenplay for this film though, and it shows. But, other aspects of the filmmaking more than make up for it. Much credit is due to some shared talent with Double Indemnity, which came out the same year: Art Directors Hans Dreier and Hal Pereira, Costume Designer Edith Head, and Music by Miklos Rozsa. While Ministry is a bit of a tonal shift from The Third Man, it’s a compelling and suspenseful Noir. The pacing is perfectly matched to the whirlpool Neale’s fallen into in the film. I personally think this is one of Lang’s best, particularly among his American films.

What really puts the film over the top for me is Ray Milland. While Milland never considered himself a very good actor, thankfully many great directors disagreed with him. Milland has the unique talent of injecting a touch of levity through his reactions, movements, and expressions at just the right moments. He can make characters that, on paper, might be unlikeable, unsympathetic, or just plain bland into very real people. In Alias Nick Beale (1949), Nick Beale is a seedy underworld operator. Not too much is explained about him but you feel so much about his past and his character through the small (or large) falters in the Beale facade that Milland portrays. In The Lost Weekend (1945), Milland finds a balance with Don Birnam by evoking in the viewer similar feelings to what you may feel when someone you love is suffering from mental illness. You continue to feel deeply for him despite his stream of self-destructive actions. You understand exactly why his loved ones would stay or go. In Ministry of Fear, Milland channels the feelings of being in the midst of a nightmare while also having pitch-perfect reactions to the film’s absurdities that border on the surreal. I should stop now before I go into my spiel on how he “plays English” versus how he “plays American.”

Where can I find it?

At Movie Madness under Classic Directors - Fritz Lang

The Lady from Shanghai (1947)

87 min. | Director: Orson Welles

Screenwriter: Orson Welles

Stars: Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles

What’s the story?

Sailor Michael O’Hara (Orson Welles) saves the beautiful and married Elsa Bannister (Rita Hayworth) from some robbers in Central Park. Elsa and her lawyer husband, Arthur (Everett Sloane) are on their way via the Panama Canal to San Francisco and Michael is hired to work on their yacht. Michael starts to fall for Elsa. Arthur’s business partner, Grigsby, sees his opening and convinces Michael to collaborate on a plan to fake his own death. As it turns out, there are scams on top of scams, and Michael ends up framed for murder and he must now rely on Arthur and Else to defend him.

Why should I watch it?

The Lady from Shanghai is a very unique film for the time, in ways that made it unpopular with many contemporary American viewers, but also in ways that make it well suited for modern viewers. Distaste for Rita Hayworth playing against type is not much of an issue for a viewer in 2017. The on-location shooting adds naturalism despite the film’s stylized lighting and cinematography. To a 1948 viewer, this could be too much of a departure from form, but it’s fully normal to a 2017 viewer. One of the most spectacular elements of the film is a shootout climax in a hall of mirrors, which a 2017 viewer has seen replicated a few times since (most recently in John Wick 2). While Lady from Shanghai should hold a lot of familiarity to an audience in 2017, it still feels novel and imaginative. It’s also a film that doesn’t narratively hold your hand. You’re along for the ride and you best keep up.

Where can I find it?

At Movie Madness under Classic Directors - Orson Welles

Leave Her to Heaven (1945)

110 min. | Director: John M. Stahl

Screenwriter: Jo Swerling (Novel by Ben Ames Williams)

Stars: Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain, Vincent Price

What’s the story?

After a chance encounter on a train, the well-to-do Ellen Berent (Gene Tierney) and novelist Richard Harland (Cornel Wilde) fall in love a little too quickly. Ellen falls because of Richard’s notable resemblance to her late father. Richard falls because of Ellen’s mysterious nature and brooding beauty. Ellen jilts her more socially-acceptable fiance Russell Quinton (Vincent Price) for Richard and they move to his remote home in Maine. Ellen’s obsessive and possessive tendencies get deeper and more dangerous after Richard’s disabled baby brother comes to live with them and it all goes to hell from there.

Why should I watch it?

Leave Her to Heaven has no shortage of selling points. Gene Tierney gives one of her best performances in this film. She has such subtlety early on, hinting at the storms to come, and Ellen’s neuroses-driven cruelty is rendered so effectively. Tierney was absolutely ahead of her time.

Leave Her to Heaven is strikingly beautiful. The locations in Maine and New Mexico are exquisite and made more interesting by the contrast to the twisted psychology and cruelty of the characters. This one might need content warnings though. I don’t want to give away too much to a general readership, so if you have any concerns, let me know!

Where can I find it?

At Movie Madness under General Classics A to Z

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)

116 min. | Directors: Lewis Milestone and Byron Haskin

Screenwriter: Robert Rossen (Novel by John Patrick)

Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas

What’s the story?

Young Martha Ivers tries to run away from her strict and antagonistic aunt with the help of a poor boy called Sam Masterson. The attempt fails and when returned home, Martha and her very wealthy aunt have a blowout and Martha knocks her aunt down the stairs, killing her. The scene is witnessed by another boy, Walter O’Neil. With the help of Walter’s father, they manage to cover up the crime, blaming the murder on an intruder. Years later, Martha (Barbara Stanwyck) has built up a very successful business with her inheritance and is a staple of the Iverstown community. She is also in a strained marriage with Walter (Kirk Douglas), now the District Attorney. When Sam (Van Helfin), now a detective, chances his way back to town, Walter and Martha’s paranoia over the cover up reaches a boiling point.

Why should I watch it?

As someone who has spent a lot of time in Pennsylvania, I must say that Iverstown is a perfectly captured factory town. That might be a too specific draw for a movie, but that’s okay, there’s lots more to love about this film. The structure of the plot is almost flawless. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is a master class in how to build conflict and tension around dramatic irony in a modern setting. That’s all I’ll say on that to avoid giving too much away. Barbara Stanwyck puts in one of her best performances in this film and Kirk Douglas holds his own in Stany’s wake despite it being his first film. It’s no wonder he became one of the biggest movie stars of the last century.

Where can I find it?

At Movie Madness under Classics - Film Noir

Diabolique / Les Diaboliques (1955)

107 / 114 min. | Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot

Screenwriters: Henri-Georges Clouzot, Jérôme Géronimi (Novel By by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac)

Stars: Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot, Paul Meurisse

What’s the story?

There’s an awful lot going on at a rundown boarding school just outside Paris. The headmaster, Michel (Paul Meurisse), lives there with his ailing wife Christina (Véra Clouzot) but is carrying on a relationship with English-teacher Nicole (Simone Signoret), who also lives at the school. Michel is abusive to both of them, but the women seem to have a cooperative and caring relationship with one another. Eventually, Nicole can no longer abide the abuse and cooks up a plan with Christina to murder Michel. After they put their plan in action, the aftermath isn’t quite what they anticipated.

Why should I watch it?

Diabolique is one of the greatest suspense films ever made. If you’re a Hitchcock fan, this is a must-see movie. Hitchcock praised the film often and its influence can be seen strongly in his work in the late-1950s into the 1960s. (The novel Diabolique is based on was written By Boileau and Narcejac who wrote the source novel for Vertigo (1958).) In my estimation, it creatively revived Hitchcock as a director.

The locations are hauntingly shabby and mirror Christina’s internal strife, both her physical ailment and psychological stress. In all honesty, I’m struggling a little bit to discuss the high points of the film without giving too much away. That shouldn’t be too surprising though, given that this is one of the first films to carry a spoiler warning.

“Do not be evil! Do not destroy the interest your friends might have in this movie. Do not tell them what you saw. Thanks for them.”

Where can I find it?

At Movie Madness under French Film - French Directors - Henri-Georges Clouzot

Mildred Pierce (1945)

111 min. | Director: Michael Curtiz

Screenwriters: Ranald MacDougall, Catherine Turney (Novel by James M. Cain)

Stars: Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Ann Blyth, Eve Arden

What’s the story?

Monte Beragon (Zachary Scott) is murdered, shot dead in his beach house. His wife, Mildred Pierce Beragon (Joan Crawford) flees the house. When Mildred is brought in by the police, she finds out that her first husband, Bert, is going down for the murder. In an effort to protect him, for she knows him to be innocent, Mildred begins telling the detective the story of the past few years of her life that led her to that beach house with her ex-husband’s gun. However, the story may be a little more complicated than she lets on.

Why should I watch it?

Mildred Pierce was adapted from a novel of the same name by James M. Cain, whose work was also adapted for Double Indemnity (1944) (which I mentioned in my last Noirvember post) and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). If you like those films, there is a very good chance you’ll also like Mildred Pierce, but this film is a little less hard-boiled than the others. Mildred Pierce is a skillful intertwining of noir with “weepies,” the melodrama sub-genre. How far the love of a wife and mother can reach is not a common Noir story, but how twisted that love can be is actually perfect Noir fodder.

Joan Crawford rightfully won an Academy Award for her portrayal of the title character, but she’s girded by rich performances from the supporting cast. Eve Arden and Butterfly McQueen always stand out to me in this film, both infusing a whole lot of character into their rather small roles.

Mildred Pierce is also shot beautifully. It’s a perfect Noir image of rainy mid-century Los Angeles.

Where can I find it?

At Movie Madness under Classics - Classic Actors - Joan Crawford

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shanedakotamuir · 5 years

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Taylor Swift’s “Beautiful Ghosts” might be the best part of the Cats movie

Universal Pictures

The new song Swift wrote with Andrew Lloyd Webber has a lot to teach us about cats, “Memory,” and fangirls.

“Beautiful Ghosts,” the song that Taylor Swift put words to for Tom Hooper’s upcoming Cats movie, has arrived — and guess what? Swift might be Cats creator and famed Broadway composer Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ideal lyricist.

Lloyd Webber, a.k.a. ALW, is the man who brought the world Phantom of the Opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, and one of the most recorded songs in theatre history, “Memory” from Cats. (Estimates for the number of artists who’ve covered the song range from 150 to 600+.) ALW is notorious for writing musicals with beautiful music and weak lyrics. But “Beautiful Ghosts” makes a compelling argument that what every ALW musical needs is a shrewd lyricist who was once a teenage girl — and who, consequently, is not embarrassed to embrace the gushy romantic heart of his music.

The song was released November 15 as promotion for film ramps up ahead of the movie’s December 20 release date. And while the new trailer that followed sent us into a grim, slow meltdown, “Beautiful Ghosts” is a good song that suggests niceness can still emerge from this trainwreck of a film.

Here are five reasons “Beautiful Ghosts” is worth a second listen, or several.

1) It adds to our understanding of Victoria, the White Cat

Believe it or not, this cat you’ve never heard of before is our main character.

“Beautiful Ghosts” isn’t a showy end-credits pop song; it’s a new song inserted into the plot of the show. I use “plot” very loosely. Cats the musical is based on the work of great modernist poet T.S. Eliot, set to music by ALW. It’s about ... cats choosing who will go to cat heaven. (Yes, really.)

Not many people remember how weird the plot of Cats is because the only Cats detail most people care about is “Memory,” — a song that musicologist Jessica Sternfeld summarized as “a hit song of massive proportions, by some estimations the most successful song ever from a musical.” But “Memory” itself is such a weird song.

It’s performed by a character named “Grizabella, the Glamour Cat,” a lone, starving alley cat who was once a famously beautiful cat (?!) before she became a friendless, down-on-her-luck feline sex worker (?!?!). She “haunted low resorts” and was exiled by all the cats, until her depression and despair, articulated in “Memory,” finally provokes their sympathy — for which her reward is ... getting to die.

Yup. That’s Cats!

“Beautiful Ghosts” will follow “Memory” in the upcoming film. The cat who sings it, Victoria, is principally a dancer, and in the musical her character is creepily portrayed mainly through her dawning sexual awakening. But in Hooper’s film, Victoria has a bigger role: Now, the entire story is framed through her point of view, and Victoria is a younger mirror of Grizabella.

In “Beautiful Ghosts,” Victoria echoes “Memory” and reflects on Grizabella’s tragic life, as well as her own. “Memory” keeps calling for “new life,” while through “Beautiful Ghosts,” Victoria transitions from “Memory’s” sadness to a joy that’s all her own — through the realization that she loves the life she has. Where “Memory” is fuzzy, with vague hints of former happiness, “Beautiful Ghosts” weaves a mini-narrative of Victoria’s life: Cast onto the streets, apparently by cruel former owners, she distrusts other cats, but eventually befriends them and comes to love her life. With this one song, she goes from being opaque and silent to having depth, complexity, and a backstory that doesn’t involve her being a sex object.

2) It helps us understand “Memory”

Even though “Beautiful Ghosts” is sung by Victoria to Grizabella, it also gives us crucial insight into Grizabella’s life. When Victoria sings lines like, “Should I take chances when no one took chances on me?” she’s simultaneously referencing her own life and Grizabella’s: Grizabella at least knew a time when she was loved and admired, and had human companionship to look back on. Victoria has only known rejection.

Taylor Swift has clearly asked herself, “How can I bring more coherence to “Memory,” a weird-ass song about a cat who is also a sex worker who is also dying and friendless and stuck with her memories of having once been very hot?” The solution, which she provides in “Beautiful Ghosts,” is to give Grizabella slightly more of a past.

In a recent radio interview, Swift described her approach to creating the song — which involved contrasting Victoria’s life with Grizabella’s:

‘Memory’ is Grizabella singing about how she had all these beautiful, incredible moments in her past. She had these glittering occasions and she felt beautiful and she felt wanted and now she doesn’t feel that way anymore.

This is fanfic on Swift’s part. While this glittering history can be implied, it’s not literally in the lyrics to “Memory,“ or anywhere else in Cats — the most concrete detail “Memory” offers is that Grizabella once enjoyed “days in the sun.” It’s a huge bonus to see Grizabella given a more concrete backstory that has nothing to do with her, uh, hanging out in brothels.

“Beautiful Ghosts” explains that Grizabella was “born into nothing” but now has memories of “dazzling rooms” and a time she was not just beautiful, but loved. In essence, Swift has not only crafted a satisfying character song for Victoria — she’s deepened Grizabella and “Memory” too.

3) It’s clearly a song that could be sung by a cat

This is hard! “Memory” couldn’t manage it — the song does not remotely sound like as if it’s sung by a character who is a cat. But from the first line of “Beautiful Ghosts” (“follow me home if you dare to”) the song feels like one that could be sung by a cat — one who has wandered the streets, hearing the voices of its fellow cats in the dark. Victoria sings of the “wild ones” who “tame the fear” within her as she longs to “get let into” the rooms inhabited by the humans she once knew and yearned for love from. These are bittersweet lyrics, but more importantly, they’re lyrics that pretty clearly describe the life of a cat.

The extent to which Swift has thought about how cats feel becomes increasingly apparent when you realize that “Beautiful Ghosts” is a hymn to found family and the alley cat existence, the freedom of a life lived on the streets, and the beauty of, well, a gang of stray cats. (If this is also maybe starting to sound like a metaphor for marginalized communities finding strength in each other after being turned out of their homes, well, nobody knows how to appropriate queer pride like Taylor Swift.)

4) It hints at what a new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical could be like with a smart lyricist who embraces his romanticism

youtube

The typical trade-off with Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals is that his lush, lofty melodic lines take priority over lyrics. This approach works to make his songs popular — after all, studies have shown that sweeping, ascendant melodies make people feel intense emotions. But if the lyrics are weak — for example, if characters say lines that feel overblown, generic, or irrelevant to the story they’re in — then the musical as a whole can suffer.

The general wisdom among musical theater fans is that ALW was only truly great when he was composing with his earliest collaborator, the brilliant lyricist Tim Rice. The ALW/Rice shows (Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Evita) are fantastic — witty, satirical, and incisive, ranging from complex political themes to rollicking whimsy and charming pastiche. But as good as they are, it’s obvious that they weren’t the kind of shows ALW really wanted to write, because after the team split up, ALW wrote a series of increasingly sentimental shows, from 1982’s generically sad Song and Dance to 1989’s bonkers melodrama Aspects of Love (which I love).

ALW’s later shows’ scores were often gorgeous, full of beautiful melodies. But the plots were often too soapy, and he bounced around between lyricists who frequently paired his music with asinine words. When ALW was working with someone equally as or more talented than he was, he managed to create popular, lasting shows, including Cats and Phantom of the Opera, helmed by the late great director Hal Prince. But ALW didn’t always work with equals who could rein him in. And so he only kept getting more extravagant in his desire to combine deeply emotional musical motifs with schmoopy, overblown storylines. In other words, post-Rice, ALW has always been hampered by his own self-indulgence and the lack of a lyricist as good at writing lyrics as ALW is at writing music.

That’s why a Taylor Swift-ALW collaboration is genuinely exciting. In the annals of ALW collaborators, Swift may be the first lyricist with the range, experience, and stature to stand alongside Rice. But more importantly, she clearly loves Cats, loves the music, and loves actual cats. In that interview quoted above, for example, she discussed Victoria’s cat psychology at length. I cannot imagine any circumstances in which Tim Rice would say, as Swift did in that interview, “I got you. I know what that cat would say.”

And that may be what so many previous ALW musicals have lacked: the enthusiasm of a smart, savvy songwriter who’s also not afraid to unironically love and embrace her subject matter. Taylor Swift isn’t just a brilliant songwriter who credits the lyrics of Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz for teaching her to write music with sharp edges and blatant emotive power. She’s also a fangirl. And fangirls know how to deliver deep, smart character studies while amplifying the emotional core of the stories they love.

That combination of shrewd songwriting and passion is what propels the final verse of “Beautiful Ghosts” into something truly great.

5) “Beautiful Ghosts” has a surprise twist ending

Taylor Swift learned a lot from brilliant country songwriters, and one of the common country song traits she likes to carry forward is the “twist.” That’s when the final stanza upends the original meaning of the song and shifts the refrain into something new, surprising, and even richer.

Throughout “Beautiful Ghosts,” Victoria has emphasized the fact that Grizabella still has her memories: “at least you have something to cling to ... at least you have beautiful ghosts,” she sings, and the ghosts are the memories of Grizabella’s life of being beautiful and adored.

By contrast, Victoria herself has always lived on the streets, eventually taken in by the stray cats she eventually began to see as family. Initially, she describes the strays as voices she can only hear in the dark, while she wanders the streets, “alone and haunted.” Later, they become “phantoms of night,” as they lure her into her new exciting life.

Finally, when Victoria has her epiphany that she’s happy with her friends, and she loves her alleycat life, she shifts from singing enviously to Grizabella about the “beautiful ghosts” of her memories. Instead, she sings, “So I’ll dance with these beautiful ghosts.”

The ghosts at the end of the song are the cats! Victoria’s ghosts are flesh and blood, and also have you ever met a cat, cats are clearly ghosts, with their silent paws and their eerie glow-eyes, and their ability to vanish into thin air. (Holy shit, the ghosts are the cats!)

Only Taylor Swift could turn a metaphor about lost memories into a literal description of cats that is also a metaphor for found families and friendship. Don’t argue with me, this is perfect.

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/338d6zM

#Vox - All

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corneliusreignallen · 5 years

Text

Taylor Swift’s “Beautiful Ghosts” might be the best part of the Cats movie

Universal Pictures

The new song Swift wrote with Andrew Lloyd Webber has a lot to teach us about cats, “Memory,” and fangirls.

Here are five reasons “Beautiful Ghosts” is worth a second listen, or several.

1) It adds to our understanding of Victoria, the White Cat

Believe it or not, this cat you’ve never heard of before is our main character.

Yup. That’s Cats!

2) It helps us understand “Memory”

In a recent radio interview, Swift described her approach to creating the song — which involved contrasting Victoria’s life with Grizabella’s:

3) It’s clearly a song that could be sung by a cat

4) It hints at what a new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical could be like with a smart lyricist who embraces his romanticism

youtube

That combination of shrewd songwriting and passion is what propels the final verse of “Beautiful Ghosts” into something truly great.

5) “Beautiful Ghosts” has a surprise twist ending

Only Taylor Swift could turn a metaphor about lost memories into a literal description of cats that is also a metaphor for found families and friendship. Don’t argue with me, this is perfect.

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/338d6zM

#Vox - All

0 notes

gracieyvonnehunter · 5 years

Text

Taylor Swift’s “Beautiful Ghosts” might be the best part of the Cats movie

Universal Pictures

The new song Swift wrote with Andrew Lloyd Webber has a lot to teach us about cats, “Memory,” and fangirls.

Here are five reasons “Beautiful Ghosts” is worth a second listen, or several.

1) It adds to our understanding of Victoria, the White Cat

Believe it or not, this cat you’ve never heard of before is our main character.

Yup. That’s Cats!

2) It helps us understand “Memory”

In a recent radio interview, Swift described her approach to creating the song — which involved contrasting Victoria’s life with Grizabella’s:

3) It’s clearly a song that could be sung by a cat

4) It hints at what a new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical could be like with a smart lyricist who embraces his romanticism

youtube

That combination of shrewd songwriting and passion is what propels the final verse of “Beautiful Ghosts” into something truly great.

5) “Beautiful Ghosts” has a surprise twist ending

Only Taylor Swift could turn a metaphor about lost memories into a literal description of cats that is also a metaphor for found families and friendship. Don’t argue with me, this is perfect.

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/338d6zM

#Vox - All

0 notes

networkingdefinition · 5 years

Text

Caffeine Quotes

Official Website: Caffeine Quotes

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• A 3K word story might well be done in some caffeine-and-nicotine-fuelled 36 hour session, and at the end of it, there’ll be a few passes of editing required, but I basically have a polished draft. – Hal Duncan • Actually caffeine is too hard on my system. I’m a delicate boy from Plano, Texas. – John Benjamin Hickey • Always drink at least 8 ounces of water or a sugar-free decaffeinated beverage with every meal or snack. If you are a heavy caffeine user, gradually reduce caffeine intake to zero whenever possible. – Barry Sears • Americans are used to being pandered to and spoon-fed everything. In a culture that needs caffeine-free cherry chocolate diet Coke, you’d best deliver information with entertainment. – Bill Maher • Anyone who doubts that caffeine is a drug should read some of the prose composed under its influence. – Anne Fadiman

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Caffeine', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_caffeine').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_caffeine img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Band of Skulls is joining Cage the Elephant as my new musical caffeine. • By now, it is probably very late at night, and you have stayed up to read this book when you should have gone to sleep. If this is the case, then I commend you for falling into my trap. It is a writer’s greatest pleasure to hear that someone was kept up until the unholy hours of the morning reading one of his books. It goes back to authors being terrible people who delight in the suffering of others. Plus, we get a kickback from the caffeine industry. – Brandon Sanderson • Caffeine dehydrates the body and speeds up the aging of the skin and kidneys. – Ann Louise Gittleman • Caffeine dehydrates the brain and body. – Daniel Amen • Caffeine gives me hope. Sometimes, when I brew my wicked strong Irish black tea just perfect, about halfway through the mug I feel a clear and overwhelming feeling of optimism. It didn’t surprise me when a study a few years ago implied that suicide was much less likely among coffee and tea drinkers. – John Vanderslice • Caffeine helps a lot. That and a certain amount of isolation. – Patrick Rothfuss • Caffeine is like a really attractive girl that has nothing to say. You get all jacked up on it and then you’re left feeling hollow and empty. – Adam Levine • Caffeine is my shepherd; I shall not doze. It maketh me to wake in green pastures: It leadeth me beyond the sleeping masses. It restoreth my buzz. – Bob Phillips • Caffeine. The gateway drug. – Eddie Vedder • Complacencies of the peignoir, and late Coffee and oranges in a sunny chair. And the green freedom of a cockatoo Upon a rug mingle to dissipate The holy hush of ancient sacrifice – Wallace Stevens • Couldn’t start the morning without caffeine. – Ginnifer Goodwin • Diet Coke does not contain nasty chemicals. It contains lovely and delicious carbonation, caffeine, and aspartame. What’s unnatural about that? – Meg Cabot • Doing something does not require discipline. It creates its own discipline – with a little help from caffeine. – Annie Dillard • Drink it,” I told her. “It’s good for what ails you. Caffeine and sugar. I don’t drink it, so I ran over to your house and stole the expensive stuff in your freezer. It shouldn’t be that bad. Samuel told me to make it strong and pour sugar into it. It should taste sort of like bitter syrup.” She gave me a smile smile, then a bigger one, and plugged her nose before she drank it down in one gulp. “Next time,” she said in a hoarse voice, “I make the coffee. – Patricia Briggs • Either the kid was naturally hyper or he was hopped up on enough caffeine to give a heart attack to a water buffalo. – Rick Riordan • Fitness has always been a big part of my life, so I train twice a day, every day, as I always have done, but also eating very healthfully. I don’t eat sugar, I don’t have caffeine, I don’t eat wheat – I look after my body outside and inside. It’s just a part of who I’ve always been. – Neil Jackson • For a successful strategy session, keep the food light, the lights bright, and drink caffeine all night. – Mike Brown • For me, if I get up and don’t meditate and don’t eat something before having caffeine, I go from 0 to 10 on the stress scale. – Gabrielle Bernstein • Heaven knows that alcohol is the worst thing in the world, but it’s debatable whether cocaine is worse than caffeine or whether it’s the same thing and they just changed the name. – Merle Haggard • I am running on fumes, so it’s time to get centered again. I start with eating healthier and cutting out caffeine – at least cutting back on caffeine. I exercise and get outside to play. I reconnect with my spiritual practice, which is daily meditation and prayer. Most importantly, I reconnect with my family and friends. If all else fails, a few deep breaths. – Amber Valletta • I can’t wake up at all without caffeine. – Andrew Rannells • I don’t have the time to devote to circles or covens. I have to fit things in when and where I can, in stolen moments and cups of coffee. Stirring clockwise to conjure. Widdershins to banish. There’s never enough time, and rarely enough caffeine, but I make do with what I have. Besides, cauldrons and pointy hats are overrated. Sometimes I see other customers practicing. Pouring their cream and sugar with studied intent. Stirring with purpose. I add an extra spoonful of sugar to my own coffee for them, to make all of our enchantments sweeter. – Erin Morgenstern • I don’t have hardly any caffeine, I don’t drink alcohol and I watch my red meat intake. My diet at the minute seems to be verging towards the vegetarian, which is surprising me because I tend to just listen to what my body is fancying. – Jayne Middlemiss • I don’t know where my ideas come from. I will admit, however, that one key ingredient is caffeine. I get a couple cups of coffee into me and weird things just start to happen. – Gary Larson • I don’t usually drink caffeine so that when I need it, it actually does something. – Anna Kendrick • I drink booze, I smoke, and I’m hooked on caffeine. I actually have been known to swear at times and belch and even raise my voice when provoked. And I’m not physically repressed! – Helena Bonham Carter • i drink caffeine” she said calmly “lot’s of it gives you pep – Ally Carter • I drink mate every day during training camp, and just in general. It’s packed full of vitamins and nutrients and a lot of B vitamins that you would normally get from meat. The caffeine in there affects me less and it’s more like a stimulant. I can drink more of it and it’s hydrating as well. It’s one of my favorite drinks, especially on a cold morning. – Chris Algieri • I love cranberry juice, but I’m not a coffee drinker – as a Mormon, I avoid caffeine. – Donny Osmond • I love Starbucks. Maybe thats a bit sad. But I definitely need my caffeine. Its what gets me out of bed in the morning. – Nikki Sixx • I ordered a soda – caffeine-free, low sodium, no artificial flavors. They brought me a glass of water. – Robert E. Murray • I still encourage anyone who feels at all compelled to write to do so. I just try to warn people who hope to get published that publication is not all it is cracked up to be. But writing is. Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. That thing you had to force yourself to do – the actual act of writing – turns out to be the best part. It’s like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony. The act of writing turns out to be its own reward. – Anne Lamott • I take them 8 to 80, dumb, crippled, and crazy. Crisp and clean with no caffeine, and a pair of spandex or either tight jeans. – Big Daddy Kane • I think I’ve reduced the amount of blood in my caffeine system to an acceptable level. – Alastair Reynolds • I try to stay sane and grounded by hunkering down, eating right, and exercising. I make a routine of spin class, yoga, and Pilates, places I push my body so hard I can lose my mind. Cutting out caffeine and sugar, being mindful, and getting enough rest are important. – Jaime Murray • I used to drink tons of caffeine. Now I make smoothies with frozen berries and Green Vibrance health powder. – Leighton Meester • I used to smoke cigarettes, ten a day, but gave up when I was 28. Now my vice is several cups of coffee a day, which isn’t great if you’re prone to weak bones as I am, as caffeine can leach calcium. – Britt Ekland • I want vasopressin, washed caffeine, Jumpstart, ginkgo biloba, guarana, and any intelligence enhancer introduced in the last five years. – Warren Ellis • I would drink gallons of coffee a day. Even now, off caffeine, I talk faster than anyone you’ve ever met. I finally recognized that I’m naturally amped up. But when I quit I was worried that I would never write again. It was like anyone who’s kicked a habit. I was in a blanket shivering, trying to kick the horse. – Nathan Englander • I would love to think there is a direct relationship between coffee and genius, but they’ve done studies, and if anything, caffeine probably makes you a little less creative. – Eric Weiner • I’d listen to things that felt really good in the moment and realize they were clouded by enthusiasm or caffeine. And things that I was struggling to get out ended up being really compelling. It’s an emotional roller coaster; there’s exhilaration and there’s shame. – Annie E. Clark • If they took all the drugs, nicotine, alcohol and caffeine off the market for six days, they’d have to bring out the tanks to control you. – Dick Gregory • If you want to have a nonmiraculous day, I suggest that newspaper and caffeine form the crux of your morning regimen. Listen to the morning news while you’re in the shower, read the headlines as you are walking out the door, make sure you’re keeping tabs on everything: the wars, the economy, the gossip, the natural disasters. . . But if you want the day ahead to be full of miracles, then spend some time each morning with God. – Marianne Williamson • If you want to understand a society, take a good look at the drugs it uses. And what can this tell you about American culture? Well, look at the drugs we use. Except for pharmaceutical poison, there are essentially only two drugs that Western civilization tolerates: Caffeine from Monday to Friday to energize you enough to make you a productive member of society, and alcohol from Friday to Monday to keep you too stupid to figure out the prison that you are living in. – Bill Hicks • I’m a really skinny guy, I’m real tall, and I have a very high metabolism, so if I drink anything with caffeine in it, it makes me have an anxiety attack. So I can’t do coffee, or cola, or coffee ice cream, or any of those things. They make me feel like I’m going berserk. – Mark Hosler • I’m active even on bad days; it’s tough to pin me down. People ask me if I’m a morning or night person. I’m an all-the-time person. I like drinking coffee, but I do it with lots of milk because my energy levels are high even without caffeine. You could call me Obelix, except I don’t have a belly. – Bipasha Basu • Interesting choice,” Sullivan said. He slid his gaze over to Paul, who was drumming his fingers on the table in a manic, caffeine-inspired way and blinking a lot. Paul wasn’t out-and-out singing along with the king of the dead, but he might as well have put out a big neon sign saying “How’s My Driving? Ask Me About My Nerves: 1-800-WIG-N-OUT.” –James – Maggie Stiefvater • Is my music indicative of a caffeine-surged green liquid? Probably not. – Alan Palomo • It’s all I have left in my life, caffeine and a poodle. – Brad Garrett • It’s the fine balance of caffeine and alcohol that bookends my days – Tim Minchin • Marijuana is not not harmful, but is the least harmful psychoactive substance that we have, with the possible exception of caffeine. – Maia Szalavitz • My major vice is sarcasm with a side of caffeine addiction. – Rosemary Clement-Moore • Never drink diet soda. It shows you have no nerve. Only drink real colas, caffeine-packed energy drinks, or vitamin water. Hate champagne because that’s what everyone expects you to love. Energy drinks are the best party drinks. You never get tired, you never get a hangover, and you can make fun of all the loaded people who think they’re clever but are really acting stupid. – Paris Hilton • Never had a cup of coffee in my life. Dr Pepper is my caffeine delivery system of choice. – Steven Soderbergh • Once I had a potentially heart attack-inducing eight double espressos in one day. I think my assistant secretly swaps my coffees for decaf as she doesn’t want me to die of caffeine overdose. – Steven Soderbergh • One of the things that’s interesting to me is I find things like caffeine and stunts actually relax me. When they’re putting a bit of gel on my arm and lighting me on fire, or when I’m about to go into a high-speed car chase or rev a motorcycle up pretty fast, I find everything else around me slows down. – Nicolas Cage • People often say that writing is ten percent inspiration and ninety percent perspiration. This is nonsense, of course. It’s pretty much one hundred percent caffeine. – Caprice Crane • Rebus was eating breakfast in the canteen and wishing there was more caffeine in the coffee, or more coffee in the coffee come to that. – Ian Rankin • Recently I quit caffeine. My doctor seems to think that 17 Diet Cokes per day is too much. In case you ever consider getting off caffeine yourself, let me explain the process. You begin by sitting motionlessly in a desk chair. Then you just keep doing that forever because life has no meaning. – Scott Adams • Rewards can deliver a short-term boost—just as a jolt of caffeine can keep you cranking for a few more hours. But the effect wears off—and, worse, can reduce a person’s longer-term motivation to continue the project. – Daniel H. Pink • Settle down, pup. I ain’t had my caffeine yet.” – Sundown – Sherrilyn Kenyon • Sleep is just a good idea. I bow to the god caffeine. – Jo-Ann Mapson • Sleep is just a symptom of caffeine lack – Herman Friele • Sleep: a poor substitute for caffeine! – Wallace Shawn • So I forcibly shove aside my prickles of pissed-off, which is easier than it sounds when millions of little sequined caffeine dancers are doing their big Broadway number on your internal stage. – Deb Caletti • Sometimes you have good days, and sometimes you have bad days. It really depends on how much caffeine you’ve had. – Chris Colfer • Starbucks says they are going to start putting religious quotes on cups. The very first one will say, ‘Jesus! This cup is expensive!’ – Conan O’Brien • Stop,” I said. “Please do not further endorken yourself to me. You have great hair and a car that is most fly, and you have just saved me with your mad ninja driving skills, so do not sully your heroic hottie image in my mind by further reciting your nerdy scholastic agenda. Don’t tell me what you’re studying, Steve, tell me what’s in your soul. What haunts you?” And he was like, “Dude, you need to cut back on the caffeine. – Christopher Moore • Sugar and caffeine. My willpower crumbled. – Rick Riordan • Tai chi is the one exercise that can universally help solve our growing health crisis. It has stood the test of thousands of years. We have a generation of baby boomers with increasing health problems; old people who are sick, in pain, fearful, and cranky; a middle class that is increasingly incapable of affording most of the drugs that are prescribed for their ailments; children that are flaccid, diabetic and asthmatic. People of all ages are addicted to drugs, alcohol, sugar, cigarettes, and caffeine. Stress follows almost everyone like a shadow. – Bruce Frantzis • There are a couple of homeopathic things that can be done, but you can’t really beat good rest and lots of water. That’s the honest truth. Making sure I’m well-rested and hydrated makes a big difference. Warm water and honey is a go-to, I don’t really drink tea unless it’s absolutely organic, because otherwise the caffeine will dry my voice out for some reason. – Miguel • There are two things that I cannot live without: music and books. Caffeine isn’t dignified enough to qualify. – Carlos Ruiz Zafon • There is no such thing as sleep deprivation, there is only caffeine deficiency. – Richard Simmons • This coffee falls into your stomach, and straightway there is a general commotion. Ideas begin to move like the battalions of the Grand Army of the battlefield, and the battle takes place. Things remembered arrive at full gallop, ensuing to the wind. The light cavalry of comparisons deliver a magnificent deploying charge, the artillery of logic hurry up with their train and ammunition, the shafts of with start up like sharpshooters. Similes arise, the paper is covered with ink; for the struggle commences and is concluded with torrents of black water, just as a battle with powder. – Honore de Balzac • Those fruity drinks better have a lot of caffeine in them or I’ll never make it through World Issues. – Lisi Harrison • To develop intuition, one of the things you can do is pay attention to what you eat. Eat as clean a diet as you can. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables without preservatives, without alcohol, caffeine, dyes, and organically grown if possible. But do what is comfortable for your. Don’t try to shift into a lifestyle that doesn’t fit, but be aware that the lighter you eat the lighter you will feel. – Gary Zukav • We have too many poisons in our diets now, like sugar and caffeine. – Jasmine Guinness • We’re machines for turning caffeine into physics – Nima Arkani-Hamed • Widespread caffeine use explains a lot about the twentieth century. – Greg Egan • You can never have too much coffee”, I said He turned and smiled at me. “You think so, but the rest of us get a little OD’ed on your level of caffeine. – Laurell K. Hamilton

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equitiesstocks · 5 years

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Caffeine Quotes

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