Lana Del Rey By Steven Klein For V Magazine, September 2015.

Versailles + Monsieur Philippe d'Orléans [ep1]

to-watch (ita)

Neorealismo e posteriori:

Luchino Visconti

Ossessione (1943)

La terra trema (1948)

Bellissima (1951)

Senso (1954)

Le notti bianche (1957)

Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1960)

Il Gattopardo (1963)

La caduta degli dei (1969)

Morte a Venezia (1971)

Ludwig (1973)

Gruppo di famiglia in un interno (1974)

Roberto Rossellini

Roma città aperta (1945)

Paisà (1946)

Germania anno zero (1948)

Europa ‘51 (1952)

Viaggio in Italia (1953)

Vittorio de Sica

I bambini ci guardano (1943)

Sciuscià (1946)

Ladri di biciclette (1948)

Miracolo a Milano (1951)

Umberto D. (1952)

L'oro di Napoli (1954)

La ciociara (1960)

Ieri, oggi, domani (1963)

Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini (1970)

Giuseppe de Santis

Riso amaro (1949)

Commedia all’italiana:

Luigi Comencini

Pane, amore e fantasia (1953)

Pane, amore e gelosia (1954)

Tutti a casa (1960)

Incompreso (1966)

Lo scopone scientifico (1972)

L'ingorgo (1978)

Dino Risi

Pane amore e… (1955)

Poveri ma belli (1957)

Belle ma povere (1957)

Il sorpasso (1962)

I mostri (1963)

Profumo di donna (1974)

Ettore Scola

Riusciranno i nostri eroi a ritrovare l'amico misteriosamente scomparso in Africa? (1968)

Dramma della gelosia - Tutti i particolari in cronaca (1970)

C'eravamo tanto amati (1974)

Brutti, sporchi e cattivi (1976)

Una giornata particolare (1977)

La terrazza (1980)

Ballando ballando (1983)

Maccheroni (1985)

La famiglia (1987)

Today we bring to you perennial fan-favorite Terry Jeffords!

Terry Jeffords is one of the main characters of Brooklyn 99, a Mike Schur and Andy Samberg project which aired on Fox in 2013, which moved to NBC for its final seasons from 2019 - 2021. Portrayed by Terry Crews, Jeffords is first the sergeant then lieutenant of the eponymous 99th precinct, and has variable roles throughout the series’ tenure, most often filling the niche of mother hen adjacent to Captain Holt’s stern father figure.

Given of course that he is played by Terry Crews, we can be assured that this man is beefcake central. Although it is often hidden under tasteful pastel shirts and ties patterned en vogue, Jeffords’ physique is remarked upon at least once per episode, with the occasional episode centering around his stature. In one notable instance, he is unable to perform a undercover operation and must train Jake Peralta in his workout routine so that he may take his place – what actually takes place is a montage of Peralta desperately working to make up the lack in his physical prowess before giving up. This happens multiple times throughout the series. In another instance, Peralta takes a running leap at Terry, causing him to drop his coffee in favor of catching Peralta. When asked if it was any effort at all to hold up a grown man, Jeffords replies that it’s about the same as holding a couple of grapes. Indeed, the entire precinct knows what’s up with Sergeant Jeffords – and if it were not clear to the audience, we have regular reminders from Gina, for whom it is a running gag to attempt to get Terry to remove his shirt. Queen Gina speaking for all of us, as usual.

Now if you have been following this blog for a while, you will know that one thing that we value just as much as having the skill to make one’s pecs dance (which we see Terry do onscreen multiple times), it is a family man, and Terry’s a family man to a T. His introduction to the series and the first major character arc that he goes through has to do with the anxiety he feels as a new parent of twin baby girls - what would they and his lovely wife do if he were to fall in the line of duty? He overcomes this anxiety with the help of Gina and Captain Holt (and much departmental mandated therapy), but his love and respect for his wife and daughters shine through in every episode thereafter, and quite often carry over into all of his other relationships with the team. Terry could easily be played off as the stereotypical aggressive black man, but the show’s narrative emphasizes that Terry’s heart is as big as his muscles, and that he values his wife and all of the women in his life just as much as he does the yogurt in his fridge.

And it is clear that his comrades value him all the same. This author would hesitate to call a married and devoted man a slut (although we do learn that he and his wife conceived their children to Beyonce, so mad respect for that game), but we do know that Terry is a major Chad, having earned the respect of everyone in the 99 - indeed his team’s reliance on his opinion of them often leads to some comedic miscommunications, such as when Amy and Gina discover that Terry is writing a childrens’ book for his twins and that the two female leads are inspired by them. They bicker and argue over what this means until Terry delivers a rousing speech in the elevator about how they should come to trust and respect themselves a little bit more (which veers into charmingly awkward territory as the elevator ride only commences when Terry has finished). And Jake, main character that he is, has never had a bad thing to say about Terry that he hasn’t immediately corrected.

If Terry is to have a flaw in himbodom, impeccable specimen that he is, it is that he is too intelligent. It would be easy to write it off as simply detective-savvy - the man is the sergeant of a major precinct in the largest local police organization in the world, after all - but we see demonstrated time and again that not only is Terry a genuinely intelligent man with a lot to offer in many academic pursuits, he’s actually a huge-ass nerd. A notable instance is the case he insists on solving for the protection of a JRRT-GRRM-esque author that Terry has idolized since his childhood, using the book’s lore and the author’s own professional history to solve the case. Indeed, resident bookworm Amy indicates in one episode that if anyone in the precinct were to solve a particularly hard word-puzzle, it would be either her or Terry. Bold words from someone with more than a dozen organizational binders.

This author’s ambivalence cannot be overstated when we say with certainty: that man is not a himbo.

Total Himbo Score: 21

Video essays that make me go "oh, so you're like smart smart"

Elon Musk and Grimes: A Retrospective

Bo Burnham vs. Jeff Bezos

The Systemic Abuse of Celebrities

Lana Del Rey: the pitfalls of having a persona

we need to talk about Call Me By Your Name

MYTH OF THE AUTEUR: Stanley Kubrick vs David Lynch

In Search Of A Flat Earth

Envy

The Commodification of Black Athletes

The Lies Of The Lighthouse

The Green Knight: The Uncanny Horror of Masculinity

Max Payne, Kane & Lynch, and the Meaning of Ugly Games

Time Loop Nihilism

How Bisexuality Changed Video Games

The Golden Age of Horror Comics - Part 1 (Part 2)

Weighing the Value of Director's Cuts | Scanline

The True Horror Of Midsommar

a few more -

You're Wrong About Cyberpunk 2077 | An Overdue Critique (this is such great critique of both the game and the genre)

Disney's Fast Pass: A Complicated History

It Has Come To My Attention You Don't All Love BIRDS OF PREY

Adaptation.

The man who almost faked his way to a Nobel Prize

Music Theory and White Supremacy

Here's the YouTube playlist! ill be adding more but that's all so far pls like and reblog xoxo 💕

Summer of Love 💛

Tunes For The Signs | Sun & Venus

🌞 Aries: Let’s Live For Today - The Grass Roots | Wild Child - The Doors |  The House Of The Rising Sun - The Animals | Help! - The Beatles | Venus - Shocking Blue

🌞 Taurus: Nights In White Satin - The Moody Blues | Lay, Lady, Lay - Bob Dylan | Daydream Believer - The Monkees | Happy Together - The Turtles | The Letter - The Box Tops

🌞 Gemini: Here Comes The Sun - The Beatles | My Generation - The Who | I Get Around - The Beach Boys | I’m Alive - The Hollies | Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison

🌞 Cancer: Groovin’ - The Young Rascals | Dedicated To The One I Love - The Mamas & The Papas | All Day And All Of The Night - The Kinks | Ain’t No Mountain High Enough - Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terell | Penny Lane - The Beatles

🌞 Leo: I’m A Believer - The Monkees | Gimme Some Lovin’ - The Spencer Davis Group | Respect - Aretha Franklin | Can’t Buy Me Love - The Beatles | Be My Baby - The Ronettes 

🌞 Virgo: Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix | Heart Full Of Soul - The Yardbirds | Sunny Afternoon - The Kinks | For What It’s Worth - Buffalo Springfield | Love Is All Around - The Troggs

🌞 Libra: All You Need Is Love - The Beatles | Dream A Little Dream Of Me - The Mamas & The Papas | Somethin’ Stupid - Frank Sinatra & Nancy Sinatra | Something - The Beatles | Do You Believe In Magic - The Lovin’ Spoonful

🌞 Scorpio: Black Magic Woman - Fleetwood Mac | I Can See For Miles - The Who | Sunshine Of Your Love - Cream | I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) – The Electric Prunes | Riders On The Storm - The Doors

🌞 Sagittarius: Tuesday Afternoon - The Moody Blues | Born To Be Wild - Steppenwolf | Summer Wine - Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood | Light My Fire - The Doors | Ruby Tuesday - The Rolling Stones

🌞 Capricorn: I’m A Man - The Spencer Davis Group | Paint It Black - The Rolling Stones | Strange Brew - Cream | Break On Through (To The Other Side) - The Doors | A Day In The Life - The Beatles

🌞 Aquarius: Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles | People Are Strange - The Doors | Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys | Visions Of Paradise - The Moody Blues | If 6 Was 9 - Jimi Hendrix

🌞 Pisces: San Francisco - Scott McKenzie | California Dreamin’ - The Mamas & The Papas | Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - The Beatles | Spooky - Classics IV | All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix

Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka is a 1961 fairy tale fantasy Soviet film directed by Alexander Rou. It is based on Nikolai Gogol’s collection of short stories of the same name (specifically based on the short story The Night Before Christmas). In a small Ukrainian village, a young blacksmith, Vakula, is in love with the village beauty, Oksana. Oksana is a capricious girl who states that she will only marry Vakula if he brings her the slippers that Empress Catherine the Great wears. At the same the Devil aims to get back at Vakula for painting an embarassing picture of him. The Devil steals the moon, in the hopes of creating chaos and visiting Vakula’s witch mother. Vakula, however, tricks the Devil into taking him to Saint-Petersburg. [watch]

I’ve been baking (:

What are your favourite pieces of classical music?

 I don’t have the slightest musical education so my apologies for the possible abuse of the term “classical” but lately I’ve grown a special affection for the following pieces:

Bach-Capriccio on the departure of a beloved brother- (the way it starts as a grave farewell and then becomes light reminds me of Catullus 65) Cello Suite No.1 and Concertos for Oboe

Corelli- La Follia (or Vivaldi’s version, if I’m feeling extra extra)

Monteverdi- Zefiro Torna, Lamento della Ninfa and many of his madrigals

Jean Baptiste Lully- Armide

Franz Schubert- Serenade, Fantasy in F Minor

Frédéric Chopin- Nocturne, Funeral March, La Polonaise (reminds me of dziady!)

 Felix Mendelssohn- Midsummer Night’s Dream

 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky- Rococo Variation, Pas de deux from the Nutcracker

I’m in love with the Impressionists: Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin was the first work to make me interested in classical music, and I also love Jeux d’eau, Daphnis et Chloe, Introduction and Allegro, String Quartet- Assez Vif

Claude Debussy: Suite Bergamasque

Erik Satie:  Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes (for cloudy Sunday mornings)

In the film “Ever After” the character of the “Grand Dame”  at the beginning is said to be Marie Therese Charlotte, Duchesse d’Angouleme, daughter of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

She says that:

“ My great-great-grandmother’s portrait hung in the university up until the Revolution.”

While I am WELL AWARE the movie is obviously a work of fiction, I felt like pointing out that Prince Henry is supposed to be Henry II, who married Catherine de Medici, who was not one of her great, great grandmothers.

(Catherine was still related to her though, since she and Henry’s daughter, Claude, was Marie Therese’s great X5 grandmother. Twice over. Royalty had a shallow gene-pool guys. Therese was also descended from Catherine/Henry’s eldest daughter, Elisabeth too, who was her great X7 grandmother. It’s highly likely there are other lines of descent too *see my previous comment about shallow gene-pools*, but these were the most direct.)

Here are portraits of the women who were actually the Duchesse d’Angouleme’s Great, Great Grandmothers:

Marie Adelaide of Savoy, Dauphine of France

Catherine Opalińska, Queen of Poland

Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, Queen of Poland

Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Holy Roman Empress

Eleanor of Austria, Queen of Poland

Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, Duchesse d’Orleans

Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg, Holy Roman Empress

Christine Louise of Oettingen-Oettingen,  Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg