Showing posts with label Culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Culture. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Meet the New (Young) De Niro, A Lot Like the Old (Old) De Niro in the Trailer for Scorsese’s The Irishman

De-aged Robert De Niro doesn’t look a day over 60 in the first trailer for The Irishman. Netflix
De-aged Robert De Niro doesn’t look a day over 60 in the first trailer for The Irishman.
Netflix

Thе trаіlеr for Netflix’s lаtеѕt bank-breaking attempt аt рrеѕtіgе cinema, Thе Irishman, hаѕ finally bееn rеlеаѕеd, allowing vіеwеrѕ a glimpse оf dіrесtоr Mаrtіn Sсоrѕеѕе’ѕ lаtеѕt сrіmе thrіllеr аnd thе de-aged gangsters thаt іnhаbіt it. Thе Irіѕhmаn іѕ bеіng pegged as thе streaming соmраnу’ѕ biggest attempt уеt tо establish аѕ serious players іn thе film world. Thе mоvіе is bаѕеd on Chаrlеѕ Brаndt’ѕ 2003 bіоgrарhу оf union boss Frаnk “Thе Irishman” Shееrаn, I Heard Yоu Paint Hоuѕеѕ, whісh dеtаіlѕ the unіоn leader’s murdеrоuѕ еxрlоіtѕ оn behalf of thе Bufаlіnо сrіmе fаmіlу аnd, specifically, hіѕ rоlе іn thе disappearance оf union асtіvіѕt Jіmmу Hоffа. Rоbеrt De Niro ѕtаrѕ аѕ Shееrаn, wіth thе rоlе of Jіmmу Hoffa bеіng fіllеd bу Al Pacino. The fіlm will аlѕо feature Jое Pesci, Bоbbу Cаnnаvаlе, Ray Rоmаnо, Sebastian Mаnіѕсаlсо, Hаrvеу Kеіtеl, аnd Anna Paquin.


Bеуоnd the ѕhееr ѕtаr power of thе Sсоrѕеѕе–Pасіnо–Dе Niro trіnіtу, thе fіlm іѕ аntісіраtеd for іtѕ еxtеnѕіvе uѕе оf dе-аgіng technology. Tаkіng a раgе frоm the Mаrvеl Cіnеmаtіс Universe аnd uрсоmіng pictures like Will Smith’s Gemini Mаn, Thе Irishman will reportedly uѕе de-aging technology tо аltеrnаtе De Nіrо and Pacino’s ages thrоughоut thе film, muсh tо the соnfuѕіоn оf director Mаrtіn Sсоrѕеѕе, whо rесеntlу vоісеd ѕkерtісіѕm about thеѕе nеwfаnglеd роѕt-рrоduсtіоn “youthification” effects іn аn іntеrvіеw wіth Sоuvеnіr director Jоаnnа Hоgg.

Why I’m соnсеrnеd, we’re аll соnсеrnеd is that wе’rе ѕо uѕеd tо watching thеm as thе оldеr fасеѕ. Whеn wе рut thеm аll tоgеthеr, it сutѕ back аnd fоrth. Thе thіng I tаlkеd аbоut bеfоrе іn Nеw York tо уоu. Nоw, іt’ѕ real. Nоw, I’m ѕееіng іt. Nоw, certain ѕhоtѕ nееd mоrе wоrk оn thе еуеѕ, need mоrе wоrk оn whу these еxасtlу thе same еуеѕ from thе plate ѕhоt, but thе wrinkles and thіngѕ hаvе changed. Does іt сhаngе the еуеѕ аt аll? If thаt’ѕ thе case, what was іn thе еуеѕ thаt I lіkеd? Wаѕ it іntеnѕіtу? Was it grаvіtаѕ? Wаѕ іt threat?

Thе trailer seems tо bе dоіng about as muсh аѕ іt саn tо рrеvеnt vіеwеrѕ from, у’knоw, ѕееіng Rоbеrt De Nіrо’ѕ fасе, which іѕ ѕееn from bеhіnd аnd through a rain-streaked wіndоw, but not, untіl thе vеrу end, full-on. From what we dо get tо ѕее, the dе-аgіng technician (or еngіnееr? аrtіѕt? what do we call them?) ѕееmѕ tо hаvе bееn аіmіng fоr Dе Nіrо circa 1985 tо 1995. A solid De Niro еrа tо bе ѕurе, but wоn’t he still mоvе lіkе a 75 уеаr оld mаn? Arе thеу gоіng tо CGI thаt tоо? Pluѕ, hе dоеѕn’t lооk thаt уоung. Wаѕ thіѕ rеаllу nесеѕѕаrу?

And Sсоrѕеѕе’ѕ right—what аbоut the eyes? Well, at least іn thіѕ first trаіlеr wе can dеfіnіtеlу ѕее thаt dе-аgеd Robert Dе Niro hаѕ … еуеѕ. But whаt’ѕ going оn іn thеrе? Will a dе-аgеd Dе Nіrо ѕtіll bе аblе tо muster thаt fаmоuѕ stare? Audіеnсеѕ will have thе сhаnсе tо find out whеn thе fіlm рrеmіеrѕ thіѕ fall at thе 2019 Nеw York Fіlm Festival аhеаd оf a lіmіtеd theatrical run before releasing оn Netflix.


Wednesday, October 5, 2016

New Strictly Come Dancing series takes first steps

Natalie Lowe and Greg Rutherford. Photograph: Guy Levy/BBC/PA

Telephost - Great leap forward for Olympic long jumper Greg Rutherford, who scored top marks – matched by BBC star Ore Oduba. The new series of Strictly Come Dancing began on Friday night, with the Olympic long jumper Greg Rutherford and the TV presenters Laura Whitmore and Ore Oduba among the stars to put on their dancing shoes.

They were joined by the TV personality Judge (Robert) Rinder, the Birds of a Feather actor Lesley Joseph and the BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty on Friday’s opener – the first half of a double-header weekend.

Among those who had to wait until Saturday were the former chancellor Ed Balls, the American singer Anastacia and the model Daisy Lowe.

The actors Tameka Empson and Danny Mac, singers Will Young and Louise Redknapp, TV presenter Melvin Odoom and Olympic gymnast Claudia Fragapane will also appear in the second show.

On Friday, two couples achieved scores of 27 – joint highs for the night. Oduba and his partner Joanne Clifton danced the tango to Geronimo by Sheppard, while Rutherford and Natalie Lowe danced the jive to the Temptations’ Get Ready.

Two cha-chas got scores of 25 each: Whitmore and her partner Giovanni Pernice opened the night dancing to Shocking Blue’s Venus; and Rinder and Oksana Platero danced to Duffy’s Mercy.

The night’s lowest scores went to Joseph and Munchetty, who both got 23 for their waltzes. Joseph and her partner Anton du Beke danced to the theme tune to Birds of a Feather, while Munchetty and Pasha Kovalev danced to Whitney Houston’s Run to You.

Saturday’s show will feature Young paying tribute to David Bowie, who died earlier this year, with a tango to Let’s Dance. Balls and Katya Jones and Lowe and Aljaz Skorjanec will perform waltzes.

Four couples – Anastacia and Brendan Cole, Fragapane and AJ Pritchard, Odoom and Janette Manrara and Mac and Oti Mabuse – will take on the cha-cha. Redknapp and Kevin Clifton will dance the jive, while Empson and Gorka Maquez will dance the paso doble.

The contestants’ marks are being carried forward to week two, when the public can vote for the first time. The first couple will be eliminated from the BBC show on 2 October.

Sunday, September 25, 2016

High Hitler: how Nazi drug abuse steered the course of history

Adolf Hitler awards the Merit Knight Cross to his private doctor, Theodor Morell, in February 1944. Photograph: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images

Telephost - German writer Norman Ohler’s astonishing account of methamphetamine addiction in the Third Reich changes what we know about the second world war.

The German writer Norman Ohler lives on the top floor of a 19th-century apartment building on the south bank of the river Spree in Kreuzberg, Berlin. Visiting him there is a vertiginous experience. For one thing, he works – and likes to entertain visitors – in what he calls his “writing tower”, a flimsy-seeming, glass-walled turret perched right on the very edge of the roof.

(Look down, if you dare, and you will see his little boat moored far below.)

For another, there is the fact that from this vantage point it is possible to discern two Berlins, one thrusting and breezy, the other spectral and grey. To our left, busy with traffic, is the Oberbaum Bridge, where there was once a cold war checkpoint, and beyond it the longest remaining section of the Berlin Wall, its doleful length rudely interrupted by the block of luxury flats that went up in 2013.

As for the large building immediately opposite, these days it’s the home of Universal Music. Not so very long ago, however, it was the GDR’s egg storage facility.

Does all this press on Ohler as he sits at his desk, the light bouncing off the screen of his laptop? Is it ghostly sometimes? “Yes, it is strange,” he says, smiling at my giddiness. But then he has long believed in a certain kind of time travel. “I remember the 90s.

The wall had just come down, and I was experimenting with party drugs like ecstasy and LSD. The techno scene had started up, and there were all these empty buildings in the east where the youth [from east and west] would meet for the first time. They were hardcore, some of those guys from the east – they didn’t understand foreigners at all – and the ecstasy helped them to lose some of their hatred and suspicion.

Sometimes, then, you could step into a room, and you could just see the past. Of course, it’s not like that now. I don’t take drugs any more. But I can remember it, and maybe that was why I was able to write this book.”

The book in question is The Total Rush – or, to use its superior English title, Blitzed – which reveals the astonishing and hitherto largely untold story of the Third Reich’s relationship with drugs, including cocaine, heroin, morphine and, above all, methamphetamines (aka crystal meth), and of their effect not only on Hitler’s final days – the Führer, by Ohler’s account, was an absolute junkie with ruined veins by the time he retreated to the last of his bunkers – but on the Wehrmacht’s successful invasion of France in 1940.

Published in Germany last year, where it became a bestseller, it has since been translated into 18 languages, a fact that delights Ohler, but also amazes him.

It’s not only that he is – as Der Spiegel helpfully pointed out – a non-historian (the author of three novels and the co-writer of the Wim Wenders film Palermo Shooting, this is his first work of nonfiction). It’s that there was anything new to be said at all. Arrange all the books that have been written about the Nazis end to end and they’d be longer than the Spree.

“I guess drugs weren’t a priority for the historians,” he says. “A crazy guy like me had to come along.” Still, crazy or not, he has done a remarkable job. If Blitzed is gripping, it is also convincing. Ian Kershaw, the British historian who is probably the world’s leading authority on Hitler and Nazi Germany, has described it as “a serious piece of scholarship”.

Brangelina Breakup: What Social Science Says About Divorce

Angelina Jolie Pitt and Brad Pitt attend the WSJ Magazine 2015 Innovator Awards at the Museum of Modern Art on Nov. 4, 2015 in New York City.

Telephost - Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie fans were left reeling Tuesday morning after news broke that the couple is getting divorced. According to the Associated Press, in the divorce papers she filed, Jolie Pitt cited "irreconcilable differences," a vague term that could apply to any number of reasons.

The most common cause for divorce, however, comes down to communication differences, said Nicholas Wolfinger, a professor of family and consumer studies at the University of Utah.

Communication problems are a huge predictor of divorce, Wolfinger told Live Science.

For example, women may not communicate their emotional needs, or men may not hear them, Wolfinger said. Indeed, after a divorce that was initiated by a woman, men will often say that they don't know what happened, Wolfinger said. Women initiate divorce about two-thirds of the time, he added.

Early reports on the reasons for Jolie and Pitt's divorce announcement cited their different approaches to parenting as a reason for the split. Pitt and Jolie have six children.

But there isn't much evidence that shows having different parenting styles is a common cause of divorce, Wolfinger said. Every couple has differences about parenting, he added. The question is how they communicate these differences, he said.

Other factors that may mean a couple is more likely to get divorced include if they get married young or if they are less educated, Wolfinger said.

In addition, people who divorce and then remarry also have higher divorce rates, Wolfinger said. If a person has already shown that they're willing to resort to divorce, they're more likely to do it again, he said.

Both Pitt and Jolie were previously married. Before their own wedding in 2014, the couple had been together for nearly a decade.

Interestingly, research has shown that couples who live together before marriage have higher divorce rates than those who do not, Wolfinger said. The findings seem counterintuitive, because living together before getting married can seem like a "trial marriage," he said.

Indeed, experts disagree about why this is, but one possible explanation is that people who are more likely to live together out of wedlock are also more likely to get a divorce, Wolfinger said. For example, very religious people are less likely to divorce, and also less likely to live together before marriage, he said.

Brangelina's breakup, however, doesn't mean that marriage is dead in America.

Divorce rates have actually been decreasing over the past 35 years, Wolfinger said. And surveys have shown that Americans do value marriage and disapprove of adultery, he said.

It's also important to keep in mind that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's actions don't represent trends in America, Wolfinger added. The lives of celebrities such as Pitt and Jolie are fundamentally very different from those of the average American, he said.

Pop-up shoppers of the world unite as Morrissey store opens in New York

Morrissey - 'World Peace Is None Of Your Business.

Telephost - Fans stock up on T-shirts and dog bandannas before eagerly awaited Brooklyn gig as Mporium, last seen in Manchester, raises funds for animal shelter.

Lovers of Morrissey, animals and merchandise were treated to an exhibition of all three on Saturday, as the singer hosted a pop-up store at the Sugar Mutts animal shelter in New York.

Morrissey announced details of the store, which is selling limited edition T-shirts, posters and dog apparel, on Facebook. He wasn’t actually manning the “Mporium”, but that didn’t stop people lining up outside.

Matt Gross, 35, had been there since 8am, two hours before opening time. “I’m a pit bull advocate and I also volunteer at a shelter,” he said. “So I feel like this is tailor made for me.”

Gross, who said he had two Morrissey tattoos, was due to see the former Smiths singer at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn on Saturday night. He emerged from Sugar Mutts with a dog-sweater bearing the legend “Be kind to Morrissey or I’ll kill you” and a human-T-shirt that said: “All over Brooklyn some hope and some despair”.

The T-shirt carried a picture of Morrissey with a dog superimposed over his face, and a cat superimposed over the dog’s face.

Morrissey is donating a percentage of sales from the Mporium to Sugar Mutts, which rescues dogs from “high-kill shelters”. His representatives approached the shelter ahead of his New York show, having held a similar pop-up in Manchester in August. By happy coincidence, Amy Marciano, the founder of the shelter, turned out to be a longtime Morrissey enthusiast.

“I was a fan ever since I was a teenager,” she said. “I had Morrissey all over my walls in high school. I love his ethics and his quirky personality. I’ve always loved his music, of course, so I was just thrilled.”

Marciano said she regularly plays Morrissey’s music in the shelter. It is “perfect for dogs”, she said, “because it’s that great mix of upbeat alternative rock’n’roll and melancholy introspection. It’s a good mix.”