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Superheroes: Women Behind Action Films and 'Gotham City Sirens'
Posted byhallieandannie August 23, 2021 August 23, 2021 Posted inAll, Annie, SuperheroesTags:All, Annie, blackwidow, feminsim, gunpowdermilkshake, harleyquinn, Superheroes, yelena
Image of 'Gotham Girls' cartoon with Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy. Copyright goes to DC and Warner Bros.
I've been wanting to make a post about this subject since last week, but other projects kept pushing it off and I was looking for more material to write about for this post. Jump to yesterday when I got around to watching 'Gunpowder Milkshake' and 'Black Widow'. Both female led action films that feature a cast of primarily women. Really, I love seeing any film like this come to the surface. We need more of them. But there was such a profound difference between the two of them. And while I'm not going to review them, the review for 'Black Widow' will come later; I want to talk about what the differentiating factor between these two movies was. A female director. And sometimes female writers as well. And this subject also comes up a lot when talking about the upcoming 'Gotham City Sirens'. Something that I have been excited about for a good while that could crumple my excitement with a single decision. This is why we need female creatives behind the scenes.
'Gotham City Sirens':
'The Suicide Squad' was definitely a success among fans. There's no disputing that. And while the gore exceeded my level of horrifying intake, I could see why people liked it. The movie did justice for many of its characters. And with the success of this movie, many people are calling for James Gunn to be the director of the upcoming 'Gotham City Sirens' project which is also expected to have an R rating. I think this is an extraordinarily bad idea. And it's not because I dislike an R rating; I did actually really love 'Birds of Prey'. And it's also not because I don't want to see that level of gore again (which let's be honest I don't, but gore doesn't make a movie bad). It's because we need white men to stop directing every single action film out there regardless of whether or not the movie is about women or POC. Women and POC need to be allowed to tell their own stories. And slamming millionaire James Gunn in a female led movie just because he did well with 'The Suicide Squad' will do this film no favors. None. You want to know why? Below I'll give you some really good examples for why female led films NEED female directors right now.
'Gunpowder Milkshake':
This movie came out on Netflix a while ago, and its trailer immediately captured the attention of viewers. And it was truly gorgeous. The neon 80's colors accompanied with the library that doubled as a safe-house for weapons were great ideas. The cast featured the likes of Karen Gillan, Lena Headey, Angella Bassett, and Michelle Yeoh. And this is a movie about female assassins, so they're all kicking ass in the film. What's not to like? Apparently everything. The choreographed fight scenes were uninspired, the dialogue was cringey, and many of the plot points didn't come together at the end. But worse than all of that was the cast of women who were given nothing to work with, even though they've all proved themselves time and again in Hollywood. Instead they were given scenes that echoed some of the most stupid assumptions about women that I've ever seen in my life. Because the biggest catch to this movie is that it was directed, written, and produced by men. This was not a woman's story, it was what men think a woman's story would be. No female creatives behind the scenes to be seen. Which resulted in one absolutely atrocious scene that featured Karen Gillan's character talking with the main villain (a man) who insisted he was a feminist to her. He spent a good long while talking about how he was a feminist the minute his daughter was born and that he liked all of that "unicorn" stuff. But a son was something different and more familiar. I'm not sure if this was supposed to be sexist or not. Considering the lack of understanding the movie had for women in general, I couldn't be too sure. But even if it wasn't, the entire scene was completely missing the point. The societal issue women face is not that men have absolutely no idea what feminism is. How many times do women around the world have to educate men daily for us to drill this in? The issue is that men willingly come up with excuses so that their level of comfort won't change. It doesn't matter what he perceives feminism to be because feminism isn't really for him. Not to mention that the fact that the main villain had to bring up feminism at all even though it had nothing to do with the scene, other than the fact that the person sitting across from him was a woman, was ignorant in itself. And the entire conversation is a good depiction of how all the male creatives on this film had absolutely no idea what they were doing. Because they created a feminist movie without any female creatives. They essentially did exactly what the main villain did. They talked a lot about feminism without actually including women in their views of it. And because these directors were men, male critics swore up and down the wall that the entire film was somehow Karen Gillan's fault. Even though in any action film starring a celebrated male actor, the director probably would have received the blame.
'Black Widow':
Unfortunately, 'Black Widow' was written by men with some help from women. There is the plus that women did aid in at least going over this script. And one of the major editors of the script was none other than the female director, Cate Shortland. In the film, most women will notice a period joke. When Alexei reunites with Natasha and Yelena he comments at their hostility toward him by essentially asking Yelena if she's on her period. Shortland, Scarlett Johansson, and Florence Pugh were all originally angry with Eric Pearson (the main writer) for having written this joke. Pearson eventually stated that the joke was to show that Alexei was a lame old-timer with skewed views, but this still didn't sit well with Shortland. Together with Scarlett and Florence, she completely changed the dialogue proceeding the joke so that it would be more accurate to how these women would respond. Which was the line "I don't get my period dipshit, I don't have a uterus." Shortland crafted this response with Pugh because of the surgeries that Widows have to endure during the program. And it also added humor back into the scene, essentially allowing the women in the scene to refuse to be seen as victims of the joke. Would this have been changed in such an important way if a female director hadn't been directing it? I highly doubt it. In fact, I know for a fact it wouldn't have. A female creative who was in charge had to look at that script and apply her own knowledge for it to work.
In short, the plight to get James Gunn on the next 'Gotham City Sirens' film is extremely misled at best. Cathy Yan did an amazing job with 'Birds of Prey' and she is a woman and a POC. We need more of that. And if you don't like Cathy Yan, then look at other female directors. Not male ones. James Gunn may be a good director, but he's not the right fit for a female led action film. Especially because we already have so few of those as it is. 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' and 'Black Panther' were directed by POC. 'Birds of Prey' was directed by a woman. We can't stop this streak of letting marginalized people tell their own stories just because you liked that one movie. I'm sorry, we just can't.
Marvel: New Trailers
Marvel: 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' Trailer


text:
Stoops Announces That Josh Paschal Has Melanoma
By: Web Staff
LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) – Coach Mark Stoops announced that one of his players has been diagnosed with melanoma.
Josh Paschal had some skin removed from the bottom of his foot last week. The lesion came back as malignant.
Coach Stoops told reporters that he wanted to make everyone aware of the situation and that they will stand by Paschal as he undergoes more tests in the coming days.
Paschal, a part of the defensive line, is a Maryland native.
The coach also announced that offensive line coach John Schlarman is also battling an unspecified illness.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This new, interactive, multi-media text book takes a completely fresh, and thought provoking, approach to developing FileMaker solutions. Focussed on interface design, the author starts with the premise that function should follow form; which means you start with the interface and build from there. Critically acclaimed by some of the top FileMaker developers in the world, developers at all levels should find something in it for them.
Among the plethora of FileMaker books that have been published, this book really stands out not specifically as a bible or tutorial (there are enough of those) but instead by offering insight only a seasoned developer can provide. Michael offers a unique perspective on building solutions based on his experiences — the good, the bad and the ugly — which combined gave way to his methods that promote a different approach to development, emphasizing form followed by function and always putting the user experience first. This book is an excellent addition to any developer's library of resources.
Includes dozens of interface examples from some of the best interface designers in the FileMaker® community, hundreds of screenshots and pages of useful resources to help you on your journey.
FileMaker® developer since 1987, FileMaker & Me is an ebook written to challenge and inspire FileMaker developers from the absolute beginner to the most expert in the community. It was created for the iPad®, using iBooks Author and is only available from the iTunes® Store.
A thought provoking book, with great illustrations on the subject of database design. Also, great to get a close look at Michael's story and how he arrived at convulsions - which is more informative than just the conclusions alone.
I would consider this as an ESSENTIAL book for every Filemaker developer, from the beginners to the most experts. Michael Rocharde shows how to "think" Filemaker. The finesse of his approach is rarely seen. The book strcture and resources used are outstanding. And more: need help? Contact Mr. Rocharde. You'll get a kind, fast and solving answer.
Twenty years ago I built my clinic system based on another database. Today, I'm developing an "upgrade" with Filemaker and, trust me, it's infinitely practical, powerful and, mandatorily, beautiful. And this book exposes nicely how it could be so that the users (I'm included) will WANT to use the solution.
Michael Rocharde's singular accomplishment is that he has managed to write a book about programming which is, simultaneously, both informative and entertaining. The book is a very useful, hands-on guide, to resolving a number of common programming challenges in FileMaker. And, the author advocates for, and effectively illustrates, many FileMaker Pro "Best Practices." The layout and presentation of the book (iPad iBook) successfully exploits many of the audio/visual options available in the e-book format. I highly recommend it.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


I have LOVED this tree from the Serenade cartridge ever since I first saw it. Since I have that cartridge, and hadn't gotten a chance to use it yet, it was pretty simple to pick what I wanted to be my first cut from the cartridge! The background shape came from Lacey Labels, then I added some Glossy Accents to the leaves. Stamped the sentiment from a stamp in my stash, added some ribbon, and finished with a little bling with my Jolee's Heat Set tool.
Just a quick one to share today. Made this one with one of my Unity Stamp sets. Stamped it in deep red ink (I think the color is called rhubarb - love that, it makes me hungry!), then filled it in a little with my white gel pen. Did a little faux stitching, added some ribbon with a Prima flower and button, and there it was!
Good morning! Branched out yesterday and combined two of my favorite things: Unity stamps, and my Cricut! The banner at the top I stamped with my Unity stamp set, then cut out by hand. Added a cute owl from Straight from the Nest - with a Peachy Keen face, of course! - and a sentiment from My Pink Stamper's Tweetie Hoo Puns set. Thanks for looking!
Didn't plan on making a card today...it just kinda happened! I was looking at the weekly challenge on the Cricut Circle blog, and started to think about this set ofstamps by Crafty Secrets I have had in my stash for a bit that I ordered from JoAnns. Hadn't had a chance to use them, and this morning I sat down for a second, because I suddenly wondered what it would look like stamped on patterned paper. Next thing I knew I was coloring it in...just to see what it looked like...then I grabbed the blue from in front of me to mat it...before I knew it, I had my Cricut Birthday Bash cartridge out to cut the shaped card out!!! Added a little doodling, and some stick on pearls, and whether I planned it or not - I had a card!!! I am really happy with it too - double bonus!!!
The first one used, of course, Unity Stamps, for the boots and rain, as well as the background behind it. Added a sentiment from my Pink by Design stamps, some buttons that I punched with my Martha Stewart Button punch and added Glossy Accents too, and a bit of ribbon.
Fourth and final one has Cuttlebug on the background, a bit of ribbon, and a sentiment from Pink by Design stamps. The ladybug and the flower were both from the Unity Stamp set.
Hope your Christmas was wonderful!!!
First of all - I want to wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Can't believe that it is Christmas Eve already! Just thought I would quickly share a couple of gift bags I made last night and finished up this morning. We are giving a couple of gift cards this year, and I wanted to make something extra special to hold them, since I always feel like I am cheating when I give gift cards!
The bags were cut from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More - one of the new free downloads that I hadn't used yet! The first two tags were cut from Very Merry Tags - with Stickles on both, and doodling on the bell one, and a Peachy Keen face on the gingerbread man. The last tag came from Inspired Heart, and has lots of Stickles and a bit of Glossy Accents around the outside. Tied all three tags on with a ribbon.
Thanks for looking - and hope you have a Wonderful Christmas tomorrow!!! Blessings to you and your family!
Well...I was pretty bad this year, and didn't get my Christmas cards done, but today my two daughters and I made cookies for our 3 neighbors (they have been begging for weeks to do that for them!) and they all had to have a card to go with them. So Katie, my oldest daugher (age 7) sat down with me and helped me make cards. Boy is she picky!!! When she has an idea in her head of what they should look like, she knows what she wants, and there is no talking her out of it! But that's okay - because she usually has pretty good ideas! I definately see a future cardmaker in the future!
The cuts for all 3 cards were from Winter Frolic. The gingerbread man and snowman got a Peachy Keen face added to them, and some pearl buttons as well. The sentiments were all from my Pink by Design stamps. Just added a little doodling, ribbon, and/or inking to finish them off! Not to bad - 3 cards in under an hour! Love it when they are simple and just fly out like that!
I'm so excited!!! The secret is out - and I can share the news! Several weeks ago, one of my FAVORITE companies in the world - Peachy Keen Stamps - put out a call for guest designers. I really didn't think I stood a chance, but figured it was worth a try! Much too my surprise, I was selected to join on as a guest designer for 2011!!! I am very honored - and excited to join all the other wonderful talent out there! The full list is HERE - so feel free to go check out all the other lucky guest designers!!!
So...for anyone who might be looking at my blog for the first time, here is a LINK to my very first post that explains why I set this blog up, and what I make all of my cards. In short, it became a project to build houses for widows and orphans in Burundi - and what a journey it has been! I have been so blessed to see how something that started out so small has continued to grow and help others!
And since I just finished this project for a color challenge on My Pink Stampers blog, and it just so happens to use a Peachy Keen stamp...I thought I would share this tonight as well! The challenge was to use brown, blue, and green (and I had to use a "little" yellow!). I used the Smiley Cards cartridge, added a face from Peachy Keen's Princess Face Assortment. The candle flames got a dose of Stickles, and the frosting was covered with Glossy Accents. The sentiment is from a Pink by Design stamp set that I just got, and some buttons, string, and doodling finished it all off.
Well...can't say that this is my favorite, but it is finished! Ever have one of those, that you just want to like, but can't seem to? Yep...this is one of those! Oh well - guess there has to be some of those too!
Used my Unity Stamps again - I think I have finally used every stamp from that one set I got - must mean it is time to get more! Added Prima flowers with a button for the center, some ribbon, and flower border stamp done with white ink and some Stickles for the centers, some white gel pen stitching around the outside.
Needed to make a birthday card for my brother-in-law yesterday, so I broke out my trusty Birthday Bash cartridge! Guy cards are SOOO hard to make, but I think this one came out pretty good! I had just gotten my new set of Pink by Design stamps in the mail too, Take the Cake, so I used that for the sentiment. All cuts came from Birthday Bash. I added a little Cuttlebug to the background, a bit of ribbon, some doodling, and pop-dotted the cow from the background.
Just a quick card that I made the other day with my Unity Stamps.
Punched the corners with a Fiskars corner embossing punch, added some ribbon, a Prima Flower with a button center, a bit of string, and some doodling around the edges. Thanks for looking!
Loving you more each day!
I just love when I picture a card in my head, and it actually comes out looking the way I imagined it! Doesn't always happen, but I got lucky on this one!
The background shape came from the tag feature on Winter Frolic, the little girl and boy shape is from A Child's Year and pop dotted from the background, used the Cuttlebug on the background, some ribbon, a Prima Flower with a button for the center, a stamped sentiment from my stash, and lots of gray inking.
This card is for a color challenge over on My Pink Stamper's blog. You had to create something using two shades of blue, two shades of pink, and black. Now...this card doesn't have MUCH black, but it does have a little on the faces on the stars! And I think I used about 3 shades of blue too! The colors were pretty non-traditional for Christmas, but I was really in the mood to make a Christmas card, so this is what happened!
I used Winter Frolic's border feature for the stars and then the phrase, added some Peachy Keen Faces, topped them off with Stickles and lots of Glossy Accents, and pop-dotted them both. The picture doesn't show the colors entirely true...the pink is a little more pink thank it looks in the picture, but it is close enough to give you an idea!
I'm starting to notice, that when I get something new I kind of get stuck on it for a while before moving on to something else! That is how it has been with these Unity Stamps! This is another one, from the same set. I love all the variety within just ONE set!!!
I think my favorite part about this card though, is the bow. It was kind of an accidental discovery...but I really like how it came out! I started in the back, came around front, gave it a twist, and wound it around to the back again - hooray for an easy bow!!! Also added some inking, and the sentiment at the bottom is actually a sticker - cause I couldn't find anything else that fit as perfect!
If I'm not careful, I'm noticing that I might actually start to LIKE using stamps!!! Scary thought!!! This is another one I made using my Unity Stamps, lots of ink, a few stick on pearls, and a little string.
Needed to make a card using cuts from two different carts for a challenge, and for some reason it popped into my head that it would be fun to make a snowman card using only black and white! So...this is the result!
Here is one more I made with my new set of Unity Stamps! Loved the stack of tea cups, and the sentiment was perfect with them!
Been reading about Unity Stamps, and how great they are, so I finally got a little set of them from their sale section. They came in the mail yesterday, so I had to try them out last night! I have gotten to really like clear stamps, so these were a little difficult for me to get used to at first, since it kind of bothered me not being able to see what I was stamping - but they are starting to really grow on me! And I really LOVE the designs and how nice and clearly they stamp! These are from the set I got called "A Little Happy." It is one of the past kits of the month.
Both stamped images on the first one came from the set -just added a little paper edged with a Fiskars Edge Punch and some ribbon, along with a little faux stitching.
The second one has Cuttlebug on the background, a sentiment from one of my Pink By Design stamps, a couple of buttons, and lots of ribbon!
We were without internet the last couple of days, so I was unable to post these as I finished them! Also had an eventful couple of days! My 7 year old daughter fell on a trampoline and broke her two front teeth, and of course, her adult teeth had already come in! So we spent a day at the dentist getting those repaired. Then I spent the day at the doctor and specialist yesterday with another ear infection, fortunately a LOT less severe than the previous one I had a few months ago. Life feels a little back to normal this morning, so I thought I would post these 3 cards I got made over the last couple of days, mostly before the craziness set in!
This first one used my Peachy Keen Stamps, one of the cute snowmen from Snow Friends seasonal cartridge (which was the first time I had ever used it!), a background cut from Lacey Labels (my first Lite cartridge - and first time using it!), Cuttlebug on the background, lots of inking, some doodling, a little ribbon, and a sentiment from the Pink by Design Winter Fun set. The snowman and the sentiment are also pop-dotted from the card for dimension.
This second one was kind of a struggle to finish for some reason. I'm still not sure I'm entirely happy with it, but I don't know what else to do with it! It is for a sketch challenge on the Cricut Circle blog. Anyway, used Lacey Labels for the scallop circle and threaded some ribbon through it with a button at the top. Did a little cuttlebug on an oval to fit in the center, and cut out the ice skater from Winter Woodland cartridge. Put ribbon along the side, added a sentiment from My Pink Stamper's Winter Fun set, LOTS of inking, Glossy Accents on the ice skater and the little corner pieces, and pop-dotted the skater and the sentiment.
The last one kind of came about a little different than I planned! I had originally cut the tree and added the Peachy Keen Stamp to go on the last card, but it just didn't seem to fit - so I added Stickles and Glossy Accents, and made another card for it! The tree was cut from Joys of the Season - and this card also has a little ribbon, lots of inking, and of course, a My Pink Stamper sentiment.
Thanks for looking - and hope you are having a wonderful Christmas season so far!
On Black Friday, I had no intention of leaving my house, but I did manage to find a few great deals online! One of them was to order some more face stamps from Peachy Keen Stamps. Besides the great discounts, they also threw in this little stamp for free! So of course, I had to give him a try!
I colored him in with colored pencils, used my Cuttlebug to emboss the background, added LOTS of stickles (don't think the picture shows it very well - but it totally sparkles!), some bling with my Jolee's heat set tool, a little doodlin', a bit of ribbon, and a sentiment from my Pink By Design stamps.
Funny how sometimes you sit down to make something specific, and when you are done, you have something you love, but it is NOTHING at all like what you planned on! I was going to make a card with either a snowman, gingerbread man, or Christmas lights - and this is what ended up coming from that plan! Nonetheless, I am in love with this one!
Had a great day at the craft fair today! Met a lot of WONDERFUL people, enjoyed watching people come through, and my face hurts from smiling!!! Great day - and we came home with another $92 toward a house for a widow! That means that since we began, we have surpassed the halfway mark in building a house - $324.50 toward the $600 needed!!! YAY!!! I put a picture below of our table set up and decorated, and my oldest daughter (age 7) who stayed with me the whole 7 hours, and was a GREAT helper! We had a great time spending the day together! My youngest (age 6) stayed home with Daddy...which is good, since she doesn't have near the patience and attention span!
Whew! Been a busy week, and for the first time since I started this blog, I haven't been able to make anything, and therefore post anything, for several days! Anyway, I am getting ready to go do a craft fair at a local school tomorrow, and taking all of my cards over there! I have about 60 cards made, and decided to not try to cram in as many more as I could make this week - but just to use what I had. Good thing too, since I haven't been able to find any spare time! All proceeds from the cards will continue to go to Sister Connection (see HERE for my first blog post, that explains more!) so I figure it is in the Lord's hands, and I will just have fun! Taking my 7 year old daughter to help as well, so we will have a great time spending the day together!
Anyway, got my 2 new sets of Peachy Keen faces today, that I ordered on Black Friday, so I decided to try another card with the Shall We Dance cartridge. I really LOVE this cartridge, but not so fond of the faces. Peachy Keen sets are PERFECT for fixing that small flaw though! This one came from the Dolly Dumplin assortment. A little of everything on this card...doodling, stamped sentiment, inking, Prima flowers, buttons, used a Sizzix folder through my Cuttlebug (completely interchangeable, by the way!), and pop-dotted the dancer. Thanks for looking! Blessings!


text:
Q: JavaFX and CSS RadioButton styling I'm improving the graphical side of one of my programs and I'm currently trying to outline a SELECTED radio button in CSS, but it seems impossible to do so.
The odd thing is that this:
.radio-button .radio:hover {
    -fx-border-color: #15171c; /*gives the button a square border*/
    -fx-border-radius: 130px;  /*rounds the border around the button, "faking" a nice round outline*/
}

works just fine [result: http://imgur.com/cmjCfw1 ], but this:
.radio-button .radio:selected {
    -fx-border-color: #15171c;
    -fx-border-radius: 130px;
}

doesn't work. I can actually make a nice outline appear whenever I'm HOVERING over my radio buttons, but it seems impossible to give those buttons a permanent outline whenever they are SELECTED.
And the other thing that's bugging me is that this:
.radio-button:selected {
    -fx-border-color: #15171c;
    -fx-border-radius: 130px;
}

actually works [result: http://imgur.com/qcarcIM ]. The only problem is that "radio-button" refers to the radio button AND the label associated with it, and the outline wraps around both of those elements, which is clearly not what I'm looking for.
Is there a way to give a selected button a permanent outline?
Thanks in advance.

A: Use .radio-button:selected .radio

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The Army & Air Force Exchange Service is giving military shoppers a reason to look forward to Tax Day by doubling the discount MILITARY STAR® cardholders receive on gas.
From April 15 through April 17, drivers fueling up with a MILITARY STAR card at Edwards AFB gas stations will receive 10 cents off per gallon instead of the everyday 5-cents-per-gallon discount.
When drivers use their MILITARY STAR card at the pump, they'll also earn points as part of the new rewards program, which launched this fall. Cardholders earn 2 points for every $1 spent in Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy exchange stores, and wherever else the MILITARY STAR card is accepted. For every 2,000 points earned, shoppers will automatically receive a $20 rewards card.
Every day, shoppers benefit from paying with their MILITARY STAR card. Besides the usual 5-cents-per-gallon discount on gas purchases, cardholders enjoy a 10 percent discount on all Exchange food court purchases year-round and free standard shipping at shopmyexchange.com.
For information about the features and benefits of the MILITARY STAR card, shoppers can visit www.MyECP.com.


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Donald Trump endorsed by pastor who insists Starbucks puts 'sodomite semen' in lattes
Nick Duffy December 2, 2015
Republican Presidential frontrunner Donald Trump has met with and received an endorsement from one of the most homophobic pastors in America.
The billionaire businessman is currently leading the field for the Republican party's 2016 nomination.
Trump has often rallied against political correctness in his campaign – and that message seems to have struck a chord with an extremist anti-gay pastor.
James David Manning, of ATLAH Worldwide Missionary Church in Harlem, New York, threw his weight behind Trump today, after meeting the candidate at an event for black pastors.
The pastor has repeatedly called for someone to take back politics from "the fags and lesbos running the country" – and it seems Trump is his politician of choice.
He claimed in a YouTube video: "Trump is the only person running for President that knows Obama is a flat-out communist, socialist, not-born-in-america, unconstitutional.
"He sat for two and a half hours with black pastors and kept his composure. If someone said something, he was interested… I gotta tell you, that takes a lot when you listen to idiots and stupid people. He was patient enough to listen to what they had to say, and he responded to every situation.
"After meeting with Trump yesterday… I've not met a man as skilled as him. I want to start a campaign of Harlem for Trump.
I am a lightning rod… I call people faggots, I call people n****rs, I call people white trash, and I will continue to do it. I'm not going to stop doing that.
"But that doesn't stop me from offering my support."
Plenty of other candidates have been forced to defend their link to other extremist pastors – but Manning's homophobic comments are a special kind of concerning.
The pastor famously claimed last year that coffee chain Starbucks makes lattes with the 'semen of sodomites'.
Manning insists he has "proof", claiming: "What Starbucks was doing, is they were taking specimens of male semen, and they were putting it in the blends of their lattes.
More from PinkNews
Stars you didn't know are LGBT+
Celebs you didn't know have an LGBT sibling
The stars who went gay for pay
"It's the absolute truth. They're using male semen, and putting it into the blends of coffees that they sell.
"My suspicion is that they're getting their semen from sodomites. Semen flavours up the coffee, and makes you thinks you're having a good time."
It's just one of his many conspiracy theories… most of which seem to revolve around gay sex.
According to Manning, five of the justices of the US Supreme Court only voted in favour of same-sex marriage because the justices were "blackmailed" by their secret gay lovers.
He has repeatedly insisted that Barack Obama is a homosexual, last year predicting that Vladimir Putin would Barack Obama as a gay man.
Watch the clip below:
More: Anti-gay, ATLAH, ATLAH World Missionary Church, Donald Trump, homophobic, James David Manning, president, presidential, Republican, Trump, US


Can a photograph a day keep the doctor away?
Millions of people are involved in the #365 project — taking one photo every day for 1 year. A new study explores the potential benefits of this social media phenomenon. Can photo-a-day projects improve well-being?
A new study investigates the impact of uploading images to the Internet.
According to Facebook's figures, in March 2018, they had 1.45 billion users who were active on a daily basis. That's around 1 in 5 people.
Think about that for just a second — 1 in every 5 people on this green and blue sphere log in to the same website each and every day.
Incredible. So what do we do when we're there? We look at photos that people have posted. We might even post up some of our own now and again.
From images of that unplanned night in Tijuana to the shagpile of your new carpet, anything and everything is snapped and uploaded.
Only a few years ago, cell phones with cameras didn't exist, and uploading a photo to the Internet would take about half an hour. Because this relatively new habit of ours has exploded at such a quick rate, it has piqued the interest of many psychologists.
Some people make an effort to take and share one photo every single day. For instance, Instagram has over 1.5 million photos tagged as #356. Documenting a moment from every day of your life has become a habit and, for some, a passion. But is it a healthy pastime?
Because uploading photos to social media sites is so ubiquitous, it might be having an impact on our global well-being — but is it positive or negative?
How do these networks impact our mental and physical health? Is it time to take a break?
Researchers from Lancaster University and the University of Sheffield, both in the United Kingdom, set out to answer these questions. Co-authored by Drs. Liz Brewster and Andrew Cox, their paper was recently published in the journal Health.
So what did they find? Spoiler alert: it's complicated.
The researchers focused on one photo-a-day website. Over a 2-month period, they followed eight users. They collated information about the subject matter of uploaded photos, text added to the pictures, and how the users interacted.
Overall, taking a photo and firing it onto the Internet seemed to improve well-being via three main routes: self-care, community interaction, and the potential for reminiscence.
To explain further, we'll take a look at some quotes from the users.
Some people enjoyed the way in which a photo opportunity provides an enforced pause. They say, "My job was a very highly stressful role... There were some days when I'd almost not stopped to breathe; you know what I mean?"
"And," they add, "just the thought: 'oh wait a moment, no, I'll stop and take a photograph of this insect sitting on my computer or something.' Just taking a moment is very salutary I think."
"It encourages me out of the house sometimes when I could just sit on my backside with a cup of tea. I'll think maybe I'll take a walk down on to the seafront and, before I know it, I'm 2 miles along the coast."
One participant, who was recently retired, found the one-a-day project to be a nice replacement for the camaraderie in a work setting, saying, "There's the banter in the workshop or the office or the place where you work."
"And," they continue, "perhaps [photo-a-day] offers that... Because I'm having conversations with people that I would perhaps have had in the workplace."
Others still found that the photos helped them to look fondly on past times: "[If] I'm ever feeling down or something, it's nice to be able to scroll back and see good memories."
"You know, the photos I've taken will have a positive memory attached to it, even if it's something as simple as 'I had a really lovely half an hour for lunch sitting outside and was feeling really relaxed.'"
The researchers say that taking and sharing a daily photo is "an active process of meaning-making, in which a new conceptualization of well-being emerges."
It is worth noting, however, that the positive findings should be taken with a smidgen of salt. Firstly, only eight participants were involved in the study, all of which had agreed to have their online behavior "shadowed" throughout the study.
We all know that when we are being watched, it can change our behavior, how we feel about our behavior, and it can encourage us to think more deeply about what we are doing and why.
The team acknowledge this. In fact, the authors write that their results are "only representative of the experiences of participants who already identified with the idea that photo-a-day did have an impact on their well-being."
Also, the researchers focused on users from just one photo-a-day site, when many other sites have users doing a similar thing. Facebook and Instagram are two popular alternatives, of course.
It is also possible that the community that they observed fostered a positive atmosphere; on other social media websites, spaces can get a little more hostile. In Facebook, the general ethos of a comment stream might largely depend on the friends you keep.
As an example, if you are a sensitive 15-year-old who has a bunch of thoughtless teenagers on your friends list, posting a photo of yourself might be an entirely negative experience depending on who decides to grace the comments section.
As the researchers say, this is complicated. Even in the limited sample used for this study, they refer to the photo-a-day experience as "complex" and "interlinked." Anything that involves billions of humans, each with their own motivations, hang-ups, and stories to tell, is likely to be rather tricky to unpick.
So, to answer the question in the title: no, taking pictures might not keep you healthy. However, in a supportive forum, it may well increase your sense of well-being. And, as recent research has demonstrated, if you feel healthier, you might well become healthier.


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gareth southgate
OPINION: Ben Chilwell's Resurgence Is Important For Chelsea's Title Race
This is currently a good time for England defender and Chelsea full-back Ben Chilwell, who seems to be enjoying the game he loves following his recent displays for club and country. The left-back who was brought in from Leicester City for a princely sum of £50 million pounds, has endured his own fair share of struggles beginning from last summer.
ENG VS HUN: Worst VAR And Referee Red Card Decisions In This International Break
The world cup qualifying match between England and Hungary ended in shambles as the Video Assistant Referee and the Referee refused to give Luke Shaw a straight Red card for a career ending tackle on Hungary's defender in the first half of the game. Gareth Southgate made several changes from the team that defeated Andorra 5-0 in their last match.
How Tuchel Successfully Turned Ben Chilwell Into A Worldclass Player After Initially Dropping Him
One of the hottest defenders in the world right now is Chelsea's defender Ben Chilwell. The 24-years-old left-back has being unstoppable so far since he fought his way back into the Chelsea starting lineup under Thomas Tuchel after initially being benched by Marcos Alonso. Ben Chilwell was Thomas Tuchel preferred left wing-back in Chelsea's champions league winning campaign, but after going to the European championships and failed to make a single appearance in the tournament as Luke Shaw is being preferred by England's national team manager, Gareth Southgate.
Jose Mourinho is actually fulfilling his words of turning Abraham into 'a monster' for Southgate
Photo Credit: Twitter England won Andorra 5-0 during their World cup qualifiers game today. Gareth Southgate did not start his main squad, players like Tammy Abraham and James Ward-prowse both made the starting appearance. Tammy Abraham once again registered on the scoresheet, he positioned himself well and then took advantage of Jadon Sancho's crossing.
ENG 5-0 AND: 3 Players Responsible For England's Win In Today's World Cup Qualifiers
The UEFA World Cup Qualification tournament was in action today as Andorra hosted England at the Nacional de Andorra Stadium in their 7th group stage game. Gareth Southgate's England cruised to a comfortable 5-0 win against a strong Andorra team at the Nacional de Andorra Stadium in Lagos.
3 Best English players in the English Premier League based on current form (2021).
Photo Credit: Getty Images This season, the Premier League has unearthed even more English treasures. Some newbies have seized the stage by storm, while others have had their careers resurrected. If they keep up their impressive start to the season for the rest of the season, England boss Gareth Southgate will have a difficult time selecting his best team.
ENG 1-1 HUN: 2 Wrong Decisions Gareth Southgate Made, As England Drew Against Hungary
Gareth Southgate and his men faced Hungary tonight, but the game ended in a 1-1 draw. It seems like the English manager made some wrong decisions and I believe that he got it all wrong tonight. In this article, I will be showing you the wrong decisions he made, as England failed to defeat Hungary tonight.
Why VAR And Referee Made An 'Accurate' Penalty Decision In ENGLAND VS HUNGRY Match
Hungary opened the goal scoring against England from the penalty spot after the VAR decision went against Luke Shaw and England. It was an entertaining first half performance from the two teams but England were in control of the possession from the beginning game to the end of the first half.
ADR 0-5 ENG: Analyzing The Performance of The Referees
The center Referee and VAR officiating in Andorra and England match should be questioned after taken a controversial decision that resulted to England's first goal. England continues their impressive form in the world cup qualifying games after defeating Andorra by 5:0. Gareth Southgate made several changes from his first strongest team starting players like Tammy Abraham, Foden, Ben Chilwell, Ward-Prawse and other players who are not part of the starting line up in their last match.
Why Harry Maguire Performs Better With The England Than With Manchester United
Harry Maguire has been heavily criticised by Manchester United Football club, for his performances since joining the club from Leicester City for £80 Million pounds. The criticism got much in Manchester United's last 3 matches against Leicester City which they lost 4-2, against Atalanta which they defeated 3-2 in the UEFA Champions league and recently, against Liverpool FC which they lost 5-0.
5 Manchester United Players Who Are Performing Outstandingly for Their National Teams In The Break
The majority of Manchester United players are presently representing their various nations in the ongoing 2022 World Cup qualifications and UEFA Nations League events. Here five Manchester United Players Who Are Performing Outstandingly for Their National Teams During The Current International Break Jadon Sancho The new Manchester United signing has struggled to adjust to life in the Premier League, but Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate gave him a rare start against Andorra & the young winger was outstanding as he provided a brace of assists as England ran riot in a 5-0 triump against minnows Andorra.
Four things that were learnt in England 1-1 draw against Hungary in World Cup qualifier
The Three Lions of England dropped their first point at home on Tuesday night, as they were forced to play a 1-1 draw against Hungary national team in the FIFA World Cup qualifier at Wembley Stadium in London. Gareth Southgate led team have been exceptional since the qualifications started and they've been able to win six of their previous matches.
ENG Vs HUN: England Team News, Recent Form And Likely Team Set Up By Gareth Southgate.
A resounding 6-0 victory over Andorra on Saturday 9th October for the three lions that started with their lesser lights, is another encouraging performance from England as they continue their impressive form after their EURO 2020 final defeat. On Tuesday 12th October, England will host Hungary in their 8th group match of Group I, with a victory over Hungary likely to keep England within touching distance of making it through to next stage, depending on the result of Albania and Poland on same day.
AND 0-5 ENG: Chilwell's goal might have earned him a Spot In Chelsea and Tuchel's first team
England put up quite an impressive performanc as they won Andorra 5-0 in today's encounter. Gareth Southgate celebrated five years as England boss with a confortable 5-0 victory away at Andorra, which keeps his side top of world cup qualifying Group I and moves them closer to sealing their Sports in the 2022 world cup competition.
How Mourinho is keeping his promise to Southgate about Abraham as striker scores on England return
Just a few weeks ago, Jose Mourinho made a promise to Gareth Southgate and urged him to once again call up Tammy Abraham for international duty if he has "proper eyes". Last night, Abraham not only earned a recall to the national team but also started and scored his first goal for England in about two years.
OPINION: Tuchel Should Learn From Southgate How To Utilize Chilwell Properly
The Three Lions of England have returned to winning ways after defeating Andorra by five goals to nil last night. However, Chelsea star, Ben Chilwell had a nice outing in which Thomas Tuchel should explore. Photo credits: Getty Images It was a great evening for Gareth Southgate and his men as they are now three points clear on top of Group I in the qualification for next year's FIFA World Cup.
Watch Tammy Abraham's Stunning Goal For England Against Andorra
Click the link below to watch Tammy Abraham's stunning goal against Andorra. https://youtu.be/dGZW58OdTCU Gareth Southgate marked five years in charge of England with a 5-0 victory over Andorra, which puts his team on top World Cup Qualifying Group I and pushes them closer to securing a place in Qatar 2022.
Klopp Reaction At Gareth Southgate Decision About John stones Over Liverpool's Joe For England Squad
Gareth Southgate stated that he can't select players who have not been playing for their different clubs, but the John Stone case has been a special one. Gomez on the other hand has had consistent play-time for his club and was not included in the England squad list.
Tottenham and West Ham are interested in giant keeper excelling in France
Green has just signed a new deal with Ligue 1 club Saint-Etienne with whom he shares a very similar name after emerging as their first choice. The 21 year old was born in Essex but moved to France with his family when he was four years old. He has progressed through the French football system and has even played for Les Bleus at youth level.
Analysis: 2 Outstanding Players In England's Win Over Andorra
England thrashed Andorra in a five-goal thriller in the world cup qualifying game. Ben Chilwell, Bukayo Saka, Tammy Abraham, James Ward-Prowse, and Jack Grealish were on the score sheet as Gareth Southgate side eased past Andorra. Photo Credit: Google Though they were not able to find the back of the post, these two players were outstanding in England's win over Andorra.


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Homepage > Biz Video
Chinese tourists boost UK retail as pound dips
The British pound has taken a hit since Great Britain decided to leave the European Union in June. But that's not totally a bad thing, at least for the UK's retail sector. A cheaper pound attracted many Chinese tourists to the UK during China's just-concluded National Day Holiday.
Shops in Great Britain have already started preparing for Christmas, the Western world's biggest shopping season. But many businesses have been enjoying increasing sales way before Christmas. That's because the number of Chinese tourists surged during early October.
Many analysts have given grim assessments concerning the impact of Brexit on the British economy. But at least the UK's shopping malls are happy. Major retailer Westfield said its two malls in London enjoyed a 53 percent jump in sales to Chinese tourists in August. October's numbers aren't yet in.
As the pound continues to slide, analysts say the UK will become more reliant on foreign shoppers.
British PM May: UK to start EU exit process before end of March2016-10-03 01:03:39
UK to seek bespoke trade deals after Brexit2016-09-30 11:33:52
UK signs long-awaited Farnco-Sino nuclear project2016-09-30 05:31:39
Online shopping gradually replaces high street stores in UK2016-09-30 11:39:40
Interview: nuclear project shows strong China-UK ties: Chinese ambassador2016-09-30 16:27:37


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"This bus tour… has established itself as an L.A. classic." -The Los Angeles Times
The Black Dahlia murder in 1947 is the most compelling unsolved crime Los Angeles has ever known. What Jack the Ripper is to London, the Torso Killer to Cleveland, the Black Dahlia is to L.A. And yet unlike those other cases, the name Black Dahlia refers not to the killer, but to the victim. What was it about Elizabeth Short that keeps her the object of obsessive fascination by writers, musicians, artists, filmmakers, cops and readers, more than sixty years after she was slain?
The Real Black Dahlia Crime Bus Tour seeks to answer this question by intimately exploring the last weeks of Elizabeth Short's life, asking not "who killed her?" but "who was she?"
The tour takes us from the human hustle of Main Street to the serene lobby of the Biltmore (the second-to-last place she was seen alive), to the newspaper offices and the Greyhound station where she checked her bags, and concludes at the site where her bisected body was found in Leimert Park and with a little known suspect who lived nearby.
From the few personal possessions she left behind to the friends who scarcely knew her, from the mass hysteria of the investigation with its fruitless leads, wacko suspects and false confessions, the tour reveals all that's known about this enigmatic black-haired girl who reinvented herself at whim, and shows how she came to be the unfortunate symbol of her time and place.
One thought on "The Real Black Dahlia"
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Once Upon a Crime: The hilarious, ridiculous first Detective Roger LeCarre parody 'thriller'
by Fergus Craig
'What's better than a good crime novel? I'll tell you - a spoof crime novel, by the absurdly funny and clever Fergus Craig'MIRANDA HART'We all need more laughs like this'AISLING BEAInspired by the smash hit Twitter videos, Once Upon a Crime is a hilarious, ridiculous, gripping comic crime novel to m... More
Once Upon a Crime: Martin's Fishback's hilarious Detective Roger LeCarre parody 'thriller' (Roger LeCarre)
THE ABSURD CRIME FICTION PARODY BY FICTIONAL AUTHOR 'MARTIN FISHBACK' - AS SEEN ON BBC TWO'What's better than a good crime novel? I'll tell you - a spoof crime novel, by the absurdly funny and clever Fergus Craig'MIRANDA HART'We all need more laughs like this'AISLING BEAExeter: a city in decline, Ea... More
Murder at Crime Manor: Martin's Fishback's ridiculous second Detective Roger LeCarre parody 'thriller' (Roger LeCarre)
THE MANOR HOUSE MURDER MYSTERY AS YOU'VE NEVER SEEN IT . . . DETECTIVE ROGER LECARRE IS BACK!!!'What's better than a good crime novel? I'll tell you - a spoof crime novel, by the absurdly funny and clever Fergus Craig'MIRANDA HART'We all need more laughs like this'AISLING BEADetective Roger LeCarre.... More
Advances in Psychological Science, Volume 2: Biological and Cognitive Aspects
by Michel Sabourin • Fergus Craik • Michèle Robert
The chapters in this volume are the edited versions of invited addresses to the XXVI International Congress of Psychology held in Montréal in August 1996. As one major goal of the Congress was to promote communication among specializations in scientific psychology, the speakers were asked to survey ... More
Memories, Thoughts, and Emotions: Essays in Honor of George Mandler
by Fergus Craik • William Kessen • Andrew Ortony
For the past forty years, the ideas and findings of George Mandler -- and George Mandler himself -- have been highly influential throughout the field of experimental psychology. Not only has he helped to advance the study of cognition and emotion in many ways, but he also offered assistance and enco... More
Memory, Attention, and Aging: Selected Works of Fergus I. M. Craik (World Library of Psychologists)
by Fergus I. Craik
Memory, Attention, and Aging is a collection of some of the most influential journal articles previously published by Fergus Craik and his collaborators, with new introductory material unifying the research of this noted cognitive psychologist. The reprinted articles are grouped into six sections re... More
Levels of Processing in Human Memory (Psychology Library Editions: Memory)
by Laird S. Cermak • Fergus I. M. Craik
As a conceptual framework for the investigation of human memory, the levels-of-processing paradigm had enjoyed immense popularity since its introduction in the early 1970s. It was the impetus behind literally hundreds of experiments and was used as an "explanation" for a wide range of retention phen... More
The Handbook of Aging and Cognition: Third Edition
by Fergus I. M. Craik • Timothy A. Salthouse
Cognitive aging is a flourishing area of research. A significant amount of new data, a number of new theoretical notions, and many new research issues have been generated in the past ten years. This new edition reviews new findings and theories, enables the reader to assess where the field is today,... More
Varieties of Memory and Consciousness: Essays in Honour of Endel Tulving
by Henry L. Roediger • Fergus I.m. Craik
These collected essays from leading figures in cognitive psychology represent the latest research and thinking in the field. The volume is organized around four "Endelian" themes: encoding and retrieval processes in memory; the neuropsychology of memory; classificatory systems for memory; and consci... More


Today 11th and tomorrow 12th of February, the Nordic Film Music Days 2019 event will take place in Berlin (Germany), coinciding with the Berlin International Film Festival – Berlinale (7-17 Feb 2019), gathering composers from northern European countries such as Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, during which the 9th edition of the HARPA Nordic Film Music Composer Award will be presented.
Annette Gentz (agent – Annette Gentz Music and Film Arts, Germany), Lena Obara (music supervisor – Sector C, Germany), Peer Steinwald (Senior A&R Manager – Budde Music Publishing, Germany), Thomas Mikusz (publicist – White Bear PR, USA) and Ruby Wasmuth (Composer Manager – Manners McDade) – Moderated by Katariina Sorsa with introduction by Jesper Hansen.
Composers Christine Aufderhaar (Switzerland), Hanne Hukkelberg (Norway) and Timo Hietala (Finland) moderated by Nicklas Schmidt , will have a conversation about work and creativity blocks.
Film composer Jonas Struck and experienced sound designer Peter Albrechtsen will expose a world of musical questions, decisions, and productions.
Danish composer Frans Bak will demonstrate the different work methods of five composers who have been asked to make music for the same short movie.
15:15-15:45h – Panel – Fruitful artistic cooperations. How can cooperation enhance the use of music?
Peter Albrechtsen & Jonas Struck (Denmark) will talk about their cooperation through 5 films and Davíð Þór Jónsson & Benedikt Erlingsson (Iceland) will do the same about their 2 films. Moderated by Petur Jonsson.
16:00-16:30h – Panel – Towards bigger international productions.
The composers of Nordic television successes Bridge (Bron) and the Killing (Forbrydelsen) will talk about their work with international productions and the professional networks and business structures aside from the art. Frans Bak talks about his experience writing both for the original Danish version of the Killing, Forbryndelsen, as well as the U.S. television remake. Patrik Andrén will talk about the contrasts and similarities between film and game productions through the case of Battlefield I & V, Electronic Arts (EA). Moderated by Katariina Sorsa.
19:00-21:00h – Afterparty, with musical performances by Matti Bye (Sweden), Hanne Hukkelberg (Norway) and DJ Gisle Martins Meyer (Norway).


The croquet lawn can enhances ball roll.
The croquet lawn can be installed on concrete and asphalt surfaces.
Artificial croquet lawn material acts as a barrier to weeds and insects.
The artificial croquet lawn drains more quickly than real grass.
3. Grace Grass comes with a minimum of 5-8 years of warranty on UV stability, depending on the UV strength in your location.


Successfully Added Conquest S8 Pro 3GB RAM Smartphone - 4G, IP68, 5 Inch IPS Screen, IR Control, Android 5.1, Walkie-Talkie (Yellow) to your Shopping Cart.
The Conquest S8 Pro 3GB is a powerful and reliable rugged device with lots of smart functionality. It not only comes with the highest level of protection from the elements, featuring the IP68 rating, but also offers its lucky owner great connectivity, navigation and a 13MP camera.
One of the S8 3GB Pro's distinctive features is its 3GB of RAM that open up the doors to lots of usage possibilities. Despite the phone's rugged exterior, it sports lots of intelligent features. With the Conquest S8 3GB Pro, you are sure to stay well-connected no matter where adventures take you. The smartphone comes with an extensive quad-band coverage, including 4G and features two SIM card slots. You will also have Android 5.1 at your service and access to the Play Store for more functionality.
The rugged functionality is, of course, something of note. In addition to sporting the highest IP rating – IP68 (dust tight and protected against water and pressure)), the smartphone features GPS and Compass for better navigation, a walkie-talkie for efficient communication with fellow campers and a 13MP camera for catching snapshots of the wildlife and beautiful sceneries around. The smartphone also supports NFC, OTG (USB On-The-Go) and can be uses for quick SOS calls.
A large 6000mAh battery offers up to 16 hours of continuous talk time and 700 hours on standby, so you have hours of time to enjoy all your adventures to the max.
With full use battery lasts 4-5 days without a problem.
I very much like the design. Good for active life style.
No internet connection at first, had to create new acess point. Now it works without a problem.
I love this phone! wasn't for me directly but i tried the phone for signal levels....and was very good on reception.Other than that good feed back from Customer Service to my questions. Hope is reliable also, and order one for myself soon!
Outstanding. Loved it so much my wife wants one.Feedback from Chinavasion is great and will definitely order from them again.
if you love the outdoors and want a conversation piece get this phone.Its the same size as the iPhone 6+ with massive amount of battery power and features.
None so far and I have been using it for a week now.


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Features/Film/Interviews
Looking for Jones: An Interview with Writer-Director Preston Miller
Miller discusses Jones and his other film work, including the upcoming God's Land.
by Jeremiah Kipp
Shot in real time, we observe a pleasant young man (Trey Albright) in a nondescript hotel room changing out of his business attire into a more casual jeans and T-shirt, all the while having a non-conversation with his pregnant wife—"I'm just getting in the door," he says. The conversation never seems to advance, instead circling around in genial banalities. The top of the frame cuts off his head, or his back is to us, for several minutes of this extended take. The next shot follows this stranger in a strange land as he moseys through the neon-lit nighttime playground of Times Square, towering metropolis buildings forming a vast urban canyon. There's a sense of adventure, but also of a world much bigger than he is.
The title of the film, and the lead character's name, is Jones. "It's the name of your standard everyman," says writer-director Preston Miller, "and a 'jones' is something you pursue. It was a nice catch-all term, with a double meaning." As far as we know, this guy doesn't even have a first name. That's appropriate, considering he seems to have been dropped into a slightly more naturalistic variation of a Samuel Beckett play, a clown desiring new sensations and experiencing miscommunications. On his two nights in the Big Apple, he tries to indulge in Asian prostitutes and this leads to him passing out on the subway and taking a drunken taxi ride into the netherworld of the outer boroughs.
When he does find sexual gratification, the scenes are explicit and drawn-out in unbroken wide shots. Again, they last several minutes at a time, with full nudity, as Jones desperately wrangles the prostitute's body. These unblinking shots don't arouse discomfort so much as they reveal character, and though Jones clearly fetishizes and objectifies call girls, his need to romanticize these business transactions creates a strange empathy. Maybe it's because the long take has the viewer experience each activity with Jones, without being told how to feel about his behavior.
It's a strong no-budget debut from Miller, shot on video with naturalistic lighting and an ear for the faltering rhythms of everyday speech. Jones also recalls the rhythms of slow-take cinema we associate with foreign directors (Abbas Kiarostami, Béla Tarr or Tsai Ming-liang). Each image is rigorously composed, and even when a tracking shot looks somewhat rough around the edges—perhaps filmed through the widow of a moving car—it has a sense of commitment. But Jones doesn't feel heavy or downbeat. What's astonishing is how much of life's bounty is present in the film, and if we truly examine it's themes of sex, fatherhood and exploration, how could it not be?
On the DVD of Jones, the extras include an absurd little comedy Miller directed in 1996 entitled The Mole. Not to be confused with Alejandro Jodorowsky's acid western El Topo, this is more of a tip of the hat to Buñuel at his most stylized and gregarious. A self-proclaimed super villain (played by Miller himself) attends the reunion of his pre-school class, all the while curdling himself into a self-loathing, hostile bundle of raw nerves. Miller shows his first tentative interest in long-take cinema by following our anti-hero from one gaggle of yammering socialites to the next, all the while desperately seeking their attention by proclaiming, "I am The Mole!" It all ends with a bit of gallows humor where this ticking time bomb finally, literally, explodes.
Miller's work has grown subtler since then, and he also shares an audio production of a yet-to-be-produced screenplay called God's Land, based on the true story of a Taiwanese cult in suburban Texas. These freaks from bizarre-o-land are decked out in white jumpsuits and full-brimmed cowboy hats, on a madcap quest involving God, flying saucers and astral planes. As with Jones, there's more to these intense provocateurs than meets the eye, and Miller expands the scope of his argument from the individual in Jones to the many in God's Land, showing the multitudinous belief systems that can encompass communal faith.
After sampling these various offerings from Miller, I had the opportunity to sit down with the filmmaker for an in-depth chat about Jones and his other film work. For more information on how to order Jones on DVD, visit Miller's production company Web site, Vindaloo Philm-Wallah, here.
You're originally from North Carolina. How many times had you visited New York before moving here?
The first time I came to New York, I was a kid, with my family as a tourist. Later on, just toward the end of my second year of college at Appalachian State University, I met some former students who had just graduated and moved to the East Village. They were more artists and musicians than filmmakers, but they invited us to come up and visit anytime. My friends and I took them up on that, and drove up every other weekend for a couple of months. We'd cut classes early on Friday, take that nine or ten hour drive to New York, try to find some parking—and then you'd have the whole weekend until late afternoon Sunday, when you'd get in around 3am, sleep for a few hours, and then go to class.
I really loved the energy. My friends had hooked into an arts scene, and were getting more into cinema. I enjoyed having such a variety of films to see. There used to be more retro houses in Tribeca, SoHo and Greenwich Village. It was so much fun to see a Bertolucci or Truffaut double feature, which was something I otherwise couldn't do. And, of course, three minutes shy of being 21, you wouldn't get carded going into bars. You could see movies, then go to bars and talk about them. Eventually, I decided to transfer to City College in Harlem—a very smooth transition. Been here in the city since 1992.
Can you paint me a picture of what college life was like?
I was getting an education in life and living in New York. At the same time, I was getting a film education, gaining a greater sense of film history, film theory—as well as the production classes. They taught you how to make something with nothing, necessity being the mother of invention. We actually received AVID editing systems a whole semester before NYU, through some sort of clerical mess up. In my production courses, I was learning how to cut film on a Steenbeck as well as edit non-linear, which was a wonderful synthesis. I'm really glad I went there, as opposed to NYU and Columbia, because there wasn't the hard competition between students, many of whom are still my close friends.
You were exposed to quite a bit of foreign cinema, and that influence can be felt on your films. Can you trace the path for me?
At City College, there was a great theory and history professor named Dennis DeNitto. He had a great love of historical cinema, and its role in art, politics and religion in various countries, right from the birth of cinema. Even from Appalachian State, I was familiar with who the modern stars of foreign cinema were, like Almodóvar. The masters were well represented: Bergman, Kurosawa, Buñuel, and I always had a great fascination with silent cinema, like Chaplin and Keaton. I also got into early German silent film, Fritz Lang in particular. What intrigued me the most was comparing German Cinema versus Russian Cinema during the first 30 years of this century.
Germany had the money to create these fabulous sets and amazing visions onscreen, whereas in Russia they didn't even have cameras. They would have to put in orders and wait. But they did have smuggled copies of D.W. Griffith films. There's a great story—I assume it's true, but visually it's astounding. In a football stadium in Russia, they unspooled the entire film on little racks that would go around the track, and walk around and took notes on how long each shot took. That gave them an advanced look at the power of editing and montage. Once the Russians got to shoot, it was editing more than set direction that really set it apart. That kept me on a path of looking forward, and seeing what's coming out now, but also looking back and seeing what happened before, and how it got to what it is today. Nobody's ever going to know it all, but being a student of film is a wonderful lifelong excursion.
The Mole was made in 1996. Was this made at City College, or right after?
I could have graduated in 1994, but I went one extra year for a BFA, which essentially means you get an entire extra year to make my thesis film. My best friend Leif Fortlouis and I have always been big fans of comic books. We saw some lady in a Burger King who had a long face and a big nose, and thought it was funny because she resembled a character in The Fantastic Four called The Mole-Man. So we called her The Mole, and developed an entire backstory of someone who gets no respect. In this fictitious pre-school reunion, everyone grew up and became wildly famous except for him. Determined to make a mark, The Mole, in his delusions of grandeur brings a bomb to the reunion. It was a little funnier back then, before 9/11 and our current fear of terrorism.
He seems fascinated in The Other, creating this entire super villain alter ego of himself as The Mole. But he also says things like, "I'm not white" when attempting to converse with black supremacists. There's such a fascination of us creating our own identities, even our own universes, for ourselves.
The Mole is one of these deranged fellows who probably has way too many stacks of newspapers in their tiny apartment. Everything is from his viewpoint, and he's delusional, so does this pre-school destiny even exist or is it just some fever dream?
Also included on your DVD is a 2006 audio production of a screenplay you wrote entitled God's Land.
God's Land is based on a true story. I'm fascinated by what people will believe, accept, or buy into, especially when dealing in religion. Who's to say a belief system is right or wrong, no matter how Marx Brothers religion can be? People remain completely devout to it. It goes beyond the idea of an entity speaking to you from the beyond. It's your own self, and what you choose to believe against better evidence. Even within the same religion or cult, everyone has a different reason for believing. I had the idea of telling this story as a documentary, which didn't pan out because I couldn't get in touch with any of the real people. So I decided, hey, I have some friends and a few of them are voice artists. All I need is a camera and a microphone. It was a cheap way of getting that story told, and hopefully building some interest. I'm happy to have some version of it existing, as opposed to just a script.
It is fun to watch The Mole, then listen to God's Land. There are connections between these two projects, even though they were made ten years apart. The Mole wishes to have been born an alien and the characters in God's Land, like cult members, desire to jump onto an imaginary space ship into another astral plane.
Something I enjoy in filmmakers, musicians and artists is to see the arc of their careers, or works, starting when they were toddling around in early pieces through to what has evolved into through the lens of their life experiences. Watching Godard from Breathless to the present, we see how he changed. It doesn't have to be an autobiographical change, either. My favorite band is Jethro Tull, and every two or three years they change their style completely.
It must be interesting for you to view yourself in that way as well, since you chose to include The Mole and God's Land on your DVD for Jones. You put yourself in this context we're talking about.
Absolutely. This DVD was made for next to nothing, because right now there's nobody out there interested in distributing it. Nobody feels they're going to make any money, which is fair enough. Since I'm self-distributing, I decided to put on the DVD as much content as possible; to make it a compilation of everything up till now. Hopefully, it will pique some interest, and people will want to see more—or join me on this little trip.
You didn't do a commentary track on Jones, but included a series of audio tracks about how the project developed. You tell an interesting story of a conversation you overheard during the film festival South by Southwest, which became an impetus.
I was at South by Southwest in 2003 to stir up interest in God's Land, which is set in that area. I didn't have any films there, but had always heard Austin was a fun place, so I went down there to see some films and meet some people. I was having a drink one evening at the hotel, and overheard these two guys having a conversation. They were probably from some other convention at the hotel—these loud, brash, rich white assholes going on and on about how they tried to cheaply buy a prostitute who had just delivered a baby. These guys were upset that she'd even have the gall to try and take their money, saying things like, "Why was she even working? The prostitutes here suck!"
Now, I had been trying to raise money for other projects, and was getting tired of trying to take a meeting. Most of my time was spent trying to create press kits for things that hadn't been developed, so I was restless. I figured if I found the germ of a good idea, I'd make a nice, tight 15-minute short using the shooting style I had in mind for God's Land. When I heard these guys talking, I thought, "That's great—a story with a beginning, middle and an end." I wrote it down, book-ending their prostitute story with our character at a bar talking to somebody, and we started to shoot.
Somehow this 15-minute short expanded into a full feature.
Once we shot and assembled the first prostitution scene, we already had 15 minutes and hadn't even touched the story. The reason is because Jones has very long takes. From this 12-page script, like a piece of dough, we kept lengthening it until our cut was an hour and twenty minutes. I was trying for years to raise money to make a film, and wound up accidentally stumbling into creating a feature.
What fascinated you about these two men?
I've always enjoyed being a fly on the wall, observing conversations and interactions. What upset me about these guys was their blatant disregard for this other human being's life. They could only focus on how it impacted them. But nobody is black and white. Jones is an attempt to see this person in full. We see him, walk with him, spend time with him, and nothing is hidden. Sometimes he's a nice guy and sometimes he's not, which is true of everybody. We follow him in a logical and empathetic way to figure out how he got to this point. What [lead actor] Trey Albright brought to it was this tremendous likeability. In real life, he is a very warm and genuine person, and he makes the role more ambiguous. My wife and other women who have seen the film were initially repulsed by the idea of even shooting something like this, but afterwards they felt conflicted because he's kind of a nice guy, even if what he is doing is horrible.
Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr says he makes films to get closer to people. Like him, you make frequent use of the extended long take, where a shot can run for several minutes. One could argue that the minute you decide to film a long take on someone, the style becomes existential. Let's talk about the opening image, which is very confident. The camera is locked down, and we see Jones walking back and forth in his hotel room, talking on his cellphone. In the image, the top of his head and the bottom of his legs are cut off.
Yes, it's a slow reveal. It's definitely existential from the point of view of how movies are cut today, with cutting being the collapse in time. If you film someone hearing a doorbell, then watch him get up and go down the stairs, you have the choice of cutting from the sound of the doorbell to him at the door. But in the long take, you observe an actor's body language change, you see them moving within a space and it creates a context for them. This creates a mental rhythm for the viewer, but you'll notice in the final brothel scene we cut to Jones's face when he says, "I don't even want to think about it." When you finally make a cut to a close-up, it can feel abrupt and also highlight a moment.
By using the long take during a fairly explicit sex scene, it becomes less about titillation and more about us watching an incident, and revealing character through behavior. How did you discuss this scene with Amy Chiang, the actress who plays the first prostitute?
I explained to her, right up front, what was going to happen—this was a simulated sex scene with complete nudity. She said, "I don't really have a problem with that. But what might be a little bizarre is that I'm cut." I said, "What?" And she said, "I'm cut. I really work out." She claimed a lot of prostitutes aren't cut, but I didn't see that as a problem. We spoke to what this person's backstory would be, even though it's never displayed onscreen. The character is an immigrant, perhaps illegal, who works out of a brothel that is essentially someone's home where multiple groups live and work. They don't get to keep much or any of the money they earn, and continue in the hope of getting papers or whatever they were promised. Amy Chiang is here from Taiwan completely legally, but she has known people or heard stories where this happens.
When she comes into the room, it's business first. The money has to change hands. She has to feel comfortable in these surroundings, then they do their business and she immediately leaves. There's not a lot of exchange. Since Jones is interested in Asian "things", a woman being a "thing", he tries to talk her up. But the prostitute knows she will be paid the same whether she's here an hour or ten minutes, so let's make this quick as possible. Amy completely understood the role. It's a very important character, because of how Jones is reflected by the experience, and from her.
The second brothel scene has a different dynamic. There's still an element of business, but the characters are in a different place.
That was actually shot in my friend Leif's house, in Queens. I wanted to show the banality of hot sex. You go to a brothel and it's nothing like you would imagine from the movies. Jones doesn't know what he's getting into, but he has some courage in him from drinking. He's never even been to New York before, but he's going all the way out to Queens. He goes there, exchanges his money, and it's just a bed and a room. There's nothing elegant, no fancy lights or anything that would put you into a mood of any sort. It's a place of business, let's get it over with as quickly as possible, and that's that. This isn't terribly arousing, but these people have to eat and live. (In fact we see someone cooking the food for the girls there.) Then Jones has the conversation with the woman, which gets to everything I wanted to say in Jones. This moment reflects back on him and his background, with having a child on the way, so he's finally able, for the first time, to get broken out of his objectivity.
Meeting this woman, who had just delivered a baby, changes him in some small way.
My son Nikhil was just born, so when I made Jones I still had fresh, vivid memories of being in the delivery room, seeing my child for the first time, and how that impacts you. Jones feels this anxiety, which gives him the impetus to go ahead and make that leap. But it's important for me to not have that be the last word. In the ending on the train, he still has an eye for Asian women. It may take him longer to go the distance that he went in New York, but whatever's inside of him won't get snuffed out like a candle. He still, physically or psychologically, enjoys this particular desire.
How would you describe the difference between what Jones is doing, this fetishization of Asian women or culture, and your own interest in foreign cultures? The name of your company is Vindaloo Philm-Wallah. What is the difference between these two points of view?
In the scenes where Jones is talking about Haruki Murakami's book Underground, even though he has read the book he still has a huge naïveté about Japanese culture. He talks out of his ass a little bit, like a drunk person who is really into a movie or a ball game. You can tell he has a passion for it, but he doesn't yet fully understand what he's talking about. I wanted him as a dilettante. By lumping pieces of literature with the objectification of women, it's linking the way this guy needs to grow up a little more. And he probably will. As I said, I have a child, and having children changes you. Myself, I have always been interested in cultures other than my own white, southern upbringing. I have always been fascinated with different foods, different types of literature and art. It broadens what I could have created by myself without any influence. I also love languages, and study Bengali (my wife's family is Bengali), and Japanese and Spanish. I enjoy the way people communicate through visual and aural mediums, and try to see as many viewpoints as possible. The origin of my film company Vindaloo Philm-Wallah is that it's my favorite food in the world, and I can cook a really damn good Vindaloo too.
The festival life for Jones, as described on your DVD, sounded grueling, but eventually you had a theatrical run at the Pioneer Theater here in New York.
I started sending it out to festivals in 2005. Of the fifty or so, it didn't get into any but one, which was evidently a fly-by-night festival called the Ethics of Entertainment Film Festival, located in Arizona. I didn't have the money to go out there and attend, and received no feedback since they closed up shop right after and their email was dead. I was curious if it was a positive or negative experience for audiences. Before our week-long run at the Pioneer, I was accepted into the New Filmmakers film series that is held at Anthology Film Archives. It is seasonal, and from the films they receive they try to cull together some sort of theme. Every Wednesday night, they show new filmmakers' work. It's an excellent series. Bill Woods and Barney Oldfeld, [the programmers], are great guys. Now that we were screening in a theater, I had something I could invite people to.
It sounds like you reached out to critics on the Internet.
We got two or three critics of note to come to the New Filmmakers screening, which was last August. Others were kind enough to say that they couldn't attend, but please send a copy. These critics were kind enough to share their insights with others, and created some interest. When I continued approaching people, some had heard of Jones by that point. Keith Uhlich gave us a nice write up for The House Next Door, an essay that was also the liner notes for the DVD. That alone got other people interested, because of his writing. We got a generally favorable critique in The New York Sun, and Amy Taubin gave us a very positive review in the March/April issue of Film Comment, featuring Meryl Streep on the cover. These things seem to build, and I hope we can use this as a stepping-stone to something else.
I have the God's Land script, which I am very eager to shoot at some point, and another script that is set in a motel run by Indian-Americans. It was a fun exercise in writing something for an audience which was more commercial. My mother, for one, loves it—and she doesn't love everything I do. I'm out trying to raise some money for this. There are a number of short films I'd be interested in making, just to keep working, and ideas for other scripts. I'm looking forward to working on new projects. Now that Jones is done, it's time to move on.
This article was originally published on The House Next Door.
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