Tag: film

Christopher Tolkien, the longtime guardian of his father’s literary works, is dead, alas:

We are now calling for papers for the Tolkien Society Summer Seminar, which will be held online on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th July 2021. The theme is Tolkien and Diversity.

Call for Papers

The Tolkien Society Seminar is a short academic conference of both researcher-led and non-academic presentations on a specific theme pertaining to Tolkien scholarship. The online setting of the 2020 seminar saw an increased interest with over 400 attendees from 37 countries. We are delighted to be running another online seminar that will be free for all.

While interest in the topic of diversity has steadily grown within Tolkien research, it is now receiving more critical attention than ever before. Spurred by recent interpretations of Tolkien’s creations and the cast list of the upcoming Amazon show The Lord of the Rings, it is crucial we discuss the theme of diversity in relation to Tolkien. How do adaptations of Tolkien’s works (from film and art to music) open a discourse on diversity within Tolkien’s works and his place within modern society? Beyond his secondary-world, diversity further encompasses Tolkien’s readership and how his texts exist within the primary world. Who is reading Tolkien? How is he understood around the globe? How may these new readings enrich current perspectives on Tolkien?

Representation is now more important than ever and Tolkien’s efforts to represent (or ignore) particular characteristics requires further examination. Additionally, how a character’s identity shapes and influences its place within Tolkien’s secondary-world still requires greater attention. This seminar aims to explore the many possible applications of “diversity” within Tolkien’s works, his adaptations, and his readership.

Papers may consider, but are not limited to:

• Representation in Tolkien’s works (race, gender, sexuality, disability, class, religion, age etc.)
• Tolkien’s approach to colonialism and post-colonialism
• Adaptations of Tolkien’s works
• Diversity and representation in Tolkien academia and readership
• Identity within Tolkien’s works
• Alterity in Tolkien’s works

Meanwhile, Amazon is methodically going about destroying the popular image of The Lord of the Rings:

“This is going to be very different from The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, which are on the road stories. Stories of companionship, stories that take place on journey, but this one is going to be set up like Game of Thrones. We are going to be following different characters in different locations who are going to converge on each other in the end.”

Buechler continues, “They aren’t going to have any Hobbits. There aren’t going to be any wizards. They are going to have, like they said, new characters and new lands. And that is where the big problem is. This is a giant blank canvas. This takes place over thousands of years and that giant blank canvas is going to be filled in with a couple of young, inexperienced showrunners. Does that sound a little bit familiar to you?”

“And those untested showrunners, who have admittedly an experienced writers room with writers from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, are going to have to fill a lot of time with drama and relationship stuff. Modern relationship stuff. And let’s not even get into the dialogue, which you won’t be able to adapt because there really isn’t any like there is in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.” Buechler states.

He then makes comparisons to Game of Thrones, “As you all know things were going great for Game of Thrones through Season 4 until Dan and Dave passed up the books and they couldn’t adapt George’s dialogue anymore. And they tried to interpret what George might have wanted. And George is alive. They could have asked him anything at any time and they still produced the biggest disaster in television history.”

Buechler then questions, “How do you think it’s going to go for [JD Payne] and [Patrick McKay] over there? Obviously, they don’t have J.R.R. Tolkien to talk to. They no longer have the greatest guardian of his father’s work and one of the greatest sons whose ever lived, Christopher Tolkien to talk to either.”

The YouTuber then points to a rumor, covered here on Bounding Into Comics, that there was a shift in the direction of the show following Christopher Tolkien’s death.

Buechler states, “Then, of course, there was the rumored big shift behind the scenes right after Christopher Tolkien’s death. He died in January 2020 and in March 2020 it was rumored from TheOneRing.net that a lot of the writers were fired and they rewrote Season 1 and they removed Tom Shippey, the Tolkien scholar.”

Next, Buechler warns, “And that brings us to the politicking. Are we going to get the nihilist, post-modern, intersectional Lord of the Rings. I think this is a good possibility considering everything we’ve seen from modern Hollywood. Then there’s the fact that we already have a nihilist, post-modern, Lord of the Rings, it was called Game of Thrones.”

Buechler then recaps many of his concerns about the show pointing to rumors of nudity, the hiring of an intimacy coordinator, the change in story structure, and the show being run by two former Bad Robot employees.

He then adds a report that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos mandated Amazon create their own version of Game of Thrones. That report came from Variety and they claimed, “The mandate from Jeff Bezos is clear: Bring me “Game of Thrones.” That’s the word that has the creative community buzzing this week about a major strategy shift underway for Amazon Studios’ original series efforts.” 

I should probably wrap up the extended second volume of Arts of Dark and Light, shouldn’t I…. 

And the fans lost. The Dark Herald explains at Arkhaven:

Now, I understand there is going to be a certain number of people who can’t understand it.  

Why are the goblins at Lucasfilm are so determined to cut their own throats? I mean, it has to be obvious at this point isn’t it? The Reylo trilogy was an utter disaster and by any reasonable standard, the high Republic is an abject failure.  If they are going to keep their jobs, they need to assure that their company is healthy, and to do that they need to have products people will pay money for.  Making Star Wars fans happy and engaged is in their own self-interest. LucasFilm needs to be profitable right?  Right?

Oh, that is so adorable.

At this point, LucasFilm has settled comfortably into the model of corporate parasitism. And the uber-Woke senior executives at Disney are delighted to be fed upon by the incompetent.  

You have to remember an SJW infestation is a convergence of grasshopper-people.  

They create nothing, preserve nothing and leave nothing behind.  

When grasshoppers have finished devastating and devouring a once-productive ant colony, do they sit around trying to rebuild it?  After all, that would be in their self-interest wouldn’t it?  To have a healthy ant colony that they could regularly harvest makes more sense than destroying it.  But no, grasshoppers are grasshoppers, they destroy and move on to the next target.   

The Woke are no different.  When LucasFilm collapses under its own weight due to their undermining they will move on to another property and begin the process all over again.  Unconcerned by lessons of failure because they are fundamentally unable to face the lessons of their own mistakes.

So what is the future of Star Wars?  Well, it doesn’t have one.

And this is why Arkhaven properties will never be for sale. To anyone. Ever. That way lies inevitable devouring by the grasshoppers.

Chickenhawk Studios isn’t just making movies, it’s making movies with some very bad people. From an individual in the industry about the people behind Gina Carano’s new film project:

“Details are being kept under wraps but it will be produced as part of Daily Wire’s partnership with Bone Tomahawk producer Dallas Sonnier and his Bonfire Legend banner.”

One of their films Satanic Panic is essentially a satanic snuff film. From the trailer: “Are ready to fully commit yourself to Satan? YES! Hail Satan!” Dallas has a funny way about always being around these sorts of people.

A Satanic, Virgin-Sacrificing Sex Cult For the 1 Percent—With Plenty of Laughs

But wait there’s more! Let’s look closely at his Wikipedia page.

“In 2020, following the arrest of Adam Donaghey, Sonnier was criticized for downplaying abusive behavior and endangering employees.” Hmmm… interesting to note this Wikipedia at the very bottom. Time to Google!

Producer Adam Donaghey Charged with the Sexual Assault of a Child

Wowzer! And this is where it really gets good, I do highly recommend you read all of this.

How a Right-Wing Movie Studio Enabled the ‘Harvey Weinstein’ of Indie Film

And check this!

“When I asked him to expand on his “partisan” comments, he said, “I think there’s a perception of politics at Cinestate, and the truth is, we are a truly diverse company… I am a complicated guy who identifies as conservative because of certain fiscal responsibilities, limited federal government, things like that. But I’m no fan of the president [Trump].”  -Daily Beast

Wow, fancy them apples, so he is a conservative who hates Trump, teaming up with Benny Boy who’s a conservative who hates Trump. Now it’s coming into focus my dear reader… check out the whole article and find out what kind a person he truly is…

“And the problems with Cinestate extended far beyond Donaghey.” -Daily Beast

Far, far, far beyond diddling minors?

“On top of the sexual-harassment charges, six crew members on VFW and Satanic Panic accuse Cinestate of making them work oppressively long hours—sometimes 18-hour days—with no overtime pay, and that Donaghey, a producer on both films, consistently pressured crew members into being drastically underpaid either by inputting less hours on their time cards or asking them to turn down overtime. “At that point, it’s a safety issue,” one crewmember on Satanic Panic says. “When you hire someone who has been accused of sexually assaulting someone, and you put them in charge of writing checks for everyone in your entire company, are you not giving that person power to abuse further—whether sexually or through forced labor?”

So let’s go back to Wikipedia for one last look.

“Caliber segued into other independent projects before raising funds for two years in order to shoot Bone Tomahawk; the script had been written by one of the pair’s clients, S. Craig Zahler, whom they had been managing for two years. Following production on Bone Tomahawk, Sonnier departed Caliber to found Cinestate, a production company based in Dallas, with the intention of bringing film production to Texas. Sonnier would go on to collaborate with Zahler for two more films, Brawl in Cell Block 99 and Dragged Across Concrete.”

I know you’ll all be shocked and delighted to learn that the SJWs at LucasFilm are intending to imake huge strides in better representation by introducing a “trans Jedi”:

From the off, the Disney era of Star Wars aimed to diversify the franchise somewhat, with actors of color like John Boyega and Oscar Isaac in the main cast. Of course, the way their characters were sidelined by the time of The Rise of Skywalker has lost the studio a lot of points. Likewise, the LGBT representation in the saga is still virtually non-existent. For instance, the same-sex kiss between two women in TROS was hyped up before release, but easy to miss in the actual film.

Star Wars needs to make some huge strides in better representation across the board going forward, then, particularly when it comes to LGBTQ+ characters. And thankfully, it seems the studio is well aware of this and is working on a major first for the franchise, as insider Daniel Richtman claims that they want to introduce a trans Jedi in a future project.

It’s strange to have reached such an age that I can barely even remember caring about Star Wars anymore. I mean, I know I did, I just don’t remember how it felt. Now my interest is entirely sadistic and revolves primarily around how they are going to further murder the value of the historical IP.

Don’t ever forget that they’re always just waiting to strike you down, and if you give them an inch they will take the mile. Disney fires Gina Carano from The Mandalorian for violating the SJW Narrative:

Actress and former MMA fighter Gina Carano has been fired from the cast of the Disney+ Star Wars series The Mandalorian, following online outrage over a social media post that likened the murder of Jews during the Holocaust to the current U.S. political climate.

A spokesperson for Lucasfilm said in a statement on Wednesday that Carano is not currently employed by the production company with ‘no plans for her to be in the future.’

‘Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable,’ the statement read.

Talent agency UTA has also dropped Carano as a client following the controversy, according to Variety…. Carano, a former mixed martial artist whose Dune character used a mix of heavy weapons and her fists to best opponents, had been criticized online for social media posts. 

In some, she mocked mask wearing during the pandemic and promoted claims of voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election. 

On Wednesday- before news of her termination was announced – Carano posted a picture to her Instagram story that included the phrase ‘Jeff Epstein didn’t kill himself’ – a reference to conspiracy theories that the pedophile billionaire was murdered. 

I think it’s more likely that she was fired for the Epstein post than the historical comparison of the SJW mob to Nazis. But don’t make the mistake of thinking for one second that the Devil Mouse was “bowing to the mob” or “giving in to the online outrage”. Corporate SJWs only use the twitterati to justify the actions they already want to take.

I’m no semiotician specializing in occultic esotericism, but the Turner Classic Movies schedule for January 20th does tend to cause one to raise an eyebrow. Notice a certain pattern?

• 6:00 AM Ode To Billy Joe (1976)
• 8:00 AM Polo Joe (1936)
• 9:30 AM The Fabulous Joe (1947)
• 10:45 AM The Story of G. I. Joe (1945)
• 12:45 PM Joe Smith, American (1942)
• 2:00 PM A Guy Named Joe (1943)
• 4:15 PM Pal Joey (1957)
• 6:15 PM Mighty Joe Young (1949)
• 8:00 PM Murder She Said (1961)
• 9:45 PM Murder at the Gallop (1963)
• 11:15 PM Murder Most Foul (1964)
• 1:00 AM Murder Ahoy (1964)
• 2:45 AM Penguin Pool Murder (1932)
• 4:00 AM Murder on the Blackboard (1934)

The Dark Herald reviews the BBC’s sadistic assassination of Terry Pratchett’s finest literary legacy, 

This show hates me.  And it feels quite personal.

I mean, ran over your dog, backed up and did it again, burned down your house, then sent your wife and children to the gas chambers personal. That is the level of individual hatred I felt directed at me while I was viewing The Watch. I am quite serious when I say that this show is the product of extreme mental illness.  

Absolute, abject hatred of its source material is evident in every aspect of this production.

The Watch’s art style is a discordant series of nightmare images meant to evoke disgust.  It’s walking into Wonderland and finding Alice’s bloody severed head as the center piece of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. It’s a Middle-Earth where Sauron prevailed, and Frodo is now one of Nazgul….

It starts with Nobby Knobs meeting with Death. Or at least that is what any fan of the series who was Blissfully unaware of the horrors he was about to endure would assume. They didn’t really get Death right. in the book’s Death is more traditionally a grim Reaper figure consisting of cloak, skeleton and scythe. Here he was more of a giant robot with clawed hands and glowing eyes in the hood. So, they missed the mark there, but they got Nobby Nobs completely right. Nobby is the only person on Discworld that has to carry a certificate that reads: “I, after hearing evidence from a number of experts, including Mrs. Slipdry the midwife, certify that the balance of probability is that the bearer of this document, C.W. St John Nobbs, is a human being. Signed, Lord Vetinari.”  They did brilliantly there.

Except that it turns out Nobby isn’t in this series at all.  Neither is Fred Colon come to that.

No, the guy you thought was Nobby is actually Captain Sam Vimes. This wasn’t trying to meet the mark and missed, this wasn’t even an attempt to try something “a little more modern.”  They would have just race swapped Vimes if that was what these talentless clods were trying to do.  This was the deliberate character assassination of the character of “Sam Vimes, White Patriarchal Male.”

There is a difference between deconstruction and total ablation.

Actually, Frodo as The Tenth Nazgul sounds vastly more interesting than this unmitigated abomination. At this point, I’m beginning to think that Arkhaven isn’t so much one of the little mammals skittering around the feet of the entertainment industry dinosaurs as the proverbial asteroid.

The House of Tudor wuz kangz:

Jodie Turner-Smith has been spotted as Anne Boleyn for the first time while filming a Channel 5 drama that its producers say seeks to ‘challenge conventions’ and shine a ‘feminist light’ on her story.  

Turner-Smith, a black actress born in Britain, is portraying Anne who was the second wife of English King Henry VIII, whom he famously had beheaded in 1536. 

Boleyn, who was the white daughter of English nobility, is also one of the key causes of the English Reformation and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I. 

She was executed by Henry for high treason after failing to produce a male heir. 

Producers Fable Pictures say the drama ‘challenges all the conventions of who we think Anne Boleyn was and shines a feminist light on her story. 

In related news, Fable Pictures announced it will be filming a documentary about Michelle Obama for Netflix, starring Owen Benjamin as the former First Lady.

It’s not even a hacked car, given the description.

#HarrisonDeal car exploded (witnesses heard the explosion over a mile away).  Vehicle left as molten metal, engine block ejected 50-60 yards away.  That’s not an accident. That’s a car bomb disguised as an accident.

– Land of the Free

Unlike most people, I have actually crashed a car, set it on fire, and seen the fuel tank explode. 

It wasn’t even a crash per se, it just an unfortunate accident when I went off the road in a road rally in a 1977 MGB during the midst of a serious summer drought. Once the car came to a halt, unharmed, we heard something crackling underneath us and very soon after, smelled smoke. The catalytic converter had set the very dry field alight. A soon as I realized the car was stuck, we promptly bailed and ran toward the nearest farmhouse. 

The fireman arrived too late to do anything about the car, but they did manage to prevent the fire from engulfing the whole field or endangering any homes. When the gas tank exploded, it wasn’t like a bomb blast and it didn’t do anything more than blow the trunk cover up, with a dull crump that sent a brief stream of very black smoke up amidst the regular grey smoke from the fire. It didn’t even blow the cover off entirely, and MGB’s are essentially made out of tin.

Neither gasoline nor diesel explode in a manner resembling movie effects. They ignite and they burn, to be sure, but they don’t explode. So whatever made the Deal car explode so violently, it wasn’t anything that one would normally find in a civilian automobile or truck.

However, I doubt the engine block could have been ejected that far and I haven’t seen that in any of the eyewitness accounts. The amount of explosive required to do that would have been unlikely to leave any survivors in the other vehicles, which suggests someone is confusing that detail with details from Michael Hasting’s “accident”.

Anyhow, this suggests that the President should make his move sooner rather than later, lest the innocent suffer. And from the strategic perspective, a demonstrated inability to protect those around the elected officials who are already afraid to do their duty is not going to convince them to do it.

I’ve always despised the Harry Potter books. I’ve only ever seen part of one movie, but I hated that too. Apparently one-third of the script was devoted to one actor or another saying “Harry!” It would appear that my instincts are still sound when it comes to the Hellmouth, if this blind item from CDAN about a famous film franchise is any guide.

This actor was never higher than C+ list. Foreign born and mostly movies he has actually been in some of the biggest movies of all time. Speaking roles in most of them but just a minor character (although one all of you would know). He actually has a chance to be more famous outside of acting in his current career than he ever did acting, despite being in such a huge franchise. He was talking to an interviewer about his new profession and the interviewer asked the former actor why he chose the new profession. The former actor said it was because on the set of the franchise he was scared everyday of getting molested or raped by many of the older men that were on the set. He said this was especially true in the first few films where you learned really quickly not to walk around certain areas of a set or to wander too far away from other people. There were just too many men there who loved nothing more than dragging some 10 year old boy somewhere for 20 minutes and threatening to hit him or get him kicked off the movie if he told anyone. Our former actor said there were only a few older actors who took part, but they were some of the worst. An actor would tell a crew member and the crew member would grab the boy and hold him for the actor and then often the crew member would take a turn too. The former actor said some of the tween girls on the set were bothered, but as far as he knows, none were raped liked the boys. Once the actors got to be a certain age, they could fight or were big enough to get the men to back off, but with new young boys coming in for every film, it was a never ending cycle of sexual abuse and no one did anything to stop it.

Harry Potter

The director of the first two films is “a Spielberg protege who also directed Macauley Culkin in the two “Home Alone” movies.” I am as ashocked as I am sastonished. It’s getting to the point where we require words to describe the exact opposite of being surprised.