Multi-Coloured Link Shop.

 
What happened to the Fox films Disney picked up?
Simon Brew:  "Disney inherited a slate of Fox movies when it bought the studio up in 2019 – here’s what happened to one that survived the initial cull of projects."

Emily Yahr:  "Struggling to constantly promote herself online, she posted that she’d rather just be a musician and a performer. Artists everywhere told her they feel the same way."

Howard Fishman:  "A look at Tom Noonan’s forgotten masterpiece “What Happened Was . . .”"

Mia Mercado:  "Actors will go to great lengths for their art. Take, for example, Neve Campbell, who, at 17, was attacked by a bear while shooting a movie."

Adrian Curry:  "A collection of gorgeous Eastern European posters for the 1970s films of the late, great auteur."

Eli Grober:  "Here at Time, we have made a number of changes over the last couple years. Now that 2022 is here, we’re announcing several major updates."

Dayna Evans:  "Try it out at your next party."

EJ Dickson:  "On this week’s episode of ‘Don’t Let This Flop,’ we talk Adult Disney pranks, “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings,” and the resurgence of 2014 Tumblr girlie style."

Lee Grimsditch:  "Pictures taken 30 years ago remind us just how much has changed."

Jordan Maison:  "The latest Disney+ Star Wars series went to great lengths to infuse its Tusken tribe with influences from real-world Indigenous cultures."

Abbey White:  "Composer Ramin Djawadi explains his approach to crafting themes for an atypical MCU movie, setting up a major twist through music and working with director Chloé Zhao on the film, out on Disney+ this week."

BBC News:  "The work was drawn by Mike Zeck and featured on page 25 of Marvel Comics' Secret Wars no 8."

Lohri Links.


Why Eternals Deserves A Second Chance On Disney+:
Ben Travis:  "WARNING: Contains major plot spoilers for Eternals."

Elle May Rice:  "The festival celebrating the music and culture of Africa, the Caribbean and the diaspora will return after a two-year hiatus brought on by the coronavirus pandemic."

Thomas Bacon:  "Doctor Who will continue the story of Jo Martin's Forgotten, Fugitive Doctor - but she's jumping into a completely different medium in April!"

Brendan Kergin: "The UBC library has been gifted a rare and important book: a first edition version of William Shakespeare’s Comedies Histories and Tragedies. Printed in 1623, there are only 235 left in the world; this one is only the second to come to Canada."

Catherine Bennett:  "It was designed as a life-sized version of snakes and ladders, plastered across Bologna’s central square, Piazza Maggiore."

BBC News:  "Picture the City uses landscape paintings acquired by the Bank of England over the years and places them alongside modern-day views."

Adam Scovell:  "With François Truffaut’s French New Wave classic The 400 Blows back in cinemas, we went in search of the locations, including the beach where that famous final freeze-frame takes place."

BBC Radio 4:  "... four women from different parts of Britain share stories of street harassment. Woven through this feature is a new, specially commissioned poem by Hollie McNish."

Mark Harrison:  "Three songs from Encanto have popped up in this week’s UK Official Singles Chart – with stats and waffle, here are some of Disney’s other chart hit crossovers."

Bree Fowler:  "Cybercriminals are increasingly using malicious QR codes to trick consumers."

Thursday Links.

 
Christmas pudding sales fall 30% in five years as mince pies fly:
Amy North:  "Christmas pudding sales have fallen by nearly 30% over the past five years, British Baker can reveal."

Paul McAuley:  "Special night aims to support people like Iwan Steffan, who is still struggling with the effects of lockdown."

BBC Media Centre:  "Join BBC Sport this February for all of the best moments from the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games across TV, radio and online."

Stephanie Pappas:  "They're definitely not saying it's aliens."

Sandoche & Farbod:  "Install any website as an app for instant access ."

Philip Kemp:  "Director Will Sharpe proves himself to be one of the UK’s most individual filmmakers with a colourful biopic on Victorian cat artist Louis Wain, played by Benedict Cumberbatch."
[Editor's note:  Features a few spoilers if you don't know the actual life of Louis Wain and a reveals couple of casting choices, the surprise of which are part of the film's charm.]

Henry K Miller:  "Alfred Hitchcock described his third film, The Lodger, as the true beginning of his directorial career but it would prove a near fatal screen debut for its leading light June Tripp."

David Betancourt:  "Temuera Morrison vividly remembers the first time he tried on his Boba Fett suit."

Tom Gater:  "BAFTA has unveiled the longlists across all categories for its 2022 Film Awards. Scroll down to see them in full."

Tobias Wilkinson:  "Nearly 75 years after the end of World War Two, the UK's last tank regiment in Germany, the Queen's Royal Hussars, returned home."

Tales of the Dark Times (Comic Creator).

Comics No matter how ardent the adult fan of Doctor Who, there are probably some elements which go ignored simply because they're not meant for our age group, and Comic Creator is a typical example.  Released in 2016 for ios, Amazon and Android, it's a more sophisticated digital equivalent of the rub-off transfer sets of the 70s and 80s, offering kids the ability to create their own stories using a predetermined set of characters and backgrounds.  It's produced by Scary Beasties, an award winning app creator who's worked with numerous licensees over the years including Disney and Nickelodeon and the BBC and it entirely pass me by until I had to download it in order to get part of the Time Lord Victorious story.

The Eight Doctor appears in two of the tales.  Chapter Three's set during his alliance with the Daleks as they encounter a suspicious looking ship which seems to have an all too easily digestible smorgasbord of Huon particles which leads the pepper pots down the road toward destruction.  Chapter Five is a multi-Doctor story with Eighth and Ninth on the hunt for Tenth.  They land on a planet and are surprised to stumble upon a suburban house which it transpires has fallen through the time fracture created at the close of play in Waters of Mars, aided by an inhabitant who's built a time machine.  Neither of the comics run to more than ten pages but both have a nice twist at the end.

Given the limitations of the format, it's surprising how well the writer of this, probably James Goss although it isn't stated, nicely captures Eighth's gentle sarcasm especially when he's bantering with the Dalek Strategist, a double act which is carried through audios and novels.  There's less chatter between the two Doctors in Chapter Five although it's clear they don't see eye to eye.  When Eighth says, "It's okay to change the universe when you change it for the better", Ninth doesn't look like he agrees entirely, although that could also be due to the limited number of facial expressions available for each of the characters and this just happens to be the one the artist chose to add some variety.

Placement:  They're set between chapters three and four of All Flesh Is Grass.  So for the sake of clarity, I'll split the entry for that novel into two and put this in the middle.

Wednesday Links.


Colors: Where did they go? An investigation:
Emily VanDerWerff:  "Why do so many TV shows and movies look like they were filmed in a gray wasteland?"

Alexandra Pollard:  "As the voice of Maria in ‘West Side Story’ and Eliza Doolittle in ‘My Fair Lady’, Marni Nixon should have been one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Instead, other actors got the credit and she became American cinema’s ‘most unsung singer’."

Damian Zane:  "Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine has made it his mission to preserve and exhibit the work of the late Ugandan studio photographer Kibaate Aloysius Ssalongo, who recorded the lives of people from the rural town of Mbirizi."

VizSweet:  "How many words did William Shakespeare invent? Probably around 1,000. Here are 400+ words Shakespeare invented or coined, a selection of the most interesting or notable." [via]

RSC Press:  "An evening of programmes on Sunday 16 January, including a screening of 2014's Henry IV Part I, in which Sir Antony memorably played Falstaff."

Michael Billington:  "Edmond Rostand’s great romantic has drawn actors including Ralph Richardson, Antony Sher and James McAvoy to its lead role. It is a tale of glorious theatricality, glittering poetry and heroic self-sacrifice."

Jennifer Maas:  "Sharon Stone has joined HBO Max’s “The Flight Attendant” for Season 2, playing the mother of star Kaley Cuoco’s Cassie Bowden, Variety has learned."

Ivy Knight:  "A production company chartered a party flight to Mexico, but when their antics ended up going viral, the rest of the world didn’t find it so amusing."

Jenny G. Zhang:  "One of the U.K.’s largest energy suppliers has been forced to say sowwy for sending customers what were supposed to be helpful tips for keeping heating bills down this winter, including some endearingly twee ones like cuddling for warmth and having a nice bowl of porridge."

Apollo:  "... There are many reasons for 1922 to be considered a milestone in the history of literary modernism, such as the publication of ‘The Waste Land’ by T.S. Eliot and Jacob’s Room by Virginia Woolf, but the publication of Joyce’s novel is the most compelling."

Tuesday Links.


Star of Christmas film sets up online boutique:
David Adamson: "Ellie Coldicutt, 24, starred as Beth in the festive favourite Nativity! back in 2009, charming viewers with the song Sparkle and Shine before going on to feature in the sequel as well as touring productions of The Sound of Music and the RSC’s Richard III."

Richard Brody: "One of the most original directors of New Hollywood, Bogdanovich was also a critic who expanded our cinephilic heritage."

Amy Zegart: "Espionage-themed entertainment is influencing policy makers, from soldiers fighting on the front lines to justices sitting on the nation’s highest court."

Ian Walker:  "A Calgary-based programmer recently shared his work turning a rotary telephone into what may be the least effective video game controller of all time."

Olympia Kiriakou:  "Screwball comedy’s fast-paced battle of the sexes explored the socio-economic politics of the 1930s and 1940s."

Laura Cappelle:  "The Comédie-Française is celebrating the 17th-century dramatist by recreating Tartuffe, the play that outraged the Catholic church and almost ended his career."

Ellen Peirson-Hagger:  "Press On Vinyl, a facility due to open in the new year, has been dubbed “the communist plant of Teesside”."

Lisa Gitelman:  "Anyone who remembers making the transition from typewriting to word processing has probably thrown away a fair number of floppy disks and jettisoned more than a few computers since then. Bad for the planet, yes. But it also poses particular challenges for the stewards and denizens of archives."

Jessamyn West:  "I won a year's supply of cheese in a contest May of 2019."

BBC News:  "The tiny building appeared at Merrivale Model Village in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, in August, during Banksy's "Great British Spraycation"."

Plough Monday Links.


Art historian discovers that £65 painting on his wall is work of Flemish master:
Dalya Alberge: "Picture of Isabella Clara Eugenia, Infanta of Spain, is likely to be by Sir Anthony van Dyck, finds Courtauld’s report."

Elle May Rice:  "How many of these are on your bucket list?"

Adreon Patterson: "What did the Back to the Future star think of his performance in the film?"

Elizabeth Howell: "The generational observatory is en route to its parking spot and getting ready to test its mirrors and instruments."

Mark Sinker:  "Beano: The Art of Breaking the Rules (at Somerset House until 6 March 2022) consists of pages and tales from the comic’s eight decades, loosely organised into themes, along with work by some forty non-Beano artists that amplifies its characters, motifs and slapstick."

Dade Hayes: "TikTok’s grip on young audiences is a well-established fact, but the social network has just released a new report detailing how that defining trait has made it increasingly attractive to Hollywood."

Jacqui Wine:  "I loved this novella, a striking portrayal of a determined young woman set in Weimar-era Cologne. First published in 1931, and subsequently banned by the Nazi authorities, Gilgi (One of Us), was Irmgard Keun’s debut novel, announcing its author as a powerful new voice in German literature."

Matt Singer:  "This week’s episode of The Book of Boba Fett introduced two new characters to the series’ cast, a pair of corpulent alien crime lords from the race known as “The Hutts.” Cousins of the notorious Jabba the Hutt, they are carried along on a sagging throne by a legion of footmen."

Sal Cinquemani: "Tori Amos’s debut album, Little Earthquakes, helped reshape the pop landscape and the reverberations can still be felt today."

Wendy Molyneux: "Hi, if you are reading this essay then congratulations, you are still alive. And if you are alive, then you have either gotten the COVID-19 vaccine, or you still have the opportunity to get the vaccine against COVID-19. And holy fuck, if you aren’t fucking vaccinated against COVID-19, then you need to get fucking vaccinated right now. I mean, what the fuck? Fuck you. Get vaccinated. Fuck."

Sunday Links.


Arts Industry News:  "Curators and management staff at the Gladstone Museum, with its famously recognisable brick bottle kilns where Channel 4’s popular Great Pottery Throw Down is filmed, and the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery have been told that all their posts are to be deleted as the council seeks to cut £7.1m from its annual budget. Both were scheduled to re-open on January 18 after a Christmas closure lengthened by the Omicron Covid crisis."

Forget Sherlock Holmes and try these other Victorian detectives:
Clare Clarke: "Rivals, clones and parodies of Baker Street’s finest sprang to life in the late 19th century. Clare Clarke walks you through the best of the bunch, from Loveday Brooke to Flaxman Low."

Zack Zwiezen:  "The popular streamer was banned after streaming episodes of the Avatar: The Last Airbender cartoon."

Matt Zoller Seitz: "His image evolved and adapted over decades as the central contradiction of the actor and director’s life played out on screens."

Gemma Chan:  "The actor knew her father had served in the merchant navy, but it wasn’t until she read about Britain’s mistreatment of Chinese seamen in the 40s that she understood just how much his experiences had shaped her family."

Dan Hancox: "During the second world war, Chinese merchant seamen helped keep Britain fed, fuelled and safe – and many gave their lives doing so. But from late 1945, hundreds of them who had settled in Liverpool suddenly disappeared. Now their children are piecing together the truth."

Michael Cavna: "Luke McGarry began drawing a nude Pooh Bear as soon as he heard the news. The original, nearly 100-year-old “bear of very little brain” from the Hundred Acre Wood had rung in this new year by entering the public domain. Now quite humbly, McGarry’s creative appetite felt rumbly."

Karyn Starmer: "I love Christmas I really do. I love a good party and a thoughtful gift. As a child, I was fortunate to grow up with all the anticipation of Christmas Eve, then the early morning excitement to see what the man in red had delivered."

BBC News: "Panicked patients dialled 999 after eating sandwiches with mouldy tomatoes in and suffering papercuts."

Alison Flood: "Independent sellers have battled lockdowns, supply-chains issues and Amazon to reclaim their place in the industry. We speak to the people who opened their own."