#perfectly fine 15-20 minute short film

[talesfromthecrypts]

Shudder’s 101 Scariest Movie Moments

Episode 4: 62-50

#101 scariest movie moments #horroredit #userscary #usergiles #classichorrorblog #mygifs #telling y'all right now you do not have to watch past the 20 minute mark of when a stranger calls #no need to waste your time like that #perfectly fine 15-20 minute short film #rest of the movie is bad

[midnighthangintree]

Eras Tour Setlist and Surprise/Secret Songs (as of March 3, 2024)

Taylor Swift

Tim McGraw - March 17

Picture to Burn - July 14

Teardrops on My Guitar - May 5 and February 18

A Place in this World - April 22

Cold as You - April 23

The Outside - February 9

Tied Together with a Smile - July 23

Stay Beautiful - November 17

Should’ve Said No - May 19, February 24 (Mashup w/ You're Not Sorry)

Mary’s Song

Our Song - March 24 and August 4 (Guitar Surprise song in Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour film)

I’m Only Me When I’m with You - June 30

Invisible - May 20

A Perfectly Good Heart

Fearless (Taylor’s Version)

Fearless

Fifteen - May 6

Love Story

Hey Stephen - May 14

White Horse - March 25, February 23 (Mashup w/ Coney Island, w/ Sabrina Carpenter)

You Belong With Me

Breathe (feat. Colbie Callait) - June 10

Tell Me Why - August 25

You’re Not Sorry - April 21, February 24 (Mashup w/ Should've Said No)

The Way I Loved You

Forever & Always - May 13, February 26 (Mashup w/ Maroon)

The Best Day - May 14

Change

Jump Then Fall - April 2

Untouchable - November 25

Come In with the Rain - February 10

Superstar

The Other Side of the Door - April 28 and February 17 (Mashup w/ Getaway Car and August)

Today Was a Fairytale - April 22

You All Over Me (feat. Maureen Morris) - June 3

Mr. Perfectly Fine - June 16

We Were Happy

That’s When (feat. Keith Urban)

Don’t You

Bye Bye Baby

If This Was a Movie - June 23

Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) - Announced May 5th, 2023. Released on July 7th, 2023.

Mine - May 7, March 2 (Mashup w/ Starlight)

Sparks Fly - May 5

Back to December - July 15

Speak Now - April 13

Dear John - June 24

Mean - April 15

The Story of Us - June 17, March 3 (Mashup w/ Long Story Short)

Never Grow Up - July 7

Enchanted

Better than Revenge - November 12

Innocent - November 24

Haunted - June 9, February 25 (Mashup w/ Exile)

Last Kiss - July 8

Long Live (added to setlist on July 7th for the release of Speak Now TV. Performed on the same koi fish guitar from the Speak Now Tour) (removed from Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour movie.)

Ours - March 31

Superman - February 9

Electric Touch (featuring Fall Out Boy) - February 8

When Emma Falls in Love - July 7

I Can See You (music video released to concertgoers on July 7 and online on July 8) - August 3

Castles Crumbling (featuring Hayley Williams) - July 28

Foolish One

Timeless - July 14

Red (Taylor’s Version)

State of Grace - March 18

Red - May 21 (Performed on Guitar instead of Piano due to rain damage from May 20), February 16

Treacherous - April 13

I Knew You Were Trouble

22

I Almost Do - June 9

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

Stay Stay Stay - July 29

The Last Time (featuring Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol) - June 16

Holy Ground - May 27 and February 7

Sad Beautiful Tragic - March 31

The Lucky One - April 2

Everything Has Changed (featuring Ed Sheeran) - July 22

Starlight - July 15, March 2 (Mashup w/ Mine)

Begin Again - April 23

The Moment I Knew - June 4

Come Back… Be Here - May 12 and February 18 (Mashup w/ Daylight)

Girl at Home

Ronan

Better Man - May 19

Nothing New (featuring Phoebe Bridgers) (added to the setlist on May 5, only to be performed when Phoebe Bridgers is one of the opening acts.)

Babe

Message in a Bottle - July 23

I Bet You Think About Me (featuring Chris Stapleton) - April 30

Forever Winter

Run (featuring Ed Sheeran)

The Very First Night - November 9

All Too Well (10 Minute Version)

Eyes Open - February 8

Safe and Sound - November 25

1989 (Taylor’s Version) - Announced August 8th, 2023. Released October 27, 2023.

Welcome to New York - May 28

Blank Space

Style

Out of the Woods - May 6 and November 11 (mashup w/ Is It Over Now?)

All You Had to Do Was Stay - June 10

Shake It Off

I Wish You Would - June 2, February 25 (Mashup w/ Is It Over Now?)

Bad Blood

Wildest Dreams

How You Get the Girl - April 30, February 23

This Love - May 13

I Know Places - August 8

Clean - April 1, May 28. March 3 (Mashup w/ Evermore)

Wonderland - April 21

You Are in Love - August 4

New Romantics - August 9

"Slut!" - November 12

Say Don't Go - November 26

Now That We Don't Talk - November 24

Suburban Legends - November 17

Is It Over Now? - November 11 (mashup w/ Out of the Woods), February 25 (Mashup w/ I Wish You Would)

Sweeter Than Fiction

Reputation

…Ready for It?

End Game (featuring Ed Sheeran and Future) - November 11

I Did Something Bad

Don’t Blame Me

Delicate

Look What You Made Me Do

So It Goes… - November 20

Gorgeous - April 29

Getaway Car - May 26 (w/ Jack Antonoff) and February 17 (Mashup with August and The Other Side Of The Door)

King of My Heart - August 8

Dancing with Our Hands Tied - November 19

Dress - August 23, March 2 (Mashup w/ I Don't Want to Live Forever

This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things - July 22

Call It What You Want - July 1

New Year’s Day - August 9, February 24 (Mashup w/ Peace)

I Don’t Want to Live Forever - June 3, March 2 (Mashup w/ Dress)

Lover

I Forgot That You Existed - August 24

Cruel Summer

Lover

The Man

The Archer (removed from Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour movie)

I Think He Knows - May 21

Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince

Paper Rings - June 23

Cornelia Street - August 26

Death by a Thousand Cuts - April 1 and August 5

London Boy

Soon You’ll Get Better (featuring The Chicks)

False God - May 27

You Need to Calm Down

Afterglow - August 27

Me! (feat. Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco) - November 20

It’s Nice to Have a Friend

Daylight - June 24 and February 18 (Mashup w/ Come Back... Be Here)

Beautiful Ghosts

Only the Young

All of the Girls You Loved Before - July 29

Folklore

The 1

Cardigan (removed from Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour movie)

The Last Great American Dynasty

Exile (featuring Bon Iver) - August 23, February 25 (Mashup w/ Haunted)

My Tears Ricochet

Mirrorball - March 17

Seven (spoken transition part of setlist) - June 17 (w/ Aaron Dessner)

August - February 17 (Mashup w/ Getaway Car and The Other Side Of The Door)

This Is Me Trying - March 18 and February 17

Illicit Affairs

Invisible String

Mad Woman - April 15 (w/ Aaron Dessner)

Epiphany

Betty

Peace - February 24 (Mashup w/ New Years Day)

Hoax

The Lakes - June 2

Evermore

Willow

Champagne Problems

Gold Rush - May 12

‘Tis the Damn Season

Tolerate It

No Body, No Crime (feat. Haim) (replacing ‘Tis the Damn Season, during the shows where Haim is one of the openers) (removed from Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour movie)

Happiness

Dorothea - July 8

Coney Island (feat. the National) - April 28, February 23 (Mashup w/ White Horse, w/ Sabrina Carpenter)

Ivy - July 1 (w/ Aaron Dessner), February 26 (Mashup w/ Would've, Could've, Should've)

Cowboy Like Me - March 25 (w/ Marcus Mumford)

Long Story Short - March 3 (Mashup w/ The Story of Us)

Marjorie

Closure

Evermore (feat. Bon Iver) - June 30, March 3 (Mashup w/ Clean)

Right Where You Left Me - July 28 (w/ Aaron Dessner)

It’s Time to Go

Midnights - Midnights: The Til Dawn Edition and The Late-Night Edition released on May 26.

Lavender Haze

Maroon - May 26, August 3, August 27, February 26 (Mashup w/ Forever and Always)

Anti-Hero

Snow on the Beach (feat. Lana Del Rey) - March 24 and August 25

You’re on Your Own, Kid - April 14, August 5, August 26, February 10 (Piano Surprise song in Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour film)

Midnight Rain

Question…? - May 20

Vigilante Shit

Bejeweled

Labyrinth - November 9

Karma

Sweet Nothing - August 24

Mastermind

The Great War (w/ Aaron Dessner) - April 14

Bigger Than the Whole Sky - November 19

Paris

High Infidelity - April 29

Glitch

Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve - May 7 (w/ Aaron Dessner), February 26 (Mashup w/ Ivy)

Dear Reader - February 7

Hits Different - June 4

Karma (featuring Ice Spice) (Added to the setlist for shows on May 26, 27, and 28. Music video released for concertgoers on May 26 and online on May 27)

You’re Losing Me (From the Vault) - February 16

Other

I Miss You, I’m Sorry (w/ Gracie Abrams) - July 1

#the eras tour #taylor swift #setlist #theerastour*

[back-and-totheleft]

A true TIFF miracle

During last year's edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, I wrote a column decrying (okay, whining about) the new low in movie-media relations – how access to the artists coming to town had been narrowed from a brief window to a keyhole. Fifteen-minute, one-on-one interviews were shaved down to seven-minute group chats. Blatant lies were issued on a star's availability. And embargoes were instituted on a seemingly arbitrary basis. […]

But hope – or at least a bizarre, unexpected and likely one-time-only form of hope – has come from the most unlikeliest of people: Oliver Stone. Last week, I conducted a FaceTime interview with the filmmaker, for the purposes of a pre-TIFF feature on his new drama Snowden. It was a perfectly fine 17-minute chat, and the feature I produced was, I believe, mostly harmless. Perhaps it was critical of Stone's reluctance to embrace his status as a "political filmmaker," but it was nothing the eternally provocative filmmaker had not encountered before.

So it was a genuine shock when I got a call from Stone's PR reps this past Friday, informing me that Stone "wanted to further the conversation" while he was at TIFF. Was he upset? Did he think I'd misquoted him? Did he want to punch me in the face? Was I going to find myself locked in a crate headed to Moscow? All possibilities seemed reasonable, and I was more than a little petrified.

But getting a hold of the director for that first interview was no easy feat, so to get another shot at talking with him was unprecedented – I had to take it, even if it meant a punch in the face. Of course, I told Stone's handlers, I'd love to talk with Oliver when he's in town. Please ignore the heart palpitations on the other end of the line.The next day, I entered Stone's hotel suite warily – but to my surprise, he didn't want to murder me. He wasn't angry, either. Oliver Stone simply … wanted to "further the conversation."

"I just felt like you were short-changed in those 15 minutes, it felt kind of rushed, and some of those rushed conversations aren't fair," the director said, as my heart rate stabilized. And it wasn't just me whom Stone wanted to talk with – he apparently became so passionate during the rest of his in-town interviews that his schedule was ballooning out of control, with the standard 15-minute slots inching into longer, more detailed exchanges. Unlike a host of talent who are kept at a distance – whether by choice or by a studio's hand – Stone embraced the opportunity with a zealousness that's both refreshing and bewildering. The man simply likes to talk.

And so we did just that. For an un-rushed 20 minutes or so, Stone answered the questions I wasn't able to get to in our original discussion: What he thought of Irina Aleksander's in-depth but critical New York Times Magazine feature on Snowden's production ("I didn't read it, but I heard that some people were hurt"); industry reaction to his absence from the big screen ("According to Variety, Snowden is my comeback – but God almighty, it's as if I hadn't done anything since Nixon!"); and his excitement over an upcoming Matt Zoller Seitz book dissecting his filmography ("If I die tomorrow, I'd like to have it close by as a reminder").

After a few brief flicks at the current geopolitical landscape (Stone recommended the latest James Bamford feature in Foreign Policy magazine), it was time to wrap up, once again.I didn't get punched in the face (which, admittedly, would have made a hell of a story), but I did receive something remarkable: a second chance with an artist who deeply cared about his work. It was a true TIFF miracle.

-Barry Hertz, "Scenes from TIFF, Day 5: An unprecedented second chance," The Globe and Mail, Sep 12 2016 [x]

#oliver stone #tiff #the globe and mail #snowden #toronto

[farfromharry]

summary: harry looks after your little boy alone for the first time

step-dad harry holland x reader

w/c 0.7k

“you’re a life saver.” you kissed him softly, brushing your hand over his curls.

“anything for you, now go, you’re gonna be late.” you smiled, pressing a kiss to theo’s head before leaving.

“so, what do you want to do?” to say harry was nervous would be an understatement, he’d barely looked after a child alone before, except now it was your child, so he wanted everything to go perfect.

the boy shrugged, looking up at harry with his big eyes that resembled yours. you had been called in for a work emergency, and on such short notice you couldn’t get a babysitter. luckily harry was so willing to do this for you.

the two sat in silence for a while, the little boy playing with his toys while harry watched, tried to think of something to do.

“d’you wanna watch a film?” the boy nodded his head, following harry into the living room where he rushed over to your dvd collection.

“can we watch spiderman?” harry nodded, not fully processing what the boy had said. when he handed him the dvd case to put the film in the player his eyes widened, an idea popping into his head.

“hey, theo?” the boy lifted his head.

“what if i took you to meet the real spiderman?” the boy’s eyes lit up, nodding furiously as harry smiled.

“go put your shoes and jacket on, then we’ll go.” harry watched the little boy run away, quickly pulling out his phone and pulling up his messages with his brother.

i need you to do me a big favour. harry hoped his brother would be willing to do this for him.

which is?

can you please put your spiderman costume on, i told theo i’d take him to see the real spiderman. harry could practically feel his brother roll his eyes.

for fuck sake harry

tom please, i really want him to like me

tom knew that his brother was struggling with getting your boy to like him, he was really weary of harry and he understood that, but if he could do this one thing he hoped that would change.

fine, when are you coming?

like 20 minutes

okay

after theo got his shoes and jacket on, harry helped buckle him into his car seat. the drive wasn’t very long, pulling up outside the house within 15 minutes.

“you ready little man?” he nodded his head, taking harry’s hand as they walked up to the front door.

tom opened the door with a wide smile, the little boy gasping as he was stood in front of the real spiderman.

“hey theo,” tom greeted in his fake american accent. “harry here told me you’re a fan of spiderman.” tom ended up entertaining the boy for the next few hours, harry watching with a smile.

“theo, should we take you home bud?” he shook his head with a pout.

“i wanna stay with spiderman.” harry looked at his older brother pleadingly.

“what if he takes you for ice cream?” harry rolled his eyes and the little boy gasped, nodding his head and running over to his mother's boyfriend.

“yeah, we can get ice cream.” he shot tom a subtle glare, picking theo up and resting him on his hip.

“say goodbye theo.”

“bye mr spiderman.”

“bye buddy.” so harry did exactly as he said, taking the boy for his favourite ice cream before finally heading home, hoping they’d be back before you.

“hey you two, i wondered where you were.” your heart warmed at the smiles on their faces.

“harry took me to meet spiderman!” your little boy practically leaped into your arms with excitement, your eyes going to harry who was stood there sheepishly.

“he did?”

“it was amazing, a-and then he took me for ice cream!” theo continued rambling on about how amazing spiderman was, harry watching in adoration as you acted amazed.

“well, sounds like you had a great day hmm?” he nodded.

“can i stay with harry more often?” tears welled in your eyes, happy that he finally started to like your boyfriend.

“if that’s okay with him.” you looked at him, seeing him grin from ear to ear.

“perfectly fine with me.”

harry holland taglist - @euphorichxlland @theliterarymess

#harry holland x reader #harry holland one shot #harry holland imagine #harry holland #dad!harry

[beneaththetangles]

Star Wars: Visions (Review)

Though Star Wars: Visions—a series of animated shorts from about the franchise’s universe created by anime studios (including some of Japan’s most high profiles ones) and now available to stream on Disney+—was initially announced at last year’s Investor’s Day event, the idea of a Star Wars anime has lived in fans’ imaginations from a long, long time ago. The combination of anime and Star Wars feels like a (cybernetic) hand in (black) glove, but for it to come to fruition still feels unreal.

My first love, when it comes to geekdom, fantasy, and media in general, was Star Wars. It captivated my imagination as a child, and with the prequels arriving as I came of age. I had dabbled in anime when I was younger, but that medium didn’t take ahold of me until I was in college, and thus grew simultaneously with this new explosion of Star Wars media that came with the prequels, living and growing side by side (in a symbiotic relationship, if you will).

With that context, I want to present a review of Star Wars: Visions—short reviews of each episode, followed by a fuller evaluation of the entire series—from the perspective of one with a twin passion for Star Wars and anime. I trust you’ll fine many reviews from those who admire the franchise and who love animation, but perhaps a uniqueness here on this post coming through my expertise and passion.

You can jump to any of the reviews through the links below, or just read through by scrolling down:

Episode 1: The Duel

Episode 2: Tatooine Rhapsody

Episode 3: The Twins

Episode 4: The Village Bride

Episode 5: The Ninth Jedi

Episode 6: T0-B1

Episode 7: The Elder

Episode 8: Lop and Ocho

Episode 9: Akakiri

Comprehesive Review

-----

“The Duel” (Episode 1)

Directed by Takanobu Mizuno (Kamikaze Douga), 14 min.

A remarkable start to the collection, it’s obvious why “The Duel” is featured first: It is an obvious and direct meeting of Star Wars with Japan, taking the form of an old samurai film and featuring a storyline familiar in the country, of a ronin protecting a village from bandits. The Star Wars influences come through in choice of weapon (only the lightsabers and energy blasts are in color) and the presence of droids and other familiar forms. Brian Tee and Lucy Liu perfectly capture the leads in a tale that brings a necessary suspense the titular event, while being animated in what looks like a rotoscope style. A kicking introduction to the new show, and one tied to other media also.

Score: 9/10

-----

“Tatooine Rhapsody” (Episode 2)

Directed by Taku Kimura (Studio Colorido), 13 min.

Studio Colorido has quietly become a steady creator of strong anime films in recent years. While they haven’t quite made a classic yet, with movies like Penguin Highway and Netflix’s A Whisker Away, the company does present stories with strong narratives and beautiful animation. The latter is especially on display in “Tatooine Rhapsody,” which has some authentically lovely moments in its simple tale of friendship within a rock band, as the anime company gets the honor of featuring Jabba, Tatooine, and Boba Fett in what might (?) be considered the only canon part of this series. It’s a bit anticlimactic, but well worth the short run time. Also, Joseph Gordon-Levitt voices the lead, so I do believe that’s him singing. I don’t know much about the actor aside from his movie and TV roles, so at least for me, that was a surprising and fun addition to the short, too.

Score: 6.5/10

-----

“The Twins” (Episode 3)

Directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi (Studio Trigger), 17 min.

Gurren Lagann. Kill la Kill. Promare. Star Wars. This was the short that most seemed to look forward to, on our Instagram bringing countless comments saying, “Looks like Gurren Lagann.” Indeed, it was created by Studio Trigger the director of that colorful series. But for the uninitiated, “The Twins” might bring the most dissatisfaction; it does, after all, kind of feel like a bunch of Star Wars pieces thrown together with cheesy dialogue and people breathing and yelling in space. But the fantastical elements and the style of it is what it’s all about. Imaishi’s colorful and outlandish animation is on full display here in the story of two dark-side force conceived twins duking it out over yet another Death Star-like weapon. The dialogue, again, is corny and the visuals matter more than anything, but for those who enjoy the studio (or can see the episode for was it is), this episode is a feast. I’m personally not particularly a fan of Studio Trigger, but I do like their work in short bursts, and so “The Twins” works especially well for me, while being the first of many episodes in Star Wars: Visions that is clearly setting up for a possible series.

Score: 7.5/10

-----

“The Village Bride” (Episode 4)

Hitoshi Haga (Kinema Citrus), 18 min.

My fear from the time these series had been announced was that the studios would simply ship it in, which worried me further when I saw some of the names associated with Star Wars: Visions—both the overworked studios and directors that seemed to be experimental. But Kinema Citrus, which has quietly animated some of the best (Made in Abyss, Barakamon) and most popular (The Rising of the Shield Hero) series of the past decade, did nothing of the sort with their episode. They created a beautiful short (one of the longest, too), with amazing landscapes and a storyline celebrating Japan’s concern for nature, complete with original, haunting music and a tale both mythical and sci-fi that echoes “The Duel” in being about a ronin-type Jedi saving a village. And while I see “The Twins” as possibly become a series due to its commercial value, I would be far more interested both in seeing the character of K (Seto in Japanese) getting a fuller show and Kinema Citrus animating it.

Score: 9/10

-----

“The Ninth Jedi” (Episode 5)

Kenji Kamiyama (Production I.G.), 22 min.

The presence of Kenji Kamiyama, who if you don’t recognize his name now, you will soon when Netflix’s The Lord of the Rings anime comes to fruition with him at the helm, and Production I.G. added big, legitimate names to Star Wars: Visions, but The Ninth Jedi is far more than that: Right in the middle of the nine episodes, and titled as ninth, it is the high point of the episodes, capturing the feel of Star Wars better than any of the other shorts without losing a bit of its anime feel, including the inclusion of heroes and a heroine that would fit perfectly well in either anime or another sci-fi medium. There is time set aside in this tale to develop characters and to bask in the Star Wars universe, master strokes by a genius director. And although I’ve mentioned it with other shorts, this one, too, and more heavily than most of the rest, feels like a test case for a series; I would not be surprised if this short about the recovery of the Jedi taking place in a time far past the events of the films, is meant to be a fuller show, and would be absolutely thrilled if that were the case.

Score: 9.5/10

-----

“T0-B1” (Episode 6)

Abel Góngora (Science SARU), 14 min.

Whenever Science SARU creates an anime, there’s a lot of buzz in the anime community, an excitement to see what creativity they’ll bring to a series or movie. Góngora has been an important part of the team that develops the studio’s unique and often outstanding work, so it’s no surprise that “T0-B1” (pronounced “Toby”) is an utterly beautiful series to watch. Much like “The Twins,” this short is all about the style, and it is impeccable, both imaginative and exciting. The storyline exists to honor Osamu Tezuka, “The Father of Manga,” by serving as an homage to Astro Boy, whose anime adaptation is a turning point in the form’s history; as such, it’s to be taken very much in light of being a self-contained and purposeful piece rather than as a simple addition to the Star Wars universe.

Score: 8/10

-----

“The Elder” (Episode 7)

Masahiko Otsuka (Studio Trigger), 15 min.

Among the aspects that the prequels introduced to the Star Wars universe was the Sith, and with them an increasing brutality to the franchise. Tonally, this is on display in the seventh episode of the series, and the second from Studio Trigger. As a standalone, it’s awkward and stilted during its first half (and wastes David Harbour as the voice of its lead), though it steadily leads toward what we assume will be a duel and at least one tragedy. That duel itself is effective and worth the long build-up, while the episode also presents some new information (canonical?), at least to this Star Wars fan, to chew on. It allows us to listen to the glorious voice talents of James Hong, as well, while additionally basking in another episode that brings a Japanese-looking environment to the world of Star Wars.

Score: 7/10

-----

“Lop and Ochō” (Episode 8)

Yuki Igarashi (Geno Studio), 20 min.

At twenty minutes, “Lop and Ochō” is the longest of the films, though not long enough. Focusing on how the Empire has twisted a family (and introducing a furry Jedi into the Star Wars universe), the plot feels familiar, with it’s story seemingly plucking plot points out of all three original films but set against the backdrop of a classical Japanese world. But as I inferred, it reaches its climax without the emotional impetus is should; there needed to be more family and world-building here. Still, it’s a lovely piece, with lots of ambition, heart, and incredible animation from the talented artist at Geno Studio. Here’s another full series I would adore if it were greenlit.

Score: 7.5 / 10

-----

“Akakiri” (Episode 9)

Eunyoung Choi (Science SARU), 13 min.

The final episode of the series is the one I was also most curious about. Once again, it’s an offering from the always-imaginative studio, Science SARU, but this time directed by co-founder Eunyoung Choi, who has no experience in direction. How would she handle this piece? I was rooting for her, both as an “underdog”—a woman in the business and creative side of anime and a Korean in the Japanese industry—and simply as a head of a favorite anime studio. And she delivers as well as an experienced director. Episode nine, with its tale of a Jedi returning to help a friend but also tempted by the dark side, is by storyline the closest to pre-existing Star Wars work, borrowing liberally from the stories of Luke and Anakin Skywalker, and thus, with its connection to the latter, is also the most disturbing. Wondrously animated, it additionally takes a native peoples aesthetic and weaves it in with Japanese and sci-fi ones exceedingly well. Funny, fearsome, and tightly tied together, “Akakiri” is one of the best episodes of this franchise.

Score: 9/10

-----

Comprehensive Review

As mentioned earlier, my fear for Star Wars: Visions was that the short films would be treated by the Japanese studios as after-thoughts, big money projects that would give them a further foothold in American markets and tie them to Disney, while they put less-experience animators to work on them. The Animatrix, in all its inconsistency, also loomed large in the back of my mind, though I would gladly take ups and downs and be happy with it for this beloved series with the thought that we finally have an official Star Wars anime! But a show of all or mostly call-ins would be extremely disappointing.

Thankfully, the limited series if far more than that. Star Wars: Visions is a triumph, a creative, engaging, and enjoyable reimagining of Star Wars by taking the series’ themes, history, and aesthetics and combining those aspect with the same from Japan and the anime medium specifically, leading to the some of the most exciting and best parts of this franchise in its long history. The consistency of the shorts—not in style and story, for part of the appeal, of course, is in the diversity of studios and directors, but in quality—is astounding: The worst of the stories, “Tatooine Rhapsody,” is still a fun entry, and the best (a trio or quartet of the shorts would apply here) had me on my feet and eager for more.

Which leads me to this question: What was the ultimate purpose of Star Wars: Visions? It seems that it exists to open the possibility of future series, for more than half of the episodes felt like one-shots, attempts at gauging the possibilities of fuller entries, either shows or movies, in these new worlds. I’m on board with virtually all the stories being extended further, though I would be most interested in seeing “The Village Bride,” “The Ninth Jedi,” “Lap and Ocho,” or “Akakiri” receiving such treatment.

Still, the focal point here must still be how lovingly Japanese artist expressed a pride for their homeland’s tradition, both thematically and through the history of their films and animation, while combining them (often lavishly) with the same from Star Wars. These series could never be and weren’t meant to be canon, an argument point among fans leading into the show. It’s best to think of them as reimaginings of the universe, and are best enjoyed that way.

Even those who aren’t fans of anime will find the richness of the art direction appealing, while Simu Liu, David Harbour, Lucy Liu, Neil Patrick Harris and others form a prominent English dub (I haven’t yet watched it in original language), guided in part, some will notice, by veteran Stephanie Sheh. The fanservice is also strong with this one, largely in the form of so very many droids, by a famous piece of dialogue repeated over and over, and most of all, through duels, a number of which will rank among the franchise’s best. Often short (by necessity), they’re nonetheless exciting and well-choreographed—and include Japanese sword-style lightsabers, to boot!

With a number of recent franchise entries that received mixed reception, Star Wars: Visions is what was needed: something original, fantastic, and forward-looking. It goes beyond quenching a near life-long thirst for me to see the world of anime come together with Star Wars—it gives a pleasurable taste and has me thirsting even more. I think that was why these shorts were created, and you know what? I’m okay with being manipulated toward that end, as it gives me hope for the future of my favorite franchise. After all—fandoms are built on hope.

Score: 9/10

=====

Star Wars: Visions can be streamed on Disney+. All images courtesy of Disney.

#Anime #Reviews #Anime Reviews #Star Wars #Star Wars: Visions #Articles #Author: TWWK

[popculturebuffet]

Animaniacs: King Yakko Review (Comission by BlahDiddy)

Hello my beautiful technicolor rainbow! It’s time for Animaniacs, and while there is no balonga in my slacks there is one last christmas review for my friend to finish up, and after two visits to Acme Lab for the spinoff we’re finishing up with a look at Animaniacs proper.  Suprisingly for a show that stands so easily on it’s own it’s existance is entirely thanks to another show: Tiny Toon Adventures, which had largely the same staff, including ep and co-creator stephen speilberg and Todd Ruegger, who was brought aboard from A Pup Named Scooby Doo. Since TIny Toon was a colossal hit with tons of awards and merch, including some very good video games I wish Warner would find a way to re-release, I mean.. come on if disney can rerelease the disney afternoon games (If...not..for..switch), and LIon King and Aladdin games (If somehow FOR switch), then Warner, which has it’s own game stuido no less, can put together a collection of the good Tiny Toons games when the new show comes out soon. 

Point is it was a mass sucess and Warner Bros likes money, so they had Speilberg try to get Rutger to come up with another show for the two of them to do, something with name value. Rutger found his inpsiration when seeing the iconic warner water tower and taking some platypus characters, came up with our heroes and the rest is history.. well okay he retooled them from plataups’ to early looney tunes and other toons style characters minus the racisim of say bosko the tall ink kid but still, the rest after that is history. And the rest of this review is after the cut

The show was, and KINDA still is, a variety show: taking a page from looney tunes, as well as tex avery’s other work, the crew decided rather than just focus on the warners, to instead create a whole cast with various ensembles to work with so we got Pinky and the Brain, The Goodfeathers, Rita and Runt,  the Hip HIppos, Katie Kaboom, Chicken Boo, and my personal faviorite Slappy Squirrel.. and the bane of my existance, Buttons and Mindy.. or rather Mindy’s Mom. The kid did nothing wrong.  So naturally the first thing Animaniacs related I cover.. is an episode entirely breaking from format for one 20 something minute Warners cartoon. I do intend to do more animanics stuff in the future, so i’ll hopefully get a chance to talk about everyone, I just feel unlike with say house of mouse most people reading this probably know who they all are, and I can save any deep dives for if I cover the characters specifically. Spoilers: there’s probably never going to be a buttons and mindy deep dive unless someone tourtues me by paying for it. 

So with that out of the way, we can dive into the episode.. which I won’t be covering in my usual recap it point by point because the writers have freely admitted that’s not what Animaniacs is about. While some of i’ts SEGMENTS are more story based like Pinky and the Brain, Goodfeathers and Rita and Runt, most are just based on simple set ups to reams and reams of gags. And I love it. I grew up with this stuff not just Tiny Tunes and Animaniacs but the classic Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry and Droopy shorts. 

Their well timed, well executed feats of comedy and most have aged pretty well.. emphasis on MOST. I’m keenly aware why there are several gaps in the shorts for both Tom and Jerry and The Looney Tunes on HBO Max, including all of the Pepe LePew and Speedy Gonzalez shorts. Also all of Droopy is missing. 

My grumblin aside though, it is VERY NICE to have all the classic Warner and Tom and Jerry shorts at my fingertips and it was one of the biggest selling points of Max for me. Last year I gained an intrest in the old disney theatrical shorts, hence my various birthday specials, so I BADLY wanted to revisit the theatrical shorts I grew up with. And honestly.. Max is the best way to do that: their in crisp hd, in neat season collections (Though the Looney Tunes one is better sorted, tom and jerry’s seasons are just.. random smatterings of shorts across various eras), and most importantly EVERY SHORT they felt comfortable with putting up there is on there. Every. Single. One.  I make a big deal about this because Disney.. has only maybe 30-40 of their hundreds of shorts on there. Now lucky for me the vast majority are still on youtube and I get why some really arne’t suitable.. we probably don’t need the donald duck short where he prepares to shoot a penguin in the face or the Goofy short where his own reflection, the goofy equilvent of tyler durden I guess?, keeps saying “Hey Fat” to him. And yes BOTH of these actually happened. But.. there’s MANY shorts with no clear excuse why their absent like the triplets first apperance, gus’ only apperance, and one a friend told me about.. that time mickey built a robot to box a gorillia. Again not making this up, just wondering why you can’t restore the rest of these for plus. They’ve ADDED shorts ocasionally, but it still dosen’t make a whole lot of sense to just.. not have them all up there. and to not put them in some sorta collection for easier consumption but hey it’s Disney. They either full ass things or half ass it. There is no middle ground.  Point is Warner.. actually cares about their heritage in shorts and honors it and thus has everything avaliable in the best quality, so tha’ts nice.

My point after that detour is I really love this kind of humor, and now as an adult I can see the effort the timing, pacing and character chemistry these shorts had takes. And Rugger and co.. they got it. They got it down perfect. And this episode is a great show of that and just how they barely updated this format for the 90′s. But as I said it’s more about the jokes and basic setup, our heroes are slotted into x scenario and just left to run wild. It’s been the basic seutp for looney tunes, tom and jerry and all the gag based greats, and it works perfectly here. Sure there’s some setting and continuity with the warner lot, scratch n sniff, ralph, plotz and in the reboot Rita, but it’s mostly just our heroes go up against “X asshole” and it just works. 

And that’s.. entirley what this episode is. The short is an homage to the graucho marx film Duck Soup, which given the warners were based on the marx brothers that isn’t a huge suprise, a film like brian’s song I have not seen, but genuinely want to. The basic setup is the same: An underqualified womanizer, though since htis is Yakko it dosen’t get past hitting on his chancelor, played by hello nurse, constantly, which is still.. ewwwww... but clearly not the same thing, becomes king of a small nation and ends up at war with another country. There were spies and other stuff in the original short but that was left out to streamline things.  But this homage stands on it’s own fine: The basic plot is this: Yakko, due to being a distant relative and the last one alive, becomes king of the small happy and very musical, as the wonderful opening number shows, country of Anvilania, which makes anvils and why yes there is one MASSIVE anvil gag as a result at the end. Yakko says he’ll try his best and geninely tries to with the shenanigans you’d expect, including Dot not gettnig Polka Dot’s are a thing and instead taknig any mention of it as a sign to polka, Yakko again hitting on his colleague and wanting ot get a new anthem because the current one by “Perry Coma’ puts people to sleep. Honeslty that gag didn’t do it for me: Partly because I genuinely know next to nothing about Como and he’s far past my generation.. and because despite this, SCTV did a MUCH better Perry Como gag over a decade before this episode that while still left me baffled as to why anyone cared about mocking him, was 80 times funnier and felt far less like you needed to know who he was to be funny. 

That being said it’s one of only three running gags, and jokes period that didn’t land for me. The other ones being the hello nurse bits, because it’s aged really badly to have Yakko harass one of his employees and his age is hte only thing that keeps it from scuttling the episode as he’s just 13 or 14. Maybe 15. 

So SO glad I now have that on hand whenever i need it. The other being the “Your highness” joke as it just.. dosen’t make much sense and isn’t very funny. But that’s it: a refrence i specfically don’t get and I doubt most of you will, and if you do fine we all have our frames of refrences, a joke that’s dated very poorly, and one that just.. didn’t land. And even then the Perry Coma thing’s third use to knock out the opposing army DID work for me as did the VERY clever joke of “Sire” “Maybe later”, so even the weaker bits still had some legs.  But getting back to what little plot there is the king of the rival country, upon hearing this, assumes he can easily intimidate a child into giving him the throne and goes to a royal reception. Instead, as you’d expect, the Warners mistake him for a party clown, show him no respect and fail to take his delcration of war seriously, and while in a REALLY great gag, and the reason i’m not doing a strict summary is 90% of the review would be me saying something to that effect, Yakkos’ call to action for his troops ends up having them all run off in fear, the Warners take out the army as noted above and then in one of the most GLORIOUS climaxes in the series history...

 In which the Warners give the bad guy “all the anvils” as he requested. I sadly coulnd’t find a clip of it but seek it out if you got hulu, my words can’t do it justice as they hit him with anvil after anvil in increasingly clever and insane ways till the guy finally gives up and it .. is glorious.  Other highlights not already mentioned include: The opening song, the bad guy dictator from the other nation not being able to hear because of his helmet and his attendee having to lift it, leading to Yakko taking off his helmet just to end the “what’ running gag, Yakko’s bit explaning his distant relation and more.  So yeah not a ton to say on this one. It’s a very good, very funny episode but also very typical of a warner cartoon in structure, just stretched over 22 or so minutes. As I said with few exceptions the jokes work, the anmation is crisp as always, and the climax is one of the series best. A crisp, quick watch and a nice quick review after a week of with some really tough ones behind me and ahead of me and a month of rather large ones a few weeks out. So yeah if you like animaniacs, even ifyou’ve seen this one worth a watch, if you have any more animaniacs you’d like me to take a look at feel free to comment or comission and until the next rainbow..

#animaniacs #yakko warner #dot warner #wakko warner #anvilania #hello nurse #king yakko #duck soup #goodnight everybody #hulu #warner bros #kids wb

[wlwtangle]

Sonic for Beginners Guide (as of the 2020 Sonic Film)

Heya! I don’t think I’ve seen anyone make a post like this yet, or I haven’t seen a post like this yet, but if you just saw the newest Sonic film in theaters or on digital, and you’re interested in going into the Sonic community and trying out tons of other Sonic Media and don’t know where to start, here’s a guide that should help you where to go next if the only thing you have to go off of is the newest movie!

Intro

Everything that I will recommend you to in this post only assumes you’ve seen the full Sonic movie (yes, that includes the post-credits scene) and will prominently feature the following:

Dr. Eggman/Robotnik

Sonic

Tails

(No, this guide won’t feature Owl Mom, as she only appeared in these movies so far. She was never in any other Sonic media, and I doubt you’d see much of her outside the movies)

With that out of the way, let’s begin!

Games

There are quite a lot of Sonic games, and this can seem the most overwhelming, especially since SEGA has been trying their hardest to get new fans from the games rather than the films. But there are a few good games to start with if you only saw the film!

In terms of emulating any of these games: I am fine with emulation. There is nothing wrong in terms of finding ways to preserve these games for years, and if you don’t have the money to own any of these games, then I do recommend emulation. The only emulator I can recommend in terms of the old, 90s Sonic games would have to be Kega Fusion, and if you want to find the ROMs/ISOs, good luck. I can’t tell you how to find ROMs/ISOs, as that is illegal, so I’d recommend asking a friend for help or DMing me if you need help finding a place to find ROMs/ISOs, but legally I can’t post where to find ROMs/ISOs. Despite all of that, when possible, please support SEGA by buying them officially when possible. With that out of the way, let’s truly begin!

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) - The very first Sonic game, of course, is the best place to start. Not the 2006 one! The 2006 game also titled Sonic the Hedgehog for Playstation 3 & Xbox 360 is not a good representation of the Sonic brand SEGA has been trying to push today, and it’s not a great game overall to start with. Sonic the Hedgehog from 1991, however, is! It isn’t based off the new film, but it is what the current film has the most based off of. It starts off with the basics; you play as Sonic, and you have to stop Dr. Eggman from taking over the world, while saving all your animal buddies. It isn’t too long of a game, and better yet, this game is the easiest to get. It’s available on the Playstation Network store, Xbox Store, Nintendo Eshop (both for the Switch and 3DS), Steam (for Windows and Mac), and it’s even available on both Apple and Android devices! It’s free on phones, but you have ads, so that’s probably one of the best places to start in terms of games!

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992) - Now, if you just saw the film, including the post-credits scene, then this is another perfect place to start. Not only can you play as Sonic, but you can also play as Tails! There are tons of more levels than in the first game, and there’s even a little secret if you collect all the Chaos Emeralds! (can’t say much about those as they haven’t been introduced in the films yet) And like the first game, there are tons of places to get this game. You can get this on the Playstation Network store, Xbox Store, Nintendo Eshop (on both Switch and 3DS), Steam (Windows and Mac), and on both Apple and Android devices! Like the first game, it’s also free on phones, with ads, so if you played the first game or only saw the newest film, this is another great place to start.

Sonic Mania (2017) - Another perfect place to start, and one of the best Sonic games in the past decade, this is an official catch-all Sonic game made by fans for not only the classic 90s games, but also features new levels and new playable characters that haven’t been seen in any recent games, including Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel. Now, I don’t think we’ll ever be seeing Mighty or Ray anytime in the films, but Knuckles is in this game as well (and in Sonic 2, I forgot to mention that), and I got a feeling Knuckles might show up in the next Sonic film. But yes, you can play as Sonic and Tails, of course. And this game does also have a multiplayer mode as well, and tons of extra secrets. And honestly, if you do want a recent game to start off with, Sonic Mania might have to be the best place to start with. And the best part is, this game is available on all recent modern gaming hardware, including Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Steam (Windows and Mac). Sadly, this game isn’t available on smartphones, but that shouldn’t detract from how good this game is. While the base game is cheap, only running you at $20, the DLC for this game only costs $5, while the physical release of this game (which includes the base game, DLC, and more), should only cost you $30.

Now, I hear ya, platformers aren’t really your thing. You don’t have the most modern, recent gaming devices, and your computer/laptop isn’t that powerful either. You only have a smartphone, and you only play mobile games. In that case, SEGA does also deliver in smartphone games, especially for Sonic! There is really only one I can recommend for beginners that even did include a limited event based on this film (that sadly has already passed), and that is

Sonic Dash (2012) - Possibly the easiest place to start with in terms of Sonic games on smartphones. Even though Sonic 1 & 2 are available for smartphones, SEGA did make and release this before those games came out. And with 100 million downloads, who could deny how huge this game has been for them. You really only start out as Sonic, play through Green Hill Zone, and you fight Dr. Eggman. Gameplay-wise, this game is very similar to Temple Run/Subway Surfers, so if you played those games, then this game shouldn’t be that hard to get into. As you play this game, you’re able to unlock more characters, including Tails, and you even get to unlock more levels, and even get to upgrade your characters as well. It is available on Apple and Android devices, and is free to play, despite all of the ads, so you can start off there if you don’t want to play any big Sonic game and just want a casual, light mobile game to play.

Now, Sonic didn’t only have games to boot. He also had tons of cartoons and comics! And let’s talk about those cartoons!

Cartoons

There are tons of Sonic cartoons out there, and there really aren’t that many to start off with if you only saw the film. These are the only few I could recommend to start off with.

The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (1993-1995) - One of the first Sonic cartoons by DiC (animators behind the old Mario cartoons), this is honestly one of the few Sonic cartoons I could recommend to beginners, or only those who have seen the film. It stars Sonic and Tails, as they defeat evil plans by Dr. Robotnik, and it does include characters exclusive to this show. And despite the reputation this show has, I’d say this is one of the better cartoons to start off with. Sonic the Hedgehog 1993, or better known as SatAM (Saturday Morning Sonic Cartoon), isn’t really that good of a place to start off with if you only saw the movie. Not only does this show feature tons of characters that aren’t really seen outside of this show and the Archie comics, but this is a little bit more serious, and I don’t really recommend this to beginners who only have the film to go off of. AoSTH, however, is a lot more light, comedic, maybe even a little more childish, but it is one you can have on in the background and don’t really have to pay attention to, and it’s one you could show to kids. You can find this show currently on Netflix, as well as a number of episodes have been uploaded to YouTube in HD, so you can choose wherever you want to see this show.

Sonic Mania Adventures (2018) - A short series of shorts based on Sonic Mania, I’d say this is another great place to start especially in terms of cartoons. They’re all silent cartoons, and are based on Sonic Mania, but also features an original story to boot. Best part; you can watch them on YouTube now. Here’s a video with all of the episodes combined, and they also made a Christmas Special as well. The whole series is only 15 minutes long at most, and it’s something I definitely recommend checking out if you have the time.

Sonic the Hedgehog the Movie/the OVA (1996/1999) - An absolutely different movie from the actual Sonic movie we got a couple months ago, despite some obvious problems within the script and writing itself, I’d highly recommend checking out this movie! This is a really good movie that captures the speed of Sonic perfectly, and is one of the only few Sonic cartoons based on that 90s anime aesthetic. So if that suits you, then I’d recommend checking out this film on YouTube.

Comics

Now, this is even harder to decide on where to start with when compared to the cartoons. Not only are all the comics not that good, but they are all especially dependent on whatever type of knowledge you have on Sonic. The Archie comics are really only dependent on SatAM, and are cancelled! But the IDW comics are heavily dependent on if you played Sonic Forces, which isn’t that great of a game to begin with if you’re only knowledge of Sonic is based on this new film. But the IDW comics aren’t even on that good of an arc now. The British Fleetway comics aren’t that great either; not only are they ableist (with Super Sonic being “mentally insane” and evil), those comics are also cancelled as well. I really only have one comic series to recommend to beginners, if you can even find them.

Sonic -Mega Drive- (2016) - Made by one of the best writers for the Sonic comics, Ian Flynn, and drawn by the same person who redesigned Sonic for the new film, Tyson Hesse, these are a series of one-shot comics based on the original Sonic games. Very easy to get into, the cast isn’t that large, and overall it’s just a whole lot more appealing than the Archie or current IDW comics! There’s only two issues, with a third one that was cancelled due to SEGA withdrawing the Sonic license from Archie in 2017. If you can find them, I recommend checking them out.

Misconceptions About Sonic the Hedgehog and the Fandom

Now, coming out of the new film, you are really interested in Sonic the Hedgehog, but you already know about a whole lot of misconceptions about Sonic and his fandom, which may turn you off from going into this. So I am here to smash down a lot of those misconceptions, because a majority of them are all wrong, and I’m pretty sure anyone can enjoy Sonic after watching the film.

1. The Sonic Fandom is only full of overgrown babies who complain about all the newer games and only love the old games. 

This is an absolutely terrible misconception! This is absolutely not true for the entire fandom, and despite the bias I have towards the 90s Sonic era as seen in this guide, let me say this: There is no one wrong place to start with in terms of games. The Sonic Adventures games are good, Sonic Colors is good, and so is Sonic Generations and Lost World. There is no terrible Sonic game, and if there is, then that game probably has a small fandom of people who see the positives of that game, and only wish to improve on it. You are not wrong if you have an unpopular opinion on any Sonic game, and you can honestly enjoy any Sonic game of your choice. Yes, there are gatekeepers in this fandom, but they are small in numbers when compared to the majority of this fandom. This fandom is absolutely welcoming of any Sonic fan who enjoys any part of Sonic, and if anyone online is making you feel bad about enjoying any part of Sonic, then you can either ignore them or block them. You don’t need to hear their voices, as their voices are only minor when compared to this whole fandom.

But yes, there are people like SammyClassicSonicaFan who do have a bias towards 90s Sonic games, and there are people who have a bias towards the Modern games. But overall, it doesn’t matter what type of games you do enjoy, it’s just that you don’t bully or harm anyone else for enjoying those games. And again, mostly everyone in this fandom are fine with whatever Sonic game you like. Not that many people really bullies anyone in this fandom, and if they do, then again, they are the minority.

2. The Sonic Fandom is full of furries who only draw porn of the characters.

Yet again another terrible misconception about the Sonic fandom! Just because you’re a fan of Sonic, doesn’t make you a furry. I am one of the rare exceptions, though, as I am a Sonic fan, and a furry as well, and Sonic is partially the reason why I am a furry. But overall, I have met Sonic fans who aren’t furries, and I’ve met furries who aren’t Sonic fans.

And to that other half of this misconception; no, just no. Not only are the majority of the cast practically children (Tails is 8, Amy is 12, and Sonic is even 15), a majority of the characters who are 18 or over only barely fit that range (Rogue is 18, Vector is 21), and a majority of adults don’t even have confirmed ages (Dr. Eggman doesn’t even have a canonical age, and there’s been debate over whether Shadow is 15 or over 50 years old). So no, we don’t draw porn, and almost all of us are grossed out when we find Sonic porn (the only exception of this are the creeps who do draw that porn, but we don’t consider them apart of this community).

So there you go! That’s all I could think to mention in this whole guide! I hope you have fun enjoying these shows and games, and I hope you especially have fun in the Sonic community!

If you do have anymore questions about anything related to Sonic, feel free to DM me or send me asks/anons on this blog.

#sonic #sonic the hedgehog #sth #sonic fandom #sonic community #sonic 2020 #sonic the hedgehog 2020 #sth movie #sonic movie #sonic the hedgehog movie #sth 2020 #idw #archie #tails #dr eggman #dr robotnik #sonicblr #sonic mania #sonic 2 #aosth

[weekendwarriorblog]

WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND January 25, 2019  - The Kid Who Would Be King, Serenity

(Yes, I realize the weekend just ended for most, but hey, might as well get an early crack at NEXT weekend, huh? January is winding down with what’s going to be seem like a fairly boring weekend after last week’s M. Night Shyamalan sequel disappointing when compared to the sensation of Dragon Ball Super: Brolly, a movie that few movie writers knew about before Wednesday but grossed $21 million in six days. But hey, variety is the spice of life, and the two movies opening wide this week certainly add some spice with a duo of films from reputable British writer/directors.

THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING  (20thCentury Fox)

Written and directed by Joe Cornish (Attack the Block) Cast: Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Dean Chaumoo, Angus Imrie, Tom Taylor, Rebecca Ferguson, Patrick Stewart, Rhianna Doris, Denise Gough MPAA Rating: PG

On the one hand, this action-adventure film is an exciting one, because it’s the second feature from Joe Cornish following his astonishing 2011 debut Attack the Block, but also, because it’s Cornish’s first studio feature for a mainstream audience, geared towards family audiences in particular.

It’s a fairly standard take on the King Arthur mythos with a young British lad (played by Andy Serkis’ son) finding Excalibur, the legendary sword in the stone and having to team with his best friend (and a couple school bullies) to take on the return of Morgana le Fey (Rebecca Ferguson).

It seems like a good idea to get kids, especially young boys, interested in the tales of King Arthur even though the last few movies have bombed as neither Guy Ritchie’s 2017 film King Arthur: Legend of the Sword or the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced 2004 movie King Arthur found much of an audience. In fact, trying to bring any British legend to the screen and get American moviegoers interested might be a fool’s errand, as seen by last year’s Robin Hood bomb.

The thing is that other than Patrick Stewart – star of Fox’s ongoing X-Men franchise, which seems to be in limbo these days -- and Rebecca Ferguson from the last couple Mission: Impossible movies, there are no stars in the movie that could entice those on the fence about whether to see this movie.  On the other hand, reviews have generally been good which could help boost interest a little more going into the weekend.

At first, I thought maybe this would end up with around $10 million, but it’s basically going to be a family movie coming into a market where most other family films have been in theaters for three weeks or more. (Dragon Ball is an exception.) Fox was also able to get it into more than 3,4000 nationwide, because wisely, it waited until after Glass opened for this.  Because of this, I’m going to goose up my number to somewhere between $11 and 13 million with most of the family movies geared towards boys falling away and Joe Cornish’s older fans maybe giving this a look. Sadly, the movie is not being marketed as “from the director of Attack the Block” as it clearly should be.

Mini-Review: Granted that Attack the Block was always going to be a hard act to follow for Joe Cornish, and yet he has written and directed a follow-up that might appeal to younger moviegoers though maybe not so much Cornish’s older teen fans from his directorial debut.

Louis Ashbourne Serkis, who is indeed the son of Andy Serkis, plays Alex Elliot, a fairly normal 10-year-old, who stands up to a couple school bullies and while being chased by them finds a sword embedded in rock on a construction site. It is indeed the fabled “Sword in the Stone” Excalibur as used by King Arthur. Along with his best friend Bedders (Dean Chaumoo) and their two relentless bullies (Tom Taylor, Rhianna Doris), they all go on a quest to fight Arthur’s evil sister Morgana (Rebecca Ferguson) and save Britain.

The first major hurdle this otherwise fine kids’ action-adventure faces is the fairly weak cast, because without liking Alex or his colleagues, it’s hard to root for them even with the stakes never feeling too great. The one exception is Angus Imrie as the young Merlin who somehow manages to get more laughs than the older Merlin, played by Sir Patrick Stewart. Alex’s mother is played by Claire Foy lookalike Denise Gough, and she also doesn’t bring much to what should have been touching scenes with Serkis. Ferguson is decent as Morgana, although the role doesn’t give her much to do.

Using many of the same creative team used by buddy and sometime producer Edgar Wright on Baby Driver, including DP Tim Pope and editors Jonathan Amos and Paul Machliss, as well as production designer Marcus Rowland, it’s a safe bet that Cornish has made another movie that looks damn good.  As with Attack, Cornish’s FX team perfectly integrate the many CG beasties with the human characters.

The thing is that Cornish does a fine job with this material, so that the movie is better than the Percy Jackson movies or other similar family films, and he should be commended for making such a smooth transition to studio family films. Even so, by the third act, I was just getting very bored, especially when I thought it was ending, and it went on for another 15 minutes.

The Kid Who Would Be King is perfectly fine -- it has its moments -- but there’s something about it that left me wanting, because it seems like it should have been a lot better overall.

Rating: 6.5/10

SERENITY  (Aviron)

Written and directed by Steven Knight (Locke, Redemption, “Peaky Blinders,” “Taboo”) Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Diane Lane, Jason Clarke, Djimon Hounsou  MPAA Rating: R

The other new release of the weekend is something that possibly could have done very well in the ‘90s or early ‘00s as an erotic thriller, a genre that has had its ups and downs but has mostly done decently at the box office. This is the third movie from Steven Knight, the director of Lockeand writer of Eastern Promises, “Peaky Blinders” and “Taboo,” though I’m not sure his previous hits will convince many to see this in theaters.

Matthew McConaughey plays fishing boat captain Baker Dill, who has been living in hiding on Plymouth Island after his divorce. His ex-wife Karen, played by Anne Hathaway, shows wanting her to kill her violent and abusive husband (Jason Clarke) in order to save her and Baker’s teen son.  

McConaughey’s career has been all over the place in recent years, but his recent crime-thriller White Boy Rick didn’t do very well, and it feels like Serenity is heading towards a similar fate. In fact, McConaughey has been in quite a string of bombs since winning an Oscar for 2013’s Dallas Buyers Club with his biggest hit being the animated Sing. His most high-profile movie The Dark Tower made $120 million worldwide based on $60 million budget which made it barely profitable but especially disappointing due to its studio’s franchise plans.

Having Anne Hathaway could help as she’s been a lot more careful about her choices since winning her own Oscar a year earlier with last year’s Ocean’s 8, in which she played herself,being a relative hit with almost $300 million worldwide. Her last movie with McConaughey was Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar in 2014, which grossed $188 million domestically, so that’s somewhat of a bonus. The cast is rounded out by the ever-present Jason Clarke, who has yet to really break-out despite being involved in many Oscar-caliber films, as well as Djimon Hounsou, who is becoming a superhero film regular, having just appeared in Aquaman and having roles in Captain Marveland Shazam.  (Some might remember that he also had a great scene with Chris Pratt early in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie.)

While erotic thrillers have done well in the past, this movie was originally supposed to come out last September, and there was advertising trailers all summer – I know that because I saw the trailer for this in front of a ton of movies – but then it was moved to January, which is never a good sign of faith. This is a rare release from fledgling distributor Aviron Pictures, who released just two movies in 2018.  Aviron is releasing this one into just 2,500 theaters, which might already be too many screens considering how little marketing the film has

Reviews are still embargoed until Thursday (never a good sign), but I’m probably not going to review the movie, since I saw it quite some time ago, though I do have to say that that the big twist in this movie angered me more than anything in M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass.

This movie looks like the epitome of a late January bomb, one that probably won’t come close to $10 million for the weekend and might even end up closer to $5 million or a little more. Either way, it won’t have to make that much to end up in the top 5 this weekend since it’s going up against many movies that have been playing since before Christmas.

This week’s Top 10 should look something like this…

1. Glass   (Universal) - $19 million -53%

2. The Kid Who Would Be King  (20thCentury Fox) - $11.6 million N/A

3. The Upside (STX) – $10 million -33%

4. Serenity (Aviron) - $6.5 million N/A

5. Aquaman (Warner Bros.)  - $5.5 million -47%

6. Dragon Ball Super: Brolly (Funimation) – $5 million -49%

7. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse  (Sony) - $4.8 million -37%

8. A Dog’s Way Home  (Sony) – $4.2 million -42%

9. Mary Poppins Returns  (Disney) - $3.1 million -45%

10. Escape Room  (Sony) - $2.8 million -46%

LIMITED RELEASES

Many of my colleagues will be heading to the Sundance Film Festival this week, but I’m not going, so I don’t have much to say about it. Sorry!

On a more local level , we get  FIAF ANIMATION FIRST FEST over the weekend, focused on the booming French animation film industry with a 20thanniversary screening of Michel Ocelot’s Kirikou and the Sorceress and 17 US  and New York premieres, including the New York premiere of Funanand a number of shorts programs. Studio Ghibli’s Isao Takahata, who died last year, will be honored. You can read the full program and schedule of events Here.  I personally have never attended, but if I wasn’t busy I might check out some of the programs.

As far as the limited releases…

Following its November qualifying run as Germany’s Oscar entry and with two Oscar nominations under its belt, Oscar-winning filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s (The Lives of Others) new movie NEVER LOOK AWAY (Sony Pictures Classics). The historic drama is loosely based on the life of visual artist Gerhard Richter with Tom Schilling (Woman in Gold) playing a young artist who has watched East Berlin go from Nazi occupation, watching his older sister be sentenced to death due to her mental illness by a ruthless Nazi doctor (Sebastian Koch), to falling in love with a young woman (Paula Beer) who happens to be that doctor’s daughter and escaping to West Berlin during the country’s contemporary art movement.  I found the movie to be overly long and a little confusing, because I wasn’t sure what the movie was supposed to be about until about 30 minutes into it.  

Just a few months after his last film The Mercy barely got a glance, The Theory of Everything director James Marsh’s new heist film  KING OF THIEVES (Saban Films) will open in theaters (including New York’s Cinema Village) and on VOD and Digital HD on Friday. The true crime tale about a group of retired crooks trying to stage an elaborate jewelry heist stars an ensemble of legendary British actors in Michael Caine, Jim Broadbent, Michael Gambon, Ray Winstone, Tom Courtenay along with Charlie Cox aka Daredevil. I had high hopes for this movie being better than the likes of Zach Braff’s Going in Style, something classier like last year’s The Old Man and the Gun, but sadly, it’s an obvious money grab for older British men and women reminiscing about all the better crime movies made by the cast.

Claus Räfle’s docudrama THE INVISIBLES (Greenwich) follows four German-Jewish youth who decide to stay behind in Berlin as World War II is beginning, living vicariously while dodging Nazi officials before eventually joining the resistance.  This story of survival opens at New York’s Quad Cinema and Landmark 57, as well as in L.A. at the Laemmle Royal on Friday.

The Brazilian animated film TITO AND THE BIRDS  (Shout! Studios) from filmmakers Gustavo Steinberg, Gabriel Bitar and André Catoto tells the story of a boy and his father who are looking for the cure for an illness inflicted on someone after being scared. After playing a number of film festivals, it also opens at the Quad Cinema in New York

It’s hard to believe that 88-year-old French New Wave filmmaker Jean Luc Goddard is still with us and making movies, but all the recent repertory series in New York and L.A. have been leading up to his latest film THE IMAGE BOOK (Kino Lorber). Don’t know much about this film which received a special Palme d’or at Cannes last year, but apparently it’s a “collage film essay,” which means that it probably doesn’t have a plot or narrative that’s easy to explain. It opens at the IFC Center and Lincoln Center in New York.

Tom Arnold and Sean Astin star in Ron Carlson’s Dead Ant (Cinedigm) as the members of an ‘80s hair metal band called Sonic Grave who had a power ballad hit 30 years earlier, and while they’re on a road trip to Coachella, they find themselves trying to be relevant again…. Until they’re attacked by giant killer ants. Okay, I think I need to see this movie, as it seems like my kind of movie.

Playing for one night only nationwide on Thursday as a Fathom Event is Timothy Woodward Jr.’s horror film The Final Wish (Cinedigm), starring the wonderful Lin Shaye (Insidious), Michael Welsh, Melissa Bolona and Tony Todd, and produced by Jeffrey Reddic (writer/producer of Final Destination).  Welsh plays Aaron Hammond who returns to his hometown after the death of his father to help his bereaved mother (Shaye) and deal with the demons from his past, finding a mysterious item while going through his father’s belongings.

Opening at New York’s Cinema Village on Friday and at L.A.’s Laemmle Music Hall on Feb. 1 is Francois Margolin’s controversial French drama Jihadists (Cinema Libre), co-directed by by Lemine Ould Salem, which was banned in France. It follows two filmmakers who were given access to fundamentalist clerics of Sunni Islam to show what it’s like to live your life under jihadi rule.

From Bollywood comes Vikas Bahl ‘s drama Super 30 (Reliance Entertainment), starring Hrithik Roshan as Patna-based mathematician Anand Kumar, who runs the famed and prestigious Super 30 program in Patna. Not sure of the theater count but it’s probably opening in a dozen or so theaters.

Opening on Wednesday following its premiere at Doc-NYC is Robert Townsend’s doc The 5 Browns: Digging through the Darkness, which looks at the 5 Browns, a group of Julliard-trained sibling pianists who rose to stardom only to be devastated when it’s revealed that the three sisters were sexually abused by their manager father Keith Brown. It opens at the IFC Center for a single-week run.

Also opening at the Cinema Village and in select cities is John Kauffman’s Heartlock (Dark Star Pictures), a love story about a female prison guard, played by Lesley-Ann Brandt,  who becomes the subject of affection from a charming male convict (Alexander Dreymo) who wants to use their relationship to help him escape.

STREAMING

The main film streaming on Netflix on Friday is Jonas Akerlund’s POLAR, his follow-up to Lords of Chaos, which premiered at Sundance last year and comes out a few weeks later. Based on the Dark Horse graphic novel, it stars Mads Mikkelson as assassin Duncan Vizla, known as the Black Kaiser, who is getting ready for retirement in a suburban town when he’s dragged back into one last job, but when it goes wrong, Duncan’s new love interest (Vanessa Hudgens) is dragged into it. I’ve never read the graphic novel, and I’ve generally been mixed on Akerlund’s films, but this one is definitely in the same absolute insanity realm of his earlier film Spun with a lot of crazy over-the-top performance from the likes of Matt Lucas (Little Britain) and Johnny Knoxville (Jackass), but in this case, it’s not a good thing. Mikkelson gives another stellar performance, and Hudgens is also quite good (didn’t even recognize her) but the craziness surrounding them from Lucas and the other assassins sent after Duncan made it hard to enjoy the film, especially compared to Mikkelson’s other upcoming film Arctic, but hey, it’s on Netflix so I’m sure people will watch it anyway.

Speaking of which, I also want to note that last week, I didn’t notice that a science fiction film called IO: Last on Earth, starring Margaret Qualley (Novitiate),was also streaming on Netflix. I haven’t watched it yet, but one of the writers also co-wrote Claire Carée’s Embers, which is one of my favorite festival discoveries from the past few years.

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

The Metrograph has a couple new series starting Friday, including Hou Hsiao-Hsien in the 21st Century, featuring 35mm prints of four of the Chinese filmmaker’s recent films: Millenium Mambo, Three Times, Flight of the Red Balloon and Café Lumieré. Then on Saturday, the Metrograph will show the classic Gone with the Windto kick off its Produced by David O. Selznick series, and there’s some great stuff to come, including Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellboundand Rebecca.  The theater will also be screening a 35mm of Ken Loach’s 1991 film Riff Raff, starring Robert Carlyle, who would breakout in Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting. On top of that, Kay Francis: Queen of Pleasure continues with William Dieterle’s Jewel Robbery (1932) and 1929’s The Cocoanuts this weekend, while this weekend’s Late Nites at Metrograph  option is Chantal Akerman’s News from Home  (1977) and Playtime: Family Matinees shows the 2015 animated film Shaun the Sheep.

THE NEW BEVERLY  (L.A.):

Weds. and Thurs. see double features of the 1977 film The Late Show and ‘78’s The Big Fix, starring Richard Dreyfuss. Friday sees a double feature of American Graffiti  (1973) and The Lords of Flatbush  (1974) with More American Graffiti (1979) added on Saturday… for just 10 bucks!The weekend family matinee is 1947’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, starring Danny Kaye.  The Sunday/Monday Franco Zeffirelli double feature is Romeo & Juliet (1968) with Brother Sun, Sister Moon  (1972). Tarantion’s Jackie Brownonce again plays at midnight Friday and the Tuesday Grindhouse triple feature is Katt Shea’s Poison Ivy  (1992), Streets (1990) and Stripped to Kill  (1987), which is already sold out online but may have more tickets at the door.

FILM FORUM (NYC):

Far Out in the 70s: A New Wave of Comedy, 1969 - 1979 continues with La Cage Aux Folles and The Seduction of Mimi on Wednesday, double features of Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? and Theater of Blood on Thursday, Woody Allen’s Sleeper and Bananas on Friday, then Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, Monty Python and the Holy Grail on Saturday, and Papermoon, What’s Up, Doc? starring Barbara Streisand and Woody Allen’s Play It Again Sam on Sunday. As part of the series focusing on the great filmmaker and actor Elaine May, Film Forum will show A New Leaf (1971) and Mickey and Nicky (1976) next Tuesday. The weekend’s Film Forum Jr. is Gordon Parks’ 1969 film The Learning Tree.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Beginning another fun series of double features this weekend with Argento/De Palma with a double feature of Suspiria and Carrie on Thursday, Blow Out and Inferno on Friday, and Dressed to Kill and Tenebrae on Saturday. Saturday sees a special presentation of Craig Owen’s The Silent Film Era at the Alexandria Hotel, while the 1916 Douglas Fairbanks film His Picture in the Papers will also screen on Saturday with live music accompaniment.

AERO  (LA):

The AERO is offering an eclectic mixed bag of films this weekend including the 4k restoration of Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire (1987; Janus Films) on Friday night, David Fincher’s Fight Club  on Saturday, and the WC Fields comedy My Little Chickadee (1940) on Sunday night.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

Continuing the theater’s attempt to keep up with ‘90s Cinemax with its X-rated fare, Just Jaekin’s erotic drama Emmanuelle (Kino Lorber; 1974) will screen in a special engagement, leading up to next week’s Beyond Emmanuelle Just Jaeckin retrospective and Erotic Journeys: The Many Faces of Em(m)anuelle. 

IFC CENTER (NYC):

On Friday and Saturday at midnight, the IFC Center will show the 4k restoration of Dario Argento’s Suspiria as part of its Late Night Favorites series. While The Image Book opens here on Friday, Weekend Classics: Early Godard  continues with a 35mm print of A Woman is a Woman  (1961) and Waverly Midnights: The Feds screens Michael Mann’s Manhunter(with Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal coming in the next two weekends!)

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART  (LA):

Friday night’s midnight screening is the Rocky Horror Picture Show follow-up Shock Treatment (1981).

MOMA (NYC):

This week’s Modern Matinees: Sir Sidney Poitier offerings are A Patch of Blue  (1965) on Weds, They Call Me Mr. Tibbs! (1970) Thurs, and No Way Out  (1950) on Friday. MOMA is also screening Ida Lupino’s Never Fear (The Young Lovers) (1950) to end its 16th annual To Save and Project series, although there’s a couple second screenings for those (like me) who only just found out about it now.

That’s it for this week… next week, it’s February! Already?? While many movie writers are still at Sundance and others are preparing for Super Bowl Sunday, Sony releases the crime-thriller remake Miss Bala.

#WhatToWatchThisWeekend WeekendWarrior TheKidWhoWouldBeKing Serenity Movies Reviews BoxOffice

[idolizerp]

LOADING INFORMATION ON XLNC’S BASSIST, LEAD VOCAL, MAIN RAP MIN HANEUL...

IDOL DETAILS

STAGENAME: n/a CURRENT AGE: 20 DEBUT AGE: 18 TRAINEE SINCE AGE: 15 COMPANY: Koala.T Music SECONDARY SKILL: n/a

IDOL PROFILE

NICKNAME(S): God-given-visuals, something often used to brand him but is never really said as more than a joke between band members. Ha-choo, a fun play on the fact that he tends to sneeze a lot. Not often used amongst fans, but a staple between friends.  INSPIRATION: Growing up with an musician mom and singer dad exposed him early to music and art, and he’s always been in love with it. Becoming an idol only helped him find a way to channel his passion and make something great. SPECIAL TALENTS:

aegyo

freestyle rap

did taekwondo for a while, able to ‘show off’

NOTABLE FACTS:

currently studying a music major in university

knows how to play the piano

is allergic to dogs

has a small following from his brief days in modelling and as an underground rapper 

IDOL GOALS

SHORT-TERM GOALS:

Haneul had always wanted more of the ‘idol’ side compared to the band side of things, and the company’s lack of promotion and exposure for the group is something he wants to fix. He aims to slowly bring XLNC into the public spotlight, either through their songs or something else entirely. He also wants to fix their unprofessional image, and he wants it done quick- preferably in time to show a new side of the band when their next comeback rolls around.

LONG-TERM GOALS:

Despite being unable to go solo, Haneul wants to make it big- even if he has to drag the rest of the band along. He hopes that XLNC can be the ones to change the scene of kpop and make it big, bringing back the popularity that bands once had. Instead of Nitro and Nightmare being the breadwinners, and despite knowing that it will probably never happen, he aims for XLNC to be at the top of their company and be the most respected ones.

For himself, Haneul wants to expand his talents as an artist. He wants more of his input in their songs, their music, and how they play, the whole works. His goal is to become more or less the de facto leader of the band, and become well known for his songwriting ability, not just his pretty face.

IDOL IMAGE

Despite the so called versatility and freedom that Koala T was supposed to give them, the image presented for Haneul is a fairly stereotypical one. He starts off as the flower boy- the pretty one, the icon of a bubbly rookie but not the one meant to be saying very much, doing very much, more or less just there as a placeholder, a space filler. After that it’s the story of how he grows. A showcase of rare moments of genius, then hard hard work and a few emotional breakdowns here and there, and finally bam, real talent and the fans were the ones who helped him do it. In contrast to his more rough-around-the-edges (and dare we say it, raw and real) bandmates, Haneul is expected to be the perfect one, the good boy, a mary sue story with just enough heartbreak in it for the fans to buy into.

Of course, like any good story, it has just a tiny bit of truth in it. Haneul’s always been fairly friendly, mostly calm, and a good boy when he wants to be. His smile is too pretty to be considered fake and of course that plays into both his and the company’s advantage- despite being almost entirely written up on a piece of paper during a company meeting, his facade fits perfectly. Haneul can be the perfect statue: there’s no need to talk too much about a song he didn’t write, think up new details to stories that didn’t really happen, get frustrated over things he knows he can’t change only to expose even more vulnerabilities for the knets to latch onto like vultures. That’s everyone else’s job. It’s all too easy to play innocent and shy and docile, the rest of his personality just comes as a ‘pleasant surprise’ when he does show it.

That’s what makes the ploy real, of course. Haneul’s usually playful, plenty clingy, just enough mischievous and even the slightest bit of a playboy. Or what’s what the watered down version that KTM presents to the public. In truth he is all of those things and far more, a charming player with too much wit and too much ambition for his own good. But even he knows that it’s not in his favour to be this bold- perhaps if he was in a typical idol group, but not with XLNC. Instead, all the ambition and rebellion is written off as being passionate and free spirited, falling into the funnel of whatever they deemed as ‘emo’. On stage, he is expected to be cool and charming- or depressed, or angry, whatever the song calls for, he acts it out. And yet off stage Haneul has to play nice, like the stage was just for performance and well- both of them are, really.

The only thing that the company allows, that he allows himself, are brief moments of weakness. Briefly lapses in his golden personality, shows of the vulnerable teen inside who can still cry, still scream. And yet for the sake of a good show, these moments have become just as manufactured as the next. Sometimes Haneul can’t tell what he’s really feeling anymore, but as long as the fans gobble it up, that’s fine, right?

IDOL HISTORY

Haneul’s life was one of the things that Koala T like to dig out and show off over and over again, and yet it was not nearly as glorious as they made it out to be. Yes, he was born to a family of artists, but they had never been celebrities, they never lived in fancy houses, never were the musical geniuses people thought about. No they were rather plain, some third rate singer that had enough time on his hands to pursue a full time job on top of occasional gigs and a classical musician that, despite never being home, made just enough to keep up their modest apartment. Being born into his household meant that from young, he had no misguided dreams about what it was like to pursue the path of an entertainer. The starving artist trope was all too real and, as time went on, music just existed to be less and less of something that was enjoyed and more as a burdened tool that could not perform well enough to grant them the life they wanted to lead.

He was never encouraged to go down the same path his parents did- quite far from it, all Haneul’s parents wanted from him were good enough grades, a solid university, and some boring office job that could coast him (and them) comfortably through the rest of their lives. And for much of his childhood that’s what he had followed. A free spirit hammered down to a neat and tidy uniform, a lopsided smirk straightened to the perfect schoolboy’s smile, at least 16 teeth showing in every school photo. Perhaps that was when he got so good at acting, so good at pretending. If it made his parents happy and in turn benefited him, then it was okay to keep at it for a little while longer. And then when he grew up, he dreamed, he’d be the biggest superstar, far better than his parents would have ever dreamed of. And for a while he had almost thought this would come true.

The boy’s pretty face garnered attention from youth and soon, Haneul had been scouted away to film a commercial. Yet his doll like features were truly as empty as a doll’s, completely lacking the spark of energy the producers had wanted. That plus the strong opposition from his father soon had the boy dropped out of the program, and that was meant to be the end of the story. The whole ordeal fizzled to a lackluster end and life went back to normal, falling into the monotone best that it had been all along and which he was probably doomed to listening for the rest of his life. At that thought, whatever was left of Haneul’s wild dreams gave one last lurch. If his parents had thought he was still the goody two shoes he had been before, then they would soon be proven wrong with the twisted streak of rebellion growing inside.

Middle school found the teen packed away to some mildly prestigious boarding school half a city away. Middle school also found him… never where he was supposed to be. Yes, he went to most of his classes, yes, his average was at that rocky 90%, but what his parents never knew was that the rest of his time went to busking on the streets, in cafes or around Hongdae at night, wherever he could get his hands on and wouldn’t get kicked out of just because he was a lanky kid with a half broken mic and some soundcloud mix of beats. But he had never been the type to do things without a goal. Oh yes, Haneul knew exactly what he was doing. There had always been star scouts regularly in every spot he went to and he knew if he could make any sort of impression then… his chance came. It was KTM that extended to him the olive branch, the alluring words- the chance to be the next big thing. And of course he said yes.

That’s how Haneul left, left the boring life he had behind. It had taken a few angry phone calls, perhaps, a trip home where more than one curse was thrown around and furniture with it and Haneul couldn’t even quite remember how he did it but- he went back with signatures scrawled unwittingly across some paperwork. The then 16 year old was filled with no, not dreams, but ambition and plans to prove himself to the world and most importantly, as better than his parents. And like always it was too late when reality caught up. The company had been interested in his appearance, that was all. Nothing else was expected of him, no chance given to even prove himself. Despite the days laboring away in lessons and training until the wee hours he was, until the end, just a pretty face to stuff wherever they needed one. And when the managers settled upon an idol band concept but conveniently had one last open spot with nobody particularly suitable, then it was time to show his worth- to mold himself into the band player they needed. Make yourself useful, they told him.

Debut a year later was underwhelming. Even though his teammates were so talented, even though he himself had at the last minute found talent in playing the bass and was deemed acceptable, even though he was supposed to make a splash in the world- Haneul’s appearance on the scene had hardly dented the water. And it was in this- mediocre fashion that they continued, never really good but never really bad either. They had minor struggles, minor successes, and that was it. It wasn’t going his way at all. And the scary thought that slowly surfaced was: maybe he would have been better off just as a typical accountant or salesman? Haneul would not let that happen. He had so much potential, so much to prove…. and he was so afraid of failing.

#id.bio #id.koalat #id.xlnc #id.hwang hyunjin #id.honeypot

[digitalmark18-blog]

Instagram IGTV: How Businesses are Leveraging this Exciting New Feature

New Post has been published on https://britishdigitalmarketingnews.com/instagram-igtv-how-businesses-are-leveraging-this-exciting-new-feature/

Instagram IGTV: How Businesses are Leveraging this Exciting New Feature

Brands have been having fun experimenting with Instagram IGTV since its launch just a few months ago—and there’s a lot to learn from their efforts.

Netflix, for example, filmed Riverdale’s Cole Sprouse eating a cheeseburger and making eyes at the camera—for a whole hour, no less, taking full advantage of IGTV’s new 60-minute limit.

Judging from the 960,000 views and the 6,500 comments, people loved it.

Also making the most of its 60 minutes, Chipotle posted a video of a disembodied hand pulling an endless stream of burrito and taco options out of a bottomless Chipotle bag.

#Instagram #IGTV: How businesses are leveraging this exciting new feature Click To Tweet

Taking the new video platform a little more seriously, National Geographic put a whole show on Instagram IGTV called “One Strange Rock.” Actor Will Smith hosts the 47 minute show about the wonders of Planet Earth and features NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson. The show was originally shown on regular TV and was edited to meet Instagram IGTV’s 16:9 vertical aspect ratio.

Yes, brands have well and truly jumped on the Instagram IGTV bandwagon, and rightly so—according to Instagram, by 2020, 50% of all video viewing will be done on a mobile screen.

So how can your brand make the most of this new long-form video platform?

Read on to learn how IGTV works, how to upload your first video, best practices for publishing videos, and video content ideas you can borrow from the world’s top brands.

What is Instagram IGTV?

Instagram surprised many when it dropped its long-form video platform in June, adding a not-so-subtle colorful TV icon to its mobile app.

Why is Instagram—the third-largest social media platform—going after video? Well, it seems Instagram likes to take technologies that others have developers and make them its own.

First, it went after Snapchat with Instagram Stories and completely eclipsed its rival (Stories has 400 million daily users and Snapchat has 191 million).

Now, Instagram has its eye on YouTube.

By 2021, mobile video will account for 78% of total mobile data traffic, and Instagram is betting big on mobile video with IGTV.

Here’s what you need to know about this new platform:

1. Anyone can create their own IGTV channel

You don’t need to be a big brand to have an IGTV channel. Even regular Joes can share long-form videos with their followers.

IGTV features channels comprised of videos, but these channels aren’t organized by similar programming or topics. Instead, “creators” (i.e. Instagram account holders) are the channels.

2. Videos can be up to 60 minutes long

While Instagram Stories lets you post 15-second videos that disappear after 24 hours, Instagram IGTV videos can run up to 60 minutes

But for now, videos can be only 10 minutes for most accounts. Only larger accounts can use the full 60 minutes, though Instagram hasn’t clarified what “larger” actually means.

Instagram has said that eventually there will be no time limit.

3. You can only share vertical videos

Unlike YouTube and Facebook, which support traditional landscape videos, Instagram IGTV has been designed to support the way people normally watch videos on their phones: vertically.

This new emphasis on vertical video makes a lot of sense. It’s easier for people to watch videos on the go on their phone, increasing the likelihood that they’ll actually watch it.

This means you can’t simply repurpose videos from other platforms because they’ll be the wrong size and format. Instead, you’ll need to create videos specifically for Instagram IGTV that match the required dimensions of 1,080 pixels by 1,920 pixels, or an aspect ratio of 9:16.

4. There’s a standalone app

What a lot of people haven’t realized yet is that there’s a standalone IGTV app.

You can watch IGTV videos in the Instagram app, in the IGTV app, or by clicking the IGTV button on someone else’s Instagram profile.

5. It’s more like YouTube than Netflix

Even though you can watch TV-length shows on Instagram IGTV, the videos aren’t meant to compete with Netflix.

Instead, they’re intended to be the kinds of videos you would see on YouTube. As Instagram CEO Kevin System explained at a launch event for the platform, “IGTV is for watching long-form videos from your favorite creators.

In fact, Instagram poached teen influencers like Bryce Xavier and Lele Pons over to IGTV, while other prominent social media and YouTube stars were part of the IGTV launch.

View this post on Instagram

INSTAGRAM SQUAD 👀

A post shared by Tyler Blevins (@ninja) on Jun 20, 2018 at 10:03am PDT

TechCrunch noted back in June that:

“Instagram is focusing its efforts around web celebrities that made their name on mobile rather than more traditional, old-school publishers and TV studios that might come off too polished and processed. The idea is to let these creators, who have a knack for this style of content and who already have sizeable Instagram audiences, set the norms for what IGTV is about.”

6. You don’t need to produce polished TV-like videos

Since Instagram IGTV has been designed to take on YouTube and Snapchat, your videos don’t need to be super polished.

As far as production quality goes, it’s best to think of IGTV like a step up from Instagram Stories. Your videos don’t have to be perfect or even curated like a regular Instagram post or video would be. If you would post a video to YouTube, then it’s perfectly fine for IGTV.

7. There Are 3 IGTV Categories

There are currently three Instagram IGTV categories: For You, Following, and Popular.

For You is a collection of videos that Instagram thinks you might like. It’s made up of people you follow and Instagram’s own algorithm.

Following is where you’ll find videos from the people you follow on Instagram.

Popular is a collection of all the trending videos on Instagram IGTV, probably ranked by popularity.

There’s also a “Continue Watching” tab where you can pick up where you left off.

You’ll also notice a search bar above the categories that lets you search for videos. Right now, you can only search by Instagram account name, which is hugely restricting.

It seems that Instagram wants to curate videos for you so you don’t have to think about what to watch next—the program functions like a TV, with videos automatically playing as soon as you open the sub-app.

8. There are no ads—yet

Unlike Instagram Stories, you won’t see any ads in IGTV. But it’s likely there will be ads eventually.

“Right now we’re focused on building engagement,” Systrom told journalists at IGTV’s launch event. “But that’s obviously a very reasonable place to end up. There will be a way for creators to make a living.”

Since creators are investing a lot of time into IGTV videos, Systrom said Instagram wanted to make that sustainable by offering them a way to monetize in the future.

How to create an Instagram IGTV channel

Before you can start sharing videos on Instagram IGTV, you need to create a channel. Here’s how:

Step 1: Open Instagram on your phone and click the IGTV icon in the top-right.

Step 2: Click on the settings cog to the right and then click “Create channel.”

Step 3: A new screen will pop up explaining what Instagram IGTV is. Click “Next” until you’re taken back to the regular IGTV interface.

Step 4: You’ll notice your account’s profile image has replaced the settings cog. Click on it…

Step 5: … and you’re done! This last screen is where you can upload videos to IGTV directly from your phone.

How to make Instagram IGTV work for your businesses

You might be wondering how exactly long-form videos fit into your social media strategy, or even what kind of content you should share on Instagram IGTV.

The reality is, Instagram IGTV is something of a playground where anything goes! But starting out, it’s a good idea to look to YouTube for inspiration and work out what performs well there.

Here are some best practice tips to help you get started.

1. Start small

Just because you’ve got 60 minutes to work with doesn’t mean you have to dive straight into sharing hour-long videos.

If you’re already using Instagram Stories to share 15 second clips, your followers will be accustomed to watching brief videos that, when watched in succession, add up to create a longer video.

These shorts bursts of video are great for social media users who have short attention spans. Longer videos, on the other, hand… well, you’ll have to train your followers to watch them.

It’s best to start small with videos that are 2-3 minutes long and go from there.

2. Experiment

You don’t have to be a Hollywood producer to know what kind of video content will resonate with your followers. After all, you can just post an Instagram Story and ask!

It’s clear that Instagram is positioning IGTV as a place for content that entertains and is easy to watch on the go, rather than the kinds of videos you would post to Stories. It’s also meant for a mobile-first audience, unlike YouTube (where videos are often played on desktop and are always horizontal, similar to TV).

Keep in mind that Instagram users are more likely to follow people they don’t know than users on other platforms. Also, younger audiences tend to prefer amateur content to professional, polished content.

Since Instagram IGTV is still new, now’s the time to play around and experiment before any marketing dollars are at stake. Think outside the box and try new things to see what your followers respond to.

Becoming active organically on Instagram IGTV now will ensure that by the time advertising is introduced you’ll know what works best for your audience so you’re ahead of the game.

3. Plan your videos (and be consistent!)

It’s worth putting some thought into what kinds of long-form video content you want to focus on. Choose 1-3 topics for your channel (more on this below) and have a central focus for your channel so your followers know what to expect when they tune in. Set a specific time to publish your videos and add it to your social media calendar.

Plan your IGTV videos like you would any other social media content—the algorithm is friendlier to accounts that post consistently and often.

5. Edit your videos

Like Instagram Stories, you can shoot a video directly on your phone and share it immediately to IGTV. But this doesn’t mean you should share raw, unedited videos.

Editing can make videos all the more compelling. You can shoot your vertical videos, edit using a video editing app on your phone (or on desktop), and then upload.

While your videos don’t need to have high production values, putting some effort into editing will show your followers that you’re taking Instagram IGTV seriously and it’s worth coming back to watch your channel.

6. Choose a cover image

Instagram IGTV lets you select a default cover image from the video, or upload a vertical image directly from your camera roll.

I would recommend choosing the latter. Taking a great cover photo and adding overlay text, if necessary, is more likely to capture a follower’s attention than a blurry video still. You might even want to brush up on your social media graphic design to create something unique and eye-catching.

How brands are using Instagram TV

If there’s a common thread tying brands that are using Instagram IGTV, it’s that they’re using the platform to extend and complement their existing Instagram marketing strategy.

Louis Vuitton, for instance, has shared videos of its fashion shows, an obvious extension to the photos the brand shares on its feed.

Likewise, Headspace has shared videos about mindfulness and happiness. Their short clips naturally complement the meditation app’s colorful feed and go as far as to extend what you would find in the mobile app experience.

Here are some other ideas to help you develop content for your Instagram IGTV strategy.

1. Tutorials and how-tos

Make-up brands are using the platform to share how-to videos for their products. Sephora, for example, has a bunch of videos on skin care routines and how to apply certain products.

2. Instructional videos

Health and fitness brands are making the most of the 60 minute limit with everything from yoga classes to arm-toning workouts. Check out this 20 minutes Vinyasa class, courtesy of Lululemon:

3. User-generated content

GoPro is big on sharing user-generated content, and its IGTV channel doesn’t disappoint with plenty of well-edited clips contributed by adventure seekers.

4. Interviews

News organizations and lifestyle brands like Bustle have used IGTV to share interviews with celebrities. Email newsletter The Skimm, for example, has shared a bunch of interviews with political figures like Nancy Pelosi.

5. Sneak peeks

A lot of brands use sneak peeks on Instagram Stories to get followers excited about new products. On IGTV, Tesla has shared an extended sneak peek video of its new Model X.

6. Product commercials

Got a product or service to show off? Instagram IGTV is a great platform for short commercials. But unlike regular TV, IGTV demands realness.

Take Warby Parker, for example. The eyewear brand posts a weekly series of videos, #WearingWarby, which features young influencers from all walks of life. In the video below, chef and blogger Molly Yeh talks about cooking and wearing her Warby Parker glasses.

Some other video ideas to consider include:

Behind the scenes – If your business has a physical location, show it off! Filming your office and team and giving followers updates on current and upcoming projects is a great way to show transparency and authenticity.

Conversations – Do your followers often ask you similar questions? Speaking directly to your followers and answering their questions is a great way to build a connection with your audience.

Product reviews – You know, the ones you find on YouTube. With IGTV’s longer format, you can share in-depth products reviews with your audience.

Daily reflections – This is a popular one with influencers. Simply talk to the camera about your day, the challenges you’ve faced, or offer some advice to your users.

Collaborate with influencers – Instagram IGTV has been developed as a platform to help leverage the talents of social media influencers, so why not work with one? Learn more about working with influencers in this great guide: How to Use Social Media Influencers to Get an Advantage Over Your Competitors.

Conclusion

Instagram IGTV isn’t just another video platform, and if you treat it as such you’re missing out.

IGTV presents an opportunity to connect with your followers on a deeper level. With long-form content, there’s a stronger chance followers will reflect on your brand message and go on to explore the rest of your Instagram account and online channels.

It’s still early days and many brands are yet to fully leverage IGTV. So if you can upload even a couple of videos to your channel you’ll be ahead of the competition. You’ll also have more time to use your Instagram analytics tools and build data driven campaigns.

#IGTV allows you to connect with your followers on a deeper level than the main #Instagram app Click To Tweet

var memauovz0vpct5np,memauovz0vpct5np_poll=function()var r=0;return function(n,l)clearInterval(r),r=setInterval(n,l)();!function(e,t,n)if(e.getElementById(n))memauovz0vpct5np_poll(function()if(window['om_loaded'])if(!memauovz0vpct5np)memauovz0vpct5np=new OptinMonsterApp();return memauovz0vpct5np.init("u":"7711.524415","staging":0,"dev":0,"beta":0);,25);return;var d=false,o=e.createElement(t);o.id=n,o.src="//a.optnmstr.com/app/js/api.min.js",o.async=true,o.onload=o.onreadystatechange=function()if(!d)if(!this.readyState;(document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0](document,"script","omapi-script");

var nuhwnl3e2ql0iypy,nuhwnl3e2ql0iypy_poll=function()var r=0;return function(n,l)clearInterval(r),r=setInterval(n,l)();!function(e,t,n)if(e.getElementById(n))nuhwnl3e2ql0iypy_poll(function()if(window['om_loaded'])if(!nuhwnl3e2ql0iypy)nuhwnl3e2ql0iypy=new OptinMonsterApp();return nuhwnl3e2ql0iypy.init("u":"7711.525632","staging":0,"dev":0,"beta":0);,25);return;var d=false,o=e.createElement(t);o.id=n,o.src="//a.optnmstr.com/app/js/api.min.js",o.async=true,o.onload=o.onreadystatechange=function()if(!d)if(!this.readyState;(document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0](document,"script","omapi-script");

The post Instagram IGTV: How Businesses are Leveraging this Exciting New Feature appeared first on Revive Social.

Source: https://revive.social/instagram-igtv/

[dancewithmeplano]

The 20 best Dancing music Movies of all time

From pioneers like Daft Punk and the Chemical Brothers to modern day YouTube-breakers like Important Lazer and M.I.A., electronic audio boasts plenty of visionaries willing to pour a great deal of love (and funding) to bringing their songs  to life.   Here, we have counted down 20 more of the very best dance videos ever — did your favorite make the clip?

Read More

#20 Major Lazer –‘Pon De Floor’

Back in ’09 Big Lazer constituted of just Diplo and Switch, also Pon De Floor has been the single that introduced them into the world. In those days, Caribbean sounds   took center stage in the pair’s music — that was way before Diplo could begin calling on pop’s fine for toplines — therefore it made sense that the movie to their breakthrough hit was an ode into Jamaica’s dance style-of-the-moment: daggering.

The next calendar year, as a competitive fondness for the movement left a spate of broken penises in its aftermath, the Jamaican government would crack down on daggering by exposing all videos using “blatantly sexual content” out of television. The Pon De Floor clip stands as a bright, brash and odd reminder of that quite wonderful moment ever. (Fun fact: it was led by Eric Warheim of Tim & Eric celebrity.) [Katie Cunningham]

#19 The xx –‘Islands’

The xx’s self-titled debut album introduced us into a group that has been unshowy in each way. In the restraint of these songs to the extreme shyness of their early live shows, these Londoners weren’t going to provide us bombastic music videos.

It’s unsurprising, then, that the clip for Islands stands out of this list for its striking simplicity. The xx members attribute at center stage, however the focus is squarely on the dancers who move them around in an unbroken loop. The repeating sequence feels perfectly suited to the dreamy depression of the vocals, demonstrating you only require a single room and a wise conceit to create a captivating video.

There’s an additional bonus here also: viewing Jamie xx, who might still be the band’s shyest member despite his impressive solo victory, attempting to look invisible at the close of the couch. We visit you, Jamie. [Jack Tregoning]

#18 Avalanches –‘Frontier Psychiatrist’

What an unenviable job it must have been to attempt to build a visual variant of what you hear from an Avalanches song. The Melbourne group — who built their iconic debut album on samples, pinched from countless disparate sources — have been already collages inside themselves. How can you even start to place that right into a music video?

For Frontier Psychatrist American directors Tom Kuntz and Mike Maguire (who would go on to do those Old Spice advertisements) approached their job with the identical spirit of playfulness the Avalanches sewed to the song, assembling a variety behave filled with oddballs and right-fitting misfits that bring each little piece of the puzzle to everyday life. See it, remember why you loved it and try not to grin. [Dave Ruby Howe]

#17 Chemical Brothers –‘Elektrobank’

Spike Jonze — among those masters of ’90s audio movie with his crazy, cartoonish style — played it right for once for this improbably moving clip, essentially a brief film starring Sofia Coppola, fellow manager (Lost in Translation) and Jonze’s potential ex-wife.

Coppola plays with a gymnast who copes with private turmoil at a huge contest. The graceful performance (comprising a pro gymnast dual) is a lovely contrast to the Chemicals’ pulverising defeats and squelching sound, featuring The Prodigy’s Keith Murray. Much like Fatboy Slim’s Weapon of Choice, what makes the clip memorable is its sincerity — no understanding satirical winks; it lets the beauty of the gymnastics function what they are. And also the melodrama is performed to the hilt; it might be an ’80s afterschool special.   [Jim Poe]

#16 Important Lazer & DJ Snake –‘Lean On’

1,535,399,281: that’s how many YouTube perspectives the movie for Lean On had last time we checked. That’s 1.5 billion eyes on Major Lazer’s handiwork, along with a figure equivalent to over 20-percent of the planet’s inhabitants.   Those numbers alone would probably make Lean On a reference in this record, but the viewcount isn’t all that’s important   about Diplo’s most prosperous minute  so far.

Read More

In addition to being a great deal of fun, Lean On is significant because it demonstrated that dance fans   want to watch their own artists in music  videos — could it have been such a runaway victory if Diplo, Jillionaire, Walshy Fire, DJ Snake and MØ weren’t at the movie, cutting shapes in their mix of sportswear and Bollywood finery? Or in an even larger question,  would   Lean On have become the funniest tune of the year with this movie? [Katie Cunningham]

 #15 Justice –‘Anxiety’

There couldn’t have been a much better candidate to translate the frenzied, competitive seriousness of Justice’s Anxiety to movie than incendiary French manager Roman Gavras.

Read More

Conceived when the French electro duo were at the height of their powers in 2008 as “a clip unairable on television for a course unairable on the radio” Gavras’ no-holds-barred depiction of a day in the life span of wayward French youths triggering forecasts of racial profiling and fetishising violence in the aftermath of the 2005 Paris riots. Wayward is a barely fitting description though, the themes of Anxiety stem the outlying suburbs/banlieues of Paris enacting casual ultra-violence and civil destruction where they go, all backed by the menacing whir of Justice’s creation.

Speaking to Flux on the controversy which the audio video created upon its release, Gavras appeared to relish his status as a provocateur — two decades ahead of the ginger genocide of M.I.A’s Born Free clip. “For a couple of months, I was among the most hated men in France, but it was fun. It was astonishing free promo…that you can only get that much media if you have intercourse with kids.” [Dave Ruby Howe]

#14 Huge Strike –‘Teardrop’

London filmmaker Walter Stern made his name working with The Prodigy in the 90s, when he helmed their inflammatory videos for Firestarter and Breathe. These credentials created Stern a somewhat unexpected option, subsequently, to choose one of Massive Attack’s most delicate songs.

The Bristol collective recruited Stern to deliver his arresting visual style for their 1998 single Teardrop, which Robert ‘3D’ Del Naja described as a “moment of light relief” in their brooding third album Mezzanine. It was Stern’s idea to coincide with the song’s dreamy atmosphere with shots inside a womb, as an individual fetus lip-synchs and also Elizabeth Fraser’s vocals.

The concept sounds unnerving on paper, but the extreme closeups create a strangely meditative mood that’s fantastic for Teardrop. In addition, it helps that the unborn baby is so obviously an animatronic version made from silicon rather than, you know, the true thing. The movie won a series of awards, also entered a life of permanent Rage spinning and also gave Stern a much-needed reprieve from filming mad Keith Flint. [Jack Tregoning]

#13 The Prodigy –‘Firestarter’

Even though most of dance music’s greatest stars seem painfully embarrassing on camera, The Prodigy were constructed for videos. The theatrical personas of both Maxim and Keith Flint were created for electrical onscreen performances, with perhaps the most populous of all occurring within the scummy ‘gator-infested flat of Breathe.

While other videos prompted more warmth for The Prodigy, there’s something starkly powerful concerning the Firestarter clip. Director Walter Stern shot the shameful action within a deserted London Underground tunnel, with Keith because the central star. The frontman’s unhinged shtick was at its most persuasive in the mid-90s, and he actually dialed it up here, holding the focus with his hectic charisma. Firestarter is really so much that the Keith Flint Show, in reality, that the involvement of Liam Howlett, Leeroy Thornhill and Maxim is limited to running at the shadows and giving quizzical looks.

The movie did figure out how to wake up controversy in the UK for giving children nightmares, with some TV channels carrying it off day rotation. Without doubt The Prodigy also discouraged a couple of people from adventuring through abandoned railway tunnels through the night. Nobody would like to fulfill a dance Keith Flint in the dark. [Jack Tregoning]

#12 Duck Sauce –‘Big Bad Wolf’

“It’s no Windowlicker,” the manager behind Big Bad Wolf defended when Rolling Stone proceeded in on 2011’s most head-turning movie. “This was disturbing.”

Duck Sauce’s most memorable clip might not be Aphex Twin-level weird, but it sure will push the envelope. In order to produce their movie tour de force, collaborators A-Trak and Armand Van Helden spent two days in their own hands and knees at green display jumpsuits, heads in the crotches of different guys. Lots of impressive post-production later and they came away with a classic boy-meets-girl story, only with some — err —unconventional sexual acts.

For the very best assessment of why Big Bad Wolf wants to go down with the greats, render it Kanye West: “You took a danger as an artist to piss from your mouth,” he allegedly told A-Trak over email. [Katie Cunningham]

#11 M.I.A. –‘Bad Girls’

When M.I.A. connected up with manager Romain Gavras to make a movie for her 2010 song Born Free, the collaborators created an incendiary short film. Over nine intense minutes, we watch a violent raid of an apartment block, with the officers targeting only residents with red hair. It was a provocative political statement, using redheads as a stand-in for oppressed and vilified groups, and both M.I.A. and Gavras recognized the consequent controversy.

Read More

After the singer and filmmaker worked in 2012 on Bad Girls, they chose a much more celebratory tone. Mesmerised by YouTube videos of “Saudis drifting on two wheels” in the desert, they moved to Morocco to give it a try. The end result is bright, daring and bad-ass. On its release, Bad Girls sparked debate regarding its subversion of Arab stereotypes, while also delivering the visceral pleasure of M.I.A. cruising out the window of a car that’s practically airborne. Not a lot of pop videos combine style and material similar to this one. [Jack Tregoning]

CLICK THROUGH FOR THE TOP 10

The article The 20 greatest dance music videos ever appeared first on inthemix.

The post

The 20 best Dancing music Movies of all time

appeared first on dance withme plano.

from dance withme plano http://www.dancewithmeplano.com/the-20-best-dancing-music-movies-of-all-time/

[reviverradio]

The 20 best Dancing Songs Movies of all time

From pioneers like Daft Punk and the Chemical Brothers to modern-day YouTube-breakers like Important Lazer and M.I.A., electronic music boasts lots of visionaries keen to pour a good deal of love (and budget) into bringing their music   to life.   Here, we have counted down 20 more of the ideal dance movies ever — did your favourite make the cut?

Read More

Number20 Big Lazer –‘Pon De Floor’

Back in ’09 Big Lazer constituted of only Diplo and Switch, and Pon De Floor has been the single that introduced them into the world. In these days, Caribbean noises  took center stage in the pair’s songs — that was way before Diplo would start calling on pop’s fine for toplines — it made sense that the movie to their breakthrough hit was an ode into Jamaica’s dance style-of-the-moment: daggering.

The following year, within a competitive fondness for its movement left a spate of broken penises in its wake, the Jamaican authorities would crack down on daggering by exposing all movies with “blatantly sexual content” out of television. The Pon De Floor clip stands as a bright, brash and strange reminder of this rather wonderful moment ever. (Interesting fact: it had been led by Eric Warheim of Tim & Eric fame.) [Katie Cunningham]

#19 The xx –‘Islands’

The xx’s self-titled debut album introduced us into some group that has been unshowy in each manner. From the restraint of these songs to the extreme shyness of their early live shows, those Londoners were not going to give us bombastic music movies.

It’s unsurprising, then, that the clip for Islands stands out of this record for its striking simplicity. The xx members feature at center stage, but the focus is squarely on the dancers who move around them in an unbroken loop. The repeating sequence feels perfectly suited to the dreamy depression of the vocals, demonstrating you only need one room and a smart conceit to make a video that is captivating.

There’s an additional bonus here also: watching Jamie xx, who might still be the group’s shyest member despite his impressive solo success, attempting to look invisible at the close of the couch. We view you, Jamie. [Jack Tregoning]

#18 Avalanches –‘Frontier Psychiatrist’

What an unenviable job it must’ve been to try and assemble a visual version of what you hear in an Avalanches song. The Melbourne group — who assembled their iconic debut record on samples, pinched from hundreds of disparate sources — have been already collages in themselves. How can you even start to put that into a music video?

To get Frontier Psychatrist American directors Tom Kuntz and Mike Maguire (who’d go on to do these Old Spice advertisements) approached their job with the same spirit of playfulness that The Avalanches sewed into the tune, assembling a number act stuffed with oddballs and right-fitting misfits that bring each small part of the puzzle to existence. Watch it, recall why you loved it and try not to smile. [Dave Ruby Howe]

Number17 Chemical Brothers –‘Elektrobank’

Spike Jonze — among the masters of ’90s music movie with his wild, cartoonish style — played it straight for once for this improbably moving clip, essentially a short movie starring Sofia Coppola, fellow director (Lost in Translation) and Jonze’s future ex-wife.

Coppola plays a gymnast who copes with personal turmoil at a huge contest. The graceful performance (including a pro gymnast double) is a beautiful contrast to the Compounds’ pulverising beats and squelching sound, including The Prodigy’s Keith Murray. Much like Fatboy Slim’s Weapon of Choice, what gets the clip unforgettable is its sincerity — no understanding satirical winks; it lets the attractiveness of the gymnastics be what they are. And also the melodrama is performed to the hilt; it might be a ’80s afterschool special.   [Jim Poe]

Number16 Important Lazer & DJ Snake –‘Lean On’

1,535,399,281: that is just how many YouTube perspectives the movie for Lean On had last time we checked. That’s 1.5 billion eyes on Major Lazer’s handiwork, along with a figure equal to over 20-percent of the planet’s population.   Those numbers alone could probably make Lean On a reference in this record, but the viewcount is not all that is important   about Diplo’s very prosperous minute  thus far.

Read More

As well as being a great deal of pleasure, Lean On is significant because it proved that dance fans   want to watch their own artists in music  movies — would it have been such a runaway success if Diplo, Jillionaire, Walshy Fire, DJ Snake and MØ weren’t at the movie, cutting shapes in their mixture of sportswear and Bollywood finery? Or in a even bigger question,  could  Lean On have become the undisputed song of the year with this movie? [Katie Cunningham]

 #15 Justice –‘Stress’

There couldn’t have been a much better candidate to interpret the frenzied, aggressive intensity of Justice’s Stress to movie than incendiary French director Roman Gavras.

Read More

Conceived if the French electro duo were in the peak of their powers in 2008 as “a clip unairable on television for a course unairable on the radio” Gavras’ no-holds-barred depiction of a day in the life span of wayward French youths triggering calls of racial profiling and fetishising violence in the wake of the 2005 Paris riots. Wayward is a barely fitting description though, the themes of Stress stalk the outlying suburbs/banlieues of Paris enacting casual ultra-violence and civil destruction where they move, all backed by the ominous whir of Justice’s creation.

Speaking to Flux on the controversy that the music video generated upon its release, Gavras appeared to relish his status as a provocateur — two decades before the ginger genocide of M.I.A’s Born Free clip. “For a couple of months, I had been among the most despised men in France, but it had been enjoyable. It was amazing free promo…that you can only get that much media if you have sex with children.” [Dave Ruby Howe]

#14 Huge Strike –‘Teardrop’

London filmmaker Walter Stern made his name working with The Prodigy at the 90s, when he helmed their inflammatory movies such as Firestarter and Breathe. Those credentials created Stern a somewhat unexpected choice, subsequently, to take on one of Massive Attack’s most fragile songs.

The Bristol collective recruited Stern to bring his arresting visual design to their 1998 single Teardrop, which Robert ‘3D’ Del Naja called a “period of light relief” on their brooding third record Mezzanine. It was Stern’s thought to coordinate with the tune’s dreamy atmosphere with shots inside a uterus, as a human fetus lip-synchs along to Elizabeth Fraser’s vocals.

The concept sounds unnerving on paper, but the extreme closeups produce a strangely meditative mood that is great for both Teardrop. In addition, it helps that the unborn baby is so clearly an animatronic model made of silicon rather than, you know, the actual thing. The movie won a string of awards, entered a lifetime of permanent Rage rotation and also gave Stern a much-needed reprieve from filming mad Keith Flint. [Jack Tregoning]

#13 The Prodigy –‘Firestarter’

While most of dance music’s biggest stars seem painfully embarrassing on camera, The Prodigy were constructed for songs videos. The theatrical personas of Maxim and Keith Flint are created for electrical onscreen performances, with possibly the most overblown of all happening inside the scummy ‘gator-infested flat of Breathe.

Though other videos inspired more heat for The Prodigy, there is something starkly powerful regarding the Firestarter clip. Director Walter Stern took the shameful action inside a deserted London Underground tunnel, with Keith because the central star. The frontman’s unhinged shtick was at its most persuasive in the mid-90s, and he actually dialed it up here, holding the attention with his hectic charisma. Firestarter is so much the Keith Flint Show, in fact, that the participation of Liam Howlett, Leeroy Thornhill and Maxim is restricted to operating at the shadows and giving quizzical looks.

The movie did manage to stir up controversy in britain for giving kids nightmares, with some TV channels carrying it off day rotation. Without a doubt The Prodigy also discouraged a couple of people from adventuring through abandoned railroad tunnels at night. Nobody would like to meet a dancing Keith Flint in the dark. [Jack Tregoning]

#12 Duck Sauce –‘Big Bad Wolf’

“It’s no Windowlicker,” the director behind Big Bad Wolf defended when Rolling Stone went in on 2011’s most head-turning movie. “That was disturbing.”

Duck Sauce’s most memorable clip might not be Aphex Twin-level bizarre, but it sure does push the envelope. To be able to produce their movie tour de force, collaborators A-Trak and Armand Van Helden spent just two weeks on their hands and knees at green screen jumpsuits, heads at the crotches of other men. A good deal of impressive post-production later and they came away with a traditional boy-meets-girl story, only with some — err —unusual sexual acts.

For the ideal assessment of why Big Bad Wolf wants to go down with the greats, render it Kanye West: “You shot a risk as a artist to piss out of your mouth,” he reportedly told A-Trak on email. [Katie Cunningham]

#11 M.I.A. –‘Bad Girls’

When M.I.A. tied up with director Romain Gavras to make a movie for her 2010 tune Born Free, the collaborators came up with an incendiary short movie. Over nine intense moments, we observe a violent raid of an apartment block, and with the officers targeting only residents with red hair. It turned out to be a provocative political statement, using redheads because of stand-in for oppressed and vilified groups, and the two M.I.A. and Gavras recognized the controversy.

Read More

When the singer and filmmaker worked collectively in 2012 on Bad Ladies, they picked a much more celebratory tone. Mesmerised from YouTube movies of “Saudis drifting on two wheels” in the desert, they travelled to Morocco to give it a try. The result is bright, daring and bad-ass. On its release, Bad Girls sparked debate regarding its subversion of Arab stereotypes, while also bringing the visceral thrill of M.I.A. cruising the window out of a vehicle that is nearly airborne. Not a lot of pop movies combine style and substance similar to this one. [Jack Tregoning]

CLICK THROUGH FOR THE TOP 10

The post The 20 best dance songs movies ever appeared initially on inthemix.

from reviverradio http://www.reviverradio.net/the-20-best-dancing-songs-movies-of-all-time/

[giantpurplerabbits]

The World is Round - 18/09/16

///(((I’m just going to note that what follows is a rather intense piece of writing that I spurted out on a particularly godless journey on the aforementioned date. I’m fine now, really. - 03/05/17)))\\

I smell awful. Really awful. I should be a museum exhibit. It may be terrible, but I feel freed by my smell. I feel like the smell of my exterior may have finally attuned to my interior in a way that has finally freed me from general expectations.

I wonder whether other people can smell it? I believe they must be able to. But from what distance? 15 feet? 20 feet? I’m counting in metric because it feels a lot better at accounting for short distances. Or is that imperial? I must check later when I have an Internet connection.

I don’t normally write. I’m a very lecherous being really. It’s probably why the smell is helping. The warning people never normally get. I don’t really know how to feel about my ability to destroy people. They come to me. It must ultimately be what they want. I’m what they want. For no real good reason. A change of perspective I suppose. I guess that is what destruction is good for… A change of perspective.

One might wish that people had a better ability to judge their interests. But then, really, that’s not very high on the problem list of the human race. Really, anyone who’s not a genocidalist is really a saint. But then who am I to judge? I’m sure genocidalists have lives too. Long, long lives of seconds and minutes and hours and days and years and decades of moments that struggle to conjure up a human being. Who is anyone to judge? We’re fucked, really.

So it continues, boring and monotonous. I’m currently on the train. A world is falling past me. Many worlds in fact, but I won’t get into listing infinities again, I’m sure you get the idea. I just saw The Fat a White Family. Good band. Expressing so you don’t have to. I feel thankful to them really. In many ways they’ve sacrificed decent lives to provide what some might consider to be artistic meaning. They’re not very well people, that’s for sure. I think Descartes tried to do something similar. But in all honesty, everything he discovered was wrong.

The words are falling out of my head. Sooner or later this will all stop.

Tomorrow is a blank cheque. A blank cheque of my time, effort and money. I don’t want to talk about work. So I won’t. Other than to say that I work as a projectionist. Yes with film once. The world is becoming increasingly less isolated and increasingly more obsolete. Trains stopped. Anyway. It’s not fun. Not as much as it ought be.

Data.

I’m lazy, insecure, relatively hopeless, reliable (but not in love), , ,

To be honest I’ve kind of given up. I used to be happy, you know like that real kind of happy, where you know you’re miserable, but you know you’ll always be miserable, the truth is that this is practically as good as it’s ever going to get. I wish I wasn’t so accurate in my predictions. So after years of struggling with all that, I’ve finally given up. My life is sacrificial bread, now I’m just trying to figure out how best to give it away.

Everyone and everything /everyone is dying in 2016, it’s practically celebrity deathmatch./ sorry people on the train are interrupting my train of thought. Is telling me the same thing at the moment. Something along the lines of the past was good (that one comes to varying degrees, after all, the recent past was good, beyond that is…) the present is a transitional phase, the future will be complicated. Fairly straightforward.

I was quite thankful not to get shot by something extremists tonight. It would have upset my girlfriend too much.

Next station is the airport.

It’s only a matter of time till there is a terrorist attack in England/London, so say the experts. Culture is eating itself, with little seeming to flow in. The planet is invariably dying. We’re past the levels where our man made pollution was manageable. It’s really as apocalyptic a time as it has ever felt. I feel like in my more luxuriously bitter moments, one can count the number of generations left with a couple of half-severed fingers. When culture goes, so do the rest of us. And bring it on. The UK and the US are drowning in their own mistakes, the world is given to mass disaster, human nature is evil and the world celebrates mother Theresa. Just cut the chord, nothing is worth the suffering of so many, and no it’s not for any damn good reason.

Rant over. Life gets boring when one invokes too much emotion. I always quite liked the long-necked things in Star Wars episode II. I always felt like they were essentially what the human race would be if built slightly better, but hey, they were arms dealers and responsible for the death of everything, so who am I to judge?

Yawn yawn yawn.

Why am I so obsessed with being built to fail? Defective? It was only today I realised that was actually regarded a trait of being an INFP. How rewarding. Nice to know I’m on schedule.

One has to be very careful when one gains an interest and belief in the mystical not to let it damage your life to levels you’re not willing to support on a purely rational level. But then I’m a pretty rational person. I like logic too much. It’s why I’m not really to be trusted with people. I mean, I’ve got an emotional side too, it’s just, it’s quite well governed by the rational one, which means under bad influences I can become pretty well… Pragmatic, that’s the word I wanted. It also means that in the past I’ve thought that you could deal with people logically and that when they said they understood and agreed with you they meant you were on the right side of history. That’s not really how it works.

So the mystical is not a thing I can explain very easily (the justification comes and goes in my mind) all I can say is it starts with energy and fairly common things that one can easily witness, and comfortably spreads out beyond that. Magic does seem to be a thing. Some people seem attuned to it, some not. But that’s not a morality or value judgement, it’s merely an observation, but then I do a lot of that too. No wonder I ruin people.

My cigarette appears to be vomiting out tobacco of its own free will. I can’t blame it, I only smoke, like most people, as a form of long-term undetectable suicide. I wouldn’t mind getting stabbed tomorrow. But then maybe I would once it happened. There’s so much freedom in the inevitable, or maybe good will is a better word. People really enjoy the feeling (by which I mean on what would appear to be an instinctive level) of having lost control. I mean sure, enjoyment is a strong word, but then, emotions can be quite odd things. Enjoyment might be the least desirable one.

A little, long or middling time ago I dated a crazy girl. She was not very well. Times were tough. If she ever read this she might have a problem, so I’m going to stop.

Secret doors, morality calls. What is one to do. Try and care. Well. Caring is inevitable, for some anyway.

Did you ever see that film ‘The Act of Killing’? I’m not explicitly recommending it, because some people won’t enjoy it. There’s that word again… Enjoy… Misuse, or truly an odd emotion? Anyway, it’s not an enjoyable film. But it will show you something.

I hope you realise I’m an unreliable and deeply flawed narrator because otherwise you’re probably not going to enjoy this very much. Also, I’m not fishing for compliments, I’m perfectly happy to accept this is a really pointless, vain, unreadable (well now you’re being just a bit silly) boring and poorly written piece of writing WITH self-aggrandising statements, I mean… Semi-colons, I mean, colonoscopies, I MEAN ANGRY VOICE DEEP TONE LOW THROAT VOMIT IT OUT … eurgh…. Writers should leeArn to not … (Self-aggrandisement again, not fun) (invert commas? No) getting closer… It’s a stupid joke I’m sure you can finish it…

Now at Haywards Heath.

There was a man opposite me, that is at the table adjacent to mine, who was frowning I suspected (drowning by numbers) at my having my feet up on the seats. I took them down. As he left he took the bag of wrapping which I had left on that table when I had been previously sat at it and put it in the bin as he left. Would I have done the same? Maybe so, actually, as I left. I envisioned a situation somewhat like that one when I left the bag there in the first place. It was somewhat guilty of me I recognised, to not be taking full account of my rubbish, but then I know how trains are cleaned, at least partly, firstly people wander down the aisles and pick stuff up. I feel for these people I really(?) do, but it surely must be said without doing whatever the opposite of reducto ad absurdum is (y'know, butterflies and Hurricanes type stuff) that there will be nothing lost to that person by picking up that bag and putting it in the bin. The Karmic cost of the action, should there possibly be such a thing, surely can’t be that high if to be honest entirely existent, but then if karma exists then who the hell knows who’s fucked in the hereafter or not. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t balance out down here, but then these are old arguments.

No I’m not very educated, yes I’m aware, the occasional references to philosophical ideas, terms or really anything that to the wrong mind may be considered to be an attempt at learnedness should know I’m fairly in on the joke, an A-level in philosophy doesn’t count for shit, it’s merely a joke unto itself, and to be honest in the long run I didn’t even get a good grade. I like to think because I didn’t like the way the second year was graded as goes for my academic college life (or, the years I learnt I didn’t want to be an academic) but then that’s just inflation.

The next station is Brighton. Nearly home. Hipster twats here I come.

Split-infinitives… That’s the fucker.

[techsolutionpress-blog]

Our fantasy library: Unlimited ebooks for under $10 a month The new application Oyster is proclaimed as the "Netflix for books." Let's test-drive.

Oyster has effectively settled a convincing lift pitch: "Netflix for books." Pay a month to month expense, access a boundless number of 100,000 titles accessible in Oyster's application. The application is perfectly planned and unquestionably equals that of Amazon's Kindle and Apple's iBooks adaptation. In any case, regardless of whether its plan of action is as quite a bit of a danger, and whether it satisfies the Netflix legacy it's brought on itself, is another matter.Right now, the Oyster application is constrained to an iPhone-arranged rendition, however iPad and Android forms are in progress. The application as of now receives the iOS 7 configuration touches, with level, gently drawn symbols and a lot of void area. At the point when clients first open the application, it requests that they pick five books to drive the main group of suggestions.

The home screen comprises of columns of sorted suggestions, altogether like Netflix. There's space for books that are "new and imperative" or "prevalent on Oyster" and also extraordinary subjects: "sports stories," "business basics," and "book to blockbuster" (books that moved toward becoming motion pictures) are some of mine.

An individual book's screen demonstrates the cover, title, writer, and any evaluating you've given it, assuming any. Without a rating, Oyster will fill in an all inclusive star rating for the book, yet it doesn't gather any more subjective data like client surveys. Clam has no reported arrangements for such an element, however Eric Stromberg, one of Oyster's authors, disclosed to Ars that the group would like to "keep building up the social side."

Looking down the page gives you a short outline of the book, and additionally a slate of "related" titles. On the off chance that the book looks fascinating, a menu will give you a chance to add it to your perusing list. On the off chance that it's something you've as of now read, you can likewise keep up a different read rundown and give it your very own positioning out of five stars.This is the place Oyster's heuristic proposal calculation seems to kick in. When I included 1984 and The Handmaid's Tale to my read list and positioned them five stars, the home screen brought forth another proposal push called "tragic science fiction."

"We concentrate on three things to guarantee perusers find extraordinary books: article sets, algorithmic suggestions, and social movement," Stromberg said. "As we pick up understanding into the inclinations and action of perusers and also the similitudes among books, suggestions will turn out to be all the more exceedingly customized."

The proposals can be truly far away still. While taking a gander at A Sport and a Pastime, a romance book, the vast majority of the related peruses were books about games and baseball.

Clients can get to their own read and perusing records from a tab in their own profile. This data is all accessible to your "devotees" on the administration, who drive a moment wellspring of suggestions: your interpersonal organization. Clam has no endorsement choice for adherents, so for the present, you're perusing and read records are pretty much public.You can conceal books on a book-by-book premise by opening the chapter by chapter list and flipping a change to "peruse secretly," yet you should download the book first. Books are downloaded to your gadget just once you open them to peruse, yet Oyster will hold down the last 10 books you have associated with so you will have the capacity to peruse disconnected, on the metro, exploring the Appalachian trail, thus forth.The next tab over from Oyster's heuristic suggestions is "action," which is as of now a scramble of books that unspecified individuals from your circle are either perusing or have added to their rundowns. A few titles likewise appear as "top of the line," likely when a modest bunch of your companions have associated with them.

With regards to real perusing, Oyster separates itself from other well known book perusing applications by utilizing vertical looking over. A list of chapters menu gives you a chance to hop between part titles. The best some portion of the interface, by a wide margin, is some minor content in the base right corner of the screen that reveals to you what number of pages and minutes of perusing are left in the section, hindering the need to page into the book to see where you can stop. As God is my witness, I should never flip forward again!

Brilliance and sort estimate conformities are accessible inside the application. There are likewise a modest bunch of shading plans and text styles, however they are connected together as subjects. "Proclaim," for example, is dim on light dim with a serif textual style, while "Migrant" is dark, thin, sans-serif sort on a finely-designed Swiss dab background.Scrolling is not constant, so perusers still need to swipe between pages. A tap on the screen raises an advance bar that will demonstrate the peruser's rate of the path into the book.

Shellfish is at present welcome just, and it offers its administrations at $9.95 a month ($2 more than a Netflix spilling membership). I plunk down $8 consistently in light of the fact that the heaps of substance accessible on Netflix appears like a take at that cost, however Oyster's charge gives me somewhat more delay.

The esteem you escape a month to month benefit has principally to do with the amount you utilize it. On the off chance that you read 10 books a month and never touch them again, Oyster is enormous for you. In any case, there is additionally the issue of the genuine estimation of what you're getting with respect to the membership cost.

There are contentions to be made about the subjective incentivized offers of books versus Television versus Motion pictures, however it's all diversion time for me. Separated to a proportion of cost-to-time, nothing beats TV.

In spite of how costly periods of TV shows are, at $20 for 13 one-hour scenes, they turn out to about $15 for 10 hours. Books are somewhat more costly: at $10 for a 300-page book, that is about $20 for 10 hours. Motion pictures are over the top at $10-15 for every two-hour motion picture; that works out to $50-75 for 10 hours.This makes Netflix's boundless gushing a gigantic incentive for even easygoing film watchers: one motion picture a month and you're doing fine, yet I'd wander that most clients get a considerable amount more in. I myself watch a humiliating measure of TV, so despite the fact that TV as an item is really modest to drop by, I'm making out like an outlaw.

At present, I tend not to peruse the same number of books. I've generally been an energetic peruser, however since I now do as such a lot of it for work, I tend not to get past more than a book or two a month. Thus, I would come significantly more nearer to earning back the original investment on the incentivized offer of Oyster.

All things considered, I've never had admittance to an administration that makes finding new books to peruse simple and takes the weight off choosing to burn through cash on one, which is the thing that Netflix accomplishes for motion pictures and TV. (You say, "shouldn't something be said about libraries?" I say, "the library beyond any doubt is a great deal more remote than one matrix space far from Twitter on my telephone.") Hopelessly optimistic as this seems to be, perhaps I can really fulfill more book perusing thusly.

As we've found with most advanced inventories in late history, 100,000 sounds greater than it is. Numerous things you search out likely won't be accessible. All things considered, just from perusing the produced proposals and two quests, I have a perusing list 19 books in length. At long last, I may have nobody to fault for not perusing but rather myself.

[s3venpounds]

1-59

yo

1. selfie (no can do, i honestly am too lazy and i have no clue how to add photos into these lel)

2. what would you name your future kids? Skylark, Silver, Thorn, Pas

3. do you miss anyone? yes

4. what are you looking forward to? waking up to a S.O that loves me, a house that we both love, a job I love, income I can live off comfortably, and the only source of stress I have is if something isnt routine

5. is there anyone who can always make you smile? @artbeetle hands down

6. is it hard for you to get over someone? yeah

7. what was your life like last year? happier

8. have you ever cried because you were so annoyed? nope

9. who did you last see in person? Aleksi

10. are you good at hiding your feelings? nope. I’m an open book.

11. are you listening to music right now? yeah, the beauty and the beast soundtrack Evermore lol

12. what is something you want right now? a million dollars would be nice

13. how do you feel right now? groggy and i have a stomach ache from last night so not feeling 100% right now

14. when was the last time someone of the opposite sex hugged you? a long time now that i think about it. i guess thats my fault since i’ve been avoiding hugs because i’m still worried people think of me as the “wheres my hug?” guy from middle school lol

15. personality description: a steaming pile of bile tbh. loud when I’m trying too hard to be friends with you, cuss like a trucker, quiet when youre in the innermost circle of friends. i make a lot of jokes that cross lines and unless someones seriously offended and says something I don’t stop.

16. have you ever wanted to tell someone something but you didn’t? yes

17. opinion on insecurities. go ahead and have them, just don’t let them become permanent. you only have so much time in this world and youre going spend it worrying about other people who will forget everything in like 10 years max? like no one really cares if you tripped on nothing that one time. sure they’ll laugh but realistically theyll laugh for about 15 minutes then forget it completely by the next 3 days.

18. do you miss how thing were a year ago? yeah

19. have you ever been to New York? nope. dont plan to.

20. what is your favourite song at the moment? Lie To Me George Nozuka

21. age and birthday? 21, may 17

22. description of crush. she’s reliable, comforting, pleasant to be with, gives off an air of happiness and contentment, easy on the eyes and knows how to keep the flow of conversations or mood going. She can be spontaneous or mysterious when she wants to. She warms my heart with her smile and I will never forget the little thing her cheeks do when she does smile.  

23. fear(s) death. thats it. 

24. height 5 foot 6 i think. i may have grown to 5 foot 7 haven’t measured in a while. wish i grew more tho

25. role model my friend William lol he is goals.

26. idol(s) I don’t really keep track of any celebrities so none really.

27. things i hate. 3 people i hate specifically, uhhhh break ups, my dad, some “friends”, when apologies arent enough( otherwise whats the point of having the word exist), when I take a joke too far and it hurts a relationship I like, when i stub my toes or bang my fingers on something, when friends snapchat me of a hangout I wasn’t invited or even told about when the whole group is there, when people are at a dance and everyone forms that dance circle for random people to go in and dance their heart out then someone busts out breakdancing in a crowd thats literally the worst group of dancers( like seriously i dare you to watch that shit. unless someone has some serious balls no one will go in the circle after that for a whole 5-10 minutes because no one can follow that up. like thats fine if youre in a group of other really good dancers or break dancers but like come on man. thats like having a seasoned and grown ass michael jordan in your middle school basketball game. )

28. i’ll love you if… you make me a handmade gift, you tell me you were thinking of me, you give me a lot of attention lol, you share your food with me, you try some of my favourite games or watch my favourite animes with me, we end up saying the same shit at the same time, do crazy shit with me, ride rollercoasters with me, if youre cold or something and you need to borrow my jacket or sweater i will gladly lend it to you unless its like - 30 then we share lol, if you rant to me or vent to me. if you keep the conversation going unless you know im in a bad mood or something serious happened

29. favourite film(s) Treasure planet. thats it. 

30. favourite tv show(s) Spider riders? di gata defenders, samurai jack, martin mystery, totally spies, jacob two two, team galaxy, ben 10 ( only up to ultimate alien and alien force, the rest sucked), code lyoko, master chef, chopped, medabots, gundam seed, the weekenders, code name kids next door, uhh theres probably like 30 other ones but nothing else i can remember off the top of my head.

31. 3 random facts I have a bottle of taro flavoured gin sitting beside my desk, I have reading glasses, I like the feeling of cleaning my ears with cotton swabs

32. are your friends mainly girls or guys? guys. although in highschool it was girls

33. something you want to learn? the italian, korean, and japanese language. maybe russian. I want to learn how to juggle and do card tricks, I want to learn everything about my friends, I want to learn how to profile someone and deduce things sherlock style. I also want to learn more about volleyball tbh

34. most embarrassing moment. I pooped my pants while at a friends 6th birthday and my brother had to help me

35. favourite subject. English. I like poetry the most

36. 3 dreams you want to fulfill? To be in a rowboat in Venice Italy with my significant other under the moonlight and right as we’re about to kiss, fireworks go off in the distance. to be a world renowned psychologist/psychiatrist but working in my old high school trying to help people who are bound to do the same dumb ass shit I did. to wini the lottery or just raise enough money off a really good paying job i like to send my parents back home to philippines like they dreamed. 

37. favourite actor/actress. Mary Elizabeth Winstead or Ellen Page

38. favourite comedian(s) Gabriel iglesias, christopher titus, bo burnham

39. favourite sport(s) volleyball, i dont play many others

40. favourite memory: that one day at cap ex. “ what about this ship?” “ well, we’ll see where it takes us”

41. relationship status pringle.

42. favourite book(s) perks of being a wallflower, eleanor and park, Somebody up there hates you, nick and norah’s infinite playlist, an abundance of katherines

43. favourite song ever Pocket full of dreams by hedley

44. age you get mistaken for: no one guesses my age

45. how you found out about your idol: i met him lol hes my friend’s boyfriend

46. what my last text message says “ like I don’t want to get out of bed”

47. turn ons:  Short hair, freckles, dimples, tits that fit perfectly in my hand or bigger is cool too, into kinky shit, still makes jokes even in sex( not all the time though), likes passionate aggressive sex, tom boyish, asian, very physically touchy/clingy, smells nice, soft skin, tongue when kissing, knows how to dirty talk or sound seductive.

48. turn offs: smells bad(breath or body odor), those dirty white people dreadlocks, being like professional body builder ripped levels, and sure fuck it I’ll say it; being extremely overweight. 

49. where i want to be right now, Venice Italy

50. favourite picture of your idol again, can’t do photos. too dumb

51. starsign Taurus

52. something i’m talented at , guessing a pokemon after hearing its cry only applicable to the first 2-3 generations

53. 5 things that make me happy. friends, food, sleep, money, video games

54. something thats worrying me at the moment. my future and how dark it is

55. tumblr friends I dont have many and the ones i do have i don’t know if i should tag on here

56. favourite food(s) bbq ribs, pulled pork, pizza, bimbimbap, filipino bbq skewers, tosino, lechon kawale, lechon adobo, insemada(not sure how to spell that), pasta, and curry

57. favourite animal(s) cats

58. description of my best friend, hes asian

59. why i joined tumblr, my friend kept using inside jokes and memes from tumblr so i got curious

#ask me more shit hue #i like doing these things #AtmosAsks

[dancewithmeplano]

The 20 best Dancing music Movies of all time

From pioneers like Daft Punk and the Chemical Brothers to modern day YouTube-breakers like Important Lazer and M.I.A., electronic audio boasts plenty of visionaries willing to pour a great deal of love (and funding) to bringing their songs  to life.   Here, we have counted down 20 more of the very best dance videos ever — did your favorite make the clip?

Read More

#20 Major Lazer –‘Pon De Floor’

Back in ’09 Big Lazer constituted of just Diplo and Switch, also Pon De Floor has been the single that introduced them into the world. In those days, Caribbean sounds   took center stage in the pair’s music — that was way before Diplo could begin calling on pop’s fine for toplines — therefore it made sense that the movie to their breakthrough hit was an ode into Jamaica’s dance style-of-the-moment: daggering.

The next calendar year, as a competitive fondness for the movement left a spate of broken penises in its aftermath, the Jamaican government would crack down on daggering by exposing all videos using “blatantly sexual content” out of television. The Pon De Floor clip stands as a bright, brash and odd reminder of that quite wonderful moment ever. (Fun fact: it was led by Eric Warheim of Tim & Eric celebrity.) [Katie Cunningham]

#19 The xx –‘Islands’

The xx’s self-titled debut album introduced us into a group that has been unshowy in each way. In the restraint of these songs to the extreme shyness of their early live shows, these Londoners weren’t going to provide us bombastic music videos.

It’s unsurprising, then, that the clip for Islands stands out of this list for its striking simplicity. The xx members attribute at center stage, however the focus is squarely on the dancers who move them around in an unbroken loop. The repeating sequence feels perfectly suited to the dreamy depression of the vocals, demonstrating you only require a single room and a wise conceit to create a captivating video.

There’s an additional bonus here also: viewing Jamie xx, who might still be the band’s shyest member despite his impressive solo victory, attempting to look invisible at the close of the couch. We visit you, Jamie. [Jack Tregoning]

#18 Avalanches –‘Frontier Psychiatrist’

What an unenviable job it must have been to attempt to build a visual variant of what you hear from an Avalanches song. The Melbourne group — who built their iconic debut album on samples, pinched from countless disparate sources — have been already collages inside themselves. How can you even start to place that right into a music video?

For Frontier Psychatrist American directors Tom Kuntz and Mike Maguire (who would go on to do those Old Spice advertisements) approached their job with the identical spirit of playfulness the Avalanches sewed to the song, assembling a variety behave filled with oddballs and right-fitting misfits that bring each little piece of the puzzle to everyday life. See it, remember why you loved it and try not to grin. [Dave Ruby Howe]

#17 Chemical Brothers –‘Elektrobank’

Spike Jonze — among those masters of ’90s audio movie with his crazy, cartoonish style — played it right for once for this improbably moving clip, essentially a brief film starring Sofia Coppola, fellow manager (Lost in Translation) and Jonze’s potential ex-wife.

Coppola plays with a gymnast who copes with private turmoil at a huge contest. The graceful performance (comprising a pro gymnast dual) is a lovely contrast to the Chemicals’ pulverising defeats and squelching sound, featuring The Prodigy’s Keith Murray. Much like Fatboy Slim’s Weapon of Choice, what makes the clip memorable is its sincerity — no understanding satirical winks; it lets the beauty of the gymnastics function what they are. And also the melodrama is performed to the hilt; it might be an ’80s afterschool special.   [Jim Poe]

#16 Important Lazer & DJ Snake –‘Lean On’

1,535,399,281: that’s how many YouTube perspectives the movie for Lean On had last time we checked. That’s 1.5 billion eyes on Major Lazer’s handiwork, along with a figure equivalent to over 20-percent of the planet’s inhabitants.   Those numbers alone would probably make Lean On a reference in this record, but the viewcount isn’t all that’s important   about Diplo’s most prosperous minute  so far.

Read More

In addition to being a great deal of fun, Lean On is significant because it demonstrated that dance fans   want to watch their own artists in music  videos — could it have been such a runaway victory if Diplo, Jillionaire, Walshy Fire, DJ Snake and MØ weren’t at the movie, cutting shapes in their mix of sportswear and Bollywood finery? Or in an even larger question,  would   Lean On have become the funniest tune of the year with this movie? [Katie Cunningham]

 #15 Justice –‘Anxiety’

There couldn’t have been a much better candidate to translate the frenzied, competitive seriousness of Justice’s Anxiety to movie than incendiary French manager Roman Gavras.

Read More

Conceived when the French electro duo were at the height of their powers in 2008 as “a clip unairable on television for a course unairable on the radio” Gavras’ no-holds-barred depiction of a day in the life span of wayward French youths triggering forecasts of racial profiling and fetishising violence in the aftermath of the 2005 Paris riots. Wayward is a barely fitting description though, the themes of Anxiety stem the outlying suburbs/banlieues of Paris enacting casual ultra-violence and civil destruction where they go, all backed by the menacing whir of Justice’s creation.

Speaking to Flux on the controversy which the audio video created upon its release, Gavras appeared to relish his status as a provocateur — two decades ahead of the ginger genocide of M.I.A’s Born Free clip. “For a couple of months, I was among the most hated men in France, but it was fun. It was astonishing free promo…that you can only get that much media if you have intercourse with kids.” [Dave Ruby Howe]

#14 Huge Strike –‘Teardrop’

London filmmaker Walter Stern made his name working with The Prodigy in the 90s, when he helmed their inflammatory videos for Firestarter and Breathe. These credentials created Stern a somewhat unexpected option, subsequently, to choose one of Massive Attack’s most delicate songs.

The Bristol collective recruited Stern to deliver his arresting visual style for their 1998 single Teardrop, which Robert ‘3D’ Del Naja described as a “moment of light relief” in their brooding third album Mezzanine. It was Stern’s idea to coincide with the song’s dreamy atmosphere with shots inside a womb, as an individual fetus lip-synchs and also Elizabeth Fraser’s vocals.

The concept sounds unnerving on paper, but the extreme closeups create a strangely meditative mood that’s fantastic for Teardrop. In addition, it helps that the unborn baby is so obviously an animatronic version made from silicon rather than, you know, the true thing. The movie won a series of awards, also entered a life of permanent Rage spinning and also gave Stern a much-needed reprieve from filming mad Keith Flint. [Jack Tregoning]

#13 The Prodigy –‘Firestarter’

Even though most of dance music’s greatest stars seem painfully embarrassing on camera, The Prodigy were constructed for videos. The theatrical personas of both Maxim and Keith Flint were created for electrical onscreen performances, with perhaps the most populous of all occurring within the scummy ‘gator-infested flat of Breathe.

While other videos prompted more warmth for The Prodigy, there’s something starkly powerful concerning the Firestarter clip. Director Walter Stern shot the shameful action within a deserted London Underground tunnel, with Keith because the central star. The frontman’s unhinged shtick was at its most persuasive in the mid-90s, and he actually dialed it up here, holding the focus with his hectic charisma. Firestarter is really so much that the Keith Flint Show, in reality, that the involvement of Liam Howlett, Leeroy Thornhill and Maxim is limited to running at the shadows and giving quizzical looks.

The movie did figure out how to wake up controversy in the UK for giving children nightmares, with some TV channels carrying it off day rotation. Without doubt The Prodigy also discouraged a couple of people from adventuring through abandoned railway tunnels through the night. Nobody would like to fulfill a dance Keith Flint in the dark. [Jack Tregoning]

#12 Duck Sauce –‘Big Bad Wolf’

“It’s no Windowlicker,” the manager behind Big Bad Wolf defended when Rolling Stone proceeded in on 2011’s most head-turning movie. “This was disturbing.”

Duck Sauce’s most memorable clip might not be Aphex Twin-level weird, but it sure will push the envelope. In order to produce their movie tour de force, collaborators A-Trak and Armand Van Helden spent two days in their own hands and knees at green display jumpsuits, heads in the crotches of different guys. Lots of impressive post-production later and they came away with a classic boy-meets-girl story, only with some — err —unconventional sexual acts.

For the very best assessment of why Big Bad Wolf wants to go down with the greats, render it Kanye West: “You took a danger as an artist to piss from your mouth,” he allegedly told A-Trak over email. [Katie Cunningham]

#11 M.I.A. –‘Bad Girls’

When M.I.A. connected up with manager Romain Gavras to make a movie for her 2010 song Born Free, the collaborators created an incendiary short film. Over nine intense minutes, we watch a violent raid of an apartment block, with the officers targeting only residents with red hair. It was a provocative political statement, using redheads as a stand-in for oppressed and vilified groups, and both M.I.A. and Gavras recognized the consequent controversy.

Read More

After the singer and filmmaker worked in 2012 on Bad Girls, they chose a much more celebratory tone. Mesmerised by YouTube videos of “Saudis drifting on two wheels” in the desert, they moved to Morocco to give it a try. The end result is bright, daring and bad-ass. On its release, Bad Girls sparked debate regarding its subversion of Arab stereotypes, while also delivering the visceral pleasure of M.I.A. cruising out the window of a car that’s practically airborne. Not a lot of pop videos combine style and material similar to this one. [Jack Tregoning]

CLICK THROUGH FOR THE TOP 10

The article The 20 greatest dance music videos ever appeared first on inthemix.

The post

The 20 best Dancing music Movies of all time

appeared first on dance withme plano.

from dance withme plano http://www.dancewithmeplano.com/the-20-best-dancing-music-movies-of-all-time/