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5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 21 | https://www.goldderby.com/gallery/best-al-pacino-movies-ranked/ | en | Al Pacino movies: 25 greatest films ranked worst to best | [
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"Zach Laws",
"Chris Beachum"
] | 2024-04-20T00:48:16+00:00 | Tour our photo gallery including 'The Godfather,' 'Dog Day Afternoon,' 'Serpico,' 'Heat,' 'Scent of a Woman' and more. | en | GoldDerby | https://www.goldderby.com/gallery/best-al-pacino-movies-ranked/ | Al Pacino is the Oscar-winning actor who has starred in dozens of classics throughout his nearly 50 year career, from his star-making breakthrough in “The Godfather” (1972) to his late-career triumph in “The Irishman” (2019). Tour through our photo gallery of Pacino’s 25 greatest films, ranked worst to best.
Though an acting legend, it took Pacino 20 years and eight nominations to finally cash in his Oscar I.O.U. for “Scent of a Woman” (Best Actor, 1992). Prior to that he competed for “The Godfather” (Best Supporting Actor, 1972), “Serpico” (Best Actor, 1973), “The Godfather, Part II” (Best Actor, 1974), “Dog Day Afternoon” (Best Actor, 1975), “… And Justice for All” (Best Actor, 1979), “Dick Tracy” (Best Supporting Actor, 1990) and “Glengarry Glen Ross” (Best Supporting Actor, 1992), but he didn’t win any of those bids.
Surprisingly, his 1992 noms for “Scent of a Woman” and “Glengarry Glen Ross” were followed by a long Academy drought, despite additional critically acclaimed performances in “Heat” (1995), “Donnie Brasco” (1997), “The Insider” (1999) and “Insomnia” (2002). During that time, he became a TV favorite with Emmy-winning turns in “Angels in America” (2003) and “You Don’t Know Jack” (2010), earning an additional bid for “Phil Spector” (2013).
That all changed with Martin Scorsese‘s intimate mob epic “The Irishman,” in which he plays bombastic Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa. The role brought him his first Oscar nomination in 27 years, plus additional Supporting Actor bids at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice, BAFTA and SAG. As well, Pacino competed against himself that year in SAG Ensemble for both “The Irishman” and Quentin Tarantino‘s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” Not bad for a guy who hadn’t been welcomed back into the academy’s loving arms for nearly three decades.
Take a look through our gallery of Pacino’s greatest films, including a few for which he should’ve received Oscar nominations. | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 1 | 0 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mob_(film) | en | The Mob (film) | [
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The MobDirected byRobert ParrishScreenplay byWilliam BowersBased onWaterfront
1951 novel
by Ferguson FindleyProduced byJerry BreslerStarringBroderick Crawford
Betty Buehler
Richard KileyCinematographyJoseph WalkerEdited byCharles NelsonMusic byGeorge DuningColor processBlack and white
Production
company
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
Running time
86 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBox office$1,050,000[1]
The Mob is a 1951 American film noir crime-thriller produced by Columbia Pictures, directed by Robert Parrish, and starring Broderick Crawford. The screenplay, which was written by William Bowers, is based on the novel Waterfront by Ferguson Findley.
Plot
[edit]
Johnny Damico (Broderick Crawford), a detective going home on a rainy night, finds himself just a few feet from a shooting on a dark street. The gunman claims to be a detective from another precinct, flashing a real badge, and then slipping away. Damico discovers that the victim of the shooting was a witness who was to have appeared before a grand jury investigating waterfront crime, and that the same man who shot him also murdered the chief investigator on the case just a few hours earlier (which is where the badge came from). Damico could lose his job, but instead he is given the chance to redeem himself by the police commissioner (Ralph Dumke) and the district attorney (Carleton Young).
The authorities then make plans to fly Damico to New Orleans with instructions to work his way "back up", all undercover, as a New Orleans tough-guy named Tim Flynn. Once he returns home by cargo ship, Johnny has the assigned task to discover there the true identity of the head of the waterfront racketeers. All that is known about the mysterious mob boss is that his name is "Blackie" Clegg.[2] The city in which all the action takes place is unspecified, but it is "up" relative to New Orleans, though palm trees are shown. Upon his return, while still under cover, "Flynn" gets a job locally as a longshoreman and quickly makes connections to the mob's network of enforcers as well as to crews of surrounding dockworkers. He is befriended by Tom Clancy (Richard Kiley), a fellow longshoreman who lives at the same hotel. There the two frequently meet after work for drinks, which are invariably served to them by a bartender nicknamed "Smoothie" (Matt Crowley).
Damico, still posing as Flynn, now manages to hook up with union thug Joe Castro (Ernest Borgnine), who tries to frame Damico for murder by having his strong-arm goon Gunner (Neville Brand) temporarily seize the undercover cop's own pistol to shoot and kill a potential stoolie, Culio (Frank DeKova). Castro then has Gunner return the pistol to Damico, who the next day is arrested for the murder by a crooked police sergeant named Bennion (Walter Klavun), although Police Lt. Banks manages to spring him when it's found the murder gun does not match Flynn's gun. (Flynn switched guns anticipating that he was potentially being set up)
After following one blind alley involving a federal agent—the man he knows as Tom Clancy—Damico is given a tip by the bartender Smoothie, who offers to drive Damico to meet the elusive Blackie. Once the two men are at the mob boss's base of operations, Damico is shocked when Smoothie reveals that he is actually Blackie (Matt Crowley). Blackie wants to hire Flynn to kill a witness, an Officer Damico (who does not realize that Flynn is Damico). To Flynn/Damico's horror, the hoods have kidnapped Mary and she has been cruelly interrogated by a brutal hood (Robert Foulk) to reveal the whereabouts of Damico, but Mary won't talk. Flynn pulls his gun, a gunfight ensues, a hood is killed (Robert Foulk), but Blackie is only wounded and escapes secretly to a nearby hospital, where, under a new identity, he is admitted to have his wound treated. Damico's fiancee Mary (Betty Buehler), has been slightly injured while being interrogated at Blackie's office, and has been taken to the same hospital. While Damico visits her, the wounded Blackie learns that they are in the hospital and confronts the couple in Mary's hospital room. Blackie pulls out a pistol from his hospital robe's pocket; just as he is preparing to kill the couple, a pair of police snipers stationed in the adjacent building fatally shoot Blackie as he stands near the hospital room's window. Following this is the light-hearted last scene with Johnny, Mary, Lt. Banks, Tom, and Peggy Clancy meeting together in a bar.
Cast
[edit]
Broderick Crawford as Johnny Damico
Betty Buehler as Mary Kiernan
Richard Kiley as Thomas "Tom" Clancy
Otto Hulett as Police Lieutenant Banks
Matt Crowley as "Smoothie" a Bartender; later revealed as Crime Boss Blackie Clegg
Neville Brand as Gunner
Ernest Borgnine as Joe Castro
Frank DeKova as Culio
Lynn Baggett as Peggy, Tom Clancy's wife
Jean Alexander as Doris, Clancy's sister
Ralph Dumke as Police Commissioner
John Marley as Tony
Walter Klavun as Sargent Bennion, a crooked cop working with Crime Boss Smoothie/Blackie. (uncredited)
Charles Bronson as Jack, a Longshoreman (uncredited)
Jay Adler as Russell, the Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
Emile Meyer as Gas Station Attendant (uncredited)
Duke Watson as Radford (uncredited)
Carleton Young as District Attorney (uncredited)
Harry Lauter as Daniels, detective in Mobile Unit #2. Appears 69 minutes into the movie - 2 scenes, 3 lines. (uncredited)
Lawrence Dobkin At the hospital Clegg, Clay, Clague tries to hire him to kill Flynn/Damico. Appears 81 minutes into the movie. 2 scenes. (uncredited)
Robert Foulk in 1 scene as a hood killed in a gunfight with Flynn/Damico. (uncredited)
Production
[edit]
Under the working titles "Waterfront" and "Remember That Face", filming of The Mob was actually completed eight months before its release in the fall of 1951, with shooting occurring between January 11 and February 8, 1951.[3][4]
Promotion
[edit]
For three months after the initial distribution of The Mob in late September 1951, Broderick Crawford conducted an extensive 60-city tour across the United States to promote the production for Columbia Pictures.[5][6] He made personal appearances at screenings of the film at various locations in New York; in Hartford, Connecticut; Boston and Springfield, Massachusetts; Washington, D.C.; Cleveland; St. Louis; Memphis; and in other cities in the Midwest and on the West Coast. During those visits, among other scheduled events and activities, it became routine for Crawford to give newspaper and radio interviews, appear on local television shows, attend special dinners and receptions, make goodwill visits to police precincts, and to accept assorted awards from law enforcement agencies that wanted to honor him for his portrayal of the tough, dedicated cop Johnny Damico.[7] In its December 12 issue, for example, the trade weekly Exhibitor provides some details about the film star's visit to Portland, Maine:
On a whirlwind tour, Broderick Crawford packed in a full day arranged by Nat Silve, manager [of the] Strand [Theatre]. Coming to Portland in connection with "The Mob," he was accompanied by Milton Young, and George Atkinson. Arriving at the airport, Crawford was escorted by police to the Eastland Hotel, where he made his headquarters. He attended a meeting for the volunteer workers in the City Hall, made several wire recordings for radio interviews, met members of the press and radio in his suite, and was made honorary police chief at the local police headquarters. He wound up his afternoon visiting the local newspapers. He also was entertained at a lobster dinner in the Columbia Hotel before his appearance on the stage of the Strand.[8]
In an earlier 1951 news item about Crawford's promotional tour to Rochester, New York in October, Motion Picture Herald reported that the actor was honored there by officials, who presented him a Rochester police badge. The trade journal noted that Crawford had accumulated by then "a trunkful [of police badges] on his smash coast-to-coast personal appearance chore for THE MOB", so many badges in fact that Motion Picture Herald dubbed the actor "America's Number One Pin-On Boy".[9]
Crawford's promotional tour to cities and towns was not limited to theaters and to law enforcement agencies. Periodically, he ventured to other sites. For instance, during his "four-day junket" touring the Boston area to promote the film at eight theaters, the star also took time to visit his alma mater, Dean Academy (now Dean College), in Franklin, Massachusetts. There he presented a speech in the school's chapel to students and faculty, although after that presentation he returned to his routine and attended yet another special screening of The Mob at the nearby Morse Theatre.[10][11]
Box office in 1951
[edit]
The Mob ranked 122nd among American films that earned at least $1,000,000 in box office receipts in 1951, a time when the average cost of a movie ticket in the United States was only 47 cents and the population of the country was significantly smaller than today.[1][12] At many large and small theaters, the film proved itself to be an attractive and profitable attraction. Exhibitor reports in its November 17 issue that during the picture's run at the 3,664-seat Paramount Theatre in Manhattan, it generated the second largest box office total of 1951, eclipsed that year only by the crowds of ticket-buyers who descended on the Paramount to see Martin & Lewis, when the famous comedy duo made personal appearances at the New York theatre to promote their film That's My Boy.[13] With regard to entire revenue totals for The Mob, various news outlets credited Crawford's publicity work with boosting the film's receipts, while the actor himself drew special attention to theater owners for their effective use of television to promote the picture. Film Bulletin is one of those outlets which noted that success in its December 17 issue:
FROM UNEXPECTED QUARTERS came a word of praise for exhibitors. Academy Award-winner Broderick Crawford, who reports outstanding results from his three-month, 60-city tour in connection with "The Mob," credited the nation's theatre-owners with being "miles ahead of Hollywood in their thinking and action on the use of television as a tremendous selling aid for motion pictures." Coming up with a clever bit of public relations directed at the too-often ignored exhibition level, Crawford said the Columbia movie "got a tremendous lift at the boxoffice" from his television and other public appearances.[6]
Critical reception
[edit]
In 1951, reviews of the film in major newspapers and trade publications generally ranged from mildly positive to highly favorable. Edwin Schallert, the film critic that year for the Los Angeles Times, commends the crime story for its blend of melodrama and humor, and he draws special attention to the lead performance.[14] "The presence of Crawford in this picture", writes Schallert in his October 27 appraisal, "is its main asset", adding that the actor conducts "his role with robust ingenuity and plenty of emphasis on its amusing trimmings."[14] The Chicago Tribune also praised the "robust" aspects of Crawford's performance, saying he "slams his way thru it in convincing fashion",[15] as did The New York Times in its October 18, 1951 edition:
Crawford slouches through the film with gusty savor, playing the melodramatic highspots [sic] for all they are worth, and extracts as much tension and suspense as possible from an unpolished script. But the script, despite its shortcomings, hangs together as superior action. A bald melodrama, it makes no attempt to be pretty, and its violence is as exciting and as fast paced as you could ask for....But even with a stereotyped tale, the cast and the director managed to come out head and shoulders above any other crime films around town.[16]
In her review of the "thrilling" film in the December 3rd issue of The Boston Globe, media critic Marjory Adams states, "'The Mob' is one of the best suspense pictures that Boston has had in many long months, and as distinguished in its more conventional way as was 'Detective Story'" (1951).[17] After highlighting and complimenting Crawford's performance in her column, Adams turns her attention to the star's supporting cast: "Maybe there is no message to 'The Mob' but it is a first rate melodrama, handsomely and excitingly enacted by a group of lesser known but very efficient players."[17]
Reactions to the Columbia production were quite positive as well in film-industry periodicals in 1951. The New York-based review service Harrison's Reports characterizes the feature in its September 15 preview as "a very good crime melodrama" that showcases "novel and realistic" action, which in the publication's estimation should hold theater audiences "in tense suspense all the way through."[18] After watching an even earlier screening of the film for Motion Picture Daily, critic Charles L. Franke in his September 5 review calls the picture's climax "a dandy rendition of a standard idea" and assures moviegoers they will experience a "fine time" seeing The Mob, especially "devotees of fast-action melodrama as they watch Crawford act out the none-too-novel story".[19] Franke in his commentary expresses further admiration for Crawford's performance and pegs him as "the actor most likely to inherit the tough-guy mantle so often worn in the past by James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson."[19]
Film Bulletin in 1951 also summarizes the screenplay in its September 24 issue as a "Good Crime Meller For Action Fans" ("Meller" being industry slang for a melodrama) but a "fair dualler" [sic] for general audiences.[20] The semimonthly trade periodical, which had a targeted readership of predominantly theater owners or "exhibitors", does find some fault with the plot's lack of clarity, namely that it does not establish for moviegoers the crime boss's ultimate goals.[20] Nevertheless, Film Bulletin states that Columbia's crime story "will please the dyed in the wool action fans with its rugged narrative of skullduggery along the waterfront, terse dialogue and the frank brutality of the several physical encounters."[20]
Photoplay, the leading movie fan magazine in the United States in 1951, also recommends the film in its October issue, citing most notably the drama's sustained levels of suspense and action.[21] Describing the feature as "gutsy and fisticuffy", Photoplay informs its readers, "Suspense rides throughout the action-packed story and the scientific methods of police in action should prove frightfully discouraging to the on-the-lam set everywhere.[21]
Later reactions to the film
[edit]
In the decades after the release of The Mob, reviewers' opinions of the film appear to be more mixed than those found in the print media in 1951. Hollywood screenwriter Carl Macek in the 1979 publication Film Noir: The Encyclopedia Reference to the American Style describes the transformative performance of the film's star, noting that "Crawford takes the simple role of Johnny Damico and converts it into a noir characterization of toughness and vulgarity."[22] Macek, however, categorizes The Mob as largely a "rehash" of the content and "staccato pacing" of pre-World War II urban crime pictures.[22] Later, in 1984, film historian Spencer Selby reinforces that view in his book Dark City: The Film Noir, describing The Mob as "About as close as noir ever came to resurrecting the 1930s gangster film."[23]
Film critic Dennis Schwartz in his 2002 online assessment also compliments Crawford's performance and other elements of the production, although he rates the screenplay overall as "ordinary" with an all-too-tidy conclusion:
The Mob covers the same territory as On the Waterfront [filmed three years after The Mob]. It is adapted from the novel Waterfront by Ferguson Findley and directed with a flair for lively action scenes by Robert Parrish. This ordinary minor film noir holds together until one twist too many turns it into one of those old movie theater chapter serial-like endings...Broderick Crawford is believable in this heroic role and moves his character into a noir figure by his hard-boiled, no-nonsense approach to the dangerous situation, where he's not in control of his destiny. Ernest Borgnine has the natural look of a shady individual to give his role a sinister force. Neville Brand as a strong-arm enforcer for Borgnine adds to the violent atmosphere. The film has fistfights, tough talking thugs and cops, and a bleak view of the corrupt docks. The brutality of both the criminals and the police is what gives the film its shock value and special feel. Otherwise it's your ordinary violent crime film.[24]
References
[edit] | ||||||
5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 40 | https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/g46552453/best-action-movies-netflix/ | en | 15 best action movies on Netflix to watch in August 2024 | [
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"Ian Sandwell",
"Mireia Mullor"
] | 2024-02-01T07:00:05.440285+00:00 | From classics like Bad Boys to new favourites like Ballerina, here are the best action movies on Netflix to watch in August 2024. | en | /_assets/design-tokens/digitalspy/static/images/favicon.b8735b8.ico | Digital Spy | https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/g46552453/best-action-movies-netflix/ | Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
Deputy Movies Editor, Digital Spy
Mireia (she/her) has been working as a movie and TV journalist for over seven years, mostly for the Spanish magazine Fotogramas.
Her work has been published in other outlets such as Esquire and Elle in Spain, and WeLoveCinema in the UK.
She is also a published author, having written the essay Biblioteca Studio Ghibli: Nicky, la aprendiz de bruja about Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service.
During her years as a freelance journalist and film critic, Mireia has covered festivals around the world, and has interviewed high-profile talents such as Kristen Stewart, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal and many more. She's also taken part in juries such as the FIPRESCI jury at Venice Film Festival and the short film jury at Kingston International Film Festival in London.
Now based in the UK, Mireia joined Digital Spy in June 2023 as Deputy Movies Editor.
LinkedIn | ||||
5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 17 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mass_(film) | en | Black Mass (film) | [
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] | 2013-03-19T03:46:41+00:00 | en | /static/apple-touch/wikipedia.png | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mass_(film) | 2015 American film
Black MassDirected byScott CooperScreenplay by
Mark Mallouk
Jez Butterworth
Based onBlack Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devil's Deal
by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill[3]Produced by
John Lesher
Brian Oliver
Scott Cooper
Patrick McCormick
Tyler Thompson
StarringCinematographyMasanobu TakayanagiEdited byDavid Rosenbloom[4]Music byTom Holkenborg[5]
Production
companies
Cross Creek Pictures
RatPac-Dune Entertainment
Le Grisbi Productions
Free State Pictures
Head Gear Films
Vendian Entertainment
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release dates
Running time
123 minutes[6]CountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBudget$53 million[7]Box office$100 million[8]
Black Mass is a 2015 American biographical crime drama film about American mobster Whitey Bulger. Directed by Scott Cooper and written by Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth, it is based on Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill's 2001 book Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob. The film features an ensemble cast led by Johnny Depp as Bulger, alongside Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon, Jesse Plemons, Peter Sarsgaard, Dakota Johnson, and Corey Stoll.
Principal photography of the film took place in Boston between May and August 2014. The film had its world premiere at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival and was released by Warner Bros. worldwide on September 18, 2015. It received generally positive reviews and grossed $100 million on a $53 million budget.
Plot
[edit]
In 1975, James "Whitey" Bulger, leader of the Winter Hill Gang, controls most organized crime within South Boston, along with his right-hand man Stephen Flemmi, newcomer Kevin Weeks, and callous hitman Johnny Martorano. Bulger lives with his longtime girlfriend, Lindsey Cyr, and their young son, Douglas.
Bulger's supremacy is challenged by the North End-based Angiulo Brothers, a rival gang that is part of the New England Mafia family. FBI agent John Connolly returns to the area, having grown up in South Boston as a friend of Whitey and his brother, Massachusetts Senate president William "Billy" Bulger.
After the Angiulo Brothers send a motorcycle-riding assassin who murders a Winter Hill soldier, Whitey becomes an informant for Connolly. Connolly believes he can infiltrate the Angiulo Brothers' organization with Whitey's help. Although Whitey hates the idea of being a rat, he understands what the resultant protection would afford him, his gang, and his family. Douglas suffers from Reye syndrome, leading the devastated Lindsey to remove him from life support over Whitey's furious objections.
Although Connolly is supported by his co-worker John Morris, their boss, Charles McGuire, is suspicious. Whitey increasingly exploits his status as an informant, using Connolly's "protection" as a cover for his crimes. When Connolly demands information on the Angiulos' racketeering locations, Whitey gets pictures of the rival gang's hideouts, allowing the FBI to plant wiretaps. The FBI arrests the Angiulos, thus eliminating the remaining opposition to Whitey's power. Blinded by his past, Connolly grows closer to Whitey and the gang and even invites them to his house for a cookout. His wife, Marianne, sees negative changes in her husband as his agent-informant relationship with Whitey grows, including accepting expensive gifts and money from the gang.
An associate, Brian Halloran, fears for his own life and goes to the FBI to report Whitey's involvement, much to Connolly's displeasure. Connolly then tells Whitey of Halloran's accusation, resulting in the murders of Halloran and an unnamed accomplice. Following his mother's death, Whitey's behavior becomes increasingly violent and unpredictable, deteriorating his informant relationship.
When "bulldog" prosecutor Fred Wyshak is appointed the new assistant U.S. Attorney in Boston, Connolly attempts to make friends and perhaps divert his attention from Whitey. Still, Wyshak bluntly refuses and demands the FBI arrest him. John McIntyre, an informant within the Winter Hill Gang, informs on an attempt by Whitey to smuggle weapons for the IRA. The shipment is seized, and Whitey kills McIntyre after Connolly tips him off.
Wyshak and McGuire investigate Connolly's management of Whitey's informant role and realize that most of the "tips" were obtained from other informants. Morris, disillusioned and fearing prosecution, divulges Connolly's and Whitey's relationship to The Boston Globe, and a front-page story exposes the FBI's links to organized crime. As Connolly, Flemmi, Weeks, and Martorano are arrested, Whitey gives Billy a final goodbye from a gas station pay phone before leaving Boston.
A textual epilogue reveals Weeks received a five-year sentence, Martorano a twelve-year sentence, and Flemmi a life sentence, while Morris received immunity for his cooperation; Billy became Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts but resigned following the discovery that he was in touch with Whitey; Connolly was convicted of second-degree murder and received a forty-year sentence, and Whitey, after an anonymous tip led to his arrest on June 22, 2011, in Santa Monica, California, received two consecutive life sentences with an added five years.
Cast
[edit]
Production
[edit]
Development
[edit]
An idea for a film adaptation of Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob garnered interest intermittently since 2000. Even before its published release, the book's film rights had already been sold to Miramax, when Harvey Weinstein was still part of the company. According to co-author Dick Lehr, Weinstein had never exercised the film option for unknown reasons, and the rights expired.[17][18] At one point afterwards, in 2002, filmmaker Robert Greenwald had planned to adapt Black Mass into a 4-hour miniseries for USA Network, but the project was never developed.[19] Eventually in 2006, film producer Brian Oliver acquired the film rights for Black Mass, and was set to produce the adaptation with CP Production partners Michael Cerenzie and Christine Peters.[18][20]
After Oliver's acquisition, Jim Sheridan was attached to direct the film. In 2009, Sheridan had finished writing a draft of the adapted screenplay with Nye Heron, and principal photography was reportedly scheduled to begin in April 2010.[21][22] However, in December 2010, while discussing the troubled production of his 2011 film Dream House, Sheridan hinted at his detachment from the Black Mass project.[23] Oliver's then-newly founded Cross Creek Pictures film production company took over financing for Black Mass, and Sheridan's exit was confirmed when Russell Gewirtz was hired in 2011 to write another draft for the adaptation, and Barry Levinson was attached to direct instead.[18][24][25] The finished version of Black Mass was scripted by Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth, and has been billed as the "true story of Whitey Bulger, FBI agent John Connolly and the FBI's witness protection program that was created by J. Edgar Hoover."[26]
Later in January 2014, Scott Cooper was attached to re-write and direct the film.[27] On February 27, 2014, Warner Bros. picked up the film's worldwide distribution rights, eyeing an October 2015 release, and the studio co-financed the film with Cross Creek.[28]
Casting
[edit]
Johnny Depp's involvement with Black Mass dates back to February 2013, when he was attached to star in the film, while Barry Levinson was still slated to direct and principal photography was scheduled to begin in May 2013. Depp briefly exited the project shortly after its sale at the 66th annual Cannes Film Festival, because of a salary dispute with Cross Creek Pictures. He later rejoined at around the same time Scott Cooper was attached to replace Levinson as director, and his signing for the film was made official in February 2014.[27][29][30][31][32] Jesse Plemons and Juno Temple joined the cast to play as Kevin Weeks (a cohort of Bulger) and Deborah Hussey, one of Bulger's victims, respectively, around April 2014. Plemons reportedly prepared for his role by hiring a dialect coach and studying video of the actual Kevin Weeks.[33][34]
Benedict Cumberbatch replaced Guy Pearce as William "Billy" Bulger on May 22, 2014.[9] On June 10, it was announced that Jeremy Strong would co-star in the film.[15] On June 14, James Russo joined the cast of the film to play Scott Garriola, one of the FBI agents who took down Bulger.[16] On June 26, Kevin Bacon was added to the cast to play Charles McGuire, the FBI Special Agent in charge of the Boston field office and John Connolly's boss.[11] On July 1, David Harbour was added to the cast of the film to star as John Morris, a corrupt FBI agent along with Connolly.[13]
The roles of Connolly – who was Whitey Bulger's FBI handler – and his first wife Marianne, were filled by Joel Edgerton and Julianne Nicholson, respectively. Cooper chose Nicholson for the part after her performance as Sally in Sam Shepard's off-Broadway play Heartless (before Claire van der Boom succeeded her for the play's two-week extension). Edgerton developed his portrayal of Connolly by studying past footage of the FBI agent before his imprisonment, some of which include his appearances on talk shows and in courtrooms. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Edgerton stated that he declined trying to meet with the actual Connolly, reasoning that Connolly "has one version of events and the film has a different version".[35][36][37][38] Edgerton originally dropped out of the project when Depp agreed to return, and Tom Hardy was in early talks for the role.[32] However, Edgerton returned in the role.
In preparing for his role, Depp similarly studied surveillance and police audio footage involving Bulger. The actor was adamant in depicting the Boston gang leader's criminal and personal life as would be ultimately portrayed in the film. To achieve that, Depp attempted to meet with Bulger himself, but was declined a meeting and instead consulted Jay Carney, Bulger's attorney. Carney appeared on set a few times, to provide feedback on Depp's performance.[37][39][40][41]
Filming
[edit]
Principal photography commenced on May 19, 2014, in Boston;[28][42] actors were seen filming scenes in Dorchester.[43] On May 23, some shots were also filmed at Polish American Club (altered to recreate West Broadway's Triple O's Lounge, Whitey's infamous South Boston hangout), on Cambridge Street in Cambridge.[44][45] On May 27, filming was taking place in East Boston, where Johnny Depp and Jesse Plemons were seen together on the set.[46] Next day on May 28, Joel Edgerton was seen during filming of a scene on Silver Street in South Boston.[47][48] On June 4, Depp was spotted in Lynn during a recreation of the 1982 murders of Brian Halloran and Michael Donahue by Bulger.[49] On June 6–7, Depp was seen filming scenes at Copley Square in Boston.[50]
On June 9, Depp's 51st birthday, he was filming scenes on location in Quincy,[51][52] while Dakota Johnson was in Back Bay, playing Whitey Bulger's longtime former girlfriend, Lindsey Cyr.[53] On June 11, shooting was underway in Lynn, where the crew was filming scenes in which Bulger and Stephen Flemmi pick up a prostitute named Deborah Hussey (played by Juno Temple) from the police station. Temple was seen on the set.[54] On June 16, Depp and Plemons were spotted on the set of the film in South Boston.[55]
On June 20, news posted some photos from the set of the film, which features classic cars from the film set in South Boston.[56] On June 23, Cumberbatch and Depp were spotted during a re-creation of Saint Patrick's Day parade scenes in Lynn.[57][58] On June 24, scenes were shot at the Harvard Club in Boston.[59] On June 26, Cumberbatch was spotted with crew while filming around Ashmont Grill in Dorchester.[60] On June 29, the pavement outside South Boston High School had graffiti readings of "Stop Forced Busing" and "Press Print the Truth."[61]
On July 2, Depp and Cumberbatch were together filming some scenes in Boston.[citation needed] On July 7–8, filming was set to take place on Gilson Road in Quincy.[62] A four-story building on 6 Gilson Road was transformed to resemble the Princess Eugenia apartments in Santa Monica, California, where FBI agents arrested Bulger on June 22, 2011. Arrest scenes were filmed there on July 7 and 8, and Sienna Miller was spotted dressed as Catherine Greig.[63][64] From July 8–10, scenes were filmed on Revere Beach, so that a portion of Revere Beach remained closed. Between July 11–12, Revere Beach Boulevard remained closed for shooting.[65] Revere Beach was transformed into Miami Beach, Florida, as live palm trees had been planted in the sand and a pizza restaurant was transformed into a Cuban cafe on Revere Beach Boulevard across the street from Beach.[66] Depp as Whitey Bulger and Miller as Catherine Greig were spotted on the Black Mass set on the Revere Beach on July 10, 2014.[67]
On July 15, Cumberbatch wrapped filming for his part in Boston.[68] On July 21, Depp filmed some scenes at the former Anthony's Hawthorne restaurant, located at Oxford Street and Central Avenue in Lynn,[69] which wrapped up filming for his role.[70]
In July, director Cooper told The Boston Globe that filming had to take place for two more weeks in Boston, focusing on the FBI's role in the Bulger story.[70] On July 25, Kevin Bacon was in Boston, filming some remaining scenes for the film.[71] According to The Boston Globe, filming for Black Mass wrapped up on August 1, 2014, in Boston.[72][73]
Post-production
[edit]
Sienna Miller was cast and filmed scenes as Catherine Greig, Bulger's companion while a fugitive, but her scenes ended up getting cut from the film due to "narrative choices".[74][75] Erica McDermott was cast as Mary Bulger, wife of Billy Bulger, but the majority of her scenes were cut out.[76]
Release
[edit]
On June 30, 2014, Warner Bros. set the film for a September 18, 2015 worldwide release.[77] It was selected to be shown in the "Fuori Concorso" section of the Venice Film Festival. It was also shown at the Telluride Film Festival the next day, and in the Special Presentation section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.[78]
Marketing
[edit]
On April 23, 2015, the first trailer for the film was released, followed by a second trailer on May 22.[79][80] A third trailer was released on July 30.[81]
Home media
[edit]
Black Mass was released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 16, 2016.
Reception
[edit]
Box office
[edit]
Black Mass grossed $62.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $37.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $99.8 million, against a production budget of $53 million.[8]
In the United States and Canada, Black Mass was released alongside Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials and Captive, and was projected to earn around $26 million from 3,188 theaters in its opening weekend. It grossed $8.8 million on its first day, including $1.4 million from its early Thursday showings. It ended up debuting to $22.6 million, finishing second at the box office behind fellow newcomer Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials ($30.3 million).[82] It dropped 51% in its second weekend, making $11 million and finishing 5th.[83]
Critical response
[edit]
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 73% based on 290 reviews and an average rating of 6.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Black Mass spins a gripping yarn out of its fact-based story – and leaves audiences with one of Johnny Depp's most compelling performances in years."[84] On Metacritic, the film has a rating of 68 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[85] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[82]
Depp's portrayal of Bulger received critical acclaim with many calling it a return to form. Critics from The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and TheWrap called it one of his best performances to date.[86][87][88] The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy, in addition to praising the film, called Depp's performance "fully convincing and frightening", saying it is "very welcome at this point in his career and one of his best."[86]
Similarly, Indie Wire's Eric Kohn praised the cast and highlighted Depp's performance and Cooper's directorial efforts to depict "the haunting legacy of Bulger's criminal deeds, and the lingering sense that no justice can erase their impact."[89] Admiring Black Mass as an "elegantly understated crime drama", Variety's Scott Foundas positively compared Depp's performance in the film to his earlier roles with Tim Burton.[87]
TheWrap's Alonso Duralde praised Depp's performance, but was less positive towards the film's pacing and short onscreen appearances of some supporting characters.[88] BBC Culture's Nicolas Barber found some of the subplots to be unnecessary (specifically mentioning Benedict Cumberbatch as Billy Bulger), and argued that "the film is never bad, but, given the gob-smacking true story, it's disappointing that it's not great".[90]
In a negative review, CraveOnline's Fred Topel labeled Black Mass as a "black mess". He criticized the screenwriting and argued that the film borrows too heavily from Goodfellas, writing: "...it's clear that the filmmakers wanted to turn this into Goodfellas and tried to shoehorn this story into a similar kind of seductive, funny, shocking gangster tale. ...Several scenes seem to want to be like the 'how am I funny?' scene in Goodfellas, but it's blatant".[91]
Response by the subjects
[edit]
Whitey Bulger himself disapproved of the film and refused to see it; his associate Kevin Weeks, while admitting the killings took place, otherwise called the movie "pure fiction", comprehensively disputing most of the film's depiction of events.[92][93] Most crucially he also disavowed the characterisations of the key figures:
The only resemblance to Whitey's character was the hairline. [...] The mannerisms — the way that Whitey talked to us — he never swore at us. In all the years I was with that man, he never swore at me once. We never yelled at each other. [...] The language is all wrong [...] and Whitey never would've berated Stevie, either. Stevie was a psychopath. Stevie would've killed him. [...] Stevie wasn't all sympathetic, mourning, and sorrowful like he is in the movie. Stevie enjoyed murder.[92]
Weeks also disagrees completely with his portrayal in the film, for instance, the suggestion the loss of his son had any impact on his behavior, or that Bulger ever once discussed business at home or with his brother.[92]
Accolades
[edit]
Award Category Recipient Result Indiana Film Journalists Association Awards[94] Best Actor Johnny Depp Nominated Santa Barbara International Film Festival Maltin Modern Master Award Johnny Depp Won Satellite Awards[95] Best Film Black Mass Nominated Best Actor – Motion Picture Johnny Depp Nominated Best Adapted Screenplay Jez Butterworth, Mark Mallouk Nominated Saturn Awards[96][97] Best Thriller Film Black Mass Nominated Best Make-Up Joel Harlow, Kenny Niederbaumer Nominated Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Johnny Depp Nominated Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association[98] Best Actor Johnny Depp Nominated Palm Springs International Film Festival Desert Palm Achievement Award (actor) Johnny Depp Won Critics' Choice Movie Award Best Actor Johnny Depp Nominated Best Makeup Nominated
Lindsay Kimble of People believed Depp deserved an Academy Award nomination for his performance as Bulger and was surprised when his name was excluded from the list of nominees.[99]
Soundtrack
[edit]
The soundtrack, written and composed by Tom Holkenborg, was released on September 11, 2015, at WaterTower Music.
Track listing
[edit]
"Black Mass Opening Title"
"Boston Crime Lord"
"John Connolly"
"Bulger Burial Ground"
"My Boy"
"Don't Wake Him Up"
"You Got Two Minutes"
"Aspirin"
"No Drugs, No Murder"
"I Will Pull the Plug Myself"
"When You Wake Up In the Morning"
"It's Just the Beginning"
"Martorano"
"Did You Ever See Whitey Bulger Murder Anyone?"
"Thanks to Whitey"
"Jimmy and Marianne"
"You'll Be Sorry"
"Boston Globe"
"Valhalla"
"Strictly Criminal"
"Take Care Kid"
2015 Watertower Music (61:26)
References
[edit]
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] | 2024-07-29T22:27:06+00:00 | Template:Cleanup bare URLs Black Mass is a 2015 American biographical crime drama film about American mobster Whitey Bulger. Directed by Scott Cooper and written by Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth, it is based on Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill's 2001 book Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy... | en | /skins-ucp/mw139/common/favicon.ico | The Movies Wiki | https://lionheadthemovies.fandom.com/wiki/Black_Mass_(film) | Template:Cleanup bare URLs
Black Mass is a 2015 American biographical crime drama film about American mobster Whitey Bulger. Directed by Scott Cooper and written by Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth, it is based on Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill's 2001 book Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob. The film features an ensemble cast led by Johnny Depp as Bulger, alongside Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon, Jesse Plemons, Peter Sarsgaard, Dakota Johnson, and Corey Stoll.
Principal photography of the film began on May 19, 2014, in Boston and wrapped on August 1, 2014. The film had its world premiere at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival and was released by Warner Bros. worldwide on September 18, 2015. It received generally positive reviews and grossed $99 million on a $53 million budget.
Plot[]
In 1975, James "Whitey" Bulger, leader of the Winter Hill Gang, controls most organized crime within South Boston, along with his right-hand man Stephen Flemmi, newcomer Kevin Weeks, and callous hitman Johnny Martorano. Bulger lives with his common-law wife Lindsey Cyr and their young son Douglas.
Bulger's supremacy is challenged by the North End-based Angiulo Brothers, a rival gang that is part of the New England Mafia family. FBI agent John Connolly returns to the area, having grown up in South Boston as a friend of Whitey and his brother William "Billy" Bulger's; Billy is now the Massachusetts Senate President.
After the Angiulo Brothers send a motorcycle-riding assassin who murders a Winter Hill soldier, Whitey becomes an informant for Connolly. Connolly believes he can infiltrate the Angiulo Brothers' organization with Whitey's help. Although Whitey hates the idea of being a rat, he understands the protection doing so would afford him, his gang, and his family. Douglas suffers from Reye syndrome, leading the devastated Lindsey to remove him from life support over Whitey's furious objections.
Although Connolly is supported by his co-worker John Morris, their boss, Charles McGuire, is suspicious. Whitey increasingly exploits his status as an informant, using Connolly's "protection" as a cover for his crimes. When Connolly demands information on the Angiulos' racketeering locations, Whitey gets pictures of the rival gang's hideouts, allowing the FBI to plant wiretaps. The FBI arrests the Angiulos, thus eliminating the remaining opposition to Whitey's power. Connolly, blinded by his past, grows closer to Whitey and the gang and even invites them to his house for a cookout. His wife, Marianne, sees negative changes in her husband as his agent-informant relationship with Whitey grows, including accepting expensive gifts and money from the gang.
An associate, Brian Halloran, fears for his own life and goes to the FBI to report Whitey's involvement, much to Connolly's displeasure. Connolly then tells Whitey of Halloran's accusation, thereby resulting in the murders of Halloran and an unnamed accomplice. Following his mother's death, Whitey's behavior becomes increasingly violent and unpredictable, deteriorating his informant relationship.
When "bulldog" prosecutor Fred Wyshak is appointed the new assistant U. S. Attorney in Boston, Connolly attempts to make friends and perhaps divert his attention from Whitey. Still, Wyshak bluntly refuses and demands the FBI arrest him. John McIntyre, an informant within the Winter Hill Gang, informs on an attempt by Whitey to smuggle weapons for the IRA. The shipment is seized, and Whitey kills McIntyre after Connolly tips him off. Wyshak and McGuire investigate Connolly's management of Whitey's informant role and realize that most of the "tips" provided by Whitey were already obtained from other sources. Morris, disillusioned and fearing prosecution for his association with Connolly's activities, anonymously divulges Connolly's and Whitey's relationship to The Boston Globe, and a front-page story exposes the FBI's links to organized crime.
Connolly, Flemmi, Weeks, and Martorano are arrested. Whitey goes on the run, but not before giving Billy a final goodbye from a payphone. Morris turns state's evidence and testifies against Connolly in return for immunity. Connolly's and the other characters' sentences are listed, and a concluding sequence shows the now-elderly Whitey being caught by the FBI in 2011.
Cast[]
Production[]
Development[]
An idea for a film adaptation of Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob garnered interest intermittently since 2000. Even before its published release, the book's film rights had already been sold to Miramax, when Harvey Weinstein was still part of the company. According to co-author Dick Lehr, Weinstein had never exercised the film option for unknown reasons, and the rights expired.[16][17] At one point afterwards, in 2002, filmmaker Robert Greenwald had planned to adapt Black Mass into a 4-hour miniseries for USA Network, but the project was never developed.[18] Eventually in 2006, film producer Brian Oliver acquired the film rights for Black Mass, and was set to produce the adaptation with CP Production partners Michael Cerenzie and Christine Peters.[17][19]
After Oliver's acquisition, Jim Sheridan was attached to direct the film. In 2009, Sheridan had finished writing a draft of the adapted screenplay with Nye Heron, and principal photography was reportedly scheduled to begin in April 2010.[20][21] However, in December 2010, while discussing the troubled production of his 2011 film Dream House, Sheridan hinted at his detachment from the Black Mass project.[22] Oliver's then-newly founded Cross Creek Pictures film production company took over financing for Black Mass, and Sheridan's exit was confirmed when Russell Gewirtz was hired in 2011 to write another draft for the adaptation, and Barry Levinson was attached to direct instead.[17][23][24] The finished version of Black Mass was scripted by Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth, and has been billed as the "true story of Whitey Bulger, FBI agent John Connolly and the FBI's witness protection program that was created by J. Edgar Hoover."[25]
Later in January 2014, Scott Cooper was attached to re-write and direct the film.[26] On February 27, 2014, Warner Bros. picked up the film's worldwide distribution rights, eyeing an October 2015 release, and the studio co-financed the film with Cross Creek.[27]
Casting[]
Johnny Depp's involvement with Black Mass dates back to February 2013, when he was attached to star in the film, while Barry Levinson was still slated to direct and principal photography was scheduled to begin in May 2013. Depp briefly exited the project shortly after its sale at the 66th annual Cannes Film Festival, because of a salary dispute with Cross Creek Pictures. He later rejoined at around the same time Scott Cooper was attached to replace Levinson as director, and his signing for the film was made official in February 2014.[26][28][29][30][31] Jesse Plemons and Juno Temple joined the cast to play as Kevin Weeks (a cohort of Bulger) and Deborah Hussey, one of Bulger's victims, respectively, around April 2014. Plemons reportedly prepared for his role by hiring a dialect coach and studying video of the actual Kevin Weeks.[32][33]
Benedict Cumberbatch replaced Guy Pearce as William "Billy" Bulger on May 22, 2014.[8] On June 10, it was announced that Jeremy Strong would co-star in the film.[14] On June 14, James Russo joined the cast of the film to play Scott Garriola, one of the FBI agents who took down Bulger.[15] On June 26, Kevin Bacon was added to the cast to play Charles McGuire, the FBI Special Agent in charge of the Boston field office and John Connolly's boss.[10] On July 1, David Harbour was added to the cast of the film to star as John Morris, a corrupt FBI agent along with Connolly.[12]
The roles of Connolly – who was Whitey Bulger's FBI handler – and his first wife Marianne, were filled by Joel Edgerton and Julianne Nicholson, respectively. Cooper chose Nicholson for the part after her performance as Sally in Sam Shepard's off-Broadway play Heartless (before Claire van der Boom succeeded her for the play's two-week extension). Edgerton developed his portrayal of Connolly by studying past footage of the FBI agent before his imprisonment, some of which include his appearances on talk shows and in courtrooms. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Edgerton stated that he declined trying to meet with the actual Connolly, reasoning that Connolly "has one version of events and the film has a different version".[34][35][36][37] Edgerton originally dropped out of the project when Depp agreed to return, and Tom Hardy was in early talks for the role.[31] However, Edgerton returned in the role.
In preparing for his role, Depp similarly studied surveillance and police audio footage involving Bulger. The actor was adamant in depicting the Boston gang leader's criminal and personal life as would be ultimately portrayed in the film. To achieve that, Depp attempted to meet with Bulger himself, but was declined a meeting and instead consulted Jay Carney, Bulger's attorney. Carney appeared on set a few times, to provide feedback on Depp's performance.[36][38][39][40]
Filming[]
Principal photography commenced on May 19, 2014 in Boston;[27][41] actors were seen filming scenes in Dorchester.[42] On May 23, some shots were also filmed at Polish American Club (altered to recreate West Broadway's Triple O's Lounge, Whitey's infamous South Boston hangout), on Cambridge Street in Cambridge.[43][44] On May 27, filming was taking place in East Boston, where Johnny Depp and Jesse Plemons were seen together on the set.[45] Next day on May 28, Joel Edgerton was seen during filming of a scene on Silver Street in South Boston.[46][47] On June 4, Depp was spotted in Lynn during a recreation of the 1982 murders of Brian Halloran and Michael Donahue by Bulger.[48] On June 6–7, Depp was seen filming scenes at Copley Square in Boston.[49]
On June 9, Depp's 51st birthday, he was filming scenes on location in Quincy,[50][51] where actress Dakota Johnson was in Back Bay, playing Whitey Bulger's longtime former girlfriend, Lindsey Cyr.[52] On June 11, shooting was underway in Lynn, where the crew was filming scenes in which Bulger and Stephen Flemmi pick up a prostitute named Deborah Hussey (played by Juno Temple) from the police station. Temple was seen on the set.[53] On June 16, Depp and Plemons were spotted on the set of the film in South Boston.[54]
On June 20, news posted some photos from the set of the film, which features classic cars from the film set in South Boston.[55] On June 23, Cumberbatch and Depp were spotted during a re-creation of Saint Patrick's Day parade scenes in Lynn.[56][57] On June 24, scenes were shot at the Harvard Club in Boston.[58] On June 26, Cumberbatch was spotted with crew while filming around Ashmont Grill in Dorchester.[59] On June 29, the pavement outside South Boston High School had graffiti readings of "Stop Forced Busing" and "Press Print the Truth."[60]
On July 2, Depp and Cumberbatch were together filming some scenes in Boston.[citation needed] On July 7–8, filming was set to take place on Gilson Road in Quincy.[61] A four-story building on 6 Gilson Road was transformed to resemble the Princess Eugenia apartments in Santa Monica, California, where FBI agents arrested Bulger on June 22, 2011. Arrest scenes were filmed there on July 7 and 8, and Sienna Miller was spotted dressed as Catherine Greig.[62][63] From July 8–10, scenes were filmed on Revere Beach, so that a portion of Revere Beach remained closed. Between July 11–12, Revere Beach Boulevard remained closed for shooting.[64] Revere Beach was transformed into Miami Beach, Florida, as live palm trees had been planted in the sand and a pizza restaurant was transformed into a Cuban cafe on Revere Beach Boulevard across the street from Beach.[65] Depp as Whitey Bulger and Miller as Catherine Greig were spotted on the Black Mass set on the Revere Beach on July 10, 2014.[66]
On July 15, Cumberbatch wrapped filming for his part in Boston.[67] On July 21, Depp filmed some scenes at the former Anthony's Hawthorne restaurant, located at Oxford Street and Central Avenue in Lynn,[68] which wrapped up filming for his role.[69]
In July, director Cooper told The Boston Globe that filming had to take place for two more weeks in Boston, focusing on the FBI's role in the Bulger story.[69] On July 25, Kevin Bacon was in Boston, filming some remaining scenes for the film.[70] According to The Boston Globe, filming for Black Mass wrapped up on August 1, 2014, in Boston.[71][72]
Post-production[]
Sienna Miller was cast and filmed scenes as Catherine Greig, Bulger's companion while a fugitive, but her scenes ended up getting cut from the film due to "narrative choices".[73][74] Erica McDermott was cast as Mary Bulger, wife of Billy Bulger, but the majority of her scenes were cut out.[75]
Release[]
On June 30, 2014, Warner Bros. set the film for a September 18, 2015 worldwide release.[76] It was selected to be shown in the "Fuori Concorso" section of the Venice Film Festival. It was also shown at the Telluride Film Festival the next day, and in the Special Presentation section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.[77]
Marketing[]
On April 23, 2015, the first trailer for the film was released, followed by a second trailer on May 22.[78][79] A third trailer was released on July 30.[80]
Home media[]
Black Mass was released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 16, 2016.
Reception[]
Box office[]
Black Mass grossed $62.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $37.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $99.8 million, against a production budget of $53 million.[7]
In its opening weekend, the film was projected to earn around $26 million from 3,188 theaters. It grossed $8.8 million on its first day, including $1.4 million from its early Thursday showings. It ended up debuting to $22.6 million, finishing second at the box office behind fellow newcomer Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials ($30.3 million).[81] It dropped 51% in its second weekend, making $11 million and finishing 5th.[82]
Critical response[]
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 73% based on 284 reviews and an average rating of 6.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Black Mass spins a gripping yarn out of its fact-based story – and leaves audiences with one of Johnny Depp's most compelling performances in years."[83] On Metacritic, the film has a rating of 68 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[84] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[81]
Depp's portrayal of Bulger received critical acclaim with many calling it a return to form. Critics from The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and TheWrap called it one of his best performances to date.[85][86][87] The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy, in addition to praising the film, called Depp's performance "fully convincing and frightening", saying it is "very welcome at this point in his career and one of his best."[85]
Similarly, Indie Wire's Eric Kohn praised the cast and highlighted Depp's performance and Cooper's directorial efforts to depict "the haunting legacy of Bulger's criminal deeds, and the lingering sense that no justice can erase their impact."[88] Admiring Black Mass as an "elegantly understated crime drama", Variety's Scott Foundas positively compared Depp's performance in the film to his earlier roles with Tim Burton.[86]
TheWrap's Alonso Duralde praised Depp's performance, but was less positive towards the film's pacing and short onscreen appearances of some supporting characters.[87] BBC Culture's Nicolas Barber found some of the subplots to be unnecessary (specifically mentioning Benedict Cumberbatch as Billy Bulger), and argued that "the film is never bad, but, given the gob-smacking true story, it's disappointing that it's not great".[89] In a negative review, CraveOnline's Fred Topel labeled Black Mass as a "black mess". He criticized the screenwriting and argued that the film borrows too heavily from Goodfellas, writing: "...it's clear that the filmmakers wanted to turn this into Goodfellas and tried to shoehorn this story into a similar kind of seductive, funny, shocking gangster tale. ...Several scenes seem to want to be like the 'how am I funny?' scene in Goodfellas, but it's blatant".[90]
Response by the subjects[]
Whitey Bulger himself disapproved of the film and refused to see it; his associate Kevin Weeks, while admitting the killings took place, otherwise called the movie "pure fiction", comprehensively disputing most of the film's depiction of events.[91][92] Most crucially he also disavowed the characterisations of the key figures:
The only resemblance to Whitey's character was the hairline. [...] The mannerisms — the way that Whitey talked to us — he never swore at us. In all the years I was with that man, he never swore at me once. We never yelled at each other. [...] The language is all wrong [...] and Whitey never would've berated Stevie, either. Stevie was a psychopath. Stevie would've killed him. [...] Stevie wasn't all sympathetic, mourning, and sorrowful like he is in the movie. Stevie enjoyed murder.[91]
Weeks also disagrees completely with his portrayal in the film, for instance, the suggestion the loss of his son had any impact on his behavior, or that Bulger ever once discussed business at home or with his brother.[91]
Accolades[]
Award Category Recipient Result Indiana Film Journalists Association Awards[93] Best Actor Johnny Depp Nominated Santa Barbara International Film Festival Maltin Modern Master Award Johnny Depp Won Satellite Awards[94] Best Film Black Mass Nominated Best Actor – Motion Picture Johnny Depp Nominated Best Adapted Screenplay Jez Butterworth, Mark Mallouk Nominated Saturn Awards[95][96] Best Thriller Film Black Mass Nominated Best Make-Up Joel Harlow, Kenny Niederbaumer Nominated Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Johnny Depp Nominated Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association[97] Best Actor Johnny Depp Nominated Palm Springs International Film Festival Desert Palm Achievement Award (actor) Johnny Depp Won Critics' Choice Movie Award Best Actor Johnny Depp Nominated Best Makeup Nominated
Lindsay Kimble of People believed Depp deserved an Academy Award nomination for his performance as Bulger and was surprised when his name was left off the list of nominees.[98]
Soundtrack[]
The soundtrack, written and composed by Tom Holkenborg, was released on September 11, 2015 at WaterTower Music.
Track listing[]
"Black Mass Opening Title"
"Boston Crime Lord"
"John Connolly"
"Bulger Burial Ground"
"My Boy"
"Don't Wake Him Up"
"You Got Two Minutes"
"Aspirin"
"No Drugs, No Murder"
"I Will Pull the Plug Myself"
"When You Wake Up In the Morning"
"It's Just the Beginning"
"Martorano"
"Did You Ever See Whitey Bulger Murder Anyone?"
"Thanks to Whitey"
"Jimmy and Marianne"
"You'll Be Sorry"
"Boston Globe"
"Valhalla"
"Strictly Criminal"
"Take Care Kid"
2015 Watertower Music (61:26)
References[]
[]
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5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 20 | https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/fast-rescue-craft-rescue-craft-mob-boats-designated-rescue-boats/57998 | en | Fast Rescue Craft / Rescue Craft / MOB boats / Designated Rescue Boats | [
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] | null | [] | 2021-01-11T20:58:50+00:00 | This is an FRC of the type that you see on ERRVs and SOME OSVs:
This is a MOB-boat that you find on most ships, except those fitted with Lifeboats that is approved as MOB-boats.
Ridget type:
Inflatable type:
T… | en | https://global.discourse-cdn.com/business6/uploads/gcaptain_maritime_forum/optimized/2X/8/82b62723d1dee425f6ec069e95a71f12aaa9b4b6_2_32x32.ico | gCaptain Forum | https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/fast-rescue-craft-rescue-craft-mob-boats-designated-rescue-boats/57998 | This is an FRC of the type that you see on ERRVs and SOME OSVs:
This is a MOB-boat that you find on most ships, except those fitted with Lifeboats that is approved as MOB-boats.
Ridget type:
Inflatable type:
The “Economy size” MOB-boat:
ALL are SOLAS approved and require regular maintenance per SOLAS.
I don’t believe this is quite correct. AFAIK cargo ships are not required to carry MOB boats. They have two enclosed lifeboats and one is designated as the rescue boat.
Perhaps the ships with free-fall boats are required to have an extra boat.
Do the regs mention MOB boats?
This boat looks like it would be suitable for recovering a MOB
This is what a “designated rescue boat” looks like:
It’s a lifeboat - that’s been “designated” as a rescue boat.
You can tell it’s a designated rescue boat because it has the word “RESCUE” painted on it.
That is what I have been saying all along.
A Rescue boats (MOB-boat) is NOT a FAST RESCUE CRAFT (FRC) but a FRC CAN be used as Rescue boat (MOB-boat)
https://www.wartsila.com/encyclopedia/term/rescue-boat-man-over-board-(mob)-boat
FRCs are used on ERRVs and OSV used as Standby boats to rescue survivors from platforms, rigs and FPSOs etc. in an emergency.
They are also used to transport personnel to/from SOVs used on wind farms:
To operate FRCs require personnel trained and certified per STCW:
PS> Davit launched lifeboats MAY be dedicated as Rescue/MOB-boat subject to complying with SOLAS rules foe Rescue Crafts.
Free fall lifeboat cannot be so dedicated.
I think we can agree (you, me and Wartsila) that enclosed lifeboat are not very suitable as MOB-boat. (Post # 7)
That the visibility from the manoeuvre position is limited is quite obvious.
The limited maneuverability is also well known.
The small hatches on either side and the relatively high freeboard (when not fully loaded with people) is not very conducive to the ease of pulling people from the water.
How they can be approved as “Designated Rescue Crafts” is a good question.
SOLAS III, Reg 31 - Survival Craft and Rescue boats**
31.2 - Rescue Boats
Cargo ships shall carry at least one rescue boat complying with the requirements of section 5.1 of the Code. A lifeboat may be accepted as a rescue boat, provided that it and its launching and recovery arrangements also comply with the requirements for a rescue boat.
“MOB” Boats is not a SOLAS term and not an international term. Frankly, I have never heard it ever other than on gCaptain. Never at sea and never on shore.
I have not been able to find where an FRC is required by regulation over a rescue boat, any guidance from this crew on that would be appreciated I am always looking for opportunities to be smarter.
According to the LSA Code, the only difference between an FRC and a Rescue Boat is capabilities such as size, speed, maneuverability, etc.
Aside from on RO/Pax ships they are not required on ordinary Merchant ships
.
As said several times in this and the original thread; they are uses on ERRVs and some OSVs, as well as on SOVs. That is by nature of their tasks, not as a SOLAS requirement, but they would usually then double as Rescue/MOB-boat to meet that SOLAS requirement.
MOB-boat is a commonly used term all over the world. (But frequently confused with FRC),
Maybe not by American seafarers, sailing on US flag ship.(??) | ||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 98 | https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/rob-the-mob-2014 | en | Rob the Mob movie review & film summary (2014) | [
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"Sheila O'Malley"
] | null | Breezy, sleazy, and sometimes-intense, "Rob the Mob" depicts a very
specific sliver of time in New York history, a time overrun by crack,
graffiti, and omnipresent organized crime. | en | /assets/fav/apple-touch-icon-57x57-9e12b6d6d15bfb3e86f09c3fc7d58a6f8a2d808cb856df9c1ada23480cda1dae.png | https://www.rogerebert.com/ | https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/rob-the-mob-2014 | Tommy (Michael Pitt) and Rosie Uva (Nina Arianda) have recently emerged from short stints in prison for holding up a florist's shop. They are in love. Rosie has gotten a job at a debt collection agency, run by a smiling enthusiastic guy (Griffin Dunne) who likes to hire ex-cons (he himself did time for fraud). Rosie, a woman with an ingratiating supportive attitude and a big laugh which masks her intellectual shortcomings, convinces her boss to also hire Tommy. When money is tight one month, they decide on their reckless quick-cash crime spree. Rosie drives the get-away car and Tommy, wearing a ski-mask, does the stick-up, accidentally firing off the Uzi into the ceiling and back walls. The group of "wise guys" in the club empty their wallets, all while issuing threats of what they will do when they track him down. When Tommy and Rosie go home to their bleak cold-water flat, they laugh and commiserate over how easy it was.
"Rob the Mob" doesn't just stick with Tommy and Rosie. It looks at their crime spree from the perspective of the dogged Federal agent (Frank Whaley) searching for specific Intel on the structure and hierarchy of the New York crime families. We also meet a journalist named Jerry Cardozo (an excellent Ray Romano) who has been covering the Mob for 30 years, and writes a front page story about the mysterious criminal duo, naming them "Bonnie and Clyde". He is shocked when, one day, Rosie calls him at his desk to correct one of the facts in his story. We also get scenes of the paranoia within the Mob, brought on by the one-two punch of the Gotti trial and the sudden crime spree. The Mafia here is headed up by a reclusive boss with a mysterious past named "Big Al" (played by Andy Garcia, with a white Ernest Hemingway beard in a performance of coiled intensity.)
During one of their stick-ups, Tommy and Rosie steal the wallet of a guy named Joey D. (Burt Young). In the wallet is a folded piece of loose leaf paper, and on it is written what becomes known as "The List": a family tree of the Mob, its internal structure, its command set-up. Private home phone numbers are listed. As the Gotti trial goes on downtown, police and FBI work overtime trying to figure out who reported to whom in the organization, and, of course, there is no H.R. department. "The List" would represent the break they need. But Tommy and Rosie, whose bravery explodes into increasing delusional mania with each successful stick-up, decide to use "The List" as a bargaining chip with the Mob, and they start making threatening phone calls to everyone on it.
"Rob the Mob" romanticizes Tommy and Rosie, filming them in slo-mo dancing through raining dollar bills, and kissing in the rain on a deserted Coney Island boardwalk, but the couple lacks the iconic power of other famous crime-spree cinematic duos, including their namesake. The romantic treatment of some of their scenes and the sentimental soundtrack is all counter-acted by casting Pitt and Arianda, who inhabit their roles familiarly, grubbily, easily. Both actors portray characters who are clearly not smart, not even a little bit, but they do so without being patronizing about it. You don't get the sense that they, the actors, are "slumming". Tommy and Rosie have no self-awareness, and no powers of self-reflection. Tony award-winning Arianda, in particular, is fascinating to watch. She was fascinating to watch in her small part in "Midnight in Paris," where she droningly and happily repeated whatever her snobby husband said. Arianda's Rosie is filled with enthusiasm and support for those around her (watch, in particular, how she butters up her boss, cheering him on like they're at a pep rally), and despite her initial resistance to Tommy's plan, she finally embraces it wholeheartedly. She's not killing anyone. She's stealing from bad men. "What's the crime in that?" she asks Cardoza, grinning at him chummily over her slice of pizza. Arianda shows Rosie's shallow grasp of abstract concepts in a frozen smile and confused flicker in her eyes when confronted with something she doesn't understand. Cardoza says to her, "We got a saying in the newspaper world--" and she cuts him off, brightly, supportively, missing the entire point: "I love sayings! Slogans!"
The rest of the cast is populated by stalwart long-time New York actors, grounding the film in its location and era. Cathy Moriarty shows up in a heartbreaking cameo as Tommy's devastated mother, wrecked by a lifetime of disappointment and violence. Moriarty gives another unforgettable cameo performance in the upcoming "The Double". It's exciting to think of the direction her career is taking.
"Rob the Mob" is too cutesy a title for this dark grubby little tale. | ||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 36 | https://www.amazon.com/Mob-Armor-MobNetic-Maxx-Smartphone/dp/B08Y616KWX | en | Amazon.com | [
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5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 3 | https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mob_land | en | Rotten Tomatoes | https://resizing.flixster.com/u7_48eqTW6mDrq1IhAt4qtHFF-0=/206x305/v2/https://resizing.flixster.com/_yiEWBu6vQ78AECEU1m69apF18E=/ems.cHJkLWVtcy1hc3NldHMvbW92aWVzL2ZlODg1OGJmLTdiNDEtNGE0Ni05OTA2LTZjZDc2OGEzNDc4MC5qcGc= | https://resizing.flixster.com/u7_48eqTW6mDrq1IhAt4qtHFF-0=/206x305/v2/https://resizing.flixster.com/_yiEWBu6vQ78AECEU1m69apF18E=/ems.cHJkLWVtcy1hc3NldHMvbW92aWVzL2ZlODg1OGJmLTdiNDEtNGE0Ni05OTA2LTZjZDc2OGEzNDc4MC5qcGc= | [
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] | null | [] | 2023-08-04T00:00:00 | Deep in the heart of Dixie, in a small town struggling with the ravages of addiction, a local sheriff (John Travolta) tries to maintain the peace when desperate family man Shelby (Shiloh Fernandez) robs a pill mill with his reckless brother-in-law, Trey (Kevin Dillon). But the supposedly easy score takes a violent turn, alerting the New Orleans mafia's revenge-seeking enforcer (Stephen Dorff), who threatens Shelby's wife (Ashley Benson) and daughter. With its unpredictable twists and turns, Mob Land is a heart-pounding, action thriller. | en | https://www.rottentomatoes.com/assets/pizza-pie/images/favicon.ico | Rotten Tomatoes | https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mob_land | Let's keep in touch!
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5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 21 | https://www.yachtingmonthly.com/sailing-skills/stay-deck-avoid-mob-51411 | en | How to stay on deck and avoid MOB | [
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"Chris Beeson"
] | 2016-09-09T10:00:47+01:00 | Even clipped on, you can still go over the side. Chris Beeson finds out how a few simple changes can help us to move safely on deck | en | Yachting Monthly | https://www.yachtingmonthly.com/sailing-skills/stay-deck-avoid-mob-51411 | I was sailing aboard Freelance, a Swan 43, in the 1989 Fastnet Race. We were heading north-west across the Irish Sea at night with a reef in the mainsail and the No2 jib when the wind picked up and the skipper called a sail change. Three of us went onto the foredeck, clipped on to the weather jackstay, hoisted the No3 and clawed down the No2. My feet were braced against the leeward toerail and I had an armful of sail when a wave swept the foredeck. When it cleared I found myself half overboard. There was still slack in my tether. The only thing that stopped me from being swept off deck was the stanchion between my legs.
A sail change in a lumpy sea, at night on a wet deck is clearly not without risk, but my behaviour wasn’t cavalier or gung-ho. I’d taken all the appropriate safety measures and yet it was nothing more than a stroke of luck, albeit a fairly painful one, that kept me on deck and possibly saved my life.
The incident came back to me when we reported on the death of Christopher Reddish, skipper of the 38ft racing yacht Lion. The circumstances were similar, but he wasn’t as lucky. Although clipped on to the weather jackstay, he slid unnoticed under the lower lifeline, and was towed alongside at the end of his tether, where he drowned.
The question we have to ask ourselves is this: is going overboard is just one of those ever-present risks involved in sailing, or could we do things differently to improve our chances, not just of staying attached to the boat, but of staying safely on deck?
Fortunately, most modern cruising yachts are set up to reduce greatly the reasons to go forward under way, but some of us still reef and adjust the main outhaul from the mast, the trysail or storm jib may need rigging if you get caught out, an anchor retaining pin may fall out, or a furling line could jam. Whatever the reason, we need to be able to get forward and work safely.
In an attempt to find some answers, we looked at the deck of a 32ft cruiser, Graham Snook’s Sadler 32 Pixie, and tried to think of how we could make it safer to move around on. We consulted with safety experts James Hall and Ash Holmes from Spinlock and looked for ways to minimise the risk to crew working on deck. Here we share our findings for this particular boat. It’s quite possible that these won’t translate directly to the deck of your boat but the principles underlying each of the changes and suggestions can be interpreted in a way that does.
It’s important to realise that, while safety equipment is regulated by ISO12401, safety itself is not. For example, the ISO standard specifies that a tether must be 2m (6ft 6in) or less. In fact – and as we will show – that is dangerously long for the boats that most of us sail and will not keep you on board. The reality is that the safety of boat and crew is entirely the skipper’s affair. It involves assessing the risk presented by the prevailing and forecast conditions, specifically the ability of boat, skipper and crew to handle them, and acting to reduce that risk, whatever that may entail. It means rejecting conventions and using inventions that you feel ensure safety. Some measures may present other risks, and it’s up to you to judge whether the reduction of one greater risk justifies the increase of a lesser one. You’ve much to think about.
Drowning at the end of a tether
The Reflex 38 Lion was taking part in a race from Cowes to Cherbourg in 2011. Force 7-9 winds and 3-3.5m seas were forecast. After a sail change, skipper Christopher Reddish was on the foredeck to free a changed foresail snagged on a cleat, before taking it aft.
He was clipped onto the windward jackstay on a 1.8m (5ft 11in) tether. Moments later a lifejacket’s strobe light flashed through the foot of the jib and the alarm was raised. He was recovered 16 minutes later but no signs of life were found.
The MAIB report found that recovery was hampered by the conditions, by the fact that no second-in-command had been named, hindering communications, because some crew had missed the man overboard (MOB) drill six weeks earlier, and because recovery of a tethered MOB was not routinely covered by RYA training courses.
What is wrong with the current set-up?
Put simply, the problem is that people wearing harnesses with tethers clipped onto jackstays are still going overboard. As I found in the Irish Sea, you can do everything right, take all the standard precautions, and still end up over the side. The standard precautions aren’t up to the job.
If a tether is to work properly, it needs to pull taut while you are still inside the lifelines to prevent you falling over the side. If it doesn’t do that, one could argue, in the light of MAIB’s Lion report, that you’re safer arming your lifejacket with an AIS beacon and not using a tether at all – at least you could argue that, if getting a crew member back on board was not so unbelievably difficult, even in benign conditions. A PLB will attract rescue services but the situation simply should not be getting to that stage.
Another problem is that jackstays are rigged too far outboard. If you take one thing and one thing only from this article, let it be this: rigged along the sidedecks, as they are on most cruisers, jackstays aren’t safe. They are too close to the lifelines and that means you can be pitched overboard. The weather may be bad, it may be dark, the boat may take an unexpected lurch on a lumpy sea, and you’re over the side, be it windward or leeward. That’s all it takes.
Another drawback of the jackstay as we know it is that there is nothing holding you in place. If you are working at the mast, say, using both hands to put in a reef, and a wave crashes over the windward side, you could have your feet swept from under you and find yourself washed down the deck and out of the scuppers. The Volvo Ocean Race boats suffered a similar problem, in that crew could be washed down the deck and smashed into deck gear. Indeed several injuries were inflicted in this way.
Lateral thinking
Their solution was to sew loops onto the jackstay at the point where crew would be working. They emerge clipped on, head to their station, then clip onto the loop. If a wave swept the deck, they would be pulled up within the length of their tether rather than the length of the jackstay.
One final point, obvious but often overlooked, is grip. Many MOBs result from lost footing. You need to make sure that, when you plant your feet on the deck, they stay put while you work. The deck will be wet, it will be lurching but, as long as you don’t slip, you stand a decent chance of keeping your balance and staying on deck.
What’s the best way to rig jackstays?
We have looked at rigging jackstays in many previous articles. Terminals must be proper strongpoints, through-bolted with backing plates, deck cleats or shackles of a decent size on the toerail. The jackstay is only as strong as the fastening.
Dyneema is OK but make sure it’s at least 5mm (breaking strain 1.9 tonnes), bearing in mind that a webbing tether has a safe working load of at least two tonnes. Either buy or make Dyneema soft shackles, or use several loops and plenty of half hitches to secure the tether to the strong point. Don’t forget that, when you leave your boat, webbing jackstays need to be stowed below, out of the sun. This may lead you to conclude that, unless you have soft shackles, Dyneema is possibly not the most convenient fastening.
Clearly the conventional method of rigging jackstays is less than ideal. We sat down to think about a safer way of rigging jackstays. First we looked at the ‘perfect’ jackstay:
You must be able to clip onto the jackstay from the cockpit
The jackstay must run as close to the centreline as possible
It must run the whole length of the deck
It must be as tight as possible
The safest orientation we found was one that can be used on yachts with mainsheet arches towards the back of the cockpit. The jackstay would run from the centre of the arch forward to the mast base, with a second jackstay running along the centerline to the bow. Legend Yachts aside, we couldn’t think of any other suitable marque. Some brands, like Malö and more recent Bénéteau Oceanis models, have arches but they are forward in the cockpit. Others, like Ovni and Allures, have arches well aft, but the jackstay would foul the coachroof mainsheeting.
Then we came up with a variety of alternative configurations, all of which boiled down to a Y-shape. The aft terminals are outside the cockpit and run forward, over the running rigging, to a strongpoint at the mast, or cow-hitched around it. This allows crew to move along the side deck using a shorter tether, which will pull up before you’re outside the lifelines.
On the foredeck, another jackstay runs along the centreline from the mast to a strongpoint forward. We have seen an orientation that uses a single jackstay, running forward to the mast then back aft down the other side. The foredeck jackstay is cow-hitched onto it and both are tightened using a Dyneema purchase at the bow. I would prefer three separate jackstays, port aft, starboard aft and foredeck, as this will limit stretch, but you need a good spread of strongpoints.
The foredeck configuration will obviously foul the forehatch emergency exit. Whether this is a risk worth taking is up to you. The foredeck jackstay should have enough slack or elevation to enable a knife-wielding
hand to emerge.
Take time to fine-tune your setup
One idea is the static tether: a length of Dyneema cow-hitched to a deck strongpoint, with a quick release snap shackle cow-hitched at the other end. These are long enough to enable you to work while standing, and brace your feet against the deck, but keep you inside the lifelines. Think about where you spent most time working on deck and rig your static tethers there.
While transferring between jackstays at the mast, the static tether, clipped on before you unclip your own tether, makes sure that you stay put. A three- clip tether can also do this job, clipped to both jackstays, forward and aft, but we liked the simplicity and security of the static tether.
Graham Snook adapted the idea and spliced a loop of Dyneema around the mast with a quick release snap shackle cow-hitched on. This allows him to use one strop to work on both sides of the mast. However, Pixie’s halyards exit at the mast base. If there were exits higher up, the Dyneema loop would need to be rigged outside the mast’s running rigging to enable you to move around the mast.
Safety on the foredeck
The foredeck narrows toward the bow, bringing you closer and closer to the toerail as you move forward. Even with the shortest safety line, like a 1m (3ft) tether doubled to keep you within 0.5m (18in) of the jackstay, you could still end up over the side while working at the bow.
YM reader Tony Hughes suggested clipping to a vertical line, like a spinnaker halyard or pole uphaul, instead of jackstays. A fall arrester or a Prusik knot clipped onto your harness is used to slide up and down the vertical line to ensure you’re securely attached at the same level above deck as you move forward. If crew went over the side, a line is already attached and they can be winched back aboard. I had instant visions of being towed through the sea with the boat heeled well over but we decided to try it out anyway.
In early discussions with James and Ash from Spinlock, it was pointed out that, unless the Prusik knot is regularly moved down as you move forward, the vertical line may support your weight on the foredeck, reducing your grip on deck. The boat may lurch and you could lose your footing and swing outside the lifelines.
In practice, I found it worked very well, but only when combined with a tether attached to the centreline jackstay. This has all the benefits of the vertical line but keeps you inside the lifelines. Spinlock’s Ash Holmes, a former sailing instructor, reminded us of the convention that you should never secure yourself to the mast as, in the event of a dismasting, you could find yourself in all sorts of trouble. It’s up to you to decide whether this risk is acceptable.
Are there other ways we can help ourselves stay on board?
I met Steve White in Les Sables d’Olonne before the start of the 2008-09 Vendee Globe. As he talked me through his IMOCA 60 Toe in the Water, he mentioned a comment by a French colleague: ‘He scuffed his boots along the deck and said “Zis deck, it will kill you!”’ Happily it didn’t, as Steve addressed the issue, but it does illustrate how crucial good grip is. If you’re not prepared to repaint the deck, consider grip strips in crucial places where you would expect to spend time working with both hands.
The same goes for footwear. However attached you are to that manky pair of deck shoes or sea boots, have a good look at the sole and decide if you would trust it with your life. Think outside the box. When he was teaching, Ash from Spinlock wore tennis shoes.
Handholds and footholds are also very important, particularly when entering and leaving the cockpit. A bar around the sprayhood is very useful, likewise grip strips on the coaming. Modern boats seem to be clearing the sidedecks, which looks clean but does cut down available footholds. They’re also moulding hull-deck joints rather than bolting through a toerail, which isn’t good for bracing against.
Another feature fast fading into memory is netting on the foredeck lifelines. Cruisers will rarely have a changed sail bungeed to the foredeck these days but netting does provide security if you were to get sluiced to leeward by a wave while working on deck. Christopher Reddish may have received little more than a dousing and a salty story to recount had Lion been fitted with stout Dyneema netting on the foredeck lifelines instead of the bungee twine that served only to keep sails on deck.
I sailed aboard the Prima 38 Mostly Harmless in the 2006 non-stop Round Britain and Ireland Race. We got round in 13½ days, of which, bizarrely, 12 were upwind. On the stand-by watch, we were usually clipped on at the weather rail. Whether it was fatigue, dehydration, cold or gloves, I often found it frustratingly difficult to open my tether clip, and when I did the little hook on the inside of the clip would snag the tether. Spinlock’s James brought along a larger clip sourced from a mountaineering outlet that uses palm pressure to open the lock, has no hook to snag the tether, and a wider gate. This would be easier to use if you decided to have your own tether made up.
Finally you need a last line of defence: a knife. You may need to cut your tether if somehow you did end up overboard and faced drowning, or to cut your static tether at the helm if the boat inverted. If you were using the vertical line method on the foredeck, you would need to cut yourself free from the pole uphaul if the boat was dismasted.
Fit padeyes in critical places
You need padeye strongpoints just outside the companionway so you can clip on while below, at the wheel or tiller so you can stay on board in a knockdown, and at the mast to secure jackstays and static tethers. They’re not easy to fit on cored decks so consider calling in a pro to ensure absolute security.
Other behaviours that help you stay safely on board
As skipper, you should think hard about safety when jackstays, harnesses and tethers are required. Are there enough cockpit strongpoints? Are they in the right place? If you were knocked down, is your tether too long to keep you in the cockpit? Would a short static tether serve that purpose better?
Think hard too about any situation that requires you or your crew to leave the cockpit in rough weather. Can you clip onto the jackstay while still in the cockpit? Are there handholds to help you out of the cockpit, and move forward, safely? Would grip strips help your crew work securely at the mast? What tools do you need, so that you can make sure the trip forward isn’t complicated by a trip back to pick up a head torch or a forgotten tool, or sending someone else forward with the missing kit?
One more thing: if it’s rough, chaps, don’t dangle off the backstay or head for the leeward shrouds to have a pee. Either go below, which involves a fairly tedious amount of undressing, bucket and chuck it, or pee in the cockpit drains.
Deputy skipper
We can’t get away from the fact that people will go over the side so it’s worth briefly addressing the worst-case scenario here. The truth is that very few of us will practice our MOB drill this summer, never mind with a real person in the water, regardless of how important we know it to be. That means we don’t know how difficult it is first to locate, then to recover an MOB. Perhaps if we did we might take it more seriously.
It took Lion’s crew of seven experienced racers 16 minutes to get Christopher Reddish back on board. The MAIB report concluded that the recovery was complicated, among other things, by the fact that not everyone was familiar with the MOB retrieval drill. Nor did they know that their chosen retrieval method wouldn’t be able to lift the skipper high enough to get him over the top lifeline. The final contributory factor was that there was no co-skipper appointed, so communication became confused and things took longer than they should.
You can spend as long as you like thinking through scenarios, devising solutions and finessing ideas, but what happens if you go over the side, leaving just your panicking crew on deck, or knock yourself out leaving your crew to fumble their way through a Mayday while sailing the boat and administering first aid?
Whatever may happen, you need a shared plan. It’s essential that you and your co-skipper both know and understand the plan, and have rehearsed it, because it’s highly unlikely that your plan works. It will need improvement, and you won’t know where to make those improvements until you put the plan into action. When it works perfectly, that gives you both vital confidence in the plan.
Graham Snook: ‘I’m convinced it helps’
‘After seeing it was possible for me or my crew to fall over the side using the short tether on my existing jackstays, I thought it was time to act.
The distance from my existing jack stay attachment point to forward of my babystay and back to the cockpit was 6m in total. I bought a length of Dyneema, allowing 0.5m for a splice in each end, and an extra 2m of line to make soft-shackles.
Ideally I would have liked to buy 6mm Dyneema, but even 5mm has a breaking strain of over 1.8 tonnes. It cost £14.25 from YouBoat in Gosport and I spent 30 minutes making the shackles and adding locking splices in the end of the jackstays. So for £15 and 30 minutes in sunshine at anchor, I’ve made my boat safer.’ | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 16 | https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/12/04/napoleon-movie-review-monster | en | Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon” Cannot Quite Vanquish Its Subject | [
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] | 2023-12-04T00:00:00 | Anthony Lane reviews Ridley Scott’s bio-pic “Napoleon,” starring Joaquin Phoenix, and “Monster,” Hirokazu Kore-eda’s film of schoolboy angst. | en | https://www.newyorker.com/verso/static/the-new-yorker/assets/favicon.ico | The New Yorker | https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/12/04/napoleon-movie-review-monster | The new movie from Ridley Scott, “Napoleon,” with Joaquin Phoenix in the title role, runs for two hours and thirty-eight minutes. That’s almost as long as Napoleon’s coronation, at Notre-Dame de Paris, in 1804. The ceremony began at midday and lasted at least three hours. The congregation snacked on chocolate, sausages, and bread: the popcorn of the revolutionary age.
In “Napoleon,” we attend the coronation, but only for a while. Scott is in a hurry to move on to the next event. As in any account of Napoleon’s life, there is an underlying comedy in the very attempt to squash an unruly mob of incidents into a tight dramatic space. “Would you like to see the bedroom?” Napoleon says to his second wife, Marie-Louise (Anna Mawn), and bang: a baby, brought in swaddling clothes for him to dandle. That was quick. At the destructive end of existence, Scott is no less economical. There may be battle scenes to die for—Toulon, Austerlitz, Borodino, and Waterloo, plus a dusty glimpse of combat beside the Pyramids—but entire campaigns, elsewhere, are elided or brushed off in a line of dialogue. “I have already conquered Italy, which surrendered without conflict,” Napoleon declares. Tell that to the folk of Binasco, in Lombardy, who rose up against the French, in 1796, and were punished for their temerity. “Having killed a hundred people, we burned down the village, a terrible but efficacious example,” Napoleon wrote.
“Terror” is the first word that is clearly enunciated in the movie. It issues, needless to say, from the mad mouth of Robespierre (Sam Troughton), who expounds upon the rationale of violence and winds up shooting himself in the face. We see a finger probing the wound; in a similar vein, we see Napoleon plucking a cannonball from the lacerated breast of his dead horse. This film is intimate with gore. At the start, we are granted so prime a position, bladeside at the guillotine, for the execution of Marie Antoinette (Catherine Walker) that we can spot the scraps of lettuce in her hair; she has been pelted with vegetables by the crowd. Napoleon is there—watchful, unmoved, taking the temperature of collective rage. Then, during the storming of an enemy fort in Toulon, by night, there’s an extraordinary closeup of his features, striped with blood; he puts his hands over his ears to muffle the boom of the cannons. Is he at home in the mayhem, ecstatically calm, or horrified at all that he has unleashed?
What Phoenix summons, in other words, is the most inward of Napoleons. Even when he’s in company, or surveying the deployment of his troops, or blustering with outrage, you feel that he’s prowling the battlements of his own brain. It could be argued, of course, that brooding goes with the territory. Think of Charles Boyer’s Napoleon, in “Conquest” (1937), on a snowbound balcony, saying “I love you,” sotto voce, to Marie Walewska, his Polish paramour, without even looking in her direction—quite a feat, considering that she’s played by Greta Garbo. (Poor Walewska doesn’t even rate a mention in the new film.) But Boyer gave a late-Romantic reading of Napoleon, whereas Phoenix, evading doominess and charm alike, suggests a man who is naggingly conscious of fulfilling a role and already arranging his place in history. “Do I resemble my portrait?” he asks Marie-Louise. Entering a church, in a deserted Moscow, he takes his seat, enthroned at the high altar, as if striking a pose for a painter. If he notices the pigeon droppings all around, he ignores them.
Such a pitch of self-consciousness goes far deeper than vanity. It’s as if Napoleon were forever trying out what manner of person he should and could potentially be. Hence the ardor of his acolytes, confronted with a new model of behavior, who crown him with plaudits such as “our Caesar.” Nor is he alone in his ambition. His first wife, Josephine (Vanessa Kirby), observes it in him, shares it, and toys with the power that it bestows. “I want you to say I am the most important thing in the world,” he tells her, commandingly, yet she—a widow, not a warrior—is somehow his superior in worldliness. The question that she puts to her maid, after her first exchange with him, could hardly be more Napoleonic: “Do I look like I’m in love?” Kirby feasts on the delicious ennui of her character; even in the throes of their coupling, she seems infinitely bored, as if wondering what she’s going to have for lunch. Much later, when Napoleon calls her a pig and a beast, she returns the fusillade. “You are just a brute who is nothing without me,” she says. At the dissolution of their marriage, she stifles a laugh, and then weeps.
So, is “Napoleon” dynamite? Not if you’re a historian. Napoleonic scholars, of whom there are touchy battalions, will be up in arms from the outset, noting that Marie Antoinette’s hair was shorn before her decapitation, and that Napoleon, rather than witnessing her death, was in the South of France. Do not make the mistake, though, of assuming either that Scott is blind to such discrepancies or that he cares a jot. No film that presents Rupert Everett as the Duke of Wellington, as this one does, could be accused of a craving for authenticity. Scott’s business is to move his men and women around the board, as it were, and to play a bracing game with the facts. Few directors can rival the swagger with which he cuts from the grand overview to the telling, tiny detail: from the squares formed by British infantry at Waterloo, for instance, to the neat hole made by a musket ball in the corner of Napoleon’s hat.
If the movie falters, it’s because, as a bio-pic, it cannot do otherwise. Even the most expert of storytellers is defeated by the essential plotlessness of the form: one damn thing after another. For all its galvanizing set pieces, “Napoleon” boasts neither the shape nor the dash of “The Duellists” (1977)—Scott’s début feature, a tale of revenge set in the Napoleonic era—and little of the momentum that drove “Gladiator” (2000), his previous collaboration with Phoenix. The imaginative zeal of that film was liberated by its fictional hero, Maximus, and by his feud with the imperial villain, Commodus, whereas Phoenix’s Napoleon must do double duty. He is Maximus and Commodus, rolled into one, and it’s a treacherous theme for an epic: a man doing battle with himself.
How thrilling it was to learn that the latest film from Hirokazu Kore-eda, the director of such tender family dramas as “I Wish” (2011) and “Shoplifters” (2018), is titled “Monster.” Finally, a change of tack. Do we get to see scores of families being tenderly stomped on by Godzilla? Regrettably not. Yet there is a rumble of the apocalyptic in “Monster.” It kicks off with a towering inferno. A typhoon is next, then a mudslide. One person jumps from a moving car. Another stands on the brink of a roof. A third flails around on a road, the worse for drink, drowning his sorrows in the rain.
Sakura Ando, the star of “Shoplifters,” returns here as a young widow, Saori, who lives with her only child, a fifth grader named Minato (Soya Kurokawa). He seems to be a worried soul, but what those worries are is far from clear. It’s alleged that he was struck, in the classroom, by a teacher, Mr. Hori (Eita Nagayama), and Saori, who is no pushover, goes to school to complain. The principal, Mrs. Fushimi (Yûko Tanaka), is oddly indifferent. No fewer than five members of the staff rise and bow to Saori, in contrition, but notice how the moment is framed: she is hemmed in by the apologizers as if trapped in a crowd. Although Kore-eda has a reputation for aplomb—for exploring rather than ruffling social custom—I sense real subversion in that shot. Etiquette becomes a threat.
After three-quarters of an hour or so, the screen goes black. When the story resumes, we discover that we’re back at the start, the difference being that the action now revolves around Mr. Hori. We don’t see things exclusively from his viewpoint—this is no “Rashomon” (1950)—but the center of narrative gravity has shifted, for sure. The same thing occurs in the third movement of “Monster,” most of which is occupied by the friendship, hitherto merely glimpsed, between Minato and a boy in his class, Yori (Hinata Hiiragi), who is bullied both at home and at school but who, heaven knows how, preserves a sunny resilience. You expect the movie to darken, and yet, as if under Yori’s influence, it is lit by shafts of happiness. The two lads find an abandoned train car, in the woods, and make it their refuge. Any port in a storm.
If possible, watch “Monster” more than once. Not that it’s a puzzle that begs to be solved. What Kore-eda doles out are not revelatory surprises so much as gradual enlightenments, and our attitude toward the characters is forbidden to settle or to stick. Mrs. Fushimi, for example, has recently lost a grandson, in awful circumstances, so she isn’t being frosty or mean; she’s just shell-shocked, and one beautiful closeup of her, in the third part of the film, invites us to have pity on this woman from whom we initially flinched. As for the title, to whom does it refer? There are various candidates, but I side with the teacher who kvetches about the parents. “They’re more trouble than their kids, these days,” he says. “They’re monsters.” ♦ | ||||
5256 | dbpedia | 1 | 1 | https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043812/ | en | Die Spur führt zum Hafen (1951) | [
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] | null | [] | 1952-11-20T00:00:00 | Die Spur führt zum Hafen: Directed by Robert Parrish. With Broderick Crawford, Betty Buehler, Richard Kiley, Otto Hulett. Johnny Damico botches a murder case and is suspended from the force. In reality, he is put undercover to identify the mysterious boss of the NY waterfront who has murdered everyone in his way. Will Johnny be next in line? | en | IMDb | https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043812/ | Consistent with its simplistic title, "The Mob" is a straightforward cops vs. mob story starring the reliably tough Broderick Crawford. He goes undercover among the longshoremen after being 'suspended' from his police-detective job. He's trying to find the big cheese controlling extortion and payoffs on the docks, and meets up with several shady (or actually criminal) characters along the way. Crawford is his usual no-nonsense self, working his way into the scene with an abrasive coating over a good-cop personality. Neville Brand and Ernest Borgnine have a few scenes as mobsters, and Crawford's dockside pal is played by Richard Kiley. The only confusing part for me was that the TCM description stated that Crawford's character goes "from California to New Orleans" to discover the mob crime, but as far as I can tell, he leaves "town" (wherever that is) briefly, then returns by ship in his undercover mode to the place where he started. Overall, a good-quality crime-fighter movie, worth watching on Saturday night for a B/W movie fan. | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 20 | https://www.wmagazine.com/story/irishman-runtime-martin-scorsese | en | The Irishman’s 3.5 Hour Runtime Is Really Testing Twitter’s Patience | [
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] | 2019-08-28T15:05:08+00:00 | 'The Irishman' has people flustered about prioritizing our short attention spans over consuming art. | en | /favicon.ico | W Magazine | https://www.wmagazine.com/story/irishman-runtime-martin-scorsese | There is a saying about the nature of a movie’s runtime: “The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.” It’s a quote that is often attributed to Alfred Hitchcock, but it appears that another one of the great American filmmakers, Martin Scorsese, is basically telling you to hold it with his newest film, The Irishman.
The Irishman is a biographical mob movie about labor union official Frank Sheeran’s deal with the Bufalino crime family to allegedly smoke out Jimmy Hoffa stars some heavy hitters, many of whom are the usual Scorsese subjects: Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, and Joe Pesci, to name a few. It also marks the first time Al Pacino has appeared in a Scorsese film. You’d think that the film’s star power (or at least De Niro’s “de-aged” face) would be the talk of the first official screening, which occurs at 3 P.M. on the opening day of the New York Film Festival, but the real hullabaloo concerning The Irishman has to do with its runtime.
The Irishman will clock in at 210 minutes, or three and a half hours, making it Scorsese’s longest film to date (and one of Netflix‘s longest, too). For comparison against some of the director’s previous films, Wolf of Wall Street was only three hours long, Casino was just two minutes shy of a three hour runtime, and Goodfellas was 147 minutes, or nearly two and a half hours. For comparison against some of the longest films in Hollywood history, the 1963 Elizabeth Taylor version of Cleopatra is 248 minutes (over four hours), Lawrence Of Arabia is 222 minutes, Gone With The Wind clocks in at 221 minutes, and The Ten Commandments is a cool 220 minutes.
If you thought the online reaction to Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood‘s 161 minute runtime was too much, just wait until you see what everyone is saying about The Irishman on Film Twitter, where people seem to be divided. Some have glibly remarked about how hungry they will get during the screening. Others are elated to get as much Scorsese as possible as the director enters his “late period.”
But how is watching a three and a half hour long Scorsese film such a task for anyone who has ever binged an entire season (or even just a few episodes) of any television series? Well, The Irishman, like a handful of “prestige” film’s on Netflix’s fall slate will be given a limited release in theaters first (November 1) before you can stream it (November 27, just in time for Thanksgiving). Some people take issue with the fact that not only do you have to sit through 210 minutes of this movie, you also have to do it in a theater. Like, with other beings that aren’t your roommate or your partner or your pet.
The general population’s wish to prioritize comfort and ever-shortening attention spans over seeing a long movie by one of Hollywood’s most beloved directors is not surprising in the least. But you think three and a half hours in a dark movie theater with strangers you’ve never met is bad? Try sitting through a film studies screening in a university auditorium where they don’t even let you bring in snacks (you have to smuggle them in like you were a member of the mob yourself). | ||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 83 | https://www.instagram.com/mob/reel/C-Uxjm7oe62/ | en | Instagram | [] | [] | [] | [
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5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 17 | https://prairieecologist.com/2011/11/28/a-skeptical-look-at-mob-grazing/ | en | A Skeptical Look at Mob Grazing | [
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] | 2011-11-28T00:00:00 | Mob grazing is attracting a lot of attention lately, especially among people who are fans of other intensive rotational grazing systems. Usually, mob grazing is an extreme form of rotational grazing, in which high numbers of cattle are grazed in very small areas - for very short periods of time. Often, cattle are given a new area to graze… | en | https://secure.gravatar.com/blavatar/f2c106feb56449d4b4470efe9574e1bdf6f4f988fb9e00ffbf51fda2680a5315?s=32 | The Prairie Ecologist | https://prairieecologist.com/2011/11/28/a-skeptical-look-at-mob-grazing/ | Mob grazing is attracting a lot of attention lately, especially among people who are fans of other intensive rotational grazing systems. Usually, mob grazing is an extreme form of rotational grazing, in which high numbers of cattle are grazed in very small areas – for very short periods of time. Often, cattle are given a new area to graze daily (or more frequently) and formerly grazed areas are allowed to rest for several months or more before being grazed again. The intensity of grazing in individual paddocks varies by the rancher or grazier running the system. In some cases, that intensity can be very high. Proponents list off multiple benefits to the land from mob grazing, including increased soil organic matter, weed control, and “grass health”.
My purpose for this post is not to make any kind of final judgement on mob grazing, but to point out a few things that concern me from a prairie conservation perspective – and perhaps slow down the mob grazing bandwagon just a bit. Those of you who have followed my blog for any length of time are aware that I’m generally a fan of using grazing as a tool for prairie management. There is abundant data showing benefits of grazing to wildlife habitat and plant species diversity, both on my own sites and others. I don’t advocate grazing for all prairies, but I do think prairie managers should look at grazing with an open mind, and consider how it might help them achieve specific objectives.
In the case of mob grazing, however, I’m very concerned about what I’ve seen in my (limited) personal experience, and even more concerned that I’ve been unable to find ANY published research on the topic. I think there are good reasons to cautious before buying into anything supported only by testimonials, so I’m nervous about how strongly mob grazing is being promoted. To be clear, I’m approaching this from a prairie conservation perspective, not a graziers perspective, so my thoughts should be taken in that context.
Impacts on Soil Organic Matter
Returning to the purported benefits of mob grazing, let’s look at soil organic matter first. While there are various explanations of how mob grazing affects organic matter in the soil, the general idea seems to be that mob grazing cattle eat about 60 percent of the standing vegetation and stomp the remaining 40 percent into the soil. Thus, soil organic matter increases and becomes more productive. This has never jived with my understanding of soil organic matter (soil carbon) production, so I checked with four prominent scientists around the country who study soil nutrient cycling, including soil carbon. When I asked them if the claims from mob grazing advocates made sense, their response was unanimous and strikingly blunt. To quote one of them, “That’s totally bogus”.
In reality, soil organic matter is formed mainly by belowground processes, including root decomposition, root exudates, and mycorrhizal carbon inputs. In prairies, a substantial percentage of plant roots are abandoned to decompose each year and replaced with new roots. Those old roots provide organic matter in abundance, and more importantly, that organic matter becomes a stable part of the soil profile – and is added to and enhanced by the other two processes listed above. My panel of experts said that stomping vegetation into the soil might provide a slight and temporary increase in organic matter near the soil surface, but that it would be unstable and wouldn’t last long. It’s the stable supply of organic matter deeper in the soil profile that actually drives plant productivity, and that supply comes from plant roots themselves. In fact, the experts suggested that the kind of vegetation stomping I asked them about was likely to have fairly negative consequences. They thought that soil compaction and disruption of soil structure as a result from heavy trampling would probably decrease -not increase – plant productivity. None of this means soil organic matter can’t increase under mob grazing, but any increase would be due to the same belowground processes listed above.
As an aside, I’ve heard some rotational grazing proponents talk about why fire is a bad thing in grasslands because it burns up vegetation that would otherwise be incorporated into the soil – thus, fire decreases organic matter in soil. This is clearly not the case, and has been thoroughly dismissed by multiple researchers who have shown stable or increasing levels of soil carbon under frequent fire.
Impacts on Weeds
A second purported benefit of mob grazing is weed control. First, of course, we need to define what a “weed” is. As has been discussed in this blog before, it’s a very subjective term. Generally, there are two categories of plants that people consider to be weeds; opportunistic plants that take advantage of weakened dominant plants (e.g. ragweeds, annual grasses, and other short-lived rapidly-reproducing plants), and truly invasive species that are non-native to a particular ecosystem and become dominant to the expense of other species. Let’s look at each of those two in the context of mob grazing.
If opportunistic plants are the weeds of concern, it seems unlikely that mob grazing would help suppress them. Mob grazing proponents say that the high grazing intensity makes cattle eat – or stomp – all plants in the paddock, thus removing the weeds that cattle wouldn’t normally eat. Unfortunately, while that might be true in the short-term, it’s the recovery from that grazing that’s more important. Opportunistic plants are successful because they can recover from intense disturbances faster than others. Big strong grasses are the biggest competitors to those “weeds”, and those grasses are greatly weakened by severe defoliation. Until those grasses and other major perennials recover their dominance of the plant community again, opportunistic plants run rampant. If the time until the next grazing bout allows those grasses to fully recover their vigor, those opportunistic plants will eventually fade – but only until the next grazing bout. In other words pulses of intensive grazing will result in flushes in opportunistic plant abundance as well. I would argue that most opportunistic plant species are non-threatening in any regard, but if suppressing them is an objective, the smart strategy is to strengthen the surrounding plant community.
.
It is possible to reduce the abundance of opportunistic plants in pasture through periodic moderate grazing. Mob grazing that moves animals through paddocks quickly enough that the lower leaves of grasses are left ungrazed, could actually stimulate the matrix of grass to thicken, due to increased growth of rhizomes and tillers (stems). Higher density of grass that chokes out other plants might be seen as beneficial from a grazing standpoint if grass is the only thing the grazier wants – especially in tame grass pastures. However, from a plant diversity and wildlife habitat standpoint in native praireis (the perspective I’m coming from) it’s certainly not a good thing.
In the case of truly invasive plant species, the story is a little more complicated because every invasive species has its own unique strategy for becoming dominant. In most cases, the invasive plant has been released from pests and pathogens that suppressed it in its native habitat, and the plant species in the community being invaded have not had time to develop strategies to combat it. In some cases, concentrating cattle grazing into a relatively small area can lead to the defoliation of an invasive species that would otherwise avoid being grazed. If that ability to remain ungrazed while surrounding plants are weakened by grazing is the primary way that invasive plant gains dominance, that defoliation could reduce its spread. However, in most cases, the story is much more complicated, and invasive plants use a more diverse mixture of advantages and strategies to force their way into plant communities. Weakening the surrounding plant community through something like mob grazing is likely to increase the spread of invasive plants rather than decrease it. I would use extreme caution when testing mob grazing as a tool for controlling invasive plants.
Impacts on “Grass Health”
When I first heard the claim that mob grazing increases grass health, my initial response was, “I didn’t know the grass was sick!” It’s hard to glean from the various claims what the specific benefits to grass health are, or how that health is defined. I also have a hard time understanding why mob grazing would provide any benefits to grass plants that other kinds of grazing systems don’t – as long as those other grazing systems include a mixture of grazing and rest periods. As with all other plants, I think its important that grasses are allowed to flower and produce seed periodically, and mob grazing may do that (depending upon the length of the recovery period) – but many other grazing systems do the same, without some of the potential risks I see from mob grazing. In some cases, I think grass health refers mostly to soil organic matter, which I addressed earlier. Until I hear more specifics about how mob grazing affects grass health, I can’t really respond more.
Other Benefits – Livestock and Wildlife
I’m not sure how this system can be good for livestock performance – especially when paddocks are grazed very intensively. Forcing a cow to eat plants it wouldn’t normally eat seems to override the cow’s effective inherent ability to optimize its own diet. Why would it benefit a cow to eat plants – or plant parts – that are not the best available choices within a larger pasture? I have the same concern with some other rotational systems, but this takes it to an extreme. In order to gain weight, cattle test and refine their forage intake on a daily basis, constantly adjusting what they eat based on the phenology of the plants. Under extreme mob grazing, cattle have to eat the least palatable plant species and plant parts along with the good stuff. I don’t understand the logic of that strategy, and, in fact, even some proponents of mob grazing admit some “inconsistency” in livestock weight gains. The only research project I know of that has started looking at weight gains and other aspects of mob grazing has found very poor livestock performance during its first season (2011). Again, I’m not saying that cattle can’t gain weight in mob grazing systems, only that I think people should be cautious about accepting that claim.
An additional benefit promoted by mob grazing advocates is that the system increases the carrying capacity of pastures. This is a tricky claim to evaluate, because it depends upon your definition of carrying capacity. On the one hand, it’s surely possible to increase the number of cattle in a pasture, and claim that the carrying capacity of the pasture is now higher – though you can do the same with any grazing system. On the other hand, a more formal range science definition of carrying capacity is “the maximum animal numbers which can graze each year on a given area of grassland for a specific number of days without inducing a downward trend in forage production, forage quality, or soil.” In other words, carrying capacity isn’t just the number of cows you can put in a pasture, it’s the number of cows that doesn’t degrade that pasture over time. This latter definition can only be evaluated by long-term data, which doesn’t currently exist for mob grazing systems.
From a wildlife perspective, it’s hard to say what the impacts of mob grazing would be. Much depends upon the size of the grazing area, the intensity of grazing, and the length of recovery time. Clearly, very intense grazing that stomps vegetation into the soil will have extremely negative impacts on any nesting birds or invertebrates in that immediate area. On the other hand, the majority of the site is always in a recovery phase with no active grazing, so there should be a nice diverse mixture of habitat conditions available. My guess is that mob grazing could be beneficial for many wildlife species – in terms of habitat structure – depending upon how it’s set up.
A bigger issue is that of plant diversity and overall ecological resilience. While I think that many people overstate the potential negative impact of cattle grazing on “sensitive” prairie plants, including some rare wildflowers, the impacts from mob grazing on those plants could be a legitimate concern. I think all prairie plants can put up with some degree of defoliation, even when it’s repeated multiple times over a season or two, but I think we would need some careful study of how intensive mob grazing impacts could affect prairie communities before introducing it as a potential management tool. The potential soil impacts of more extreme versions of mob grazing are particularly concerning. I’m sure historic prairies were exposed to high concentrations of bison grazing, but I have a very hard time believing that bison stuck around one place and grazed so intensively that they forced themselves to eat substandard forage. Until I see some well-supported research on the recovery of plant communities, I’m not comfortable exposing native prairies to that kind of severe disturbance.
The Upshot
I’m not against grazing in prairies, and I’m not even against mob grazing per se. There may be circumstances under which mob grazing, or some variation of it, could be used to achieve certain objectives. In tame grass pastures, for example, where tilled land has been converted into forage grasses and the sole purpose of the site is to feed cattle, mob grazing might be worth a try. In those kinds of pastures, the native plant and soil communies have already been severely altered, so out-of-the-box experiments have a relatively low risk of making things worse. I still don’t buy most of the claims about the purported benefits to livestock, grasses, or soils, but as long as cattle producers test the system with eyes wide open, who am I to say they shouldn’t?
However, in native prairies and rangeland, I think the potential risks of the more extreme versions of mob grazing far outweigh any purported benefits, at least until there is some actual research that says otherwise. We have abundant evidence that many aspects of native prairie plant and soil communities do not recover well from tillage, and mob grazing impacts can come uncomfortably close to those of tillage, in my opinion. There are countless other options for using grazing – even intensive grazing – to suppress dominant grasses, control invasive species, create wildlife habitat structure, and achieve other objectives. I strongly support active experimentation with grazing techniques that could help us with our numerous prairie conservation challenges, but with grazing, as with anything else, it IS possible to have too much of a good thing.
.
For those interested, here are two links to relevant research papers on soil carbon (organic matter) and fire/grazing, followed by three non-scientific reports on mob grazing.
Kitchen et al, 2009. (Effects of fire on mowing on soil carbon and other factors.)
Johnson and Matchett, 2001. (Effects of fire and grazing on belowground processes)
Glowing review of mob grazing
An even more glowing review of mob grazing | ||||
5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 6 | https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/killers-of-the-flower-moon-runtime-long-movies-b2429459.html | en | From Killers of the Flower Moon to Oppenheimer: we need to stop complaining about movies being too long | [
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] | 2023-10-16T05:35:37+00:00 | It’s become voguish to sing the praises of 90-minute movies and bite-sized books and plays, writes Louis Chilton. With a run-time of almost four hours, Martin Scorsese’s ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ isn’t ‘too long’ – it’s part of an art form, from George Eliot to Bruce Springsteen, that demands patience and persistence | en | /img/shortcut-icons/favicon.ico | The Independent | https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/killers-of-the-flower-moon-runtime-long-movies-b2429459.html | The pitchforks are gathering at the gates of Hollywood. From the crowd, a chant: “No! More! Long! Movies!” It’s become one of the great cultural consensuses of our era: films are too long. Bring back short, sweet, 90-minute movies. Pete Davidson even did a rap about it. The argument is simple: we all have busy lives. In the digital frenzy of contemporary life, no one really wants to bunker down for any longer than they have to.
And yet, people like Martin Scorsese didn’t seem to get the memo. The legendary filmmaker returns this month with Killers of the Flower Moon, a three-and-a-half-hour epic set against a series of murders in the Osage Nation during the 1920s. It follows the director’s previous film, the similarly lengthy mob drama The Irishman – and even they are some way off his longest work, the four-hour documentary My Voyage to Italy. Scorsese isn’t alone in embracing the idea that “more is more”. Statistics show that the average runtime of mainstream cinema releases has risen drastically over the past several decades. While there’s no denying the slick satisfaction of a 90-minute sizzler, it’s pig-headed to look at art as something that has to be guzzled as quickly and efficiently as possible. Long movies are a thing to be luxuriated in – there is more scope for nuance, detail, room to breathe. A bottle of wine sipped over a long evening, rather than a round of tequila shots.
For all our collective fawning over short movies, the evidence suggests that audiences have more patience than we give them credit for. Earlier this year, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer was a smash hit, despite running for a positively gluttonous three hours. James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water was just as unrestrained, and became one of the biggest film releases of all time late last year. Look at the list of the highest-grossing movies ever, and you will see a lineup of hulking, cumbersome films: Titanic (195 mins); Avengers: Endgame (181 mins); Avatar (162 mins). Perhaps just as enticing as the prospect of seeing these films is the chance to have a nice collective whinge about them. “Did you see Oppenheimer?” “Oh God, wasn’t it so long?”
But, of course, there are reasons for the perseverance of long films that go beyond simple marketability. Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, one of cinema’s foremost examples of “long” cinema, demands its cumulative nine-hour runtime – not because it needs to cover all the granular details of the source material, but because they are epics. We feel as though the Hobbits have experienced this huge and definitive undertaking because the films themselves are so vast: we might not have walked all the way to Mordor, but cinema-seat cramps are their own epic struggle.
The debate does not begin and end on the screen, either. The very same argument has been applied to literature, with people carping about the indulgence of 1,000-page doorstops. But often this length is required. Across every era and literary movement, there have been long, heavy masterpieces, works of genius utterly unconcerned with the requirements of an “easy read”. From Middlemarch to Infinite Jest, it really is this simple: if you limit yourself to the short and easily digestible, you’re missing out on some of the best writing around.
What about if it isn’t required? The old “too much of a good thing” adage seldom applies to the arts. Yes, Bruce Springsteen could come out for an hour and a half, blitz through his bangers and still leave everyone with their money’s worth. But even when you’re three hours deep into a set and yet to reach the encore, nobody’s there hoping that he’d just “wrap it up”. Artists such as Taylor Swift have increasingly thrown the idea of tightly curated 10-song albums into the dustbin, putting out long releases heaving with bonus tracks. And why shouldn’t they? If you don’t want to listen to the whole album, you don’t have to. But it’s nice to have the option.
Likewise, some agreeable middle ground can be found in the instance of Ridley Scott’s forthcoming epic Napoleon, which casts Joaquin Phoenix in the role of the diminutive French tyrant. Scott raised a few eyebrows when he started talk of a four-and-a-half-hour cut of the film – an understandably tricky sell for general audiences. But Apple TV+ and Scott hammered out a compromise: a comparatively breezy 158-minute cut will be making its way to cinemas, while subscribers to the streaming service will be given the option of a four-hour director’s cut when it arrives on the platform soon after.
This is the long and short of it: nobody is forcing you to sit through overlong movies. If Killers of the Flower Moon is too arduous for you, simply don’t watch it. You’ve plenty of other options. The superlative 92-minute teen comedy Bottoms might be more your tempo. Before long, even this may seem too much for our internet-addled attention spans. In a few years, atavists like myself might be championing the patience-straining virtues of the 84-minute comedy epic Borat. If we’re not careful, an artform that has defined a century will eventually be compacted into the blink of an eye.
‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is in UK cinemas from 18 October | ||||
5256 | dbpedia | 1 | 6 | https://letterboxd.com/film/the-mob/ | en | The Mob (1951) | [
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] | null | [] | null | An undercover officer tracks waterfront corruption from California to New Orleans and back. | en | https://letterboxd.com/film/the-mob/ | On its surface, The Mob is a smart, tightly plotted movie about heroic cops disrupting waterfront corruption. Its emotional heart, however, is found in the relationship between Johnny Damico (Broderick Crawford) and Tom Clancy (Richard Kiley), two men who first come together as longshoremen living in the same flophouse only to, eventually, discover that they're also both cops, working undercover on various aspects on the same corrupt racket.
No matter the personas they're wearing at a given particular moment, though, there's an uncanny connection between the burly, gruff Damico and the slight, teasing Clancy. They're wary of one another but they're also instantly intrigued, both drawn to the other by curiosity and a desire for intelligent conversation, conversation that, almost always, has…
"I have to go underground. You know, like gophers and Communists."
A reasonably entertaining precursor to similar storytelling in On the Waterfront, Robert Parrish's The Mob starts extremely strong with a rain-drenched murder and never quite regains its footing, at least not to the degree that I would hope for in a film chosen by Eddie Muller for TCM's Noir Alley. Even so, despite the merely okay plot and lack of emotional investment, if you think you'd enjoy seeing tough cop Broderick Crawford masquerading as a dockhand (he gets a few good zingers in courtesy of screenwriter William Bowers), a mild investigation into corrupt longshoremen and police (it was never as incisive as I wanted), some brief flirtation with sort-of-femme…
A beer and a glass of white wine just sounds awful. I was glad to hear Crawford's undercover cop, Johnny Damico, confirm my suspicions. I don't know that I could maintain my generally warm feelings for the Big Easy if I thought that was truly a local favorite.
This is the second Robert Parrish directed film I've seen, and the screenplay was by William Bowers in Cry Danger as well. This is a tight little crime film about corruption among longshoremen, and while it doesn't quite match their other pairing, it's got some great dialog, spit out by Crawford, and some solid support from Richard Kiley, John Marley, Ernest Borgnine, Neville Brand, and Matt Crowley.
In short, Damico fouls up…
Payphones don't exist much anymore and that's a shame. No more phone booths in crime movies.
Crime movies always seem to have a phone booth scene.
With no new ones, we will have to appreciate the great ones we have: They are small wonders that put us right into the mind of the protagonist. The director goes in close on the actor's face and we see everything we need to.
Broderick Crawford seems to distill his whole character in a couple of quick scenes on the phone in The Mob.
He is an undercover cop, calling his lieutenant back at the police department. The rare moments of privacy, with Crawford able to speak freely, open the character for us. They… | ||||||
5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 46 | https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/history_of_violence | en | A History of Violence | [
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] | null | [] | 2005-09-23T00:00:00 | When a pair of petty criminals attempt to rob his small-town diner, Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) quickly and easily kills them both. In the flush of news coverage of Tom's seemingly heroic actions, a threatening stranger named Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris) comes to town, fingering the unassuming family man as long-missing Philadelphia mobster Joey Cusack. To the horror of his wife, Edie (Maria Bello), and teenage son, Jack (Ashton Holmes), Tom finds he must confront his violent past. | en | https://www.rottentomatoes.com/assets/pizza-pie/images/favicon.ico | Rotten Tomatoes | https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/history_of_violence | Let's keep in touch!
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5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 11 | https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/10-mob-movies-inspired-by-true-events.htm | en | 10 Mob Movies Inspired by True Events | https://media.hswstatic.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJjb250ZW50Lmhzd3N0YXRpYy5jb20iLCJrZXkiOiJnaWZcL21vYi1tb3ZpZXMuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjoiMTIwMCJ9fX0= | https://media.hswstatic.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJjb250ZW50Lmhzd3N0YXRpYy5jb20iLCJrZXkiOiJnaWZcL21vYi1tb3ZpZXMuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjoiMTIwMCJ9fX0= | [
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] | 2018-09-19T19:00:00-04:00 | The mob movie is one of the most popular of all genres. But not all are mob movies are make-believe. HowStuffWorks looks at 10 true-life mob movies. | en | //cdn.hswstatic.com/en-us/hsw/img/icons/favicon.svg | HowStuffWorks | https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/10-mob-movies-inspired-by-true-events.htm | It's 1984 and Nancy Reagan is all over TV declaring that we should, "Just Say No!" to drugs. In Detroit, a cheap, new-fangled version of cocaine called crack is entering the market, tearing what's left of the social fabric to pieces and rocketing crime levels to all-new heights.
Elements of the municipal government are corrupt, from members of the police force right on up to the mayor's office. The FBI is recruiting informants from criminal circles in hopes of nailing the big players. The FBI is so desperate to corral the chaos that they bend the rules to the breaking point and convince a 14-year-old kid to become one of their stool pigeons. That kid is Rick Wershe, aka White Boy Rick, who's already playing at the edges of the city's underworld.
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Wershe turns out to have a talent for the game, and in short order he becomes a hustling member of one of the city's most notorious gangs. His insider info leads to the arrests of bigger and bigger fish until it all blows up in his face when he's apprehended for dealing and put away for life.
Justice for a scuzzy lowlife who played the feds and made a mint? Or injustice for an underage informant who knew too much and paid the price? Wershe's real-life story plays out on the big screen as "White Boy Rick," starring Richie Merritt as Wershe and Matthew McConaughey as his dad. The story dives in for a closer look at the sorry tale of a teenager speeding in the fast-lane to the depths of Motor City.
"White Boy Rick" is part of a long tradition of gangster movies based on true events. Following, in alphabetical order, are 10 legendary examples of the mobster movie genre.
It's hard to exaggerate the craziness of Phoolan Devi's life. The closest analogy would be the trajectory of Daenerys Targaryen in "Game of Thrones." Both are child brides sold to husbands they don't know, who then rise to leadership roles on the strength of their iron wills and wily smarts.
But there are some crucial differences: the first being that Devi's story is true. Second: The Bandit Queen, as Devi is also known, didn't start life as a princess. She was an impoverished, illiterate girl of 11 in Uttar Pradesh, India, when she was ripped from her mother's arms to marry a rapist more than 20 years her senior. Devi went on to endure unimaginable horrors until she was kidnapped by bandits.
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Her kidnapping actually turned out to be a rare stroke of luck and the young woman took full advantage of it, eventually earning her place as the leader of the gang. Devi's legend spread across the subcontinent and at the height of her power in the 1990s, she was so famous that little girls in India treasured their "Devi Dolls."
"Bandit Queen," the movie version of Phoolan Devi's life starred Seema Biswas and was directed by Shekhar Kapur. Released in 1995, it was a critical and commercial hit. A stunning, ferociously realistic film, it's not for the faint of heart [source: Ebert].
When Warren Beatty tried to convince Warner Bros. to make a film out of the brief, brutal lives of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, the studio balked. It might have been a true story, but the tale of two homicidal hoodlums and their gang rampaging through the Depression didn't sound like a good bet. In the end, however, Beatty prevailed and in 1967, the film, directed by Arthur Penn, won two Academy Awards.
Starring Beatty as Clyde and Faye Dunaway as Bonnie, it's considered by some to be one of the most influential movies of its era. The sex, violence and dark humor were ground-breaking at the time. But what really makes "Bonnie and Clyde" feel perpetually contemporary is its depiction of two charming, charismatic, media-hungry psychopaths introducing a new brand of celebrity killer to the American landscape.
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Bonnie and Clyde didn't become famous by accident. They documented themselves with the portable hi-tech device of the time — a camera. Pre-Instagram era, the duo mailed their pics to the papers along with the ballads Bonnie wrote. They posed smiling with guns and cigars and the cops they captured.
The film is a not-so-exaggerated analogue for our own gun-loving, media-saturated era populated by social-media celebs who go to absurd lengths to be famous. We've all slipped down the rabbit hole Bonnie and Clyde dug nearly a century ago [source: Ebert].
In most cities, the higher you go, the richer the occupants. Whether it's up a hillside or to the penthouse of a building, the view comes with a price tag. But not in Rio de Janeiro. There, due to historical circumstance, the impoverished sections of the city, known as favelas, are often perched precariously on the steep slopes above the wealthier quarters, which hug the coastline.
But in "City of God" nobody in the eponymous neighborhood has time to take in the vista — they're too busy trying to survive a vicious gang war waged by teenagers. The reason none of the gang members mature to adulthood is because they die too young.
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Instead of toting a gun, the hero of the film, a boy named Rocket, picks up a camera and begins documenting the tragic violence around him. Rocket survives and his art becomes his ticket out of the favela.
Directed by Fernando Meirelles and based on true events, "City of God" stunned critics and audiences alike with its supple storytelling and vivid, vicious depiction of life on the street in the forgotten shanty towns of Rio [source: Corliss].
One of the oft-lamented problems with mob movies is that they have a habit of making gangster life look fun. There's all that money to start. Then there's often a fair dose of sex. And finally, the violence often looks thrilling and even glamorous. To go down in a hail of bullets like Sonny Corleone in "The Godfather," might be tragic, but it's also epic and unforgettable.
When "Gomorrah" was released in 2009, it was hailed by audiences and critics alike as a mob movie like no other because it revealed, instead, the grubby, stressful, awfulness of life lived in a gang-ridden city.
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Based on a non-fiction book by the same name, "Gomorrah" explores the underbelly of Naples, Italy, where a mafia called the Camorra has a tentacular stranglehold on every corner of the town. There's no code of honor amongst the Camorra, no likeable psychos, no glamour. It's a story about how greed and corruption are petty, ruinous and wretched for everybody concerned [source: Morris].
Gritty, flashy, funny, cinematic gold, "GoodFellas" is Martin Scorsese's mob movie par excellence. The stylish, masterful filmmaking featured Scorsese's established palette of freeze frames and slo-mo, along with the much-discussed Steadicam shot that follows Ray Liotta and Lorraine Bracco across a street, through a backdoor, down a set of stairs, through a kitchen and into the dining room of the Copacabana nightclub.
Aside from its status as one of the longest single-take sequences in American film history, it's also a bravura set-piece that brilliantly illustrates the intoxicating appeal of being a made man. And it's just one of the many cinematic jewels offered up to the viewer in a movie studded with unforgettable scenes and brilliant performances. There's Robert DeNiro at the top of his game as the avuncular but ruthless Jimmy Conway and Joe Pesci's Tommy DeVito, who demonstrates how to balance laughter and terror on a razor-sharp knife's edge.
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Scorsese adapted "GoodFellas" from "Wise Guy," Nicholas Pileggi's account of the villainous career of Henry Hill (played in the film by Liotta), a guy who wanted in on the mob life from an early age. "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster," is the legendary opening line. That desire inexorably diminishes over the course of three bruising decades until our anti-hero must make a life-or-death decision between survival and betrayal.
Some gangsters like to operate in the shadows; others court fame. Jacques Mesrine belonged to the latter group. Unlike most criminals, Mesrine came from a middle-class background and was a decent, if disruptive, student in his youth.
But a tour as a French soldier during the French-Algerian War seems to have tipped him over into a life of crime. The French-Algerian conflict was at least as horrific as the Vietnam War and Mesrine later alleged that he was charged with executing prisoners of war. Once out of the army, Mesrine tried conventional life for a bit but soon drifted into a career as France's most notorious bank robber, kidnapper, murderer and escape artist, eventually earning the title of France's Public Enemy No. 1.
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In between busting out of multiple prisons (including France's supposedly escape-proof La Santé), he penned his life story, such that it's hard to know where the real life ends and the legend begins. But there's no doubt that before he was gunned down by Parisian cops in 1979, Mesrine had racked up an extraordinary criminal resume [source: Bradshaw].
A life lived this large couldn't be squeezed into a single film, so director Jean-François Richet tells it in two parts. Vincent Cassel's blistering portrayal of the master criminal earned him rave reviews and helped establish the bio-pic as an instant classic of the gangster genre.
Yakuza. The name of Japan's infamous mafia evokes images of the hyper-cool gangsters depicted in films like "Sonatine." But the hoods that populate "Pigs and Battleships", one of the very first yakuza movies ever made, are anything but cool. They're a crew of bumbling, crude, venal, wingnuts trying to make a buck in post-war Japan.
A satirical look at the relationship between a U.S. Naval base and the ordinary Japanese people trying to survive in its environs, "Pigs and Battleships" has long been considered a classic of the mobster genre. But few such films tread the line between slapstick melodrama and hard-nosed realism so extraordinarily well.
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Take, for instance, the fact that a major plot point revolves around acquiring the slops from the naval base to feed black market pigs. Yet this farcical narrative is gorgeously filmed in rich black and white and framed as though it's an epic Hollywood work from the '50s. The heightened contrast between form and content is part of what makes director Shohei Imamura's masterpiece one of a kind [source: Canby].
Salvatore Giuliano is famously absent from the movie that bears his name, except in the form of a handsome corpse. From the discovery of his body, the film moves backward and forward in time to explore the events surrounding his rise and fall as one of the most notorious of all Sicilian bandits.
In the wake of the Allied invasion of Sicily during World War II, Giuliano was arrested for black marketeering. The truth was that without the black market, nobody would have survived in Sicily in that era. But Giuliano soon embarked on a full-blown life of banditry, robbing and kidnapping the wealthy while maintaining a close alliance with the peasantry from which he came. There's also some evidence that he did dirty work for local politicians.
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Was he a true Robin Hood who helped impoverished Sicilians whenever he could? Or a stooge for the establishment, hired to keep a rising left-wing movement in line? Director Francesco Rosi's tour-de-force of sweeping realist filmmaking never answers that question but makes it the core around which the entire narrative turns.
The film's breathtaking vistas and tense set-pieces make for a beautifully composed work that infuses the gangster genre with passionate artistry and a questing political analysis.
Ma Barker was reputed to be the matriarch of the Barker Gang, a notorious collection of thieves, kidnappers and murderers in the Midwest U.S., many of whom happened to be her sons. She died next to one of them after a police siege that riddled their hideout with bullets.
When Hollywood got around to memorializing the story in celluloid, they condensed her collection of offspring into a single, incandescent, oedipal, psychopath, re-christened Cody Jarrett. Then it was just a matter of convincing the one actor who could do justice to the role to come onboard. Jimmy Cagney had long since left behind the gangster films that made him famous. In fact, so had Hollywood. A stifling production code and waning audience interest had more or less squelched the genre.
But in 1949, the time seemed right for a reboot. And Cagney, whose star was fading, needed a hit. It turned out to be the perfect fit. Under Raoul Walsh's direction, Cagney burned up the screen as the doomed villain. Playing ice to his fire, the great Margaret Wycherly as "Ma" Jarrett helped establish "White Heat" as one of the greatest gangster movies of them all [source: Parkinson]. | ||
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] | null | [] | 2016-03-30T01:05:59+00:00 | Ticketing Hours of Operation Interactive Experiences General Questions Shopping and Dining Membership Didn’t find what you were looking for? Reach... | en | https://themobmuseum.org/wp-content/themes/newmob/favicon.ico | The Mob Museum | https://themobmuseum.org/plan-your-visit/frequently-asked-questions/ | Ticketing
What is the Museum’s admission price?
Visit the Museum’s Purchase Tickets page for more information on ticketing.
When can I use my tickets?
Tickets must be used for the day they were selected for. To speak with our Guest Services department, please call 702.229.2734 or email info@themobmuseum.org.
How can I purchase tickets?
Tickets can be purchased online at themobmuseum.org, by phone at 702.229.2734 or at the Mob Museum Box Office. Online reservations are strongly encouraged. Book in advance to ensure availability.
Do I need to print out my tickets?
Tickets purchased online at themobmuseum.org can either be printed or displayed on a mobile device at our box office.
What is your cancellation policy?
The Mob Museum has a 24-hour reservation change and/or cancellation policy. To modify your tickets or to cancel, please contact us at 702-229-2734 or info@themobmuseum.org. If you reach our voicemail, please leave a message.
From the date of your booking up to 24 hours before your visit, you may cancel and receive a 100% refund. You may also request to reschedule your visit up to 24 hours in advance and we will attempt to accommodate a change request, based on availability.
What is your cancellation policy for event tickets in The Underground speakeasy and distillery?
The Mob Museum has a 48-hour reservation change and/or cancellation policy for event tickets. To modify your tickets or to cancel, please contact us at 702-229-2713 or sales@themobmuseum.org. If you reach our voicemail, please be sure to leave a message.
Who qualifies for the law enforcement discount?
To see a list of law enforcement eligible for a discount, please click here.
Does The Mob Museum offer group pricing or special event options?
Special ticket pricing is available for groups of 10 or more. The Museum also offers guided tours for guests who want a narrated, interactive history of the exhibits. Group bookings must be confirmed 72 hours in advance of arrival and payment must be made in one transaction. The Mob Museum may also be rented out for private events including weddings, parties, and various types of meetings. Group bookings must be confirmed 72 hours in advance of your arrival. Please email sales@themobmuseum.org or call 702.724.8622 for more information and booking.
What forms of payment are accepted at the Box Office?
Guests may pay with cash, credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover) or traveler’s check (U.S. currency with photo i.d.). Personal checks are not accepted.
What is a Discounted Admission ticket?
For non-Nevada resident guests visiting the Museum before 11 a.m. or after 5 p.m. daily, Discounted Admission pricing is available. Discounted Admission tickets can be purchased exclusively online at themobmuseum.org, but entry into the Museum is only allowed before 11 a.m. or after 5 p.m. daily. Discounted Admission pricing is $10 off each non-Nevada resident Adult General Admission, Deluxe Pass and Premier Pass ticket. Blackout dates apply.
What types of tours are available?
The Museum offers self-guided and audio tours. Our audio tours are offered for a small fee. Check with the box office for more information. Group tours of the Museum and group walking tours also are available. Group tours of the Museum must be confirmed 72 hours in advance of your arrival. Please email sales@themobmuseum.org or call 702.724.8622 for more information and booking.
Hours of Operation
What are the Museum’s hours of operation?
Visit the Museum’s Hours & Directions page for more information on hours of operation.
Is The Underground speakeasy open?
Guests can visit the speakeasy with Museum admission or through the speakeasy side door using the weekly password found at @mobmuseum_underground’s Instagram. Tickets or reservations are not needed to visit the speakeasy.
Do you ever have special hours?
Operating hours may change occasionally due to private events or holidays. Please call the Museum at 702.229.2734 or check our website for updates.
What are your busiest hours?
The Museum is busiest between the hours of 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Interactive Experiences
Is there a minimum age for the Crime Lab, Firearm Training Simulator and Distillery Tour experiences?
Yes, you must be 11 years old and over to participate in Crime Lab and all visitors under 16 years old must be accompanied by an adult. You must be 13 years old and over to participate in the Firearm Training Simulator, 13-16 year olds must be accompanied by an adult and parental consent is required for minors. You must be 13 years old and over to participate in the Distillery Tour & Tasting, but you must be 21 years old or over to participate in the sampling portion of the Distillery Tour & Tasting.
How do I book a Crime Lab Experience, Firearm Training Simulator or Distillery Tour?
If you purchased a Premier or Deluxe pass online at themobmuseum.org, upon arrival to the Museum, please visit our box office to select your experience and time slot. Experiences are offered throughout the day and are capacity-based. All timed experiences are first come, first serve.
How can I visit The Underground distillery?
The Underground distillery is only open to guests with Distillery Tour & Tasting reservations which are available from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. To book a Distillery Tour & Tasting, purchase a Deluxe or Premier pass online or at the Museum Box Office.
Guests who are under the age of 21 are not able to participate in the sampling portion of the experience. Guests who are under the age of 13 may not participate in the Distillery Tour & Tasting.
General Questions
How long will it take to tour the Museum?
From start to finish, it could take anywhere from one to three hours to see the Museum depending on a person’s level of interest with each exhibit. Because there is a lot to see, read, watch or interact with, there may be times when guests will have to wait a few moments before seeing the next exhibit on the tour. Guests are allowed to bypass exhibits. We just ask that you be courteous to the people directly in front of you and those a little further along in the tour.
Is parking available at the Museum?
Paid parking is available at The Mob Museum for a small fee. If our lot is at capacity, additional parking may be found within very short walking distance. See this page for more information on parking.
Is photography allowed in the Museum?
Photography is allowed in The Mob Museum. However, photography must be conducted without disruption to the Museum and without blocking the accessibility to exhibitions, entrances/exits, and high traffic areas. Flash photography is prohibited. Personal photos are not allowed in the Line-up on the third floor when a Museum photographer is present. Tripod use must be pre-approved by The Mob Museum PR department. Photos are for private use only and any commercial or other unauthorized use of any transmission, picture, film/type, writing, drawing, or other depiction or description of any Mob Museum name, mark, or logo is prohibited without prior specific written approval from The Mob Museum PR department. Please fill out a Media Filming & Photography Request Form, call 702-229-2734 or email pr@themobmuseum.org for more information
Does the Museum have a dress code?
The Mob Museum strives to ensure as comfortable and respectful of an environment as possible for all of its guests and staff. As such, guests are not permitted to visit the Museum with attire which displays profane, obscene or injurious language, text or graphics. Guests will be asked to either change their attire or otherwise cover the offensive image/language or leave the Museum property. Similarly, guests are not permitted to wear attire which is overly suggestive or revealing (eg. swimwear, sheer or see-through clothing). Decisions related to the appropriateness of guest attire are within the sole discretion of Museum management.
Is there a minimum age to tour the Museum?
All ages are welcome to tour the Museum. Please note that due to the graphic nature of the subject matter in some exhibitions, there are guests that may find the Museum to be more appropriate for children ages 12 and over.
Is there a minimum age to visit The Underground speakeasy?
Before 5 p.m., guests of all ages may walkthrough the speakeasy and view the exhibits in The Underground exhibition space; however, per City of Las Vegas restrictions, only guests 21 years and over may be seated and enjoy the speakeasy’s food and beverage offerings.
After 5 p.m., the speakeasy is available only for guests 21 years and over.
What items are not permitted inside the Museum?
The following items are not permitted in the Museum: Wagons, skateboards, shoes with built-in wheels, professional cameras and recording equipment, suitcases, large backpacks, drugs, or weapons (including firearms, knives, hazardous chemicals, explosive devices, etc).
Are children permitted to visit The Mob Museum on their own?
Children under 14 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
If I am in a wheelchair, can I comfortably tour the Museum?
The Mob Museum’s exhibits were designed by nationally renowned exhibit design firm, Gallagher & Associates, to comply with accessibility guidelines created by the American Association of Museums (AAM). The AAM’s guidelines were created specifically to help museums interpret the Americans with Disabilities Act’s (ADA) broad and at times subjective, regulations governing accessibility.
The Museum offers a lift at the very front of the Museum, allowing guests to bypass the entry steps, we also offer elevator access to each floor of the Museum—making your visit very accessible. As a cultural attraction and public education resource, the Museum’s goal is to be as inclusive and accessible as possible; therefore, we continue to evaluate and seek ways to improve the guest experience for all visitors.
For more information see our Accessibility Page.
Are pets allowed in the museum?
With the exception of service animals (dogs and/or miniature horses), animals are not allowed in the building. Service animals which present a threat to the health or safety of other guests or staff, which aggressively bark or snap at other guests or staff, are not housebroken, or are not effectively under control, will also be excluded. Pets should not be left in parked cars for any length of time. All service animals must be kept on a leash.
How does the Museum address unruly or disruptive guests?
The Mob Museum strives to ensure as comfortable and respectful of an environment as possible for all of its guests and staff. Offensive, abusive or threatening language or behavior towards another person (staff or guest) will not be tolerated. Specific guest concerns with respect to any Museum practice or policy should be brought to the attention of staff and management with a respectful tone and demeanor.
Shopping and Dining
Does the Museum have food and beverage available for purchase?
The Museum offers light snacks and coffee, located in the Museum’s 2nd floor concessions. There are also a variety of beverages and shareable food items available in The Underground Speakeasy and Distillery located in the Museum basement. To view The Underground’s menu, visit themobmuseum.org/menu.
Can I shop in the gift shop without paying admission?
Yes, shoppers should check in at the box office when they arrive.
Is The Mob Museum Moonshine available to be shipped?
The Mob Museum Moonshine is not available to be shipped. Moonshine can be purchased onsite at The Underground speakeasy and distillery.
Membership
How can I purchase a Membership? If I purchase a Membership today, when can I begin using it?
You can begin using your Membership immediately! You may purchase it one of several ways.
Online – You will receive a confirmation email that you can print and bring to the Museum for admission. You may also contact 702.229.2734 to request your Membership card(s) be mailed free of charge.
Phone – To purchase your Membership over the phone, contact the box office at 702.229.2734. Advise the box office associate whether you would like your Membership card(s) mailed or if you will be picking them up in person.
In person – You may purchase a Membership at the box office upon arrival at the Museum.
The Museum prohibits the following: 1) Solicitation of business and unauthorized for-profit activity. 2) Refund, resale, exchange, or transferal of Museum tickets or Membership benefits.
Can I purchase a gift Membership?
Yes, you are welcome to give the gift of Membership at any time. Please see the previous question for ways to purchase a gift Membership.
If I visit the Museum and then decide I want a Membership, can I apply my ticket purchase to my Membership?
Yes, if you decide after visiting the Museum that you are interested in Membership, you can go to the box office to discuss applying a portion of your past purchase toward becoming a Member. (Valid receipt is required.)
Can I give my card to someone else to use?
No, only individuals listed within purchased Memberships may utilize the benefits of Membership. The Museum prohibits the following: 1) Solicitation of business and unauthorized for-profit activity. 2) Refund, resale, exchange, or transferal of Museum tickets or Membership benefits.
Can I purchase advanced tickets with my Membership?
Yes, Members may purchase tickets in advance for themselves and any guests to attend the Museum. Advanced tickets may be purchased online, over the phone, or in person. They must be picked up by the Member with valid photo ID.
How long is my Membership valid?
Members will receive twelve full months of benefits. For example, if you purchased a Membership on April 2, 2019, it will be valid until April 2, 2020.
If I never received or lost my cards, what should I do?
If you lost or did not receive your Membership cards, please contact 702.229.2734 to request your Membership card(s) be mailed free of charge. You may also speak with an associate at the box office about printing new cards for you if you wish to pick them up in person.
How do I update my contact information?
You may contact 702.229.2734 with any updates to your personal information.
How do I ensure that The Mob Museum does not share my information with other organizations?
The Mob Museum does not share, sell or rent its mailing lists. All emails and phone calls from the Museum are strictly information involving events and promotions specifically for the Museum. When providing contact information, an email and telephone number are preferred so we can communicate special promotions and events to our Members. It is the Member’s option to decline giving this information with the understanding they may miss out on these priority notifications.
Is there a lifetime Membership pricing?
Unfortunately, we currently do not have lifetime Memberships available for purchase.
What is my Member Visual ID and where do I find it?
Your Member Visual ID is a unique code that ties your membership to you in our system. You can find your Visual ID on the back of your membership card. Having trouble finding your Visual ID? Please email memberships@themobmuseum.org or call 702.229.2734.
How do I RSVP for a program as a member?
As a member, you get free or discounted admission to Mob Museum programs and events. To RSVP for a program, look for the gold “Member Tickets” button located on each event listing on our website. Once you click on your new Member RSVP button and are directed to the special member page, you’ll be asked to put in your Member Visual ID and your Last Name.
Didn’t find what you were looking for?
Reach out to us at 702.229.2734 or info@themobmuseum.org | ||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 30 | https://www.sachinandbabi.com/collections/mother-of-the-bride-or-groom | en | Mother of the Bride or Groom Dresses | [
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] | null | [] | null | Shop Mother of the Bride or Groom dresses at Sachin & Babi. Discover elegant gowns for summer or fall weddings for her. FREE Shipping Over $500 & FREE Returns. | en | //www.sachinandbabi.com/cdn/shop/files/Sachin_Babi-_-Logo_1a1f40c0-0f35-4909-8ee0-6e85a9c61876.jpg?v=1724360203&width=96 | Sachin & Babi | https://www.sachinandbabi.com/collections/mother-of-the-bride-or-groom | Welcome to an important woman on the big day! Our mother of the bride dresses and mother of the groom gowns are designed for the modern mom. Our styles range from sophisticated and modern to glamorous and classic to suit every event and location imaginable. Today's weddings are more than just one moment, so we have trendy modern mother of the bride dresses that can take you from engagement to bridal shower and rehearsal dinner all the way to the next day brunch. Also, our mob or groom dresses cater to every season, including stunning mother-of-the-groom dresses for fall and summer weddings, and and winter weddings.
Sachin & Babi's selection of mob dresses have got you covered across multiple events, including daytime dresses, evening gowns, and even outdoor! Choose any mob gown from our collection, like an elegant tea length or long sleeve mother of the bride dresses, and enjoy your big day. | ||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 47 | https://www.vogue.com/article/mob-wife-aesthetic | en | 3 Easy Ways to Master the Mob Wife Aesthetic (Without Getting Arrested by the Fashion Police) | [
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If you have internet connection, I’m sure you’ve heard about the rise of mob wife aesthetic. In short, it’s a rebellious response to the less-is-more, clean girl movement. Now, before you go all Carmela Soprano with piles of jewelry and unapologetic fur coats and animal prints, there are a few tips to ensure those femme fatale outfits feel a bit more elevated and less chaotic.
Naturally, celebs like Kendall Jenner, Rihanna, and Irina Shayk are on the list of early adopters, showing us exactly how it’s done. In Paris during Couture Fashion Week, Rih delivered an elegant, edgy take by cinching a Saint Laurent leather scarf with a gold cuff around her neck. The toughness of the leather was balanced by the soft draping—a key styling trick to keep in mind when channeling the exotic—often times unhinged—glamour of the mob wife aesthetic.
We can always count on Rih Rih to take everything she does to the next level, and she even went full retro with blonde side-swooped tresses and voluminous height that defied gravity. But if you’re looking for hairstyle inspiration too, a perfectly undone messy updo is the effortless way to go and Jasmine Tookes nails it in the photo below.
Ahead, we’ve gathered three ways to dip your toe (or should I say your red acrylic full set) into the pool of the mob wife movement with ease.
Instead of a Low-Key Stole, Go All Out With Fluffy Coats
While in Aspen, Jenner showed us how to master the mob wife aesthetic while wearing a brushed shearling Phoebe Philo coat. For added elegance, finish the look with sheer tights and kitten heels.
Instead of understated sparkles…drip in gold
Of course, diamonds are forever, but the appeal of chunky gold earrings adds a retro twist that feels classier than ever to any outfit. Take notes from Tookes and finish your look with a tousled updo and mysterious smokey eye makeup.
Instead of Head-to-Toe Animal Print, Try Subtle Splashes of Leopard
Joyfully chaotic animal prints can sometimes feel overwhelming, so ease them into your outfits in small doses, à la Irina Shayk. | ||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 10 | https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466943/ | en | Randy and the Mob (2007) | [
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] | null | [] | 2007-10-13T00:00:00 | Randy and the Mob: Directed by Ray McKinnon. With Ray McKinnon, Walton Goggins, Lisa Blount, Tim DeKay. A good ol' boy (McKinnon) gets into trouble with some mobsters, and then must seek assistance from his estranged, identical twin gay brother. | en | IMDb | https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466943/ | Randy and the Mob is a well crafted, well acted, feel good film which suffers a little from pacing and plotting.
The acting is excellent, and the portrayal of small town life (where everyone knows everything you've ever done) is dead on.
Ray McKinnon's performance as Randy is great, he's a guy who wants to be a big time business man but doesn't have the business or people skills to pull it off. McKinnon also plays Randy's twin brother, Cecil, the openly gay owner of an antiques store. McKinnon's performance as Cecil is subtle and realistic yet so completely different from Randy that at first I wasn't entirely sure he was the same actor.
The initial setup of the story is slow and feels a bit forced. It's essentially there to introduce the character of Tino, a mob affiliate who is so other worldly it seems he might at any moment reveal himself to be a space alien.
At this point Randy and the Mob becomes a mysterious stranger sort of film where some outsider drops in and helps everyone discover themselves. But it does it well and with humor and with genuine heart even if some of the plot feels sort of forced together at points.
Randy and the Mob is a good choice if you're looking for something that's amusing and light hearted. Though it seems that with a little tweaking the film could have been much better it's definitely a good example of what the quirky-small-town-life type film should be like. | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 0 | 3 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_Stream,_New_York | en | Valley Stream, New York | [
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Village in New York, United States
Valley Stream is a village in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population in the Village of Valley Stream was 37,511 at the 2010 census.[2]
The incorporated Village of Valley Stream is within the Town of Hempstead, along the border with Queens, and is served by the Long Island Rail Road at the Valley Stream, Gibson, and Westwood stations.
History
[edit]
In the year 1640, 14 years after the arrival of Dutch colonists in Manhattan (New Amsterdam), the area that is now Valley Stream was purchased by the Dutch West India Company from Rockaway Native Americans (they were a Lenape, or Delaware, band, known by the place where they lived).
With populations concentrated to the west, this woodland area was not developed for the next two centuries. The census of 1840 lists approximately 20 families, most of whom owned large farms. At that time, the northwest section was called "Fosters Meadow". What is now the business section on Rockaway Avenue was called "Rum Junction", because of its taverns. The racy northern section was known as "Cookie Hill", and the section of the northeast that housed the local fertilizer plant was called "Skunks Misery". Hungry Harbor, a section that has retained its name, was home to a squatters' community.[3]
Robert Pagan was born in Scotland on December 3, 1796. In or about the late 1830s, Robert, his wife Ellen, and their children emigrated from Scotland. On the journey to the United States, one of their children died and was buried at sea. The 1840 U.S. Census for Queens County lists Pagan's occupation as a farmer. Two children were born to Robert and Ellen Pagan after they settled in the Town of Hempstead.
At this time, the community did not have a post office, so residents had to pick up their mail in the village of Hempstead. After Pagan petitioned authorities for a post office, he was appointed postmaster and it was based in his farmhouse, now known as the Pagan-Fletcher House.[4] He was advised that the community needed a name. Pagan chose "Valley Stream" based on the topographical appearance of the area and because of the Valley Stream Brook, which runs through it.[3] In 1843, the U.S. Post Office formally accepted the name of Valley Stream. As a consequence, Pagan is credited with naming the community. Pagan died on March 25, 1870.
His wife, Ellen, also played a significant role in early village history. Tired of traveling to Lynbrook for religious services, she began holding services in her home. A Methodist minister was hired for periodic stops at the Pagan home, and the first congregation in Valley Stream was founded.
In 1853, Hempstead Turnpike was the only road that connected Valley Stream to Jamaica and New York City. The main streets in Valley Stream that connected the small village to the turnpike were Mill Road (which is Corona Avenue today) in the west, Sand Street (Central Avenue) in the south, and Dutch Broadway in the north. That year Merrick Road, a planked, one-lane road, was constructed through Valley Stream, connecting the village to Merrick in the east and Jamaica to the west. With the new thoroughfare in the area, Valley Stream residents and industry began to move southward.
In 1869, the South Side Railroad began stopping in Valley Stream and a branch of the railroad was constructed to connect the main line with the Rockaways. The new branch is now called the Far Rockaway Branch of the Long Island Railroad.
The new railroad, combined with the emergence of Merrick Road as a major artery, stimulated growth in Valley Stream, and it became a substantial community. Around the start of the 20th century, Hendrickson Park was a prime vacationing destination for people from Brooklyn and Queens. The Valley Stream Hotel opened at the beginning of the 20th century, overlooking the golf course. Many tourists who came to visit wound up moving to Valley Stream. The Village of Valley Stream was incorporated on February 14, 1925, as a result of its growth.[3]
In 1922, developer William R. Gibson came to Valley Stream after building more than 2,500 houses in Queens. He bought 500 acres (2.0 km2) of land on Roosevelt Avenue and built homes on Avondale, Berkeley, Cambridge, Derby, and Elmwood streets. Many descendants of immigrants moved into the area. Five years later, he expanded his development to Cochran Place and Dartmouth Street. Realizing that his development was perfectly designed for white-collar commuters, he petitioned the Long Island Railroad for a stop. The LIRR agreed to stop in the area if Gibson built the station himself. On May 29, 1929, the Gibson station was opened. Gibson station, as it became known, retains the name of its founder.
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan addressed Temple Hillel in Valley Stream at the invitation of Rabbi Morris Friedman, father of Ambassador David Friedman, which was the first time since President George Washington a sitting American President addressed a Jewish congregation at their house of worship.
Geography
[edit]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 3.5 square miles (9.1 km2), of which 3.4 square miles (8.8 km2) is land and 0.04 square miles (0.10 km2), or 0.86%, is water.[5]
Communities bordering Valley Stream are Elmont (home of Belmont Park racetrack), Lynbrook, Malverne, Franklin Square, Hewlett, Woodmere, and Rosedale (a neighborhood in Queens in New York City).
Demographics
[edit]
Historical population CensusPop.Note%± 1880605—193011,790—194016,67941.5%195026,85461.0%196038,62943.8%197040,4134.6%198035,769−11.5%199033,946−5.1%200036,3687.1%201037,4262.9%202040,6348.6%
As of the census[7] of 2010, there were 37,511 people, 12,484 households, and 9,600 families residing in the village. The population density was 10,569.5 inhabitants per square mile (4,080.9/km2). There were 12,688 housing units at an average density of 3,687.5 per square mile (1,423.8/km2). The racial make up of the village was 57.25% White, 18.57% African American, 0.3% Native American, 11.38% Asian, 8.97% from other races and 3.47% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino were 22.24% of the population. The median household income was $62,243 and the family income was $72,585. Median household income for the village was $77,905, and the median income for a family was $84,273.[8]
Males had a median income of $80,094 versus $56,260 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $66,334. About 1.0% of families and 1.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.4% of those under age 18 and 0.4% of those age 65 or over.
There were 12,484 households, of which 33.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.5% were married couples living together, 11.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.1% were non-families. 20.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.91 and the average family size was 3.37.
In the village, the population was spread out, with 23.5% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 29.1% from 25 to 44, 23.4% from 45 to 64, and 16.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.0 males.
The village is home to significant Italian American, Irish American and German American populations, with 31.8% of the population identifying themselves as being of Italian ancestry in the 2000 Census.
Transportation
[edit]
Road
[edit]
NY 27
Peninsula Boulevard (CR 2)
Mill Road/Central Avenue
Merrick Road
Southern State Parkway
Bus
[edit]
n1: Elmont & East Rockaway
n4: Jamaica & Freeport
n2 & n8: New Hyde Park & Green Acres Mall
n25: Great Neck Plaza & Lynbrook
Q5: Jamaica & Green Acres Mall
Q85: Locust Manor & Green Acres Mall
Q111: Jamaica & South Valley Stream
Rail
[edit]
LIRR Far Rockaway Branch: Valley Stream, Gibson.
LIRR Long Beach Branch: Valley Stream
LIRR West Hempstead Branch: Valley Stream, Westwood.
Education
[edit]
Valley Stream has many separate elementary school districts (the Valley Stream 13, 24, and 30 Union Free School Districts) which share the same central high school district: the Valley Stream CHSD.[9]
In addition, children living in some of the southern portions of the Village are instead zoned to attend the Hewlett-Woodmere Union Free School District's schools.[9]
Hewlett-Woodmere Union Free School District 14
[edit]
Franklin Early Childhood Center
Ogden Elementary School
Hewlett Elementary School
Woodmere Middle School
George W. Hewlett High School
Valley Stream School Union Free School District #13
[edit]
Howell Road Elementary School
James A. Dever Elementary School (Originally Corona Ave Elementary School)
Wheeler Avenue Elementary School
Willow Road Elementary School
Valley Stream Union Free School District #24
[edit]
Brooklyn Avenue Elementary School
Robert W. Carbonaro Elementary School
William L. Buck Elementary School
Valley Stream Union Free School District #30
[edit]
Clearstream Avenue Elementary School
Forest Road Elementary School
Shaw Avenue Elementary School
Valley Stream Central High School District
[edit]
Valley Stream Central High School
Valley Stream Memorial Junior High School
Valley Stream North High School
Valley Stream South High School
Twilight Alternative Program
Economy
[edit]
Green Acres Mall is located in Valley Stream.
National Amusements Movie Theater chain started in Valley Stream.
Ninety-Nines were started in Valley Stream.
Snapple Beverage Co., and the drink itself, started in Valley Stream.
Films
[edit]
Portions of the films Married to the Mob, Goodfellas, Trees Lounge, The Brothers McMullen, The Lords of Flatbush, Frankenhooker and Desperate Endeavors were filmed in Valley Stream.[10] Also, Valley Stream is the setting for a section of The Honeymoon Killers. The Netflix show Maniac, and Ed Burns show Bridge and Tunnel (TV series) filmed some scenes in Valley Stream.[11]
Notable people
[edit]
References
[edit] | ||||||
5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 31 | https://fanfare.pub/my-favorite-underrated-martin-scorsese-film-silence-ab3b2ecd4795 | en | My Favorite Underrated Martin Scorsese Film: Silence | [
"https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fill:64:64/1*dmbNkD5D-u45r44go_cf0g.png",
"https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fill:88:88/1*0iUPrlRtqg2DUOs9Fa4QVQ.jpeg",
"https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fill:48:48/1*7iOld74WIh9PHiLynIkOmw.png",
"https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fill:144:144/1*0iUPrlRtqg2DUOs9Fa4QVQ.jpeg"... | [] | [] | [
""
] | null | [
"Paul Combs",
"paulcombs.medium.com"
] | 2023-11-15T15:02:46.127000+00:00 | I love Mafia films (I firmly believe that The Godfather and The Godfather Part II are the two best films ever made), and as someone who loves Mafia films I obviously love Martin Scorsese. The… | en | Medium | https://fanfare.pub/my-favorite-underrated-martin-scorsese-film-silence-ab3b2ecd4795 | I love Mafia films (I firmly believe that The Godfather and The Godfather Part II are the two best films ever made), and as someone who loves Mafia films I obviously love Martin Scorsese. The trifecta of Goodfellas, Casino, and The Irishman solidified his place in the Italian Mob film Pantheon, and when you throw in The Departed (which was the Irish Mob), it’s no wonder that gangster movies immediately come to mind when you think of one of the greatest directors of all time.
Those four films (and many, many others of his) are gripping, entertaining, and immensely quotable. As superb as they are, however, none of them are films that will keep you awake at night wrestling with essentially unanswerable moral and theological questions. Henry Hill may have wanted to be a gangster all his life, but we all know he should have chosen a different path.
When it comes to one of Scorsese’s most underrated films, 2016’s Silence, we don’t get off that easy. To paraphrase a review I read a few years ago (but could not find again to quote directly), Silence is not a film you like or dislike, it is a film you experience and then deal with for the rest of your life. If that seems like a wild claim, let me assure you that not a week has gone by since I first saw it that… | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 84 | https://www.hrw.org/report/2010/03/26/mob-justice-burundi/official-complicity-and-impunity | en | Mob Justice in Burundi | https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/favicon.ico | https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/favicon.ico | [
"https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/styles/480w/public/media/images/photographs/tmp_MHzODI?itok=kFpmUx85 480w, /sites/default/files/styles/embed_xxl/public/media/images/photographs/tmp_MHzODI?itok=KL2ccjHK 946w"
] | [] | [] | [
""
] | null | [
"Neela Ghoshal"
] | 2010-03-26T00:00:00 | This 105-page report finds that authorities have at times been directly involved in public killings and beatings of suspected criminals, or have facilitated them by forming untrained "security committees" that operate at the margins of the law. In other cases, officials have stood by while mobs attacked alleged criminals. | en | /sites/default/files/favicon.ico | Human Rights Watch | https://www.hrw.org/report/2010/03/26/mob-justice-burundi/official-complicity-and-impunity | Map of Burundi
I. Summary
“If a thief steals, no trial is necessary. He is immediately killed.”
‒ C.I., Butaganzwa commune, Ruyigi province, July 7, 2009.
Simon Ruberankiko was burned alive by his neighbors on August 1, 2009. Ruberankiko, a 54-year-old HIV-positive man sick to the point he was no longer capable of working his own fields, had slipped out at night to steal food from the fields of a neighbor. Enraged at the theft of one bunch of bananas, local residents caught him, beat him, covered him with dry grass, and set him alight. Days before, another suspected thief was burned to death only a few kilometers away. No one was arrested for either killing.
The killing of Simon Ruberankiko took place in a rural colline in Muyinga, one of the provinces of Burundi in which “mob justice” is most common. In one four-month period in mid-2009, at least nine people were killed under such circumstances in Muyinga, and a tenth nearly suffered a similar fate, making Muyinga one of the most deadly provinces for alleged criminals in Burundi.
Police made some initial efforts to investigate Ruberankiko’s murder, but quickly gave up when they received no assistance from local administrative officials, whom they believed to be protecting the mob’s ringleaders. Most such assaults—there were at least 74 killings throughout the country in 2009, and at minimum another 59 in which victims were injured—lead to no police investigations at all.
Mobs killed these individuals for a variety of alleged offenses, including adultery, petty theft, armed robbery, rape, and murder. When researchers from Human Rights Watch and the Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons (Association pour la Protection des Droits Humains et des Personnes Détenues, APRODH) asked local residents—including some who self-identified as participants in the killings—to explain why those suspected of crimes were so frequently killed rather than turned over to the police, the responses were nearly uniform. People said they had lost faith in a police force and judicial system that have been derailed by corruption, incompetence, and inadequate resources. A frequent comment was, “When we apprehend thieves and turn them over to the police, they are freed two or three days later. So we decided to take justice into our own hands.”
The fact that mob justice is so rarely investigated, let alone punished, amounts to an implicit acceptance of this practice by state authorities. The state has an obligation under international law to provide security for all its citizens, including those who are suspected of crimes. But some officials, particularly at the local level, participate in mob justice themselves. Others turn a blind eye to it. Poorly trained, overwhelmed and under-resourced police fail to carry out investigations in many cases. Occasionally, they openly express support for those who would take justice into their own hands: a police chief in the commune of Mutaho, in Gitega province, told Human Rights Watch and APRODH that anyone who caught someone stealing at night could justifiably kill them.
The killings of suspected criminals detailed in this report take place in the context of a country emerging from conflict and plagued by desperate poverty. The 1993-2009 civil war destroyed infrastructure and weakened public institutions, as well as confidence in public administration. It left behind an embattled judicial system and a police force that had to be rebuilt from nothing.
Burundians expected that democratic elections in 2005 and the end of most combat in 2006 would bring about improved security, impartial justice, and a higher standard of living. Although there have been slight improvements in most Burundians’ sense of security, Burundi continues to be confronted by an explosive combination of poverty, the absence of an effective police force, the circulation of tens of thousands of small arms, and the insufficiency of economic and educational opportunities, particularly for the thousands of young ex-combatants whom the war left in its wake. These factors contribute to undiminished levels of criminality, ranging from petty theft to murder.
No reliable statistics on mob justice in Burundi existed before 2008, when the United Nations mission in Burundi—which had taken note of the problem of mob justice and investigated certain cases from its arrival in the country in 2004—began to systematically gather data on such killings and beatings. In spite of the lack of data, however, most Burundian observers suggested to Human Rights Watch and APRODH that mob justice was rare before Burundi’s 1993-2009 civil war, and that the phenomenon appeared to become more prominent during and after the war. The war desensitized the population to violence, they said. Because the end of war has not brought about a rapid establishment of the rule of law, and because the judicial system remains corrupt and under-resourced, Burundians who are victims of crime expect neither protection from the police, nor justice from the courts, and often prefer to use force to protect themselves. In this context, mob justice has become standard practice in much of the country.
President Pierre Nkurunziza has denounced mob justice, but mixed signals from Burundi’s top authorities diminish his message, including the population’s vivid memory of open encouragement of mob justice by former president Domitien Ndayizeye, who held power from 2003 to 2005. Within the current administration, national police spokesperson Pierre Channel Ntarabaganyi has commended the public for using mobs to protect public security, and some local police chiefs and administrative officials have adopted similar language. These officials’ statements and actions sometimes reflect efforts to portray themselves as “tough on crime” and thus consolidate popular support; in other cases, they reflect an apparently sincere belief that in the absence of effective top-down solutions to crime, “thieves deserve to be killed.”
This report documents two principal ways in which mob justice and the government’s response to it constitute human rights violations. First, state officials play a direct role in some killings and beatings; they directly contribute to them, for instance, by forming untrained “security committees” permitted to operate at the margins of the law; or they stand by and allow mob justice to occur. Second, in almost every case documented by Human Rights Watch and APRODH, police and judicial investigations into incidents of mob justice were inadequate or non-existent.
According to Burundian and international law, victims of crimes have a right to redress, which includes government investigations and access to justice, while suspected perpetrators of crimes have a right to due process and a fair trial. In many cases, Burundi provides neither. When suspected criminals are murdered, their families are denied justice by the failure to prosecute those responsible, creating a cycle of violence and impunity. The state, in the cases discussed in this report, has variously condoned, abetted, or failed to investigate the murders of alleged criminals.
The factors that contribute to mob justice, particularly those related to the functioning of the police and judicial system, also raise serious human rights concerns. The Burundian government has taken insufficient steps toward creating a police force and judicial system that can begin to restore the public’s confidence. Some reforms are underway, and Burundi has successfully solicited significant support from donors to improve and modernize both institutions, but misuse and corruption diminish the effectiveness of donor support.
Human Rights Watch and APRODH recommend that the government put an end to impunity for perpetrators of mob justice, who should be held accountable like others responsible for serious crimes rather than having their actions justified away. The government, with the support of national and international organizations, should also undertake a broad popular education campaign aimed at both improving public understanding of the criminal justice system and discouraging mob justice. Donors should examine their support to the police and justice sectors, and take measures to ensure that corruption and mismanagement do not prevent resources from reaching the Burundian people and improving public security.
II. Recommendations
To the Ministry of Public Security and the National Police of Burundi
Publicly clarify that acts of mob justice are illegal and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, resulting in prompt, thorough and impartial investigations and arrest of perpetrators, particularly “ringleaders.”
Issue an order to all police officers that all criminal suspects are entitled to a thorough investigation of their case.
Issue a statement to local administrative officials that the police will be monitoring the role of local administrative officials in instances of mob justice, and it will arrest those who are complicit in or attempt to cover up acts of mob justice.
Discipline or prosecute as appropriate all police officers, regardless of rank, who fail to take all feasible and appropriate measures to protect criminal suspects from mob violence.
Improve police coverage and effectiveness in responding to crime in areas where mob justice is more prevalent, particularly in rural or underserved areas of Burundi.
Strengthen community policing and police familiarity with communities by decreasing the frequency of transfers of police officers from one location to another.
Ensure that police are appropriately compensated for their work, that they have the tools and resources they need to engage in effective policing, and that police staffing is continually monitored.
Monitor the use of police vehicles and communications equipment to ensure they are being used for policing functions and not for personal or other improper use. Mark police vehicles so that any misuse can be easily identified.
Use the Inspectorate General of the Ministry of Public Security, the Police Anti-Corruption Brigade, and information from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to identify police officers suspected of corruption, particularly the soliciting of bribes in exchange for freeing persons in custody. Carry out thorough investigations of such police officers. Those implicated should be appropriately disciplined, including by dismissal, and those charged with corruption should be prosecuted in the Anti-Corruption Court.
To the Ministry of Justice and the Office of the Attorney General (Parquet Général)
Issue a statement to police and local officials that all credible allegations of criminal offenses should be promptly, thoroughly and impartially investigated, whether or not a complaint has been filed, and that all suspects have a right to due process in the criminal justice system.
Investigate acts of mob justice, and prosecute suspected perpetrators, including in cases in which police do not initiate investigations.
Prosecute as appropriate police officers and administrative officials who are complicit in or attempt to cover up acts of mob justice.
Work with administrative officials to plan and execute a public education campaign aimed at reducing the incidence of mob justice by informing the public about criminal procedure, the role of victims and witnesses in advancing investigations, and the right to due process.
Use the Inspectorate of Justice and the Police Anti-Corruption Brigade to investigate magistrates suspected of corruption, including the soliciting of bribes in exchange for freeing criminal suspects. Prosecute such magistrates as appropriate before the Anti-Corruption Court.
Monitor the use of Ministry of Justice and Parquet vehicles to ensure they are being used for judicial purposes and not for personal or other improper use.
Use Supreme Court training missions to provincial courts and tribunals as a mechanism for educating magistrates about their responsibility to prosecute mob justice.
To the Council of Ministers and the Parliament
Establish a commission consisting of judicial, police, and administrative officials to develop a national strategy to respond to mob justice. The national strategy should incorporate public education campaigns, strategies for ensuring the enforcement of relevant laws, mechanisms for improved collaboration and communication between police and judicial personnel, and relevant legal reforms.
Ensure that the draft bill reforming the Criminal Procedure Code provides clarifications concerning the police responsibility to investigate crimes.
To Local Administrative Officials (including Communal Administrators, Chefs de Zone or Sector, Chefs de Colline or Quartier, Nyumbakumis, and Local Council Members) and Bashingantahe
Do not assault or otherwise ill-treat criminal suspects.
Take all necessary measures to discourage and deter mob justice.
Assist the police and judicial officials in investigations of mob justice.
Work closely with police to establish functional systems for coping with crime, particularly in rural areas where policing and judicial mechanisms are insufficient.
Work in conjunction with judicial authorities to educate the public about the criminal justice process.
Assist, where possible, access of constituents to the justice system, such as by transporting victims and witnesses of crimes to the communal and provincial police and the courts.
To the United Nations Integrated Office in Burundi (BINUB) and UN Agencies in Burundi, including the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
Identify the regions most affected by mob justice, and target police and judicial officials in those regions for training and assistance in improving public security and administration of justice.
Contribute to efforts by Burundian and international nongovernmental organizations and Burundian media outlets to carry out popular education campaigns against mob justice.
Use BINUB police advisors to train the Burundian police in properly responding to mob justice. Ensure that trainings of police include components addressing the obligation of police to investigate all serious crimes, whether or not a complaint has been filed, and the obligation to accord suspected criminals who are victims of violent crime the same protections as all other citizens.
Improve monitoring of the use of any funds or other resources (including vehicles and communications equipment) dispensed to the National Police of Burundi to ensure that these resources are used appropriately and not for private use. Condition further material support on the establishment of effective monitoring mechanisms.
Monitor activities carried out by institutions that have the capacity to investigate corruption, including the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (Parquet), the Anti-Corruption Court, Inspectorate General of the Ministry of Public Security, and the Justice Inspectorate, to ensure that funds and resources provided to these institutions are properly managed and attain results.
Fast-track the establishment of a proposed hotline, similar to “911”, that allows residents to make free phone calls to the police.
To Bilateral Donors to Burundi’s Police and Justice Sectors, including the Netherlands, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and the European Union
Provide targeted support for logistics, accommodations, and resources for police working in rural and peripheral urban areas where mob justice frequently occurs. Ensure that any funds and other resources donated to the police reach these rural and peripheral areas.
Improve monitoring of the use of any funds and other resources (including vehicles and communications equipment) dispensed to the National Police of Burundi to ensure that these resources are used appropriately and not for private use. Condition further material support on the establishment of effective monitoring mechanisms.
Ensure that support for the police and justice sectors includes a significant component dedicated to strengthening and ensuring the independence of the Inspectorate General of the Ministry of Public Security and the Justice Inspectorate.
Support the work of nongovernmental organizations working in Burundi on corruption, budget monitoring, and transparency in the use of donor funds for Burundi’s police force and government at all levels.
Ensure that trainings of police include components addressing the obligation of police to investigate all serious crimes, whether or not a complaint has been filed, and the obligation to accord suspected criminals who are victims of violent crime the same protections as all other persons.
III. Methodology
Researchers from Human Rights Watch and APRODH, a Burundian nongovernmental human rights organization, carried out over 250 interviews on mob justice, most between July 2009 and January 2010. Intensive field research was concentrated in the provinces identified as having a high number of reports of mob justice: Bujumbura Mairie, Bujumbura Rural, Gitega, Muyinga, Ngozi, and Ruyigi. Several cases in other provinces, including Bubanza and Kirundo, were also investigated. For the remaining nine provinces in which intensive field research was not undertaken, APRODH observers collected basic data, which was used to confirm or supplement reports received from the media, other nongovernmental organizations, and the UN mission in Burundi.
Human Rights Watch and APRODH visited dozens of locations in which mob justice had been carried out, speaking with 12 victims, 26 victims’ family members, 20 avowed or suspected perpetrators, and dozens of witnesses in order to seek explanations of why the assaults took place, how the authorities responded, and what impact the assaults had on individuals and the community.
Researchers also interviewed three governors, three governors’ advisors, six senior police commissioners, ten communal police chiefs, 19 judicial police officers, 11 judicial personnel, 49 local administrative officials, seven representatives of Burundian and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), four representatives of major international donor organizations, five UN officials, a general in the Burundian army, and a representative of the National Intelligence Service (Service National du Renseignement, SNR). They also interviewed the chiefs of staff at the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Justice, the prosecutor general of the Anti-Corruption Court, the director general of the national police, the minister of good governance and privatization, and the first vice-president of Burundi.
IV. Overview of Local Administrative, Police, and Judicial Structures in Burundi
Various administrative, police, and judicial structures are mentioned throughout this report. The ways in which they function and interact are described briefly below.
Administrative Structures
Burundi is divided into 17 provinces—16 mostly rural provinces, considered collectively as “the interior” of the country, and the capital, Bujumbura Mairie. At the head of each province sits a governor, appointed by the president, with the exception of Bujumbura Mairie, which has an appointed mayor.
Each province is divided into five to thirteen communes, run by elected communal administrators. A communal administrator is supported by an elected communal council of 25 members and two to five chefs de zone, each responsible for assisting the administrator in the governance of a certain section of the communal territory. The zones are further subdivided into collines (sometimes called secteurs), the smallest legally recognized administrative unit in Burundi. Each colline is run by an elected chef de colline and a colline council of five members. (Bujumbura and several other major cities are divided into quartiers rather than collines; they are run by chefs de quartier.)
Smaller administrative units exist, though they are not officially recognized by law. In some areas, each group of 10 households is loosely managed by a nyumbakumi. These individuals, elected by local residents, provide reports to the chefs de colline about security incidents or other incidents of note in their immediate neighborhood.
Bashingantahe (mushingantahe in the singular) also play a role in local administration and, particularly, conflict resolution. Traditionally, bashingantahe are local “wise men” (though they now include some women), individuals of high moral standing who are formally invested by their communities with the authority to arbitrate conflicts. The institution of bashingantahe was corrupted by decades of colonialism, dictatorship and war, but in some regions, maintained its salience, and in others, is in the process of being resurrected, though the relevance of bashingantahe is not universally accepted.[3] The Arusha Accord of 2000—the cornerstone of a series of peace agreements that eventually brought Burundi’s civil war to an end—recognizes the status of bashingantahe and proposes they operate at the colline level “to administer justice in a conciliatory spirit.” This provision is written into law, but the role of bashingantahe is not clearly defined.[4]
Police Structures
Formally established on December 31, 2004 as part of a peace accord that brought together former judicial police, gendarmes, soldiers, and rebels, the Burundian National Police (Police Nationale du Burundi, PNB) is a civilian force operating under the Ministry of Public Security. It consists of four commissariats: the Internal Security Police (PSI), the Judicial Police (PJ), the Penitentiary Police, and the Police for Air, Borders and Foreigners (PAFE). Each commissariat has a commissioner-in-chief, based in Bujumbura and responding directly to the director general of the National Police, who in turn responds to the minister of public security.
Judicial police officers and security police officers share responsibility for the prevention and punishment of ordinary crime and are most regularly and directly in contact with the population. The judicial police investigate crimes, question suspects, and provide evidence to the prosecutor. The security police guard public places, apprehend perpetrators, and, in conjunction with judicial police officers, execute search and arrest warrants issued by the prosecutor.
Burundi is divided into five regional police commissariats, each headed by a regional police commissioner who coordinates police activities in three or four provinces. In turn, each province has a central police Commissariat, run by a commissioner, assisted by sub-commissioners for each of the four functional commissariats (PSI, PJ, PAFE and Penitentiary Police). Each commune, similarly, has one police post run by a head police chief (chef de poste) and sub-chiefs representing the judicial police and the security police. The sub-chief of the judicial police is often the only judicial police officer (OPJ) in a given commune, and therefore the only police officer authorized to carry out investigations. Several communes have no OPJ, and depend on visits from OPJs based at the provincial commissariat. Most police posts have no motor vehicle.
Within each commune, police agents from the interior security police are dispersed among various positions, generally consisting of three police each. These police usually live in tents, and are rotated between positions after periods of several weeks. Police agents based at positions generally have no access to vehicles or communications equipment, other than their own cellular phones.
Judicial Structures
Burundi’s head prosecutor, the prosecutor general, is based in Bujumbura and responds to the minister of justice.
Each province has a parquet (attorney general’s office), run by a provincial prosecutor, who is assisted by a number of deputy prosecutors, drawn from a pool of magistrates-enquêteurs (investigating magistrates). Every case that is transferred to the parquet is assigned to the prosecutor or a deputy prosecutor, who furthers police investigations and can either drop charges or bring a case to trial.
Each parquet corresponds to a tribunal de grande instance, which hears cases involving crimes committed in that province. These tribunals are presided over by panels of judge-magistrates. The tribunal assesses requests from prosecutors to hold suspects in preventive detention. It passes judgment at the end of a trial, and determines the sentence. Cases may be appealed to three appeals courts located throughout the country, and ultimately, to the Supreme Court, located in Bujumbura.
Each commune has a tribunal de résidencebut these local courts can only hear civil, not criminal, matters. Thus, both victims and criminal suspects are often forced to travel long distances to the provincial capital in order for their cases to be heard.
Case Study 1: Participation and Negligence in Mob Justice by State Officials in Buraza, Gitega Province, July 2009
Léocadie Irankunda is a subsistence farmer and mother of three children—pregnant with a fourth—in Buraza, Gitega province. On July 21, 2009, she provided shelter for the night to Cyprien Habonimana, a man from the colline in which she was raised before being married.
That night, the home of one of Irankunda’s neighbors was robbed. According to one resident, who took part in the mob killing:
The thieves came at night and forced the door. They beat an old man and his son and tied them up and took everything—hoes, calabashes. Children from the other room came to get me. I came to untie the family. The old man cried out, and people from the five surrounding sub-collines arrived with torches.
We pursued the thieves across the valley. People trapped one and beat him. Unfortunately, one died. The other is still alive.
The alleged criminal who was trapped was Habonimana. He was caught in front of a local bar, and residents began beating him with clubs. One resident said approximately 2,000 people arrived to take part in or witness the beating.
While Habonimana was being beaten, other residents, including a member of the elected colline council (who is also an appointed mushingantahe), went to the home of Irankunda, whom they suspected of complicity in the robbery. They shut her husband into his house, where he said he was kept “like a prisoner,” while Irankunda was “arrested.” (Those guarding Irankunda’s husband took advantage of the situation to steal 350,000 Burundian francs – approximately US$300 – from the house.)
Irankunda was taken to the local bar, stripped, and tortured by her neighbors – including the member of the colline council, a state agent – while being questioned about her relationship to Habonimana and her alleged role in planning the robbery. Another local official, a nyumbakumi, stood by and watched as she was beaten, without notifying police or higher-ranking officials. Members of the mob struck Irankunda in the head with a machete and with stones; her vagina was cut with a knife; and her right hand was set on fire. She ultimately lost consciousness.
A communal official eventually arrived and was able to contact the police and put an end to the assault, although he himself was hit in the process. He took Irankunda and Habonimana to the hospital, where Habonimana died from his injuries, including club wounds and burns, the following day.
Irankunda spent approximately six weeks in the hospital. Buraza’s judicial police officer (OPJ) arrested three suspects based on the testimony he had received from a witness, but did not carry out further investigations to corroborate the evidence. While the suspects were held at the local jail, 50-60 residents staged a “sit-in,” demanding that they be freed. According to one official, “They were saying the population should take justice into their own hands, because thieves come here often.”
The suspects were provisionally freed, and the Gitega prosecutor’s office did not carry out thorough investigations to complete the police file. A magistrate told Human Rights Watch that although one of the initial suspects had given him the names of perpetrators, his ability to go into the field to carry out investigations and arrest suspects was inhibited by a lack of petrol.
Irankunda was released from the hospital in early September and immediately jailed in Buraza. She told Human Rights Watch researchers that she spent a month in jail without ever being informed of the charges against her. In October, she was brought before a prosecutor, who saw that she was still seriously suffering from her injuries and asked who had tortured her. Instead of filing charges against Irankunda, he freed her and issued summonses for the people she cited as having arrested and beaten her. He instructed Irankunda to give the summonses to the communal administrator, who would in turn deliver them to the perpetrators.
According to Irankunda, when she took the summonses to the administrator, the administrator tore them up in front of her, saying “These people from Gitega have nothing to say about what happens here.” The administrator told Irankunda that she had already accepted money from the perpetrators to ensure that they would not be prosecuted, and explained that in any case, the population would not accept arrests of the perpetrators. For administrators, in anticipation of elections in 2010, such arrests would be politically unpopular among their electorate.
In November, Irankunda returned to the prosecutor to explain what had happened. He promised to carry out a mission to Buraza shortly and arrest the suspects himself. To date, that has not happened.
Asked why mob justice happens frequently in Gitega, provincial police commissioner Eustache Ntagahoraho told Human Rights Watch:
The population is not sensitized. They think that if someone is caught in the act of robbery, they have to beat them. The population accuses us of catching people and then freeing them; they use this as a justification.
When Human Rights Watch met with Irankunda in December 2009, she continued to suffer from pain in her hip and on her head, which made it difficult for her to carry out farm work. Irankunda told researchers that she hoped the beating had not damaged her unborn fetus. According to her husband, Irankunda also suffers from problems with her memory: she got lost on a recent occasion and could not find her way home.
V. Policing in Burundi: Impunity, Corruption, and the Incidence of Mob Justice
In 2008, the Center for Alert and Conflict Prevention (CENAP), a Burundian nongovernmental organization, published a report on the challenges to peacebuilding, based on a series of focus group meetings carried out throughout the country. CENAP noted:
The question of impunity was debated at length during the meetings, this practice being fertile ground for the observed increase in acts of violence, armed attacks, etc. Consequently, citizens hesitate less and less to carry out justice themselves [...]. Thus, the absence of an effective justice system that merits the confidence of the citizens may be in part responsible for the acts of mob justice and vengeance that have spread throughout the country, contributing to a climate of insecurity.
Confidence in the police (Police Nationale du Burundi, PNB) is particularly low. A series of focus groups conducted in 2007 by the international organization DanChurchAid (DCA) and the National Council of Churches of Burundi (Conseil National des Eglises du Burundi, CNEB) found widespread dissatisfaction with the police’s ability to keep Burundians safe. According to their report:
[T]he police are not thought to be very effective at protecting the community from crime. Even if a criminal is caught there is a perception that he will be released a couple of weeks later and that he is collaborating with the police or army. There is a widespread presumption that [...] the police lend weapons to criminals.
Confidence in the police increased slightly between 2007 and 2009, according to studies by CENAP, but anecdotal evidence suggests it has again declined in recent months as the PNB struggles with mismanagement and corruption scandals. Burundi is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, and the Burundian civil society organization Observatory for the Fight against Corruption and Economic Malpractice (OLUCOME) has identified a number of serious corruption scandals involving the police. Recent cases include the maintenance of lists of “ghost police officers” who had died or left the police force but whose salaries continued to be paid to higher-ranking officials, and irregularities in public procurement that have resulted in the provision of rotten food to low-level police agents.
Human Rights Watch and APRODH interviews with dozens of Burundians in rural areas and in poor, marginal urban areas of Bujumbura reinforced these studies’ conclusions that many have very little faith in the police and the justice system’s abilities to ensure public security. When police fail to address crime, members of the population, well-versed after years of war in the use of violence to solve problems, take justice into their own hands. Local officials, who buy into the same logic of violence or who hope to establish a “tough on crime” image among their electorate, are sometimes among the ringleaders, and count on benefiting from the same impunity that provokes mob justice in the first place.
Even where police and judicial authorities make efforts to prevent and investigate crime, the public’s lack of understanding of the legal process contributes to mob justice. Once someone has been arrested, he or she is often presumed guilty by the public. If the suspect is released on bail or due to lack of evidence, many Burundians, especially in rural areas, have difficulty understanding the release as anything other than a manifestation of the corruption or incompetence of police and magistrates, in part because corruption is in fact so widespread.
Systems of parallel justice, established by rebel groups during Burundi’s 16-year civil war, accustomed some Burundians to a more “expedient” form of justice than that provided by the courts. The war began as a conflict pitting ethnic Hutu rebel groups against an ethnic Tutsi-dominated military and later evolved into a struggle more along political than ethnic lines. The two main rebel groups—National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy (Conseil National pour la Défense de la Démocratie—Forces pour la Défense de la Démocratie, CNDD-FDD), and the National Liberation Forces (Forces Nationales de Libération, FNL)—carried out parallel administrations in certain regions. The CNDD-FDD did so until it won national elections in 2005; Ruyigi, a province in which there have been many incidents of mob justice, was one area in which it controlled territory toward the end of the war. In much of Bujumbura Rural, the FNL served as an alternative conduit for justice as late as 2008, sometimes under unofficial “arrangements” by which the national police policed by day, and the FNL by night. The FNL continued fighting until it converted into an opposition political party in 2009.
Both rebel groups had often beaten thieves whom they took into custody, and on occasion executed them—sometimes after a “trial” of sorts, sometimes summarily. In 2009, the first year in which such parallel justice systems no longer existed, Human Rights Watch and APRODH documented a high number of mob killings in communes that had been rebel strongholds. In one case in Kanyosha (Bujumbura Rural), a resident explained why they decided to take justice into their own hands and kill a suspected goat thief: “In the past, people used to take thieves to the FNL, who beat them and made them pay a fine. Now, if there were theft during the day, people would take the person to the police, but if it were at night, they would beat them.”
Human Rights Watch and APRODH research suggests that the following conditions contribute to mob justice.
Police Ineffectiveness in Providing Security
“The police are afraid to come here at night.”
– Resident of Bujumbura Rural
The Burundian National Police (PNB) is a young corps, constituted at the end of 2004 to bring together former judicial police, gendarmes, soldiers, and rebels. The PNB is composed of 18,000 officers, brigadiers, and agents. Nearly half the police are former rebels, who have had very little professional training.
Aware of its weaknesses, the PNB has solicited support in training and material resources from a number of donors and partner organizations, but in many cases has not put these resources to effective use. Ineffective policing leaves many Burundians with the sense that security has improved very little since the end of serious fighting in 2006.
Distribution of officers
A police audit carried out by a Belgian federal police team in late 2008 at the invitation of Burundi’s Ministry of Public Security identified numerous shortcomings in the effectiveness of the PNB and provided detailed recommendations. The audit noted, for instance, that police distribution throughout the country and among the different branches of the police seems “random,” rather than corresponding to actual security needs. It argues that the overall number of police officers in Burundi is in principle sufficient to meet security needs, but police are concentrated in urban centers, with many of them dedicated to “guarding” provincial and regional police commissariats.
Police Director Fabien Ndayishimiye told Human Rights Watch that the police concentration at commissariats had been a response to the exigencies of Burundi’s civil war, and that with the end of the war in April 2009, efforts to redistribute police had already begun. But as of late 2009, police presence in the rural collines remained limited. This is in part due to logistical limitations. Despite much talk at the Ministry of Public Security of shifting to a system of community policing, police continue to lodge in barracks, rather than being integrated into communities. In rural police positions, they live in tents. Ndayishimiye told Human Rights Watch this is unlikely to change in the near future. The difficulty of life in these rural positions has a negative effect on police morale, and often leads police to prefer to be based in urban areas rather than rural ones, while the logistical difficulties or providing food and supplies to rural positions creates a disincentive for provincial police commissioners to insist on greater decentralization.
The absence of police on the ground appears to contribute to a tendency for rural communities to take justice into their own hands. Inadequate police strength was a concern raised by a number of police and administrative officials in interviews with Human Rights Watch and APRODH, including in the communes of Gashoho (Muyinga province), Gisuru (Ruyigi province), and Nyamurenza (Ngozi province), all of which had multiple mob justice killings in 2009.
Thus, at Benga market in Isale (Bujumbura Rural), where a suspected motorcycle thief was beaten to death (and a second narrowly escaped) in January 2009, a resident explained, “When the people trapped them, they were angry. There is no nearby police position. So people decided to punish them. Lately there had been robberies, ambushes of motorcycles and cars—people were tired of this. We believe justice was done.” Another added, “No one tried to save them. If anyone had wanted to, they would have been afraid because they too would have been beaten.”
Difficult conditions at night
In both rural and urban areas, the lack of police presence is particularly notable at night. On the night that one mob killing occurred in Bujumbura Rural, police did not intervene, although the noise of the crowd could be heard from several kilometers away and for several hours; one person who lived nearby described being kept up by the sounds of a “hunt [that] continued throughout the night.” A Bujumbura Rural resident explained, “The police didn’t come that night despite hearing noise, because it was night. The police are afraid to come here at night because there is no electricity.”
Similarly, residents of Cibitoke commune in Bujumbura—a highly populated urban neighborhood that is particularly vulnerable to crime, being off the city electrical grid and pitch-dark at night—told Human Rights Watch they felt abandoned by the police. In September 2009, a well-known thief called “King Kong” was caught stealing household goods on 15th Avenue in Cibitoke and was trapped by residents and beaten to death. A young man who confessed to participating in the murder told Human Rights Watch, “We call the police to help us, and they never come. So sometimes we have to punish [the thieves] ourselves. The police come when the battle is done.” In December, on the same street, a man caught stealing a television was burned to death by the use of a rubber tire lodged around his neck, reminiscent of techniques to “ethnically cleanse” Cibitoke during Burundi’s civil war (see text box below). A woman in Mutakura, a nearby Cibitoke neighborhood where three mob killings took place on the same street between mid-2008 and mid-2009, explained simply, “Here in Cibitoke, when people catch a thief, they kill them directly.”
Commitment and resources
Police were seen as ineffective even in neighborhoods where they seemed present in sufficient numbers. In Buterere, a Bujumbura commune in which at least three alleged thieves were killed in 2009, an official said of one case, “People killed him because there was a lot of theft—they had decided to eliminate all thieves. They saw that the government can’t control the neighborhood [quartier]. I don’t know why the government can’t control it. The presence of police is sufficient, but they often can’t catch thieves.”
Among other factors, police effectiveness may be inhibited by lack of transport and communications technology. Most police officers do not have any communications devices, so if they encounter security problems, they have no means to call for reinforcements. Even if police were able to call for reinforcements, communal police officials generally do not have access to motor vehicles, particularly outside of Bujumbura, limiting their ability to mount a rapid response. Vehicles attributed to provincial police commissariats are rarely made available for local policing. A number of vehicles provided by donors in 2008 had already been wrecked in collisions by late 2009; other vehicles were inaccessible due to lack of access to gasoline. OLUCOME reported that a number of police vehicles were also used for private purposes or for partisan political activities organized by the ruling party, the National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy (Conseil National pour la Défense de la Démocratie—Forces pour la Défense de la Démocratie, CNDD-FDD).
Criminal behavior by police
Finally, police indiscipline and unlawful behavior also contribute to the failure to ensure public security. As one communal administrator complained, “The police need to reorganize their fashion of working. Some of them go off and get drinks at night when they’re supposed to be patrolling.”
Worse, the police themselves have been involved in criminal activity, so in some places will not be seen as a force capable of stopping crime. Some police officers participate in armed bands at night; others rent out their uniforms and weapons to thieves. Participants in CENAP’s 2008 study complained that police who take part in criminality are not sufficiently sanctioned; rather, “their superiors are reportedly content to transfer them to posts far from the places where they have committed crimes.” A woman in Cibitoke commune who had witnessed a killing of an alleged criminal—and argued that it was justified—told Human Rights Watch, “There’s a police position nearby, but sometimes they work with the bandits, because they are poor, too.”
Police behavior is not entirely unsurprising, given the poor pay and conditions that can often lead to low morale. At one point in May 2009, police received food rations for just over half a month, and were left to fend for themselves for the rest of the month. Police spokesperson Ntarabaganyi told journalists this was due to lack of resources as well as delays by providers.
Ineffectiveness in Investigations by Police and Prosecutors
Many Burundians see police as ineffective not only in preventing crimes, but also in investigating them. The judicial system is subject to similar critiques.
Lack of transport is a significant factor in inhibiting investigations, particularly in rural areas. While police posts are scattered throughout the communes, judicial police officers (OPJs)—the only police qualified to investigate a crime—are usually only based at the communal center, and most communes only have one judicial police officer, who has no motor vehicle. A provincial official explained, “The OPJs have a lack of transport. They sometimes have to walk for hours to investigate a case, and then they abandon it.” Experienced Burundian police have some background in how to work in a resource-scarce situation, but many of the best-trained OPJs were put into retirement in order to meet ethnic and political quotas, and the new arrivals were given little training.
BINUB provided each provincial judicial police commissariat with a new vehicle in September 2008. But the Ministry of Public Security refused to allow BINUB to put markings on the side of each vehicle indicating which police commissariat they belong to, an obvious rejection of transparency, and an indication that the vehicles might be used for purposes other than judicial police investigations.
Other basic needs of communal judicial police officers are unmet, impeding their ability to work. For most of 2009, the government of Burundi provided OPJs with no paper, nor did they seek an official arrangement with a donor organization to do so. In order to ensure that OPJs could write up the results of their investigations, BINUB and international NGOs stepped in with impromptu donations of paper. A representative of a donor organization was of the view that the Ministry of Public Security regularly undervalues the work of the judicial police, failing to provide them with the necessary means to do the work required of them.
Frequent personnel changes also lead to inadequate investigations. OPJs do not often stay in the same commune long enough to familiarize themselves with the security situation, and when an OPJ is transferred to another commune, in many cases there is no “remise et reprise” (handover): OPJs tend not to turn any case files over to their successors. Investigations on past cases are thus simply dropped, or must start over from scratch. As one woman in Ngozi complained, “The police work well, but there are too many police transfers. New ones arrive who don’t know the situation. It would be good if they spent at least six months to a year here, but some spend less than one month.”
When police arrest a suspect, they have seven days under the law to carry out initial investigations before they must either present the case file and the suspect to the prosecutor’s office (le parquet), or free the suspect, although investigations may continue. When files are turned over, though, poor communication between police and judicial officials means that prosecutors often make little effort to make sense of an incomplete or confusing police file. First Vice President Yves Sahinguvu acknowledged this problem, telling Human Rights Watch, “We’ve asked [police and prosecutors] to work together – when the office of the prosecutor finds a dossier is empty, they sometimes release the person rather than contacting the OPJ. We meet with magistrates about this, telling them they should ask for complementary elements from the police.”
Prosecutors, like police, also have difficulty carrying out investigations because of a lack of adequate resources, including vehicles and gasoline. In 2008, BINUB supplied each provincial prosecutor’s office with a vehicle. The Ministry of Justice provides 100 liters of gasoline per month, which is intended for use in investigations. However, one magistrate complained this amount was insufficient (or perhaps, misused), explaining, “If the prosecutor has to go to Bujumbura that month, it finishes off the ration, so we have a problem getting out to the collines to conduct investigations.”
The inability of both police and prosecutors to carry out effective investigations leaves some Burundians, particularly in rural areas, feeling that they have zero access to justice and that, in fact, the justice system is nonexistent. As one woman told an academic researcher,
If I met someone who did something bad to me, and we had a justice system, I could bring this person before the tribunal and the law would know how to punish this person. But there is no justice system here to study the question of punishment.
Release of Suspects
In July 2009, two men were caught in Kanyosha, a semi-rural commune on the periphery of Bujumbura, carrying two AK-47s assault rifles in a sack. A crowd of people suspected the two men were going to engage in a robbery, and decided to take the law in their own hands. Two residents who participated in killing the men explained their thinking to Human Rights Watch and APRODH:
We heard cries of alarm. Since we were organized, we were able to trap the armed bandits. We decided to kill them, because if we trap them and take them to the police, they would be freed. Everyone agreed that we should kill them... We killed them with sticks and stones... The police came after they were dead.
The men went on to cite a case in 2008 in which a thief, armed with a grenade and attempting to dig into a house in order to rob it, was caught and turned in to the police. He was freed several days later. It was at that point, they said, that “We decided to eliminate these people right away.”
Burundians regularly complained that the police free detainees, either without charge or on bail (known in Burundi as “provisional release”), even when there is adequate evidence that they have committed crimes. In some cases, corruption or incompetence leads to an unwarranted release. But in other cases, releases may be due to a strict adherence to criminal procedure. For average Burundians who are uninformed about criminal procedure, it is difficult to make this distinction.
It was clear from Human Rights Watch and APRODH interviews that the perception that unwarranted releases are a frequent occurrence contributed to mob justice. One administrative official in a Muyinga commune told Human Rights Watch, “Mob justice is a new behavior here, due to the bad behavior of the police in Muyinga—they release suspects after two or three weeks. Now, when the population traps someone, they are automatically killed without bringing them before justice.”
Corruption
Human Rights Watch and APRODH received several accounts of criminal suspects who were able to bribe their way out of jail and being prosecuted. The president of OLUCOME, which runs a hotline for complaints of corruption, reported to Human Rights Watch that the organization receives frequent complaints about police officers demanding bribes, saying “It’s become like a way of life.”
Many of OLUCOME’s complaints were filed by those who paid bribes after being arbitrarily arrested or threatened with arbitrary arrest. Individuals who have actually committed crimes and then paid bribes are unlikely to report this, making it difficult to evaluate the extent of the problem. Further, denouncing corruption in Burundi is a dangerous affair; a prominent anti-corruption campaigner was murdered in April 2009, and others have been jailed, sending a clear message to average citizens who might denounce corruption.
But crime victims interviewed by Human Rights Watch and APRODH expressed a nearly unanimous belief that if a perpetrator has the resources, he or she can easily buy his or her way out of jail and prosecution, and some administrative officials agree. One communal administrator in Bujumbura said,
We all lament the way the judicial police operate. At times, the [police] free bandits and criminals—but those who have committed minor infractions rot away in jail. The criminal’s families offer something, and if they give something, the OPJ frees them. You may have killed someone, but if you give me a little something in the course of the interrogation, I may change the [interrogation record] and reorient the dossier.
The belief that anyone can bribe their way out of being prosecuted has consequences. In Gashoho, Muyinga province, a so-called “notorious bandit,” Melchior Ntirandekura, was burned to death by a mob after participating in a band that carried out rape, robbery, and assault on July 26, 2009. Local residents said he had been arrested many times over the last several years, but suspected he paid bribes to police officers every time to get out. The belief that he has escaped justice many times, and would do so again, contributed to the mob’s decision to kill him.
Similarly, a young man named Nzeyimana was killed around June 21, 2009 by a mob in Giteranyi, Muyinga province, after throwing a grenade into a wedding ceremony and killing two people. According to a local official, he had been jailed twice previously for throwing grenades, but was released both times by Muyinga police, in spite of significant evidence against him. Neighbors began to suspect that he bribed the police. According to the official, several thousand residents participated or stood by and watched as he was stoned to death.
High levels of corruption appeared to correlate with high rates of mob justice. A Burundian news agency identified Muyinga as having high levels of corruption among both police and magistrates. In Gisuru, Ruyigi province, where at least five people were killed by mobs in 2009 and another was seriously beaten, the judicial police officer was transferred in July on suspicion of corruption; the person who held the post before him was transferred for the same reasons. Other communes in Ruyigi were also cited as having high levels of both corruption and of mob justice.
Police commissioner Louis Nkurikiye acknowledged that police corruption is one of the primary root causes of mob justice. He also noted that sometimes judicial police officers who have been bribed do not release a detainee immediately, but transfer to the prosecutor a case file that is completely lacking in evidence, causing the magistrate to release the detainee.
The judicial system is also widely considered to be corrupt. Burundian law permits police to hold detainees for seven days and carry out preliminary investigations before officially charging a suspect with a crime. At that point, the case file is transferred to the prosecutor’s office, and the detainee is transferred to prison custody. Human Rights Watch and APRODH research found that the magistrates who take over investigations are sometimes cited for ordering the release of detainees as a result of bribery. Magistrates have also accepted bribes to release already convicted and sentenced prisoners. One police official complained,
The population is angry because the police often arrest people, even people who are caught red-handed, and send them to magistrates, and the magistrates are corrupted, and the people are freed and come back to their collines. So the people lose faith in the justice system.
An employee at the Ministry of Justice explained judicial corruption by the fact that judges themselves pay bribes in order to receive positions. He explained, “Currently you have to pay one million Burundian francs [approximately $850]to get a job at a Tribunal de Grande Instance. You give that money to a ‘sponsor’ who gets you in to the system. And the first thing the magistrate will try to do when they get into the system is to recuperate the money they paid out [by asking for bribes from suspects].” The Chief of Staff at the Ministry of Justice vehemently denied such allegations of corruption.
Detainees may also be freed, by either the police or the office of the prosecutor, because they are politically connected. In Kanyosha, Bujumbura Rural, Nestor Nduwayezu was killed after he allegedly participated in the attempted murder of Adolphe Banyikwa, a prominent member of the FNL opposition party, in June 2009. Residents of the colline where the incident occurred—most of whom are FNL supporters—suspected Nduwayezu of working for Burundi’s intelligence service. An FNL member familiar with the incident explained, “The population knew that if the police intervened [to arrest Nestor], the next morning he would be freed.”
Other questionable releases of suspects result from both inadequate resources and poor judgment on the part of the police. In October 2008 in Kirundo province, a murder suspect was permitted to go home in search of food, because police do not receive rations to feed detainees (their families are expected to visit jails and provide for them). The suspect was subsequently killed by local residents. Police spokesperson Pierre Chanel Ntarabaganyi told Human Rights Watch that police stations’ inability to feed detainees is one of the primary reasons why detainees are freed. He cited this problem as a principal cause of mob justice.
Lack of Awareness of Legitimate Reasons for Release
Detainees are often released, without charge or on bail, for legitimate reasons. Most Burundians, unaware of the content of laws governing criminal procedure, assume that any prisoner release indicates corruption, or at best, a lack of concern from the police about public security in their regions. As discussed below, police are required by law to carry out investigations into apparent crimes even without the filing of a complaint, but in practice they frequently do not do so. Many people do not realize that as a practical matter, victims and witnesses must come forward, first at the communal level and then at the provincial level to provide evidence against a suspect. This lack of knowledge, combined with the failure of the police to investigate cases without a formal complaint, contributes to mob justice. As a communal administrator in Ngozi told Human Rights Watch: “If a criminal is caught and brought before justice, a few days or a week later he is freed, and he comes back and commits the same crime. The population doesn’t understand why there is no justice, and they decide to take justice into their own hands.”
The lack of understanding of the judicial system not only contributes in itself to mob justice, but also creates an accountability vacuum in which corruption flourishes. Police commissioner Louis Nkurikiye explained, “When a suspect is arrested, the population thinks it’s over with—that they don’t have to come and provide evidence against the person. When there is not much evidence, if a suspect pays a little to an OPJ, he is freed.”
The Ministry of Public Security, in training courses for police, has emphasized that an important part of any police investigation is actively seeking out witnesses to a crime who are willing to testify. Disregarding such trainings, the police tend to place too much emphasis on the unwillingness of victims and witnesses to come forward. But this lack of assistance from the public does contribute to the failure of the police to adequately investigate crimes and arrest suspects—and to suspects being released without charges having been filed.
Numerous officials also pointed to other barriers, both logistical and psychological, that impede victims’ involvement in filing complaints. Lack of transport constitutes one such barrier. No state agency is responsible for access to justice for victims and witnesses, many who live hours’ walk from a police station and can afford no other means of transportation. In Gisuru commune, Ruyigi province—Burundi’s second largest commune, in which at least five alleged criminals were killed in 2009, the highest recorded—an official said lack of transport to the courts was a serious obstacle to justice.
Fear of reprisals, in the absence of any witness protection system, also constitutes a barrier to justice. A police commissioner in Ngozi explained, “The population carries out justice because they are afraid to come testify. We arrest people based on warrants, and transfer them to the prosecutor. If the population doesn’t come to testify, the prosecutor frees those people. The population gets angry, and says the judicial system and the police don’t do what they’re supposed to do. Then, if they trap a criminal, they take justice into their own hands.”
Another Ngozi official said:
We can do “sensitizations” [public education meetings], but the population is angry at the authorities, saying theauthorities doesn’t punish sufficiently. If we tell them not to kill bandits, to instead catch them and bring them to the police, they won’t listen, because they see bandits who are caught and then freed. They are freed because the population doesn’t come to testify against them; they think that if a suspect is brought to prison, it’s finished. We try to educate them so that they come and file complaints, but sometimes they are afraid.
Because of poor communication between the police, prosecutors, and the public, there is often confusion around the reasons why a particular detainee has been freed. A police official in Ngozi complained, “We have many cases where we transmit dossiers to the prosecutor and then the suspects are freed two or three months later, and we don’t know why. The magistrates are above us; we can’t go ask them.” A BINUB official reported that she raised the problem to judicial officials in Makamba province, suggesting they inform police and communal administrators of the reasons why detainees were freed, so that they could in turn explain the releases to the public. The officials responded that they were “not answerable to” the police and communal administrators, rejecting the BINUB official’s suggestion that increased communication would benefit public security.
Even when suspects are prosecuted, convicted and serve their time, one governor said that residents still have difficulty accepting their release, seeing this as evidence of the justice system not working. He said, “We have to prepare them psychologically for reintegrating people who have committed crimes back into the community.”
A Note on “Sorcery” Accusations and Mob Justice
In addition to the scores of suspected criminals who were killed or seriously beaten by mobs in 2009, similar mobs were reported to have attacked suspected “sorcerers” in dozens of cases. These suspected sorcerers are often accused of using fetishes (objects said to hold evil powers) to cause “mysterious” illnesses or deaths, for which no other explanation is immediately available to many rural Burundians. Such attacks, while worrisome, are not covered in this report for several reasons. First, Human Rights Watch and APRODH found that it is difficult to establish when the attack reflects a sincere belief that the victim is a sorcerer, and when it is a pretext for eliminating a rival, usually because of a land conflict. Second, the improvements in the police and judicial systems which are necessary to mitigate mob justice would be insufficient in putting an end to cases in which people kill those they sincerely suspect of engaging in sorcery; long-term educational initiatives are also necessary.
Third, although Human Rights Watch and APRODH are not aware of any statistics on police response to killings of suspected sorcerers, police appear to be more proactive investigating such killings than in investigating the killings of suspected thieves. In the course of this research, Human Rights Watch and APRODH discussed sorcery-related killings with a number of police and administrative officials; none attempted to excuse away such killings, though their investigations often failed to produce results.
Case Study 2: Delivering Suspects to the Mob, Gisuru, Ruyigi Province, September 2009
The September 2009 killing of two police officers in Gisuru who were suspected of theft received national and international media attention. This was largely due to police spokesperson Pierre Channel Ntarabaganyi’s statement to the media after the killings, in which he “thank[ed] the population for getting involved in maintaining the public order and security.” Human Rights Watch and APRODH investigations revealed that beyond Ntarabaganyi’s statements, there were other actions taken by state officials that indicated an inadequate respect for the basic rights of crime suspects.
On September 5, 2009, an armed robbery took place at Muhindo colline in Gisuru commune, Ruyigi province. The following morning, local residents confronted two off-duty police officers, Oscar Barasokoroza and Antoine Nzeyimana, who were suspected of the robbery. A commune orderly retrieved a gun that one of them had apparently thrown into the bushes, and residents found grenades in the pockets of the other.
Residents disarmed the police officers and began beating them, dragging them toward the Gisuru police brigade, which apparently indicated some intention to turn them in to the police. As the crowd grew, the beating became more severe. Muhindo residents were joined by those from Murehe, where another young man suspected of robbery, Dominique Harutimana, had been beaten to death at exactly the same location in January 2009. Movement toward the police brigade halted as hundreds of residents gathered to throw stones.
The commune orderly fired the confiscated gun into the air to try to stop the violence and to alert the police, according to witnesses. Police heard the gunshots, and arrived from the nearby brigade. The communal administrator and his advisor also arrived in a pickup truck belonging to the commune.
By this point, according to witnesses, the two victims were in agony on the ground. However, instead of attempting to help them, as one witness said, “The communal administrator came, and then left with the police in the vehicle to search for two other thieves. The two police were dying and no one tried to take them to the hospital.”
After one group of officials left in the communal pickup truck—eliminating any possibility that the lives of Barasokoroza and Nzeyimana might be saved—the Gisuru police chief began interrogating the dying victims in front of the angry crowd. A second witness described events to Human Rights Watch and APRODH:
A huge, angry crowd was gathered here. The police chief said to the crowd, “You shouldn’t kill them, I’ll take them to the police station.” The people said, “You’re just going to free them like you always do.” People kept throwing rocks. The police chief started interrogating them, and the people kept beating them. Each time the police chief walked to the road to see if the vehicle was coming back, people started beating them with sticks and stones. When the vehicle arrived, the two were already dead.
In the vehicle were Donatien Manirakiza, a former FNL combatant, and Bigirimana, a trader, both of whom had apparently been denounced by the dying victims. Manirakiza told Human Rights Watch and APRODH that he was picked up while buying cassava. He said the truck contained soldiers, police officers, and the advisor to the communal administrator, as well as two demobilized combatants from the CNDD-FDD, the former rebel group that now holds power. Manirakiza was tied with his arms behind his back; he also said he was tied with a rope around his neck. Rope marks on his arms and neck were visible when he was interviewed by APRODH a month later.
According to Manirakiza,
They discussed it and decided to take me to [a place they referred to as] “Kwi Bambiro.” It’s a Kirundi expression meaning “at the place of the crucifixion.” That was where they had killed the others.
I saw two corpses on the ground, and a crowd of police, soldiers, and civilians .... One of the demobilized combatants, aided by the police, pulled me out of the truck by the cord around my neck.
I was tied up and sitting on the ground. The police chief and army chief started interrogating me. They asked if I knew the two victims, and showed me their badges. I said I knew one of them because he had worked at a position near where I lived. While they asked me questions, other people kept beating me with sticks and throwing rocks.
The provincial police commissioner arrived with the judicial police officer. I couldn’t see well because I had been hit with a rock in the eye, but I heard people saying, “If we don’t kill him now, he’ll press charges against us or get vengeance.” Someone, I don’t know who, threw a big rock. I lost consciousness and woke up in the hospital.
Manirakiza’s statement raises serious concerns about the actions of police and administrative officials, who, rather than following proper procedure—which would involve taking Manirakiza directly to the communal jail and turning him over to the judicial police officer for questioning —essentially delivered him into the hands of an angry crowd that had already killed two suspects. Officials explained to APRODH that they took Manirakiza to the scene of the killings because they wanted him to be identified by the two police officers, and had not realized the two were already dead. (Bigirimana remained in the vehicle during the assault on Manirakiza and was unharmed. ) Given that the officials had seen the assaults on the suspects in progress and could have anticipated that Manirakiza would be met with the same treatment by the crowd, their decisions reflect grossly negligent disregard for Manirakiza’s safety.
The officials apparently realized their error, and the police chief attempted to save Manirakiza by moving him into a building at some point during the questioning. He also telephoned the provincial prosecutor and police commissioner. The latter arrived and was able to disperse the crowd and transport Manirakiza to safety.
Manirakiza was hospitalized for two weeks and then jailed for five days before being cleared of all charges. He identified two people who had led the assault against him, and a magistrate issued two summonses. Extraordinarily, the magistrate handed them to Manirakiza to deliver to his assailants himself. Manirakiza told Human Rights Watch and APRODH that he didn’t understand why this was his responsibility. He said: “The judicial system should pursue them... I can’t pursue the case on my own. But so far the judicial system hasn’t done anything.”
After the killings, police spokesperson Pierre Channel Ntarabaganyi told reporters candidly, “I may express a criticism of the population's application of mob justice, which is banned by the law. However, I have to thank the population for getting involved in maintaining the public order and security which had been disrupted by the two rogue policemen.” Ntarabaganyi told Human Rights Watch in December that he still stood by this statement. A judicial official who opposed mob justice complained, “The police spokesperson’s comments have incited the population to carry out justice.”
VI. Involvement and Complicity of Officials in Mob Justice
The involvement and complicity of state officials in mob justice constitute serious violations of human rights. By participating in, condoning, facilitating, or covering up mob justice, officials hold responsibility for loss of life. They also deny criminal suspects due process and the right to a fair trial, abuse their power, and fail to meaningfully protect a population for which they are charged to provide security.
The officials who appear to be most frequently involved in mob justice in the cases identified by Human Rights Watch and APRODH are those elected at a local level, such as nyumbakumis (persons responsible for 10 households), chefs de colline, and colline and communal council members.Bashingantahe, locally invested through traditional ceremonies (or in some cases elected) “wise men” who resolve disputes and have a special status recognized by the state, were also cited by witnesses and victims. These officials have played a direct role in a number of mob killings, and are almost never prosecuted.
Police, soldiers, and communal administrators are also directly implicated in some cases, though infrequently. In the cases documented by Human Rights Watch and APRODH in 2009, police were much more likely to attempt to stop mob violence than to participate in it. While these positive police interventions should be recognized, they were generally followed by a failure to investigate those responsible. Although lack of resources contributes to this failure, lack of will on the part of state officials, including through corruption and misuse of state resources, also helps to explain why mob justice persists. In some cases, police have actively provided cover for perpetrators, as have administrative officials.
Some state officials have also encouraged mob justice through their public statements, and others through lending unconditional support to informal “security committees” that tend to resort to violence (see Case Study 3, below).
President Pierre Nkurunziza, elected in 2005, has, to his credit, denounced mob justice, marking a positive departure from the position of his predecessor, President Domitien Ndayizeye, whose spokesperson Pancrace Cimpaye, in an unrepudiated public statement in 2004, encouraged Burundians to kill thieves. Although such killings were never technically lawful, they were described by Burundians as “law” or “policy,” and the Ndayizeye administration’s tolerance of mob violence continues to influence Burundians: one person who had witnessed a killing and attempted to defend it explained, “President Nkurunziza changed this policy, but the people still have it in their heads.” A Red Cross volunteer in Bujumbura told Human Rights Watch, “The people say to themselves, ‘In any case, it feels better if we kill them ourselves, and we justify this with the former law, even if the law has changed.’”
As for the current administration, national police spokesperson Pierre Channel Ntarabaganyi’s statement commending the perpetrators of the killing of two police officers suspected of crime in Gisuru (Case Study 2, above) demonstrates the ambiguity of the Burundian government’s stance toward mob justice.
Direct Role of State Officials
In June 2009, a man named Nzeyimana was beaten to death in Buhinyuza commune, Muyinga province. Among his alleged assailants was the chef de colline, Ernest Macumi. Nzeyimana was apparently suspected of criminal intentions solely because he wandered through Rugazi, a colline where he wasn’t known and where there had been recent thefts. He was on his way to his grandfather’s house in nearby Rugongo at about 8 o’clock in the evening.
According to the commune police, the residents “caught” Nzeyimana and brought him before the chef de colline, Macumi. Macumi, who was reportedly drunk at the time of the incident, sent a friend to search for a rope to tie up Nzeyimana. Macumi used the rope to tie up Nzeyimana and, with some of his cohorts, beat him to death with objects including shoes and sticks.
Macumi subsequently fled the commune, possibly to nearby Tanzania. Police arrested five suspects, including the man on whose property Nzeyimana was killed. They were transferred to the prosecutor’s office on June 30 and admitted to witnessing the crime, but denied participation. After they were provisionally released on July 23, there has been no progress in the case.
Nzeyimana’s killing was one of a number of cases in which local officials, including those holding elected office, were alleged to have participated directly in mob justice. The officials implicated in such cases, with the exception of the politically motivated cases discussed below, were generally not senior, but still in positions of authority. They included a member of a communal council, chefs de colline, members of colline councils, bashingantahe, and nyumbakumis. Local officials, who generally have little formal education and a limited understanding of the law, often seem to participate in mob justice for the same reasons as the general population—dissatisfaction with the police and the justice sector, and a belief that the people must protect themselves. Electoral ambitions, and a desire to appear to be taking action against crime, may be another factor. Human Rights Watch and APRODH were not able to interview any local officials who admitted to participating directly in mob justice.
Victims of mob justice cases in which officials were implicated included Celestin Karenzo, a young man from Buterere commune, Bujumbura. Suspected of complicity in theft, he was beaten by a group of Buterere residents in April 2009. According to Karenzo, this group included a member of the communal council. When APRODH and Human Rights Watch saw Karenzo several days after the beating, he had serious injuries all over his face, head, and jaw. Karenzo did not press charges, and local officials did not investigate the beating.
Léocadie Irankunda survived a beating in Buraza, Gitega province, by a group that allegedly included a colline council member and mushingantahe. Her friend, Cyprien Habonimana, died from the beating (see Case Study 1, above). The colline council member implicated was never arrested.
In Mwumba, Ngozi province, two men were badly beaten in May 2009 when they were caught stealing coffee from a shop run by the son of a chef de colline. Accounts of the beating differed. One witness said the chef de colline was primarily responsible for the beating, hitting the suspects with branches and ordering other bystanders to assist. According to the witness, the chef de colline then falsely informed police that it was a case of mob justice. The chef de colline’s son, meanwhile, told Human Rights Watch that the beating was spontaneously carried out by angry residents, and that he himself had taken part. He said he wished the thieves had been killed, declaring, “If you kill a thief, you haven’t broken any law.”
Police, seeming to validate this logic, made no arrests. Human Rights Watch and APRODH could not locate the chef de colline for comment on two visits to Mwumba. The communal police chief said he did not believe any local officials were involved, but that he did not carry out investigations because the two victims did not file a complaint.
A member of the colline council was allegedly among those behind the killing of Gratien Masabarakiza, a suspected potato thief, in Ruyigi commune in August 2009. According to two witnesses, a neighbor noticed on August 24 that potatoes had been stolen from his fields the previous night. He and other men formed a group to investigate. The following day, four men, including a colline council member, went to Masabarakiza’s house, where they carried out an illegal search. Masabarakiza fled while they were searching his house. They chased him down a hill and into a valley, rallying the population, until a huge crowd formed and killed Masabarakiza. Three men were arrested and charged with murder, and although they were provisionally released, the dossier remains open. However, the colline council member had not been arrested or charged as of February 2010.
Masabarikiza’s wife said that the accused had paid to be freed, and that on their release, they bragged about having killed her husband. His mother said, “I would have been ready to plant extra potatoes next season to give back to the victim of the theft. But they can’t bring me my son back.”
Other cases documented in 2009 that allegedly involved direct participation by administrative officials included the following:
In Ruyigi province, a nyumbakumi and a mushingantahe were arrested in the beating death of Pascal Gasindi, a man caught stealing in Gisuru in June 2009. They were subsequently freed, although a police official told Human Rights Watch they had confessed to their crimes.
A nyumbakumi was cited as among those who allegedly killed Cayega and Ndireguheka, two suspected bicycle thieves, in Kinyinya (see Case Study 3, below). He was arrested, but subsequently freed. A sous-chef de colline, also suspected in the crime, allegedly fled to Tanzania.
On June 15, a member of a group that attempted to carry out an armed robbery was caught and beaten to death at Rubenga, in Giteranyi commune, Muyinga province. A witness said that several nyumbakumis were present during the beating and did not attempt to put a stop to it. None of these individuals were arrested or interrogated, and none provided information to the police.
A chef de secteur and a chef de colline were accused of being among the ringleaders in the killing of a suspected thief in Bubanza province in July. They were arrested along with six other people. The chef de secteur was subsequently released after being cleared by several of his co-accused who confessed to the crime; the chef de colline remained in pre-trial detention as of January 2010, charged with “lack of public solidarity” (being present at the scene of the crime and failing to attempt to prevent or report it).
Unlike administrative officials, police and soldiers are only rarely cited as directly participating in mob justice. They have beaten and mistreated detainees and other civilians in cases not involving the participation of a mob—giving negative examples to the public as to how suspects should be treated—but appear much less likely than their administrative counterparts to join in or directly incite mobs.
Human Rights Watch and APRODH received only one credible report in 2009 of direct involvement by police in an act of mob justice. In Ryansoro, Gitega province, UN officials reported that a detainee suspected of rape had been beaten by a group that included both police and civilians. A police commissioner, however, said that Ryansoro police claimed to have played no role in the beating, saying they had intervened to rescue him from the crowd.
Likewise, soldiers of Burundi’s army, the Forces de la Défense Nationale (FDN) were cited in cases of mob justice in 2007 and early 2008, but not at all in 2009. Through mid-2008, soldiers regularly engaged in the illegal arrest and detention of civilians; some of them were publicly beaten. For instance, in late 2007, five Tanzanians were arrested by a group of soldiers and civilians in Makamba province on suspicion of being poachers. They were seriously beaten, and one died of his injuries.
Such cases dramatically decreased in late 2008. The FDN issued clear orders to military camp commanders that detention of civilians was prohibited, following advocacy from national and international human rights organizations aimed at pressing the FDN to cease arrests of civilians.
Mob Justice as Political Violence
In several cases, police, administrative officials, and political party leaders have mobilized mobs to carry out violence for political reasons. Members of the FNL, a former rebel movement that became a political party in April 2009, have been victims of such violence organized by the ruling party, CNDD-FDD. Two such cases took place in December 2008.
In the first such incident, in Kayogoro, Makamba province, FNL members held an unauthorized meeting, threatened residents in order to compel them to participate, and held hostage for several hours two police officers and a civilian whom they suspected of “spying” on their meeting.
Police reinforcements broke up the meeting and began arresting suspected participants. Provincial and communal CNDD-FDD leaders rallied local residents who were angry at the FNL’s behavior, and led a group of people—mostly former FDD combatants—in tying up and beating the FNL members. Witnesses said the police chief and communal administrator stood by and allowed the beatings to happen. Both officials later told Human Rights Watch that the victims were beaten by “the population,” attempting to mask the political nature of the beatings.
In a second case, police, the communal administrator, and CNDD-FDD sympathizers in Nyamurenza, Ngozi province, organized a mob to attack FNL members who had allegedly held an illegal meeting. At least nine suspected FNL members were brutally beaten; one received medical treatment for his injuries and still bore scars several months later. None of the perpetrators were held to account.
Such behavior by state officials may influence the public. One month later, in February 2009, residents of Nyamurenza, without prompting from state officials, beat to death three alleged thieves. Police stood by, apparently unable to stop the angry crowd, according to the communal administrator.
Unconditional Support for Untrained “Security Committees”
Even where local officials are not directly involved in mob justice, their responses to crime often create conditions that can make such killings more likely.
In several communes, local officials have organized unofficial “security committees.” These are distinct from the official security committees recognized by law, which consist of local police and administrative officials who meet weekly to discuss approaches to preventing crime. The unofficial security committees, organized at the colline level but sanctioned by communal authorities, usually consist of young men who carry out arrests on behalf of the police. Human Rights Watch and APRODH documented the activities of such committees in parts of Ruyigi, Ngozi, and Bujumbura Rural, but they may also exist elsewhere.
Informal security committees were most often mentioned—and appeared to be the most prone to vigilante-like behavior—in Ruyigi province. There, in Kinyinya commune in May 2009, witnesses said that a security committee comprised of “young, strong men” arrested Cageya and Jean-Marie Ndireguheka, two men whom they suspected of stealing a bicycle, and beat them to death (see Case Study 3, below). This committee received support from the local administration, which then tried to cover up the committee’s role in the killing.
A similar “security committee” arrested and killed 25-year-old Dominique Harutimana in Gisuru, Ruyigi province, in January 2009. When residents learned that Harutimana had allegedly hidden several weapons in the bush, they suspected he planned to carry out a crime, “arrested” him at his home early one morning, and beat him to death. His father told Human Rights Watch and APRODH, “The population came at six in the morning to look for Dominique. There were more than 20 people – it was almost like a military attack. They told me to wake Dominique up and tied him up with a cord, with his arms behind his back... Later, some of those who took him came and said that I should come get the body because my son had died.”
One young man who was a member of this “committee” said they had also arrested and killed suspected thieves in previous years. Although he denied participating in the beating, he told Human Rights Watch, “Justice was done. They [authorities] should authorize the population to directly punish those who commit crimes, because the justice system just frees them.”
The same group who beat Harutimana eventually took him to the police brigade; he died shortly after. There were no arrests, despite ample evidence about who participated in the beating. The Gisuru judicial police officer claimed, “We couldn’t find the perpetrators.” To Harutimana’s family, this seemed to amount to a tacit if not explicit authorization on the part of the authorities to allow the killing. Harutimana’s teenage sister told Human Rights Watch and APRODH, “It makes me sad that he was killed, but it was the whole population against him. There’s nothing we can do.”
In Tangara commune, Ngozi province, a police official told Human Rights Watch that administrative officials often mobilize the population to carry out searches for suspected criminals, without informing the police. This happened in a December 2008 case: when a bicycle and clothing were stolen from a home, the chef de colline organized search committees the following day, but did not inform the police. That night, residents caught and beat to death a suspected thief, Kitamosa Manirambona. After such incidents, the police official said, “the population and local officials cover for each other.”
Given the prevalence of mob violence in Burundi, without a police presence to ensure lawful behavior, the risk is high that such local search committees—composed of angry crime victims—will use violence when they encounter a suspect. A chef de zone in Tangara described another such killing in which local authorities had mobilized a search and then left the search parties to their own devices: “That evening, the police arrived late, because it was night. The population beat the thieves in the meantime because they were angry—and because when someone from the administration is not there, the population tends to do what they want.”
In Nyamurenza, Ngozi province, men take turns carrying out nightly security patrols. An informant told the chef de colline on February 23, 2009, at around 6 p.m., that his friends were planning a robbery that night. The chef de colline informed the three police based at a local police position. Without consulting their superiors—perhaps because of the communication difficulties described above—two of them decided to apprehend the alleged thieves, while the third stayed behind at the position. The two police officers organized a group of local residents, which witnesses estimated at 50 to 100 men, who went to the targeted house and hid in the bushes, waiting to “ambush” the thieves. According to a witness, the intent was to arrest the thieves, not to kill them, but no contingency plan had been made in case the thieves resisted arrest. When the thieves were caught, one stabbed to death the resident who had grabbed him. Other residents then beat and stoned to death three of the other thieves, while the police stood by helplessly.
In Mubimbi, Bujumbura Rural province, the communal administrator gave instructions to residents to arrest a well-known thief, Salvator Bitwi, if they saw him in the area. The residents proceeded to do so, but then beat him to death rather than turning him over to the police. As a communal official put it, “He was beaten because people had known he was a thief for a long time. They didn’t want to take him to the police, because they were really tired of him and his group.” In addition to the role of authorities in organizing the security committee that killed Bitwi, a police official also played a role in freeing the perpetrators, as discussed below.
The authorities sometimes make participation in such groups obligatory. In Nyabitsinda, Ruyigi province, a resident said that men are obligated to carry out nighttime rounds in groups of three or four. He said those who did not participate were fined by the local administration.
At times, the administration did not appear to organize the rounds itself, but administrative officials were aware of them and did not appear to take measures to ensure that they did not result in killings or other violence. Such was the case in Gitega province, which was subject to routine armed banditry in 2009 by a group led by another so-called “notorious bandit,” Cédric Mazoya. Mazoya was of the Twa ethnic group, which makes up approximately one percent of Burundi’s population and has historically suffered discrimination. His band’s main activity appeared to have been carrying out armed robberies—sometimes with the complicity of the police —but he also framed himself as a “liberator of the Batwa people.”
In response, residents of the affected communes organized night rounds to search for the bandits. Participants in the rounds numbered as many as 30 people and they were armed with machetes and iron rods.
On September 10, 2009, a group of Batwa was returning to Giheta at around 5:30 a.m. from a family gathering in a neighboring commune. One of them described the subsequent events:
We were coming back from the party [when] the people at Bihororo carried out an ambush at the river with machetes. We were afraid and ran. There were about 30 of them at first, and also about 30 of us, including women and children. The people chased us and intercepted us. Many more people joined and we couldn’t flee anymore. They started to beat us. It was almost the whole village who was there. For several days there had been thefts, and they suspected us. [...] We were tied up and beaten. [...] One of our group was killed. He arrived last, and saw that others had already been beaten. He asked why, and they started to beat him too. He ran and they chased him. When they brought him back 20 minutes later, he was almost a cadaver. [...] I have headaches now and I can’t carry anything on my head.
The man who was killed was an 18-year-old named Jean Bukuru. Other beating victims included a 12-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl. Bukuru’s mother, who was also beaten, watched him die before her eyes; she told Human Rights Watch and APRODH, “I saw my son being killed. There was nothing I could do other than cry. There was nothing anyone could do.”
Some youth “security” groups are currently affiliated with political parties, both the ruling CNDD-FDD and various opposition parties. Common throughout the countryside, they may present a particular risk in triggering mob justice, even when no political issues are at stake, in that they see their role as “ensuring security.” Thus far, they do not seem to be frequent perpetrators of mob justice, apart from playing a role in the political cases above. However, in Gihogazi commune, Karusi province, a suspected thief was seriously beaten on August 28, 2009, reportedly by members of the Imbonerakure, the CNDD-FDD youth league. (The motives of the beating did not seem to be political.) CNDD-FDD youth were also said to conduct night patrols in Gashoho, Muyinga province, recalling their behavior shortly before CNDD-FDD won elections in 2005.
As elections approach in mid-2010 and partisan youth groups become increasingly present and active, there is a risk that such groups will play an increased role in mob justice, particularly given that such beatings and killings are often positively received by local residents who have been victims of crimes.
Official Negligence
The difficulties for local authorities and police in preventing or stopping mob justice that is already underway cannot be underestimated. In a number of cases, some discussed below, police or local officials have attempted to put a stop to mass beatings, and have themselves been injured. In other cases, however, the failure of officials to protect victims of mob justice is evident.
For instance, BINUB reported that in Bururi province in August 2009, “a man was reportedly beaten up by a group of unidentified individuals who accused him of theft. The man was left seriously wounded, when the district chief [chef de quartier] reportedly passed by, but did not give him assistance. A few hours later, the victim died.” Judicial authorities opened an investigation into the beating but had not made any arrests at the time of this writing. According to Burundian law, an official who fails to provide assistance in such a situation can be prosecuted for “lack of public solidarity.”
Case Study 3: Mob Justice by Youth “Security Committees,” Kinyinya Ruyigi Province, May 2009
Kinyinya commune in Ruyigi, next to Gisusu, lies along the Tanzanian border in a region known for high levels of crime, including cross-border networks of thieves who ambush vehicles. In May 2009, several such ambushes had recently occurred. On the night of May 11, a much less serious crime took place: a bicycle was stolen from a shed belonging to Véronique Nyandwi, at Rusange colline, close to the center of Kinyinya. Two passers-by, according to Nyandwi, had asked to leave their bicycles there for the night. When they came back in the morning, one bicycle was missing.
Nyandwi, afraid she would be accused of complicity in the theft, sent someone to alert the chef de colline in Muvumu, just across the road. That evening, a “security committee,” which residents described as being composed as “young, strong men,” set out to catch the thieves and retrieve the bicycle. According to the judicial police officer in Kinyinya, the chef de colline gave orders to the security committee to conduct the search. The communal administrator denied that a security committee even exists, but residents and other officials all acknowledged its existence and said it is regularly called upon by police and administrative authorities to help carry out arrests.
The group of youth identified two young men, Cayega and Jean-Marie Ndireguheka, as suspects. According to Cayega’s mother, “They came at night and threatened to burn our house down if we didn’t say where Cayega was. [...] There were many people. The yard was full of youth, and some were drunk.” It is unclear where Cayega was taken that night, but his mother said that youth security committee brought him back to her house in the morning, along with Ndireguheka, and that he looked like he had spent the night in dirty water, and had wounds on his arms and legs. (When the youth came to get Ndireguheka, said his mother, “They took my son like they were taking a cow to lead it to the slaughterhouse.” )
The youth security committee and other residents, including at least one official, a nyumbakumi, appeared to be trying to solicit a confession from the two men and determine where the bicycle was hidden. According to Cayega’s mother, “The nyumbakumi was threatening, ‘We’ll take you to Ijenda and bury you.’” (Ijenda is a nearby colline where, according to the mother, “the population has a reputation for being brutal.”)
Instead, the group took them to a small wood just across the road. There, the beatings continued until the two men were dead. Their bodies were dumped in a hole in the ground and covered with dirt.
The governor of Ruyigi, Cyriaque Nshimirimana, publicly condemned the killings. He told Human Rights Watch that the complicity of local authorities was evidenced by the fact that for a week, no one alerted the police to the killings. A judicial official in Ruyigi similarly referred to the case as one of “complicity by the administration” and a probable “police cover-up.” The police—who likely had some idea of what happened, given that the incident took place on a main road just two kilometers from the police post—delayed the initiation of investigations. When they finally did so, they arrested a group of seven people, including the chef de colline, who had apparently authorized the security committee to carry out the arrests, and the nyumbakumi, as well as the head of the youth security committee. But according to one police official, “about 500 people came to protest in front of the commune, to have them liberated, and we had to free them.”
Only one suspect was transferred to prison, a former CNDD-FDD combatant named Didace Ntamirukiro. According to Ntamirukiro, whom Human Rights Watch interviewed in Ruyigi prison,
At 1 o’clock the next morning [after the other arrests], the police chief came to my house with another police officer, woke me up, and hit me. He said “Explain why you killed those people | ||
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] | 2024-07-29T22:27:06+00:00 | This page has been approved by staff members of the group in the page in question. Proof can be found here. CineBlox Productions (known as simply CineBlox), is an animation production studio, which also serves as main cinema chain in the United States. CineBlox houses offices and their two... | en | https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/robloxcities/images/4/4a/Site-favicon.ico/revision/latest?cb=20240726045830 | Robloxiapedia | https://robloxcities.fandom.com/wiki/Cineblox_Productions | This page has been approved by staff members of the group in the page in question. Proof can be found here.
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CineBlox Productions (known as simply CineBlox), is an animation production studio, which also serves as main cinema chain in the United States. CineBlox houses offices and their two headquarters in Brookhaven and CineBlox City, respectively and CineBlox Studios Theme Park in the neighborhood of Bloxywood in Bloxburg.
Blox Home Entertainment Systems and Cinemas, formed in June 1976, began with distributing direct-to-video pictures for home media releases before expanding to release films for cinemas; they also co-developed the television series RSCP. However, the company's quality began to deteriorate and nearly went bankrupt as a result of a major change in leadership and a lack of funds. In 2000, the company rebranded as Cineblox Holdings Incorporated and began to form a cinema chain, eventually becoming the most successful cinema chain in the United States by the 2010s, surpassing X Cinema. Loui officially formed the studio on August 9, 2019, and began producing feature films for their cinema clain. Since then, they have created more than 42 feature films and short films. First beginning with the short film Noob Astronaut (2019), their first feature film, Pumpking was released later in the year. Their most recent release, Half-Blox, was first released in theaters on May 16, 2024. Their upcoming state of films include Game Over, which is slated to be released in the fall of 2024, and Pandora's Box, which has an uncertain release date.
Since its major rebrand in 2019, CineBlox has collaborated with over eight production studios to produce films, including FoxScreen Production, Studio D313, Gorge Entertainment, SP Studios, Nova Studios, and Daring Industries, one of the most critically and commercially successful production studios. Several television series were also produced, such as Obby Lord and Joey & Chloe, and a streaming service, titled OddoTV. Depending on which movies are in theaters, the movie theater can restrict Robloxians above a certain age at any time. Currently, the movie theater is not restricted, but the movie theater warns that there might be unrealistic light blood on the movies.
History[]
2000–2019: as CineBlox Holdings, Inc[]
CineBlox's former name was CineBlox Holdings, Inc., and started operating small with over 20 theaters. CineBlox had grown to over 100 theaters in Robloxia after its founding. Their headquarters were in the City of Robloxia, before it rebranded.
2019–present: Rebrand as CineBlox Productions, start of producing features and major success[]
On August 9, 2019, Cineblox Holdings, Inc. had a whole rebranding, in which, they changed their name to just Cineblox Productions, and they moved their headquarters further down to Brookhaven. Cineblox expanded again with 100+ more theaters in the United States. Cineblox Productions began production on their debut short film and feature film in the same month as the rebranding.
Later in the year, the studio officially released their debut work, Noob Astronaut, which received favorable reviews. Following Noob Astronaut, on December 25, 2019, Cineblox Production announced their first superhero feature, Blaze, co-produced with the newly founded production company Daring Industries, which would be released in cinemas in January 2020.[1] The film was a tremendous commercial and critical success.
Their second major film, Bolt, was announced in April 2020 and directed by oddgotbanned[2]; it was released the following month in May to great reviews. Originally set for a theatrical release, due to the on-going COVID-19 epidemic, the film was instead distributed on streaming sites, making it the ninth-most watched film of the week. On August 9, 2020, a year after the branding, one of the most popular theaters had a substantial remodeling known as "V2."
Following the release of several films from other studios that were co-producing with Cine, on May 24, 2020, just days after the release of Bolt, the studio announced Riding Hood, a horror film directed by samfox_4; the film was officially released in theaters in October 2020, and despite positive reviews, it was a box-office flop. In July 2020, the company announced Blaze 2, which was released on October 17, 2020, the same month as Riding Hood.[3] A concert was held on the same day as the film's premiere.[4] The picture was a tremendous success. The film's timing was one of the key reasons that contributed to Riding Hood becoming a box office disappointment, due to how Blaze was popular.
The studio released Crazy Vacation, directed by samfox_4, in September 2020, and the picture received great critical reviews.[5] The picture grossed more than $200 million at the box office, making it a triumph.
Two further films, Pumpking 2 and Christmas Chaos, were released on November 28 and December 19, 2020, respectively. Both films were critical and commercial successes, ranking as the eighth and ninth highest-grossing pictures of the year. Cineblox Productions also added a new premium cinema experience, called CBX, in part of their another rebrand. It is a one-of-a-kind premium-movie experience, with it having a very large screen with the BMAX movie format, a lot of seats, LED lighting all over the theater, and many premium-front row seats. It was added in all theaters.
As of June 10th, 2023, the theater is liked by 692 Robloxians, disliked by 105 Robloxians, favourited by 2,098 Robloxians, and the total visitor count is 244,052 Robloxians. Theaters are airing a lot of movies, and the theaters varies for seat occupancy depending on the theatre. The maximum occupancy of the theaters as a whole is 700.
Theaters are where Robloxians can explore many of the cinema franchise's incredible movie creations, buy a ticket, eat popcorn, watch a movie, hang with friends, and do so much more. Unfortunately, theaters have no plans for private showings.
On December 15, 2021, permits were introduced to the theaters for the first time. Three permits exist:
Front Row Seats: This allows Robloxians to purchase premium front row seat tickets for an extra 40 ROBUX.
Speed Boost: This allows Robloxians to run on the theater for an extra 40 ROBUX.
All Theater Access: This allows Robloxians to visit any theater at almost any time for 60 ROBUX.
As of July 2023, these permits listed above are not for sale anymore at CineBlox, and new ones have been introduced. The CineBlox Productions company have also made the CineBlox app on phones so that one can book seats for movies early for an extra 7 ROBUX. This extra fee is independent on the type of theatre one wants the movie to be in. The app was introduced around the same time that CineBlox had rebranded their theatres.
CineBlox have rebranded their theatres and started a heavy construction project in the theaters in 2023 due to unknown reasons. The heavy construction project, once completed, will add two new premium types of theatres, CBX and 4DX-CBX. There will also be more theatre screens. These changes were announced by the CEO in April 2023.
On August 25, 2023, the Robloxian federal government closed the main theaters due to unknown reasons. The theater was placed under investigation by the Robloxian federal government until October 11, 2023. The theater reopened.
Theaters[]
All theaters are owned by CineBlox and are the same as the theater in Brookhaven. Right before entering is the Blox Office for movie tickets, and there are screens showing what movies are airing. It has self-ticket machines. When entering the doors, Robloxians are greeted with the concession area and the entrance to the CBX premium theatre. The arcade is located in another building right next to the theatre. Across from the Concession, there is a hallway that will lead to the auditoriums. Staff will do a ticket scanning procedure before entering the auditoriums section, and before heading to the movie. After a scan is completed, the Robloxian enters the Auditoriums section.
There are 7 auditoriums on each side and are numbered as odd and even. It includes screens 1-15. Screens 6, 5, 10 and 9 (the main CBX theatre) are CBX theatres which include BMAX, premium seating and a big screen, and are really big theatres, has LED lighting all over the theatre, and has Dolby Vision. Screens 7-8 are 4DX-CBX theatres, which uses the Roblox ScreenX format (fictional but is actually real) and 4D effects with special 4DX seating in a 4-4-4 configuration on 3 levels. Screens 1, 2, 3, 4, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 are all regular movie auditoriums, with a medium screen and big seating. In late July 2023, a theater extension was added, with 6 new screens, one of them being a CBX theater.
List of released and upcoming movies[]
List of all movies in CineBlox Cinemas (As of 8/15/24) Movie Producer Premiere Date Notes The Storm l1u2i3 (Loui)
Noob Astronaut (4D)
l1u2i3 (Loui) This animated short movie is CineBlox's first animated film. Was voted best film of 2019, and is available in 4DX-CBX and regular format theatres. The Haunted Mansion l1u2i3 (Loui) Night of the Killing oddgotbanned Pumpking l1u2i3 (Loui) Down l1u2i3 (Loui) Removed from the theater Santa's Workshop l1u2i3 (Loui) Blaze oddgotbanned (Daring Industries) First film of the Blaze film series. Bolt oddgotbanned (Daring Industries) First film of the Bolt series. Loui's Adventure oddgotbanned Hacked Channel Fulasio Riding Hood samfox_4 First film of the "Riding Hood" series. Crazy Vacation samfox_4 9/19/20 Blaze 2 oddgotbanned (Daring Industries) 10/17/20 This movie was voted as the best film of 2020. It is the fourth longest film in the Daring Industries franchise, with a runtime of 20 minutes, coming right after Tecton. It is also the second part of Blaze. Pumpking 2 samfox_4 11/28/20 Christmas Chaos Xx_AceGlider201 12/19/20 The Camp Xx_AceGlider201 2/13/21 Two-Dimensional Monster Plagiats_Boss Fan Film Roblox's Dumbest Advertisements Xx_AceGlider201 3/20/21 12 minutes long. The Bloody Homeless Plagiats_Boss 5/14/21 Bad Luck 75dogsforus 5/15/21 Fan Film In Saturn samfox_4 5/29/21 Moving Ice Superlands123 5/29/21 Fan Film Tecton oddgotbanned (Daring Industries) 6/19/21 This film is the third longest in the Daring Industries franchise, with a runtime of 30 minutes. It falls behind Bolt 2: A Green Past and The Zeniths. Based on the movie character of the same name. When Tecton's secret gets revealed, she must use what is revealed in order to bring peace to her planet.
Runtime: 30 minutes
Trouble in Area 51 Xx_AceGlider201 7/10/21 His Story Avriblox 7/19/21 Fan Film Chris vs. The Gamer YouFanx 8/2/21 Fan Film Riding Hood 2 samfox_4 (FoxScreen Productions) 9/25/21 Second part of "Riding Hood". Runtime of 22 minutes. The Favourite Friend Oinkley123 10/20/21 Fan Film The OutKasts SpoiledPeach (SP Studios) 11/28/21 The Zenith's oddgotbanned (Daring Industries) 1/29/22 The Zenith's, the only film to be released in CineBlox theatres in 2022 is the longest installment of the Daring Industries franchise, clocking in at 57 minutes, nearly one hour. It serves as the second part of the Tecton movie. Movie description:
In the aftermath of the events of Tecton, she goes to Earth to finish her mission but realizes it's tougher than expected. She aligns with some established and new heroes. Heroes like Blaze, Bolt Islander and Dark Brute. Together, they fight for a sole purpose.
Runtime: 57 minutes
Siren Head: Day of Dread AmigoVilla2002 12/20/22 Fan Film A King's Last Day oddgotbanned (Crescent Studios) 4/14/23 The first film to be released in 2023. Family and honour decide it all. A duel decides the future of two different families and one kingdom.
Runtime: 8 minutes
Earthquake: School's Out! AmigoVilla2002 5/12/23 Did not have a premiere event, released to CineBlox theatres on the same day as Bolt 2: A Green Past. Is the third film to be released in 2023. Bolt 2: A Green Past oddgotbanned (Daring Industries/Daring Studios) 5/12/23 This movie is the second installment of the Bolt series, running for 32 minutes, closely tied with Tecton. It holds the distinction of being the second longest film in the Daring Industries franchise, with only The Zenith's being longer, with a runtime of 57 minutes. This movie is the second to be released and the first to have a Red Carpet premiere in 2023. This is the seventh film in the Daring Industries Picture Universe (DIPU). Inverter Produced by Studio D313 and Daring Industries
Directed by Superlands123 and oddgotbanned
7/8/23 One of the most advanced movies in Robloxia, and is the sixth movie released in 2023 following The Illusion, and is the third movie released to have a movie premiere, following The Illusion. 8th film in the Daring Industries Picture Universe (DIPU).
Theatrically released to movie theatres in Robloxia on July 8th, 2023, beginning with a red carpet and then a premiere in the CBX theatre.
Produced by Studio D313 and Daring Industries, directed by oddgotbanned/Superlands123 and distributed by Cineblox Productions, tells of a character named Quin Taylor who spends her nights using her powers as a getaway driver for other criminals. Later finding herself involved in a bigger and more dangerous mess, Quin teams up with a mysterious vigilante to defeat and escape one of the most dangerous superhumans in the city. Movie description in the CineBlox app:
A criminal getaway driver with the ability to reverse time teams up with a nighttime vigilante to take down a crime lord.
Atmospheria Directed by Superlands123
--- Produced by Studio D313
7/24/23 Movie description in the CineBlox app:
A washed-up special unit officer is brought back into the station to train the new kid for his first big assignment.
The Time Loop Directed by
Mister Maroon Produced by WTRS Productions
June 2024 Fan Film The Illusion samfox_4
(FoxScreen Productions)
6/9/23 This highly anticipated movie had its glamorous Red Carpet premiere at the CineBlox Pavilion and was officially released on June 9th, 2023 in CineBlox movie theatres throughout Robloxia. Produced by FoxScreen Productions and samfox_4, this film is the fifth movie release of 2023 following Eye of the Storm, and is the second release to have a Red Carpet premiere in 2023, following Bolt 2: A Green Past. The Illusion, directed by FoxScreen Productions and samfox_4, tells about two teenage friends who decide to see a movie and are threatened by a strange entity they don't know is real or is an Illusion.
Runtime: 15 minutes
Crazy Vacation 2 samfox_4 TBA To be released Groundbreaker 1953 Cereal Lounge/David Antawn 10/14/23 This movie will be released on October 14th, 2023. It is the fourth movie to have a Red Carpet premiere and eighth overall to be released in 2023.
Not much is known about it's movie description. Runtime: 13 minutes
Eye of the Storm AmigoVilla2002 6/2/23 This movie was released in theatres without a Red Carpet premiere. It is the fourth film to be released in 2023, following Earthquake: School's Out!. A devastating hurricane swipes through an island town while a group of boys are separated from each other, leaving nothing but tragedy behind.
Runtime: 6 minutes
Game Over Avriblox Fall 2024 To be released Pandora's Box Roseaudite TBA To be released under Crescent Studios label Half-Blox (formerly R:SCP Containment Breach) AmigoVilla2002/Random Movies May 16, 2024 To be released.
Description: A malfunctioning machine causes a rip in time and space, colliding an alien borderworld with Earth, while a scientist must arm himself and fight aliens, interdimensional beings and the soldiers meant to protect and save the faculty, in order to save him and his colleagues.
On December 20, 2022, CineBlox Cinema announced that all Fan Films will be released on their Bloxtube account and will not be shown in CineBlox Cinemas for unknown reasons.
Currently there are 8 affiliated film producers making movies for the CineBlox Company.
Daring Industries/Daring Studios/DIPU - Owned by oddgotbanned
Crescent Studios, a sub-group for non-DIPU related films
FoxScreen Productions - Owned by samfox_4
samfox_4 is previously known as SamEveryday_blox4
Studio D313 - Owned by Superlands123
Formerly known as Super Visual Effects
Gorge Entertainment - Owned by Avriblox
SP Studios - Owned by SpoiledPeach
Nova Studios - Owned by crz4732 (aka USA)
Oinkley123
AmigoVilla2002
Previously affiliated film producers that have since left CineBlox
Fulasio
Plagiats_Boss
75dogsforus
YouFanx
Xx_AceGlider201
Movie Reviews
Maka: Groundbreaker 1953, 69/10
Credits[]
AmigoVilla2004 (original creator of this page)
ChikoritaTheRobloxian (was asked to recreate CineBlox Productions)
nxteonx (further recreated the page)
SuperVisualBuddhist (A film producer from CineBlox, had further recreated the page)
Visit the Theater[]
https://www.roblox.com/games/5797596824/CineBlox | ||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 9 | https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/116945/what-is-the-optimum-player-position-respective-to-mob-grinder | en | What is the optimum player position respective to mob grinder? | [
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] | null | [] | 2013-05-11T15:59:03 | I've noticed a bunch of rules regarding monster behavior relative to player position: they don't spawn near the player, spawn then despawn far from player, spawn and stay somewhere in between, move... | en | https://cdn.sstatic.net/Sites/gaming/Img/favicon.ico?v=103dcfc09166 | Arqade | https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/116945/what-is-the-optimum-player-position-respective-to-mob-grinder | Mobs won't spawn closer than 24 blocks. They won't move around when farther than 32 blocks. Those are the only rules you need to know for a grinder that relies on mobs walking around.
The inference is straightforward: you want your collection spot to be 24 metres away from the nearest wall of the grinder, and you want the far wall of the grinder to be 33 blocks away.
Or put another way, you want your grinder to be in the 8-metre-thick ring or shell around the player where mobs will spawn and move. In this illustration of the spawning distance rules, this thin shell of viable spawning area is represented by the light blue ring:
This implies that the optimal grinder is shaped like a ring or a ball surrounding the player. (Note that these distances are true radii, so if the grinder is above you in need to be closer than 24 horizontal metres!) Construction considerations make such a design less than optimal though, so a nice compromise is one to four towers that each fully enclose a section of the useful spawning shell; even if some of the floor space is "dead" sometimes, the less-perfect design allows you to move around in your collection zone a bit more and still have the grinder(s) work well. | ||||
5256 | dbpedia | 0 | 2 | https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099685/ | en | Drei Jahrzehnte in der Mafia (1990) | [
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] | null | [] | 1990-10-11T00:00:00 | GoodFellas - Drei Jahrzehnte in der Mafia: Directed by Martin Scorsese. With Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco. The story of Henry Hill and his life in the mafia, covering his relationship with his wife Karen and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito. | en | IMDb | https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099685/ | If there was one word that I could use to describe Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas": it'd be priceless.
A surreal and deeply fascinating take on life of Henry Hill who was involved in the Mob for three decades and his rise throughout the time span (and Nicholas Pileggi's book "Wiseguy").
There isn't a single moment in the movie where it doesn't miss a beat, you could only tell by the atmosphere of the time period and it seems so real.
The performances in this film simply make it even more memorable and how the characters are portrayed here especially by Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci (who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor), and Paul Sorvino are believable and easy to understand that they were a family, very close and tightly knit to the core. Also, how director Martin Scorsese lets the movie pace itself and keeps the viewer off guard in what happens deserves a lot of credit. | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 11 | https://www.agilealliance.org/resources/experience-reports/mob-programming-agile2014/ | en | Mob Programming – A Whole Team Approach by Woody Zuill | [
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] | 2015-12-11T21:53:05-08:00 | Mob programming is a software development approach where the whole team works on the same thing, at the same time, in the same space, and at the same computer. | en | Agile Alliance | | https://www.agilealliance.org/resources/experience-reports/mob-programming-agile2014/ | __cfduid1 monthThe cookie is used by cdn services like CloudFare to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis. It does not correspond to any user ID in the web application and does not store any personally identifiable information._csrfsessionThis cookie is essential for the security of the website and visitor. It ensures visitor browsing security by preventing cross-site request forgery._GRECAPTCHA5 months 27 daysThis cookie is set by Google. 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5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 31 | https://medium.com/verotel/dont-do-code-review-try-mob-instead-82149ef035df | en | Don’t do Code Review, try Mob instead | [
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] | 2022-01-28T13:48:06.908000+00:00 | The most significant problem of a code review is asynchronous ping-pong of quite difficult questions/answers. This is inefficient, but also makes people frustrated. Another approach is to do code… | en | https://miro.medium.com/v2/5d8de952517e8160e40ef9841c781cdc14a5db313057fa3c3de41c6f5b494b19 | Medium | https://medium.com/verotel/dont-do-code-review-try-mob-instead-82149ef035df | Code review disadvantages
Long feedback loop
Waiting
Multiple unfinished tasks
Written communication takes time, a lots of time
A typical day of programming meant for me “write code -> send to review”. What now? Eh… another task. The task was easy, let’s start a third one. Then urge the need for a review, then wait for a while, do a review by myself…
Finally — a review of the second task! No, I disagree, have to answer properly…. Another hour later I finish summarizing argumentation, and next day my colleague just answers OK. What? Just OK?!
The most significant problem of a code review is asynchronous ping-pong of quite difficult questions/answers. This is inefficient, but also makes people frustrated.
Another approach is to do code review as fast as possible. When I apply this approach, I end up doing code review all week long. And that’s not an exaggeration. The more code review I do, the more I receive requests for them. This leads again to frustration.
The goal of code review
What are benefits of a code review?
Sharing knowledge
Sharing responsibility
Improving code structure
Learning
A good code review covers all those aspects. But code review is just a tool, if we can find a better tool, we can throw code review away.
Mob programming
Mob programming means all team members are present in the same time in front of one screen. Or work remotely on a shared screen — that is my case.
I work in team of 4 people, and we work ~5–6 hours in day in the Mob style. At first we decide for the task, and when possible we rotate in driving sessions.
A session means there is a one driver — one who types/clicks, and one navigator — navigator tells the driver what to do. The 2 other team members keeps attention, and only when the navigator goes in a wrong direction, then interrupts. Navigator navigates for 3 minutes — really, just 3 minutes, and then rotate.
Rotation means that driver now navigates — should know next step, navigator takes a rest, and one of the 2 mobs drives. And after 3 minutes another rotation, and again, …
This rotation style is intense. You have to keep attention all the time, otherwise You’ll have to navigate in couple of minutes, and You’ll have no idea how to navigate.
To stay in shape we do regular breaks for bathroom/coffee, and of course a long break for a lunch.
Goals of code view are fulfilled
Sharing knowledge is instant — every team member follows the mental process, and knows why was what done.
Sharing responsibility in my opinion full — I take responsibility for everything that we produce as I can anytime say “I disagree” or “I have a better idea”.
Code structure is agreed by all team members, therefore is consistent and the best team members can do.
Learning… is again instant, and intense. If the navigator is good, they’ll not only call what to do, but also how to do it efficiently. I learn daily better software architecture, better testing strategies, how to use IDE efficiently, … just because navigators know (and share) pieces I’m missing.
All in all, Mob is in my opinion superior to code review in every aspect. And code review ping-pong frustration.
Mob must be inefficient
For first couple of weeks I thought that Mob is inefficient.
And that is definitely true when the team is settling or when team members aren’t yet experienced with languages and tools. In that period, Mob is extremely about learning.
But once the team passes these initial weeks, it becomes very different.
Almost everyday I experience a problem that would take me at least an hour (or hours) to solve when I would be alone. But there are 4 of us, and usually someone else have an idea how to solve it within minutes. My colleagues confirms that they experience the same — they have no idea what to do, and someone else knows it immediately.
Every team member is also better/expert in a different discipline. One is good in DBs, one in the framework we use, one is eg. good in decision making. So when the navigator is stuck, this one “expert” helps to overcome obstacles. And that happens instantly.
Mob requirements
Mob programming isn’t for everyone.
At first if You cannot be in the same time together (remote is ok), then it doesn’t work.
Mob requires good communication skills. There is no space for passive-aggressiveness; or arrogance. If You want to show You are better than Your colleagues, You aren’t a candidate for Mob.
Mob requires patience and respect — everyone isn’t always in the best shape and condition. If You like to rush solution, and You aren’t interested in leading/teaching colleagues, the Mob won’t work. Your colleagues won’t get better and the team won’t improve.
That’s all. If You can be in the same time (even remotely) together, You are patient, interested in new approaches, and Your colleagues have similar point of view, go for it. Mob is the way!
Mob vs Code Review
If I compare Mob vs code review, I have to laugh.
In code review style, I would struggle to solve an issue for hours, then I would send solution to code review, then I would wait, then the reviewer would suggest changes, I would argue for my solution or change the code. After 2–5 days I would have a code ready to be merged, but then I would have to solve merge conflicts!
There is no such thing in Mob programming.
Struggle is limited by team members experiences
No waiting
Instant argumentation/code change
Less merge conflicts
Mob has much more benefits, the most important for me is improving relation between me and my colleagues. Even programmers are social creatures, and Mob helps a lot.
I’d like to summarize that Mob programming dramatically shortens the feedback loop, and it has awesome consequences. | ||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 89 | https://underthehood.meltwater.com/blog/2016/06/01/mob-programming/ | en | Mob Programming - the Good, the Bad and the Great. | [
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"Engineers at Meltwater"
] | 2016-06-01T00:00:00 | After a particularly rough couple of months last year, our team (of six) decided it was time for a radical move. At the point we were so downtrodde... | en | /favicon.ico | https://underthehood.meltwater.com/blog/2016/06/01/mob-programming/ | After a particularly rough couple of months last year, our team (of six) decided it was time for a radical move. At the point we were so downtrodden that our small hope that it would at least provide something new was enough of a motivation for us to decide on a two month experiment: we would try mob programming.
The How
Mob programming is pair programming taken one step further. The entire team gathers around one (preferably big) screen, take turns sitting at the keyboard, and work on a problem together. You can use it for solving just the one bug, you can do it a few times a week, or you can go all in. We went all in.
We hooked up one of our computers to a projector, faced a couple of desks the same way, and started to tackle all our problems together. Really, ALL of them. We coded together. We answered mail together. We handled emergencies together. We took breaks together. We did not go to the bathroom together, but we might almost as well have. At some point we started referring to ourselves as “the collective”.
Progress at first was a slow, hair-pulling, nail-scratching experience of finding out exactly how far we were from each other in terms of preferred methods, architecture ideas, typing speed, shortcuts (imagine sharing your shortcut setup with five other people!), knowledge and talkativeness. The first two-four weeks were more or less excruciating.
The Benefits
Work never stopped. Someone home sick? Someone leaving early? Not a problem. The mob was always there, ever moving on, like a scary blob creature.
Knowledge sharing increased by bounds and leaps. After a ridiculously short while we all had access to the total shared knowledge of the team members, since we all had to go through each other’s motions. We knew all the quirks of someone’s newly built service, we extended our knowledge of nifty shortcuts, we learned to deploy. Our testers learned to code and script beyond what they had done before, and our developers learned to adapt a much more test driven way of thinking. When you yourself have to performance test your service, you build a more testable service.
We no longer have different ways of deploying to production, writing tests, exploratory testing, or most other things you can think of, instead we are all doing it together. What’s more, this means that we get to hear all those little smart ideas and tricks that were contained in people’s heads in the past, and they become part of a new and improved way of doing everything.
The overhead got removed. All of those little sync things are no longer an issue. You have in issue you need to bring up with your team? Instead of waiting for a standup or calling a meeting, you just open your mouth. Chances are good that your team members were just about to do the same thing, since you stumbled on the issue together. Everything gets resolved as it is brought up, saving you both time and emotional effort.
Anyone could go to any meeting. Since we all knew exactly what was going on with everything we did, any member of the team could represent in any meeting.
Our tooling improved. When working together like this every minute is precious, and laborious manual procedures that you just buckle down and get done as an individual can no longer be tolerated.
Individual weaknesses could be overcome. When you all have to think and work through each other, your weak points become exposed very early on. Instead of hiding them from your team members, they become obvious to everyone, and thus dealt with. We found that we very quickly evened out the playing field of individual shortcomings.
Interpersonal issues and friction had to be resolved. When interpersonal issues happened they get brought up much more quickly. In a ”normal team” when there are these types of interpersonal issues they are often allowed to fester. People who have issues only need to deal with each other for limited periods of time, so they just grin and bear it. This isn’t really possible inside of the mob because you would go completely insane.
Stress levels dropped. When responsibility was suddenly explicitly shared across the team, individuals no longer felt as guilty for the entire team failing. Weaknesses were exposed very early, and handled before they could fester.
We became more daring and forward. When you are facing obstacles together rather than individually, it is a lot more easy to make brave decisions. You decide to override a rule or kill off a service together, and as such you know that it is defendable and that your team members will always have your back.
We became friends. Well, we were friends earlier as well. But having to actively work on a close relationship with a group of people forges friendship, and in the long run we found ourselves closer than we had been before.
But this can’t possibly be efficient?!?
We are starting to get used to people looking at us like were crazy when we talk about this, and they are always certain that this can’t be efficient.
Here’s the crux of it, typing isn’t the bottleneck in software development, and writing code isn’t building a product. The real cost is solving the problem, waste, and rework. Mob Programming addresses all those things and more.
What have you got to lose?
We aren’t claiming this is perfect, or it will be the best way of working forever, or that this will work for every team. But the benefits we have seen have far outweighed the initial pain that it caused and has moved our team to a whole other level. We are happier, more productive, and more knowledgeable.
Even if you don’t believe any of this could possibly work we would argue it is worth a short experiment to find out. At the very least we promise you’ll learn something about yourselves and your team. | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 5 | https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/mob-land-review-1235686638/ | en | ‘Mob Land’ Review: John Travolta Patrols an Indie Crime Drama That Is Strong on Atmosphere but Short on Originality | [
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"Joe Leydon"
] | 2023-08-03T22:26:42+00:00 | John Travolta plays a world-weary sheriff in 'Mob Land,' Nicholas Maggio’s diverting but derivative rural noir. | en | Variety | https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/mob-land-review-1235686638/ | Writer-director Nicholas Maggio may not have intended to be self-critical when, fairly early in his debut feature “Mob Land,” he has one character observe to another about their failing small Southern town, “This whole place has become a fucking cliché.” But the longer this slackly paced rural noir continues, the more that dialogue seems in retrospect like fair warning. Borrowing freely from “No Country for Old Men,” “Collateral” and maybe a dozen or so other superior films, Maggio has cobbled together a modestly diverting, effectively atmospheric but blatantly derivative crime drama sprinkled with a few joltingly nasty plot twists.
It helps a lot that the first-time feature filmmaker has cast just about every role with an actor fully committed to their part. Better still, some of the briefly glimpsed supporting players do their bit to ratchet up the suspense by conveying sweaty desperation, darkly comical fury, or both.
At one point, an underworld boss brusquely dismisses the affectations of his minion thusly: “This Steve McQueen, Johnny Cash bullshit — it’s tired. Straighten up.” At another point, an unfortunate lowlife facing heavily armed but obviously amateurish robbers asks his unwelcome guests: “What’s your favorite ‘Death Wish’ movie?” It’s part of a standard-issue threat that’s inevitable in this kind of crime story — basically a variation of “Do you guys have any idea whose money you’re stealing?” — but also a promise to ultimately get all Charles Bronson on their butts.
Actually, the two would-be desperadoes might have fared better going up against the late, great action star. Shelby (Shiloh Fernandez), a small-town mechanic and family man trying to succeed on the local racing circuit, takes part in the heist at a strip-mall pill mill only because he’s anxious to provide for his wife (Ashley Benson) and their young daughter (Tia Martino) after losing his job. And, perhaps more importantly, because he’s much too credulous when his reckless brother-in-law Trey (Kevin Dillon) promises that Shelby will just be along for the ride as a getaway driver and, besides, the place is guarded only by “slack-jaws with a pill problem.” Dillon does full justice to the film’s funniest line, when Shelby hesitates before donning a ski mask prior to the robbery: “What? Does it clash with your outfit?”
Naturally, nothing goes according to plan and, just as naturally, the robbery leads to mayhem and, worse, triggers the arrival of Clayton (Stephen Dorff), a relentless New Orleans mob enforcer who obviously has embraced Anton Chigurh as a role model. When he’s not peppering innocent bystanders with aggressively friendly queries about their ambitions, he’s philosophizing about the randomness of fate and the meaninglessness of life. That, or he’s killing people.
Meanwhile, local Sheriff Bodie Davis (John Travolta), stoically doing his duty despite a cancer diagnosis, plods through various crime scenes with a world-weariness that could easily be mistaken for laziness until he indicates just how sharply observant he is. During the opening moments, he is badly shaken, if not downright bereft, when he discovers while hunting in the woods that he only wounded a deer, and must put the animal out of its misery. Fortunately, his aim eventually improves.
To give Maggio fair credit, he conveys throughout “Mob Land” a keen sense of life, death and desperation in a small Deep South town where the economy has cratered and expectations have diminished, and where accidental death by oxycontin overdose has become so commonplace that no one seems shocked anymore by the latest fatality. Indeed, Trey actually uses the epidemic as part of his sales pitch while convincing Shelby to be his accomplice, claiming their crime will be an act of revenge against the outsiders who brought the addictive drug into their town to exploit the hopeless. Shelby doesn’t argue the point too aggressively, probably because he’s been using medication himself for reasons not explained until late in the movie.
Nick Matthews’ hand-held camerawork is by turns arresting and distracting, but is well suited for sustaining tension in key scenes. Performances are persuasive across the board. Dorff is especially impressive as he keeps his purposefully amoral character’s philosophical musings from sounding too much like hackneyed pretentiousness. Fernandez never hits a false note as he traverses a wide range of emotions, while Travolta brings a welcome touch of moral gravitas to his role as a lawman who doesn’t appear to care when he’s underestimated, and occasionally takes an extralegal approach to restoring balance in his community. Whatever works. | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 70 | https://www.cruiserswiki.org/wiki/MOB | en | a Cruising Guide on the World Cruising and Sailing Wiki | [
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World ▶ Safety and Survival ▶ MOB
Man Overboard
One Important Lesson Before You Go Overboard
In EVERY MOB incident surveyed to date, 100% of the people who did not go overboard survived the incident. The simple rule is to keep those harnesses on and lanyards attached when up on watch, and don't unclip to go pee over the transom. I always have spare lanyards on board so if you need to take a second to go maneuver around some obstacle on foredeck, go take one. Better to have the second lanyard get in your way than to get hit by a big wave while you're unclipping/reclipping your only lanyard and end up in the drink.
Man Overboard Procedures
Man overboard, all hands on deck, the dreaded cry that is every sailor's nightmare, a crewmember overboard, probably in the worst possible conditions, at night with a sea running.
Unfortunately, with most crews the person in the water is now in deep trouble, no pun intended. Recovery manoeuvering hasn't been practiced much, if at all, and what those on board do in the next few minutes will have a direct bearing on whether or not the MOB is successfully recovered.
In short, for a recovery to be successful we must perform the following three tasks nearly simultaneously.
Keep sight of the MOB
Deploy the MOB marking gear
Begin recovery manoeuvre.
Keeping the MOB in sight
The first priority is to keep the MOB in sight. It is important to stress during your pre-sail briefing that if anyone sees someone go overboard, their job, besides loudly announcing MAN OVERBOARD, is to keep the MOB in sight as well as call and point out his position relative to the boat. You must make it clear to all that if they have the MOB in sight, their one (and only) job, until told otherwise by you, is to keep their eyes locked on the MOB. To look away for even a second is to lose sight of the MOB.
The lookout should hold their arm out, pointing at the MOB, lining up their forefinger and the MOB. When they disappear for a second, the finger will still be pointing near where the MOB is located.
In every class I have ever taught the lookout eventually looks away, usually just for a second and is always surprised when they can't find the simulated MOB in the water. Remember only a person's head will be visible, and perhaps an arm if he is waving.
Deploy the MOB Marking Gear
We must also deploy the MOB marking and survival gear. Unfortunately, on many boats the gear is located where it will take too long to deploy. Deployment of poles, life rings, MOM units and such must require no more than pulling a lanyard and having the gear fall away.
I've seen poles stored at the shrouds, poles that are tied up so well it will require precious minutes or a knife to release, strobe lights and life rings secured with several wraps of line, horseshoe buoys with their strap wrapped around a pulpit bar so they won't be accidentally lost. MOB gear MUST release instantly if it is to properly serve its function. Any delay in releasing your MOB gear will leave it too far from the MOB to do him/her any good. Keep in mind that at six knots your boat is leaving the MOB behind at the rate of 10 feet per second, or 600 feet each minute.
Recovery Manoeuvre
Now we come to the actual recovery manoeuvre. Currently, the various instructional and safety authorities differ on what manoeuvre is best, so the best solution is to learn all the techniques available. Practice will help you to determine the method that will work best for the situation you are confronted with.
For all those teaching MOB recovery stress the importance of remaining as close to the MOB as possible and the Quick Stop and Jibe manoeuvres do exactly that.
However, today we find most boats generally shorthanded and steered on autopilot with no one on or close to the helm when an MOB occurs. The result is that by the time someone gets to the helm and physically takes control of the boat you will have already sailed far enough away that short radius manoeuvres such as the Quick Stop and Jibe won't work and a Figure 8 manoeuvre or variation thereof will be required.
All the following manoeuvres have three points in common.
First, they can all be carried out by a shorthanded crew, i.e., one person.
Second, all the manoeuvres require that your final approach to the MOB be made from a close reach. This is the only point of sail from which it is possible to both fully luff the mainsail and repower the sail to maintain forward movement if you should find yourself stopping short of the MOB. Trim adjustments to repower the mainsail should be done before you lose steerage: haul in on the mainsheet until the mainsail stops luffing, then, as boat speed picks up, you can haul the sheet in tighter for more power.
Finally, in each case you must determine whether to approach the MOB to windward or leeward. The sea state and the condition of the MOB are the determining factors in your decision. If the MOB is waving at you, surrounded by gentle seas, then you just need to get close enough for the MOB to catch a heaving line, regardless of the wind direction. If the MOB is unable to help himself then you must manoeuvre the boat close enough to reach the person from the deck. If the seas are large, approach to leeward of the MOB so the boat won't fall off a wave and cause further injury to the person in the water. If the seas are small you can approach to windward of the MOB. Either way remember the boat will drift faster than the person in the water will so have retrieval gear ready to deploy.
THE JIBE MANOEUVRE
From a close hauled or close reaching position the easiest and fastest recovery manoeuvre is the Jibe. It keeps you the closest to the MOB, usually within heaving line distance, and with very little work on the helmsman's part will bring the boat right back along side the MOB.
If someone is on the helm when the MOB occurs the helmsman simply jibes the boat. When the jib back-winds cast off the sheets and as the bow comes around to the MOB steer to bring him alongside.
If no one is on the helm when the MOB occurs and you sail a few boat lengths away before someone can reach the helm a jibe will still work. When someone does reach the helm jibe the boat as above except when the jib back-winds cast off the jib sheets and steer a course to take you downwind of the MOB to a point where you can head up to a close reach for your final approach. Cast off your mainsheet if necessary to bring the boat to a stop alongside the MOB.
THE QUICK STOP MANOEUVRE
The Quick Stop is best performed when close hauled or on a close reach. In some sea and wind conditions you may not have enough boat speed or sail power to tack the boat without trimming the main as you head up. With a shorthanded crew, trimming the main and steering at the same time may be difficult.
After successfully tacking, sail in a circle to windward of the MOB.
As you cross directly windward of the MOB begin to steer downwind to where you can head up and approach the MOB on a close reach. Keep the radius of the turn large enough that you can maintain steerage, making the circle larger or smaller as necessary to reach the MOB.
Keep in mind as you head up to a close reach it will be necessary to jibe. As you head downwind keep the boom in close to the centreline so you won't damage anything as you jibe.
THE FIGURE 8 MANOEUVRE
The Figure 8 manoeuvre has lost favour with some instructional agencies but it is still the manoeuvre of choice in many situations. When a jibe can't be performed for any reason, when the manoeuvre you just tried has failed, when in doubt as to which manoeuvre is best, do a Figure 8.
While the Figure 8 manoeuvre does take you a few boat lengths away from the MOB, it keeps up boat speed and manoeuvrability. It also keeps you on the same plane relative to the wind as the MOB and allows the crew a few moments to prepare and to gather themselves together.
The manoeuvre begins with the helmsman bringing the boat to a beam reach, with the lookout calling out the distance and direction to the person in the water. As the boat is sailing away the helmsman should look over his shoulder periodically and attempt to keep the MOB in sight. When the boat has sailed at least four to five boat lengths, further if necessary, and everyone is ready on deck, the helmsman tacks the boat, crosses his outbound wake and comes to a beam or a broad reach on the opposite tack, aiming for a point downwind of the MOB. While two to three boat lengths is usually sufficient, the real determinant is knowing how far the boat will carry in the existing conditions with the sails luffing. From a position downwind of the MOB, head up to a close reach until you are as far from the MOB as the boat will carry. Slack the sheets and, with sails luffing, coast up to the MOB.
Pros and Cons
Each of these manoeuvres has its advantages and disadvantages. If the conditions are right and the crew can react quickly enough then the Jibe manoeuvre is extremely quick, regardless of the sail configuration. The jibe will usually keep you within heaving line distance of the MOB. Timed tests with students new to sailing have consistently resulted in pick up times of under one minute.
The Quick Stop manoeuvre, which also keeps you close to the MOB, is preferred by many sailors. Keep in mind you must have enough boat speed to carry out the tack and to maintain manoeuvrability. You can easily find yourself in irons, especially if seas of any size are running. The Quick Stop is best carried out from a close hauled or close reaching position.
The Figure 8 manoeuvre takes you away from the MOB but allows you time to get control of the situation on deck. If the boat is sailed on a solid beam reach in both directions the MOB will be just to windward of you as you return and you will be nearly a perfect distance away to stop the boat alongside of the MOB as you approach on your final close reach.
If at all possible your recovery should be made under sail. It will be safer for the person in the water if you approach without the engine running and you are less likely to get a line caught in the prop. Research shows recoveries of MOB by vessels under sail are more successful than recoveries under power. Some of that success may be because the boats recovering under sail have practiced.
Recovering the MOB
Once you have the MOB alongside you have to get him back onboard. If the person is able to help himself, use a ladder. If the person is not able to climb aboard you will need to hoist them up with a Handy Billy (block and tackle) or a device like the MOB Up as even a weight lifter will find it impossible to lift a body encased in wet clothing aboard. Here the Lifesling comes into use, similar to the horse-collar lifting rings used by the Coast Guard to lift someone from the sea into a helicopter. The MOB places the Lifesling around their back and under their arms facing the opening in the Lifesling. Once the person is alongside a halyard or Handy Billy is attached to the sling and the MOB is hoisted aboard. The MOB Up has its own collar, but can use the rope and collar of the Lifesling.
If a Lifesling isn't available a piece of line with a loop large enough to pass over a person's head and shoulders will do fine. Make sure the loop is tied with a bowline and not a slipknot or you will injure the MOB as he is hoisted aboard.
Should it be necessary to send someone overboard to assist the MOB, several precautions need to be taken. If the water is cold, the person going into the water should be in foul weather gear, with their ankle and wrist bands, waist straps and collars tight to keep as much water out as possible. The person going into the water MUST also wear a life jacket and a safety line attached to the boat. The person going into the water should also be trained in water rescue, as in lifesaving techniques. Remember the MOB may be panicked and can easily climb on top of the rescuer and force him under even with the lifejacket on. A person trained in water rescue should be able to recognize the warning signs of panic as he approaches the MOB and take appropriate action. Think twice before you send someone over the side, because when you do, the boat now has two MOBs to deal with.
If the MOB is injured then precautions must be taken to prevent further injury when hauling him back onboard. If the MOB was hit by the boom, then injury is likely. If the MOB was hit in the head and is unconscious then a neck injury must be suspected and the head and neck stabilized before hoisting him out of the water. Exactly what you need to do in this situation and how long you take to do it will depend greatly on the water temperature, sea conditions, number of crew available to help and their experience level.
In general, for MOB recovery to be successful you must practice and practice and practice. You must practice in a variety of conditions and learn how your boat will react. Practice with crew and single-handed and with various sail combinations. Constant practice will result in skilful reaction to a very serious situation with a successful recovery.
I suggest you also play the What if game: Take a look at your MOB recovery equipment and ask yourself, If I need to deploy this gear, is it ready to go instantly? Do I know how to use it?
To help answer those questions, unpack and look over your Lifesling. Take out your Handy Billy or MOB Up and practice with it. Look to see where you will attach it to the boom or the stays and make sure the line is long enough to reach the water and back. If you intend to use a sheet winch to lift the MOB, plan the manoeuvre and make sure there is enough line to a winch via a block with a fair lead.
Hopefully, a MOB will never happen aboard your boat and all your practice will never be put to use. All that practice won't be wasted because a skipper who has a reputation for MOB recovery skill through practice will be one sought after by the best racing crew. Best of all, you'll be able to recover your favourite hat the next time it flies off your head.
MOB Gear
There are sailors, hopefully a smaller number every year, who steadfastly deny that they, or anyone on their boat, will fall overboard. While the number of people who go over the side unintentionally is small, especially considering the number of people who go sailing, if you're involved with a man overboard rescue, whether it's you or a shipmate, then the numbers aren't nearly small enough.
Prevention is the best cure, but people have spent unseemly lengths of time being towed alongside, attached by their tether, and in a case in last year's Atlantic Rally for Cruisers an overboard crewmember died before he could be brought back aboard by the lone remaining crewmember.
Start your MOB program by having everyone wear a harness and a tether whenever they venture topside, even to the cockpit, especially when things are piping up and seas break into the cockpit. From personal experience I can testify that you cannot resist a sufficiently big wave, regardless of what you are holding onto. The tether needs to be strong, the harness properly fitted and the attachment point capable of taking sizable loads, quite likely five or six times your body weight.
If the MOB is fully conscious, alongside the boat and attached by a tether, you may only need to drop a rope ladder or steps to him. If he's unconscious, you have a limited amount of time to get him back aboard. Even if you have several strong crewmembers on the rail, it is extremely difficult on a bouncing boat to pull someone up the sides and get them aboard. If you're shorthanded, as most of those who cruise are, it is impossible. Literally.
A mechanical force multiplier is needed, whether it's a sheet winch and a halyard or a dedicated block-and-tackle rig such as the ones made by Lifesling or the ratcheting lever system marketed by MOB Up. Both methods allow a single person to lift another out of the water and get them on deck.
If the MOB is no longer attached to the boat, place a high priority on getting a line to them. Throwing a line takes some measure of practice and skill, and with the MOB rapidly disappearing in the wake, you only have one chance. Several manufacturers offer throwing lines, packed in a throwable bag or as a weighted monkey's fist with a precoiled line in a bag that stays on the boat, while others offer products that will literally shoot a line to the MOB, using compressed air, a rocket or a modified shotgun.
You won't have time to go below and dig out the special gear, though, so a throwable line in a small bag, with either a weight or a ring the MOB can grab, will probably be the best compromise.
Prepacked throwing lines, with a weight, a float or a small quoit are available from nearly every manufacturer of marine safety gear, or can be put together yourself. The important thing is that they be kept handy in the cockpit and that the entire crew has practiced throwing the line.
Easily deployed boarding ladders, made of rope, nylon webbing or metal steps connected by rope, could be invaluable, and for single-handed sailors there are ladders that have a short length of line hanging over the side. Pull the line and the ladder drops down.
The whole business is made immensely more difficult and eventual rescue more unlikely if the MOB isn't wearing a life jacket. He won't float as high out of the water, won't have the gear that comes with a life jacket, and probably won't have a harness to grab. Even the bare minimum flotation provided by the belt-pack variety of life jacket, is vastly better than none at all.
The best way to deal with a MOB is to not let it happen, but if it does, you will be glad you spent a few afternoons practicing finding and retrieving your hapless shipmate. The confidence that will instil will make the process familiar during a time when panic has to be kept at bay.
Article courtesy of http://www.bwsailing.com
References
Publications, etc.
Forums
List links to discussion threads on partnering forums. (see link for requirements):
"Man Overboard" (on Cruiserlog)
MOB Report - Excellent article from US Sailing. (.Pdf)
We welcome users' contributions to the Wiki. Please click on Comments to view other users' comments, add your own personal experiences or recommend any changes to this page following your visit. Share your experience.
This page has an outline in place but needs completing. Please contribute if you can to help it grow further. Click on Comments to suggest further content or alternatively, if you feel confident to edit this page, click on the edit tab at the top and enter your changes directly. | ||||||
5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 10 | https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/the-irishman-martin-scorsese-longest-movie-ever-1202169264/ | en | ‘The Irishman’: At 3 1/2 Hours, It Will Be Martin Scorsese’s Longest Movie Ever | [
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"Chris Lindahl"
] | 2019-08-28T00:54:22+00:00 | "The Irishman" premieres at the New York Film Festival next month, without intermission. | en | IndieWire | https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/the-irishman-martin-scorsese-longest-movie-ever-1202169264/ | Martin Scorsese’s upcoming gangster film “The Irishman” has a runtime of 3 ½ hours, making it the filmmaker’s longest movie and the the longest mainstream American narrative movie in more than two decades.
It will play for audiences for the first time on Sept. 27, day one of the New York Film Festival, but with the unusually early screening time of 3 p.m., making the epic the festival’s “opening day” selection rather than “opening night.” A source confirms that it will run without intermission.
“The Irishman” will run 210 minutes; by comparison,”Wolf of Wall Street” was 180 minutes, “Casino” was 178, “Gangs of New York” 167 and “Goodfellas” 147. All of the films, except “Casino,” received nominations for best director and/or best picture.
Based on Charles Brandt’s nonfiction book “I Heard You Paint Houses,” “The Irishman” stars Robert De Niro as Frank Sheeran, a World War II veteran who became a mob hitman and played a role in union boss Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance. Al Pacino stars as the notorious mob-connected Teamsters president in his first Scorsese film. Joe Pesci also stars as mob boss Russell Bufalino.
The film, which spans decades, has already made headlines due to its use of VFX de-aging technology. The trailer, which dropped earlier this month, gave a peek at a younger-looking De Niro.
At 210 minutes, “The Irishman” isn’t quite as lengthy as Kenneth Branagh’s “Hamlet.” The 1996 Shakespeare adaptation runs an impressive 4 hours and 2 minutes.
Scorsese is likely still perfecting the film before its world premiere in exactly one month — the NYFF page for the movie notes that the runtime may change. If the director doesn’t cut any more, “The Irishman” will hold the distinction of running longer than “Godfather Part II” (3:20), “Exodus” (3:27) and “War and Peace” (3:28). (The epic “Ben Hur” is just slightly longer, at 3:32.)
Using old math, long movies have historically been risky for studios because they limit the number of theatrical showtimes. But this is a Netflix movie, and the streamer plays by its own rules. | |||||
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] | 2022-07-07T01:56:54+00:00 | Warner Brothers built their studio on gangster and crime films, romanticizing life in the mob to make it exciting, even glamorous in the thirties and forties. Yet there was always the end when the criminals died or went to prison, they always got what they deserved. ‘The Public Enemy’ (1931), ‘Scarface’ (1932) and ‘Little Caesar’ […] | en | The Cinemaholic | https://thecinemaholic.com/10-best-gangster-movies-of-all-time/ | Warner Brothers built their studio on gangster and crime films, romanticizing life in the mob to make it exciting, even glamorous in the thirties and forties. Yet there was always the end when the criminals died or went to prison, they always got what they deserved. ‘The Public Enemy’ (1931), ‘Scarface’ (1932) and ‘Little Caesar’ (1931) were the best of the early gangster films, and there were many through the decade and beyond. Never though was there an intimate, inside look at how the mafia or organized crime worked, and just how it impacted the men who were operating it, and their families surrounding them.
So really the gangster film, if there is a true gangster film, began with ‘The Godfather’ (1972), Francis Ford Coppola‘s magnificent look at the mob, a perverse study of the American Dream turned upside down and the story of a father and his three sons. Coppola drew on his own heritage as an Italian American and brought to the film an intimacy that might not have otherwise been there in the hands of another director. Of course, he brought a great deal more to the mix as well, casting (refusing to buckle), an epic seep yet intimate feel to the film, and we seemed to be on the inside of the dimly lit rooms where murder was discussed like going for groceries. The film allowed Marlon Brando to create one of the most iconic characters ever put on film, and win a second Academy Award for Best Actor, as well as a second coming of method acting and actors, with Al Pacino emerging as one of the important actors of the seventies.
The sequel, made just two years later, would surpass the first in every way, no mean feat, yet Coppola and writer Mario Puzo made it deeper, more complex, darker and near visionary. Both films won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Coppola twice won DGA Awards for his work, and their box office take was incredible. What the two films made clear, was the crime was just a business, no different to the men operating it than running as massive company, the difference being killing was art of the everyday routine, and was never taken personally. The best of the gang films followed suit, exploring how the business operated, and how the police were truing in one way or another to infiltrate the mob. Here is the list of top gangster, crime and mafia movies ever made. Good luck finding these best gangster movies on Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime.
20. City of God (2002)
I saw ‘City of God’ for the first time only recently, and I found it to be an exceptionally gritty examination of the life of crime and deceit, which in turn makes me feel good, as I have a masterpiece such as this to start my list off with. Capturing rural life in Rio de Janeiro with a raw, unpolished style, the film tells a dark tale of the lives of two brothers, who separate and go in different directions career-wise, one of them becoming a drug-dealing gang-lord, while the other slowly steps into the art of photography. It’s interesting, the way this film uses tools like narration and editing to communicate the various stages in the growth of the brothers, how they drift apart, and what eventually takes place when they meet each other again. The majority of South American, particularly Brazilian films I’ve seen, I’ve enjoyed for their brash approach towards filmmaking. In that sense, ‘City of God’ takes a relatively more formal path, but the impact it has on the viewer is still striking, and well worthy of applause.
19. White Heat (1949)
‘White Heat’ has always been one of my favorite film noirs ever made. Not many films in the genre try to dive deep into the psychological imbalance of their characters, forcing them to display the psychopathic traits they do, largely because noirs of the time had defined themselves as cold, unforgiving, and distant films, not bound by the tensions of personality development. ‘White Heat’ changed all that, with its icy, sadistic protagonist Cody Jarrett, a mentally disturbed gang leader with a strange appreciation for his mother, one that could be labeled abnormal thanks to its uncomfortable intimacy. Currently imprisoned, he communicates from within the prison walls to his henchmen, two of whom are hell-bent on double-crossing him and taking over his seniority. The film details his escape and the subsequent heist he directs his gang to perform, wherein things go terribly wrong, and it is all wrapped up with a climax that is nothing short of iconic.
18. Blood In, Blood Out (1993)
A good couple of gangster movies that I’ve seen deal with the lives of its protagonists in full, rather than focus on any particular events they create or encounter, perhaps because it is in the interest of filmmakers to capture the growth of their characters into notoriety, usually from humble, respectable beginnings. ‘Blood In, Blood Out’ is one such film, portraying simultaneously the lives of three cousins, whose lives change for the worse when they step up the ladder of drugs and crime, advancing from being members of their own street gang to much more brutal affairs. In a sense, the film is an attempt to understand the reasons as to why the leads have chosen to become what they have, captured with a noticeably low-budget touch to it all. The acting of this underrated film has been heavily criticized because of how unrealistic it is, and I’d be lying if I told you that I didn’t think the same in parts. The film succeeds primarily because of the strength of its story and the focus in its direction.
17. Mafioso (1962)
The simplicity associated with the mainstream Italian cinema of the ‘60s has a flair that is all its own. Taking the case of ‘Mafioso’, I love the way Antonio Badalamenti, the protagonist of this film, is built up. The film starts with him working a normal 9 to 5 job and taking care of a small family, but it is when things are slowly revealed about his past that the film shows a darker version of his character, not to mention that of his previously considered soft and harmless small family.
Throughout the picture, there’s this seamless understanding that nothing taking place in its runtime is worth considering too seriously, something that is portrayed with a light-hearted, almost self-mocking tone in style. I do however have issues with the way the film tries to take its humor one step further with unnecessary outbursts from characters, which was perhaps the norm in the formative years of Italian mainstream cinema, though it feels extremely dated today. Alberto Sordi shines as the protagonist, playing a role that requires him to sway from comedic to comically dramatic.
16. The Untouchables (1987)
Many people have told me that ‘The Untouchables’ is a film that wasted potential energy for a simplistic storyline. Now I’m not one to disagree with that statement, but in making its story easier and less researched than it could’ve been, Brian De Palma gives you an experience that’s immensely entertaining. Following federal agent Eliot Ness and his various attempts at capturing the infamous Chicago gangster Al Capone, the film is smart in how it continues to stay fresh and energetic for the entirety of its runtime. I love the way they show Ness getting his team together, after several failed plans and strategies at bagging the ruthless Capone due to the latter’s immense influences and sources of information around the city. I agree that the film would have been more interesting had it been presented with more attention paid to the details of the case, but as it stands, ‘The Untouchables’ is one of the most entertaining films I’ve seen in my life, and I feel myself coming back to it every time I feel like I need to relax.
15. The French Connection (1971)
The Best Picture winner at the 1972 Academy Awards, ‘The French Connection’ happens to be one of the tightest crime dramas I’ve seen in my life. Its runtime is more-or-less engulfed in this cat-and-mouse game between two nihilistic cops and a drug smuggling underworld team. This film has, as its primary source of energy, two magnificently written characters as the protagonists, played exceptionally by Gene Hackman, in what could be considered a career-best performance, and Roy Schneider.
Though it was considered extremely violent for its time, I wonder if the film will be treated with that same eye in today’s world, where we’ve been witness to several films that are bloodier and more gruesome than ‘The French Connection’ could ever have been. William Friedkin directs one of his best films ever with a strong balance of action and drama, unafraid to get slow at times when characters require their dose of development, and the plot asks for better grounding. There are few films out there that are as thrilling, nerve-wracking, and highly rewarding as this.
14. The Usual Suspects (1995)
I’ll be honest and tell you that I haven’t found ‘The Usual Suspects’ to be as good as the popular opinion claims it to be. It’s still a magnificent feature, but this is why I haven’t placed it higher on my list. Told with a reflective narration familiarising the audience with a series of events that lead to a shocking climax, it is often said that ‘The Usual Suspects’ has one of the greatest film endings ever written. I like the final reveal here (despite having it spoilt for me long before I’d had the chance to peek at it myself) because, upon a second viewing, more things begin to make sense, including character motivations and actions. Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie take very evident “inspirational” material from other similar films, walking the fine line between plagiarism and mere homage, which I didn’t appreciate on the whole. Overall, I think it’s a fantastic movie that is a little like many other movies that I’ve seen. Whether that makes the film worth checking out or not is entirely up to you.
13. Donnie Brasco (1997)
It’s a question that can come up often among the do-gooders among us, one that probably won’t have an answer without a complete understanding of human nature: why do people turn bad? ‘Donnie Brasco’ follows a young undercover cop named Joe Pistone, who attempts to infiltrate a mob family by assuming the film’s title as his own name and slowly gaining the trust of its most prominent players. Above all a subtle character study of the individuals involved, this adaptation of a true story is a soulful drama that asks the aforementioned question posed by do-gooders with its wonderful plot, though it does little to answer the same.
As time goes by, Al Pacino‘s character (the professional hit-man in the family), who is oblivious to Brasco’s real identity, begins to influence the young man well enough to make him consider the positives of working with the mafia, the very one he was supposed to try and put an end to. I like how complete the different characters in this film are, not just because of the excellent performances, but also because of how clear their motivations are made, and how justified this makes their many absurd and un-absurd decisions.
12. Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
The very essence of the life of a gangster is how daring and unafraid it is in relation to the law and its keepers that help maintain a society. The plot to ‘Angels with Dirty Faces’ ended up inspiring tons of similar films about shoddy people, including the underrated masterpiece ‘Sleepers’ (1996). Dealing in part with the upbringing of a couple of street boys, whom the local priest attempts to reform and make better, the film focuses on their admiration for a man with a criminal background named Rocky Sullivan (played by James Cagney), who is cheated out of money by his lawyer (Humphrey Bogart), to which Sullivan seeks to respond with cold-blooded revenge.
This was, perhaps, Cagney’s first great performance, and it fetched him several major awards. The final scene to this film is exquisite, and though I will not spoil it for you, I will tell you that it deals with a punishment, presented quite dramatically albeit strong with its dialogue and direction, leaving you with a moment that strikes deep, and hopefully justifying its position in a list of this kind.
11. Boyz n the Hood (1991)
‘Boyz n the Hood’ is a film about many things. On the surface, it tells a tale about growing up parentless in the ghettos of urban areas in the United States, investigating how such a background can end up influencing the individual, shaping his mindset and outlook on things. Using this, ‘Boyz n the Hood’ finds its roots in the gangster genre, outlining the violence, abuse, and lawless lives survived by the many who enter into the hood, either with or without their knowledge. With exceptional casting and direction, the film flows masterfully through its wonderful script, capturing the underbelly of downtown Los Angeles with an eye that isn’t afraid to show it like it is.
10. A History of Violence (2006)
Based on a graphic novel, directed tautly by David Cronenberg, this powerful little film explores what happens when a small town family man erupts with violence when two bad guys come into his diner late one night to cause trouble. Gunning them down he becomes a celebrity overnight, which brings MORE very bad guys to town searching for Joey, a hitman from Philadelphia. When they threaten his family, he again erupts with fury and guns them down, showing his wife who he is for the first time. He travels to the city to make peace with his brother, portrayed with frightening intensity by William Hurt, but it is far too late for that. Viggo Mortenson is brilliant as Tom Stall, also Joey, bringing to his performance a world-weariness of a man who did too much and saw too much in his criminal days and prefers married life and peace.
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9. Bugsy (1991)
Warren Beatty gives the finest performance of his career as the psychotic Benjamin Bugsy Siegel, who in the late thirties and early forties came to Hollywood, fell in love with it and never left. In the middle of the desert in Nevada he had a vision of a gambling haven called Las Vegas and he built the Flamingo Casino which became the first major hotel in Vegas, and gave birth to one of the worlds most extraordinary cities. Bugsy did that, yet never lived to see what his vision brought forth. A tough as nails and dangerous mobster, he was the muscle for Meyer Lansky (Ben Kingsley) and would be gunned down in his home by his own people. Beatty is ferociously good as Bugsy, charismatic and explosive, Kingsley superb as Meyer Lansky and Annette Benning excellent as Virginia Hill, Bugsys other obsession. Nicely directed by Barry Levison.
Read More: Best Biopic Movies of All Time
8. American Gangster (2007)
A biographical crime epic based on the life of Frank Lucas, portrayed expertly by Denzel Washington, a crime lord out of Harlem who for years imported heroin into the US in the coffins of dead young soldiers. We watch Lucas move up the criminal chain ruthlessly, taking what he wants with force, bringing his entire family close to him to work for him because he trusts no one. Hot on his trial are the narcotics squad, led by job obsessed Russell Crowe, who will not rest until he brings Lucas down. It is a big, sprawling film that moves about the world, from the stifling streets of Vietnam to the colorful Harlem ghetto, to the hot jungles of Cambodia. All of it anchored by a superb performance from Washington and an equally good one by Crowe, each knowing that at some point they are going to go toe to toe with one another.
Read More: Best Movie Couples of Last 30 Years
7. Casino (1995)
When first released there were obvious comparisons to ‘Goodfellas’ (1990) from critics (including me) but now with some distance and time, the film stands well on its own and is a frank and extraordinary glimpse into the world of Vegas. Robert De Niro is well cast as Ace Rothstein, a brilliant odds maker sent to Vegas by the mob to watch over their interests, but is hampered by the arrival of the vicious, murderous Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) who turns Las Vegas into the wild west. The woman between them is Ginger, portrayed superbly by Sharon Stone in the finest work of her career. It is a big sprawling film about how the mob becomes undone in Vegas, often brutally violent, but a careening, bouncy film delving deep into the minds and world of the people who inhabit Vegas. Far better than it was ever given credit for being. De Niro is superb, Pesci brilliant and frightening, Stone is a miracle and James Woods sleazy and perfect.
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6. The Departed (2006)
A remake of the Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs, director Martin Scorsese, transplanting the story to Boston, creates a crime epic spanning thirty years. Jack Nicholson, working with Scorsese for the first time is superb as an out of control gang leader running South Boston, with a mole in the police department, portrayed by Matt Damon, and without knowing one in his outfit, portrayed to perfection by Leonardo DiCaprio. There are strong supporting performances from Martin Sheen as a fatherly police captain, Mark Wahlberg as a vulgar assistant to the Captain, and Alec Baldwin, but it is Nicholson who dominates the picture. The tension is kept at its tightest throughout as discovery for both young men means death (or worse). One can sense the growing paranoia impacting a terrified DiCaprio as he edges closer to nailing Nicholson, but also to being found out, which means death. It is as good as he gets.
Read More: Best Twist Ending Movies of All Time
5. Pulp Fiction (1994)
Set in the world of crime, the lord being Marcellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), this is a non-linear work about those surrounding him and how they fit into his criminal empire. The two most likable in the film are a couple of hitmen, beautifully portrayed with grave intensity by John Travolta and fiery rage by Samuel L. Jackson, who go hunting for a renegade boxer played nicely by Bruce Willis. Superbly written, directed with brash, bold strokes, drawing inspiration from the seventies cinema and Hon Kong films, it is a wild ride that grabs you by the throat and never let’s go. Directed with energetic flare, it is a masterpiece of new cinema. No one, I repeat no one writes like Tarantino.
Read More: Best Movies With Strong Female Leads
4. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
A rich, haunting epic that spans forty years in the Jewish mob where we follow the rise and fall of Noodles (De Niro again) and Max (James Woods) two partners from boyhood who hook up and move quickly through the ranks to the very top of the organization. It’s bloody, no question and misogynistic in its treatment of women, but once it has its hooks in you I defy anyone to let go. Long at four hours (see the original version as the director intended) it has a leisurely pace and some strange choices (an endlessly ringing telephone) but manages to come together in its telling of an unusual story about loyalty and betrayal. De Niro and Woods are terrific as is Tuesday Weld, but Elizabeth McGovern is woefully miscast. Breathtaking cinematography and a haunting score are highlights. One of De Niro’s best pieces of acting.
Read More: Best James Bond Movies of All Time
3. Goodfellas (1990)
Director Martin Scorsese grew up watching wise guys in his New York world, the small time mafia boys who ran the neighborhood. Based on the best-selling book about Henry Hill, the subject of the film, a real life button man who betrayed his buddies and entered the Witness Protection Program, the film is a jaunty, almost bouncy journey through thirty years of life in the mafia. Hill saw it all and did it all, working close with some of the most prolific crime figures of the time, portrayed in the film by Robert De Niro, Paul Sorvino, and Joe Pesci, who is terrifying as an out of control killer. The picture beautifully captures the life of a mobster in their home, including interactions with the wives and children, and the hell they experience when their men go away. The movement of the camera creates an energy that is infectious as we watch all of this unfold, including some of the most brutal killings put on the screen. One of the most remarkable American films ever made. Directed with sublime confidence by Scorsese.
Read More: Best Movie Sequels of All Time
2. The Godfather (1972)
The one that revolutionized gangster films and the film industry itself, a massive success, soaring past Gone with the Wind (1939) as the highest money-maker of all time, and bringing to pop culture the mafia and Don Corleone. Francis Ford Coppola directed the film to perfection making both a film about the American Dream becoming perverse, and the story of a family whose business just happens to be crime. Presiding over the Corleone family is Don Vito (Marlon Brando), who after being shot will come to realize his son Michael took revenge and is now working with him to be the chief of the family. They will take down the other families in New York to solidify their power.
Brando might have won the Oscar for Best Actor but Pacino dominates the film with an extraordinary performance. In fact like the sequel, the picture is loaded with great performances, from the two leads through to Robert Duvall as the loyal adopted son, John Cazale as Fredo, James Cann as hot-tempered Sonny, and Diane Keaton as Kay, the woman Michael will marry and betray. Like the sequel, a remarkable film.
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1. The Godfather Part II (1974)
Arguably, the best American film ever made, the greatest film ever made. Stunning performances from Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Lee Strasberg and John Cazale dominate this remarkable film that explores the depth and reach of the Mafia as well as the immigrant experience. There are few more moving sequences than the boat sliding past the Statue of Liberty, hope and awe etched on the faces of the new Americans. Pacino was never better, his dark intensity dominating the film, radiating danger as he never has before or since.
In every way this film is a masterpiece, from the acting, direction and writing, through the cinematography, score, art direction and editing, it is flawless. Watching De Niro become the character we know will be portrayed by Brando in the first film is startling, it is such an achievement of performance, while Pacino as Michael, grasps the power and cannot shake it. An astounding, brilliant work of art, that has the sweep of a grand epic, and yet the intimacy of a love story. Genius. | |||||
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] | 2011-04-27T03:04:17+00:00 | en | /static/apple-touch/wikipedia.png | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mob_Wives | American TV series or program
Mob WivesAlso known as
Mob Wives: New Blood (season 4)
Mob Wives: Trust No One (season 5)
Mob Wives: The Last Stand (season 6)
GenreReality True CrimeCreated byJennifer GrazianoStarringTheme music composer
Rock Mafia (seasons 1–3)
Deap Vally (seasons 4–6)
Opening theme
"The Big Bang" (seasons 1–3)
"Baby I Call Hell" (seasons 4–6)
Country of originUnited StatesOriginal languageEnglishNo. of seasons6No. of episodes82 (list of episodes)ProductionExecutive producers
Jennifer Graziano
Bob Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein
David Glasser
Meryl Poster
Ben Silverman
Jimmy Fox
Banks Tarver
Ken Druckerman
Nina L. Diaz
Susan Levison
Shelly Tatro
Kari McFarland
Rick Hankey
Running time40–43 minutesProduction companiesOriginal releaseNetworkVH1ReleaseApril 17, 2011 ( ) –
March 16, 2016 (2016-03-16)Related
Mob Wives is an American reality television series that premiered on VH1 on April 17, 2011. The show focuses on the lives of several women residing in the New York City borough of Staten Island, whose family members and husbands have been arrested and imprisoned for crimes that are connected to the Italian-American Mafia.
The success of the show has resulted in several spin-offs, including Mob Wives: The Sit Down, Mob Wives Chicago, Big Ang and Miami Monkey.
Overview
[edit]
The show focuses on the lives of several women residing in the New York City borough of Staten Island, whose family members and husbands have been arrested and imprisoned for crimes that are connected to the American Mafia.
Season 1
[edit]
The first season premiered on April 17, 2011. Drita D'Avanzo, Carla Facciolo, Karen Gravano and Renee Graziano were introduced as the main cast.
Season 2
[edit]
The second season premiered on January 1, 2012, with Angela "Big Ang" Raiola and Ramona Rizzo joining the cast.[1]
On May 9, 2012, VH1 announced that the series had been renewed for a third season.[2][3]
On August 12, 2012, Graziano tweeted that filming was underway for the third season.[citation needed]
It was announced on December 11, 2012 that the third season would debut on January 6, 2013 with new cast member Love Majewski.[4]
Season 3
[edit]
The third season premiered on January 6, 2013, with Love Majewski joining the cast.[5]
On May 14, 2013, Graziano revealed that the show had been renewed for a fourth season, although it had not been officially announced by VH1 at the time.[6]
In an interview during New York Fashion Week, Rizzo mentioned that she, Gravano, and Facciolo would not be returning for the fourth season.[7]
Season 4 (Mob Wives: New Blood)[8]
[edit]
The fourth season premiered on December 5, 2013,[9] with Alicia DiMichele and Natalie Guercio joining the cast.[8][10]
On February 19, 2014, VH1 renewed the show for a fifth season, which began production in mid-2014.[11]
Gravano confirmed through numerous tweets that she would be returning for the fifth season.[12]
Season 5 (Mob Wives: Trust No One)
[edit]
The fifth season premiered on December 3, 2014, with Natalie DiDonato joining the cast in a recurring capacity. Victoria Gotti also made a special guest appearance.[13][12] Facciolo made guest appearances.
On December 7, 2015, VH1 announced their decision to end the show as the conclusion of its sixth season, known as Mob Wives: The Last Stand.
Season 6 (Mob Wives: The Last Stand)
[edit]
The sixth and final season premiered on January 13, 2016, with Brittany Fogarty and Marissa Jade joining the cast, both in recurring capacities.[14][15] Majewski made guest appearances.[16]
On February 18, 2016, less than a month before the final season concluded, Angela "Big Ang" Raiola died from complications of throat cancer and pneumonia.[17]
Cast
[edit]
Timeline of cast
[edit]
Wives Seasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 Main cast members Drita D'Avanzo Main Carla Facciolo Main Guest Main Karen Gravano Main Main Renee Graziano Main Angela Raiola Main Ramona Rizzo Main Love Majewski Main Guest Alicia DiMichele Main Natalie Guercio Main Natalie DiDonato Recurring Brittany Fogarty Recurring Marissa Jade Recurring
Cast
[edit]
Drita D'Avanzo, wife of Lee D'Avanzo
Carla Facciolo, ex-wife of Joseph Ferragamo
Karen Gravano, daughter of Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano
Renee Graziano, daughter of Anthony Graziano and ex-wife of Hector Pagan Jr.
Angela "Big Ang" Raiola, niece of Salvatore "Sally Dogs" Lombardi
Ramona Rizzo, granddaughter of Benjamin "Lefty Guns" Ruggiero
Love Majewski, ex-girlfriend of Chris Paciello
Alicia DiMichele, wife of Eddie Garofalo Jr.
Natalie Guercio, in a relationship with London Rene
Natalie DiDonato, cousin of Frankie Flowers
Brittany Fogarty, daughter of John Fogarty
Marissa Jade, in a relationship with Jamie "OZ" Lansburg
Episodes
[edit]
Spin-offs
[edit]
Mob Wives Chicago debuted on June 10, 2012.
Big Ang, Raiola's own spinoff show, premiered on July 8, 2012.[18][19]
Miami Monkey, the third Mob Wives spin-off, premiered September 8, 2013.[20]
Jennifer Graziano announced in October 2012 that Mob Wives Miami, Mob Wives Pittsburgh, and Mob Wives Philadelphia had both been cast, but VH1 never green-lit either project.[21][22]
Reboot
[edit]
Jennifer Graziano, creator and executive producer of Mob Wives, stated in December 2017 that a reboot of Mob Wives was in the works. Drita D'Avanzo, who starred on the show during its original run, declined Graziano's invitation to return, stating that she had since moved on and wanted to explore other ventures. According to Graziano, most of the original cast were willing to return, including her sister Renee, who also starred on all seasons of the show. The show was set to be filmed on the East Coast and would likely feature both original and new cast members.[23]
In December 2018, Graziano hinted of a potential reboot.[24]
Despite a response issued from Renee Graziano about a 2021 premiere, a source close to VH1 confirmed that a reboot of the show was eventually dismissed within weeks of initial discussions back in 2017, citing declining viewership of its original run and a rise of popular programming currently airing on the network.
Reception
[edit]
The first season of Mob Wives was well received by some entertainment critics. Entertainment Weekly's television critic Ken Tucker praised the show in his review, stating, "As someone who's watched at least a few episodes of every version of the Real Housewives franchise and feels a bit nauseous about it, I didn't come to Mob Wives with high hopes. But this floridly funny, vicariously vicious reality series exerts a vulgar charm." He noted the fascination of watching excessively made-up people living in apparent luxury and the authenticity of the drama among the women. "By turns funny, appalling, and frightening, Mob Wives is swiftly paced, reality-TV at its most effusively dismaying."[25] The Hollywood Reporter critic David Knowles felt the show was significantly better than typical reality TV. He found the women's internal conflict between their mob past and their desire to break free from that lifestyle to be the underlying question of the series. Knowles noted that the women's storylines are so tense and engrossing that the surveillance-style effect used to introduce them seemed unnecessarily cliché. "As we learned from The Sopranos, the wives and children of mafiosos can be every bit as compelling as the gangsters themselves... As for those other real housewives franchises, their endless squabbles and social climbing antics are rendered rather trivial after you watch the first five minutes of Mob Wives."[26]
Some New York critics were less enthusiastic about the show. David Hinckley's New York Daily News review complained the "tired concept, is so bad it should sleep with fishes", and observed "these are unpleasant people in an unwatchable show". On the other hand, he wrote: "Now it could be added that if this is what you want on TV, Mob Wives is an all-you-can-eat buffet. Imagine the angriest of the "Real Housewives" ratcheted up into overdrive".[27] Staten Island Advance's SILive.com "Entertainment Comment of the Day" in April 2011 said, "Out of interest we only watched about twenty minutes of the first episode and couldn't stomach watching the second. We don't know what's so interesting about a bunch of low-life women (the one pictured is a real piece of work) who think that husbands that go off to prison is like spending a year at college. I bet their kids are real proud of them. Any glorification of a life of crime is pathetic. They all deserve whatever misery that comes along".[28]
The Mafia theme of the show was a concern for some non-journalists, as well. Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro stated; "I've seen it – It's disgraceful. It paints Staten Island and Italian-Americans in a bad light. It's detrimental because people will think this is what Staten Island is made of. I'm Italian – and this is bad for our doctors, our lawyers, the people who came from Italy to build their lives".[29] UNICO National, an Italian advocacy group, said the show is tantamount to "trash TV like Jersey Shore. I hope it dies because no one watches it. We were mobsters and mafiosos with The Sopranos, bimbos and buffoons with Jersey Shore, and now we're back where we started. It's a disgrace".[30] Gawker.com said, "This seems like a terrible idea for a reality show! Would anyone watch a show called Mass Murderers' Wives?"[31]
Relatives of murder victims killed by the cast members' relatives are also disturbed by the show. Jackie Colucci, whose brother Joseph was murdered by Sammy "The Bull" Gravano in 1970, stated about Karen Gravano: "She should be ashamed that her father is a murderer and a drug dealer. I would be ashamed and crawling in a hole and staying out of the limelight".[31]
References
[edit] | ||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 32 | https://www.mob.co.uk/recipes/sausage-gochujang-rigatoni | en | Mob — Best Sausage Gochujang Rigatoni — How To Make Sausage Rigatoni | [] | [] | [] | [
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"simple sausage pasta",
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] | null | [] | 2023-12-31T15:00:00+00:00 | A Mob staple. The sausage pasta recipe of all sausage pasta recipes. Enter: Sausage Gochujang Rigatoni, the perfect pasta dish for a special night in. | en | /apple-touch-icon-57x57.png | Mob | https://www.mob.co.uk/recipes/sausage-gochujang-rigatoni | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 6 | https://oceansignal.com/products/mob1/ | en | RescueME MOB1 | [
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] | null | [] | 2023-09-07T14:40:28+00:00 | The Ocean Signal rescueME MOB1 AIS Man Overboard Beacon is the ultimate solution for marine safety, specifically designed to aid in SOS situations. | en | https://oceansignal.com/wp-content/themes/oceansignal-theme/assets/images/favicon/favicon.ico | Ocean Signal | https://oceansignal.com/products/mob1/ | There are three test modes on the MOB1; Functional, DSC and AIS/GPS.
The Functional test should be carried out once a month and will display the length of time the battery has been used for. It will also apply a load to the battery to test that the battery is not faulty or has been discharged. It carries out other functional tests on the electronic circuitry. It does not test the GPS or make test transmissions.
The DSC test should be carried out no more than two times a year. This test sends a single DSC transmission to the MMSI programmed into the MOB1, which will be displayed on the vessels DSC radio. It does not send a Distress or Distres Relay call and the call does not contain the position.
The AIS test should be carried out no more than three times a year. This test activates the GPS receiver and after the position is determined it makes an AIS transmission, which will display on a suitable AIS receiver or chartplotter. The received AIS message will show the position determined by the MOB1 GPS receiver. There is also a transmission of the AIS text message containing the words “MOB TEST”. Note that this test must be done with the MOB1 in full view of the sky. Without a valid position, the MOB1 will not transmit any AIS messages.
The limitation on the number of tests a year is to ensure that the battery will still have its full operational life at the expiry date of the battery.
If the unit fails to programme, showing the flashing red LED on completion, please try again. Turn the MOB1 on in programming mode again and retry. There is no need to exit the programming screen on the programme. If the programming page is showing, simply press F10 again to commence the programming sequence again. Note that the red flashing may tecke several seconds to start after the on screen sequence has finished.
If you are having problems programming your MOB1, please check the following guidance.
1) Make sure that your screen brightness is set to maximum, using the controls on the monitor or device.
2) Ensure that you have commenced programming within 50 seconds of putting the MOB1 into programming mode. Failure to do this will cause the MOB1 to have turned off before communication starts. Note that once programming has commenced (The white box is flashing) the MOB1 should stay on until the programming sequence is completed. Ideally the MOB1 should be put into programming mode just before placing the MOB1 in front of the white square.
3) Ensure that the MOB1 is placed over the white square with the rubber programming adaptor firmly touching the screen and with the aperture in the rubber close to the centre of the white box.
4) Avoid programming the MOB1 in bright ambient light conditions. If necessary point the screen away from direct or bright sources of light such as sun through a window. (In extreme circumstances, especially with older screens that have lost their brightness, place a thick cloth over the screen and MOB1 to block out the ambient light.)
5) The MOB1 configuration software requires precise timing, which may be disrupted by other applications running at the same time, especially on slower computers. If you still encounter problems, try shutting down all un-necessary applications, including anti-virus software.
6) On laptops, the F10 key will require using in conjunction with the Function (labelled Func or Fn) to start the white box flashing black and white to send the data to the MOB1. Most keyboards will colour the F keys in the same colour as the Function key to identify this.
7) The MOB1 MMSI programming software is only available for Windows PCs. For users of other operating systems and smart phones and tablets there is an online application available.
All AIS and DSC MOBs are pre programmed at the time of manufacture with the self identification MMSI number. In the case of the rescueME MOB1, or the M100, this number will always start 97260—-. The 972 identities the device as an MOB device and the 60 identifies the device as manufactured by Ocean Signal.
It is not possible for the user to change this number, which is a requirement of the relevant approval standards.
The DSC MMSI number programmed in by the user is the number the MOB1 will send the distress calls to. Compatible radios will still show the ‘from’ MMSI number as the 972 number printed on the rear of the MOB1. Likewise the target displayed on an AIS plotter will also show with the target address as the 972 number. | ||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 24 | https://www.amazon.com/Mob-Rules-Mafia-Legitimate-Businessman/dp/1591843987 | en | Amazon.com | [
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5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 44 | https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2024-08-04/netflix-to-stream-blue-giant-film-in-u.s-canada/.213944 | en | Netflix to Stream Blue Giant Film in U.S., Canada | [
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] | 2024-08-04T00:00:00 | Film begins streaming on September 1 // Netflix announced on Sunday that it will begin streaming the anime film of Shinichi Ishizuka's Blue Giant manga in... | en | /meta/favicon.ico | Anime News Network | https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2024-08-04/netflix-to-stream-blue-giant-film-in-u.s-canada/.213944 | Netflix announced on Sunday that it will begin streaming the anime film of Shinichi Ishizuka's Blue Giant manga in the United States and Canada on September 1.
Seven Seas Entertainment is publishing Ishizuka's 10-volume Blue Giant manga series as five omnibus volumes, and it describes the story:
Miyamoto Dai, a student with a taste for basketball, changes his life the first time he sees a live jazz performance. The incredible music strikes a chord deep inside him, and he immediately decides to dedicate himself to the saxophone. He has no skills, no formal training, and no idea what he's up against, but his obsession drives him to play that instrument day after day. Will passion be enough to become the player of his dreams? This award-winning manga from Shinichi Ishizuka, compiled into five omnibus volumes for its English debut, is a pitch-perfect drama about the power of music.
The film opened in Japan in February 2023, and it earned 116,561,020 yen (about US$867,600) in its first three days. The film has earned over 1 billion yen as of April 2023. The film had a sneak preview screening at the 2023 Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2023.
GKIDS screened the film in theaters in North America in October 2023. The company also released the film on Blu-ray Disc and "all major digital platforms" on April 30.
Yuzuru Tachikawa (Death Parade, all three seasons of Mob Psycho 100, Deca-Dence) directed the film at studio NUT. NUMBER 8, the editor of the Blue Giant manga and the story director for the Blue Giant Supreme manga, wrote the screenplay. TOHO animation is distributing the film.
World-renowned pianist Uehara composed the original music that the film's in-story jazz trio JASS performs, and also played the piano for the character Yukinori Sawabe. Saxophonist Tomoaki Baba played the saxophone for the character Dai. Shun Ishiwaka, the drummer of the Millennium Parade band, played drums for Shunji Tamada.
Ishizuka (Gaku - Minna no Yama) launched the manga in Big Comic in May 2013, and ended it in August 2016. The manga was nominated for the eighth Manga Taisho Awards in 2015, as well as the ninth awards in 2016. The manga won the Grand Prize in the Manga Division of the 20th Japan Media Arts Festival Awards in 2017.
Ishizuka then launched Blue Giant Supreme sequel manga in Big Comic in September 2016, and ended it in April 2020. The manga had 10 volumes.
Ishizuka launched a new sequel manga titled Blue Giant Explorer in Big Comic in May 2020.
The Blue Giant manga series has a cumulative total of 10 million copies in circulation. | ||||
5256 | dbpedia | 1 | 4 | https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043812/reviews | en | Die Spur führt zum Hafen (1951) | [
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5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 49 | https://skyfactory-4.fandom.com/wiki/Mob_grinding_utils | en | Mob grinding utils | https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/skyfactory-4/images/e/e6/Site-logo.png/revision/latest?cb=20210917152203 | https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/skyfactory-4/images/e/e6/Site-logo.png/revision/latest?cb=20210917152203 | [
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] | 2024-07-29T22:27:06+00:00 | mob_grinding_utils adds a bunch of machines which make it easier to build efficient mob farms including fans which can push entities, grinders which drop experience and player drops, and a way to get mob spawn eggs in survival The Mob Fan: pushes entities in the direction that it is facing... | en | https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/skyfactory-4/images/4/4a/Site-favicon.ico/revision/latest?cb=20210917152204 | Skyfactory 4 Wiki | https://skyfactory-4.fandom.com/wiki/Mob_grinding_utils | Synopsis[]
mob_grinding_utils adds a bunch of machines which make it easier to build efficient mob farms including fans which can push entities, grinders which drop experience and player drops, and a way to get mob spawn eggs in survival
Utility Blocks[]
The Mob Fan: pushes entities in the direction that it is facing. Requires a redstone signal to be activated. Supports three upgrade types; Width Modifier increases width of push area by 1 block; Height Modifier increases height of push area by 1 block; Distance Modifier increases the distances mobs are pushed by 1 block
Iron Spikes: damages players and mobs which touch it. Mobs killed by the Iron Spikes drop experience, but they do not count as player kills
Mob Masher: an upgradeable mob grinding machine. Requires a redstone signal to be activated. Any living thing that touches it while it is active will continuously take damage. Anything killed by the Mob Masher counts as a player kill and drops experience. There are 6 upgrade types; Sharpness increases damage done per hit; Looting increases the quality of drops; Fire Aspect increases the fire damage and duration; Smite increases the damage done to undead mobs; Bane of Arthropods increases the damage done to arthropods; Beheading increases the chance of a slain mob dropping its head by 10% per upgrade
Absorption Hopper: automatically picks up experience and items from a target area. You can see the area by pressing “Show Area” in the Absorption Hopper GUI. You can also move this area around using the offset buttons. All six of the sides of the Absorption Hopper can be configured to give various types of output by clicking on the Down, Up, North, South, West, and East buttons. The Absorption Hopper can also be given up to 6 Radius Upgrades which increases the size of the area in which the Absorption Hopper picks up items and experience.
Entity Conveyor: pushes any entity which is on top of it in a direction. The player can avoid being pushed by sneaking (holding shift)
Ender Inhibitor: prevents entities from teleporting within 8 blocks of the Ender Inhibitor
Wither Boss Death Muffler: stops wither boss death sounds within an 8 blocks radius. Right clicking on the muffler also hides the Boss Bar
Ender Dragon Death Muffler: stops the Ender Dragon Death sounds within a 32 block radius. Right clicking on the muffler also hides the Boss Bar
Singularity Tank: a fluid tank that holds 32 buckets of any fluid
XP Drain Singularity Tank: a fluid tank that holds 32 buckets of any fluid and drains XP from players who stand on top of the tank
XP Tap: when attached to the side of a Singularity Tank which has liquid experience in it, can be right clicked to release the liquid experience as experience orbs
Genetically Modifying Chickens[] | ||
5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 25 | https://giggster.com/guide/movie-location/where-was-bullitt-filmed | en | Where was Bullitt filmed? | https://cms.giggster.com/guide/directus/assets/f7f64a32-5dbb-4ddb-b552-4d4dda20abe6?fit=cover&width=400&quality=80 | https://cms.giggster.com/guide/directus/assets/f7f64a32-5dbb-4ddb-b552-4d4dda20abe6?fit=cover&width=400&quality=80 | [
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] | null | [] | null | Discover where the 1968 neo-noir, Bullitt, was filmed, and how you can explore the filming locations in the movie. | en | https://giggster.com/guide/movie-location/where-was-bullitt-filmed | 1968
City Locations
San Francisco (USA)
Location Types
Hotels/Motels, Mansions, Retro, Buildings/Offices, Airport
Location Styles
Building Dated/Retro, Gothic/Victorian
About Bullitt
Peter Yates' classic action thriller Bullitt, released in 1968 and starring Steve McQueen as Lt. Frank Bullitt, follows a San Francisco cop's mission to guard mafia informant Johnny Ross (Pat Renella) before he testifies against his former colleagues. However, when two hired hitmen attack their hideaway and fatally injure Ross, instead of capturing him alive as intended by the Mob bosses, it sparks an inquisitive desire within Bullitt.
Unsatisfied with simply accepting failure or writing off the incident as bad luck, Bullitt takes it upon himself to investigate what happened that fateful night. Senator Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughn) is determined to end the investigation, yet it's up to Bullitt alone to ensure justice is served and uncover who leaked their location.
From its intense car chase scene, which has been hailed as one of the most incredible action sequences ever seen on film, to its moody atmosphere, taut story, and stellar performances, Bullitt has found its place in the vault of celebrated must-watch classic films. McQueen also shared the screen with notable stars like Robert Duvall and Jacqueline Bisset.
Set in San Francisco, it is considered one of the earliest Cowboy cop flicks to make its way on the big screen. McQueenâs memorable portrayal of Bullitt left a lasting impact and set him as Trope Maker for generations to come!
The film was nominated for multiple awards at the 41st Academy Awards ceremony, including Best Film Editing (which it won). It also received five BAFTA Awards nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Robert Vaughn), Best Cinematography (William A. Fraker), Best Direction (Peter Yates), Best Film Editing, and Best Sound Track.
Bullitt Locations
Billed as a cult classic car chase thriller, Bullitt is still considered one of the greatest police action films of all time. Most of the Bullittt scenes were filmed on location in San Francisco, California, and surrounding areas.
On a crisp April morning in San Francisco, the city renowned for its picturesque mountainous streets and stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge, filming commenced producing what would be remembered as one of the most exhilarating car chase scenes seen on our screens. The backdrop of these locations offers viewers a unique and diverse setting, from iconic landmarks such as Lombard Street and Coit Tower to lesser-known spots with gorgeous views like Twin Peaks and Baker Beach.
As viewers follow Steve McQueen on his mission throughout San Francisco, they get a taste of both historic cobblestone streets and postcard-worthy vistas. Visiting the filming locations of Bullitt would be a worthwhile experience for any film enthusiast or a tourist looking to explore San Franciscoâs hidden gems.
With every corner you turn, you can relive some of your favorite moments from this classic film, whether it's driving through Chinatown or simply standing atop Corbett Heights, taking in sweeping panoramic views that appear in Bullittâs opening shot.
When Johnny Ross (Felice Orlandi) makes it to San Francisco, he hops in a cab and heads straight for the Mark Hopkins Hotel on Nob Hill. But when he arrives there expecting news of some sort at the front desk, his surprise is palpable as there isn't anything waiting for him. Disappointed and confused, he spins around, and we get a peek into one of California's most grand hotel lobbies before Ross exits the scene.
The scene was filmed on location in San Francisco using actual buildings and streets for maximum authenticity. In particular, the Mark Hopkins Hotel standing atop Nob Hill provided the setting, and it is one of San Franciscoâs most iconic landmarks. It is easily recognizable from its grand entrance at 999 California Street, surrounded by beautiful gardens and flags of all nations.
From its vantage point, you can take in the stunning views of downtown San Francisco, including the Coit Tower and Transamerica Pyramid. Even more impressive is its grand lobby filled with Jacaranda-wood paneling, Italian marble flooring, French tapestries, and mirrored walls reflecting ornate crystal chandeliers, all original parts that were present when McQueen shot his famous scene there more than 50 years ago!
Via public transportation from downtown San Francisco, take a bus at Market St & 3rd St. The hotel courtyard entrance is just a few steps away from the stop, after ascending two blocks on Powell Street past Union Square.
Lieutenant Bullitt is invited to District Attorney Walter Chalmer's residence for a reception. On the home's terrace, DA Chalmers entrusts Bullitt with an important task: guarding star witness Johnny Ross until the hearings on mob activities commence.
Nestled at 2700 Vallejo Street, in the affluent Pacific Heights district, lies the luxurious residence of politician Chalmers (Robert Vaughn). Greedy and determined to win his election, he has invested much into creating a star witness for his cause.
Just around the neighborhood, 2930 was famously home to writer Catherine Tramell in Basic Instinct and corner-cutting electrician Simmons in The Towering Inferno. The picturesque topiary garden plus the Red Sun flag planted on 2700's lawn reveals that it now belongs to none other than the Japanese Consul General.
To get to the Bullitt filming location, drive on Franklin Street until you reach 2700 Vallejo Street at the corner nearest Van Ness avenue. Whether by car or on foot, you'll quickly recognize this stately structure with its classic brick façade and white marble steps leading up to a large wooden door - unchanged since its appearance in the film.
As Bullitt steps into Cathyâs (Jacqueline Bisset) San Francisco office, you can almost feel his confidence exuding from behind the raincoat casually draped over his shoulder. His smooth entrance is received with a smile and warm greeting by an awaiting receptionist, capturing the laid-back atmosphere of San Francisco at this time.
In the heart of San Francisco, at 1620 Montgomery Street Suite 320, is Theodore Brown and Partners' ancestral office. A timeless tribute to Lawrence Halprin's masterful design, from F.D.R. Memorial to Sea Ranch and Ghirardelli Square, his work has brought life to many beloved landmarks that have stood the test of time. This once-convertible space has been modernized with cozy elements that elevate its alluring atmosphere further!
To locate 1620 Montgomery Street, Suite 320, from Civic Center in downtown San Francisco, proceed straight on Van Ness Ave and turn right onto Broadway. Eventually, you will hit Sansome Street, where the destination is located, easily identifiable as it's situated on the left side of your journey.
Alternatively, take BART or Muni Metro underground trains, both stop close by at Embarcadero Station, then take a short walk northbound along Embarcadero N until you reach Montgomery Street on your left side (approximately 20 min).
Bullitt and Cathy meet up with a group of friends at a cozy cafe in the Cow Hollow district of San Francisco. The restaurant's exterior has changed since the Bullitt production team filmed at the premises, but it still looks very similar to how it appeared in 1968.
The interior accurately reflects the atmosphere of a classic San Franciscan cafe, with its dimly lit, wood-paneled walls, red color, and vintage decor. In the scene, a jazz quartet is playing in the back corner, next to a coffee bar, while several tables host lively conversations among Bullitt and his friends. At the front of the cafe, there is also a pastry counter with delicious treats.
After Betelnut, a beloved restaurant closed its doors in late 2016, Flores swooped in and established itself as the go-to spot for Mexican food and drinks. Located at 2026 Union Street in San Francisco's Cow Hollow district, just north of Allyne Park, from downtown San Francisco, Muni Metro lines, either 10 or 39, from any number of downtown stations like Van Ness AvePowell Street Station, or Montgomery Station, can get you to the address.
The church scene in Bullitt takes place at the Grace Cathedral, on the corner of Taylor and California Streets in San Francisco's Nob Hill neighborhood. It is a landmark structure, and sprawling Gothic Revival architectural marvel, that was completed in 1964. It now stands as the third-largest Episcopal church in America.
The film provides a striking backdrop to an intense confrontation between Captain Bennett (Brock Peters) and an irate Chalmers. Bullitt's superior within the police force is Captain Bennett, a man of faith who is seen taking his family to Grace Cathedral in Taylor and California. On the balcony, an agitated Chalmers attempts to get information from Bennett regarding where Bullitt has stashed away their witness, yet disappointingly fails in this endeavor.
Ultimately, he leaves with great annoyance. In this scene, behind them, we get a glimpse of the serene beauty of Huntington Park, which was once home to Collis Huntington's mansion. The Grace Cathedral is a popular tourist destination that offers incredible views over downtown San Francisco, Alcatraz Island, and even Marin County beyond.
To get to this location from anywhere within San Francisco, hop onto any major MUNI bus line that runs along California Street or take BART to Montgomery Street Station. Then, walk for about 15 minutes until you reach Taylor Street. You will have no problem recognizing Grace Cathedral with its two asymmetrical towers carrying copper crosses at their peak, getting the sky-like antennae reaching heaven.
Bullitt discovers that the slain witness wasn't part of the mob after all; instead, it was car salesman Albert Renick (Felice Orlandi), who Johnny Ross (Pat Renella) had enlisted to swap places with him to evade his pursuers. Tracking Ross down, Bullitt finds out he is at San Francisco airport, ready to leave the country under Renick's identity on a Pan Am flight.
Director Peter Yates used hundreds of extras for the airport scenes. The scene focuses on Bullittâs rush to the Pan Am terminal at the San Francisco airport. Originally opened with just two terminals, Central and South, today the SFO has four distinct terminals: the former South Terminal is now known as Terminal 1, the original Central Terminal was renamed Terminal 2, while Terminals 3 and 4 were added in later years, respectively, during the late 1970s and 2000.
When Ross's plane is already at the departure gate, Bullitt commands it to turn back. As passengers disembark, Ross dives out of the aircraft and onto the tarmac just in time, leaving Bullitt hot on his heels. What ensues is an invigorating car chase across dark runways that rivals any other filmed pursuit sequence ever seen!
The car chase scene is intense, lasting 11 minutes and leaving viewers with their stomachs in their mouths as they witness near-misses and side-swipes. After a loud gunfight, Ross sprints back to the terminal just as Bullitt catches up with him. With onlookers in shock, Bullitt swiftly arrests Ross.
Getting to SFO from downtown San Francisco is relatively easy and convenient. The most direct route, without transferring vehicles, is via the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) trains that run directly from several points every 15 minutes during peak hours. Alternatively, opt for private car services or even public buses like SamTrans buses or Muni Metro buses; these bus lines can be found throughout various neighborhoods downtown, and all go directly to SFO. | ||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 86 | https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13708115/riots-migrant-hotel-holiday-inn-tamowoth.html | en | Rioters descend on second migrant hotel as far-right mob try to set fire to Holiday Inn housing asylum seekers in Tamworth after smashing their way inside hours after of anti-immigrant protesters atta | [
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] | 2024-08-04T21:40:43+01:00 | Rioters have descended on a second hotel believed to be housing migrants and asylum seekers, as thugs set fire to a doorway, smashed windows, and threw projectiles at police in Britain's fifth day of violence. | /favicon.ico?v=2 | Mail Online | https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13708115/riots-migrant-hotel-holiday-inn-tamowoth.html | Rioters descended on a second hotel believed to be housing migrants and asylum seekers, as thugs set fire to a doorway, smashed windows, and threw petrol bombs and projectiles at police in Britain's fifth day of violence.
Hundreds of people gathered as a group of masked thugs threw a burning bush inside the side entrance of the Hotel Inn Express, Leisure Island, in Tamworth yesterday evening, while onlookers filmed, cheered and clinked their beer bottles.
'Get out England' was graffitied on the side of the building, as police worked to extinguish the fire inside the hotel's stairwell.
Some people could be heard chanting 'England, England, England,' while others threw objects at police and set off flares and fireworks. One man could be seen running towards police with what appeared to be a large speaker.
Officers clad in riot gear were seen standing in a line guarding the entrance to the hotel. One police officer has suffered a suspected broken arm.
Police have said the violent disorder has been 'successfully dispersed' as they appeal to anyone with information to help identify those responsible.
Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Ellison said: 'The senseless violence and acts of despicable thuggery in Tamworth tonight are completely inexcusable. The local community do not deserve to be subject to this behaviour, and neither do the brave officers putting themselves in harm's way to keep everyone safe.
'I want to echo the messaging that police forces have been championing nationally following the events across the country this week: we will be using footage from CCTV, air support and our officers' body-worn video devices to identify those responsible and seek the toughest possible punishment for these acts of senseless violence.
'Officers have shown tremendous courage in responding to the disorder that unfolded tonight, as well as those that worked valiantly at the protests seen in Stoke-on-Trent on Saturday.
'There have already been more than 100 arrests nationally in connection with these acts and I expect those who are identified will meet the full force of the law.'
It comes after an angry far-right mob stormed into a hotel in Rotherham yesterday, hurling chairs and spraying fire extinguishers at riot police, while setting bins, a generator and furniture alight.
Around 700 violent anti-immigration protesters clad in balaclavas and draped in St George's flags clashed with officers trying to protect the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham, South Yorkshire.
At least 10 officers have been injured in the chaos outside the hotel on the northern outskirts of the post-industrial town. One was left unconscious following a head injury, another suffered a suspected fractured elbow and other suspected broken bones.
It marks yet another day of violent riots of Britain's streets, with crowds in Middlesbrough setting fire to a car and pushing burning wheelie bins at police, while thugs in Rotherham smash windows and doors as riot police use shields to push them back.
South Yorkshire Police said one person has been arrested on suspicion of public order offences.
Meanwhile, a peaceful protest in Bolton descended into chaos when two groups of demonstrators clashed. One charged towards the town hall shouting 'Allahu Akbar' while the other waved England flags.
Similar scenes could be seen in Weymouth, as around 400 protesters from opposing sides gathered on the seafront to chant at each other. One side could be heard chanting 'Nazis go home', while the other shouted 'Tommy Robinson'.
The outbursts come after three young girls were stabbed to death in Southport on July 29.
While photos from Rotherham have shown some occupants looking out of the hotel window onto rioters, it is unclear if the migrants and asylum seekers housed in the property have been able to evacuate. MailOnline has contacted the Home Office.
Other photos appear to show far-right protesters breaching the hotel. The BBC reported that balaclava-clad people were seen forcing their way inside.
Objects and pieces of wood were flung at officers who had lined up in front of the building with at least one cop in riot gear being carried away by their colleagues. The grass around the hotel appears to have been set on fire as well.
Keir Starmer vowed rioters would 'regret' taking part in 'far-right thuggery' after a fifth day of violence in England, as the Government announced emergency security for mosques amid the threat of further disorder.
A group of young men in Rotherham held a banner that read 'we're not far right we're just right' while another placard being waved around said: 'Stopping the boats means stopping the stabbings'.
Missiles, including glass bottles and beer cans were thrown at police, as protesters smashed hotel windows to gain access to the premises.
One person's face was seen completely covered with a Union Jack mask while they waved a large England flag outside the hotel and chanted offensive slogans.
The protest has already been strongly criticised by anti-racism groups as well as campaigner Brendan Cox, whose MP wife Jo Cox was killed in her West Yorkshire constituency in 2016.
He said: 'The scenes in Rotherham aren't a protest, they aren't even a far right riot, they are an ongoing attempt to murder the men, women and children inside by burning them alive.
'The stench of these days will hang around those who incited and justified it for the rest of their lives.'
An anti-racism counter protest at the scene increased tensions for police, who arrived to find banners reading: 'Refugees welcome: Stop the far right.'
South Yorkshire Police said several of its officers were injured during 'deplorable acts of violence' outside the Holiday Inn Express in the Manvers area of Rotherham.
At least ten officers have been injured as a result of the violence, with one left unconscious following a head injury, another suffering a suspected fractured elbow and other suffering suspected broken bones.
No hotel employees or residents have been injured, police said.
Officers regained access to the hotel from protesters and are continuing to disperse the group away from the area this evening.
A heavy police presence will remain outside the hotel and in the surrounding area over the course of the rest of this evening and into tomorrow.
Assistant Chief Constable Lindsey Butterfield said: 'Today in Rotherham we have seen our officers attacked and at least ten injured, significant damage caused and a fire set outside a hotel full of terrified residents and staff. The mindless actions of those today have achieved nothing other than sheer destruction and leaving members of the public and the wider community in fear.
'The behaviour we witnessed has been nothing short of disgusting. While it was a smaller number of those in attendance who chose to commit violence and destruction, those who simply stood on and watched remain absolutely complicit in this. Those who choose to spread misinformation and hate online, also need to take responsibility for the scenes today – this was not a protest, just angry people, reacting to a false narrative who have their own motivations for doing so.
'All today has achieved is the diversion of police and partner resources, operational police officers who will now be away from active duty while they recover from their injuries, and the continued use of public money to clean up the mess they have left behind.
'Please be assured, our work does not end today – we have officers working hard, reviewing the considerable online imagery and footage of those involved, and they should expect us to be at their doors very soon.
'I want to take this opportunity to thank our officers and staff who have worked incredibly hard today and the officers from West Yorkshire Police, British Transport Police, Durham Constabulary, North Yorkshire Police and Leicestershire Police who have supported us, alongside South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, Yorkshire Ambulance Service and Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council for their continued support.'
Meanwhile, in a televised address to the nation, Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned an attack on a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham and promised those involved in unrest would 'face the full force of the law'.
Speaking from Downing Street, Sir Keir suggested that rioters taking to the streets, and those 'whipping up this action online and then running away themselves,' would face consequences.
The Home Office announced mosques would be offered greater protection under a new 'rapid response process' designed to quickly tackle the threat of further attacks on places of worship.
'People in this country have a right to be safe, and yet we've seen Muslim communities targeted, attacks on mosques,' the Prime Minister said on Sunday.
'Other minority communities singled out, Nazi salutes in the street, attacks on the police, wanton violence alongside racist rhetoric, so no, I won't shy away from calling it what it is: far-right thuggery.'
Sir Keir indicated the response to the violence could mirror elements of how the 2011 riots were handled, at which time he was director of public prosecutions.
'We do have standing arrangements for law enforcement which means that we can get arrests, charge remanded in custody and convictions done very quickly,' he said.
'I myself was part of that in 2011 when I was director of public prosecutions, and I'm determined we will do whatever it takes to bring these thugs to justice as quickly as possible.'
Ministers have suggested that courts could sit 24 hours to fast-track prosecutions while police forces have measures in place to draft in extra officers to tackle potential unrest.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the deliberate torching of a hotel where people were known to be inside was 'utterly appalling' and South Yorkshire Police have Government backing to take 'the strongest action'.
Ms Cooper said: 'Britain is a proud and tolerant country, and nobody should make any excuses for the shameful actions of the hooligans, thugs and extremist groups who have been attacking police officers, looting local shops or attacking people based on the colour of their skin.
'In light of the disgraceful threats and attacks that local mosques have also faced in many communities, the Government is providing rapid additional support through the Protective Security for Mosques Scheme, alongside the support from local police forces and we repeat that anyone involved in this disorder and violence will face the full force of the law.
'As a nation we will not tolerate criminal behaviour, dangerous extremism, and racist attacks that go against everything our country stands for.'
Humza Yousaf has called for the army to be called in to stop 'thugs' causing disorder on the streets.
'It doesn't look like, to me, the police have a handle on the situation,' the former first minister of Scotland said.
'The police have not been able to protect those that are in the Holiday Inn,' he added. The army can help to get control where the police are unable.'
Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also condemned the violence this evening.
He said: 'The shocking scenes we're seeing on the streets of Britain have nothing to do with the tragedy in Southport.
'This is violent, criminal behaviour that has no place in our society. The police have our full support to deal with these criminals swiftly and they must face the full weight of the law.'
South Yorkshire's mayor Oliver Coppard said he is 'utterly appalled by the violence' in Rotherham.
'What we're seeing is not protest, it is brutal thuggery directed against some of the most vulnerable people in our society', he said in a statement.
'The people carrying out these attacks do not represent the beautiful, brilliant place and people I know. We will come after those carrying out this violence with the full force of the law', he added.
Watching the scenes of chaos unfold, former home secretary and Tory party leader hopeful James Cleverly said rioters should be hit with 'the full weight of the law'.
'There is not and can never be any excuse, justification or rationale for behaviour like this,' he tweeted. 'This should be condemned by everybody, and those taking part should expect to be met with the full weight of the law.'
IGH, the parent company of the Holiday Inn chain, told the BBC: 'The safety and security of our guests and colleagues is always our priority.'
A Sky News journalist was approached by a group of masked men with 'potential weapons' in their hands while reporting on the scenes in Middlesbrough this evening.
The moment was caught on camera as Charlotte Leeming and her team were forced to move back.
Meanwhile, the sight of demonstrators attacking a hotel in the belief it is housing migrants is 'almost incomprehensible', the managing director of the Hope not Hate advocacy group has said.
Nick Lowles said he was 'lost for words' to describe the scenes at a Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham.
'The fact that hundreds of people have targeted a hotel that is housing migrants, it is almost incomprehensible,' he told Sky News.
'They knew that people were in that hotel and they consciously tried to set fire to it.
'Communities are so scared, we have to rebuild.'
Mr Lowles said agitators have been over-simplifying stories to whip-up hate.
The disruption across England and Northern Ireland began on Tuesday in Southport, after three little girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
Elsewhere in Middlesbrough, more than 300 protesters started marching towards the city's Cenotaph on Sunday.
They carried a banner that read: 'Tom Jones is Welsh, Axel Rudakubana isn't' Rudakubana is the 17-year-old accused for murdering the three little girls in Southport and is charged with attempted murder of 10 others.
His parents were born in Rwanda before moving to the UK in 2002. Rudakubana was born in Cardiff in 2006 before moving to near Southport in 2013.
Others marching through the city chanted 'we want our country back' as they made their way through the city centre.
At least two people were taken away in handcuffs within the first half hour, while several pieces of slate were thrown, along with vapes and full plastic bottles.
Some people kicked bollards into the road so that police vehicles driving ahead of the group could not get through, and one man sat on the bonnet of a police car to stop it from moving.
One Middlesbrough resident said: 'We're going to be paying for this, and for what?
'This has got nothing to do with three little girls that have lost their lives. They've used it to cause utter mayhem on our streets.'
A person was seen being stretchered into an ambulance after an incident at the Swatters Carr pub.
Cleveland Police said officers have made nine arrests so far relating to violent disorder offences in Middlesbrough.
The force said the main areas affected are Parliament Road, Waterloo Road, and the area around the university.
Assistant Chief Constable David Felton said: 'We are urging members of the public to stay away from Middlesbrough while officers respond to violent disorder in the town.
'We have a high policing presence responding to the disorder, and the priority remains to protect people and communities.
'We will continue to make arrests and deal robustly with anyone shown to be intent on committing violence and causing harm.'
Sir Keir Starmer will lead the Government's response to a wave of far-right violence and disorder, following reports he would be going on holiday this week.
Downing Street has insisted the Prime Minister will be working from No10 all week as his Government deals with its biggest crisis since winning the election last month.
Slamming Sir Keir's alleged plans to go on holiday, Mr Jenrick told GBN Live: 'I think it would be completely wrong for the Prime Minister to go on holiday whilst parts of Britain are burning.
'I'm sure that the government, like the whole country, sees the severity of the situation.'
The politician added: 'I know they're trying to get a grip on it and I welcome some of the measures they've already taken, like having more persecutors, having the courts sit weekends, but this is a very serious situation.'
However, Chris Webb, the Labour MP for Blackpool South, said Sir Keir 'has to have family time'.
He told LBC's Matthew Wright: 'The government will continue and we've got an excellent Deputy Prime Minister.
'Keir has to have family time, there's no doubt about it. Every Prime Minister has to have that family time and that break but from what I know of Keir - and I've met him many times, and sitting here in Blackpool several times - he will be continuing to work and monitor the situation wherever he is on holiday.'
Cities such as Hull, Liverpool, Bristol, Manchester and Belfast have seen vehicles burned, shops destroyed, pedestrians attacked and police officers injured this week following the Southport stabbings on Monday.
Arrests have been made across the country, with police warning of more to come once CCTV, social media and body-worn camera footage has been scoured.
There was violence on Saturday in towns and cities such as Hull, Liverpool, Stoke-on-Trent, Nottingham, Bristol, Manchester, Blackpool and Belfast, which saw several police officers injured. It followed a riot in Sunderland on Friday evening.
A community library on the Merseyside that only opened last year after months of fundraising was set on fire last night as more than 300 people descended on the streets of a deprived city suburb.
Merseyside Police have charged two people with committing violent disorder in Liverpool city centre on Saturday.
Officers witnessed a group throwing stones, bricks and missiles at officers in the Paradise Street area.
Jimmy Bailey, 45, of Station Avenue, Ellesmere Port, has been charged with violent disorder.
He has been remanded into custody to appear at Liverpool Magistrates' Court at 9.45am on Monday August 5.
Declan Geiran, 29, of Kelso Road, Liverpool, will appear at the same court after he was charged with violent disorder and arson (to a police vehicle).
An attempt was made to set a police van alight while it was parked in William Brown Street on Saturday.
The flames were quickly extinguished before significant damage or harm could be caused, the force said.
As firefighters tried to put on the flames that engulfed Spellow Lane Library Hub - which also functions as a food bank - rioters threw a missile at the engine, before breaking the rear window of a nearby cab.
Shocking photos from this morning show the burnt out interior of the library, with bookshelves tipped on their side, and glass surrounding the remaining computers.
One officer was shoved off his motorbike while another was looked after by colleagues after appearing shell-shocked following a violent confrontation with a protester.
Elsewhere, shameless looters took advantage of the violent mayhem, stealing everything from phones, shoes and wine from local shops. | |||||
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] | 2015-03-17T15:00:44+00:00 | What’s the best kit for MOB retrieval and recovery? Chris Beeson tested a range of pushpit-mounted products to find the answer | en | Yachting Monthly | https://www.yachtingmonthly.com/gear/mob-retrieval-recovery-30318 | Look at your boat, or at any other boat around you. Chances are the pushpit will be adorned with all sorts of boxes and belts, pipes, lines and gizmos, all designed to help you get a man overboard (MOB) back onto the deck. But how many of us have tested the kit to see how easy it is to use? Does the average skipper even know what’s in those brightly coloured pouches?
The aim of this test was to lift the lid on these portentous packages so we could find out how to use them, discover what problems we might encounter when doing so, and learn which bits of kit worked best in order to bring a casualty alongside, then get them back on deck.
Recovery techniques
There’s a lot of discussion and instruction on how to find your MOB, but very little about how to get them back on board. We tested three methods to find out which was quickest and easiest, and how it might be made easier still.
With an unconscious casualty in the water, options are limited. If conditions allow, deploy an inflatable dinghy and retrieve the MOB by hauling them over the tube. Otherwise, you could use the boat hook and a pick-up sail, or a halyard clipped onto the casualty’s harness. The methods we tried all assumed that the MOB was conscious and not yet cold enough to have lost the use of their hands, which could be as little as 10 minutes after falling in. Pixie has a bathing ladder but we avoided using it to board, because in a seaway the transom is no place to be.
Winching a halyard
Pixie has Barient 22 primary winches and I was using a 10in winch handle. I was expecting to labour seriously while winching a 17-stone casualty out of the drink, but it wasn’t as hard as I thought. I took it steadily and Kieran was on deck after no more than 45 seconds’ winching.
A bigger winch and a longer winch handle would have made it easier still. An electric winch would have made this both the quickest and easiest method of recovering an MOB.
The main advantage of this method is that it’s quick, in a situation where speed is of the essence. All you need to do is get some slack in the topping lift or main halyard, pass it to the MOB, who clips it to the D-ring on his harness, then start winching. Another advantage is that the MOB is raised adjacent to the shrouds, giving them something to grab onto in order to pull themselves aboard. The main drawback is that in some cases, an inflated lifejacket can make it tricky for the MOB to locate the D-ring.
Block and tackle
Pixie has a 4:1 purchase mainsheet system with a camcleat and, crucially, snap shackles on either end. We secured the boom using a line snap-shackled on and led to a secondary winch via a block on the toerail. Then we removed the mainsheet so that the camcleat block was on the boom, and we passed Kieran the other end, to clip the snap shackle to his lifejacket’s D ring.
The 4:1 advantage made it fairly easy to lift him. However, the purchase system was block-to-block by the time Kieran was level with the deck. We therefore manhandled him over the lower lifeline, having released the top one. We should have raised the boom by releasing the vang and hauling on the topping lift.
This technique took longer to set up than the halyard method and would have taken considerably longer if Pixie had ordinary shackles either end, and even longer if we had taken the vang off to raise the boom.
Windlass
Pixie has no powered winches but does have an electric windlass with a warping drum, and one of the reasons Graham and Kirsty used to justify the expense was that it could be used to get Graham back aboard if he fell in. As Pixie has a rigid rod kicker, they decided to use the topping lift and extended it so it could reach the windlass. It runs around one of the coachroof winches and forward to the windlass drum via a pre-prepared block on a strop attached to the toerail forward. This involved no more effort than the press of a button and, once set up, it was the quickest method too, but there was extra time involved in digging out the strop, turning on the windlass switch and running the topping lift tail forward. I’m also not convinced that I’d want to spend that long on the foredeck in rough seas.
How we tested
Our photographer Graham Snook volunteered Pixie, his Sadler 32, as a test bed. Ocean Safety and Baltic Safety UK lent us a selection of standard pushpit safety kit, so all we needed was a real live casualty. To his credit, if not better judgement, our editor Kieran Flatt volunteered to take the fall, wearing a Musto HPX drysuit.
With unusually rough seas outside Portsmouth Harbour, we abandoned plans to test in open water. Instead, we secured Pixie to a vacant mooring in the harbour, with a mile’s worth of fetch to windward. We had Nick Eales standing by in a SeaStart RIB, mainly to give Graham a photo platform, but also collect Kieran should anything go wrong. As it turned out, with the wind and rain whipping across the deck, Kieran was warmer than the rest of us – and drier, too.
We didn’t test the standard horseshoe lifebuoy, because it’s no use for retrieval or recovery. It is, however, useful for keeping an eye on your MOB, especially when attached to a danbuoy. A lifejacket gave Kieran all the buoyancy he needed. To test retrieval, we let Kieran drift off, and deployed various items to get him alongside. Then we recovered him, so he could jump back in again!
The test
Trem throwing line
This has a loop on the end of a 25m line, coiled inside and attached to the base of a plastic sock, with a white webbing loop outside the end of the bag. Also at the base is a weight inside a block of closed cell foam. Undo the Velcro at the neck of the sock, place the loop over your wrist and throw towards the MOB.
This was easier to throw than some because of the weight, but even so the wind took it well downwind. Once Kieran had swum to the floating sock, he grabbed the white loop at the base and I hauled him in. The MOB must have enough strength to hold on, and if the boat is rolling then shock loads could tear it from their grasp. This device offers no significant buoyancy and is for retrieval only, not recovery.
Kim safety ladder
2.4m-long, this ladder is made of webbing straps with plastic tubes for rungs. With your MOB alongside, clip the webbing loops onto the toerail and pull the ladder out of the bag. It’s light, easy to stow, quick to deploy and inexpensive.
Kieran wasn’t filled with confidence initially but after struggling to get one foot on a rung, it worked well. Deploy it at the shrouds so your MOB is climbing out at midships where pitching is reduced, and they have the shrouds to grab. I’d fasten a shackle on the bottom rung so that the ladder hangs straight rather than drifting around in the water, making it harder to get a foothold.
Kim throwing recovery strop
This has a strop, Velcroed to the sock, on the end of a retrieval line. Undo the Velcro strap at the neck of the sock so that the line can pay out, then throw at the MOB. It didn’t have much weight, so distance and accuracy were difficult.
Kieran has reduced mobility in his left arm after a bike accident, but even an able bodied MOB would struggle to get the strop over an inflated lifejacket. It took a good minute of thrashing to get it half-on and also hurt on retrieval because the strop was thin and pushed the inflated lifejacket into his face. Kieran said it would have been quicker – and no less comfortable – to throw him a line with a bowline in the end.
Kim MOB rescue sling
Open the top of the rectangular pouch, mounted to the pushpit with Velcro, and there’s a buoyant foam U covered in bright orange plastic, with a webbing strap completing the loop. There’s a D ring stitched into the webbing and a recovery line attached to that. Rather than thrown, it is dropped over the side with the line paid out as you sail or motor around your MOB.
Kieran said it was easy to get on as the webbing makes the loop big enough to get over your shoulders and lifejacket. Once on, it was comfortable. The long webbing strap also makes it easy to see what you’re doing when you fasten the recovery line, which in this case was the mainsheet.
Baltic rescue sling
Attached to the pushpit with webbing straps and plastic buckles, this device is released by unzipping the cover and pulling the sling out. It’s then dropped into the water and the recovery line paid out as you circle the MOB.
The rope purchase that completed the U-shaped foam sling didn’t open wide enough, leaving Kieran little room to get it over his shoulders. After struggling for a minute or two, he developed a technique of floating on his front then ‘diving’ through the loop and whipping his elbows back to make sure the sling stayed in place. Once on, he attached the recovery line and enjoyed a comfortable hoist.
Jonbuoy inflatable rescue sling
This device comes in a rigid tube attached to the pushpit by Velcro straps. Unzip the top, grab the black webbing strap and pull the device out. This removes a safety cap attached to the base of the tube that prevents the sling inflating in the canister if the tube takes a dunking on the pushpit.
Kieran was down tide but across the wind and I tried to take account of that with my throw. Despite having a 33g CO2 canister, the wind grabbed it and blew it well off course, and it made less than 10m. When it landed, the sling inflated and it wasn’t particularly difficult to put on. It was also easy to fasten the halyard to the webbing lifting strop, and Kieran said it was comfortable during the lift.
Baltic Swedebuoy
This clips onto the pushpit with webbing strops and plastic buckles. Open the Velcro cover, grab the lifting strops and haul the loop out. A plastic buckle joins the loop’s ends and it should be stowed with this undone. Drop the device overboard and pay out its 30m line as you circle your MOB.
Kieran said it was easy to get it around his waist but difficult to buckle up. In fact it’s not supposed to be fastened, so why is it there? The two webbing lifting strops were visible over the lifejacket, making it easy to secure the recovery halyard but during lifting the device pushed the lifejacket into his face, which hurt. With the device unbuckled and secured under his arms, it would have been fine.
Kim pick-up sail
Similar to a parbuckled sail but quicker and easier to use. Clip the pouch onto the lifelines near the shrouds, attach a halyard to the ring at the ‘head’ of the sail, then unclip the seatbelt-type buckle at the base of the bag, loop the ends around stanchions fore and aft, and rebuckle and tension to make sure the MOB doesn’t fall out when they reach deck level.
Kieran said it was easy to swim into, but he didn’t like being upside down, arms pinned to his sides, with his face inches from the water. One roll and his head would have been underwater. Once at deck level, you need to cut the lower guardwire’s lashings. Best solution for an unconscious MOB, who could be dragged into the sail using a boathook.
Jonbuoy recovery module MkV
Secures to the pushpit with brackets. Push the tab on the back and the canister opens deploying the device, which inflates to give the MOB a floating cradle with an integral danbuoy. The ballast bag filled quickly so it didn’t blow away. The module has a rescue quoit on a 5m line to throw to the casualty, but ours was 15m away, so we threw him Pixie’s heaving line instead.
He scrambled aboard and settled down; we hauled him in, attached the halyard to the webbing lifting strop and began winching. The extra ballast made this harder, until we capsized the ballast bag with a boathook. This unit keeps the MOB’s head well above water and gave by far the most comfortable hoist.
The results
Conclusion
Unless you get close enough to let your MOB swim to the safety ladder deployed midships – a very good solution if you’re able to stop within a few metres upwind – retrieval is going to involve lines in the water. Also, sailing to your MOB gives a singlehander too much to do, so douse all sail and start the engine.
If you choose throwing lines, get yourself close and upwind of the MOB, select neutral, check your throwing arc, throw the device overarm over the MOB’s head, then haul them in slowly to the shrouds. Throwing devices with a weight at the end of the sock, like the Trem, fly better but you should be close enough for that not to be an issue.
If you choose towing lines, you’re supposed to deploy the device and pay out the line so it doesn’t tangle while steering in an arc around your MOB, all singlehanded. I daresay it’s possible but it seems like a lot to do.
That said, the towing lines are most comfortable when it comes to recovery so I’d be tempted to position the boat as if using a throwing line, then hurl the towing device as far as you can towards the MOB.
Hauling the MOB back alongside was easier than expected but a thicker polyester line is easier on the hands than a thinner polyethylene one. Haul too fast and they’ll get a bow wave in the face, so go slow or get them to put the sling on backwards and tow them on their back. Don’t use a winch or secure the line to a cleat because the boat’s rolling, more severe with the sails down, will give the MOB some heavy shock loads.
Kieran found it useful to have a bight of line over the side so he could hold on while I readied the halyard. He also found that the MOB can make the lift much more comfortable by ‘walking’ up the topsides while being lifted.
A final observation: all of the non-inflatable devices can be re-used without replacing anything, making them ideal for practice with a willing MOB on a warm day – you don’t want to be reading instructions with a real MOB. Practice will make you much more confident about using the kit if and when you need to. | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 33 | https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2019/3/longest-hollywood-movies | en | The 10 Longest Hollywood Movies Ever Made — World of Reel | http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5bbcad0f2727be3646b9fee1/t/5dbccf06e9a2667a916ba827/1572654856530/?format=1500w | http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5bbcad0f2727be3646b9fee1/t/5dbccf06e9a2667a916ba827/1572654856530/?format=1500w | [
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] | 2019-11-01T20:27:00-04:00 | They may be great, but some still had us checking our watches and rushing to the washroom before the sweet bliss of their end credits. For this list of the longest Hollywood movies ever made, I have narrowed my picks to only mainstream Hollywood movies that must have been over 200 minutes long when | en | https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bbcad0f2727be3646b9fee1/1539350635768-HMJVC0ZYEWTQIFGY1GMW/favicon.ico | World of Reel | https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2019/3/longest-hollywood-movies | They may be great, but some still had us checking our watches and rushing to the washroom before the sweet bliss of their end credits. For this list of the longest Hollywood movies ever made, I have narrowed my picks to only mainstream Hollywood movies that must have been over 200 minutes long when shown originally in theaters. We’re also excluding experimental films, director’s cuts and extended versions.
This epic drama may’ve received mixed reviews, but with a budget that big and 4 Academy Award wins, it’s hard to ignore “Cleopatra.” Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Rex Harrison’s performances have been singled out, but then there’s its running time of 4 hours and 8 minutes! It was 1963’s highest grossing film and, despite some inaccuracies, it is considered a fairly close look at Ancient Egypt during the time of the last active pharaoh – so we guess the length was necessary.
Don’t mess with director Kenneth Branagh, especially when it has to do with Shakespeare. Of all the Bard adaptations he’s done in his career, none has surpassed this 4 hour and 2 minute drama. Directed by Branagh and starring him in title role, this feat of a movie includes every single scene from Shakespeare’s original version! Talk about dedication. Despite being set in the 19th century, “Hamlet” is well known as one of the most faithful Shakespeare adaptations in history.
When this epic historical drama was first released in theaters, it was screened with an overture, intermission, musical pause, and exit music, giving it a running time of between 234-238 minutes; but the film’s actual length is closer to 221 minutes. Regardless of the exact number, “Gone with the Wind” won 10 Oscars and earned much critical praise. Perhaps the secret to its success can be found in the central quartet of characters: headstrong Scarlett O'Hara; charming Rhett Butler; and the less colorful but equally complex Ashley Wilkes and Melanie Hamilton, who complete a tangled romantic foursome thrown together and cast apart by chance, destiny, and the fortunes of war.
Over 40 years have passed and this Oscar winner still sets the standard for greatness in the epic adventure genre. And what an epic it is! At 3 hours and 42 minutes, “Lawrence of Arabia” keeps us captivated the whole way through thanks to a phenomenal cast, an insightful script, breathtaking cinematography and masterful direction by David Lean. Meanwhile, Peter O'Toole's legendary performance as Lawrence will undoubtedly live forever.
If you’re looking for a religious epic that won’t disappoint, then “The Ten Commandments” is a safe bet. Adapting the biblical story of Moses onto film, the Cecil B. DeMille production is 3 hours and 40 minutes of pure entertainment with versatile performances. Extravagant, excessive, and bold, the Oscar-winning film was also one of the highest-grossing flicks of the 1950s and DeMille’s last work before his death.
“Ben-Hur” dominated the Oscars following its 1959 release. In the epic historical drama, Charlton Heston stars as a rich Jewish prince during the time of Jesus who is turned into a slave by the Romans. Years pass and then, Ben-Hur is after his former childhood friend who turned against him. The William Wyler-directed film is also known for the scene showcasing a 9-minute long chariot race, as well as its lengthy but fitting score, all of which serves to fill this epically long film with so much excitement it seems much shorter than its 212 minutes.
“The Irishman” is …an incredibly Dostoyevskian statement from Scorsese. Its 209 minutes, for the most part, fly by. There’s an unfortunate shapelessness to the first 20 or so minutes which introduces us to a very young and, off-puttingly, de-aged De Niro and how he managed to go from meat-packing driver to finally get into the mob business as a hitman. At that point, the drama starts to elevate, the de-aging a little less of a distraction and we are thrust into a 1960s America filled with crime, both societal and political. It doesn’t let up for the next three hours, with only a few (very short) dull stretches here and there, as a whirlwind of characters and plot twists are thrown at us at fervorous speed. “The Irishman” could have surely benefitted from being, actually, a little longer.
The conclusion to Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy is epic fantasy at its absolute best – at least that’s what an overwhelming amount of critics and moviegoers seem to think. After all, “The Return of the King” earned 11 Oscar statues and $1 billion in box office receipts around the world. Following hobbits Frodo and Sam with the One Ring, as well as Gandalf, Aragorn and more as they battle Sauron, the film is 201 minutes of incredible effects, emotional storytelling and so much more.
With a running time of 201 minutes, “Giant” earned its director an Academy Award, but James Dean didn’t even live to see the final product: a car crash took his life when he was just 24. Following the tale of a Texas ranching family, the drama is a multifaceted and visually stunning one that tackles social, political and racial issues with depth. Today, it remains a classic of American cinema and further cemented Dean’s status a cultural icon.
Put a screenplay co-written by Spike Lee based on the life of Malcolm X together with an Oscar-nominated performance by Denzel Washington and what do you get? An incredibly poignant biographical drama, also directed by Lee, which brings to life the most crucial moments in the African-American activist’s time on Earth. Well-received by critics and finishing third at the box office during its opening weekend, “Malcolm X” definitely had people riveted for all of its 3+ hours.
It’s a gangster film, a crime epic and a masterpiece. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola and serving as both a prequel and a sequel to 1972,’s “The Godfather,” “Part 2” is a cinema classic revolving around Al Pacino-as-Michael Corleone and Robert De Niro’s Oscar-winning portrayal of Vito Corleone during two different time periods. Running for 3 hours and 20 minutes long, “The Godfather Part II” continues to be respected today and is often considered one of the finest achievements ever.
[Original WatchMojo article was written by yours truly has been edited for current-day numbers] | ||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 28 | https://www.whitehousehistory.org/not-a-ragged-mob-the-inauguration-of-1829 | en | Not a Ragged Mob; The Inauguration of 1829 | [
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] | null | [] | null | On March 4, 1829, many in the crowd filling the city thought that Providence was smiling on the country in general and on Washington, D.C., in particular, for t... | en | /favicon.ico | WHHA (en-US) | https://www.whitehousehistory.org/not-a-ragged-mob-the-inauguration-of-1829 | 1. Margaret Bayard Smith, The First Forty Years of Washington Society in the Family Letters of Margaret Bayard Smith, ed. Gaillard Hunt (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing, 1965), 295.
2. Senator James Hamilton Jr. of South Carolina to Martin Van Buren, March 5, 1829, Martin Van Buren Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., microfilm edition.
3. William Seale, The President’s House: A History, 2 vols. (Washington, D.C.: White House Historical Association and the National Geographic Society, 2001), 1: 178–79; Robert V. Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Freedom, 1822–1832 (New York: Harper and Row, 1981), 177; Larry Gragg, “The Reign of King Mob, 1829,” History Today 28 (April 1978): 240; Edwin A. Miles, “The First People’s Inaugural—1829,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 37 (Fall 1978): 305.
4. Hamilton to Van Buren, March 5, 1829, Van Buren Papers, microfilm.
5. B. O. Tayloe to Robert W. Carter, January 19, 1825, Carter Family Papers, Manuscripts and Rare Books Department, Swem Library, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va.
6. Andrew Jackson to John Coffee, January 5, 1825, Jackson to Coffee January 6, 1825, Jackson to James Buchanan, July 15, 1827, Jackson to Carter Beverly, June 5, 1827, all in The Correspondence of Andrew Jackson, ed. John Spencer Bassett, 7 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1927–28), 3:272, 273, 355, 373–74; John C. Calhoun to John McLean, September 3, 1827, The Papers of John C. Calhoun, ed. W. Edwin Hemphill and Clyde N. Wilson, 28 vols. (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1959–2003), 10:306–7; Benjamin Estill to James Barbour, Tyler Family Scrapbook, Manuscripts and Rare Books Department, Swem Library.
7. Jackson to William B. Lewis, February 7, 1825, Correspondence of Jackson, ed. Bassett, 3:276.
8. Clay perhaps detested Jackson more, the enmity stretching back to Clay’s leading the House fight to have Jackson censured for his unauthorized attack on Spanish posts in Florida in 1818. See David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler, Old Hickory’s War: Andrew Jackson and the Quest for Empire (Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 1996; reprint, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2003), 214–18. Further, Clay had no real knowledge of where Jackson stood on such important national issues as the Bank of the United States, internal improvements, and a protective tariff, all of which were crucial in Clay’s view to the proper development of the country. For the election of 1824, see Henry Clay to Francis Preston Blair, January 8, 1825, The Papers of Henry Clay, ed. James F. Hopkins and Mary W. M. Hargreaves, 11 vols. (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1959–92), 4:9–10; Everett S. Brown, “The Presidential Election of 1824–1825,” Political Science Quarterly 40 (September 1925): 399–401.
9. Jackson to Lewis, February 14, 1825, Correspondence of Jackson, ed. Bassett, 3:276.
10. John Campbell to David Campbell, January 28, 1825, Campbell Family Papers, Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham, N.C.
11. Clay to George William Featherstonhaugh, January 21, 1825, and Clay to Francis Preston Blair, January 29, 1825, Papers of Henry Clay, ed. Hopkins and Hargreaves, 4:34, 47.
12. William H. Crawford had been chosen by the Republican caucus in 1824, a mark of distinction in previous elections but a harmful designation in the new political climate of participatory democracy.
13. Merrill D. Peterson, The Great Triumvirate: Webster, Clay, and Calhoun (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987), 128; John Campbell to James Campbell, February 1, 1825, Campbell Family Papers; Gurdon S. Mumford to James Monroe, February 25, 1825, James Monroe Papers, Manuscripts and Rare Books Department, Swem Library; Brown, “Presidential Election of 1824–1825,” 398; Tom W. Smith, “The First Straw? A Study of the Origins of Election Polls,” Public Opinion Quarterly 54 (Spring 1990): 23–24.
14. Jackson to James Buchanan, June 25, 1825, Correspondence of Jackson, ed. Bassett, 3:287.
15. Robert P. Hay, “John Fitzgerald: Presidential Image-Maker for Andrew Jackson in 1823,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 42 (1983): 143–46; Peterson, Great Triumvirate, 147.
16. Thomas Dobyns to Robert W. Carter, February 4, 1828, Carter Family Papers; Daniel Feller, The Jacksonian Promise: America, 1815–1840 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995), 74; Glyndon Van Deusen, The Jacksonian Era, 1828–1848 (New York: Harper & Row, 1959), 29; Henry Lee to Jackson, July 1, 1826, and Arthur P. Hayne to Jackson, July 20, 1826, Correspondence of Jackson, ed. Bassett, 3:305–6.
17. Jackson to Samuel Swartwout, March 5, 1825, Correspondence of Jackson, ed. Bassett, 3:280–81.
18. Seale, President’s House, 1:166, 170; Nathaniel Macon to Bartlet Yancey, February 8, 1818, Bartlet Yancey Papers, Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C.
19. G. S. Altmore to John H. Bryan, January 14, 1826, John Heritage Bryan Papers, Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham, N.C.; Charles Cocke to Thomas W. Gilmer, November 19, 1827, Tyler Family Scrapbook.
20. Post Office Account on Newspapers, May 4–November 3, 1825, Jackson to John Coffee, July 23, 1825, Jackson to Tennessee Legislature, October 12, 1825, Jackson to Stephen Simpson, November 23, 1825, James K. Polk to Jackson, April 3, 1826, all in Correspondence of Jackson, ed. Bassett, 3:288, 293–97, 6:483–84; Edward Pessen, Jacksonian America: Society, Personality, and Politics (Homewood, Ill.: Dorsey Press, 1969; rev. ed., 1979), 165, 175; Peterson, Great Triumvirate, 143.
21. Jackson to Calhoun, July 26, 1826, Jackson to John Coffee, September 25, 1826, Sam Houston to Jackson, January 5, 1827, Jackson to Richard K. Call, May 3, 1829, all in Correspondence of Jackson, ed. Bassett, 3:307, 314, 330, 354–55; Thomas E. Waggamon to ?, November 29, 1828, Tyler Family Scrapbook. When Jackson and Rachel Donelson Robards married, they assumed that her abusive first husband had obtained a divorce, only to learn several years later that this was not the case. When Lewis Robards finally received his divorce, by then on the grounds of bigamy and adultery, the Jacksons quietly married again. These events had occurred more than 30 years earlier on a frontier with more relaxed attitudes toward such matters. The attacks on Rachel Jackson, a pious, elderly matron of impeccable character, seemed beyond the bounds of decency to many people, especially to her husband who had killed to protect her virtue.
22. John Campbell to David Campbell, January 12, 1825, Campbell Family Papers; John Eaton to Jackson, February 8, 1827, James Hamilton Jr. to Jackson, February 16, 1827, James K. Polk to Jackson, April 15, 1828, John Eaton to Jackson, August 21, 1828, all in Correspondence of Jackson, ed. Bassett, 3:342, 344, 428–29, 6:499.
23. Jackson to Edmund P. Gaines, December 4, 1828, Andrew Jackson Papers, Library of Congress, microfilm edition; Butler Maury to James Iredell, December 8, 1828, James Iredell Sr. and Jr. Papers, Duke University Library.
24. Clay to David Lee Child, November 20, 1828, Henry Clay Papers, Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham, N.C.
25. Committee of House and Senate to Jackson, December 4, 1828, Jackson Papers, microfilm.
26. Central Committee of Correspondence of Pennsylvania to Jackson, December 9, 1828, Jackson Papers, microfilm.
27. James K. Polk to Jackson, December 1, 1828, Correspondence of Jackson, ed. Bassett, 3:447–49.
28. The best account of Rachel Jackson’s final days is in Remini, Jackson and Course of American Freedom, 150–53.
29. Ibid., 157; Miles, “First People’s Inaugural,” 295.
30. Jackson delayed his trip until Monday so as not to anger anyone by traveling on the Christian Sabbath. In fact, a prominent Washington minister admonished him against such a practice, though he did not receive the letter until after he had commenced his journey. Ezra Stiles Ely to Jackson, January 28, 1829, Jackson Papers, microfilm.
31. Emily Donelson to her mother, Mary Donelson, January 29, 1829, in Pauline Wilcox Burke, Emily Donelson of Tennessee, ed. Jonathan M. Atkins (Richmond, Va.: Garrett and Massie, 1941; reprint, Knoxville: University Press of Tennessee, 2001), 124; Remini, Jackson and Course of American Freedom, 158.
32. Paul F. Boller Jr., Presidential Inaugurations: From Washington’s Election to George W. Bush’s Gala (New York: Harcourt, 2001), 33–35; Seale, President’s House, 1:76; Remini, Jackson and Course of American Freedom, 158–59.
33. Quoted in John F. Marszalek, The Petticoat Affair: Manners, Mutiny, and Sex in Andrew Jackson’s White House (New York: Free Press, 1997), 52.
34. Miles, “First People’s Inaugural,” 297; John Marshall to Thomas Marshall, March 20, 1829, John Marshall Papers, Manuscripts and Rare Books Department, Swem Library.
35. Donald B. Cole, The Presidency of Andrew Jackson (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1993), 6–7.
36. For interesting discussions of the social and political ramifications of what was also dubbed the “Petticoat Affair,” see Marszalek, Petticoat Affair; Catherine Allgor, Parlor Politics: In Which the Ladies of Washington Help Build a City and a Government (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2000).
37. C. C. Cambreleng to Van Buren, March 1, 1829, Van Buren Papers, microfilm; Remini, Jackson and Course of American Freedom, 163–65; Miles, “First People’s Inaugural,” 297–98.
38. Niles’ Weekly Register, March 21, 1829, 49; Benjamin Perley Poore, Perley’s Reminiscences of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis, 2 vols. (Philadelphia: Hubbard Brothers, 1886), 1:92–98; Boller, Presidential Inaugurations, 222–23; Remini, Jackson and Course of American Freedom, 172; Seale, President’s House, 1:176; Amos Kendall, Autobiography of Amos Kendall, ed. William Stickney (New York: Peter Smith, 1949), 308.
39. Henry Brown Jr. to Henry Brown, March 24, 1829, Brown, Coulter, Tucker Papers, Manuscripts and Rare Books Department, Swem Library.
40. Perley Poore, Perley’s Reminiscences, 1:92; Remini, Jackson and Course of American Freedom, 172–73; Van Deusen, Jacksonian Era, 30; Frances Brown to Henry Brown, 1828, Frances Brown to Henry Brown, February 8, 1829, Brown, Coulter, Tucker Papers.
41. Andrew Jackson Donelson was Rachel Jackson’s nephew, but the distinction meant little to Andrew Jackson, who had always treated the young man as a son. Donelson served as Jackson’s private secretary and his wife, Emily, was hostess in the White House, at least until the Eaton Affair temporarily estranged the couple from the president.
42. Smith, First Forty Years of Washington Society, 293.
43. Quoted in ibid., 293–94.
44. Ibid., 295.
45. Ibid., 174–76; Perley Poore, Perley’s Reminiscences, 94; Gragg, “Reign of King Mob,” 239; Van Deusen, Jacksonian Era, 31.
46. Daniel Webster to Achsah Pollard, March 4, 1829, The Papers of Daniel Webster, ed. Charles M. Wiltse and Harold D. Moser, 14 vols. (Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1974–89), 2:405.
47. George R. Gilmer, Sketches of Some of the Settlers of Upper Georgia (New York: D. Appleton and Company; reprint, Americus, Ga.: Americus Book Company, 1926), 244–45.
48. Seale, President’s House, 1:179.
49. Boller, Presidential Inaugurations, 162.
50. Smith, First Forty Years of Washington Society, 295.
51. Niles’ Weekly Register, March 7, 1829, 28.
52. Washington City Chronicle, March 7, 1829.
53. Washington Daily National Intelligencer, March 6, 1829.
54. Smith, First Forty Years of Washington Society, 296. | ||||
5256 | dbpedia | 1 | 8 | https://archive.org/details/themob1951usafeaturingbroderickcrawfordrichardkileyfilmnoirfullmovie | en | Film Noir Full Movie : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive | [
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] | null | [] | null | The Mob is a 1951 film noir crime thriller film directed by Robert Parrish, starring Broderick Crawford and Richard Kiley. The actor Charles Bronson makes one... | en | Internet Archive | https://archive.org/details/themob1951usafeaturingbroderickcrawfordrichardkileyfilmnoirfullmovie | The Mob is a 1951 film noir crime thriller film directed by Robert Parrish, starring Broderick Crawford and Richard Kiley. The actor Charles Bronson makes one of his first film appearances as a longshoreman and was uncredited.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mob_(film)
Suggested Film Noirs: http://bit.ly/36oLNCR
The Internet Archive is an excellent choice for entire full length Netflix & YouTube style uploads of drama, mystery, thriller & crime noir movies from the UK & USA for free. Download complete online British & American classic black & white films from the 1940s & 1950s. | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 0 | 10 | https://www.idp.com/australia/Categories/The-University-of-Queensland/Bachelor-of-Arts-Film-and-Television-Studies/p/PRG-AU-00115898 | en | Study a Bachelor of Arts - Film and Television Studies at The University of Queensland in Australia | https://www.idp.com/images/favicon.ico | https://www.idp.com/images/favicon.ico | [
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] | null | [] | null | Find entry requirements, course fees and intake dates for studying a Bachelor of Arts - Film and Television Studies degree at The University of Queensland in Australia | en | /images/favicon.ico | https://www.idp.com/universities-and-colleges/The-University-of-Queensland/Bachelor-of-Arts-Film-and-Television-Studies/PRG-AU-00115898/ | Course fees are indicative and should be used as a guide. to get an accurate price.
Duration: 3 Year (s)
Fees: AUD 41120
IntakeLocationSemester 1 (February), 2024BrisbaneSemester 2 (July), 2024BrisbaneSemester 1 (February), 2025BrisbaneSemester 2 (July), 2025BrisbaneSemester 1 (February), 2026BrisbaneSemester 2 (July), 2026BrisbaneSemester 2 (July), 2024Semester 1 (February), 2025Semester 2 (July), 2025Semester 2 (July), 2026Semester 1 (February), 2026
Entry requirements for The University of Queensland
Queensland Year 12 (or equivalent):
General English subject (Units 3 & 4, C).
IB - 24
IELTS overall 6.5, reading 6, writing 6, speaking 6, listening 6. For other English Language Proficiency Tests and Scores approved for UQ
TOEFL iBT (including Paper Edition) - Overall 87, listening 19, reading 19, writing 21 and speaking 19.
TOEFL PB - Overall 570, listening 54, reading 54, writing 59/5.
Application Deadline
This date isn’t available to get an detailed information
Further infromation
If you aren't eligible for the above entry requirements, you might ant to explore pathway options at The University of Queensland . If you want to find out more, speak to our counsellors. | |||
5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 3 | https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20424130/ | en | Mob Land (2023) | [
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] | null | [] | 2024-01-17T00:00:00 | Mob Land: Directed by Nicholas Maggio. With Shiloh Fernandez, John Travolta, Kevin Dillon, Stephen Dorff. A sheriff tries to keep the peace when a desperate family man violently robs a pill mill with his brother-in-law, alerting an enforcer for the New Orleans mafia. | en | IMDb | https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20424130/ | Checked this one out because of the 'heavyweight' cast, but sad to report the script and screenplay don't match the talent on show.
A badly aging John Travolta headlines with typical aplomb as a smalltown redneck sheriff, with Matt's bro Kevin Dillon also putting in a decent turn as the film's pivotal catalyst to disaster. However, it's the oft underrated Stephen Dorff who steals the show as a New Orleans mafia enforcer. Dorff is off the hook and carries his weighty bad guy role with typically sinister yet cool-calculated nastiness. He will keep you watching if nothing much else will.
The story itself however is a letdown. It's slow, lacking in tension, originality and continuity, while you really have to shake your head at Travolta's continual failures to connect the dots.
On the plus side there are some decent shootouts, driving scenes and reasonable character development, but the bottomline is this is a rather predictable, low-budget b-movie that fails to ignite, or be quirky/original enough to push it into 'cult' movie territory like an early Cohen Brothers flick for example.
In summation then a one-watch rainy night film at best. Y'all come back now y'hear... | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 13 | https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Tutorials/Mob_farm | en | Tutorials/Mob farm | https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/minecraft_gamepedia/images/6/61/Canal-map2.png/revision/latest?cb=20200310213043 | https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/minecraft_gamepedia/images/6/61/Canal-map2.png/revision/latest?cb=20200310213043 | [
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"Contributors to Minecraft Wiki"
] | null | Mob farms are structures built to acquire mob drops more easily and in larger numbers. They usually consist of two components: a large, dark room to spawn mobs, which are funneled into a central location, and a mob grinder to kill them quickly and efficiently. The purpose for the farm is to... | en | https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/minecraft_gamepedia/images/4/4a/Site-favicon.ico/revision/latest?cb=20211226203019 | Minecraft Wiki | https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Tutorials/Mob_farm | This article is about farms that spawn mobs in natural conditions. For single-species farms built around a spawner, see Tutorials/Spawner traps.
Mob farms are structures built to acquire mob drops more easily and in larger numbers. They usually consist of two components: a large, dark room to spawn mobs, which are funneled into a central location, and a mob grinder to kill them quickly and efficiently.
Locations[]
The purpose for the farm is to provide a large area that is a viable spawn position for the intended targets, and to kill the mobs quickly. Due to the rules Minecraft applies to spawning mobs, this makes the choice of a location for the mob farm a difficult problem.
Farms placed on the surface can provide good drop rates during the day, when it is one of the few spots of dark ground, but has a sharp drop in effectiveness during nighttime, when the entire surface is dark enough to support mob spawning.
Farms built underground have a time-independent drop rate, and remain within your personal spawn range for hostiles when you go mining, but their effectiveness depends on the amount of unlit caverns in your vicinity, which provide alternative places for mobs to spawn.
Farms floating high in the sky can achieve the best spawn rates during the day and night and you are far away from caves, as they represent the only viable spawn ground. However, building one in survival is rather dangerous, and due to their height they stop working completely when you descend underground to mine resources. To produce loot, you must stay at the height of the farm.
Farms constructed under an ocean can provide the best during day and night, as the ocean limits the viable spawn locations to open areas underground except for drowned, which spawn underwater. You can also locate your base below it to ensure that you are always close enough to spawn monsters.
Superflat worlds provide higher spawn rates than other worlds, as the missing air pockets underground reduce the amount of dark places.
The Nether is difficult to farm, as water evaporates and most mobs are immune to fire. This reduces the amount of functioning farm designs considerably. One could try to funnel the mobs through Nether Portals to circumvent the restrictions.
Drops[]
What a mob farm produces depends on location and the type of grinder used to kill the mobs. Automatic killing prevents certain drops and experience, but is safer as the player is not required to be near the mobs. The following is a table of mobs that can be effectively farmed and their usual and player-caused drops. Player-caused drops and experience can be obtained only when the monster is killed directly by the player or a tamed wolf.
Note that zombie, skeleton, and creeper heads drop only if killed by a charged creeper. Wither skeletons, however, have a small chance to drop theirs no matter the cause of death, but still always drop them when killed via charged creeper.
Mob Normal drops Player-caused drops Spawn Notes Blaze None Blaze Rod Spawns in Nether fortresses and at spawners. Cave Spider String Spider Eye Spawns at spawners in Mineshafts. Wall climbing may clog passages.
Can fit through spaces 0.5 blocks tall. Creeper Gunpowder
Music Discs
Creeper Head
None Spawns in the Overworld when dark. Music Discs drop only when a skeleton or stray kills the creepers, requiring special setup beforehand. Drowned Rotten Flesh Copper Ingot
Nautilus Shell
Fishing Rod
Carved Pumpkin[Java Edition only]
Jack o'Lantern[Java Edition only]
Spawn in rivers and most ocean biomes. Drowned drop tridents and nautilus shells only if they spawned with these. Enderman Ender Pearl
Block they hold
None Spawns in the Overworld when dark, in the End and sometimes in the Nether. Does not work with most water based farms as it teleports out upon taking damage.
Can break farms with randomly taken or placed blocks.
Best farmed in the End or Warped Forest. Ender Dragon None None Spawns in the end when the player first enters the end, and can be respawned using end crystals. At 500 xp per respawned dragon, the Ender Dragon is the largest renewable source of experience in the game.
By using an unload chunk and TNT duplication bug, it is possible to farm this on a large scale in certain Minecraft versions. Endermite None None Have 5% chance to spawn when ender pearl lands. Endermen attempt to kill endermites that spawn from ender pearls. Evoker Totem of Undying
Ominous Banner
Emerald Spawns during raids or in woodland mansions. Evoker can summon evoker fangs or vexes. Ghast Gunpowder
Ghast Tear None Spawns in the Nether. Guardian Prismarine Shard
Prismarine Crystals
Raw Cod/Cooked Cod if the guardian is killed by fire.
None Spawns in Ocean monuments. Husk Rotten Flesh Iron Shovel
Iron Sword
Random Armor
Carved Pumpkin[Java Edition only]
Jack o'Lantern[Java Edition only]
Spawns in desert biomes. Husks do not burn in sunlight.
A husk that is submerged in water for 30 seconds converts to a normal zombie.
Hoglin Leather
Porkchop Cooked Porkchop if the hoglin is killed by fire.
None Spawns in Crimson Forest biome. Hoglins avoid warped fungi (including in a flower pot), nether portals, and respawn anchors. Magma Cube Magma Cream None Spawns in the Nether. Magma cubes cannot be hurt by fall damage or burning. Phantom None Phantom Membrane Spawns in the night, rain, or thunderstorm if the player hasn't slept in 3 days. The phantom is an undead mob. Pillager Ominous Banner
Items that drops during raids: [Bedrock Edition only] Emerald
Enchanted Book
Iron Pickaxe
Iron Axe
Iron Shovel
Iron Sword
Iron Helmet
Iron Chestplate
Iron Leggings
Iron Boots
Crossbow
Arrow[Bedrock Edition only]
Spawns in patrols, around pillager outposts and during raids. If the player kills a pillager wearing a banner on its head, the player receives the Bad Omen status effect. Ravager Saddle[Java Edition only] Saddle[Bedrock Edition only] Spawns during raids. Silverfish None None Can be farmed at stronghold spawners. The ability to hide in blocks could potentially damage the farm if it is made of stone.
They can fit through spaces 0.5 blocks tall. Skeleton Arrow
Bone
Bow
Skeleton Skull
Bow
Random Armor
Carved Pumpkin[Java Edition only]
Jack o'Lantern[Java Edition only] Spawns in the Overworld when dark, Skeleton Dungeon spawner, Soul Sand Valley, and sometimes in the nether fortress. Slime Slimeball None Spawns in Swamp biomes or in slime chunks below y level 40. Large slimes could clog smaller passages. Spider String Spider Eye Spawns in the overworld when dark or from spawners in Dungeons. Wall-climbing can clog up passages. Stray Bone
Arrow
Wither Skeleton Skull
Arrow of Slowness
Bow
Carved Pumpkin[Java Edition only]
Jack o'Lantern[Java Edition only]
Spawns under the sky in Snowy Tundra, Snowy Mountains, Ice Spikes, Frozen River, Frozen Ocean,[BE only] Deep Frozen Ocean[BE only] and Legacy Frozen Ocean[BE only]. Vex None None Can be summoned by evoker They are capable of flying through the air, and can freely pass through any block, including water and lava, without taking damage. Vindicator Ominous Banner
Items that drops during raids: [Bedrock Edition only] Emerald
Enchanted Book
Iron Pickaxe
Iron Axe
Iron Shovel
Iron Sword
Iron Helmet
Iron Chestplate
Iron Leggings
Iron Boots
Axe
Spawns in woodland mansions, during raid or in patrols [Bedrock Edition only]. A vindicator named Johnny is hostile to every mob except ghasts and illagers. Wither Skeleton Coal
Bone
Wither Skeleton Skull Wither Skeleton Skull
Stone Sword
Carved Pumpkin[Java Edition only]
Jack o'Lantern[Java Edition only] Spawns in Nether fortresses. On normal or hard difficulties, the wither spawns 4 wither skeletons when below half health [Bedrock Edition only]. When wither skeleton attacks an entity, the entity is inflicted with the wither effect for 10 seconds. Witch Glass Bottle
Glowstone Dust
Redstone Dust
Spider Eye
Stick
Sugar
Gunpowder Potion of Healing
Potion of Fire Resistance
Potion of Swiftness
Potion of Water Breathing Spawns in Swamp huts, anywhere in the Overworld when dark, during raids or when villager struck by lightning. Witches cannot open doors or use cauldrons. Zoglin Rotten Flesh None Spawns when a hoglin has been in the Overworld or the End for 300 game ticks (15 seconds). Zoglins attack every player, armor stand and every mob except creepers, charged creepers and other zoglins. Zombie Rotten Flesh
Zombie Head Iron Ingot
Carrot
Potato
Iron Shovel
Iron Sword
Random Armor
Carved Pumpkin[Java Edition only]
Jack o'Lantern[Java Edition only] Spawns in the Overworld when dark, from Zombie Dungeon spawner, during siege, or converted from husk Baby zombie variant is twice as fast and 1 block tall; a zombie farm should account for this to prevent escapes.
When converted drowned, they can also drop nautilus shells. Zombified Piglin Rotten Flesh
Gold Nugget Gold Ingot
Golden Sword
Carved Pumpkin[Java Edition only]
Jack o'Lantern[Java Edition only] Spawns in the Nether and in the Overworld near Nether Portals, when a Piglin is in the overworld for 15 seconds, or when pig struck by lightning. Baby pigman are twice as fast and 1 block tall, similar to baby zombies.
If a Zombie Pigman dies while targeting the player, it drops experience. This mechanic has been used to create xp farms.
Designs[]
When planning a mob farm, one should consider the size of the spawnable area. The maximum spawnable area depends on where one plans to be in relation to the farm. If you plan to be directly beneath the center of the farm, waiting for the items, then the radius in which mobs can spawn can be used to calculate the maximum size of the spawnable area:
floor( sqrt(Spawn Radius^2 - (Spawn Floor Height - Collection Floor Height)^2 )) = Spawnable Area
In Java Edition the spawn radius is 128 blocks. In Bedrock Edition the spawn radius is roughly 96 blocks for simulation distances > 4. For simulation distance 4 in Bedrock Edition the spawn radius is 44 blocks.
In practice, however, it is rarely worthwhile to fill the maximum spawnable area with a single farm that delivers mobs to central location. For example, if you plan to spend your time in a less defined position, it might be easier to repeat a simple design several times, ensuring that at least some areas are in the spawn range while limiting complexity. Moreover, transporting mobs long distances for killing makes a farm less efficient because of caps that limit spawning based on the number of mobs already in the loaded areas around the player. The impact of caps is especially important in Bedrock Edition, which has caps that limit population densities as well as a global cap that counts mobs around every player loaded in the world.
If you are making a room that relies on darkness to spawn mobs, cave sounds and bats are good signs that your spawner is dark enough to let hostile mobs spawn.
Spawning tower[]
One of the most popular overworld designs for a general mob farm is based on a tower of spawning pads that are periodically flushed with water to push the mobs off so that they die from fall damage. The water comes from a central pillar of dispensers and observers that cascade a clock signal between platforms. This type of farm is known for its high production rates, simplicity, reliability, and ease of build.
Starting in 1.19.3, mobs no longer spawn on scaffolding. In this case, just build the spawning platforms with top slabs instead of scaffolding. The central signal tower of observers, dispensers, scaffolding blocks remains the same.
Using observer blocks[]
The designs shown in the YouTube videos above are somewhat resource intensive, but this design requires only the following materials:
1 dispenser (per layer)
1 water bucket (per layer)
1 observer (per layer)
112 opaque blocks of choice (per layer)
1 clock (e.g. an Ethonian hopper clock: 2 hoppers, 2 sticky pistons, 2 comparators)
A capture layer (just several dozen hoppers leading into a chest)
In addition to being inexpensive, it is also easier to build.
The design uses three different layers that are repeated with a redstone clock added to the top layer. The layers are as follows:
Top layer: An observer block, facing up observing the dispenser it; the rest of this layer is air.
Middle layer: This layer is completely air (once the dispenser is triggered, it becomes filled with water taking the block above the dispenser at its center).
Bottom layer: The dispenser (facing up, surrounded by opaque blocks (e.g. cobblestone) to hold the water. Fill the dispensers are filled with a bucket of water.
For layer one, the blocks must hold all of the water, so go out seven blocks in each direction, then fill in diagonally. Optionally, you can surround these blocks with signs to prevent spiders from climbing up. However, this would be a large amount of work for little benefit.
This mechanism can cascade downward through quasi-connectivity. When the top dispenser is triggered the observer see the state change and signals down to the air gap above the dispenser below, activating it through quasi-connectivity.
This cascades down through all of the layers (make as many as you like, but anywhere between 3 and 10 should be plenty). To start this cascade, the topmost dispenser needs to be activated. It is recommended to do so using an Ethonian hopper clock with about ten items in it. You can trigger the topmost observer using the redstone output from one of the emplacement the redstone block could be in the clock. It is also recommended to make the layer on which you place the clock bigger than the other the hide the layers under from the sun, and to place torchs on it to prevent mob spawn.
Sinkhole[]
The easiest possible design consists of a large, empty area of simple shape, with one or more holes in the ground for the mobs to drop through. The edge of each hole has to be lined with opened trapdoors or gates to trick the Mob AI into believing the hole to be solid ground. Trapdoors can also be controlled with redstone, so one could shut off the farm by closing the holes remotely.
The whole room is closed by a roof to create a minimal light level. A roof height of 3 allows Endermen to spawn, while a roof height of 1 would restrict the farm to spiders.
Sinkhole farms have limited effectiveness, as the chance for a mob to wander into a hole is small, and zero when the player is so far away that the mobs freeze.[Java Edition only] But they can be built quickly and cheaply, and works in the Nether (unlike other designs requiring water because you can't place water in the Nether).
Canal-style[]
To improve the chances of a mob falling into the holes, one can add channels filled with flowing water, leading to the central hole. The channels are lined with open trapdoors to trick the mobs into falling in, and the water transports them into the grinders. Such a design requires a bit of planning to ensure that there is no stationary water in which the mobs might get stuck, reducing effectiveness.
Because the system uses water to transport mobs, it cannot capture Endermen, which teleport away when touching water. Therefore, the roof of the cavern should be 2 blocks above the ground to prevent griefing of your farm by Endermen taking blocks.
Compact canal design[]
An easily-built design can be made in a 20×20 area, using eight water source blocks to fill the channels, which are exactly eight blocks long so that the water stops exactly at the edges of the central hole. The design can be easily stacked or placed next to each other to increase the effectiveness. This design can be made even smaller as shown in the video (14×14 area). Shrinking the design can be done by using signs to cut off the water flow at the edge of the sinkhole, forcing the mobs to fall into the central hole.
Minimal canal design[]
If there is not enough space for larger designs, this might be used. Its small size of 10x10 or 20x20 (inner area) makes it able to be incorporated into larger construction projects without trouble. It uses four water source blocks, one in each corner, with the water flowing around 3x3 squares of building material to the central hole. The parts of the water between the wall and the blocks is closed over to provide more spawning area.
Large chamber fully automatic design[]
This is a large farm that requires significant resources. It has 6 spawn chambers in each building, and redstone controlling it. It outputs 4 waves of average 10-15 mobs every 16 or so seconds.
Water pans[]
If you have mobs coming in from multiple sources, you may need a water pan (a.k.a. water tray) to collect mobs from a large area to a central dropshaft.
A basic 9×9 (not counting the walls) water tray works well for zombie or skeleton spawners, or when gathering together the output of several dark areas. Simply put water sources at the corners of the square, and they flow to drop the mobs into a hole in the central square. For spiders or iron golems, you must expand this to 10×10, which allows for a 2×2 hole in the middle (for spiders, you must also line the chute with glass).
For a few cases (notably Overworld gold farms), a 27×27 water tray (counting the walls!), with two levels, may be needed. Start with a classic 9x9 pan surrounding the drop chute. Move up a level to surround it with the rest of the large pan — slabs or blocks suffice for most of it (put real blocks at the boundary, so you can place water on them), but the outer ring should be a 25×25 square of fences on the same level (that is, you'd have a half-step up from the outer pan to the fences). Surround this with the 27×27 outer wall. The inner pan gets a water source at each corner, which should send the flow in to surround the hole. For the outer pan, water sources go every other block on top of the fences (place them against the outer wall), but not in a complete ring. Place the sources every other space along two opposite walls; the water should flow exactly to the edge of the inner pan. Now, if you fill in the entirety of the other walls, you get extra water sources forming from the corners, and your current becomes a sheet of mostly-still water. For the other two walls, put only five sources each covering the middle — that is, one at the midpoint, and two on each side (still every other space). This sends the water flow to the other edges of the inner pan.
The large pan could also be expanded to 28×28 with a 10×10 inner pan, but this requires some experimentation.
Active mob displacement[]
The Canal-Style System still suffers from the mobs freezing when outside a certain range around your character in Java Edition, and from the limitations of low population density caps in Bedrock Edition. Active Systems can correct that problem. One example is using Redstone and Dispensers filled with a Water bucket to flood the spawning grounds repeatedly, flushing all mobs into the channels to be transported to the grinders. Thus, the farm provides area for the mobs to spawn in, but does not rely on mob movement to get them into the grinder. Using this, one can omit the trapdoors needed for the other, passive designs.
In Bedrock Edition placing water on top of scaffolding provides an efficient means of active transport. Land mobs spawn with their feet inside of the scaffolding and their heads inside of the flowing water. The mobs are then immediately transported to a drop chute or other killing area. Spiders and baby mobs present a challenge for water-on-scaffolding designs because they spawn entirely inside of the scaffolding and cannot be moved by the water until they randomly climb/jump. Several methods have been invented to deal with this: buttons placed every-other block in every-other row prevents spiders from spawning at all; villagers can be used to lure baby zombies (see below); snow golems can be used to knock mobs upward and into the flowing water; or cascading water down a funnel-shaped spawn floor can be used to pull babies and spiders into the water flow at every block.
Other designs[]
Instead of using water to transport mobs, there are various other methods to make them move toward the grinder, each of which may work better with certain mobs but with other tradeoffs.
Sunlight mob farm: Undead mobs seek protection from sunlight. A roof three blocks above the ground can provide a shady area to lure undead mobs into a pit lined with open trap doors, leading into a grinder. The disadvantage of the farm is that it attracts only zombies and skeletons.
Villager: Only zombies and drowned are attracted to villagers. This method works by having one or more villagers trapped (but protected from actual attack). Any nearby zombies go toward the villagers. You can make a maze that the zombies have to go through so that you need only one trap. However, there should be some sort of trap that the zombies fall into to get to the villagers (e.g. a ton of soul sand in water or in air, fall damage, etc.).
Turtle eggs: This method works on zombies, drowned and zombified piglins. turtle eggs attract all variations of zombies, which want to trample them. Turtle eggs can be used in combination with open trapdoors above a drop to lure any zombie-variant mobs into a killing chamber. It is a popular choice for zombified piglin farms in the nether, and can be used as a method to lure zombies away from other mobs in a standard mob farm.
One-way doors: Relying on the random movement of mobs, One-Way Door Designs use doors or pistons to prevent the mobs from wandering backward. Making several sets of doors can increase the speed with which the mobs move toward the hole.
The easiest configuration consists of a wall of iron doors or fence gates (you can use wooden doors if you're not on Hard difficulty) with a row of pressure plates in front of them. When the mobs walk onto the pressure plates, the door opens, letting them through, but once on the other side, they can't open the door since there is no switch.
With pistons, the arrangement is reversed, with the pressure plates on the desired side, and the pistons pointing upward, so that they block the path of the mobs when extended. This design works only with a 2-block high roof to prevent the mobs from jumping, and even then might fail on spiders. However, it requires considerably more common ingredients than the iron door variant.
Such systems can also be used to "store" mobs after gathering them from the farm, so that they later can be killed for the rare drops and experience
Slime: This farm design uses large slimes to push mobs off ledges. The simplest way to get these slimes are through a slime farm. As for the rates, it gets over 20,000 items per hour, as said in the video title.
Cats: Creepers flee from cats. This can be used to redirect the creepers away from other mobs, and/or to their own killing chamber. Similarly, skeletons and wither skeletons flee from wolves.
Transporting mobs[]
After collecting the mobs from the farm, it might be beneficial to transport them to a different location before grinding them, so that you can access the items more easily while remaining at a close-to optimal position for the spawning of your farms.
Horizontal transportation[]
Horizontal Transportation can be done easily using flowing water, with a drop of 1 block vertically for every 8 block traveled horizontally. Build a tunnel with a height of 3 blocks and a width equal to the size of your gathering holes (usually 2). Mine forward to a length of 8 Blocks, so that water placed at the start ends exactly at the drop. Repeat, but one block lower, so that the mobs fall from one funnel part to the next. Mine out the roof at the higher level for 2 or 3 more blocks to prevent spider clinging to the walls from clogging up the funnel.
Alternatively, one can use a cactus to grind the spiders immediately. To do this, make the first funnel part only 7 blocks long and place one water source block instead of two. Place a sand block and a cactus on top on the same side as the source block. To place the cactus, you have to mine out the block next to it. To ensure the water flow on the next part, mine out the wall block next to the sand and add the water sources there and next to the sand, where there would usually be one.
Downward transportation[]
Transporting mobs and items downward is trivial, simply let them drop down a chute with a water brake at the bottom. Or omit the water brake when you want the mobs to die from fall damage.
Upward transportation[]
Upward transportation uses the fact that nearly all mobs attempt to swim in water, moving upward. Therefore, to get the mobs moving upward, one must provide a column of water with enough air holes to prevent them from drowning. This can be done by arranging signs or ladders and water source blocks in the following vertical configuration:
This can be repeated indefinitely in any direction for a mob elevator. When arriving at the right height, flowing water on top of the topmost ladder is enough to dislodge them.
Slimes do not swim in versions prior to Java Edition 1.8, which can be used to separate them from other mobs.
As of Java Edition 1.13 and Bedrock Edition 1.5.0, a block of soul sand can be placed at the bottom of a column of water source blocks to force entities quickly upward, while also supplying air for long distances. If soul sand is not used, undead mobs can be separated from the others because they do not swim upward.
Grinding[]
Main article: Tutorials/Mob grinder
The last part of a mob farm is to kill the gathered mobs and collect their items. This can be done in different ways, using the variety of damage available in Minecraft, like falling, suffocating, drowning, burning, sunlight (for undead), touching cacti, simply player-applied damage from weapons or lava.
Passive systems do not change to kill the mobs, they rely on constantly available damage sources. Traditional mob grinders used "Lava Blades" and "Drowning Traps" while newer models use magma blocks to kill mobs above the minecart/hopper retrieval system.
Active systems have to change configuration to actually kill mobs, usually in the form of redstone devices. The most known might be the "Piston Grinder", which applies suffocation damage by pushing an opaque block into the head of the mob. While possibly faster than passive systems in killing, active systems usually have a limited capacity, and higher amounts of mobs might clog or even jam the system. The "Minecart Grinder" uses Minecarts to carry the mobs into one block high space, suffocating them. This method can jam up too, but is fairly amusing. You could also use lava to burn mobs. Make sure to have hoppers below so you get the loot before the loot burns automatically.
XP farms are systems that capture and soften up the mobs, but rely on the player to deliver the killing blow, so that the rare drops and experience can be gathered. An example would be a nearly-lethal falling height, which would reduce the majority of mobs to half a heart, easily killed even without a weapon. However, such systems are only as good as the player using them, and in constant danger of being destroyed by creepers if not built out of obsidian, or if the player is out of sight of the creeper, in which case it does not explode. Also on bedrock edition one can make a piston push a trident back and forth for AFK xp.
Hoppers make it easy to collect the dropped items, even without player involvement. This makes fully automatic mob farms possible where the loot is deposited into a chest for easy accessibility.
Video[]
Performance concerns[]
See also: Tick § Game tick | ||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 91 | https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/05/movies/do-the-right-thing-spike-lee.html | en | Why ‘Do the Right Thing’ Is Still a Great Movie | [
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"A.O. Scott",
"Manohla Dargis"
] | 2020-05-05T00:00:00 | Our critics and readers chilled out watching Spike Lee, Rosie Perez and Danny Aiello heat up. And that’s the triple truth, Ruth. | en | /vi-assets/static-assets/favicon-d2483f10ef688e6f89e23806b9700298.ico | https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/05/movies/do-the-right-thing-spike-lee.html | For our latest Weekend Watch Party, we revisited the broiling Brooklyn of Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” a film whose unflinching, complex depiction of racial tension has not dated much in 31 years. What has changed is that the movie, enormously controversial when it was released in 1989, has been embraced as a classic.
It’s part of the curriculum now: we received comments from high school students who watched it for class as well as remarks from some teachers. The students had a lot to say about Lee’s painful themes and arguments, which, among other things, dynamically put Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X into play.
Unlike too many contemporary (OK, white) critics who focused on their own racial fears, the students also appreciated Lee’s art. Badly made films seldom make history, and one reason that “Do the Right Thing” remains resonant is that it is still, as Vincent Canby said in his New York Times review, “one terrific movie.”
I’ve come to the conclusion that Lee believes that the “right thing” is actually less important than the action of “doing the right thing,” which X and King themselves both embraced through constant direct action against racism. — Kalyan N, Sunnyvale, CA (senior at the Harker School in San Jose, Calif.)
A.O. SCOTT I saw “Do the Right Thing” for the first time in Baltimore, the week it opened. Of course, I remember what we’re now in the habit of calling “the discourse” — the critics and commentators warning that it would provoke riots; the TV news panels about the State of Race in America; Spike Lee’s disinclination to play nice in the media — but mostly I remember the excitement of feeling that I was watching one of the great films of my lifetime.
After this last viewing — I lost count a long time ago — I still feel that way. But what I also felt, maybe for the first time, was something like nostalgia. Bill Nunn and Danny Aiello, who played Radio Raheem and Sal, are both gone, following Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee and Robin Harris. Looking at some of the other faces, I marvel at how young they look, and also at Lee’s often underrated skill as a director of actors. There is so much life and personality here, a truthfulness that bursts out of the narrow conventions of realism and turns into something else.
But I have to be honest: through most of this viewing what I was thinking about most was pizza. I miss pizza so much.
As part of a series of tough conversations on difficult issues, my congregation selected this film as a jumping off point to discuss racism and our roles in continuing it. It was probably the most enlightening conversation we ever had. Although we have always viewed ourselves to be progressive, liberal, white do-gooders; those images of ourselves were exposed for what they were … skin deep (pun intended). — Julie, Portland
MANOHLA DARGIS A few things jump out at me now, including how heavily history presses down hard on the film via Martin and Malcolm but also Dee and Davis. Their offscreen roles as artist-activists set an exemplary model for a conscious, conscientious life, yet that history makes a biting, poignant contrast with their roles here. Davis plays Da Mayor, a shambling souse who’s by turns tolerated, mocked and valued by younger people, while Dee’s Mother Sister mostly watches the world pass by.
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5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 68 | https://www.agilealliance.org/resources/experience-reports/harvesting-mob-programming-patterns-observing-how-we-work/ | en | Harvesting Mob Programming Patterns: Observing how we work | [
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] | null | [
"Joe Foley"
] | 2019-07-01T14:31:39-07:00 | We explore a set of mob programming patterns discovered by two different teams -- LendingHome and IBM -- after more than a year of practice. We were surprised at how much our mob programming improved after even modest reflection regarding our practice. | en | Agile Alliance | | https://www.agilealliance.org/resources/experience-reports/harvesting-mob-programming-patterns-observing-how-we-work/ | __cfduid1 monthThe cookie is used by cdn services like CloudFare to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis. It does not correspond to any user ID in the web application and does not store any personally identifiable information._csrfsessionThis cookie is essential for the security of the website and visitor. It ensures visitor browsing security by preventing cross-site request forgery._GRECAPTCHA5 months 27 daysThis cookie is set by Google. 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The cookie is used to manage user memberships.viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.__atuvc1 year 1 monthThis cookie is set by Addthis to make sure you see the updated count if you share a page and return to it before our share count cache is updated.__atuvs30 minutesThis cookie is set by Addthis to make sure you see the updated count if you share a page and return to it before our share count cache is updated.__jid30 minutesUsed to remember the user's Disqus login credentials across websites that use Disqusaka_debugThis cookie is set by the provider Vimeo.This cookie is essential for the website to play video functionality. The cookie collects statistical information like how many times the video is displayed and what settings are used for playback.bcookie2 yearsThis cookie is set by linkedIn. 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The information is collected by Google Analytics in aggregated and anonymous form, and we use the data to help us make improvements to the website._gid1 dayThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages visted in an anonymous form.eud1 year 24 daysThe domain of this cookie is owned by Rocketfuel. This cookie is used to sync with partner systems to identify the users. This cookie contains partner user IDs and last successful match time.S1 hourdomain .google.comuvc1 year 1 monthThe cookie is set by addthis.com to determine the usage of Addthis.com service.vuid2 yearsThis domain of this cookie is owned by Vimeo. This cookie is used by vimeo to collect tracking information. It sets a unique ID to embed videos to the website. | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 24 | https://facts.net/movie/48-facts-about-the-movie-the-lavender-hill-mob/ | en | 48 Facts About The Movie The Lavender Hill Mob | [
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] | null | [
"Ester Copeland"
] | 2023-10-04T15:01:13+08:00 | Discover 48 fascinating facts about the classic movie The Lavender Hill Mob, from its iconic heist plot to the unforgettable performances that make it a cinematic masterpiece. | en | https://facts.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/fac-icon.ico | Facts.net | https://facts.net/movie/48-facts-about-the-movie-the-lavender-hill-mob/ | The Lavender Hill Mob was released in 1951
The Lavender Hill Mob, a British comedy film, was released in It was directed by Charles Crichton and produced by Michael Balcon.
The film stars Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness played the lead role in The Lavender Hill Mob. He portrayed the character of Henry Holland, a mild-mannered bank clerk turned criminal mastermind.
The plot revolves around a gold bullion heist
The movie follows the story of Henry Holland, who plans to steal a shipment of gold bullion from his own bank with the help of a group of amateur crooks.
The film was a critical and commercial success
The Lavender Hill Mob received positive reviews from critics and became a box office hit. It was praised for its sharp wit, clever screenplay, and memorable performances.
The movie won an Academy Award
The Lavender Hill Mob won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The screenplay was written by T.E.B. Clarke.
The film was nominated for three additional Academy Awards
In addition to winning Best Original Screenplay, The Lavender Hill Mob was nominated for Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Film Editing at the Academy Awards.
The movie is known for its iconic Eiffel Tower sequence
One of the most memorable moments in The Lavender Hill Mob is the Eiffel Tower sequence, where Henry Holland and his accomplices try to smuggle the stolen gold bullion out of France.
The film has a runtime of 81 minutes
The Lavender Hill Mob has a relatively short runtime of 81 minutes, making it a fast-paced and entertaining watch.
The movie is listed in the British Film Institute’s Top 100 British Films
The Lavender Hill Mob is widely regarded as a classic British comedy and is included in the British Film Institute’s Top 100 British Films list.
The film was inspired by real-life events
The story of The Lavender Hill Mob was inspired by the famous 1949 bullion robbery, where a group of criminals successfully stole a large amount of gold from a bank.
The movie’s title refers to a street in London
Lavender Hill is a street located in the Battersea area of London. The movie’s title is a reference to this street and the criminal activities that take place there in the film.
The film has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
The Lavender Hill Mob has a perfect score of 100% on the popular review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. It is highly acclaimed by both critics and audiences.
The movie was released by Ealing Studios
The Lavender Hill Mob was produced and distributed by Ealing Studios, a renowned British film production company known for its comedies.
The film showcases the charm of 1950s London
The Lavender Hill Mob offers a delightful glimpse into the streets of 1950s London, with its iconic landmarks, vintage cars, and bustling urban life.
The movie was a part of the golden era of British comedy
The Lavender Hill Mob is considered one of the classics from the golden era of British comedy, along with films like Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Ladykillers.
The film’s script is filled with witty and memorable dialogue
The screenplay of The Lavender Hill Mob is renowned for its clever and humorous dialogue, which adds to the overall charm and entertainment value of the movie.
The movie was originally intended to be shot in color
Although The Lavender Hill Mob was initially planned as a color film, it was ultimately shot in black and white due to budget constraints.
The film’s score was composed by William Alwyn
The musical score for The Lavender Hill Mob was composed by William Alwyn, who created a playful and lively soundtrack that complements the comedic tone of the film.
The movie inspired a 1980s TV series
The success of The Lavender Hill Mob led to a television series adaptation in the 1980s, titled “The Return of the Lavender Hill Mob”.
The film explores themes of ambition and criminality
The Lavender Hill Mob delves into the themes of ambition, greed, and the allure of a life of crime, showcasing the consequences of a seemingly foolproof plan gone awry.
The movie’s screenplay was based on a story by Seth Holt
The screenplay of The Lavender Hill Mob was based on a story by Seth Holt, who later became a renowned film director himself.
The film was a collaboration between director Charles Crichton and writer T.E.B. Clarke
Director Charles Crichton and writer T.E.B. Clarke, both known for their works in British comedy, joined forces to create The Lavender Hill Mob.
The movie was well-received internationally
The Lavender Hill Mob found success beyond the shores of the United Kingdom, gaining popularity and positive reviews in international markets.
The film’s title was changed for the U.S. release
In the United States, The Lavender Hill Mob was released under the title “The Ladykillers 2.” This change was made to capitalize on the success of another British comedy titled “The Ladykillers.”
The movie features memorable supporting characters
In addition to Alec Guinness‘ standout performance, The Lavender Hill Mob features a colorful cast of supporting characters, each adding their own layer of humor and personality to the film.
The film’s production faced financial challenges
During the production of The Lavender Hill Mob, Ealing Studios faced financial difficulties, leading to budget constraints that affected certain aspects of the film.
The movie is known for its twist ending
The Lavender Hill Mob surprises viewers with a clever twist ending that adds an extra layer of excitement and satisfaction to the overall storytelling.
The film showcases the ingenuity of the criminal plot
The Lavender Hill Mob highlights the meticulous planning and creative thinking that goes into executing a successful heist, emphasizing the resourcefulness of the characters.
The movie’s humor appeals to a wide range of audiences
The comedic elements in The Lavender Hill Mob transcend generations, making it a timeless film that continues to entertain audiences of all ages.
The film’s success helped establish Alec Guinness as a leading actor
Alec Guinness’ brilliant performance in The Lavender Hill Mob played a significant role in establishing him as a versatile and respected actor in the British film industry.
The movie received positive reviews for its direction
Charles Crichton’s direction in The Lavender Hill Mob was highly praised, as he expertly balanced the comedic moments with the suspenseful and action-packed sequences.
The film’s popularity led to a stage adaptation
The enduring popularity of The Lavender Hill Mob inspired a stage adaptation, allowing audiences to experience the story and characters in a different medium.
The movie’s success influenced subsequent heist films
The clever and entertaining heist plot of The Lavender Hill Mob has served as an inspiration for numerous heist films that followed, shaping the genre in its own unique way.
The film remains a favorite among British cinema enthusiasts
The Lavender Hill Mob is beloved by fans of British cinema who appreciate its wit, charm, and the nostalgic portrayal of 1950s London.
The movie’s cast chemistry adds to its appeal
The chemistry between the actors in The Lavender Hill Mob, particularly Alec Guinness and his co-stars, enhances the comedic timing and overall enjoyment of the film.
The film portrays the allure and consequences of a life of crime
Through the character of Henry Holland, The Lavender Hill Mob explores the seductive nature of criminal activities and the unexpected consequences that arise from them.
The movie’s dialogue is filled with quotable lines
The witty and memorable dialogue featured in The Lavender Hill Mob has given rise to several quotable lines that have become iconic in the realm of British comedy.
The film’s cinematography captures the essence of the era
The cinematography in The Lavender Hill Mob effectively captures the atmosphere and aesthetics of 1950s London, immersing viewers in the time period.
The movie’s success led to a resurgence in British comedies
The popularity and critical acclaim of The Lavender Hill Mob played a significant role in rejuvenating the British comedy genre, inspiring the production of many more successful films in the years that followed.
The film’s humor is both slapstick and sophisticated
The Lavender Hill Mob strikes a balance between slapstick comedy and sophisticated humor, appealing to a wide range of comedic sensibilities.
The movie has a timeless quality that still resonates with modern audiences
Despite being released decades ago, The Lavender Hill Mob maintains a timeless quality that allows it to resonate with modern viewers who appreciate its clever storytelling and comedic brilliance.
The film’s script underwent several revisions before production
The screenplay of The Lavender Hill Mob went through multiple revisions and rewrites to ensure that the comedic timing and plot intricacies were perfectly crafted.
The movie showcases the ingenuity of British humor
The Lavender Hill Mob exemplifies the wit and cleverness that is often associated with British humor, making it a quintessential representation of the genre.
The film’s pacing keeps the audience engaged throughout
The Lavender Hill Mob is expertly paced, ensuring that the audience remains engaged and entertained from start to finish.
The movie’s success solidified Ealing Studios’ reputation as a leading production company
The commercial and critical success of The Lavender Hill Mob solidified Ealing Studios’ status as a prominent production company in the British film industry.
The film’s characters are relatable and endearing
The characters in The Lavender Hill Mob are crafted in a way that makes them relatable and endearing, adding depth to the comedic narrative.
The movie’s legacy has endured over the years
The legacy of The Lavender Hill Mob continues to thrive, with the film being recognized as one of the finest examples of British comedy cinema.
The film is a must-watch for fans of classic comedies
For fans of classic comedies, The Lavender Hill Mob is an absolute must-watch, showcasing the brilliance of British humor and its timeless appeal.
Conclusion
The Lavender Hill Mob is a classic British comedy film that has captivated audiences since its release in 1951. With a charming storyline, brilliant performances, and a touch of crime and comedy, it has rightly earned its place as one of the greatest British films of all time.
The movie tells the tale of a bank clerk named Henry Holland, played by the legendary Alec Guinness, who masterminds a plan to steal gold bullion. Alongside his accomplices, they disguise the stolen gold as Eiffel Tower paperweights and attempt to smuggle it out of the country. Hilarity ensues as their plans go awry, leading to a series of comedic mishaps.
With its clever and witty script, memorable characters, and sharp direction by Charles Crichton, The Lavender Hill Mob continues to entertain and delight audiences of all generations. It is a testament to the enduring power of British comedy and a must-watch for any film lover.
FAQs
1. Who directed The Lavender Hill Mob?
The Lavender Hill Mob was directed by Charles Crichton.
2. When was The Lavender Hill Mob released?
The film was released in 1951.
3. Who is the lead actor in The Lavender Hill Mob?
The lead actor in the film is Alec Guinness, who plays Henry Holland, the bank clerk turned criminal mastermind.
4. Is The Lavender Hill Mob a comedy?
Yes, The Lavender Hill Mob is a comedy film that combines elements of crime and humor.
5. What is the storyline of The Lavender Hill Mob?
The movie follows the story of Henry Holland and his plan to steal gold bullion and smuggle it out of the country, disguised as Eiffel Tower paperweights.
6. Is The Lavender Hill Mob considered a classic?
Yes, The Lavender Hill Mob is widely regarded as a classic British comedy film.
7. Are there any memorable moments in the film?
Yes, the film features several memorable moments, including the famous chase scene involving a truck full of gold.
8. Has The Lavender Hill Mob won any awards?
Yes, the film won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay in 1952.
9. Is The Lavender Hill Mob suitable for all audiences?
The film is generally considered family-friendly and suitable for all audiences.
10. Where can I watch The Lavender Hill Mob?
The film is widely available on various streaming platforms and can also be found on DVD and Blu-ray. | ||||
5256 | dbpedia | 1 | 5 | https://www.flicks.com.au/movie/rob-the-mob/ | en | Rob the Mob | [
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""
] | null | [] | null | How to watch online, stream, rent or buy Rob the Mob in Australia + release dates, reviews and trailers. New York crime drama - based on a true story - following a young couple (Michael Pitt, Seven Psychopaths; Nina Arianda, Midnight in Paris) who, after hearing testimony at Mafia boss John Gotti's trial that mob social clubs are gun-free, brazenly rob the underground spots operated by major crime families. | en | /app-icons/apple-touch-icon.png | Flicks.com.au | https://www.flicks.com.au/movie/rob-the-mob/ | Keep track of the movies and show you want to see + get Flicks email updates.
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5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 45 | https://www.themoviebuff.net/2020/03/american-hustle-r/ | en | REVIEW - 'American Hustle' (2013) | [
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] | null | [
"Brynne Ramella",
"Matt DeCristo",
"Kevin Parks",
"Ella Runi",
"Holly Marie",
"Paul Emmanuel Enicola",
"Movie Buff Staff",
"Miles Oliver",
"Arpit Nayak"
] | 2020-03-22T13:13:35+00:00 | Looking for an in-depth "American Hustle" movie review? The Movie Buff has all the reviews you’re looking for. Follow us weekly for Hollywood and indie film reviews. | en | The Movie Buff | https://www.themoviebuff.net/2020/03/american-hustle-r/ | David O. Russell’s “American Hustle” is a mob movie with style. Based on a true story, the film tells the story of Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), whose past times include forgery and loan-sharking. He meets and falls hard for another con artist named Sydney (Amy Adams). The duo is eventually caught by an FBI agent, played by Bradley Cooper, and forced to work in a sting operation to take down a New Jersey mayor, played by Jeremy Renner. All the while, Irving’s wife, played by Jennifer Lawrence, may cause the whole operation to come crashing down.
Mob movies often share a similar vibe—dark and grim. “American Hustle” is anything but that. The movie takes place in the 1970s and leans hard into the culture. The movie is bright and flashy. It borrows elements from film noir by giving a few characters their own angsty inner monologues. This offers a refreshing take on your typical crime-based movie.
But what gives this movie the most color isn’t the era-appropriate costumes or music. It’s the performances. “American Hustle” is jam-packed with A-listers giving it their all. Every one of these characters is over-the-top and frankly, a little odd. But it’s clear that this group had a blast making the movie. As per usual, Christian Bale transformed his body and mannerisms to become somebody completely new. It’s always a joy to see what Bale will offer audiences next. While it’s Bale and Adams that actually play a couple in this film, Adams and Cooper have an electric chemistry that radiates off the screen. Maybe that just goes to show that Amy Adams can have chemistry with anyone.
But the real star of “American Hustle” is Jennifer Lawrence. She’s zany and unhinged and an absolute joy to watch here. Her lip sync rendition of “Live and Let Die” packed in more drama in a few minutes than the entirety of the film, in the absolute best way possible. While “Silver Linings Playbook” may have earned Lawrence her Oscar, it absolutely should have been “American Hustle.”
While the performances are without a doubt the best part of this film, Russell’s direction gives the film a slick and quick paced. “American Hustle” is full of slick characters conning one another, so it’s only appropriate. The film’s biggest downfall is its runtime. It could have benefited by following suit of its fast-talking characters and trimmed down 30 minutes or so. Other than that, “American Hustle” is absolutely worth a watch. | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 12 | https://eulaliemagazine.com/2024/02/15-must-see-mob-films/ | en | 15 Must-See Mob Films | [
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"Mads Misasi",
"Allison Nichols",
"Alicia Gilstorf",
"Jerrica Tisdale"
] | 2024-02-15T00:00:00 | Since the beginning of film history, viewers have always been mesmerized by the drama of mobsters. Check out which ones made our list of 15 Must See Mob Films. | en | Eulalie Magazine - The online culture magazine with no limits | https://eulaliemagazine.com/2024/02/15-must-see-mob-films/ | Since the movies began, people have always been fascinated by the action and drama that a mob film brings to the table. There is just something about family loyalties, murder for hire, and illegal activities that are looked over that tickles our fancy.
Some of these films are so memorable that they have quotable lines, which every movie buff knows whether they’ve seen the film or not. With an older generation of movie lovers, these films give an insight into some of the cultural elements they grew up with and give them a sense of pride.
Whether we are talking about the Italian, Russian, Irish, Chinese, or Japanese mob, one thing always remains the same. There is always going to be a criminal underbelly, and people are going to end up dead.
In no particular order, here are 15 must-see mob films.
1. The Godfather Part II
The second installment in a very famous trilogy, but probably the favored one, this film covers the reign of Michael Corleone as Don of the infamous Corleone family. Meanwhile, flashbacks show us the rise and evolution of his own father into a Don of his own family.
Introduced as Don Michael Corleone at the start of the film, Al Pacino’s performance stuns, chills, and excites us from start to finish. He really brings forward how loving and gentle Michael can be with his kids and wife, while also ruthlessly killing his own family.
Fans of the trilogy got to see a bit of that evolve during the first installment, but The Godfather, Part II is where Michael becomes this revered and feared figurehead of a family that has seen better days. Every movie buff knows the shock we felt when we heard Pacino deliver the world-famous line, “I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart.”
2. Casino
This film from 1995 is one of many Robert De Niro entries on this list. What can we say? The man is a mob film legend. Focuses more on the outer ranks of a mafia-tied crime syndicate, Casino covers Sam “Ace” Rothstein’s journey as the overseer of day-to-day operations of the Chicago Outfit’s casino holdings.
Sam feels he has a good grip on what he’s been tasked with doing, but over the years Las Vegas changes, and with it, his power and standing in the casino community. It doesn’t help that the more time goes on, the more the mafia becomes involved in his management dealings.
The film is based on a true story and one of the early collaborations between De Niro and Scorsese — which is now a duo synonymous with perfection. With the added talents of Joe Pesci, Sharon Stone, Don Rickles, and Kevin Pollack, this film is a balanced, intriguing tale of power and money building up reputations and then ruining them.
3. Goodfellas
If you think of Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro, and Paul Sorvino, your mind immediately goes to Italian mobsters. That is what makes this 1990 film based on the book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi so fantastic.
The entire cast is made up of heavy hitters, and their performances don’t miss because neither does the writing. Telling the story of a mob associate and his friends as they rise and fall within the ranks could easily become tired and predictable, but somehow Goodfellas never falls into that trap.
It sets the tone for the best of the best in regard to mob films. Because Liotta and De Niro play roles that are so relatable, audiences find themselves rooting for them to end up on top, despite being criminals.
4. Scarface
Out of all the films on this list, Tony Montana is one of the most iconic gangsters of them all. And while Al Pacino is well-known for his role as Michael Corleone, it’s his role as Montana that really puts him on the mob film map.
The way Pacino draws viewers in with Tony Montana’s intense cruelty keeps them hooked as the man rises through the drug ranks from a Colombian refugee nobody to the top drug lord in Miami. While there aren’t direct ties to a mob syndicate in this film, it holds many cultural references to that type of life.
As Montana’s power grows, so does his ruthless, murderous nature. By the end, audiences have seen the man fall into the insanity of drugs, wealth, and power. Besides, who doesn’t know the iconic line, “Say hello to my little friend,” or the violent saw scene?
5. Tokyo Drifter
It is one of the few films on this list that follows criminal activities outside of the United States. This time the film follows the Yazuka, a Japanese crime syndicate.
Released in 1966, Tokyo Drifter is one of the oldest ones within the genre and still manages to hold significance decades later. The story follows an older Yazuka boss as he looks to retire and pass his operation on to his right-hand man, Tetsu.
The problem is Tetsu wants to be a drifter, a wanderer, and not commit to the criminal life anymore. What follows is an intense vying for Tetsu’s attention between his old boss and another mobster trying to step in and take over the territory.
6. The Godfather Part 1
Over the years, the name Marlon Brando became synonymous with the character of Vito Corleone. In fact, the 1972 film, The Godfather Part I has become so iconic that practically everyone knows who Vito is or at least has seen reimaginings of him throughout pop culture.
The first part in a famous film trilogy, this film is the only one based firmly on the book The Godfather by Mario Puzo. This story put not only Al Pacino on the map but, James Caan, Diane Keaton, John Cazale, and Robert DuVall as well.
It’s not just a story about the criminal dealings of an Italian-American family of mobsters, but also the transition between innocence and responsibility, naïveté and intelligence. There is love, family, tradition, and culture wrapped up amongst the violence that makes this film one to watch over and over again.
After all, if we don’t, Don Corleone just might make us an offer we can’t refuse.
7. The Irishman
The most recent film on this list, released in 2019, brings Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci together as aging mobsters. Following the story of Jimmy Hoffa’s closest friend, and alleged killer, Frank Sheeran, this film reminds viewers that we always want to be mesmerized by gangsters.
With De Niro at the helm as Sheeran and Pacino by his side as Hoffa, the film travels with the men through WWII and Hoffa’s imminent demise. It’s a tale as old as time, and one that has been part of the public persona for decades.
The Irishman is a cinematically beautiful piece of art that seamlessly transitions from one time period to the next in the hopes of diving deeper into one mobster’s life. One of the highlights of this film rests not in the storytelling itself but in the de-aging done to make these characters believable across time.
8. The Departed
One of the greatest mob films to date due to its twisted storytelling that keeps viewers on their toes until the very end. The Departed has easily joined the ranks of classic titles that came decades before it.
Set in South Boston and involving the Irish mob, this film takes us on a journey of loyalties being tested, lines being crossed, and deceptions being outsmarted. From one moment to the next, no one can really tell who is loyal to whom — not only because it changes but also because the ability of these characters to warp our sense of reality is unparalleled.
With a cast that boasts Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Vera Farmiga, and Alec Baldwin, there is something for everyone if you love political, crime, or action-packed dramas.
9. Black Caesar
After being brutally attacked by a police officer in his youth, Tommy Gibbs turns to a life of crime. This move puts him in a position to run a Black syndicate in Harlem as part of the New York Mafia.
Following Gibbs’ journey as he wages war on the Italian Mob in order to establish his own crime empire, Black Caesar proves that mob genre stories can happen in any community. In the early 1970s, there was a push to tell more Black stories on equal footing with those of white stories, and this film fits that bill.
Starring Fred Williamson, Gloria Hendry, and Julius Harris, this story draws our attention by putting a twist on the typical crime dramas for which there was a plethora of during this time. It redefines what we think of when we think of criminal operations, especially within a hotbed such as New York.
10. Donnie Brasco
Another Al Pacino entry on this list, this time with the added benefit of a young Johnny Depp. This film is another one based on a true story — this time regarding an undercover agent in a crime family.
Depp plays Donnie Brasco, who ingratiates himself to Lefty Ruggiero, played by Pacino, and manages to find a position within the Bonanno crime family. The line between his job as a federal agent and giving in completely to a life of crime blurs more and more the longer he spends time with Lefty.
Despite knowing this will never end well for either party, viewers can’t help but hope for more as Brasco’s actions threaten his and Lefty’s lives. Donnie Brasco is intense from moment to moment as we pray Brasco won’t be found out as a spy.
11. Eastern Promises
The only film on this list diving into the dealings of the Russian mob, Eastern Promises has an intensity and underlying paranoia not present in your typical Irish or Italian mob stories. The menacing nature of the Russians to take no prisoners and show no mercy is a change that many fans of the genre will appreciate.
The story centers not on the male members of the mob, but instead on an innocent Russian-British midwife, Anna, played by Naomi Watts, who has the unfortunate task of delivering the baby of a Ukranian prostitute, who dies in childbirth, connected to the Russian mob. When she dies, Viggo Mortenson’s character, the menacing henchman of the head of the family, comes to threaten Anna’s life.
Overall this thrilling drama never slows down and takes you along for the ride whether you are ready or not. By the end, we are rooting for Anna to be successful at finding the best option for the child left behind and gaining the love she deserves.
12. Once Upon a Time in America
Pairing up once more, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci play members of a rising Jewish gang in New York City during the 1920s and 1930s. Once Upon a Time in America chronicles the strong friendship between De Niro’s Noodles and James Woods’ Max as they recruit other Jewish youths to join their organization.
What follows is years of friendship and loyalty being tested by the perils of drugs and crime. Greed and betrayal take hold as these young men realize that criminal organizations are on the rise in American society, and they have to give in if they wish to survive.
One of the earliest performances of De Niro and Pesci proves these actors have earned the careers they have by working hard and molding themselves into the characters they play. The only downside to this film is its runtime (clocking in around 3.5 hours), which doesn’t always feel entirely earned, but the performances are worth it.
13. A Bittersweet Life
This film comes from South Korea and follows the story of a Korean mobster who is in trouble for not following the orders of his boss. A Bittersweet Life takes on an action noir vibe to tell a story that’s as predictable as any other on this list but stands out for its cinematic nature.
On the surface, this film seems pretty straightforward, Sun-Woo is tasked with a job by his boss Kang, keeping an eye on his woman to be sure she isn’t having an affair. However, as sometimes does in the mob genre films, love gets in the way, and Sun-Woo finds himself covering up the woman’s affair due to his infatuation with her.
It becomes a tale of choosing love over duty, only in this case, the choice can result in death. Sun-Woo realizes his life lacks meaning, and yet he still refuses to give into his boss’ torture, revealing what he knows.
Ultimately, this film gives a more personal look at just how lonely being a mobster can sometimes be.
14. The Public Enemy
Having been released in 1931, The Public Enemy is truly an American Cinematic Classic, having been selected for preservation by the National Film Registry. It brings to life the tale of two men trying to survive in a Prohibition-era America.
Tom and Matt, played by James Cagney and Edward Woods, respectively, find themselves assisting criminal enterprises in a bid to find protection amongst their ranks. Unfortunately, these two men can’t help being dazzled by the wealth they acquire as a result of their illegal activities, which brings undue attention to themselves.
In the end, Tom and Matt aren’t able to survive the new life they lead, which leads the film to a depressing conclusion. One of the first strong contenders in the genre, this film shouldn’t be missed due to the delicate balance it portrays between family, friends, and action.
15. A Bronx Tale
A final Robert De Niro entry on this list, which also coincidentally stars Joe Pesci, tells the tale of a young kid brought up on the streets under the influence of an older mobster. A Bronx Tale follows Calogero as he tries to decide where his loyalties lie when he meets the local mafia boss, Sonny, played by Chazz Palminteri.
The young boy grows up amongst the criminals of the local mafia boss and the hardworking immigrants, such as his father, a driver for the MTA. He is all set to be a member of Sonny’s crew, despite his father’s objections, until he falls in love with an African-American classmate.
This move alienates him from the people around him in a variety of ways and Calogero must assess who he really is and wants to become. It’s a beautiful coming-of-age tale that never gets too schmaltzy or emotional, which is perfect for a mob-inspired film.
Palminteri wrote and directed the stage production of this story, which made its debut in 1989.
—
What mob films do you love? Did we miss any on our list? Sound off in the comments, and let us know!
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5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 7 | https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/mob-land | en | Mob Land Movie Review | [
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"Jeffrey M. Anderson"
] | 2023-08-01T00:00:00 | Surprisingly thoughtful crime drama has bloody violence. Read Common Sense Media's Mob Land review, age rating, and parents guide. | en | /themes/custom/common_sense/images/favicons/favicon-16x16.png | Common Sense Media | https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/mob-land | After a too-familiar start, this crime drama slowly, surprisingly reveals itself as a potent exercise in existentialism, a thoughtful rumination on guilt and the dying of the American Dream. Let's face it, the "botched robbery" description and the B-level cast doesn't initially inspire confidence. But Mob Land takes off when Dorff's Clayton Minor arrives on the scene. He's a nihilist from New Orleans but also a student of human nature, seemingly curious about the inner lives of all the locals. His gravel-hard surface and the nature of his questions and ideas are a fascinating juxtaposition. Indeed, the very reason he doesn't kill Shelby is that he's curious about Shelby's reasons for the robbery and his guilt. To top it off, Travolta gives one of his most lovable performances as the avuncular sheriff, whose slow, polite drawl belies a smart twinkle in his eyes. Mob Land is the writing and directing debut of Nicholas Maggio, and if he can learn to keep from shaking the camera during action scenes -- as he unfortunately does here -- it will be interesting to see what he does next. | ||||
5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 28 | https://www.oklahoman.com/story/entertainment/columns/brandy-mcdonnell/2019/11/27/movie-review-the-irishman-is-a-magnetic-mob-epic-despite-its-grueling-runtime/60418057007/ | en | Movie review: 'The Irishman' is a magnetic mob epic, despite its grueling runtime | [
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"Brandy McDonnell, The Oklahoman"
] | 2019-11-27T00:00:00 | Even by their superlative standards, De Niro, Pacino and Pesci - the latter came out of retirement at Scorsese's behest, give stellar performances - and Industrial Light & Magic's de-aging effects sh… | en | Oklahoman | https://www.oklahoman.com/story/entertainment/columns/brandy-mcdonnell/2019/11/27/movie-review-the-irishman-is-a-magnetic-mob-epic-despite-its-grueling-runtime/60418057007/ | Despite the grueling 3 1/2-hour runtime, "The Irishman" is a magnetic mob epic from Martin Scorsese, the undisputed don of gangster cinema.
Adapted from the nonfiction book "I Heard You Paint Houses" by former homicide prosecutor, investigator and defense attorney Charles Brandt, it chronicles the criminal career of mob hitman and bodyguard Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), a World War II veteran who is working as a delivery truck driver when he is rightly accused of stealing.
Impressed by Frank's cagey testimony and refusal to name his co-conspirators, his attorney, Bill Bufalino (Ray Romano), gets him acquitted and introduces him to his cunning cousin, Russell (Joe Pesci), the head of the Italian-American crime family that runs Philadelphia and the surrounding areas.
Frank develops a close friendship with Russell and rises through the ranks of the crime syndicate by ruthlessly carrying out hits, and Russell eventually introduces him to charismatic Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino), the powerful head of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Sheeran becomes Hoffa's bodyguard and close friend, with even Frank's stoic daughter Peggy (Lucy Gallina as a child, Anna Paquin as an adult), who loathes her father's mob business, charmed by the union leader.
But a series of shifting circumstances - President Kennedy's election and assassination, Attorney General Bobby Kennedy's (Jack Huston) "Get Hoffa" squad, Hoffa's prison sentence for jury tampering and his rivalry with fellow Teamster leader Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano (Stephen Graham) - puts Hoffa and the crime family at odds, with Frank's loyalties squarely in the middle of the conflict.
Even by their superlative standards, De Niro, Pacino and Pesci - the latter came out of retirement at Scorsese's behest, give stellar performances - and Industrial Light & Magic's de-aging effects show just how far that cinematic technology has come in a short time.
Although exciting, sweeping and action-packed, Scorsese's gangster films have always shown the toll taken by a life of organized crime, and "The Irishman" goes a step further, inserting into the narrative text descriptions of some mobsters' violent, untimely deaths. His cautionary tale even more savagely chronicles the fate of other Mafia members: fading into old age in prison or in a nursing home alone with nothing but old memories and regrets for company.
"The Irishman" bows on Netflix today, but for cinema fans whose bladder can bear it, the film is worth seeing on the big screen. In Oklahoma City, it is playing through Dec. 5 at Rodeo Cinema.
-BAM | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 23 | https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/137761/martin-scorseses-the-irishman-is-a-towering-tiring-meditation-on-fatherhood-love-and-grief/ | en | Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman is a Towering, Tiring Meditation on Fatherhood, Love, and Grief | [
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"Nathanael Hood"
] | 2019-11-03T22:35:51+00:00 | At a Q&A following a revival of Martin Scorsese’s Casino (1995) earlier this year in New York City, screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi explained that he saw Scorsese’s upcoming film The Irishman as the last in a quartet of gangster films starring Robert De Niro that tower as the thematic core and crowning achievement of his illustrious… | en | The Young Folks | https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/137761/martin-scorseses-the-irishman-is-a-towering-tiring-meditation-on-fatherhood-love-and-grief/ | At a Q&A following a revival of Martin Scorsese’s Casino (1995) earlier this year in New York City, screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi explained that he saw Scorsese’s upcoming film The Irishman as the last in a quartet of gangster films starring Robert De Niro that tower as the thematic core and crowning achievement of his illustrious career. Though set in different time periods and cities, they all drew heavily from his own upbringing in Manhattan’s Little Italy where he rubbed shoulders with the gangsters and mobsters that would populate his future films. As Pileggi explained it, the first was Scorsese’s breakthrough Mean Street (1973) which saw archetypal gangsters as Street Hoodlums. The second was Goodfellas (1990) which saw gangsters as Made Men—older now, more mature, struggling under the burden of responsibility, but still doomed by the siren call of fast living and power. The third was Casino (1995) where the gangsters were now Bosses—having put away childish things, they make and lose fortunes, empires, and lives with a throw of the dice. But now with The Irishman, Pileggi explained, we see the natural conclusion of this arc: gangsters as Lovers. The film might masquerade as a tough guy crime flick, but at its heart it’s one of the most devastating break-up movies in recent memory, a portrait of two men who don’t realize they desperately love and need each other until one is forced to destroy the other.
Based on Charles Brandt’s 2004 book I Heard You Paint Houses, the film recounts the life of Frank “The Irishman” Sheehan (Robert De Niro) who in a few short years went from being a truck driver to a mob hitman to the right-hand man of Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). Armed by Netflix with a budget equaling the GDP of several small countries, Scorsese has crafted his longest, most ambitious, and most sprawling film to date. Freed from the traditional restraints of cinema made to be watched in movie theaters—i.e. a runtime conducive to the stress levels of the human bladder—the film is also Scorsese’s most shamelessly indulgent. While many filmmakers released from the demands of box office success feed their baser appetites for the lurid and transgressive, The Irishman might be the most restrained and muted film he’s ever made. At times he seems to mimic the calculated lethargy of the Italian masters he idolized as a youth—50s Rossellini and Fellini, 60s Antonioni, 70s Bertolucci. The film’s three-and-a-half hour runtime has little of the rising-and-falling actions that define traditional three-act stories. Instead it’s one long, continuous stream of memory, guilt, and regret; an unbroken 209-minute sigh.
The film is viciously calculated to remove any of the glamour or mystique of organized crime. There are no long tracking shots through the Copacabana, no riotous cocaine-fueled Wall Street orgies, no Chicago bosses discussing the Las Vegas skim over plates piled high with pasta in dimly lit back rooms. The machinations of the mob here are antiseptic and passionless, orchestrated by stone-faced bosses and executed by blue collar stiffs. Among these is Sheehan, a reticent World War Two veteran and Teamster who drives a meatpacking truck. After unexpectedly befriending Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci), the boss of the Northeastern Pennsylvania branch of the Italian-American mafia, while fixing his broken-down truck at a gas station, he establishes himself as the go-to guy for people in the know who need things “fixed.” He starts small: a stolen delivery of beef here, a bombed factory there. But he quickly gains a reputation for “painting houses,” a seemingly innocuous euphemism for spraying peoples’ brains and blood all over their walls with a handgun.
At first Bufalino—patient, understanding, shoulder-clapping Bufalino—seems the father figure Sheehan so desperately needs, providing him with the paternal affection he’s incapable of sharing with his own wife and daughters. One of the most affectionate scenes in the movie sees Sheehan and Bufalino sharing a simple meal of good Italian bread torn with their fingertips and dipped in red wine, the two talking in hushed Italian about the things they’d seen in the war. But their relationship quickly gets pushed aside when Sheehan meets his true love—the larger than life Hoffa. In Hoffa Sheehan finds his polar opposite and perfect compliment, a man of singular purpose and towering personality, as loud as Sheehan is quiet, as proactive as Sheehan is reactive.
In scarcely any time Sheehan is the mafia’s liaison with Hoffa and his close personal friend. So close is their friendship that Hoffa becomes a second father to Sheehan’s children and Sheehan his de facto bodyguard, sleeping next door to him at home and in the same room while on the road. In one of the film’s funniest and most telling scenes, Sheehan storms out of Hoffa’s office like a spurned lover after getting unintentionally caught in the crossfire of a vicious tirade towards his incompetent staff. An incensed Sheehan growls through his teeth that nobody can disrespect him like that, putting on his overcoat while announcing his resignation. But Hoffa is on him in a second, pulling off his coat and rearranging his jacket while cooing that he had no idea he was in the room and of course he didn’t mean him, baby, you know he’d never say something like that to him.
The first two hours of the film casually set up this grand affair between Sheehan and Hoffa, between the mob and the Teamsters, only to tear it down when Hoffa’s arrogance and ambition put him at odds with Bufalino and the other bosses, setting up a dilemma worthy of the finest Greek tragedy. If the first two hours were casually paced, the third devolves into near slow-motion as the arrangements for the hit are meticulously laid out and handled like Stations of the Cross. To some this third hour might feel interminable, but others might find it an elongation of cinematic time worthy of Tarkovsky.
I must confess that the film didn’t click for me until the last thirty minutes when the film settles into a suffocating exploration of grief and loneliness after everyone Sheehan has ever known or loved has either abandoned him or died. It’s a portrait of a dying man staring at the gaping chasm of his life and wondering where it all went wrong—one can’t help but think of King Lear or Willie Stark surveying their crumbling kingdoms. But whereas those men were at least active participants in their fates, Sheehan abandoned himself to a life of passivity; without Bufalino to guide him or Hoffa to latch onto, he was left alone to cruelly remain as the final survivor of their not-so-gilded age. He can’t even make sense of his own guilt towards his many crimes—while talking with his priest, he admits that he doesn’t feel sorry for his victims and can’t even muster up sympathy for their families, not out of sociopathic viciousness but because it’s all, as he puts it, “water under the bridge.” There’s literally nobody left alive to apologize to.
The Irishman is overlong and near-terminally indulgent, and for many its pacing might be the final nail in its coffin. But even those bored by the story can still find merit in the sheer magnitude of Scorsese’s film-craft. There’s been much discussion about the controversial CGI technology that de-aged the central cast, but for my money the results were near flawless; the first time a de-aged Pesci came onscreen several people in my audience gasped. Many have also pointed out that while computers can alter the age of an actor’s face they can’t do the same for their body language, singling out De Niro’s fatigued gait even when Sheehan is at his youngest. But a part of me wonders if that wasn’t an acting choice on De Niro’s part underscoring Sheehan’s emotional and psychological withdrawnness.
For many The Irishman will probably stand as Scorsese’s cinematic last will and testament, his reflexive coda on a long career mired in bloodshed and carnage. The man’s in his upper seventies and not getting any younger, and despite already having further projects supposedly lined up—in the aforementioned Q&A Pileggi mentioned that they’d begun collaboration on a five or six hour film/miniseries charting Scorsese’s youth in Little Italy under the working title Elizabeth Street—it’s unlikely he has many more films left in him, particularly at the rate he’s been releasing them in recent years. It might not, God willing, be his last film, but it will probably be viewed as the one that makes the most thematic sense as his Final Statement. After all, John Ford’s last film might’ve been the unusual missionary drama 7 Women (1966), but for many his career properly ended with the revisionist Cheyenne Autumn two years earlier which directly confronted and repudiated the myth of the Old West he’d spent almost half a century creating. If The Irishman is destined to be Scorsese’s “last film” it’s certainly a good one, a harrowing plea for forgiveness and compassion in the face of loneliness and the void that awaits us all at the end. But a great one? Perhaps not. | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 35 | https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/once-upon-a-time-in-america-can-never-be-too-long/ | en | Once Upon a Time in America Is a Movie That Can Never Be Too Long | [
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"Tony Sokol"
] | 2021-09-22T07:01:00+00:00 | Make time, consigliere, the newest cut of Once Upon a Time in America on Netflix is only 27 minutes longer than The Godfather, Part II. | en | Den of Geek | https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/once-upon-a-time-in-america-can-never-be-too-long/ | Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America is as epic as The Godfather, gorier than Goodfellas, and as streetwise as Mean Streets. It tells a full history, from childhood to old age, street hustles to political suicides, community toilets to opium dens. The version which is right now available on Netflix has been amazingly restored by Italy’s Bologna Cinematheque L’Immagine Ritrovata lab. I don’t think I have ever seen the film so clear, and it is a perennial to me, as is The Godfather.
It’s true, even the most devoted gangster fan and cinephile doesn’t watch Once Upon a Time in America as often as The Godfather, and it’s got Robert De Niro at his most gangta. For one thing, Leone’s film has never been as accessible. It is not shown regularly on any kind of broadcast channel, and even the film’s own producers thought it was too long for people to sit through. Pop culture history makes it sound like Once Upon a Time in America had a short version that ran 10 hours and a long version that ran a week.
How Long is Too Long for Once Upon a Time in America?
The truth is, Leone did have up to 10 hours of finished cinematic material, which he cut down to six hours. He wanted to put it out in two parts, much like the initial saga of The Godfather was extended into a sequel. Leone’s original vision for the film was two 180-minute motion pictures which would be shown on consecutive days. After the initial run, he planned to edit the two parts down for a general release which would run as one four-hour and 29-minute film.
Film distributors convinced Leone to release a “Director’s Cut” feature at a running time of 3 hours and 49-minutes, with no intermission, which was the version shown at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival (Martin Scorsese led the push to restore the original version, which was shown at Cannes in 2012, though it’s still missing 18 minutes). This version caught on in Europe. But American audiences saw an even more butchered cut in 1984. The U.S. financial backers, The Ladd Company, founded by actor Alan Ladd’s son, cut 90 minutes from the already-edited film, bringing it to two hours and 19 minutes. But they also restructured the film, cutting the flashbacks-within-flashbacks to present the story chronologically.
This most affects the opening, which is an extended action sequence told with the expressionism of a silent film and the nihilism of post-war Italian neorealism. It is a bit of a jumble coming out of an opium dream. Noodles is on the run, behind in the game, and stoned out of mind. The flashbacks create a cognitive dissonance, and the audience experiences the freefall in a visceral way. By the time they land, it’s in the beginning of a story, which may all be an opium dream. The longer version did play at art cinemas in the U.S. Having seen both on their initial release, this writer preferred the long version of the crime classic, but will admit, they could have answered a phone in the opening sequence before it rang 30 times.
I’d Watch an 8-Hour “Making of” Documentary on This
The production of the film is worthy of a star-studded documentary itself. Leone devoted most of his adult life to getting it done. He turned down The Godfather to make it. Once Upon a Time in America is the final entry in Leone’s “Once Upon a Time” trilogy. It followed Once Upon a Time in the West (C’era Una Volta Il West) (1968), and Once Upon a Time in the Revolution, which came out in 1971 as Duck, You Sucker!. One of the first America drafts was written by Norman Mailer, the author of the novel The Naked and the Dead, and Marilyn: A Biography, the 1973 Marilyn Monroe biography which first speculated the Hollywood icon had been killed by the FBI and CIA. Leone told American Film magazine the novelist was not “not a writer for movies,” but wasn’t satisfied with a screenplay until the end of 1974.
Leone first became interested in making Once Upon a Time in America while making Once Upon a Time in the West. He came across the book The Hoods, which is described on its cover flap as “a notorious mob boss of the syndicate tells the full inside story of hired killing and crime operations.” Published in August 1952, it was very open about Jewish gangster life during the 1920s and ‘30s. It was written by Hershel “Noodles” Goldberg under the alias Harry Grey.
Goldberg also wrote the 1958 book, Portrait of a Mobster, about Jewish mob legend Arthur “Dutch Schultz” Flegenheimer. He wrote The Hoods while serving time in Sing Sing prison. Leone met with Grey in a New York City bar, according to Christopher Frayling’s 2012 book, Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death. The author was still in hiding from his former mob associates. The renowned Spaghetti Western director didn’t find a heroic figure like “Paul Muni in Scarface or James Cagney in The Public Enemy,” in the bar. Instead there was a poor man “with a machine gun in his hand and a Borsalino on his head.”
I’d watch a 12-Hour Version of the Original Cast of the Unmade Film
Leone began casting in 1975. When The Hoods begins, the leading characters are teenage criminals. Richard Dreyfuss was first cast as young Noodles. The older version of the character was to be played by James Cagney, who hadn’t made a film since Billy Wilder’s One, Two, Three in 1961. He wouldn’t make another until 1984, the year Leone’s film was finally released, when he appeared in Miloš Forman’s Ragtime. That film also stars Elizabeth McGovern, who plays adult Deborah in Once Upon a Time in America. French actor Gerard Depardieu was cast as young Max, and the part would pass to veteran actor Jean Gabin, an icon of French gangster films.
This is true dream casting. Dreyfuss made his mob movie bones playing Baby Face Nelson in Dillinger (1973) and would go on to become an acting institution. Cagney was an acting legend, who began his career creating young gangster icons. Judging from the outstanding acting performances Leone got from Hollywood Golden Age actors like Henry Fonda, it would have been a masterwork.
Leone brought out unsuspected feats of greatness from veteran actors who had been subject to the rules of mainstream cinema. It would also be wonderful just to watch Cagney and Gabin create onscreen dynamite together. Meanwhile Gabin is probably best known as the lead in Jean Renoir’s 1937 antiwar masterpiece, La Grande Illusion. But that was also the year he played “The Prince of Plunder” in director Julien Duvivier’s Pépé le Moko (1937). That gangster-in-hiding title role established him firmly in French crime cinema, and it should be seen by any fan of Casablanca or Algiers. He also starred in Jacques Becker’s mob film Touchez pas au grisbi (Don’t Touch the Loot) (1954), and plays the capo of the Manalese crime family in director Henri Verneuil’s The Sicilian Clan (1969).
I would gleefully binge 10 hours of Gabin and Cagney rehearsing.
And I Could Watch the Final Cast All Weekend
I’d also binge rehearsals for the cast that ultimately wound up filming Once Upon a Time in America. Robert De Niro, as grown-up David “Noodles” Aaronson, was in his prime. He was already gangster film royalty, having played in The Gang that Couldn’t Shoot Straight (1971), Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets (1973), and as young Vito Corleone in The Godfather, Part II. His Jake La Motta took a career-killing dive for the mob in Raging Bull (1980). But while De Niro also proved he could play psychopaths like Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976), that part was better filled by his co-star.
James Woods, who plays the adult Maximilian “Max” Bercovicz, created one of the most convincing sociopaths of crime cinema in The Onion Field (1979). He also brought one of the sleaziest characters in science fiction to David Cronenberg’s 1983 cult masterpiece, Videodrome. For gangster and crime film fans, De Niro and Woods together are like seeing Cagney work with Edward G. Robinson in Smart Money (1931), Humphrey Bogart in Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) and The Roaring Twenties (1939), or George Raft in Each Dawn I Die (1939).
While Joe Pesci’s crime boss Frankie Monaldi is so authentic in Once Upon a Time in America that it looks like he was picked out of a lineup, Burt Young’s performance as his brother Joe Monaldi is pure cinema verité. He almost makes you want to take a shower. The only relief comes from watching Treat Williams as a union leader who takes a bath.
Tuesday Weld, who plays Carol, is an icon of licentious cinema. She was Stanley Kubrick’s first choice to play the title role in Lolita (1962), and the wildest orgy enthusiast in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977). Weld started acting as a teenager in the 1956 jukebox musical Rock! Rock! Rock!, and brought more tension than Steve McQueen and Ann-Margret combined in the 1965 gambling classic, The Cincinnati Kid, which also starred Edward G. Robinson. Quentin Tarantino would probably be proud to recommend Weld’s filmography as a film binge subject.
Once Upon a Time in America also began production in 1980 but was scuttled by an Actor’s Strike. It would have seen Tom Berenger and Paul Newman playing the Noodles characters. For Max, Leone considered Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel, John Malkovich, and John Belushi. Brooke Shields was set to play young Deborah, which went on to be Jennifer Connelly’s film debut. She would go on to play in Labyrinth (1986) with David Bowie, as well as to an acclaimed career as an adult in movies like Requiem for a Dream (2000) and win an Academy Award for A Beautiful Mind (2001).
What’s in a Bad Reputation?
The Godfather is briskly paced, relatable, and every sequence is perfectly framed. Had Once Upon a Time in America been split into two parts, as the director intended, it may have become just as iconic. Coppola saves the Corleone family backstory for the second film, where it sits comfortably as it mirrors one rise with another.
In today’s environment, where binge-watching is the norm, Once Upon a Time in America should be reevaluated on that basis. People are more accustomed to long-long form entertainment, because they have readily available short-form at their fingertips on apps like TikTok. Alejandro Jodorowsky wanted to make a 10-hour adaptation of the science fiction novel Dune. He got the same blowback as Leone.
“Myself, I make an enormous project of a film that will not be a normal film, 14, 16, maybe 19 hours,” Jodorowsky told Den of Geek while promoting his film Psychomagic. “Hollywood thought I was crazy. A picture [should be] one hour and half or two hours, no more. But now, with series television, you see eight chapters. The short pictures are dying, it’s not anymore necessary. We need to make a serious chapter, you know? Ten hours.”
Today, Jodorowsky’s Dune would be a Netflix miniseries–or at the very least two films, as enjoyed by director Denis Villeneuve. Once Upon a Time in America is far more watchable than its legend declares, and Leone was a filmmaker who should have been afforded his cut. “He was a real artist of industrial movies,” Jodorowsky told Den of Geek. “You need to be very intelligent to do that, and he did it. The picture, all of his pictures, I love these pictures.”
I have watched The Godfather, The Godfather, Part II, The Godfather, Part III, Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, the box set collectors’ edition of The Godfather Saga, and still have a recording of the first time the film ran with all the deleted scenes restored. I will watch them all again. But there is room for more than one Gangster Epic. Once Upon a Time in America’s reputation as a sloppy, overlong film is undeserved. It bears repeated viewing. | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 79 | https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/sprint_speed | en | Statcast Sprint Speed Leaderboard | [
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Current: Sprint Speed
▾
Sprint Speed is Statcast’s foot speed metric, defined as “feet per second in a player’s fastest one-second window” on individual plays. For a player’s seasonal average, the following two types of plays currently qualify for inclusion in Sprint Speed. The best of these runs, approximately two-thirds, are averaged for a player’s seasonal average.
* Runs of two bases or more on non-homers, excluding being a runner on second base when an extra base hit happens
* Home to first on “topped” or “weakly hit” balls.
The Major League average on a "competitive" play is 27 ft/sec, and the competitive range is roughly from 23 ft/sec (poor) to 30 ft/sec (elite). A Bolt is any run above 30ft/sec. A player must have at least 10 competitive runs to qualify for this leaderboard. Read more about how Sprint Speed works here.
Type: Player
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Position
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Team
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Start Year: 2024
▾
End Year: 2024
▾
Minimum Opportunities (10)
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5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 19 | https://ubiquarian.net/2020/06/review-the-fall/ | en | Review: The Fall (2019) | [
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] | 2020-06-01T11:46:30+02:00 | As with all of Glazer's films, The Fall combines high technical polish with strong aesthetic choices. | en | ubiquarian | https://ubiquarian.net/2020/06/review-the-fall/ | In the two decades since his attention-grabbing feature debut Sexy Beast, British cult director and music video veteran Jonathan Glazer has proved less than prolific. Seven years after his bold, surreal, highly original sci-fi thriller Under The Skin, which starred Scarlett Johansson as a predatory alien serial killer, the 55-year-old auteur has finally broken his long sabbatical with The Fall, a macabre short film which premiered on BBC television in the UK late last year. Shown with no advance fanfare for maximum impact, this spooky, atmospheric micro-thriller earned generally positive reviews. This week it screens as part of the Nightmares section of the Vienna Shorts festival.
Glazer’s chilling, cryptic, stylised parable begins with a tree shaking in a forest. At the base of the trunk is a sinister mob wearing grotesque face masks. High in the branches is the fugitive they are hunting, his face concealed behind a similar mask. He falls to earth and the mob seize him, pose for a triumphant trophy photo, then subject their captive to brutal vigilante punishment involving a rope, a noose and a vertiginous plunge into a bottomless underground shaft. There is no dialogue, no explanation, just ritual violence and a heart-stopping final plot twist. The Fall lasts less than seven minutes but it packs a lot into its slender running time, including echoes of American slave lynchings and European wartime massacres, Greek tragedy and folk horror.
As with all of Glazer’s films, The Fall combines high technical polish with strong aesthetic choices. Many of the team from Under The Skin are reunited here including visual effects supervisor Tom Debenham, this time taking on cinematography duties, and composer Mica Levi, whose spare, percussive, jittery audio work feels more like experimental sound design than conventional score. There are masterly marriages of sound and image here, including a long slow zoom around a wooden gallows structure as it hisses and smokes from the friction caused by a rapidly unwinding rope. A hypnotically beautiful image, semi abstract yet charged with ominous tension.
In his minimal publicity for The Fall, Glazer has proved reluctant to provide any clear explanatory context for the fable-like plot, but he has offered a few opaque clues. One inspirational source for the film was a notorious photo of Eric and Donald Trump Jr. posing alongside the body of a leopard they killed on a hunting trip to Zimbabwe in 2012. Another was Bertolt Brecht’s 1939 poem Motto, written in exile as World War II loomed: “In the dark times / Will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing / About the dark times.”
Glazer also cites Goya’s 1799 etching The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters as inspiration. Intended as a barbed satirical comment on the corruption of late 18th century Spanish society, the picture depicts the dreaming artist assailed by nightmarish nocturnal creatures. All these examples suggest The Fall is full of social and political resonance, serving most obviously as a timeless warning against the current rising wave of neo-fascist mob rule. In style, theme and mood, there may be some connection here to Glazer’s next feature project, a drama set in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
The Fall is gripping, haunting and visually striking. But it ultimately feels like a sketch, a snapshot, a teasing taster of a deeper and longer film. | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 14 | https://anthonysciamanna.com/2018/06/29/practices-for-effective-mob-programming.html | en | Practices for Effective Mob Programming | [
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] | 2018-06-29T00:00:00 | For the last several months I’ve been fortunate to coach development teams with Industrial Logic consultants Tim Ottinger and Michael Rieser. A key aspect... | en | /img/favicon.ico | https://anthonysciamanna.com/2018/06/29/practices-for-effective-mob-programming.html | 29 Jun 2018 . development practices . Comments #mob programming
For the last several months I’ve been fortunate to coach development teams with Industrial Logic consultants Tim Ottinger and Michael Rieser. A key aspect of this coaching is introducing teams to mob programming. We’ve found that mob programming is a fantastic way to teach technical practices like Test-Driven Development (TDD), refactoring, evolutionary design, etc. Teams adopt these practices quickly and continue to improve through mob programming sessions.
As word spread in the organization, other teams became interested in mob programming. Without the benefit of going through an Industrial Logic workshop a team asked for a primer on effective mob programming practices. The topics in this post come from a conversation Tim Ottinger and I had with one of those teams.
Tim recently published a post about this topic based on that conversation we had with the team: A Few Tips for Mob Programming.
Use a Mob Programming Tool
Adopting a mob programming tool is one of the simplest things you can do to improve your mob programming sessions. These tools will help the team build and maintain good habits while mobbing. Several tools exist, but my favorite is mobster written by Dillon Kearns. The tool encourages consistent switching intervals, ensuring that everyone in the session takes a turn as the driver. This increases the overall engagement of the members of the session. It also supports disciplined break taking, a very important aspect of mobbing. Teams who avoid using a mobbing tool often fall back on old habits making mobbing sessions much less effective.
Experiment with Switching Intervals
For the teams I’ve worked with we’ve found that a seven minute switching interval is preferred in a mob session with six to eight people. This can be modified in mobster to tune both the driving and break duration. I recommend adjusting the time based on what works best for your circumstances. However, I would challenge you to keep the switching interval small and to experiment with smaller switching intervals. Shorter intervals help the mob participants stay engaged and focused.
Disciplined Break Taking
An important aspect of mob programming is the inclusion of the Pomodoro technique for disciplined break taking. The Pomodoro technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. The technique uses a timer to break down work intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. The intervals are named pomodoros the plural of the Italian word for tomato, named after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer.
Being disciplined about taking frequent breaks helps the mob stay focused and productive during the day. For more information about disciplined break taking take a look at the article, Taking Breaks in a Disciplined Way by Tim Ottinger.
Test-Driven Development
We pair mob programming with Test-Driven Development (TDD), often teaching and coaching teams on TDD in mob programming sessions. While you can practice mob programming without TDD, pairing them together leads to additional benefits. TDD is an important practice in its own right and mobbing is a great way to learn it. Due to TDD’s fast feedback cycles (i.e., red, green, refactor, and integrate), achieving flow in TDD does not require loading the entire problem state into a single developer’s head. This enables the mob to work in very small batches and take frequent breaks without setbacks.
Strong-Style Pairing Model
While mobbing Llewellyn Falco’s strong-style pairing model is recommended. The driver is the person at the keyboard and they are the only person in the mobbing session not actively coding. All ideas from the participants have to go through the driver’s hands to make it into the code. Switching regularly, everyone gets a chance to be the driver and to program. This enables other effective practices including inviting non-developers to take part in the mob session.
For an idea to go from your head into the computer it MUST go through someone else’s hands.
— Llewellyn Falco describing the Strong Style Pairing Golden Rule
Encourage Full Team Participation
Since the driver does not need to be a programmer, an opportunity emerges to include the entire team in mob sessions. Resist the urge to make mob programming “only a developer practice.” It is common in the industry for development teams to collaborate poorly, if at all, having been influenced by decades of waterfall processes and functional reporting silos. This practice can help reverse that. Once you see how effective teams are when everyone is working on the same thing at the same time, you won’t settle for communicating with teammates through comments in Jira issues anymore.
I recommend that everyone take part in a mob session who is required to take a single story or task from start to completion. Typically, this means developers, QA, UX, Operations, and Product Owners will all take part in mob programming sessions depending on the nature of the work.
Individuals can still leave and rejoin the mob for any reason, but the session continues without them. For example, if a large refactoring is taking place, some of the non-programmers may want to step away if they don’t feel like they are contributing. However, they are encouraged to return to the mobbing session at any point.
Mob programming is a software development approach where the whole team works on the same thing, at the same time, in the same space, and at the same computer.
— Woody Zuill - Mob Programming - A Whole Team Approach
Introduces WIP limits
When the full team takes part in mob sessions, it naturally reduces Work in Process (WIP) and can help the team introduce WIP limits. By limiting WIP, teams reduce inventory and increase their throughput.
Increases First Time Through and Decreases Cycle Time
When the entire team works together on a single piece of work, First Time Through (FTT) increases, work no longer goes backwards on the board, rework is eliminated, and as a result the team’s cycle time decreases.
Single Piece Flow
Full team mobbing and its reduction in WIP enables the lean concept of single piece flow (or one piece flow). Often individuals are so accustomed to being busy they will start multiple streams of work in an effort to “stay productive”. This results in the opposite of the intended effect, reducing the performance of the overall team by increasing WIP which increases inventory and decreases throughput. It’s important to remind teams in these situations to “watch the baton not the runners,”, to focus on the flow of the work through the system and not on individual busyness.
Waste Snake
Tim Ottinger introduced the concept of a waste snake to the teams we’ve worked with. Unfortunately, working alone or within functional silos makes it easy to accept waste in the development process. It is common during solo work to start additional tasks when met with an impediment, increasing WIP, and reducing overall productivity.
When everyone in a mobbing session has to wait due to an impediment, the pain becomes obviously visible and magnified. When teams are met with impediments while mobbing they document it on the waste snake board. The waste snake items can then be worked off by the team to continuously improve their daily work.
Improving daily work is even more important than doing daily work.
— Gene Kim - The DevOps Handbook
Learnings Board
Learning happens rapidly when teams work closely together in a mob session. When the team learns new keyboard shortcuts, new facts about the system, the domain, the technology, etc., they document this on a learnings board in the team room. At the end of each day what was learned is captured and sent to each team member. This board should be placed in a location where it is visible to the mob participants.
Avoid Runaway Drivers
Practicing strong-style mobbing ensures that the person at the keyboard is not the person coding. If teams stray from this practice, it’s easy for the driver to runaway and start coding their own ideas. This reduces focused mob participants to easily-distracted bystanders. It’s important to recognize this and call it out when it happens. Strive for an environment where everyone in the mob is contributing to the work.
Debate In Code
When debates arise about different ways of solving a problem, debating in code is encouraged. Try both approaches and let the mob guide the solution. It is easy to get lost debating abstract ideas. Implementing them often results in better solutions emerging from the collaboration of the mob.
Shared Team Settings
While mobbing it’s important that the team has shared editor settings. The development experience should be the same regardless of whose computer is being used. This avoids the lost time and focus that is required to adapt to individual editor plug-ins and keymaps.
Promise Debt
As the mob encounters issues they want to address, but don’t want to get distracted from the main goal, they add a card describing the work to a promise debt board. It’s important to work these off before the work is considered complete. Preserving and addressing improvement ideas without distracting the mobbing session is the goal of this board.
Invite the Leaders
Inviting organizational leaders to a mobbing session is an effective way to teach the organization what developing software is really like. Additionally, it can build empathy for development teams. I’ve taken part in mobbing sessions with CTOs, CFOs, development managers, product managers, and others. Having leadership experience impediments and their effects on a team in real-time, will help them address the organizational issues causing the impediments.
Additional Resources
These are just a few of the techniques we’ve found that make for effective mob programming sessions. There are most certainly more. Keep experimenting to discover them.
Here are some resources to learn more about mob programming: | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 5 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Irishman | en | The Irishman | [
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This article is about the 2019 film. For other uses, see The Irishman (disambiguation).
The IrishmanDirected byMartin ScorseseScreenplay bySteven ZaillianBased onI Heard You Paint Houses
by Charles BrandtProduced byStarringCinematographyRodrigo PrietoEdited byThelma SchoonmakerMusic byRobbie Robertson
Production
companies
Distributed byNetflix
Release dates
Running time
209 minutes[1]CountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBudget$159–250 millionBox office$8 million[2][3]
The Irishman (also known as I Heard You Paint Houses) is a 2019 American epic gangster film directed and produced by Martin Scorsese from a screenplay by Steven Zaillian, based on the 2004 book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt.[4] It stars Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci, with Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin, Stephen Graham, Stephanie Kurtzuba, Jesse Plemons, and Harvey Keitel in supporting roles. The film follows Frank Sheeran (De Niro), a truck driver who becomes a hitman involved with mobster Russell Bufalino (Pesci) and his crime family before later working for the powerful Teamster Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino). The film marked the ninth collaboration between Scorsese and De Niro, in addition to Scorsese's fifth collaboration with Harvey Keitel, his fourth collaboration with Joe Pesci; his first with Al Pacino; the fourth collaboration between Pacino and De Niro; and the first collaboration between Pacino and Pesci altogether.
In September 2014, following years of "development hell", The Irishman was announced as Scorsese's next film after Silence (2016). De Niro, who also served as producer, and Pacino were confirmed that month, as was Pesci, who came out of his unofficial retirement to star after numerous requests. Principal photography began in September 2017 in New York City and the Mineola and Williston Park sections of Long Island and wrapped in March 2018. Scenes were filmed with a custom three-camera rig to help facilitate the extensive de-ageing digital effects that made De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci appear younger. With a runtime of 209 minutes, it is the longest film of Scorsese's career.
The Irishman premiered at the 57th New York Film Festival, and had a limited theatrical release on November 1, 2019, followed by a streaming release on November 27, 2019, by Netflix. The film received widespread critical acclaim, with praise for Scorsese's direction, the production and costume design, editing, screenplay, cinematography, the use of de-aging effects, and the performances of De Niro, Pacino and Pesci. It was named the Best Film of 2019 by the National Board of Review and one of the top ten films of the year by American Film Institute. The film was nominated for ten categories at the 92nd Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and received numerous other accolades.
Plot
[edit]
In a nursing home, elderly Irish-American World War II veteran Frank Sheeran recounts his time as a hitman for the Italian-American Mafia.
In 1950s Philadelphia, Sheeran works as a union delivery truck driver, where he starts selling some of the meat shipments to a local Philadelphia Italian-American gangster known as "Skinny Razor", a member of the Philadelphia crime family headed by Angelo Bruno. After the delivery company accuses Sheeran of theft, union lawyer Bill Bufalino gets the case dismissed when Sheeran refuses to name his customers to the judge.
Bill introduces Sheeran to his cousin Russell Bufalino, head of his namesake crime family in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Sheeran begins to carry out jobs for him, as well as members of the South Philadelphia underworld, including "painting houses", a euphemism for contract killing.
Sheeran is soon introduced to Jimmy Hoffa, head of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who has financial ties with the Northeastern Pennsylvania crime family. He is struggling to deal with fellow rising Teamster Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano, in addition to mounting pressure from the federal government. Hoffa becomes close with Sheeran and his family, especially his daughter Peggy; in turn Sheeran becomes his chief bodyguard.
After the 1960 election of John F. Kennedy, Bufalino is thrilled while Hoffa is furious. Kennedy's brother, Robert F. Kennedy, whom he appointed Attorney General, forms a "Get Hoffa" squad to bring down Hoffa, who is eventually arrested and convicted in 1964 for jury tampering.
While Hoffa is in prison, his replacement as Teamsters president, Frank "Fitz" Fitzsimmons, misuses the union's pension fund and gives interest-free loans to the Mafia. Hoffa's relationship with Tony Pro, himself arrested for extortion, also deteriorates beyond repair when Hoffa refuses to help restore his forfeited pension. Hoffa's sentence is commuted by President Richard Nixon in 1971, although he is forbidden from partaking in any Teamsters activities until 1980.
Despite his parole terms, Hoffa undertakes a plan to reclaim his power atop the Teamsters. His growing disrespect for other Teamster leaders and his intention to separate the union from the Mafia begin to worry Russell. During a dinner in Sheeran's honor in October 1973, Russell tells Sheeran to confront Hoffa and warn him that the heads of the crime families are displeased with his behavior. Hoffa then informs Sheeran that he "knows things" that Russell and the dons of other families are unaware of and claims that what he knows makes him untouchable, for if anything ever happened to him, they would all end up in prison.
In 1975, while on their way to the wedding of Bill's daughter, Russell tells Sheeran that the dons have become fed up with Hoffa and have sanctioned his murder. Reluctantly, Russell informs Sheeran that he has been chosen as the triggerman, knowing he might otherwise try to warn or save Hoffa. The two drive to a private airport where Sheeran boards a plane to Detroit.
Hoffa, who had scheduled a meeting at a local restaurant with Tony Pro and Anthony Giacalone, is surprised to see Sheeran arrive late with Hoffa's unsuspecting foster son Chuckie O'Brien and loan shark Sally Bugs. They tell Hoffa the meeting was moved to a house where Tony Pro and Russell are waiting, so Sheeran is to drive him over there. Entering the house, Hoffa finds it empty and realizes that he has been set up. He turns around to leave, at which point Sheeran shoots him dead at point-blank range and leaves the gun atop his body by the entrance. After Sheeran departs, two other mobsters wrap up the body and cremate it in secret.
Invoking their Fifth Amendment rights in a grand jury investigation into Hoffa's disappearance, Sheeran, Russell, Tony Pro, and others are eventually convicted on various charges unrelated to Hoffa's murder. One by one, the elderly gangsters die in prison.
Sheeran is eventually released and placed in a nursing home. He tries to reconcile with his alienated daughters, but Peggy, sensing his involvement in Hoffa's disappearance, has since severed all contact with him. Sheeran begins seeing a Catholic priest assigned to the nursing home who gives him absolution for the crimes he committed over his lifetime, though Sheeran shows little remorse – aside from his killing of Hoffa. As the priest leaves, Sheeran asks him to leave the door slightly ajar, emulating one of Hoffa's habits.
Cast
[edit]
Additionally, several actors appear in smaller roles, including Aleksa Palladino as Mary Sheeran, Kevin O'Rourke as John McCullough, Bo Dietl as Joey Glimco, Kate Arrington as Older Connie Sheeran, Jordyn DiNatale as Young Connie Sheeran, Jim Norton as Don Rickles, Al Linea as Sam "Momo" Giancana, Garry Pastore as Albert Anastasia, Daniel Jenkins as E. Howard "Big Ears" Hunt, Paul Ben-Victor as Jake Gottlieb, Patrick Gallo as Anthony "Tony Jack" Giacalone, Jake Hoffman as Allen Dorfman, Ken Clark as James P. Hoffa, Peter Jay Fernandez as Cecil B. Moore, Jeff Moore as Frank Church, Gino Cafarelli as Frank Rizzo, and Robert Funaro as Johnny, a Friendly Lounge bartender. Unnamed roles include Jonathan Morris and James Martin as priests, Action Bronson as a casket salesman, Vinny Vella as a meat company yard manager, Matt Walton as a TV host, Dascha Polanco as a nurse, and J. C. MacKenzie as federal prosecutor James F. Neal.
Production
[edit]
Development
[edit]
In an interview with The Guardian, Scorsese mentioned that the original contemplation of this project started in the 1980s, stating: "Bob [De Niro] and I had tried for many years to come up with a project. This one actually started about 35 years ago with the idea of the remake of The Bad and the Beautiful and the sequel Two Weeks in Another Town. Somehow we exhausted that."[5] Afterwards, Scorsese approached De Niro with an idea to do an aging hitman story, which did not move forward.[6] De Niro then revived that old discussion and "got the project underway" after reading a copy of the 2004 book I Heard You Paint Houses written by Charles Brandt,[7] with Scorsese saying that De Niro "became rather emotional" as he told him about the lead character.[8] Scorsese then became interested in directing a film adaptation of the book and in casting De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci.[9]
The Irishman started its development phase in 2007.[10][11] New plot materials and rewrites caused the movie to lose its place in the film release calendar, and Scorsese went on to direct three more films, Hugo (2011), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) and Silence (2016), before returning to The Irishman.[12] In September 2014, after years of development hell,[10] Pacino confirmed that the film would be Scorsese's next project after Silence.[13] In October 2015, De Niro stated that the film was still happening and could have started filming in 2016 with Steven Zaillian confirmed as screenwriter.[14][15] De Niro also served as a producer for the film.[16] In July 2017, it was reported that the film would be presented as a series of flashbacks of an older Frank Sheeran, depicted as recollecting his many criminal activities over several decades,[17] with De Niro appearing "as young as 24 years and as old as 80."[18] Producer Irwin Winkler defined the project as "the coming together of people that have worked together since we're kids together",[19] while Rosenthal said that "what will surprise you is, as a Scorsese movie, it is a slower movie. ... It is guys looking at themselves through an older perspective."[11]
Financing and budget
[edit]
In May 2016, Mexican production company Fábrica de Cine had offered $100 million to finance the film, and through that deal Paramount Pictures would retain domestic rights.[20] IM Global was also circling to bid for the film's international sales rights.[20] STX Entertainment bought the international distribution rights to the film for $50 million beating out other studios like Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Lionsgate, while Fábrica de Cine closed the deal and Paramount retained its domestic rights.[21][22]
By February 2017, Paramount Pictures had dropped domestic distribution rights for The Irishman following the announcement that Fábrica de Cine would not be financing the film due to its climbing budget. Netflix then bought the film rights for $105 million and agreed to finance the film's $125-million budget with a projected release date of October 2019.[23][24] In March 2018, it was also reported the film's budget had ballooned from $125 million to $140 million, due in large part to the visual effects needed to make De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci appear younger at various points throughout the film.[25] By August of that year, speculation had arisen that the cost had reportedly risen to as much as $175 million by the time post-production was to have wrapped, and some publications asserted that it might go as high as $200 million.[26][27]
In August 2019, it was reported that the film's official cost was $159 million.[28] However, reports on the production budget have continued to vary, occasionally noted as high as $250 million, with Jeff Sneider of Collider saying: "No one is on the same page on the budget for this film. And let me tell you what that means. It means the budget is [way higher] than any of you are imagining."[29][30][31][32][33]
Writing
[edit]
In July 2009, Brandt received a phone call from De Niro that led to a meeting a month later between the two of them, Scorsese and screenwriter Steven Zaillian.[12] The meeting was supposed to last an hour but ended up lasting four hours. Brandt said that "the material was new to them" and Zaillian already had a script ready, but the additions Brandt made required a do-over. To help, Brandt handed over a screenplay of his own. Brandt said, "Zaillian is a great writer, don't get me wrong ... I wanted to log the material."[12] In the opening credits and as a reflection of the writing adaptation process, the final film is titled I Heard You Paint Houses, the name of the book on which the picture is based, while the title The Irishman appears only in the end credits.[34]
The truthfulness of Sheeran's supposed confessions and the book on which the film was based has been challenged by "The Lies of the Irishman", an article on Slate by Bill Tonelli,[35] as well as by "Jimmy Hoffa and The Irishman: A True Crime Story?" by legal scholar Jack Goldsmith, which appeared in The New York Review of Books.[36] Chip Fleischer, the publisher of I Heard You Paint Houses, wrote a detailed reply to Tonelli's piece, calling it "irresponsible in the extreme, not to mention damaging."[37] In an interview, De Niro defended the writing process of the film by stating, "We're not saying we're telling the actual story. We're telling our story."[38]
Casting
[edit]
The casting director for the film was Ellen Lewis, who was also the casting director in four other Scorsese films.[39] In July 2017, Pacino and Pesci officially joined the cast, with Ray Romano also joining and Bobby Cannavale and Harvey Keitel in final negotiations.[13] Pesci was offered his role a reported 50 times before agreeing to take part, at first saying he did not want to do "the gangster thing again", while Scorsese tried to persuade him The Irishman would be "different".[8] De Niro played a big part in convincing Pesci to take the role, telling him "We gotta do this. Who knows if there'll be anything after?"[40] In September 2017, Jack Huston,[41] Stephen Graham,[42] Domenick Lombardozzi, Jeremy Luke, Joseph Russo,[43] Kathrine Narducci,[44] Danny Abeckaser,[45] J. C. MacKenzie, and Craig Vincent[46] joined the cast. In October, Gary Basaraba,[47] Anna Paquin,[48] Welker White,[49] and Jesse Plemons joined the cast of the film. Later, Craig Di Francia and Action Bronson were revealed to have joined the cast.[50][51] Sebastian Maniscalco and Paul Ben-Victor were later revealed as being part of the cast.[52][53]
The Irishman is the ninth feature collaboration between De Niro and Scorsese and their first since 1995's Casino; the fourth film to star both De Niro and Pacino (following The Godfather Part II, Heat, and Righteous Kill); the seventh to star both De Niro and Pesci (following Raging Bull, Once Upon a Time in America, Goodfellas, A Bronx Tale, Casino, and The Good Shepherd); the first to star both Pacino and Pesci; and the first time Pacino has been directed by Scorsese. Scorsese said of finally working with Pacino, "I'd been wanting to work with Al for years. Francis Coppola introduced me to him in 1970. Then he's in The Godfather one and two, and he's in the stratosphere. For me, Al was always something unreachable. We even tried to make a film in the 1980s but couldn't get the financing for it. I said, 'What's he like to work with?' Bob [De Niro] said, 'Oh, he's great. You'll see.'" Scorsese added that there is a meta aspect to seeing Pacino and De Niro interact in The Irishman, saying, "What you see in the film is their relationship as actors, as friends, over the past 40, 45 years. There's something magical that happens there."[54]
Filming
[edit]
Principal photography was originally set to start in August 2017, in and around New York City,[55] and would continue through December 2017.[56][57] Instead, filming began on September 18, 2017, in New York City and in the Mineola and Williston Park sections of Long Island,[58][59][60] and wrapped on March 5, 2018, for a total of 108 days.[61][40] Additional scenes were filmed in the Hudson Valley in Salisbury Mills and Suffern, among other sites, including Paterson, New Jersey.[62][63][64] A posture coach was hired to instruct De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci on how to comport themselves like much younger men.[40] The picture was primarily shot on 35 mm film with Arricam STs and LTs, and with RED Heliums for sections shot on digital, with two IR-capable Arri Alexa Minis as witness-cameras for the de-aging.[65][66] All scenes that required de-aging effects were shot digitally with a custom three-camera rig they called the "three-headed monster".[65][67]
Scorsese envisioned the film as having an "old-fashioned" look which cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto accomplished by using "a series of lookup tables" for each scene. Sherlock summarized the filming approach used for each historical decade depicted throughout the film, stating: "The '50s-set scenes have a Kodachrome look; the '60s-set scenes have an Ektachrome look; the '70s-set scenes have a silvery layer plastered over them; and any scene set in the '80s and onwards have a bleach bypass look, and are also more de-saturated than the other scenes."[6] The extensive production design covered 117 filming locations, 319 scenes, 160 actors, in a story spanning 50 years. Producer Emma Tillinger Koskoff summarized her relation to Scorsese and his principal crew, stating: "I also work closely with the line producer, AD [Assistant Director] and DP [Director of Photography] on a budget and schedule, and we create a production plan that will realize Marty's vision. ... We scouted a lot. Our prep was almost six months; sometimes we were scouting after the day's wrap, trying to find new location ... due to weather or whatever; it was pretty insane."[68]
Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson were costume designer and co-designer, respectively. Speaking about Scorsese, Powell said, "one of the things he said on a first meeting was that we weren't doing the same kind of gangsters as Goodfellas or Casino ... These weren't flashy peacock looks. We were doing a low-key version. I mean, there are some obvious mafia types in there, but half of that is the way these people hold themselves." The film had a total of "250 characters and 6,500 extras", said Peterson, with Powell adding that "you need a lot of research, a lot of hard work, and you need to just get down and do it. ... You basically have to sort of divide your brain up into those five different decades, and approach it as if there are three or four films in one. You're filming more than one decade in one day, and that's when you'd have to really know what you were doing."[69]
Bill Desowitz, writing for IndieWire, stated that the film had been considered as contending for an Oscar nomination for its editing. Editor Thelma Schoonmaker commented: "Marty wanted to show the banality of the violence ... It's not like the incredible camera moves or flashy editing of the earlier movies. Victims are killed in an instant—often in very simple wide shots. And his brilliant idea of slamming the titles in front of the audience (describing how various mob characters die) was a way of showing that being part of the Mafia is not a good idea".[70]
Visual effects
[edit]
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman handled the effects for the film.[72] In August 2015, Scorsese and De Niro made a test reel by recreating a scene from Goodfellas (1990), to see if the de-aging could work. Scorsese said that "the risk was there, and that was it. We just tried to make the film. After sitting on the couch for ten years [...] we finally had a way."[18] By the time the film was released, Pacino was 79 years old, with De Niro and Pesci both 76 years old.[73] Scorsese and De Niro made the decision not to use motion tracking markers.[73] Helman said, "He's not going to wear a helmet with little cameras in there ... He's going to want to be in the moment with Joe Pesci and Al Pacino on set, with no markers on him. So, if you're going to capture the performance, how are you going to do that?"[73] Scenes that required the de-aging visual effects were shot digitally with a custom three-camera rig.[65] Helman and his team had spent two years analyzing old films to determine how the actors should look at various ages.[73]
In March 2018, speaking about the de-aging process, Pacino told IndieWire, "I was playing Jimmy Hoffa at the age of 39, they're doing that on a computer ... We went through all these tests and things ... Someone would come up to me and say, 'You're 39.' [You'd recall] some sort of memory of 39, and your body tries to acclimate to that and think that way. They remind you of it."[74] The extent of the visual effects was made evident when the amount of effects was quantified by Indiewire stating: "Once again technology caught up with need when ILM developed an innovative, digital de-aging process without facial impediments ... The impressive results put ILM on the Academy's longlist this week for the VFX Oscar ... The costly VFX de-aging, therefore, became the tech centerpiece, with 1,750 shots created for two and a half hours of footage".[75]
Music
[edit]
Robbie Robertson and music supervisor Randall Poster compiled the soundtrack.[76][77] It features both original and existing music tracks.[77] Speaking to Rolling Stone, Robertson said, "This is probably the tenth film I've worked on with Marty [Scorsese], and every time we do it, it's a whole new experience ... The music score for The Irishman was an unusual feat. We were trying to discover a sound, a mood, a feel, that could work, over the many decades that this story takes place."[77] Robertson also wrote the score for the film, although only his "Theme for the Irishman" appears on the soundtrack.[77] Two tracks Robertson wrote for the film that appear in the credits, "I Hear You Paint Houses" and "Remembrance" featuring Frederic Yonnet on the diatonic harmonica, were included on his 2019 album Sinematic.[78] The album was digitally released on November 1, 2019, followed by a physical release on November 29.[79]
Release
[edit]
The Irishman had its world premiere at the 57th New York Film Festival on September 27, 2019,[80] and had a limited theatrical release on November 1, 2019, followed by digital streaming on Netflix starting on November 27, 2019.
The Irishman's international premiere was at the Closing Night Gala of the BFI London Film Festival on October 13, 2019. The festival's director Tricia Tuttle said it was an "immense cinephile thrill" to close the event with an "epic of breathtakingly audacious scale and complexity" from "one of the true greats of cinema".[82] The film also had screenings at numerous film festivals, including: Mill Valley,[83][84] Hamptons,[85] Lumière,[86] San Diego,[87] Mumbai,[88] Rome,[89] Philadelphia,[90] Chicago,[91] Tokyo,[92] Camerimage,[93] Los Cabos,[94] Mar del Plata,[95] and Cairo.[96] Additionally, from November 1 to December 1, 2019, The Irishman screened at the Belasco Theatre in New York City, making it the first film to ever screen in the Belasco's 112-year history.[97]
A 23-minute featurette of a roundtable discussion with Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci titled The Irishman: In Conversation was released on Netflix on November 28, 2019.[98] A three-part companion podcast for the film called Behind The Irishman was hosted by Sebastian Maniscalco, and published weekly from December 2 to 16, 2019; there were also three bonus episodes released on January 27, 30, and February 3, 2020.[99]
Audience viewership
[edit]
According to Nielsen, The Irishman was watched by 17.1 million people in its first five days of digital release in the United States, including 3.9 million on its debut day. While the overall total was lower than previous Netflix originals such as Bird Box (26 million over its first week in December 2018), 751,000 users watched the film in its entirety on its premiere date (18 percent), which was on par with Bird Box and higher than El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (11 percent). Nielsen also noted that the largest number of viewers to watch the film in its entirety (930,000) came on November 29, and its opening day demo was made up mostly of men aged 50–64 (20 percent), while they also made up an overall 15 percent of the viewership over the five-day period.[100] Several days later, Netflix's chief content officer Ted Sarandos announced that a total of 26.4 million accounts worldwide had watched at least 70 percent of the film, meaning that about 16 percent of all Netflix account holders watched the film during its first week of release. He also estimated that total would reach 40 million after the film's first month of release.[101] It was the fourth most watched Netflix film of 2019, and the fifth most popular Netflix release overall.[102] In July 2020, Netflix revealed the film had in fact been watched by 64 million households over its first four weeks of release, among the most ever for one of their original films.[103]
Limited theatrical release
[edit]
United States
[edit]
The Irishman received a limited theatrical release on November 1, 2019, in the United States. As part of the continuing tensions between the film markets for direct-to-digital streaming and theatrical releases and distribution of films, several theater chains protested the policy of Netflix for the release of Scorsese's The Irishman. The film did not play at the theaters owned by AMC, Cinemark, Regal, or Cineplex, because the "four week progression to SVOD remains unacceptable to those chains." It was previously reported in February 2019 that Netflix would possibly give the film a wide theatrical release, at the request of Scorsese.[104] The heads of several theater chains, including AMC's Adam Aron, who refused to play Roma the previous November, said they would only be open to playing The Irishman if Netflix "respects the decades old theatrical window, that suggests that movies come to theaters first for a couple of months, and then go to the home."[105] Two major chains offered to exhibit the film if given an exclusivity window of 60 days, approximately two weeks shorter than the typical window, but could not reach an agreement with Netflix.[106] The film peaked at playing in 500 theaters, essentially the most possible without the involvement of a major chain.[107]
Other countries
[edit]
In the United Kingdom, Altitude Film Distribution launched the film through the Everyman and Curzon cinema chains, where the film was shown on about 80 screens, while other British cinema chains, including Picturehouse, Vue, and Odeon, turned down the film in order to uphold the 90-day window that was standard practice across much of Europe.[108] In Italy, The Irishman played on about 100 screens via Cineteca di Bologna, the same distributor that released Roma in 2018 and caused an uproar among Italian exhibitors, but no similar protests occurred over The Irishman.[108] The film also received limited releases in Germany, Spain, Ireland, Japan, Brazil, South Korea, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The film did not play in France because of the country's 30-month window between a film's theatrical release and its availability on TV and other outlets. Despite all of this controversy, The Irishman became Netflix's biggest theatrical release both in the United States and internationally.[108]
Marketing
[edit]
The announcement trailer for the film premiered during the 91st Academy Awards ceremony on February 24, 2019.[109] Netflix then released a teaser trailer on July 31, 2019,[110] while the official trailer debuted on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on September 25, 2019.[111] The final trailer was released on November 19, 2019.[112] To promote the release of the film on its streaming service, Netflix took over five blocks of Little Italy, Manhattan, on November 22 and 23, 2019, and back-dated them to August 1, 1975, the day after Jimmy Hoffa was reported missing.[113] The studio spent an estimated $50 million promoting the film, as well as an additional $40 million on its Oscar campaign.[114]
Home media
[edit]
The Irishman received director-approved special edition DVD and Blu-ray releases by The Criterion Collection on November 24, 2020.[115][116]
Reception
[edit]
Box office
[edit]
The Irishman opened at three theaters in New York City and five in Los Angeles on November 1, 2019;[117] while Netflix does not publicly disclose box office figures for its films, IndieWire estimated that it grossed a "strong" $350,000 in its opening weekend, an average $43,750 per venue.[118] Deadline Hollywood noted that numerous showtimes at several theaters, including Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles and the IFC Center in New York, had sold-out showings. The site also argued that had the film gone wide theatrically, it likely would have become a box office bomb given its 209-minute runtime and large budget, noting that another period crime film with a long runtime that opened the same weekend, Motherless Brooklyn, failed to meet its projections.[30] Conversely, CNBC wrote that Netflix was "leaving millions on the table" by not giving the film a wide theatrical release, and claimed it could have legged out to at least $100 million at the domestic box office, citing the high demand for tickets during its opening weekend (with some reselling for $65–85) and that Scorsese's last gangster film, The Departed, made $132 million in 2006.[119] An opinion piece in the Chicago Tribune wrote the film "potentially could have brought in anywhere from $80–115 million" if it was released theatrically, and also contested that the film would lose Netflix as much as $280 million due to its high production and marketing costs compared to limited box office receipts.[114]
Expanding to 22 theaters in its second weekend, the film made an estimated $440,000, for a ten-day running total of about $940,000.[120] It then grossed an estimated $1.25 million from 175 theaters in its third week,[121] and $1.2 million from 200 in its fourth.[122] Despite being released on Netflix on November 27, the film expanded to 500 theaters in its fifth weekend, "close to the maximum number with most top theater chains refusing to let their customers have a chance to see it in theaters despite the acclaim and interest", and made an estimated $1 million.[107] It then made an estimated $450,000 from 320 theaters in its sixth weekend—likely becoming Netflix's most successful theatrical release to-date with a running total of $6.7 million—and then $100,000 from 70 theaters in its seventh.[123][124] Through its eighth and ninth weekend,[2] the film was reduced to minimal theater play.[125] The Irishman grossed an estimated $7 million in North America and $968,683 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $8 million.[2][3]
Critical response
[edit]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 95% based on 468 reviews, with an average rating of 8.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "An epic gangster drama that earns its extended runtime, The Irishman finds Martin Scorsese revisiting familiar themes to poignant, funny, and profound effect."[126] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 94 out of 100 based on 55 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[127]
Writing for Time, Stephanie Zacharek gave The Irishman a perfect score, calling the film "clever and entertaining, to the point where you may think that's all it's going to be" and that "its last half-hour is deeply moving in a way that creeps up on you, and it's then that you see what Scorsese was working toward all along"; she also added that "the de-aging is distracting at first ... but the special effects are hardly a deal breaker, and in the end they probably add to the movie's mythological vibe".[128] Similarly, Owen Gleiberman of Variety called it "a coldly enthralling, long-form knockout—a majestic Mob epic with ice in its veins", particularly praising Pacino's performance as "the film's most extraordinary".[129] RogerEbert.com's Matt Zoller Seitz gave the film three and a half stars out of four, defining Scorsese as "one of the greatest living comedy directors who isn't described as such," and also praised the editing of Thelma Schoonmaker.[130]
Benjamin Lee of The Guardian wrote that in the film "there's an almost meta-maturity, as if Scorsese is also looking back on his own career, the film leaving us with a haunting reminder not to glamorise violent men and the wreckage they leave behind."[131] Mike Ryan of Uproxx called it a "phenomenal film", stating that the de-aging is "pretty good" and "the best I've seen so far", but noted that "if you stare at it, yes, you can see the imperfections ... but you do get used to it".[132] IndieWire's Eric Kohn stated that "The Irishman is Martin Scorsese's best crime movie since Goodfellas, and a pure, unbridled illustration of what has made his filmmaking voice so distinctive for nearly 50 years", reserving particular praise for Steven Zaillian's screenplay, writing that "Zaillian hasn't delivered a script this polished since Moneyball."[133] David Edelstein wrote for Vulture that "[Pesci] plays Bufalino as almost supernaturally focused and watchful, always hypersensitive to other peoples' rhythms. ... I thank the gods of acting that he came out of retirement to do this." He also praised the performances of De Niro and Pacino, stating that The Irishman is one of Scorsese's "most satisfying films in decades".[134] Writing for TheWrap, Alonso Duralde praised Rodrigo Prieto's cinematography and Scorsese's direction, writing that "at the age of 76, Scorsese is embracing new technologies with the fervor of Ang Lee ... and indulging in retro fantasy with the keen eye of Quentin Tarantino".[135] Nicholas Rapold of Film Comment, gave the de-aging CGI approach used in the filming a mixed assessment, stating that: "De Niro's rosy complexion as a truck driver 'kid' recalls a tinted postcard photo more than a twentysomething person, and I can't explain away the same de-aged De Niro curb-stomping a grocer, looking more like the septuagenarian star he is than a ferociously protective thirtysomething dad."[136]
While giving a positive review, David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter criticized the running time, stating that "the excessive length ultimately is a weakness" and "that the material would have been better served by losing an hour or more to run at standard feature length."[137] Writing for the National Review, Kyle Smith gave a more critical review, saying that "while it's a good film, it isn't a great one" and also commented that "[The Irishman] could easily be trimmed by 30 minutes or more by tightening up the midsection."[138] Conversely, Richard Brody of The New Yorker wrote "it runs a minute shy of three and a half hours, and I wouldn't wish it any shorter",[139] and Karen Han of Polygon said that "Scorsese is so adept at storytelling, and his cast is so unbelievable, that the film ... barely feels its length."[140]
The Irishman also garnered acclaim from a number of filmmakers, many of whom listed the film as one of their favorites of 2019, including Ana Lily Amirpour, Olivier Assayas, Bong Joon-ho, Guillermo del Toro, Luca Guadagnino, Ciro Guerra, Bill Hader, Don Hertzfeldt, Alejandro Landes, Alex Ross Perry, Paul Schrader, Adam Wingard, and Quentin Tarantino, who ranked it as his favorite of the year.[141][142]
Legacy
[edit]
Since its release, it has been widely cited as one of the best and most important films of Scorsese's career as well as one of the greatest films of the 21st century.[143][144][145] In 2020, Eoghan Lyng, in a piece for Far Out, called it "Scorsese's most important feature film of the 21st century," writing that the film "sets out to show a different perspective of the mafia holdouts that have popped up time and time again in Martin Scorsese's work. True, Scorsese explored the Irish mafia in The Departed, his excellent remake of Infernal Affairs, but Scorsese plunges his central character into the middle of a world he has spent a decade building, only to tear it back frame by frame until what the viewer experiences is a nothingness at its most pointed and bittersweet."[143] That same year, it ranked number 28 on Empire's list of the "100 Greatest Movies of the 21st Century," calling it a blend of "the multiple-decade-spanning storytelling of Goodfellas with the quiet, ruminative tone of Silence."[144] In 2021, it tied for number 19 with Disney/Pixar's Inside Out (2015) on Newsweek's list of "The 100 Best Films of the 21st Century."[145] In November 2023, Collider ranked it number 16 on its list of the "25 Best Epic Movies of All Time," with Jeremy Urquhart writing "It's a gangster movie and a tragic story about aging, loneliness, and deep regret, following an elderly hitman as he reflects on his life of crime. Throughout the film, The Irishman reveals itself to be about the unstoppable nature of death, and the guilt that one can feel as it approaches and one realizes how a life was perhaps misspent."[146]
Accolades
[edit]
At the 92nd Academy Awards, The Irishman received 10 nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Pacino and Pesci, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, and Best Visual Effects,[147] although it failed to win any. It was also nominated for five awards at the 77th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Drama.[148]
Themes
[edit]
In his critical comments on the film and after noting Scorsese's many contributions to the mobster and gangster film genre, Nicholas Rapold of the Lincoln Center Film Society interpreted the main themes of the film as dealing more with the subject of the remorseless sociopathic and psychopathic killer than with themes directly related to organized crime. After comparing the film to David Cronenberg's A History of Violence, Rapold stated:
Frank is not psychopathic, but sociopathic. Whichever the case, one might ask how unusual Frank in The Irishman is meant to be. Oddly enough, people in recent years have been spending quite a bit of their spare time watching killers, and in situations outside the usual context of law enforcement. Watching or rewatching assorted acclaimed TV series, I couldn't help noticing how many zero in on people for whom killing is routine: The Sopranos, The Americans, Barry, Mindhunter, Killing Eve, Dexter. (There's also the apocalyptic strand in which almost everyone has already died, like The Leftovers, or everyone is dead, like The Good Place, or in the niche case of Russian Doll, one person keeps dying.) Very often these shows return to the hollowing-out that is felt through the destruction of human life and through the maintenance of the double life required to insulate that pursuit.[136]
Richard Brody, writing for The New Yorker, found the film to be a dark allegory of American politics and American society, stating:
The real-life Hoffa [was] a crucial player in both gangland politics and the actual practical politics of the day, and the movie's key through line is the inseparability of those two realms. The Irishman is a sociopolitical horror story that views much of modern American history as a continuous crime in motion, in which every level of society—from domestic life through local business through big business through national and international politics—is poisoned by graft and bribery, shady deals and dirty money, threats of violence and its gruesome enactment, and the hard-baked impunity that keeps the entire system running.[149]
Guillermo del Toro agrees with Brody:
Martin Scorsese ... has long been the primary chronicler of violence and greed in America, as he clearly understands that one cannot exist without the other and that they are both touchstones of a way of life and, probably, the country itself.[150]
In his extended comments on The Irishman, del Toro found the thematic content of the film and its depiction of character development to be comparable to the films of "Renoir, Bresson, Bergman, Oliveira or Kurosawa". Using cinematic techniques involving interconnected flashbacks and flashforwards, del Toro found Scorsese's juxtaposition of the "ruthless gangster" depicted in Frank Sheeran with his "diminished, elderly self" as compelling depictions of where "oblivion reigns supreme". Del Toro's thematic emphasis, as he attributes it to Scorsese, is the portrayal of the demise of Sheeran in the frailty of his old age as overshadowing the ruthless and relentless accumulation of his criminal activities which defined his more youthful years, with old age transforming Sheeran into a forgotten shadow of his former self.[150]
See also
[edit]
Robert F. Kennedy in media
References
[edit] | ||||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 34 | https://www.yachtingworld.com/features/tested-ais-mob-devices-help-your-crew-to-save-your-life-69914 | en | Tested: AIS MOB devices – Yachting World | [
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"https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2022/05/YACHTING-LOGO-BLACK-120px.jpg?v=1856195676065210368",
"https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/ins... | [] | [] | [
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] | null | [
"Pip Hare"
] | 2016-01-11T10:45:18+00:00 | These AIS MOB devices can alert your yacht, and others close by, to a man overboard. Pip Hare tests a selection of the latest models and considers the search and rescue options | en | Yachting World | https://www.yachtingworld.com/features/tested-ais-mob-devices-help-your-crew-to-save-your-life-69914 | In a safety briefing for the double-handed Transat Jacques Vabre race, a French search and rescue pilot told us just how hard it is for a spotter plane to see a person in the water.
He pointed his finger at the audience of sailors and very firmly told us that we were the best chance our co-skipper had of being recovered after falling over the side and that we must ensure our counterparts were wearing the correct safety equipment when on deck. He also stressed how important it was that we both had tested and were aware of how to use our AIS locator devices.
With the prevalence of these devices increasing and many sailors now making a choice between an AIS location device and a personal locator beacon, I gathered together seven AIS MOB devices and compared their key features to understand what each one could offer, how they perform and how AIS fits into the search and rescue safety package.
Who’s it for?
It is generally accepted that for those sailing alone a more traditional personal PLB EPIRB, which operates on 406MHz, remains your best chance of being found in an MOB situation. For the majority, however, who sail on a crewed yacht an AIS device, such as the ones we tested, allows both the mothership and nearby vessels to identify your exact location using an AIS set or chartplotter.
AIS MOB devices tested
McMurdo Smartfind S10
The first of its kind, produced in 2011, this was originally aimed at divers hence is waterproof to 60m. It has an integral antenna housed in the waterproof casing, which illuminates when the device is activated.
YW rating: 8/10
RRP: £238 / $310
Buy it now on Amazon (UK)
Buy it now on Amazon (US)
Buy it now on eBay
Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.
McMurdo Smartfind S20/Kannad Safelink R10
These are the same units produced by the two Oriola brands. They are small, and offer automatic in-lifejacket activation. These are the current brand leaders in personal AIS devices.
YW rating: 8/10RRP: £179.95
Buy it now on Amazon (UK)
Buy it now on eBay
WamBlee RescueMe 420–LP
This water-activated unit is designed to fit inside a lifejacket. It has an antenna housed in plastic tubing that fits around the collar of the lifejacket and does not need deploying prior to activation.
YW rating: 7/10
RRP: £264
OceanSignal RescueMe MOB1
Despite being the smallest of all current models on the market, the RescueMe MOB1 also incorporates a DSC function. The device is designed to fit inside a lifejacket.
YW rating: 9/10
RRP: £209 / $299
Buy it now on Amazon (UK)
Buy it now on Amazon (US)
Buy it now on eBay
AMEC TB-520
This is a new device produced in Taiwan that is due to be launched in January at the London Boat Show. It offers automatic activation and has bright LED lights in the housing, which flash the SOS message when the unit is activated.
YW rating: 7/10
RRP:£210
Buy it now on eBay
WeatherDock AG – easyONE
The easyONE is an entirely water-activated device that floats with its antenna facing up. It could be either kept in a pocket or tucked inside a lifejacket with no fitting or arming required.
YW rating: 8/10RRP: £220
Buy it now on eBay
WeatherDock AG – easyRESCUEpro
This is the largest, heaviest and most expensive of all of the devices tested; the easyRESCUEpro can double as a liferaft SART, and incorporates a GMDSS-approved DSC alerting function.
The easyRESCUEpro does stand apart from the rest at £557, but this is down to its extra DSC functionality and ability to double up as a liferaft SART with extended battery transmission time.
YW rating: 7/10
RRP: £557
AIS MOB device fitting
All the devices fit inside a lifejacket, although some not quite as unobtrusively as others. Fitting options varied across the range, including belt loops, pouches or oral inflation tube clips.
All the oral inflation tube clips were firm and easy to fit, with the exception of the Wamblee, which uses an angular stainless steel bracket that I found fiddly. If choosing the Wamblee I feel the belt loop option is better; it comes with both.
The units with clips or belt loops can also be fitted inside a lifejacket to a suitable strop. Not all lifejackets will have these. Ocean Safety now includes a strop as standard in its Kru Sport Pro jackets, but it would be a good idea to look inside your lifejacket or talk to a service agent before taking up this option.
A small design feature that made a big difference was the addition of teeth on the McMurdo and Kannad belt clip. The teeth gripped the webbing strop firmly and kept the unit exactly in place even during automatic inflation. The clip without teeth on the AMEC unit, however, slid off the side of the bladder during activation.
The two Weatherdock and the McMurdo S10 devices are larger and can be tucked inside a lifejacket cover with the lanyard attached. They all fitted, but left bulky profiles and I definitely felt the weight of the easyRESCUEpro.
Belt loops and pouches enable a wearer to attach the devices outside the lifejacket. If attached at the waist or hip, however, they would be fully submerged if you fell in the water and unable to transmit. Units correctly fitted inside the lifejackets are already in the ideal position for transmission as soon as the jackets are inflated.
Not all the devices floated. Although the Kannad and McMurdo come with a floating pouch, this can only be used when the AIS device is dormant. Once transmitting, the GPS area must be kept clear so it cannot be put back in the pouch. The easyONE floats upright with the antenna pointing at the sky. This means that, however you carry it, it will always float to the surface and transmit. The AMEC floats, but not antenna up.
Automatic activation
There are two ways for devices to activate automatically: one is with water contact and the other is via a pull-string when the lifejacket itself goes off. For the test results I have labelled devices as partially automatic if they require arming to ensure activation.
The pull-to-activate mechanisms rely on a lanyard attached from device to lifejacket, which when put under tension by the bladder inflating, will pull away, releasing the antenna and activating the device.
Kannad, McMurdo, AMEC and Ocean Signal all use this system of activation. They recommend set up by an approved lifejacket service agent. Trial and error enabled me to find the right lanyard length; across the board the jackets needed to be firmly under pressure to get the devices to activate.
When jumping into the water wearing an auto-inflate lifejacket the results for the Kannad/McMurdo were impressive; by the time I had resurfaced, my lifejacket was inflated and the locator device was resting on top of the bladder, antenna pointing at the sky and LEDs flashing. The AMEC auto-activated well, but I had to reposition it to the top of the lifejacket bladder once in the water.
Water-activated devices rely on immersion to make an electrical connection across two contact points. The WamBlee and AMEC need arming to ensure automatic activation and both the Weatherdock units are fully automatic without arming.
The easyONE has a neat system using a dissolvable salt tablet to deploy the antenna. When tested in my sink, the force of the antenna escaping scattered bits of salt tablet half way across the room. It’s clever, but I wouldn’t recommend having it near your face during activation.
Those of us who get regularly very wet when sailing might shy away from water-activated units. I am sure if accidentally activated inside your lifejacket there is little chance a signal would escape, however repeated activation may affect battery life.
The only device that cannot be automatically activated is the McMurdo S10.
A surprising range
I made several tests on the range of each device and in different circumstances and found little notable difference between units. Within the harbour, devices set off at water level were not detected at a range of half a mile from a receiving aerial at mast height. Along a cliff line this range was up to a mile, and over a sandy headland the signal was lost at two miles.
On open water the results for all sets were astoundingly good. I tested up to three-and-a-half miles with the AIS devices in the water and the receiving aerial at just over 14m high. On all occasions all sets continued to produce strong and regular updated information to the receiving AIS plotter at intervals of less than one minute.
Watching from my man overboard position with the devices at water level, the yacht with the receiver was no longer visible from two miles away.
I had expected to see some variance in the performance across the devices in this area, however all sets performed well enough to save your life. These tests were picked up by other passing vessels and also showed up on the marine traffic website.
‘All ships’ alerts
Two devices, easyRESCUEpro and MOB1 incorporate a DSC alerting function, which allows the unit to be paired to a mother radio set on board your vessel. Upon activation they automatically send a closed loop (unit to unit only) alert to the mother set detailing MOB information. Both units were straightforward to program and sent test DSC alerts.
The MOB1 can also send a manually activated ‘All ships’ DSC alert. The easyRESCUEpro offers a more comprehensive system: it first sends a closed loop alert to your mother ship. If this alert is acknowledged you will receive an acoustic signal from the AIS device. If, however, no acknowledgment is made within five minutes, then the device will automatically switch to an ‘All ships’ transmission, which will carry on until acknowledged by another vessel.
The easyRESCUEpro is a popular commercial and military choice. It is designed to be used both as a personal device and as an AIS SART for a liferaft. It is also the only unit able to receive a DSC acknowledgement, so manufacturer Weatherdock claims it is GMDSS (Global Maritime Distress and Safety System) compliant – which in plain English means it is the only one that is actually a recognised way of calling for help.
However, this is the heaviest and most expensive unit (more than double the price of the smaller devices tested).
Calling for help
You may notice I refer to the sets as AIS devices and not beacons. This subtle difference in name is important. A beacon is an internationally recognised means of signalling distress, whereas an AIS personal locator device is not. The beacon says: ‘I am here and I need your help’, the device just says: ‘I am here’.
Further to this fact, we must also consider who is going to notice when one of these devices goes off and what they actually see.
Since the launch of AIS locator devices in 2011, the rate of development of this product has been quite a bit faster than the infrastructure designed to support them.
All personal devices are identified by a unique ID that starts with ‘972’. When the AIS devices first came out AIS equipped chart plotters displayed them as vessels. The MOB symbol of a red circle with a red X inside came out a year or so later, and the specification for sets to make an audible alert is very recent.
Although manufacturers have been quick to incorporate new features into plotters there is no requirement for old AIS receivers or plotters to be upgraded to new software acknowledging the 972 symbol or the audible alert. It is down to the individual owner to decide whether to make these changes.
I found a range of results in my testing. Some older sets even with recent software updates are not able to display the MOB symbol. Not all sets, whether new or old, include the sentence MOB TEST when test mode is activated. And if the AIS receivers and chart plotters are different units, both may need software updates.
The answer to this is clear – if you are going to carry a personal AIS device you must always test it against the boat on which you are sailing to find out exactly what will be displayed on activation and if an audible alarm will be sounded.
As someone who sails regularly double-handed I consider the audible alarm function an essential component. If your AIS plotter is not able to produce an audible alarm then the DSC-capable AIS MOB devices from Ocean Signal and Weatherdock could provide an alternative alerting system. Wamblee also have a DSC model, the W460.
Therefore, although many vessels now carry AIS, it is not safe to assume that every vessel within range will see, understand or react to your MOB device. And as the most likely people to rescue you, it is essential your own crew are aware of the capabilities of your own device.
The rescue services’ response
In understanding the scope of AIS MOB devices it is also important to know how AIS is interpreted by the people who manage our coastline and our rescue services.
There is currently no requirement for HM Coastguard shore stations to receive alarms if an AIS device is activated. The coastguard uses AIS in its control rooms as a situational awareness tool, but its AIS software is not currently able to display the MOB symbol on receipt of a 972 AIS signal. On its screens, an AIS MOB device will show up as a coloured triangle like all other AIS-equipped vessels.
The RNLI is in the process of installing AIS on all of its lifeboats, however it envisages it will be three years before the crew and fleet are fully AIS-functional and trained.
Until then, the advice from both services is that ‘AIS is incorporated into search and rescue wherever possible, but the AIS location devices should be considered as part of a package of safety equipment and not solely relied upon. Don’t forget the traditional means of calling for help such as DSC if you wish to guarantee your call reaches the search and rescue authorities.’
Among the other people who definitely can see AIS devices are the various Vessel Traffic Services around the UK. I worked with Poole Harbour Commissioners during my testing and had a look in their control room.
Captain Brian Murphy, Poole’s harbour master, told me his VTS staff will report any AIS MOB alerts directly to the Coastguard. In many cases, particularly in estuaries and close to the land, VTS have greater AIS coverage than the coastguard, so are more likely to pick up alerts.
Conclusion
When choosing one of these AIS MOB devices over a 406 MHz beacon, you are consciously giving the responsibility of your rescue to your crew. Naturally they can alert the authorities as well as coming to your aid, however only when they notice you have gone.
There is much talk about combining a 406 MHz beacon with the AIS locator device. The sticking point here is that 406 MHz devices are not allowed to be automatically activated – so currently the two items cannot be easily combined.
Chris Hoffman, chairman of the Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) in the US, told me that they are in the process of writing the first specification that will allow the combination of the two and that we may see these products on the market in the US in 2017. However, there are currently no plans for a European specification, so the timing of their introduction in the UK and Europe is unclear at present.
If you are waiting for the combination AIS/406 devices to make it onto the market before investing in an MOB alerting system, I would think again. Technology is moving on at pace and who knows what the world of tracking and communications will look like in four years’ time – all lifejackets may automatically come with tracking chips.
Today, if you sail regularly with crew on a vessel fitted with AIS, I have no doubt these small and brilliant devices might one day save your life. | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 0 | https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20424130/reviews | en | Mob Land (2023) | [
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5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 75 | https://dailycampus.com/2023/11/15/how-to-become-a-mob-boss-a-documentary-series-that-will-lead-you-to-success/ | en | ‘How to Become a Mob Boss:’ A documentary series that will lead you to success | [
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"Valentina Túrmina Maronezi",
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] | 2023-11-15T00:00:00 | A new mini-documentary series answering the question “how to become a mob boss?” is now available on Netflix. I was not expecting such an interesting perspective on being a mob boss; but the series was one of the most entertaining self-help guides to success that I have watched in a long time. | en | The Daily Campus | https://dailycampus.com/2023/11/15/how-to-become-a-mob-boss-a-documentary-series-that-will-lead-you-to-success/ | A new mini-documentary series answering the question “how to become a mob boss?” is now available on Netflix. I was not expecting such an interesting perspective on being a mob boss; but the series was one of the most entertaining self-help guides to success that I have watched in a long time.
The series discusses big names in the underworld: Pablo Escobar, Al Capone, Johnny Torrio and Frankie Yale. It talks a little bit about their life and gives a brief introduction. It feels like they are doing this just to peak the viewer’s interest; then, they bring in people who were somehow related to the mobs. Finally, right when you are captivated by their presence, they actually insert a manual — basically a guide book for you to follow if you want to become a mob boss in a similar way.
This guidebook could help you become a mob boss or any other kind of successful person. For example, the first given “rule” says that to be a mob boss, you need to be a leader of organized crime. That alone is not very helpful, but when they go into detail to explain what it takes to be an organized crime leader and how many mob bosses in the past had those qualities it raises interesting points. A good mob boss must be driven, ambitious, resourceful, loyal, intelligent, work with others and have someone to point you in the right direction — all things that anyone needs in any profession.
The series talks about how a young Escobar sold fake diplomas and graduated school by faking his report card. In addition, it shows how Capone started his mobster career as a child by recruiting his cousins to help him rough up the competition, aka other children that clean people’s shoes in the street for a living.
Next, the show brings up the question of mentorship — it was mentioned that Capone had two mentors: two top mobsters, Torrio and Yale, both very well known in organized crime. Torrio taught Capone to dress for success, keep his mouth shut and understand that money is power. While Yale taught Capone to always show he means business, carry a gun and let his reputation precede himself.
To be honest, these lessons can be applied to anything and everything; if you want to be a successful doctor, lawyer, professor, physiologist, military officer, zoologist or anything else. Using this advice will get you far. Dressing in a certain way and showing you always mean business will lead people to treat you a certain way — allowing you to establish better connections.
When talking about money: If you have more money, you have more access to things most don’t, making you harder to reach. That power — fortunately or unfortunately — makes you have more power over the majority of people. Keeping your mouth shut and always letting your reputation precede you goes hand-in-hand, don’t glorify yourself. Your actions, morals, values and work ethics will speak for themselves.
Maybe having a gun in hand is not exactly needed for people who are not mobsters, but we can replace the word gun for resources or knowledge. You never know when you will have to use something you learned in the past to resolve a problem.
Seeing the resemblance between the show and the self-help books I have is a bit odd to say the least — maybe even worrisome. Since I thought the books were supposed to be for non-mob bosses, it was hard to see how anyone could learn from the criminals in the series; but now I see that to get anywhere in life you need to have the same key traits as a mob boss.
Overall, I definitely recommend this series to anyone who wants to learn the key traits required to become successful, likes history and fun facts, loves documentaries or would like to become a mob leader. Maybe this documentary will lead you to success! Who knows, maybe it’ll make you the world’s most well known and most successful mob boss.
Rating: 4/5 | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 22 | https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/248366/how-tall-should-i-build-my-minecraft-mob-farm | en | How tall should I build my minecraft mob farm? | [
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] | null | [] | 2015-12-19T05:07:03 | My first attempt at a mob farm seems to have been too close to the ground. I wasn't getting very many mobs. When I killed mobs at ground level, more mobs would spawn in the mob farm. How tall shoul... | en | https://cdn.sstatic.net/Sites/gaming/Img/favicon.ico?v=103dcfc09166 | Arqade | https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/248366/how-tall-should-i-build-my-minecraft-mob-farm | For an exp farm your mobs will have to fall 24 blocks to be killable on one hit. That way you get the xp and the special drops.
For mobs to spawn very efficiently you want to be 128 blocks away from any other potential spawning points for them (blocks with block light lower than 8), so you should be 128 blocks above the highest block in an 128 x 128 area around your spawner.
I think the best would be around 24 blocks for the floor. This way you can one hit them and get the exp. you can also add more levels on top of that. | ||||
5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 15 | http://www.brenrockproductions.com/CIFF-2022-Synopsis-Page.html | en | Synopsis | [
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5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 42 | https://readingfilmfest.com/tag/blocks/ | en | Blocks Archives | [
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""
] | null | [] | null | en | ReadingFilmFEST | https://readingfilmfest.com/tag/blocks/ | Made In Reading Films
The Stakeout Director: Federico Castelluccio Runtime: 6:24 minutes Two detectives, one Cuban and one Italian, on a late night stakeout argue about the best mob movie of all time. website Righteous Sunday Director: David Speace Runtime: 7:14 minutes Righteous Sunday is a poem written by Greg Gaul. The poem reveals the true inhumanity of racism …
Shorts Block Remix
I’ll Meet You There Director: Karl Fernandez Runtime: 14:46 minutes A man recounts a trip to his late wife’s childhood home as they prepare for the future. watch trailer Wistful Pieces Director: Ellany Kincross Runtime: 18:03 minutes Nick and Nadia are a successful couple in their 40’s who have been married for 12 years. Their …
Shorts Films from Here to There
Let Tonight Pass Director: Hamed Ghasemi Runtime: 18 minutes Elham is an English teacher who is from a traditional family. Tonight is a very special night for her family. Her suitor will come to their home with his own family. She’s been recently in a photo shoot as the model for an underground agency. Now …
Inspirational Docs
No Time to Waste Director: Carl Bidleman Runtime: 51:47 minutes No Time to Waste celebrates legendary 98-year-old park ranger Betty Reid Soskin’s inspiring life, work and urgent mission to restore critical missing chapters of America’s story. The film follows her journey as an African American woman presenting her personal story from a kitchen stool in …
Women & Politics
Can You Hear Us Now? Director: Jim Cricchi Runtime: 87 minutes Small-town activism. Nail-biting elections. A last-minute power grab. In Wisconsin, where extreme partisanship has become the norm, voters are finding their lives increasingly irrelevant to state lawmakers. Through the stories of four tireless women fighting to have their voices heard, CAN YOU HEAR US …
Women on Both Sides of the Camera
Women on Both Sides of the Camera Director: Mahshad Afshar Runtime: 95 minutes Benefiting from a wide range of rare archive materials, this feature-length documentary focuses on one century of the representation of women in Iranian cinema. Looking at the formation of the Iranian film industry and its relationship with socio-political events, the film narrates …
Documenting Art
Voice of Selma Director: Roya Iravani Runtime: 30 minutes The Voice of Selma (Moghaddam Museum) Project is a feature-length documentary film that guides us through the treasures collected over a lifetime of work by Selma Moghaddam and her husband Mohsen. Against a backdrop of government hostility toward Persian works of art that predate the Islamic …
Tackling Politics
We Are All in this Together Director: Daniel Troia Runtime: 70 minutes During divisive times in America, a man sets off on a cross-country bicycle journey, with no food, no money, and the hope of gaining a better understanding of the human connection. website Vitriol Director: Mark Clauburg Runtime: 25 minutes A short documentary exploring …
Iranian Short Films
Goodbye Olympic Director: Mojtaba poorbakhsh Runtime: 18:37 minutes Maria is a girl whom she is a champion of Kayak; she is waiting for dispatching to the Olympics Qualification which held in France. The schedule of dispatching the kayaking team will be called off because of some troubles. Synthesis Director: Mohammad Towrivarian Runtime: 15 minutes A … | ||||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 18 | https://www.terijon.com/collections/mother-of-the-bride-dresses | en | Mother Of The Bride Dresses | http://www.terijon.com/cdn/shop/collections/Cat_banner_Mother_Of_Bride_1200x1200.jpg?v=1653486375 | http://www.terijon.com/cdn/shop/collections/Cat_banner_Mother_Of_Bride_1200x1200.jpg?v=1653486375 | [
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"Mother Of The Bride Dresses",
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] | null | [] | null | Find the perfect Teri Jon cocktail dresses and evening gowns for the mother of the bride. Try our lace dresses, tea length dresses, dresses with sleeves, and other styles to feel like the young and beautiful mother of the bride that you are. | en | //www.terijon.com/cdn/shop/files/terijon-fav_32x.png?v=1637996556 | Terijon.com | https://www.terijon.com/collections/mother-of-the-bride-dresses | SIGN UP TO RECEIVE FREE SHIPPING* ON YOUR FIRST ORDER
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5256 | dbpedia | 1 | 2 | https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_mob | en | Rotten Tomatoes | [
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] | null | [] | 1951-09-07T00:00:00 | After witnessing what appears to be a police officer shooting a man in cold blood, detective Johnny Damico (Broderick Crawford) decides to go undercover. Tracing the murder victim to a waterfront crime ring, Damico poses as longshoreman Tim Flynn, and infiltrates the corrupt New York dockworkers union. There he meets union toughs Joe Castro (Ernest Borgnine) and Gunner (Neville Brand), who eventually lead him to crime kingpin Blackie Clegg (Matt Crowley). | en | https://www.rottentomatoes.com/assets/pizza-pie/images/favicon.ico | Rotten Tomatoes | https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_mob | Let's keep in touch!
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5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 9 | https://qz.com/quartzy/1696985/the-irishman-is-martin-scorseses-longest-movie-ever | en | At 3.5 hours, “The Irishman” will be Martin Scorsese’s longest movie ever | [
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] | 2019-08-28T13:56:13-04:00 | The mob drama will reportedly also be the longest mainstream American narrative film in more than 20 years. | en | Quartz | https://qz.com/quartzy/1696985/the-irishman-is-martin-scorseses-longest-movie-ever | Martin Scorsese fans: You have three months to train your bladders for his next film.
The Irishman, a mob drama about the hitman who claims to have killed labor leader Jimmy Hoffa, will be 3.5 hours (210 minutes) long. That makes it Scorsese’s longest film by half an hour—The Wolf of Wall Street and Casino are his next longest at three hours apiece. The Irishman will have a limited release in theaters in early November before hitting Netflix globally on Nov. 27.
Those who wait for the film to be released on Netflix can just pause the lengthy film whenever they need to. But those who want to watch The Irishman in theaters will have no such reprieve—especially because it won’t have an intermission, according to IndieWire.
At 3.5 hours, the crime drama is the longest mainstream American narrative film in more than 20 years, IndieWire also reported. Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 adaptation of Hamlet clocked in at a sadistic four hours and two minutes. The average modern movie is about an hour and 45 minutes.
Here’s every Scorsese movie, ranked by runtime:
Scorsese, one of Hollywood’s most acclaimed directors, has a reputation for making longer-than-average epics. His most recent feature film, Silence, was nearly three hours. But it wasn’t always that way.
Several of Scorsese’s early crime dramas were two hours or less. He also made a few comedies—which tend to be shorter than dramas—at the beginning of his 50-year career.
The lengths of Scorsese’s films over time follows an interesting pattern. Starting in 1977 with New York, New York, longer films are followed by a period of progressively shorter films. Then it spikes back toward the long end—almost as if the filmmaker has to pay his industry dues for a few films before he’s able to indulge in another lengthy affair.
New York, New York was followed by four relatively short films before 1988’s The Last Temptation of Christ (2.7 hours). That was followed by more shorter films before Casino (3 hours) in 1995, and so on. Gangs of New York in 2002, followed by The Aviator two years later, (his 18th and 19th feature films, respectively) was the first time consecutive films were each over 2.5 hours.
The more goodwill the Oscar winner has built up over his historic career, the more studios are willing to let him make movies as long as he wants. It’s possible Scorsese shaves off some of the runtime of The Irishman before it officially hits Netflix, but the streaming service won’t pressure him to do so. It’s just happy to be in business with the guy who directed Taxi Driver and The Departed. | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 8 | https://www.imdb.com/list/ls026270180/ | en | The Complete List of MAFIA & Gangsters Movies | [
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] | null | [] | null | Complete list of movies & documentaries from the mafia, mobsters and gangsters. | en | IMDb | https://www.imdb.com/list/ls026270180/ | Don Vito Corleone, head of a mafia family, decides to hand over his empire to his youngest son, Michael. However, his decision unintentionally puts the lives of his loved ones in grave danger.
The early life and career of Vito Corleone in 1920s New York City is portrayed, while his son, Michael, expands and tightens his grip on the family crime syndicate.
Follows Michael Corleone, now in his 60s, as he seeks to free his family from crime and find a suitable successor to his empire.
During Prohibition, Treasury agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop ruthless Chicago gangster Al Capone, and assembles a small, incorruptible team to help him.
A Puerto Rican former convict, just released from prison, pledges to stay away from drugs and violence despite the pressure around him and lead on to a better life outside of N.Y.C.
The story of Henry Hill and his life in the mafia, covering his relationship with his wife Karen and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito.
An intense drama about a boy torn between his tough, hard-working father and a violent yet charismatic crime boss.
In Las Vegas, two best friends - a casino executive and a mafia enforcer - compete for a gambling empire and a fast-living, fast-loving socialite.
An outcast New York City cop is charged with bringing down Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas, whose real life inspired this partly biographical film.
In 1862, Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points area of New York City seeking revenge against Bill the Butcher; his father's killer.
The true story of Danny Greene, a tough Irish thug working for mobsters in Cleveland during the 1970's.
An undercover cop and a mole in the police attempt to identify each other while infiltrating an Irish gang in South Boston.
The true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.
An FBI undercover agent infiltrates the mob and finds himself identifying more with the Mafia life--at the expense of his regular one.
A mob enforcer's son in 1930s Illinois witnesses a murder, forcing him and his father to take to the road, and his father down a path of redemption and revenge.
A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan 35 years later, where he must once again confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.
The Feds try to take down notorious American gangsters John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Pretty Boy Floyd during a booming crime wave in the 1930s.
The story of Richard Kuklinski, the notorious contract killer and family man. When he was finally arrested in 1986, neither his wife nor his daughters had any clue about his real profession.
It's 1949 Los Angeles, the city is run by gangsters and a malicious mobster, Mickey Cohen. Determined to end the corruption, John O'Mara assembles a team of cops, ready to take down the ruthless leader and restore peace to the city.
Black gangsters in 1930 Harlem fights Dutch Schultz who is trying to horn in on their numbers racket.
Eddy persuades his three pals to pool money for a vital poker game against a powerful local mobster, Hatchet Harry. Eddy loses, after which Harry gives him a week to pay back 500,000 pounds. | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 1 | 3 | https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/27662/the-mob/ | en | Not Available | [
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Watchlist and resume progress features have been disabled.
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5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 43 | https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Debug_screen | en | Debug screen | https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/minecraft_gamepedia/images/7/7e/Notch_DRM.png/revision/latest?cb=20211026050535 | https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/minecraft_gamepedia/images/7/7e/Notch_DRM.png/revision/latest?cb=20211026050535 | [
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] | 2022-04-04T20:14:00+00:00 | The debug screen is triggered when the F3 key is pressed. It shows the chunk cache, the memory usage, various parameters, the player's map coordinates and a graph that measures the game's current frame rate. When the reducedDebugInfo gamerule is set to true, or when the Reduced Debug Info option... | en | https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/minecraft_gamepedia/images/4/4a/Site-favicon.ico/revision/latest?cb=20211226203019 | Minecraft Wiki | https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Debug_screen | Line format Description Visible with reduced debug info First paragraph Minecraft version (version/vanilla/snapshot) General information about the game:
version is the current version (1.21);
If the game is modded, "vanilla" is replaced with the mod name;
"/snapshot" is only present for snapshots, pre-releases and release candidates.
Yes fps fps T: max vsync graphics clouds B: blend GPU: gpu General information about the renderer:
fps is the current framerate;
max is the value of the Max Framerate option ("inf" if Unlimited);
"vsync" is only present if the VSync option is on;
graphics is the value of the Graphics option:
"fast" if Fast,
"fancy" if Fancy,
"fabulous" if Fabulous!;
clouds is the value of the Clouds option:
"fast-clouds" if Fast,
"fancy-clouds" if Fancy,
Hidden if OFF;
blend is the value of the Biome Blend option;
gpu is the estimated GPU utilization percentage.
Yes brand server @ mst ms ticks, up tx, down rx Information about the server:
brand is the server brand ("Integrated" for singleplayer world);
mst is only present on single player worlds and corresponds to the time it takes for a game tick to be processed on the integrated server;
up is the average number of packets sent by the client during a game tick;
down is the average number of packets received by the client during a game tick.
Yes C: sections (s) D: distance, pC: batch, pU: uploads, aB: buffers Information about loaded chunks:
sections is the number of sections rendered over the total number of sections in the loaded area;
"(s)" is only present if smart culling is enabled, which is always the case in vanilla;
distance is the client-side render distance, that is, the value of the Render Distance option;
batch is the number of pending chunks to be batched;
uploads is the number of pending uploads to the video card;
buffers is the number of available buffers to use in the batching process.
Yes E: entities, B: 0, SD: distance Information about loaded entities:
entities is the number of rendered entities over the total number of entities;
The "B" value is unused and always 0;
distance is the server's simulation distance.
Yes P: particles. T: entities Miscellaneous information:
particles is the number of particles in the loaded area;
entities is the number of entities in the loaded area.
Yes Chunks[C] W: cached, loadedC E: loadedE,sections,ticking Information about client-side chunks:
cached is the number of cached chunks;[verify]
loadedC is the number of loaded chunks;
loadedE is the number of loaded entities;
sections is the number of entity sections;[verify]
ticking is the number of entity ticking chunks.[verify]
Yes Chunks[S] W: chunks E: entities,visible,sections,chunks,ticking,load,unload Information about server-side chunks (integrated server only):
chunks is the number of loaded chunks;
entities is the number of registered entities;
visible may be the number of ticking entities;[verify]
sections is the number of entity sections;[verify]
chunks may be the number of loaded (or loading) chunks;[verify]
ticking is the number of ticking or tracked chunks;[verify]
load is the number of chunks that are waiting to be loaded;
unload is the number of chunks that are waiting to be unloaded.
Made in mind for LAN connections for server caching.[verify]
No dimension FC: forced Information about the current dimension:
dimension is the resource location of the current dimension;
forced is the amount of force loaded chunks.
No Second paragraph XYZ: x / y / z The player's location:
x is the player's location in blocks East of the origin (negative values are to the West);
y is the player's feet altitude in blocks;
z is the player's location in blocks South of the origin (negative values are to the North).
No Block: coordinates [relative] The location of the block the player's feet are in:
coordinates is the coordinates of the block in the world;
relative is the coordinates of the block within its section.
No Chunk-relative: relative The location of the block the player's feet are in relative to the section:
relative is the coordinates of the block within its section.
Only reduced Chunk coordinates [relative in file] The location of the section the player's feet are in:
coordinates is the coordinates of the section (in sections, meaning section x y z contains the block 16x 16y 16z);
relative is the coordinates of the chunk (without the vertical component) within its region;
file is the name of the file in which the chunk is stored.
No Facing direction (Towards axis) (yaw/pitch) The orientation of the player:
direction is the cardinal direction the player is facing;
axis is the horizontal axis and the direction along this axis that the player is tooking towards ("negative Z", "positive Z", "negative X", or "positive X");
yaw is the player's yaw, 0 meaning facing South (positive is to the West, negative is to the East);
pitch is the player's pitch, 0 meaning looking horizontally (positive is down, negative is up).
No Client Light: light (skylight sky, blocklight block) The client-side light values at the player's feet:
light is the total light level (maximum of the sky light level and block light level, not to be confused with the internal light level);
skylight is the sky light level;
blocklight is the block light level.
No CH S: WORLD_SURFACE M: MOTION_BLOCKING The values of the corresponding client-side heightmaps at the player's position. No SH S: WORLD_SURFACE O: OCEAN_FLOOR M: MOTION_BLOCKING ML: MOTION_BLOCKING_NO_LEAVES The values of the corresponding server-side heightmaps at the player's position. No Biome: biome The biome at the player's position:
biome is the resource location of the biome.
No Local Difficulty: difficulty // clamped (Day day) Regional difficulty-related values:
difficulty is the regional difficulty in the chunk the player is in;
clamped is the clamped regional difficulty;
day is the number of in-game days the player has been in the world.
No Blending: Old. Only present if the current chunk was generated using old method. No NoiseRouter: T: temperature V: vegetation C: continents E: erosion D: depth W: ridges PV: peaksAndValleys AS: initial_density_without_jaggedness N: final_density The noise values at the current position, used to generate terrain and biomes:
temperature is the temperature value;
vegetation is the humidity value;
continents is the continentalness value;
erosion is the erosion value;
depth is the depth value;
ridges is the weirdness value;
peaksAndValleys is the "peaks and valleys" value derived from the weirdness value: (-abs(abs(ridges) - 2⁄3) + 1⁄3) × 3;
initial_density_without_jaggedness is the initial density without jaggedness value;
final_density is the final density value.
For more information, see Custom world generation § JSON format.
Only present when using the multi_noise biome source.
No Biome builder PV: peaksAndValleys C: continentalness E: erosion T: temperature H: humidity Categorized noise values:
peaksAndValleys is:
"Valley" if the corresponding value is less than 0.05,
"Low" if the corresponding value is between 0.05 and 4⁄15,
"Mid" if the corresponding value is between 4⁄15 and 0.4,
"High" if the corresponding value is between 0.4 and 17⁄30,
"Peak" if the corresponding value is greater than 17⁄30;
continentalness is:
"Mushroom fields" if the corresponding value is less than −1.05,
"Deep ocean" if the corresponding value is between −1.05 and −0.455,
"Ocean" if the corresponding value is between −0.455 and −0.19,
"Coast" if the corresponding value is between −0.19 and −0.11,
"Near inland" if the corresponding value is between −0.11 and 0.03,
"Mid inland" if the corresponding value is between 0.03 and 0.3,
"Far inland" if the corresponding value is greater than 0.3;
erosion is a number between 0 and 6 (both included), where a lower number corresponds to a lower corresponding value;
temperature is a number between 0 and 4 (both included), where a lower number corresponds to a lower corresponding value;
humidity is a number between 0 and 4 (both included), where a lower number corresponds to a lower corresponding value.
Only present when using the multi_noise biome source.
No SC: chunks, M: monsters, C: creatures, A: ambient, A: axolotls, U: underground, W: water, W: fish, M: misc Information about loaded entities:
chunks is the total amount of loaded mob-spawning chunks (usually 289);
monsters is the total amount of hostile mobs that count toward the mob cap;
creatures is the total amount of creatures (passive mobs that spawn on a surface);
ambient is the total amount of ambient mobs (bats);
axolotls is the total amount of axolotls;
underground is the total amount of underground water creatures (glow squids);
water is the total amount of water creatures (squids and dolphins);
fish is the total amount of water ambient mobs (all 4 types of fish);
misc is the total amount of misc entities.
No Sounds: static + streaming (Mood mood) Information about sounds:
static is the number of "static" sounds (like breaking or placing a block, moving or burning fire) playing over the maximum number of static sounds that can be played (typically, 247);
streaming is the number of "streaming" sounds (music, music from music discs, and loop ambience sounds) playing over the maximum number of streaming sounds that can be played (typically, 8);
mood is the mood value.
No Shader: path Information about the currently-active shader:
path is the file path of the currently-active shader (within the "assets" directory of minecraft.jar).
Only present if a shader is active.
No Third paragraph Debug: Pie [shift]: pie FPS [alt]: chart The visibility of the debug pie and charts:
pie is "visible" if the debug pie is visible, "hidden" otherwise;
chart is "visible" if the chart is visible, "hidden" otherwise.
On integrated servers, "FPS" is replaced by "FPS + TPS".
Yes For help: press F3 + Q Indication that the player can press F3 + Q for help; see § More debug keys. Yes Java Edition Classic 0.0.2aThe version number is now displayed in the top-left corner. Includes the fps and chunk updates. 0.0.23aAdded an option to turn on the debug screen. The current version name is always displayed even when the option is disabled. Java Edition Indev 0.3120100202Added "E" entities value, "P" particles value, and "LT" value. Upon placing chests, the second value of "LT" would go up upon every chest placed.The first value seemingly is unaffected by this. 20100206Removed "LT" value. FPS and chunk updates have been moved next to the version number and are now contained within parentheses.Moved "E" value below "C" value, and moved "P" value below "E" value."C", "F", "O", "B", "I", and "T" values have been added."C" values cover rendered/total chunks, "F" values are chunks outside the field of view, "O" values are chunks culled by occlusion culling, "B" values are culled entities that are hidden in a chunk and can't be seen, "I" values are individually culled entities, and "T" values are terrain and lighting data. 20100212-1Added "L" lighting updates value. 20100212-2Added Free memory and Allocated memory. Displayed in §8 (dark gray) color code.It always displays even when the option to turn on the debug screen is disabled. 20100213Free memory and Allocated memory now display in §7 (light gray) color code. Now only displays when the option is enabled. Java Edition Infdev 20100227-1Removed "L" value. "T" value no longer displays a value."O", "E", "B", and "I" values no longer function. 20100316"E" and "I" values now function again. 20100413Added "All" and "Counted" values. "All" displays the total number of loaded entities."Counted" seemingly serves the same function as "All". 20100420Removed slash from "All" value. Removed "Counted" value. 20100624Added second "E" value. Second "E" is located right next to "O" value.Second "E" displays number of empty chunk sections which may be skipped due to not yet being loaded and rendered, or has nothing to draw in the current render pass; all render passes are counted.Lagometer added.Separate from debug screen, requires F6 to be held down and can be displayed with the debug screen. 20100627Changed Free memory to Used memory. Now displays MB in parentheses right next to the value percentage. Java Edition Alpha v1.1.1The debug screen is no longer listed as an option and now requires F3 to be held down to activate. v1.2.0?The lagometer is now part of the debug screen. v1.2.3The coordinates have been added to the debug screen. Java Edition Beta 1.3The debug screen, along with other function key controls, has now become a toggle. When the debug screen is open, it now shows numbers above every mob; these numbers being the mob's Entity ID. These numbers are visible through blocks, making F3 a useful mob-finder. 1.7The "f" coordinate has been made visible in the debug screen (facing direction). 1.8Pre-releaseThe ability to see the level's seed has been added to the debug screen. Entity numbers being shown above a mob's head have been removed from the debug screen. Some players felt that it was cheating and that it took away from the game. Java Edition 1.0.0October 2, 2011The first images of a runtime performance profiler with a pie chart is revealed. Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3The profiler has been added to the debug screen. 1.2.11.2Information about the biome and light level of the player's location have been added to the debug screen. The seed in multiplayer has been made hidden from the debug screen and now shows as "0". 1.2.4Pressing F3 (Fn + F3 on Mac and some laptops) brings up the debug screen, but without the graphs. The graph appears upon pressing ⇧ Shift + F3 (Fn + ⇧ Shift + F3 on Mac and some laptops). 1.3.112w18aInformation about the player's speed and whether the player is touching the ground have added to the debug screen. Coordinates within the debug screen are now rounded to 5 digits. 12w21aInformation about the world's seed has been removed from the debug screen, seen instead by pressing the chat key and typing /seed. The frame time graph has been removed from the debug screen. 12w30aThe y coordinate now shows both the feet level and the eye level. 1.4.212w39aFl, x and z chunk coordinates, and more rotation (f) information have been added to the debug screen. 12w41a⇧ Shift + F3 now shows the profiler graph in the debug screen. F3 + H now shows durability on damaged tools, weapons and armor pieces. 1.4.41.4.3F3 + B now shows the hitbox around entities. At this point, the hitbox is white and opaque and does not have an outline. 1.7.21.7.1F3 + B visual changed. The entity hitbox is now completely transparent, with a thin white outline. 1.814w02aThe debug screen now shows which axis the player is facing after the cardinal direction: "Toward positive/negative X/Z". 14w04aThe crosshair in the debug screen now displays 3 short colored lines to indicate the direction of each axis: x/red, y/green, z/blue. The x coordinate line in the debug screen now appears bold when looking east/west, similarly the z coordinate line now appears bold when looking south/north. 14w05aText within the debug screen now has a background. X, y, z, b, bl and other labels within the debug screen have been replaced with more understandable labels."Light" is now the light levels at feet, not eyes. 14w06aX, Y, and Z title in the debug screen has been changed from 'Feet' in the previous snapshot, to 'XYZ'. A day counter, which increases by 1 every dawn, has been added to the debug screen.The debug screen now displays regional difficulty: Peaceful starts at 0.00, Easy starts at 0.75, Normal starts at 1.50, and Hard starts at 2.25.The debug screen now displays player rotation in degrees and quadrants. 14w11aOn the right-hand side of the debug screen, a display now shows up if the player is looking at a block, showing its ID and block states. 14w17aAll blocks now have their info displayed on the right-hand side of the debug screen. The "Facing negative/positive x/z" from the debug screen has been removed. 14w20aThe "Facing negative/positive x/z" has been readded to the debug screen. 14w25bF3 + B now also shows which direction entities are looking using a blue line. The line on the right-hand side that had displayed the name of the block model the player was looking at has been removed from the debug screen. 14w29aA 'Reduced Debug Info' toggle now exists within multiplayer settings to enable/disable reduced information on the debug screen. The reducedDebugInfo gamerule allows the player to enable/disable reduced information on the debug screen. This overrides all 'reduced debug info' settings in clients. 14w30aThe debug screen now displays how many chunk sections are being rendered currently and how many chunk sections are out of view in percent, the OpenGL version, display size, vendor and GPU. "Vanilla" has been added to the version number within the debug screen. 1.8.2pre1The frame time graph within the debug screen has been readded and redesigned, so that it can now be activated using Alt + F3. 1.915w32aF3 + N now toggles between Creative and Spectator modes, when the player is in either of them. The player needs to be allowed to use /gamemode for this to work. 15w43aThe debug screen now shows more information. F3 + Q gives help and shows all F3 + key combinations.F3 + F now increases render distance by 1 (Minimum and Maximum are 2-32).F3 + ⇧ Shift + F now decreases render distance by 1 (Min and Max are 2-32).The debug screen now shows if the pie chart and fps chart are shown on screen.The debug screen now shows text in chat when the player reloads chunks, sounds, etc.The debug screen now does not open when the player uses a specific key combination like F3 + N, F3 + B, etc.F3 + S has been removed from the debug screen, which previously reloaded sounds.F3 + T now reloads all resource pack content, including sounds.Red, blue and green lines have now changed in size within the debug screen and now change relative to the GUI scale.The debug screen is now toggled when the F3 key is released, instead of when it is pressed. 1.1016w20aF3 + G toggles the visible chunk borders around the player. The 3 lines indicating direction now have a small black outline when looking at an area with bad contrast. 1.1318w11aPressing F3 + C now copies the player's current location to the clipboard in the form of a /tp command, though holding for 10 seconds and releasing still forces a debug crash. 18w14aThe debug screen now gives a warning before forcing a debug crash. 18w22cThe debug overlay now shows the fluid the player is looking at, separately from blocks. pre6F3 + I copies block or entity data to the clipboard. Added information about the time it takes for a tick on the integrated server, number of packets sent by the client (tx), and number of packets received by the client (rx). pre7Added "Looking at liquid" row, which displays the targeted fluid's coordinates. "Looking at" row within the debug screen has been renamed to "Looking at block"."Targeted Block" information now targets through fluids. It displays information for blocks up to 16 blocks away.Added "Targeted Entity", which displays information for entities up to 16 blocks away.F3 + I[note 1] has been changed to now be ⇧ Shift + F3 + I. It is now clarified that it copies the client-side data of targeted block or entity. It still can be used by anyone.Added F3 + I to copy targeted block or entity server-side data to clipboard. It can be used only by operators. 1.13.118w30aAdded Ctrl + F3 + C to force a JVM crash, instead of a regular crash. 18w31aAdded new fields for the current dimension and the related force loaded chunks. 1.1418w43cPressing Alt + F3 now shows TPS (ticks per second). Added min/avg/max tick times to help find stutters. 1.14.1Pre-Release 1Pressing F3 + Esc now toggles pause without pause menu (if pausing is possible). Pressing F3 + N when in Survival or Adventure mode now changes the player into Creative mode, if cheats are enabled. 1.1519w38aThe chunk update counter has been removed from the debug screen. 1.15.2Pre-Release 1F3 + D no longer clears recently typed messages and commands from ↑ and ↓. 1.1620w18aThe "Looking at block" and "Looking at fluid" were integrated into "Targeted block" and "Targeted fluid" located on the right side of the debug screen. 20w20aAdded gamemode switcher accessible with F3 + F4. 1.1721w11aAdded F3 + L to generate Performance Metrics. 1.18.222w03aNow contains the chunk position in the region file, and the name of this region file that player is currently in, in the end of the "Chunk" row. Moved the location of the player within a chunk from "Chunk" row, into the new square brackets at the end of the "Block" row. 22w07aMerged the "Terrain" and "Multinoise" row into the "NoiseRouter" row. 1.1922w11aAdded estimated GPU utilization percentage to performance profiling metrics and F3 debug screen, available only for graphics devices that support GPU timer queries. Added "Blending" row, above the "Noise Router" row.The H for "humidity" has been changed for a V for "vegetation". 22w12aRemoved the F3 + F and F3 + ⇧ Shift + F hotkeys that change render distance. 22w16aAdded "Allocation Rate" row, which shows heap memory allocation rate. 1.19.11.19.1-rc1The "Blending" row now disappears when the chunk that the player is in uses the new method, instead of displaying "Blending: New". 1.19.4Pre-release 3Pressing F3 + S will now dump contents of dynamic textures (like atlases, maps, etc.) to screenshots/debug/. 1.2023w17aFont textures are included in debug texture dump (F3 + S). 1.20.223w31aF3 + B now shows the passenger's attachment point on the entity it's riding. Values in the SH row will now show up as question marks when playing on a server, instead of wrong values. 23w32aOpening it with CTRL + F3 will now show charts for ping and received network traffic. 23w33aThe debug charts can now be toggled with F3 + 1 (pie chart), F3 + 2 (FPS and TPS) and F3 + 3 (bandwidth and ping) instead of ⇧ Shift, Alt or Ctrl while opening the screen. | ||
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] | 2024-04-11T00:00:00 | In Alex Garland’s tough new movie, a group of journalists led by Kirsten Dunst, as a photographer, travels a United States at war with itself. | en | /vi-assets/static-assets/favicon-d2483f10ef688e6f89e23806b9700298.ico | https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/11/movies/civil-war-review.html | A blunt, gut-twisting work of speculative fiction, “Civil War” opens with the United States at war with itself — literally, not just rhetorically. In Washington, D.C., the president is holed up in the White House; in a spookily depopulated New York, desperate people wait for water rations. It’s the near-future, and rooftop snipers, suicide bombers and wild-eyed randos are in the fight while an opposition faction with a two-star flag called the Western Forces, comprising Texas and California — as I said, this is speculative fiction — is leading the charge against what remains of the federal government. If you’re feeling triggered, you aren’t alone.
It’s mourning again in America, and it’s mesmerizingly, horribly gripping. Filled with bullets, consuming fires and terrific actors like Kirsten Dunst running for cover, the movie is a what-if nightmare stoked by memories of Jan. 6. As in what if the visions of some rioters had been realized, what if the nation was again broken by Civil War, what if the democratic experiment called America had come undone? If that sounds harrowing, you’re right. It’s one thing when a movie taps into childish fears with monsters under the bed; you’re eager to see what happens because you know how it will end (until the sequel). Adult fears are another matter.
In “Civil War,” the British filmmaker Alex Garland explores the unbearable if not the unthinkable, something he likes to do. A pop cultural savant, he made a splashy zeitgeist-ready debut with his 1996 best seller “The Beach,” a novel about a paradise that proves deadly, an evergreen metaphor for life and the basis for a silly film. That things in the world are not what they seem, and are often far worse, is a theme that Garland has continued pursuing in other dark fantasies, first as a screenwriter (“28 Days Later”), and then as a writer-director (“Ex Machina”). His résumé is populated with zombies, clones and aliens, though reliably it is his outwardly ordinary characters you need to keep a closer watch on.
By the time “Civil War” opens, the fight has been raging for an undisclosed period yet long enough to have hollowed out cities and people’s faces alike. It’s unclear as to why the war started or who fired the first shot. Garland does scatter some hints; in one ugly scene, a militia type played by a jolting, scarily effective Jesse Plemons asks captives “what kind of American” they are. Yet whatever divisions preceded the conflict are left to your imagination, at least partly because Garland assumes you’ve been paying attention to recent events. Instead, he presents an outwardly and largely post-ideological landscape in which debates over policies, politics and American exceptionalism have been rendered moot by war. | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 23 | https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/what-is-a-mob-mentality | en | What Is Mob Mentality? | [
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] | 2021-04-02T10:39:00 | Mob mentality is when people adjust their personal views to fit the group theyâre in. Learn the signs, what causes it, and how to avoid the mob mentality. | en | WebMD | https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/what-is-a-mob-mentality | Mob mentality, herd mentality, pack mentality, groupthink, or crowd psychology â the concept has many names. These all boil down to the same idea: Individuals are influenced by a larger group. Regardless of whether that group includes people in your class, your neighborhood, or an entire nation, you may experience mob mentality.
In the 1950s, researchers conducted a famous conformity experiment that showed how readily people conform or change their behavior to match social norms. It involved:
A single participant was put in a room with seven undercover accomplices.
Asch presented the group with four lines, and the goal was to determine which two lines were the same length.
Even though the answer was obvious, the undercover accomplices purposefully gave an incorrect answer.
The real participant answered last.
The intent of the experiment was to see if the real participant would give a false answer â conforming with the accomplices â even if the correct answer was clear.
âThe results were surprising. About one-third of the real participants answered incorrectly. They conformed to the wrong answer given by the rest of the group.
Why did they do it? When the participants heard the incorrect answer, some started to believe the incorrect answer was actually correct. The participants conformed mainly because they wanted to fit in with the rest of the group and thought the rest of the group was more informed than they were.
Degrees of Mob Mentality
The Asch conformity experiments were artificially created scenarios that you probably wonât encounter in real life. However, you probably have regular chances to get caught up in mob mentality without realizing it.
Everyday mob mentality. Conforming to the group is rarely conscious or dramatic. In your everyday life, consider how often you go to specific places, watch specific shows, or eat certain foods because your friends do. This process makes decision-making easier and keeps you from standing out in a group.
Crowd behavior. Public groups and mobs are the most obvious examples of mob mentality. Whether gathering to grieve, protest, or cheer on a sports team, a crowd can quickly adopt a group mentality.
One of the dangers of mob mentalities is the type of influence it can have. According to research about mob mentality, a small population within the mob makes the informed decisions that other people conform to. The larger the group gets, the fewer informed members there are.
This situation can become dangerous. As a crowdâs perceptions and actions change and conform, an event can become violent. However, with organized leadership, a crowdâs beliefs can be informed and directed in a more appropriate way.
Causes
You might get caught up in mob mentality for a few reasons. If disagreeing with the group poses a risk, you are more likely to stay silent. That risk can be small, like getting dirty looks, or large, like being punished.
You probably wonât conform to a group you have nothing in common with. There are several situations you may find yourself in that may make you more open to mob mentality.
Your group is going through a stressful situation.
Group leadership is intimidating or overbearing.
The group has a tendency to agree on every decision.
There is no predetermined process for decision-making.
The group only interacts with itself.â | |||||
5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 38 | https://horrorigins.com/articles/night-bus-a-quirky-horrific-look-at-mob-mentality-sundance-animated-short-review | en | 'Night Bus': A Quirky & Horrific Look at Mob Mentality {Sundance Animated Short Review} | http://horrorigins.com/uploads/1/2/5/1/125183263/published/night-bus.jpg?1643040322 | http://horrorigins.com/uploads/1/2/5/1/125183263/published/night-bus.jpg?1643040322 | [
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] | null | [] | null | A roughly twenty minute short animation, Night Bus makes the most of it’s runtime with a few twists and a mix of violence, tragedy and humor. I’ll admit, I found parts horrific but in ways that evoked elements of black comedy. Animated with a bit of noir | en | //www.weebly.com/uploads/reseller/assets/140112208-favicon.ico | horrorigins.com | http://horrorigins.com/3/post/2022/01/night-bus-a-quirky-horrific-look-at-mob-mentality-sundance-animated-short-review.html | A roughly twenty minute short animation, Night Bus makes the most of it’s runtime with a few twists and a mix of violence, tragedy and humor. I’ll admit, I found parts horrific but in ways that evoked elements of black comedy. Animated with a bit of noir underneath the surface, we start the story with a maternal monkey caring for her offspring while looking up at the moon. As the humans are introduced, barely any are given names, writer and director Joe Hsieh wisely realizes that their clothes and actions show us more about who they are then a name ever could. He also isn’t afraid to use our presumptions against us.
[SLIGHT SPOILERS]
A handful of travelers get on a late bus when an ungrateful and snobby lady (Shu Fang Chen) announces that her necklace has been stolen. The obvious suspect is the lone man (Guo Gang-Sing) who sits alone hidden behind sunglasses, and my oh my, how quickly the situation escalates. Is it really our nature to treat a potential petty crime as a capital offense? The sad truth is that extreme events, however ridiculous or laughable, do seem to be occurring in more abundance.
As the supposed thief is attacked and tied up, I wondered what circumstances would change the situation. None of the characters appeared to have cell phones with which to record the event. Technology is limited and thus, it appears like no one is afraid of going too far in an evening that feels destined for tragedy. The first death occurs when the maternal monkey dies in front of the bus and the driver casually throws her carcass into the water.
The animation feels intentionally stilted, with the importance again being on what the characters do; not what lighting or facial details can be used. There are a few moments that stand out such as a wandering crab walking horizontally along the sand, becoming submerged by the water and then back above it as the waves recede. I have to commend Hsieh for following his themes through. Not overcomplicating the artwork has it’s benefits.
It would also be fair to assume that this is a broad look at how we treat nature. The bus driver describes the dead monkey as a “stupid animal,” as its child watches in horror. For him, the job is all that matters while the passengers are all focused on their own literal or hidden destinations. Death and violence are treated with more of a shrug than a woman losing some jewelry and miles from civilization, something seems to snap in the characters. I dare not reveal more about the plot as this is worth viewing. The sound design as blood and organs ooze is sickeningly cartoonish while the characters, not in typical cartoon manner, move slowly, awkwardly toward their fates. A disturbing thought to be sure.
Follow HorrOrigins on Social Media | ||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 62 | https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/10/new-puritans-mob-justice-canceled/619818/ | en | The New Puritans | [
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] | 2021-08-31T10:00:00+00:00 | Social codes are changing, in many ways for the better. But for those whose behavior doesn’t adapt fast enough to the new norms, judgment can be swift—and merciless. | en | https://cdn.theatlantic.com/_next/static/images/favicon-3888b0e329526a975703e3059a02b92d.ico | The Atlantic | https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/10/new-puritans-mob-justice-canceled/619818/ | “It was no great distance, in those days, from the prison-door to the market-place. Measured by the prisoner’s experience, however, it might be reckoned a journey of some length.”
So begins the tale of Hester Prynne, as recounted in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s most famous novel, The Scarlet Letter. As readers of this classic American text know, the story begins after Hester gives birth to a child out of wedlock and refuses to name the father. As a result, she is sentenced to be mocked by a jeering crowd, undergoing “an agony from every footstep of those that thronged to see her, as if her heart had been flung into the street for them all to spurn and trample upon.” After that, she must wear a scarlet A—for adulterer—pinned to her dress for the rest of her life. On the outskirts of Boston, she lives in exile. No one will socialize with her—not even those who have quietly committed similar sins, among them the father of her child, the saintly village preacher. The scarlet letter has “the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself.”
We read that story with a certain self-satisfaction: Such an old-fashioned tale! Even Hawthorne sneered at the Puritans, with their “sad-colored garments and grey steeple-crowned hats,” their strict conformism, their narrow minds and their hypocrisy. And today we are not just hip and modern; we live in a land governed by the rule of law; we have procedures designed to prevent the meting-out of unfair punishment. Scarlet letters are a thing of the past.
Except, of course, they aren’t. Right here in America, right now, it is possible to meet people who have lost everything—jobs, money, friends, colleagues—after violating no laws, and sometimes no workplace rules either. Instead, they have broken (or are accused of having broken) social codes having to do with race, sex, personal behavior, or even acceptable humor, which may not have existed five years ago or maybe five months ago. Some have made egregious errors of judgment. Some have done nothing at all. It is not always easy to tell.
Yet despite the disputed nature of these cases, it has become both easy and useful for some people to put them into larger narratives. Partisans, especially on the right, now toss around the phrase cancel culture when they want to defend themselves from criticism, however legitimate. But dig into the story of anyone who has been a genuine victim of modern mob justice and you will often find not an obvious argument between “woke” and “anti-woke” perspectives but rather incidents that are interpreted, described, or remembered by different people in different ways, even leaving aside whatever political or intellectual issue might be at stake.
There is a reason that the science reporter Donald McNeil, after being asked to resign from The New York Times, needed 21,000 words, published in four parts, to recount a series of conversations he had had with high-school students in Peru, during which he may or may not have said something racially offensive, depending on whose account you find most persuasive. There is a reason that Laura Kipnis, an academic at Northwestern, required an entire book, Unwanted Advances: Sexual Paranoia Comes to Campus, to recount the repercussions, including to herself, of two allegations of sexual harassment against one man at her university; after she referred to the case in an article about “sexual paranoia,” students demanded that the university investigate her, too. A full explanation of the personal, professional, and political nuances in both cases needed a lot of space.
There is a reason, too, that Hawthorne dedicated an entire novel to the complex motivations of Hester Prynne, her lover, and her husband. Nuance and ambiguity are essential to good fiction. They are also essential to the rule of law: We have courts, juries, judges, and witnesses precisely so that the state can learn whether a crime has been committed before it administers punishment. We have a presumption of innocence for the accused. We have a right to self-defense. We have a statute of limitations.
By contrast, the modern online public sphere, a place of rapid conclusions, rigid ideological prisms, and arguments of 280 characters, favors neither nuance nor ambiguity. Yet the values of that online sphere have come to dominate many American cultural institutions: universities, newspapers, foundations, museums. Heeding public demands for rapid retribution, they sometimes impose the equivalent of lifetime scarlet letters on people who have not been accused of anything remotely resembling a crime. Instead of courts, they use secretive bureaucracies. Instead of hearing evidence and witnesses, they make judgments behind closed doors.
I have been trying to understand these stories for a long time, both because I believe that the principle of due process underpins liberal democracy, and also because they remind me of other times and places. A decade ago, I wrote a book about the Sovietization of Central Europe in the 1940s, and found that much of the political conformism of the early Communist period was the result not of violence or direct state coercion, but rather of intense peer pressure. Even without a clear risk to their life, people felt obliged—not just for the sake of their career but for their children, their friends, their spouse—to repeat slogans that they didn’t believe, or to perform acts of public obeisance to a political party they privately scorned. In 1948, the famous Polish composer Andrzej Panufnik sent what he later described as some “rubbish” as his entry into a competition to write a “Song of the United Party”—because he thought if he refused to submit anything, the whole Union of Polish Composers might lose funding. To his eternal humiliation, he won. Lily Hajdú-Gimes, a celebrated Hungarian psychoanalyst of that era, diagnosed the trauma of forced conformity in patients, as well as in herself. “I play the game that is offered by the regime,” she told friends, “though as soon as you accept that rule you are in a trap.”
But you don’t even need Stalinism to create that kind of atmosphere. During a trip to Turkey earlier this year, I met a writer who showed me his latest manuscript, kept in a desk drawer. His work wasn’t illegal, exactly—it was just unpublishable. Turkish newspapers, magazines, and publishing houses are subject to unpredictable prosecutions and drastic sentences for speech or writing that can be arbitrarily construed as insulting the president or the Turkish nation. Fear of those sanctions leads to self-censorship and silence.
In America, of course, we don’t have that kind of state coercion. There are currently no laws that shape what academics or journalists can say; there is no government censor, no ruling-party censor. But fear of the internet mob, the office mob, or the peer-group mob is producing some similar outcomes. How many American manuscripts now remain in desk drawers—or unwritten altogether—because their authors fear a similarly arbitrary judgment? How much intellectual life is now stifled because of fear of what a poorly worded comment would look like if taken out of context and spread on Twitter?
To answer that question, I spoke with more than a dozen people who were either victims or close observers of sudden shifts in social codes in America. The purpose here is not to reinvestigate or relitigate any of their cases. Some of those I interviewed have behaved in ways that I, or readers of this article, may well consider ill-judged or immoral, even if they were not illegal. I am not here questioning all of the new social codes that have led to their dismissal or their effective isolation. Many of these social changes are clearly positive.
Still, no one quoted here, anonymously or by name, has been charged with an actual crime, let alone convicted in an actual court. All of them dispute the public version of their story. Several say they have been falsely accused; others believe that their “sins” have been exaggerated or misinterpreted by people with hidden agendas. All of them, sinners or saints, have been handed drastic, life-altering, indefinite punishments, often without the ability to make a case in their own favor. This—the convicting and sentencing without due process, or mercy—should profoundly bother Americans. In 1789, James Madison proposed that the U.S. Constitution ensure that “no person shall be … deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.” Both the Fifth and the Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution invoke due process. Nevertheless, these Americans have been effectively deprived of it.
Many of the people described here remain unavoidably anonymous in this essay. This is because they are involved in complicated legal or tenure battles and do not want to speak on the record, or because they fear another wave of social-media attacks. I have tried to describe their current situations—to explain what price they have paid, what kind of punishment they have been handed—without identifying those who did not want to be identified, and without naming their institutions. Necessarily, a lot of important details are therefore excluded. But for some, this is now the only way they dare to speak out at all.
Here is the first thing that happens once you have been accused of breaking a social code, when you find yourself at the center of a social-media storm because of something you said or purportedly said. The phone stops ringing. People stop talking to you. You become toxic. “I have in my department dozens of colleagues—I think I have spoken to zero of them in the past year,” one academic told me. “One of my colleagues I had lunch with at least once a week for more than a decade—he just refused to speak to me anymore, without asking questions.” Another reckoned that, of the 20-odd members in his department, “there are two, one of whom has no power and another of whom is about to retire, who will now speak to me.”
A journalist told me that after he was summarily fired, his acquaintances sorted themselves into three groups. First, the “heroes,” very small in number, who “insist on due process before damaging another person’s life and who stick by their friends.” Second, the “villains,” who think you should “immediately lose your livelihood as soon as the allegation is made.” Some old friends, or people he thought were old friends, even joined the public attack. But the majority were in a third category: “good but useless. They don’t necessarily think the worst of you, and they would like you to get due process, but, you know, they haven’t looked into it. They have reasons to think charitably of you, maybe, but they’re too busy to help. Or they have too much to lose.” One friend told him that she would happily write a defense of him, but she had a book proposal in the works. “I said, ‘Thank you for your candor.’ ”
Most people drift away because life moves on; others do so because they are afraid that those unproven allegations might imply something far worse. One professor who has not been accused of any physical contact with anybody was astonished to discover that some of his colleagues assumed that if his university was disciplining him, he must be a rapist. Another person suspended from his job put it this way: “Someone who knows me, but maybe doesn’t know my soul or character, may be saying to themselves that prudence would dictate they keep their distance, lest they become collateral damage.”
Here is the second thing that happens, closely related to the first: Even if you have not been suspended, punished, or found guilty of anything, you cannot function in your profession. If you are a professor, no one wants you as a teacher or mentor (“The graduate students made it obvious to me that I was a nonperson and could not possibly be tolerated”). You cannot publish in professional journals. You cannot quit your job, because no one else will hire you. If you are a journalist, then you might find that you cannot publish at all. After losing his job as editor of The New York Review of Books in a #MeToo-related editorial dispute—he was not accused of assault, just of printing an article by someone who was—Ian Buruma discovered that several of the magazines where he had been writing for three decades would not publish him any longer. One editor said something about “younger staff” at his magazine. Although a group of more than 100 New York Review of Books contributors—among them Joyce Carol Oates, Ian McEwan, Ariel Dorfman, Caryl Phillips, Alfred Brendel (and me)—had signed a public letter in Buruma’s defense, this editor evidently feared his colleagues more than he did Joyce Carol Oates.
For many, intellectual and professional life grinds to a halt. “I was doing the best work in my life when I heard of this investigation happening,” one academic told me. “It all stopped. I have not written another paper since.” Peter Ludlow, a philosophy professor at Northwestern (and the subject of Laura Kipnis’s book), lost two book contracts after the university forced him out of his job for two alleged instances of sexual harassment, which he denies. Other philosophers would not allow their articles to appear in the same volume as one of his. After Daniel Elder, a prizewinning composer (and a political liberal) posted a statement on Instagram condemning arson in his hometown of Nashville, where Black Lives Matter protesters had set the courthouse on fire after the killing of George Floyd, he discovered that his publisher would not print his music and choirs would not sing it. After the poet Joseph Massey was accused of “harassment and manipulation” by women he’d been romantically involved with, the Academy of American Poets removed all of his poetry from its website, and his publishers removed his books from theirs. Stephen Elliott, a journalist and critic who was accused of rape on the anonymous “Shitty Media Men” list that circulated on the internet at the height of the #MeToo conversation—he is now suing that list’s creator for defamation—has written that, in the aftermath, a published collection of his essays vanished without a trace: Reviews were canceled; The Paris Review aborted a planned interview with him; he was disinvited from book panels, readings, and other events.
For some people, this can result in a catastrophic loss of income. Ludlow moved to Mexico, because he could live more cheaply there. For others, it can create a kind of identity crisis. After describing the various jobs he had held in the months since being suspended from his teaching job, one of the academics I interviewed seemed to choke up. “I am really only good at one thing,” he told me, pointing at mathematical formulas on a blackboard behind him: “this.”
Sometimes advocates of the new mob justice claim that these are minor punishments, that the loss of a job is not serious, that people should be able to accept their situation and move on. But isolation plus public shaming plus loss of income are severe sanctions for adults, with long-term personal and psychological repercussions—especially because the “sentences” in these cases are of indeterminate length. Elliott contemplated suicide, and has written that “every first-hand account I’ve read of public shaming—and I’ve read more than my share—includes thoughts of suicide.” Massey did too: “I had a plan and the means to execute it; I then had a panic attack and took a cab to the ER.” David Bucci, the former chair of the Dartmouth brain-sciences department, who was named in a lawsuit against the college though he was not accused of any sexual misconduct, did kill himself after he realized he might never be able to restore his reputation.
Others have changed their attitudes toward their professions. “I wake up every morning afraid to teach,” one academic told me: The university campus that he once loved has become a hazardous jungle, full of traps. Nicholas Christakis, the Yale professor of medicine and sociology who was at the center of a campus and social-media storm in 2015, is also an expert on the functioning of human social groups. He reminded me that ostracism “was considered an enormous sanction in ancient times—to be cast out of your group was deadly.” It is unsurprising, he said, that people in these situations would consider suicide.
The third thing that happens is that you try to apologize, whether or not you have done anything wrong. Robert George, a Princeton philosopher who has acted as a faculty advocate for students and professors who have fallen into legal or administrative difficulties, describes the phenomenon like this: “They have been popular and successful their whole lives; that’s how they climbed the ladder to their academic positions, at least in places like the one I teach. And then suddenly there is this terrible feeling of Everybody hates me … So what do they do? More often than not, they just cave in.” One of the people I spoke with was asked to apologize for an offense that broke no existing rules. “I said, ‘What am I apologizing for?’ And they said, ‘Well, their feelings were hurt.’ So I crafted my apology around that: ‘If I did say something that upset you, I didn’t anticipate that would happen.’ ” The apology was initially accepted, but his problems didn’t end.
This is typical: More often than not, apologies will be parsed, examined for “sincerity”—and then rejected. Howard Bauchner, the editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, apologized for something he’d had nothing directly to do with, after one of his colleagues made controversial comments on a podcast and on Twitter about whether communities of color were held back more by “structural racism” or by socioeconomic factors. “I remain profoundly disappointed in myself for the lapses that led to the publishing of the tweet and podcast,” Bauchner wrote. “Although I did not write or even see the tweet, or create the podcast, as editor in chief, I am ultimately responsible for them.” He wound up resigning. But this, too, is now typical: Because apologies have become ritualized, they invariably seem insincere. Websites now offer “sample templates” for people who need to apologize; some universities offer advice on how to apologize to students and employees, and even include lists of good words to use (mistake, misunderstand, misinterpret).
Not that everyone really wants an apology. One former journalist told me that his ex-colleagues “don’t want to endorse the process of mistake/apology/understanding/forgiveness—they don’t want to forgive.” Instead, he said, they want “to punish and purify.” But the knowledge that whatever you say will never be enough is debilitating. “If you make an apology and you know in advance that your apology will not be accepted—that it is going to be considered a move in a psychological or cultural or political game—then the integrity of your introspection is being mocked and you feel permanently marooned in a world of unforgivingness,” one person told me. “And that is a truly unethical world.” Elder’s music publishers asked him to make a groveling apology—they even went so far as to write it for him—but he refused.
Even after the apology is made, a fourth thing happens: People begin to investigate you. One person I spoke with told me he believed he was investigated because his employer didn’t want to offer severance compensation and needed extra reasons to justify his termination. Another thought an investigation of him was launched because firing him for an argument over language would have violated the union contract. Long careers almost always include episodes of disagreement or ambiguity. Was that time he hugged a colleague in consolation really something else? Was her joke really a joke, or something worse? Nobody is perfect; nobody is pure; and once people set out to interpret ambiguous incidents in a particular way, it’s not hard to find new evidence.
Sometimes investigations take place because someone in the community feels that you haven’t paid a high enough price for whatever it is you have done or said. Last year Joshua Katz, a popular Princeton classics professor, wrote an article critical of a letter published by a group of Princeton faculty on race. In response The Daily Princetonian, a student newspaper, spent seven months investigating his past relationships with students, eventually convincing university officials to relitigate incidents from years earlier that had already been adjudicated—a classic breach of James Madison’s belief that no one should be punished for the same thing twice. The Daily Princetonian investigation looks more like an attempt to ostracize a professor guilty of wrong-think than an attempt to bring resolution to a case of alleged misbehavior.
Mike Pesca, a podcaster for Slate, got into a debate with his colleagues on his company’s internal Slack message board about whether it is acceptable to pronounce a racial slur out loud when reporting on the use of a racial slur—an action that, he says, was not against any company rules at the time. After a meeting of the editorial staff held soon afterward to discuss the incident—to which Pesca himself was not invited—the company launched an investigation to find out whether there were other things he might have done wrong. (According to a statement by a Slate spokesperson, the investigation was prompted by more than just “an isolated abstract argument in a Slack channel.”) Amy Chua, the Yale Law professor and author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, told me she believes that investigations into her relationships with students were sparked by her personal connections to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Many of these investigations involve anonymous reports or complaints, some of which can come as a total surprise to those being reported upon. By definition, social-media mobs involve anonymous accounts that amplify unverified stories with “likes” and shares. The “Shitty Media Men” list was an anonymous collection of unverified accusations that became public. Procedures at many universities actually mandate anonymity in the early stages of an investigation. Sometimes even the accused isn’t given any of the details. Chua’s husband, the Yale Law professor Jed Rubenfeld, who was suspended from teaching due to sexual-harassment allegations (which he denies), says he did not know the names of his accusers or the nature of the accusations against him for a year and a half.
Kipnis, who was accused of sexual misconduct because she wrote about sexual harassment, was not initially allowed to know who her accusers were either, nor would anyone explain the rules governing her case. Nor, for that matter, were the rules clear to the people applying them, because, as she wrote in Unwanted Advances, “there’s no established or nationally uniform set of procedures.” On top of all that, Kipnis was supposed to keep the whole thing confidential: “I’d been plunged into an underground world of secret tribunals and capricious, medieval rules, and I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone about it,’’ she wrote. This chimes with the story of another academic, who told me that his university “never even talked to me before it decided to actually punish me. They read the reports from the investigators, but they never brought me in a room, they never called me on the phone, so that I could say anything about my side of the story. And they openly told me that I was being punished based on allegations. Just because they didn’t find evidence of it, they told me, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”
Secretive procedures that take place outside the law and leave the accused feeling helpless and isolated have been an element of control in authoritarian regimes across the centuries, from the Argentine junta to Franco’s Spain. Stalin created “troikas”—ad hoc, extrajudicial bodies that heard dozens of cases in a day. During China’s Cultural Revolution, Mao empowered students to create revolutionary committees to attack and swiftly remove professors. In both instances, people used these unregulated forms of “justice” to pursue personal grudges or gain professional advantage. In The Whisperers, his book on Stalinist culture, the historian Orlando Figes cites many such cases, among them Nikolai Sakharov, who wound up in prison because somebody fancied his wife; Ivan Malygin, who was denounced by somebody jealous of his success; and Lipa Kaplan, sent to a labor camp for 10 years after she refused the sexual advances of her boss. The sociologist Andrew Walder has revealed how the Cultural Revolution in Beijing was shaped by power competitions between rival student leaders.
This pattern is now repeating itself in the U.S. Many of those I spoke with told complicated stories about the ways in which anonymous procedures had been used by people who disliked them, felt competitive with them, or held some kind of personal or professional grudge. One described an intellectual rivalry with a university administrator, dating back to graduate school—the same administrator who had played a role in having him suspended. Another attributed a series of problems to a former student, now a colleague, who had long seen him as a rival. A third thought that one of his colleagues resented having to work with him and would have preferred a different job. A fourth reckoned that he had underestimated the professional frustrations of younger colleagues who felt stifled by his organization’s hierarchies. All of them believe that personal grudges help explain why they were singled out.
The motivations could be even more petty than that. The writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie recently described how two younger writers she had befriended attacked her on social media, partly, she wrote, because they are “seeking attention and publicity to benefit themselves.” Once it becomes clear that attention and praise can be garnered from organizing an attack on someone’s reputation, plenty of people discover that they have an interest in doing so.
America remains a safe distance from Mao’s China or Stalin’s Russia. Neither our secretive university committees nor the social-media mobs are backed by authoritarian regimes threatening violence. Despite the right-wing rhetoric that says otherwise, these procedures are not being driven by a “unified left” (there is no “unified left”), or by a unified movement of any kind, let alone by the government. It’s true that some of the university sexual-harassment cases have been shaped by Department of Education Title IX regulations that are shockingly vague, and that can be interpreted in draconian ways. But the administrators who carry out these investigations and disciplinary procedures, whether they work at universities or in the HR departments of magazines, are not doing so because they fear the Gulag. Many pursue them because they believe they are making their institutions better—they are creating a more harmonious workplace, advancing the causes of racial or sexual equality, keeping students safe. Some want to protect their institution’s reputation. Invariably, some want to protect their own reputation. At least two of the people I interviewed believe that they were punished because a white, male boss felt he had to publicly sacrifice another white man in order to protect his own position.
But what gives anyone the conviction that such a measure is necessary? Or that “keeping students safe” means you must violate due process? It is not the law. Nor, strictly speaking, is it politics. Although some have tried to link this social transformation to President Joe Biden or House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, anyone who tries to shoehorn these stories into a right-left political framework has to explain why so few of the victims of this shift can be described as “right wing” or conservative. According to one recent poll, 62 percent of Americans, including a majority of self-described moderates and liberals, are afraid to speak their mind about politics. All of those I spoke with are centrist or center-left liberals. Some have unconventional political views, but some have no strong views at all.
Certainly nothing in the academic texts of critical race theory mandates this behavior. The original critical race theorists argued for the use of a new lens to interpret the past and the present. You can dispute whether or not that lens is useful, or whether you want to look through it at all—but you can’t blame critical-race-theory authors for, say, Yale Law School’s frivolous decision to investigate whether or not Amy Chua gave a dinner party at her house during the pandemic, or for the array of university presidents who have refused to stand by their own faculty members when they are attacked by students.
The censoriousness, the shunning, the ritualized apologies, the public sacrifices—these are rather typical behaviors in illiberal societies with rigid cultural codes, enforced by heavy peer pressure. This is a story of moral panic, of cultural institutions policing or purifying themselves in the face of disapproving crowds. The crowds are no longer literal, as they once were in Salem, but rather online mobs, organized via Twitter, Facebook, or sometimes internal company Slack channels. After Alexi McCammond was named editor in chief of Teen Vogue, people discovered and recirculated on Instagram old anti-Asian and homophobic tweets she had written a decade earlier, while still a teenager. McCammond apologized, of course, but that wasn’t enough, and she was compelled to quit the job before starting. She’s had a softer landing than some—she was able to return to her previous work as a political reporter at Axios—but the incident reveals that no one is safe. She was a 27-year-old woman of color who had been named the “Emerging Journalist of the Year” by the National Association of Black Journalists, and yet her teenage self came back to haunt her. You would think it would be a good thing for the young readers of Teen Vogue to learn forgiveness and mercy, but for the New Puritans, there is no statute of limitations.
This censoriousness is related not just to recent, and often positive, changes in attitudes toward race and gender, and to accompanying changes in the language used to discuss them, but to other social changes that are more rarely acknowledged. While most of those who lose their positions are not “guilty” in any legal sense, neither have they been shunned at random. Just as odd old women were once subject to accusations of witchery, so too are certain types of people now more likely to fall victim to modern mob justice. To begin with, the protagonists of most of these stories tend to be successful. Though not billionaires or captains of industry, they’ve managed to become editors, professors, published authors, or even just students at competitive universities. Some are unusually social, even hyper-gregarious: They were professors who liked to chat or drink with their students, bosses who went out to lunch with their staff, people who blurred the lines between social life and institutional life.
“If you ask anyone for a list of the best teachers, best citizens, most responsible people, I would be on every one of those lists,” one now-disgraced faculty member told me. Amy Chua had been appointed to numerous powerful committees at Yale Law School, including one that helped prepare students for clerkships. This was, she says, because she succeeded in getting students, especially minority students, good clerkships. “I do extra work; I get to know them,” she told me. “I write extra-good recommendations.” Many highly social people who are good at committees also tend to gossip, to tell stories about their colleagues. Some, both male and female, might also be described as flirtatious, enjoying wordplay and jokes that go right to the edge of what is considered acceptable.
Which is precisely what got some of these people into trouble, because the definition of acceptable has radically changed in the past few years. Once it was not just okay but admirable that Chua and Rubenfeld had law-school students over to their house for gatherings. That moment has passed. So, too, has the time when a student could discuss her personal problems with her professor, or when an employee could gossip with his employer. Conversations between people who have different statuses—employer-employee, professor-student—can now focus only on professional matters, or strictly neutral topics. Anything sexual, even in an academic context—for example, a conversation about the laws of rape—is now risky. The Harvard Law School professor Jeannie Suk Gersen has written that her students “seem more anxious about classroom discussion, and about approaching the law of sexual violence in particular, than they have ever been in my eight years as a law professor.” Akhil Reed Amar, a professor at Yale, told me that he no longer mentions a particular historical incident that he once used in his teaching, because it would force his students to read a case study that revolves around the use of a racial slur.
Social rules have changed too. Professors used to date and even marry their students. Colleagues used to drink together after work, and sometimes go home together. Today that can be dangerous. An academic friend told me that in his graduate school, people who are close to getting their doctorate are wary about dating people just beginning their studies, because the unwritten rules now dictate that you don’t date colleagues, especially if there could be any kind of (real or imagined) power differential between you and the person you are dating. This cultural shift is in many ways healthy: Young people are now much better protected from predatory bosses. But it has costs. When jokes and flirtation are completely off-limits, some of the spontaneity of office life disappears too.
It’s not just the hyper-social and the flirtatious who have found themselves victims of the New Puritanism. People who are, for lack of a more precise word, difficult have trouble too. They are haughty, impatient, confrontational, or insufficiently interested in people whom they perceive to be less talented. Others are high achievers, who in turn set high standards for their colleagues or students. When those high standards are not met, these people say so, and that doesn’t go over well. Some of them like to push boundaries, especially intellectual boundaries, or to question orthodoxies. When people disagree with them, they argue back with relish.
That kind of behavior, once accepted or at least tolerated in many workplaces, is also now out of bounds. Workplaces once considered demanding are now described as toxic. The sort of open criticism, voiced in front of other people, that was once normal in newsrooms and academic seminars is now as unacceptable as chewing with your mouth open. The non-sunny disposition, the less-than-friendly manner—these can now be grounds for punishment or ostracism too. A relevant criticism of Donald McNeil turned out to be that he was “kind of a grumpy old guy,” as one student on that trip to Peru described him.
What many of these people—the difficult ones, the gossipy ones, the overly gregarious ones—have in common is that they make people uncomfortable. Here, too, a profound generational shift has transpired. “I think people’s tolerance for discomfort—people’s tolerance for dissonance, for not hearing exactly what they want to hear—has now gone down to zero,” one person told me. “Discomfort used to be a term of praise about pedagogy—I mean, the greatest discomforter of all was Socrates.”
It’s not wrong to want a more comfortable workplace, or fewer grumpy colleagues. The difficulty is that the feeling of discomfort is subjective. One person’s lighthearted compliment is another person’s microaggression. One person’s critical remark can be experienced by another person as racist or sexist. Jokes, wordplay, and anything that can have two meanings are, by definition, open to interpretation.
But even though discomfort is subjective, it is also now understood as something that can be cured. Someone who has been made uncomfortable now has multiple paths through which to demand redress. This has given rise to a new facet of life in universities, nonprofits, and corporate offices: the committees, HR departments, and Title IX administrators who have been appointed precisely to hear these kinds of complaints. Anyone who feels discomfort now has a place to go, someone to talk to.
Some of this is, I repeat, positive: Employees or students who feel they have been treated unfairly no longer have to flounder alone. But that comes at a cost. Anyone who accidentally creates discomfort—whether through their teaching methods, their editorial standards, their opinions, or their personality—may suddenly find themselves on the wrong side of not just a student or a colleague but an entire bureaucracy, one dedicated to weeding out people who make other people uncomfortable. And these bureaucracies are illiberal. They do not necessarily follow rules of fact-based investigation, rational argument, or due process. Instead, the formal and informal administrative bodies that judge the fate of people who have broken social codes are very much part of a swirling, emotive public conversation, one governed not by the rules of the courtroom or logic or the Enlightenment but by social-media algorithms that encourage anger and emotion, and by the economy of likes and shares that pushes people to feel—and to perform—outrage. The interaction between the angry mob and the illiberal bureaucracy engenders a thirst for blood, for sacrifices to be offered up to the pious and unforgiving gods of outrage—a story we see in other eras of history, from the Inquisition to the more recent past.
Twitter, the president of one major cultural institution told me, “is the new public sphere.” Yet Twitter is unforgiving, it is relentless, it doesn’t check facts or provide context. Worse, like the elders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony who would not forgive Hester Prynne, the internet keeps track of past deeds, ensuring that no error, no mistake, no misspoken sentence or clumsy metaphor is ever lost. “It’s not that everybody’s famous for 15 minutes,” Tamar Gendler, the dean of the faculty of arts and sciences at Yale, told me. “It’s that everybody gets damned for 15 seconds.” And if you have the misfortune to have the worst 15 seconds of your life shared with the world, there is nothing to guarantee that anybody will weigh that single, badly worded comment against all the other things you have done in your career. Incidents “lose their nuance,” one university official told me. “So then what you get is all kinds of people with prearranged views, and they come in and use the incident to mean one thing or another.”
It can happen very fast. In March, Sandra Sellers, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, was caught on camera speaking to another professor about some underperforming Black students in her class. There is no way to know from the recording alone whether her comments represented racist bias or genuine concern for her students. Not that it mattered to Georgetown—she was fired within days of the recording’s becoming public. Nor could one know what David Batson, the colleague she was talking to on the recording, really thought either. Nevertheless, he was placed on administrative leave because he seemed, vaguely, to be politely agreeing with her. He quickly resigned.
That conversation was captured inadvertently, but future revelations might not be. This spring, Braden Ellis, a student at Cypress College in California, shared a class Zoom recording of his professor’s response when Ellis defended portrayals of police as heroes. Ellis said he did this in order to expose a purported bias against conservative viewpoints on campus. Even though the recording by itself does not prove the existence of long-standing bias, the professor—a Muslim woman who said on the recording that she did not trust the police—became the focus of a Fox News segment, a social-media storm, and death threats. So did other professors at the college. So did administrators. After a few days, the professor was removed from her teaching assignments, pending investigation.
In this incident, the storm came from the right, as it surely will in the future: The tools of social-media mob justice are available to partisans of all kinds. In May, a young reporter, Emily Wilder, was fired from her new job at the Associated Press in Arizona after a series of conservative publications and politicians publicized Facebook posts critical of Israel that she had written while in college. Like so many before her, she was not told precisely why she was fired, or which company rules her old posts had violated.
Some have used Wilder’s case to argue that the conservative criticism of “cancel culture” has always been fraudulent. But the real, and nonpartisan, lesson is this: No one—of any age, in any profession—is safe. In the age of Zoom, cellphone cameras, miniature recorders, and other forms of cheap surveillance technology, anyone’s comments can be taken out of context; anyone’s story can become a rallying cry for Twitter mobs on the left or the right. Anyone can then fall victim to a bureaucracy terrified by the sudden eruption of anger. And once one set of people loses the right to due process, so does everybody else. Not just professors but students; not just editors of elite publications but random members of the public. Gotcha moments can be choreographed. Project Veritas, a well-funded right-wing organization, dedicates itself to sting operations: It baits people into saying embarrassing things on hidden cameras and then seeks to get them punished for it, either by social media or by their own bureaucracies.
But while this form of mob justice can be used opportunistically by anyone, for any political or personal reason, the institutions that have done the most to facilitate this change are in many cases those that once saw themselves as the guardians of liberal and democratic ideals. Robert George, the Princeton professor, is a longtime philosophical conservative who once criticized liberal scholars for their earnest relativism, their belief that all ideas deserved an equal hearing. He did not foresee, he told me, that liberals would one day “seem as archaic as the conservatives,” that the idea of creating a space where different ideas could compete would come to seem old-fashioned, that the spirit of tolerance and curiosity would be replaced by a worldview “that is not open-minded, that doesn’t think engaging differences is a great thing or that students should be exposed to competing points of view.”
But that kind of thought system is not new in America. In the 19th century, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel argued for the replacement of exactly that kind of rigidity with a worldview that valued ambiguity, nuance, tolerance of difference—the liberal worldview—and that would forgive Hester Prynne for her mistakes. The liberal philosopher John Stuart Mill, writing at about the same time as Hawthorne, made a similar argument. Much of his most famous book, On Liberty, is dedicated not to governmental restraints on human liberty but to the threat posed by social conformism, by “the demand that all other people shall resemble ourselves.” Alexis de Tocqueville wrote about this problem, too. It was a serious challenge in 19th-century America, and is again in the 21st century.
Students and professors, editorial assistants and editors in chief—all are aware of what kind of society they now inhabit. That’s why they censor themselves, why they steer clear of certain topics, why they avoid discussing anything too sensitive for fear of being mobbed or ostracized or fired without due process. But that kind of thinking takes us uncomfortably close to Istanbul, where history and politics can be discussed only with great care.
Many people have told me they want to change this atmosphere, but don’t know how. Some hope to ride it out, to wait for this moral panic to pass, or for an even younger generation to rebel against it. Some worry about the costs of engagement. One person who was the focus of a negative social-media campaign told me that he doesn’t want this set of issues to dominate his life and his career; he cited other people who have become so obsessed with battling “wokeness” or “cancel culture” that they now do nothing else.
Others have decided to be vocal. Stephen Elliott wrestled for a long time with whether or not to describe what it feels like to be wrongly accused of rape—he wrote something and abandoned it because “I decided that I wouldn’t be able to handle the blowback”—before finally describing his experiences in a published essay. Amy Chua ignored advice to remain silent and instead has talked as much as possible. Robert George has created the Academic Freedom Alliance, a group that intends to offer moral and legal support to professors who are under fire, and even to pay for their legal teams if necessary. George was inspired, he told me, by a nature program that showed how elephant packs will defend every member of the herd against a marauding lion, whereas zebras run away and let the weakest get killed off. “The trouble with us academics is we’re a bunch of zebras,” he said. “We need to become elephants.” John McWhorter, a Columbia linguistics professor (and Atlantic contributing writer) who has strong and not always popular views about race, told me that if you are accused of something unfairly, you should always push back, firmly but politely: “Just say, ‘No, I’m not a racist. And I disagree with you.’ ” If more leaders—university presidents, magazine and newspaper publishers, CEOs of foundations and companies, directors of musical societies—took that position, maybe it would be easier for more of their peers to stand up to their students, their colleagues, or an online mob.
The alternative, for our cultural institutions and for democratic discourse, is grim. Foundations will do secret background checks on their potential grantees, to make sure they haven’t committed crimes-that-are-not-crimes that could be embarrassing in the future. Anonymous reports and Twitter mobs, not the reasoned judgments of peers, will shape the fate of individuals. Writers and journalists will fear publication. Universities will no longer be dedicated to the creation and dissemination of knowledge but to the promotion of student comfort and the avoidance of social-media attacks.
Worse, if we drive all of the difficult people, the demanding people, and the eccentric people away from the creative professions where they used to thrive, we will become a flatter, duller, less interesting society, a place where manuscripts sit in drawers for fear of arbitrary judgments. The arts, the humanities, and the media will become stiff, predictable, and mediocre. Democratic principles like the rule of law, the right to self-defense, the right to a just trial—even the right to be forgiven—will wither. There will be nothing to do but sit back and wait for the Hawthornes of the future to expose us. | ||||
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This article is about the social activity. For other uses, see Flash mob (disambiguation).
A flash mob (or flashmob)[1] is a group of people that assembles suddenly in a public place, performs for a brief time, then quickly disperses, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, and/or artistic expression.[2][3][4] Flash mobs may be organized via telecommunications, social media, or viral emails.[5][6][7][8][9]
The term, coined in 2003, is generally not applied to events and performances organized for the purposes of politics (such as protests), commercial advertisement, publicity stunts that involve public relation firms, or paid professionals.[7][10][11] In these cases of a planned purpose for the social activity in question, the term smart mobs is often applied instead.
The term "flash rob" or "flash mob robberies", a reference to the way flash mobs assemble, has been used to describe a number of robberies and assaults perpetrated suddenly by groups of teenage youth.[12][13][14] Bill Wasik, originator of the first flash mobs, and a number of other commentators have questioned or objected to the usage of "flash mob" to describe criminal acts.[14][15] Flash mob has also been featured in some Hollywood movie series, such as Step Up.[16]
History
[edit]
First flash mob
[edit]
The first flash mobs were created in Manhattan in 2003, by Bill Wasik, senior editor of Harper's Magazine.[7][9][17] The first attempt was unsuccessful after the targeted retail store was tipped off about the plan for people to gather.[18] Wasik avoided such problems during the first successful flash mob, which occurred on June 17, 2003, at Macy's department store, by sending participants to preliminary staging areas—in four Manhattan bars—where they received further instructions about the ultimate event and location just before the event began.[19]
More than 130 people converged upon the ninth-floor rug department of the store, gathering around an expensive rug. Anyone approached by a sales assistant was advised to say that the gatherers lived together in a warehouse on the outskirts of New York, that they were shopping for a "love rug", and that they made all their purchase decisions as a group.[20] Subsequently, 200 people flooded the lobby and mezzanine of the Hyatt hotel in synchronized applause for about 15 seconds, and a shoe boutique in SoHo was invaded by participants pretending to be tourists on a bus trip.[9]
Wasik claimed that he created flash mobs as a social experiment designed to poke fun at hippies and to highlight the cultural atmosphere of conformity and of wanting to be an insider or part of "the next big thing".[9] The Vancouver Sun wrote, "It may have backfired on him ... [Wasik] may instead have ended up giving conformity a vehicle that allowed it to appear nonconforming."[21] In another interview he said "the mobs started as a kind of playful social experiment meant to encourage spontaneity and big gatherings to temporarily take over commercial and public areas simply to show that they could".[22]
Precedents and precursors
[edit]
In 19th-century Tasmania, the term flash mob was used to describe a subculture consisting of female prisoners, based on the term flash language for the jargon that these women used. The 19th-century Australian term flash mob referred to a segment of society, not an event, and showed no other similarities to the modern term flash mob or the events it describes.[23]
In 1973, the story "Flash Crowd" by Larry Niven described a concept similar to flash mobs.[24] With the invention of popular and very inexpensive teleportation, an argument at a shopping mall—which happens to be covered by a news crew—quickly swells into a riot. In the story, broadcast coverage attracts the attention of other people, who use the widely available technology of the teleportation booth to swarm first that event—thus intensifying the riot—and then other events as they happen. Commenting on the social impact of such mobs, one character (articulating the police view) says, "We call them flash crowds, and we watch for them." In related short stories, they are named as a prime location for illegal activities (such as pickpocketing and looting) to take place. Lev Grossman suggests that the story title is a source of the term "flash mob".[25]
Flash mobs began as a form of performance art.[18] While they started as an apolitical act, flash mobs may share superficial similarities to political demonstrations. In the 1960s, groups such as the Yippies used street theatre to expose the public to political issues.[26] Flash mobs can be seen as a specialized form of smart mob,[7] a term and concept proposed by author Howard Rheingold in his 2002 book Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution.[27]
Use of the term
[edit]
The first documented use of the term flash mob as it is understood today was in 2003 in a blog entry posted in the aftermath of Wasik's event.[17][19][28] The term was inspired by the earlier term smart mob.[29]
Flash mob was added to the 11th edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary on July 8, 2004, where it noted it as an "unusual and pointless act" separating it from other forms of smart mobs such as types of performance, protests, and other gatherings.[3][30] Also recognized noun derivatives are flash mobber and flash mobbing.[3] Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English defines flash mob as "a group of people who organize on the Internet and then quickly assemble in a public place, do something bizarre, and disperse."[31] This definition is consistent with the original use of the term; however, both news media and promoters have subsequently used the term to refer to any form of smart mob, including political protests;[32] a collaborative Internet denial of service attack;[33] a collaborative supercomputing demonstration;[34] and promotional appearances by pop musicians.[35] The press has also used the term flash mob to refer to a practice in China where groups of shoppers arrange online to meet at a store in order to drive a collective bargain.[36]
Legality
[edit]
The city of Braunschweig (Brunswick), Germany, has stopped flash mobs by strictly enforcing the already existing law of requiring a permit to use any public space for an event.[37] In the United Kingdom, a number of flash mobs have been stopped over concerns for public health and safety.[38] The British Transport Police have urged flash mob organizers to "refrain from holding such events at railway stations".[39]
Crime
[edit]
Main article: Flash rob
Referred to as flash robs, flash mob robberies, or flash robberies by the media, crimes organized by teenage youth using social media rose to international notoriety beginning in 2011.[12][13][14][40] The National Retail Federation does not classify these crimes as "flash mobs" but rather "multiple offender crimes" that utilize "flash mob tactics".[41][42] In a report, the NRF noted, "multiple offender crimes tend to involve groups or gangs of juveniles who already know each other, which does not earn them the term 'flash mob'."[42] Mark Leary, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, said that most "flash mob thuggery" involves crimes of violence that are otherwise ordinary, but are perpetrated suddenly by large, organized groups of people: "What social media adds is the ability to recruit such a large group of people, that individuals who would not rob a store or riot on their own feel freer to misbehave without being identified."[43]
It's hard for me to believe that these kids saw some YouTube video of people Christmas caroling in a food court, and said, 'Hey, we should do that, except as a robbery!' More likely, they stumbled on the simple realization (like I did back in 2003, but like lots of other people had before and have since) that one consequence of all this technology is that you can coordinate a ton of people to show up in the same place at the same time.
— Bill Wasik[44]
These kids are taking part in what's basically a meme. They heard about it from friends, and probably saw it on YouTube, and now they're getting their chance to participate in it themselves.
— Bill Wasik[14]
HuffPost raised the question asking if "the media was responsible for stirring things up", and added that in some cases the local authorities did not confirm the use of social media making the "use of the term flash mob questionable".[15] Amanda Walgrove wrote that criminals involved in such activities do not refer to themselves as "flash mobs", but that this use of the term is nonetheless appropriate.[44] Dr. Linda Kiltz drew similar parallels between flash robs and the Occupy Movement stating, "As the use of social media increases, the potential for more flash mobs that are used for political protest and for criminal purposes is likely to increase.".[45]
See also
[edit]
Critical mass (sociodynamics)
Crowd manipulation
Happening
Improv Everywhere
Zap (action)
Flash Crowd, a similar fictional concept by Larry Niven used as a plot device in several his stories
References
[edit]
Further reading
[edit]
Agar, Jon (2003). Constant Touch: A Global History of the Mobile Phone. Cambridge: Icon. ISBN 9781840464191. OCLC 633650620.
"Smart mob storms London". BBC News. August 8, 2003 .
Carey, James (1989). Communication as Culture: Essays on Media and Society. New York: Unwin Hyman. ISBN 9780044450641. OCLC 863091901.
Dickey, Christopher (March 22, 2004). "From 9/11 to 3/11". Newsweek. pp. 27–28. Archived from the original on March 14, 2004 .
Losowsky, Andrew (March 25, 2004). "A 21st Century Protest". The Guardian. London .
Melloan, George (August 12, 2003). "Whoever Said August Was a Dull Month?". The Wall Street Journal. pp. A13 .
Shmueli, Sandra (August 8, 2003). "Flash Mob Craze Spreads". Technology. CNN .
"Dadaist Lunacy or the Future of Protest?". Social Issues Research Centre .
Wasik, Bill. "My Crowd". Harper's Magazine. No. March 2006 . | ||||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 15 | https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rob_the_mob | en | Rob the Mob | [
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] | null | [] | 2014-03-21T00:00:00 | While robbing a mob-owned hangout, two lovers (Michael Pitt, Nina Arianda) stumble upon a secret that could help the FBI dismantle New York's crime syndicate. | en | https://www.rottentomatoes.com/assets/pizza-pie/images/favicon.ico | Rotten Tomatoes | https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rob_the_mob | Let's keep in touch!
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5256 | dbpedia | 2 | 18 | https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/dumb-money-movie-review-paul-dano-pete-davidson-shine-in-laugh-riot-on-the-gamestop-short-squeeze/article67423386.ece | en | ‘Dumb Money’ movie review: Paul Dano, Pete Davidson shine in laugh-riot on the GameStop short squeeze | [
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"Bhuvanesh Chandar"
] | 2023-10-15T12:19:36+00:00 | Craig Gillespie’s ‘Dumb Money’ guarantees unbridled fun with its uncompromising re-telling of how a cat-tee-clad Redditor/YouTuber and his loyal followers caused a never-seen-before revolution in Wall Street | en | https://www.thehindu.com/favicon.ico | The Hindu | https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/dumb-money-movie-review-paul-dano-pete-davidson-shine-in-laugh-riot-on-the-gamestop-short-squeeze/article67423386.ece | The frenzy on the internet was such that even those who weren’t familiar with the everyday affairs of the financial world were made aware of the 2021 GameStop short squeeze. A film about a bunch of meme-creating Redditors driving up a penny stock that forced Wall Street analysts to a reality check is expected to be funny. But little did I expect that Craig Gillespie’s film, based on ‘The Antisocial Network’ by Ben Mezrich, would turn out to be such an uncompromising laugh riot that glues you to the screen throughout its 100-minute runtime.
Dumb Money feels like an infectious dark joke that tells of something severe and stark, one that ridicules what’s considered no laughing matter. In Brockton, Massachusetts, marketing professional and YouTuber Keith Gill (Paul Dano) is laughed at by his pals for investing almost $50 grand in call options in a penny stock of a long-struggling video game retailer called GameStop. “It’s the next Blockbuster,” says Gill’s friend and finance bro Briggsy (Deniz Akdeniz). But Gill believes in the stock, and with some encouragement from his wife Caroline (Shailene Woodley), he continues to share his analyses to a small but loyal audience on a subreddit called WallStreetBets under the username DeepF***ingValue and on YouTube as Roaring Kitty. Rapidly, the stock price begins to surge and a ‘revolution’ begins, and though it seems to be led by Gill, we get the sense that a few have been sharing his sentiments.
Behind those numbers on those balance sheets and charts are real people investing their hard-earned money on the say of a YouTuber wearing a cat-tee and a bandana. For frontline worker Jennifer Campbell (America Ferrera), having suffered through a disaster of a year due to the pandemic, this is the only hope to pay back her debt and take better care of her child. College student Harmony (Talia Ryder) wants to stick it up to the hedge fund firms who have long been accused of gatekeeping Wall Street, but her supportive girlfriend Riri (Myha’la Herrold) wants her to look at it as a means to pay back her student loan. There’s also the unhappy GameStop store employee and immigrant Marcos (Anthony Ramos), who needs the “tendies” — Gill’s term for the capital gains.
The growing desire to scale up the capital heights, post the Wall Street crash in 2008, and the need to democratise the system all reached a crescendo at GameStop, which was when the Wall Street pundits and short-sellers who like to put down meagre retail investors as ‘Dumb Money’ were forced to realise that the internet was not some ‘fantasy land for nerds and weirdos’. And here we have Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogen), the founder of Melvin Capital Management that took a liking to short GameStop stocks; Ken Griffin (Nick Offerman) and Steve Cohen (Vincent D’Onofrio), hedge fund managers who help out Melvin Capital; and Vlad Tenev (Sebastian Stan) and Baiju Bhatt (Rushi Kota), founders of stock trading website Robinhood that infamously halted purchasing of GameStop stocks.
What impresses from the word go is how the doings of the underdogs, this invisible mob of Redditors, are shown through montages of newsreels, memes and TikToks, ironically making it a spoof of sorts but also capturing the utter shock with which the West realised that these ‘internet nerds and their memes’ matter in the modern world.
Dumb Money moves at breakneck speed, even making you wish the intermission was shorter. It also doesn’t suffer from any compulsion to expose some newfound shortcomings of the trade. Instead, it tells a straightforward David vs. Goliath story in a concise, simplified, and linear screenplay. In narrating the little guy’s fight against the gatekeeping of Wall Street, the film rightfully does away with all the mumbo-jumbo of retail trading.
There is never a boring moment and how even a Congressional hearing is staged makes you chuckle, hoot (how can you not for the iconic ‘I like the stock’ line?), and root for Gill and his pals. For instance, during the hearing that takes place over a video call, you also see a concerned Caroline watching her husband put up a brave fight — or “walking into a lightning with d**k out,” as he puts it — which when seen parallel to what happens in Griffin’s room paints a clear-cut picture on how the two sides function. Such moments, also like the one Jennifer shares at a gas station, humanise these characters, who are mere numbers on a chart for many, lending the right emotional gravitas to the film.
Gillespie does manage to get the best out of his cast and it won’t be an exaggeration to say that one could pay to watch the film again just for Pete Davidson’s absurd ripostes and one-liners as Keith’s no-good brother Kevin. Davidson’s terrific timing and delivery come dangerously close to drawing your attention away from the earnest Dano, who is well-grounded as the cat-tee-clad Messiah of r/WallStreetBets who turned his $50,000 to $50 million.
As someone at my screening pointed out, it’s fascinatingly ironic that a studio from an industry that goes to bed with Wall Street makes an uncompromising movie about an event that ridiculed the top 1%, which by itself is a move to capitalise on the event. That it’s also wonderfully written, staged and performed are all good “tendies” for a Friday evening. | ||||
5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 81 | https://mobx.js.org/ | en | MobX | [] | [] | [] | [
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5256 | dbpedia | 3 | 39 | https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/01/style/mob-wives-aesthetic-fur-resurgence-bof/index.html | en | TikTok’s ‘Mob wives’ aesthetic is fueling a resurgence of fur | [
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"Yola Mzizi"
] | 2024-02-01T00:00:00 | Animal prints, heavy gold jewelry, perfect hair and a big fur coat, the ‘mob wives’ trend has gone viral and its effect on fashion is surprising. | en | /media/sites/cnn/apple-touch-icon.png | CNN | https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/01/style/mob-wives-aesthetic-fur-resurgence-bof/index.html | Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by The Business of Fashion, an editorial partner of CNN Style.
Edwards-Lowell Furs didn’t expect 2023 to be a good year.
In anticipation of the ban on the sale of new furs that went into effect in its home state of California in January 2023, the company had transitioned its business from selling furs to storing them. Plus, Edwards-Lowell Furs’ said, dwindling sales — declines of around 50 percent year-on-year — had forced it to sell its building in Beverly Hills.
But then owner Paul Matsumoto connected with Natalie Bloomingdale, founder and CEO of vintage e-tailer The Sil, and the two teamed up to host an online auction of pre-owned coats from Edwards-Lowell Furs’ on The Sil’s Instagram.
“We sold the first batch of furs in a matter of minutes,” said Bloomingdale. The two now host sales three times a month, and Matsumoto said it’s breathed new life into the business.
This year may bring even more demand due to the explosion of the “mob wives” aesthetic on TikTok. Characterized by animal prints, heavy gold jewelry, glossy leather trousers, perfectly coiffed hair and a massive fur coat, the trend has already racked up over 160 million views on the platform. Its emergence has been fueled by several factors — the 25th anniversary of HBO’s mafia-centric hit “The Sopranos,” the onset of a colder winter, and a burgeoning interest in fur among younger consumers.
It’s quite a pivot from just a few years ago, when it appeared fur’s trajectory was on an unstoppable decline. Since the late 2010s, brands and retailers including Canada Goose, Gucci, Net-a-Porter, Versace, Prada, Neiman Marcus and Michael Kors all announced their intention to phase out fur products. In 2021, Israel became the first country in the world to enact a ban on new fur sales, while Italy and Norway announced they would stop fur farming. In 2021, Kering chief executive François-Henri Pinault said that fur had “no place in luxury.”
Fast forward to 2024, and the sentiment around fur appears to be shifting as the mob wife aesthetic raises awareness of the material amongst a new generation of consumers.
But this fur moment is different from the past. Now, it’s secondhand and fast fashion retailers that are reaping the benefits of fur’s viral moment, as are alternative material startups and brands with good quality faux fur offerings.
‘Mob wives’ influence
On TikTok, trends can rise and fall within a matter of weeks, if not days, and “mob wife” is no exception. While weekly searches have grown by 21.3 percent year-on-year, data and retail analytics platform Trendalytics anticipates this fad to be short-lived, with an arc of roughly six months.
“Mob wife is more of a reflection of the diminished meaning of trends and aesthetics,” said Mandy Lee, a trend analyst and forecaster. “We seem to be in this endless cycle of nostalgia for trends that were rooted in subcultures, values and context. Today, they are quite literally costumes that people put on and take off everyday.”
Anticipating and preparing for these viral moments can be challenging for brands that don’t already have corresponding products and as fickle consumers are itching to hop on the bandwagon, selling products on a preorder model won’t work, said Lee.
But brands that are at the right place at the right time can expect to earn dividends. In the case of the “mob wife” trend, because so many luxury labels have moved away from fur, it’s more likely to be fast fashion or mass market retailers who benefit. A faux fur jacket from Zara has emerged as one of the leading products benefitting from the trend, with searches and social interest in it and similar products seeing an increase of 212.7 percent in search and social buzz compared to last year, found Trendalytics.
“Even though fur was once synonymous with luxury, fast fashion brands are well-positioned for this moment… selling on points of affordability and as a suitable alternative,” said Kayla Marci, senior retail analyst at Edited analytics.
For those who want the real deal, vintage provides an option. On TikTok, users are encouraging the purchase of secondhand furs over new, making this viral moment key for vintage fur sellers like The Sil or even The RealReal.
“Sales have exploded,” said Matsumoto. “We’ve never sold this many used garments before.”
The future of fur
The mob wife trend may be destined to be short-lived, but the appetite for fur or fur-like materials will likely last. However, as fur’s popularity has shifted, consumers’ values around sustainability largely haven’t, creating an opportunity for next-generation material startups like plant-based fur brand BioFluff and Spiber, a Japanese biotech company using brewed protein-based fiber to create fur alternatives through a process similar to brewing beer. In the coming months, Spiber said they will partner with a number of brands to develop custom fur products.
“We hope to underscore that you can have it both ways,” said Callie Clayton, head of global client relations at Spiber. “The look and feel of fur is possible without the cruelty.”
Still, animal rights advocates aren’t happy with the material’s resurgence, arguing that even if it’s attained sustainably — via plant-based means, for example — the increased visibility of fur will inevitably stoke demand for the real thing. PJ Smith of the Humane Society of the United States is hopeful that legislation introduced in the last couple of years is robust enough to curb demand.
“We can already see the end of the tunnel, the fur industry is dying thanks to policies like fur bans,” said Smith in an interview with the Business of Fashion. “Trends like these could lead to higher first sales but it won’t be enough to reverse the trajectory of the industry.” | ||||
7165 | dbpedia | 2 | 7 | https://www.lunabooks.in/post/maj-sj%25C3%25B6wall-and-per-wahl%25C3%25B6%25C3%25B6-the-martin-beck-series | en | Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö: The Martin Beck Series | [
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"Shilpa"
] | 2023-08-02T08:34:59.657000+00:00 | Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, are widely regarded as the pioneers of Scandinavian crime fiction. Both left-wing journalists, they met in 1962 and fell in love. While they never married, they lived together, with the children from their previous marriages. Over the decade that followed, they collaborated on a unique writing project. 10 novels written over ten years, each with 30 chapters, and focused on the National Homicide Bureau in Sweden - the Martin Beck series. The Story of a Crime, they call | en | https://static.parastorage.com/client/pfavico.ico | Luna Books | https://www.lunabooks.in/post/maj-sjöwall-and-per-wahlöö-the-martin-beck-series | Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, are widely regarded as the pioneers of Scandinavian crime fiction. Both left-wing journalists, they met in 1962 and fell in love. While they never married, they lived together, with the children from their previous marriages. Over the decade that followed, they collaborated on a unique writing project. 10 novels written over ten years, each with 30 chapters, and focused on the National Homicide Bureau in Sweden - the Martin Beck series. The Story of a Crime, they called it.
The couple would write alternate chapters, mostly at the kitchen table at night, after putting their children to bed. They would then swap chapters the next day and edit each other's work before moving on. They found and agreed on a tone and style that worked for them both and were consistent with it. It's impossible to tell them apart on the page. In an interview Sjowall said “We worked a lot with the style. We wanted to find a style which was not personally his, or not personally mine, but a style that was good for the books."
Mere entertainment was not their purpose though. What they wanted to do was to use crime and criminal investigations to hold up a mirror to Swedish society. They believed that crime novels could effectively include social criticism. Each of their ten novels was based on painstaking research, the crimes were fairly gruesome, and through each story, they tried to highlight what they saw as the increasingly materialistic culture they saw around them.
"We realised that people read crime and through the stories we could show the reader that under the official image of welfare-state Sweden there was another layer of poverty, criminality and brutality. We wanted to show where Sweden was heading: towards a capitalistic, cold and inhuman society, where the rich got richer, the poor got poorer.” (Sjöwall, in an interview with the Guardian, Nov 22, 2009)
Their influences included crime writers such as Ed MacBain, Georges Simenon and Dashiell Hammett.
With the ten novels comprising the Martin Beck series, Sjöwall and Wahlöö are credited with introducing the 'police procedural'. Criminal investigation in their books is not heroic or thrilling. It is long hours and days and weeks of dogged police work, many times leading nowhere. But Beck and his colleagues keep at it. Beck as a character is dour and dyspeptic, not a hero by any standards. But he is a committed policeman and a patient one. The characters are all ordinary. There is no genius at work here who can see what no one else can. They look at everything together and painstakingly piece together a solution. And this is in the age before mobile phones, DNA testing and the internet. An age when everyone smoked all the time. Today most cops or detectives in books or on TV shows are dour and cheerless and we are used to this, but Beck was the prototype for this sort of detective.
The books are international bestsellers, with over 10 million copies sold so far. They’ve been made into films and adapted for television. Sjowall and Wahloo’s work has inspired crime writers such as Stieg Larsson, Henning Mankell, Michael Connelly, and many others. Established now as classics of the genre, readers of any generation can appreciate the meticulous procedurals stitched together by this couple. Per Wahlöö died at the age of 49 shortly before the final book in the series was published. Sjöwall declined to continue or expand the series without her partner.
Here are the ten books in the Martin Beck series:
Roseanna (1965)
The Man Who Went Up in Smoke (1966)
The Man on the Balcony (1967)
The Laughing Policeman (1968)
The Fire Engine that Disappeared (1969)
Murder at The Savoy (1970)
The Abominable Man (1972)
The Locked Room (1973)
Cop Killer (1975)
The Terrorists) (1976)
Sources include: | ||||
7165 | dbpedia | 1 | 58 | https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/913882.The_Man_Who_Went_Up_in_Smoke | en | The Man Who Went Up in Smoke (Martin Beck, #2) | [
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"Maj Sjöwall",
"Per Wahlöö",
"Joan Tate"
] | null | Read 587 reviews from the world’s largest community
for readers. His holiday has just an August spent with his family on a small island off the coast of S… | en | /favicon.ico | Goodreads | https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/913882.The_Man_Who_Went_Up_in_Smoke | October 29, 2017
”Martin Beck, the born detective and famous observer, constantly occupied making useless observations and storing them away for future use. Doesn’t even have bats in the belfry-they couldn’t get in for all the crap in the way.”
For those fans of Kurt Wallander there will be a deja vu moment when you start reading a Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo novel. Henning Mankell has admitted he was heavily influenced by this series. My relationship with Martin Beck is a little better than my relationship with Kurt Wallander. I often find myself, and Kenneth Branagh does an excellent job depicting Wallander, seeing myself grabbing Wallander/Branagh by the shoulders and giving him a good shake. The guy spends most of his time out past Mars somewhere. Wallander’s personal life and sometimes his professional life start to erode around him as he ponders a case or he sinks into a malaise of depression.
Martin Beck does not annoy me as much as Kurt Wallander. He does drift away spending most of his time solving a case in his head instead of wearing out shoe leather. For him life is just a series of cases even if he is wondering why the milkman set the bottle on the left side of the stoop instead of the right side on a particular morning. Because he notices EVERYTHING his mind is constantly churning through data trying to understand EVERYTHING.
Despite my issues or maybe because of my issues with Beck and Wallander I got to say I love these guys.
Like Wallander, Beck is having issues with his personal relationships. Surprise, surprise when he is with his wife and kids he is withdrawn even cold. He spends one day on vacation with his family when he gets the call from his boss that he is needed on a case involving Budapest. Now the superintendent wants Beck to investigate a missing celebrity journalist, but he says he can find someone else. Anybody who knows Beck can tell you what his decision will be. He puts up a fight for about two seconds and then he is on the next boat back to work.
The wife...well she is used to it.
Wallander generally ignores his colleagues even to the point of not answering pointed questions they may ask him. His fellow cops are immaterial to what is being weighed and considered in his own mind. Beck works better with others. The key word is better, not great. He is short with them especially over the phone. If someone talks too much he may end the conversation not by commenting on what they have told him, but simply saying ‘are you done now?’
I worked with a guy like that for several years. I had vivid dreams about taking him by the ears and slamming his head down on his desk. Never realized of course just a daydream to bring a brief smile to my lips and make him more tolerable. I, like most people, don’t like to be ignored or dismissed.
Even though Beck is having issues with his wife he doesn’t seem to be on the make. He may not have the proper feelings for his wife, but she is FUNCTIONAL. There is an interesting scene with a receptionist at the hotel in Budapest.
”She was very pretty, in a sweet, ordinary way. Rather small, well built, long fingers, pretty calves, fine ankles, a few dark hairs on her shins, long thighs under her skirt. No rings. He stared at her with his thoughts far away.”
He logs all the information and may even be slightly discombobulated by the fact that he finds her attractive. He stands there so long filing away all this new data that he makes her uncomfortable.
”He remained standing there, thinking about something. The girl blushed. She moved to the other end of the reception desk, adjusting her skirt and pulling at her bra and girdle. He could not understand why.”
Well Mr. Beck pretty young ladies start to feel like you are a perv when you stare TOO long.
As the plot begins to heat up he has an encounter with a temptress named Ari Boeck.
”Her hair was dark and short, and her features were strong. She had thick black eyebrows, a broad straight nose and full lips. Her teeth were good but somewhat uneven. Her mouth was half-open and the tip of her tongue was resting against her lower teeth, as if she was just about to say something. She was hardly taller than five foot one, but strongly and harmoniously built, with well-developed shoulders, broad hips and quite a narrow waist. Her legs were muscular and her feet short and broad, with straight toes. She had a very deep suntan and her skin appeared soft and elastic, especially across her diaphragm and stomach. Shave armpits, Large breasts and curved stomach with thick down that seemed very light against her tanned skin. Here and there, long and curly black hairs had made their way out from under the elastic at her loins. She might have been twenty-two or twenty-three years old, at the most. Not beautiful in the conventional sense of the word, but a highly functional specimen of the human race.”
There is that word functional again. Few of us could withstand that level of scrutiny without trying to move away from it. Ari has confidence enough that she takes her clothes off and attempts a seduction. Martin tells her to put her clothes back on and ushers her on her way.
Woman get rather annoyed under those circumstances.
Next thing Beck knows two guys are trying to kill him.
Now there are people that say this book moves slow and that nothing happens. It is my assumption that these are the same kind of people that can’t watch baseball, that find baseball boring. When I watch baseball I’m on the edge of my seat. The duel between pitchers and batters is a pressure cooker that builds with each new pitch. Will the batter win or will the pitcher win? Will the runner at first try to steal? The same thing is happening with the novel. Sjowall and Wahloo have the patience to let the plot advance at a trickle, clues so miniscule; and yet, so important are being logged in Beck’s head. I actually started to feel tension at the seemingly lack of progress in the case. Martin isn’t worried so I have to be worried for him. It is well...brilliant.
Don’t worry there is a bloody good twist at the end.
There has only been one translated book to ever win the Edgar Award for best novel and that book is The Laughing Policeman. It is the fourth book in the series. My first thought on learning this is...”they wrote a better one?” It is my understanding that the series will become more political with social commentary on Swedish society as the books advance. I have a feeling those concepts will be so cleverly weaved seamlessly into the plot that most readers may not even notice. I also read and reviewed the first book in the series Roseanna and here is the link to that review. Click for my Roseanna review This series is highly recommended!!!
December 28, 2012
With the first snow storm of the year hitting my area, it seemed like a great time to pick up a Swedish mystery novel. I figured I could put on a comfy sweater and sip some coffee while reading about the Stockholm police tracking criminals across a gloomy winter landscape that matched the view out my window. Unfortunately, the book is set during the summer, and the main character spends most of his time in hot and humid Hungary. So I got very confused and ended up putting on my shorts and going out on the deck with a cooler of cold beer. The doctor managed to save four of my toes.
Police detective Martin Beck joins his family on their summer holiday but gets called back to work before he even has time to get a sunburn. A journalist named Alf Matsson has vanished while on an assignment in Budapest and with the newspaper he worked for threatening to cause a political fuss, the Swedish government wants Beck to find him. Beck journeys to Hungary and since the book was written in the mid-60s, this is behind the old Iron Curtain, and Beck has no official status as he tries to locate Matsson.
Thanks to growing up in Cold War era America, I was expecting a book involving a Western European cop going into the Eastern Bloc to get political and involve Beck investigating in a harsh socialist state while dealing with a hostile Hungarian police force. However, the Budapest of this book seems like an idyllic vacation spot, and the police are polite and fairly helpful to Beck. It was a nice surprise that this was more of cop-out-of-his-element story rather than a mystery with political/conspiracy overtones.
This series gets a lot of credit for being among the first police procedurals, and it’s easy to see the influence they had on the genre. Val McDermid has a great introduction in this edition that talks about how groundbreaking the books were at the time and how many of the elements introduced in them went on to become clichés. Unfortunately, this copycatting has familiarized me with the style enough to enable me to guess the solution to the mystery about half way through the book.
However, I also liked the way that so much of what Beck is feeling and thinking is explained via his actions and not exposition or dialogue. There are several hints that his marriage isn’t going so well and you get the feeling that he welcomes the chance to get away from a family vacation, but it’s never expressed plainly. The way we only know Beck through the way approaches his police work reminds me a lot of the early Matt Scudder novels by Lawrence Block.
March 25, 2023
I could hear the cigarettes and bourbon tearing apart narrator Tom Weiner's vocal chords as I listened to his reading of The Man Who Went Up in Smoke, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Weiner's voice adds aural texture to a book overflowing with atmospheric texture; he compliments the Martin Beck tale perfectly with his slurry gravelly voice.
And that's seems important to me here in a way that it doesn't in all audiobooks. I think it is because of how important this series is to its genre.
The Martin Beck books aren't merely perceived as the inspiration for the authors who followed Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahloo, many of the authors who have gone on to write police procedurals admit their debt fully. Val McDermid claims this inspiration in her foreword to this edition of The Man Who Went Up in Smoke and Henning Mankell did the same in his foreword to Roseanna.
Mankell's debt is easily traceable. His Kurt Wallander novel, The Dogs of Riga, is a direct descendent of The Man Who Went Up in Smoke. Wallander spends his time in Riga, Latvia, at the height of the Cold War, investigating a murder, just as Martin Beck spends his time in Budapest, Hungry investigating a man's disappearance. The similarities are such that they feel like companion pieces, pieces meant to be read together as a way to consider the same tale from the perspectives of different eras.
But I discovered a potential link of inspiration that surprised me (and I'd love to have an admission for this from the author himself -- just to satisfy my curiosity). I am willing to bet that China Miéville read The Man Who Went Up in Smoke when he was gearing up to write The City and the City. Though The Man Who Went Up in Smoke is much simpler in form, the tale of Tyador Borlú's search for the killer of Mahalia Geary is present here. But the most interesting link is the way Beck moves between the cities that are Buda/pest. It is a city and a city, and that idea is playing on the edges of The Man Who Went Up in Smoke.
These connections and those who've been inspired by Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahloo don't really matter for too many of us. What does matter is that these are some seriously satisfying mysteries. Must reading (or listening) for any serious fan of the police procedural.
March 2, 2022
The second of ten in a series by the Swedish crime writing duo Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, with an introduction that makes it clear this pair paved the way for other serious police procedurals that respect the work of the work of every day cops. And takes them seriously as human beings. Character-driven books that pay attention to the crime, but are situated in the real worlds of the cops and socio-cultural circumstances. I had read the Kurt Wallander mystery series by Henning Mankell and found getting to know Wallander to be increasingly moving, and he was inspired in his conception of crime fiction by the Beck novels.
I really liked the first volume in this series, but liked this one far less because--while I appreciate getting to know him as a character, not much happened for a very long time in the book, and the plot was not ultimately memorable in any real way. I would have actually given this two stars except the resolution pleased me. Not really a spoiler, here, but when his wife asks him how he's doing he simply replies, "Not well." But we already knew that, as his character is largely expressed through action, not deep reflection, throughout. He's driven to solve crimes, but little else satisfies him. Feels a little like the way Matt Scudder is developed by Lawrence Block in his series. Somewhat of an existential mystery.
December 25, 2012
A Swedish national, a "sports" journalist, goes missing in Budapest, behind the "Iron Curtain." It's the height of the Cold War, and Swedish homicide detective Martin Beck, about to enjoy his vacation, is sent, instead, to look into the disappearance.
A Canadian boy would expect a 70s Budapest to be riddled with spies and spying and suspicion. A Canadian boy would expect oppressiveness and oppression at every Hungarian turn. A Canadian boy would expect high adventure mixed with the KGB and CIA. A Canadian boy would expect an international murder, with international implications. A Canadian boy would expect something thrillingly action packed. A Canadian boy would be wrong, though.
Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahloo were not as foolish as the Canadian boy. They didn't have his prejudices and indoctrinations. They knew the story they were telling, and they told it their way, with integrity. So their story has a beautiful Budapest, with bath houses, and quays and the Danube outside Metropolitan hotels. It has local police just like anyone else's police, no better or worse, just doing their job. It has a little danger at the hands of some German drug dealers who make their home in Budapest. And the solution to the mystery of the missing man is mundane and lying back in Sweden. Budapest was just a step in the path to the appropriately depressing conclusion.
It is what all the Martin Beck mysteries are -- true -- and that is the highest praise I can bestow on a work of fiction.
November 22, 2016
A real page turner of a book. A Swedish journalist has gone missing in Budapest and it is Martin Beck's job to find him. The politicians want the case settled quickly to avoid a scandal in cold war Europe (Wallenburg Mark 2 perhaps?) - but can Beck solve the case in time?
The case is absolutely baffling with the journalist leaving only the lightest of traces in Budapest - a couple of hotel check ins and taxi rides. Surely even Beck will find this insufficient. A couple of plot twists keep you guessing throughout what is a relatively slim book - 200 pages.
This book was written in the 60's but it still feels contemporary- except maybe for the relentless smoking by all and sundry.
A good read.
August 28, 2012
I think I'm starting to understand Martin Beck now.
If Roseanna was a very good first book that I had some problems with then The Man Who Went Up In Smoke is a very good second book that tackles some of those issues and really gives you a feel for the protagonist Martin Beck.
This time Martin is recalled from his family vacation and despatched to Budapest at the request of a government department who fears that a Swedish journalist has disappeared behind "The Iron Curtain," but far from being a cold war mystery ala Le Carre this is a study of a man out of his comfort zone, interracting with foreign culture and dedicating himself to his profession.
Beck is a singular detective, evolved from the brilliant Simenon creation Maigret with a dash of the hardboiled Marlowes and Spades thrown in to the mix. His dedication to the job means his home life is slowly becoming a mess that he doesn't know how to interact with. This kind of thing is a genre staple but when reading the Martin Beck books it feels fresh and interesting, perhaps thanks to the subtlety of the writing but also because it was fresh back in the sixties.
The descriptive passages of Budapest from the point of view of Beck were both fascinating as a look at the city and as a view in to the way the mans mind works and were a joy to read. The fact that I am shortly to be visiting the city added a little extra pleasure too.
The plot is a good one and approached as if on holiday it has a leisurely, winding feel to it in the same way Beck wanders the Hungarian city with plenty of distractions to keep you looking/guessing. And in the same way life moves quicker when you return home from your holidays so too does the plot when Beck flies home to Sweden; no longer inebriated with foreign weather and cigarettes his little grey cells put the pieces together almost as if he'd known all along.
The fact that the authors have gone on record of wanting to "use the crime novel as a scalpel cutting open the belly of the ideologically pauperized and morally debatable so-called welfare state of the bourgeois type" serves to emphasise the importance of the team of detectives surrounding Beck; alone in Budapest he is not the famous detective, he is nothing, but on his return to his police family, with a support network of his equals he is once more able to achieve great things.
As Richard Shephard says in the p.s. section of the book after reading this you feel what is almost a compulsion to discover more about Beck and his life, what choice is there but to turn hurriedly to the third instalment?
Part 1: Roseanna
March 13, 2018
Fumo, lampade e telefoni di backelite.
anche se, avendo deciso di affrontare l'opera di Per Wahloo e Maj Sjowall (padre e madre del giallo scandinavo), ero interessato ad altro.
Quando qui in Italia (soprattutto sui social) si parla di Scandinavia, emerge l'immagine di paesi così perfetti da dare quasi sui nervi. Stato sociale meraviglioso, tutti inclusi in un progetto, povertà assente, corruzione a zero: è nell'opera di questa zelante coppia che Svezia e Norvegia mostrano il loro volto oscuro. Un volto oscuro fatto di alcolismo, depressioni, legami familiari che si spezzano strozzati dal troppo lavoro...il male ha un volto diverso rispetto a quello a cui siamo abituati.
Ma stavolta Martin Beck è condotto dall' indagine al di fuori della sua terra, il quel mondo sconosciuto ed inquietante che è stato il blocco comunista: la caccia ad un uomo scomparso porterà l'ufficiale della polizia di Stoccolma tra i colli di Budapest, ancora freschi del sangue delle repressioni russe del maresciallo Konev.
La detective story è chiara, lineare e godibile: me lo sono bevuto in tre giorni: ma è l'atmosfera che rende questo libro speciale. Siamo negli anni sessanta e si capisce, un mondo in cui l'aria ha l'odore acre del tabacco (tutti fumano ovunque, negli anni sessanta), un mondo coi telefoni di backelite, con gli interrogatori sotto la lampada, con la guerra fredda che è come un brontolio lontano: resta sullo sfondo, ma la sua minaccia non ti abbandona mai del tutto.
Siamo nel blocco sovietico: ma la soffocante società comunista (in cui tante individualità sono finite strozzate in nome di una feroce uguaglianza) non ha niente di quel fumettistico inferno che abbiamo imparato a conoscere dai tanti libri che ci hanno fatto leggere. Il peso del comunismo è nell'ossessiva richiesta di documenti, nella qualità della vita distrutta da una burocrazia schiacciante, nel martellante incontro con continui e snervanti difetti di qualità di ogni cosa, nella costante e minacciosa presenza della polizia politica in ogni momento della giornata.
Piacevole, veloce, con un'ambientazione per nulla banale; mi è piaciuto. Per la Scandinavia aspetterò il prossimo capitolo, magari riuscirà a spiegarmi come si possa arrivare a pensare che lo stoccafisso sia un piatto succulento senza suicidarsi.
Quasi quasi preferisco la corruzione, ma con la pizza.
February 14, 2017
In urma dispariției unui cunoscut jurnalist suedez, detectivul Martin Beck este nevoit să-și întrerupă concediul și să încerce elucidarea misterului în Budapesta. Ajuns acolo, Beck se confruntă inițial cu atitudinea circumspectă a poliției maghiare, apoi cu o lipsă dubioasă a indiciilor care l-ar putea ajuta să soluționeze cazul. Deși în partea a doua a poveștii apar treptat mai multe elemente care sugerează adevăratele implicații ale dispariției, deznodământul cazului a fost o adevărată surpriză pentru mine.
Poate dacă aș fi putut empatiza cu Martin Beck, m-ar fi încântat mai mult… Stilul autorilor mi s-a părut detașat și destul de sec, se pare ca nu-mi priește genul acesta de expunere obiectivă, oarecum lipsită de nuanțe. Ținând cont că a fost publicată în anii '60, cartea mi se pare curios de actuală, decorul, acțiunea și personajele nu emana izul de comunism; m-aș fi așteptat la mai multă politică, spionaj și corupție. Mi-a plăcut Budapesta, așa cum am simțit-o în paginile cărții, mi-a plăcut construcția treptată a cazului și finalul surprinzător al poveștii; per ansamblu, o lectură plăcută și antrenantă.
September 16, 2013
Book Review
With an introduction by VaL McDermid (she of the famous Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series). And if you haven't ever seen the BBC America televised series Wire In The Blood (available on Netflix as well) and if you like psycholigical serial killer dramas, than this an absolute must-see. The show is excellent!
McDermid writes: So many of the elements that have become integral to the point of cliche in the police procedural subgenre started life in these ten novels. [...] The books of Per Wahlöö and Maj Sjöwall are different. Although they are generally referred to as the Martin Beck novels, they're not really about an individual. They're ensemble pieces. (with a equally important supporting cast).
Beck's not a genius, not a solo artist (as up to then police procedurals tended to cast), not glamorous, nor does he solve crimes by simply lifting an eyebrow.
He's none of these things, McDermid writes. He's a driven, middle aged dyspeptic whose marriage slowly disintegrates during the series. [...]He's also something of an idealist whose job forces him to confront the gulf between what should exist in an ideal world and what exists in actuality. [...] But more than this, he is part of a team, each member of which is a fully realized character.[...] And there is their interest in the philosophical aspects of crime.
It might be interesting to note that at the time (1960s) Per Wahlöö and Maj Sjöwall, in turn, were heavily influenced, by several other writers, most notably by the American writer Ed McBain. And speaking of influences, it is well known that this pair of authors were the primary influence for Henning Mankell's work a few decades later (Mankell writes the introduction for the first in the Martin Beck series).
In The Man Who Went Up In Smoke we can see close similarities between Mankell's novel Dogs of Riga, and this much earlier novel. Both detectives (Wallander and Beck) are driven, both find themselves outside of their element (and their team at home), both take place in eastern bloc countries, both feature detectives whose personal lives are going to hell, both comment philosophically on the sociopolitical environment they encounter: in the case of Mankell, it is Riga, Latvia. In the case of Beck, it is Budapest.
Of the two novels, this and Mankell's, I consider The Man Who Went Up In Smoke to be the superior one. First of all, Beck definitely has a hand in solving the crime whereas in The Dogs of Riga Wallander sort of stumbles onto it. Second, Per Wahlöö and Maj Sjöwall are edgier especially as to their leftist musings. Not that this is apparent to the average American reader. You have to be alert to find the Marxist crumbs sprinkled here and there. For example, in the below passage, Beck is doing a bit of research on the plane to Budapest,as he reads several pamphlets:
The leaflet was published by the German journalist's union and dealt with the Springer concern, one of the most powerful newspaper and magazine publishers in West Germany, and its chief, Axel Springer. It gave examples of the company's menacing fascist politics and quoted several of its more prominent contributors.
For Marxists like Per Wahlöö and Maj Sjöwall any conservative, right wing publication (and the Springer publishing house was right wing), is by its nature fascist (although given it's West Germany post Nazism, there may be some truth to the statement). Now, if you really want to read novels that espouse Marxist idealogy (the Beck series are tame by comparison), read Per Wahlöö's novels written by himself.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and the decalogue of Martin Beck novels should be required reading for anyone who enjoys police procedurals. The plots are exquisite, the writing near perfection. Enjoy!
For a previous review on the first in this series:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
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Series Review
Per Wahlöö and Maj Sjöwall
Two writers from the left, without too much argument, started it all where it concerns crime fiction in Scandinavia (the books were written in the sixties). Jo Nesbo considers this team of writers the Godfathers of Scandinavia crime fiction. Henning Mankell perhaps the most famous Nordic writer of them all often makes references to Per and Maj as having influenced his work. In the words of Barry Forsaw whose Death in a Cold Climate: a Guide to Scandinavian Crime Fiction serves as the Bible for Nordic readers says of these authors: "Their continuing influence (since the death of Per Wahlöö) remains prodigious."
Briefly: Wahlöö was born in Tölö parish, Kungsbacka Municipality, Halland. After his studies, from 1946 onwards he worked as a crime reporter. After long trips around the world he returned to Sweden and started working as a journalist again. He had a 13 year relationship with his colleague Maj Sjöwall but never married. Both were Marxists.He has been married to Inger Wahlöö, née Andersson. He was brother to Claes Wahlöö. He died of cancer at Malmö in 1975, aged 48. His work (independent of his collaboration with Maj on the Martin Beck series) primarily consists of his Dictatorship series and the two novels featuring Inspector Jensen.
Maj Sjöwall is a Swedish author and translator. She is best known for the collaborative work with her partner Per Wahlöö on a series of ten novels about the exploits of Martin Beck, a police detective in Stockholm. In 1971, the fourth of these books, The Laughing Policeman (a translation of Den skrattande polisen, originally published in 1968) won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Novel.They also wrote novels separately.
Until recently, it was considered a scandal that publishing houses offered no translations of these two highly influential authors. But as the Nordic crime wave hit British and American soil (beginning in the nineties), this egregious blot on the reputation of publishers was finally remedied...albeit late in the game. There were simply too many crime writers that cited Per and Maj as the fountain head of the socially committed crime novel. Yet one more example that everything starts at the grass roots level and then filters up into the corporate halls of publishing.
Although not as prevelant as in the work of Per Wahlöö (see my review of Murder on the Thirty-first Floor), the left wing ideological views of the pair are common knowledge and can be viewed as interspersed throughout their famous Martin Beck series. I've often spoken in my reviews of Nordic fiction that aside from being excellent and compelling reads in the mystery genre, Nordic writers on the whole use this genre based platform to comment on sociopolitical issues of the day as that takes place in the Scandinavian countries. For their time, this pair of authors were considered the pioneers of this authorial attitude.
Now before you decide to forego this excellent series based on the Marxist ideology of its authors, let me assure you that Per and Maj's views at no point interfere with your appreciation of a good mystery novel. It might be said that their edgy point of view may be considered less important than the telling of a good tale. This too, is a hallmark of Scandinavian crime fiction: sociopolitical commentary never overshadows the story itself (though I would argue that in Per's novels written alone, this might not be the case).
For an understanding of the realism of their work within Scandinavian crime fiction as married to their political attitudes, I highly recommend a reading of these two authors, together, as well as (in the case of Per) his own work.
March 4, 2012
My third Martin Beck police procedural, although some lists consider this the second in the series. This is a standalone story, so the order of reading is not that important. Although the emotional intensity is dialed down compared to Roseanna and The Man on the Balcony, the Sjowall / Wahloo presentation is as convincingly realistic as usual re. the "banality of evil".
The book starts with Martin Beck leaving office for his summer vacation, only to be interrupted by the call of duty the very first evening. A mysterious disparition of a Swedish journalist in a Budapest hotel sends him on what is for about half of the book on a laidback, tourist brochure stroll behind the Iron Curtain. Compared to other authors put in a similar situation (most recently Henning Mankell in Dogs of Riga) the games of right wing / left wing politics are ignored, letting the manic depressive Beck cross the Danube on an old fashioned steamer, listen to Strauss waltzes in an opulent restaurant, relax in the sulphurous hot baths or gazing from the heights of Buda at the sprawling city basking in the summer heat.
At about the halfway mark of the book things pick up and the various secondary characters introduced start to make sense and the scarcity of clues give way to revelations that I can't describe without giving the plot away. I can only say this is another story solved by brains, empathy and gumshoe persistence, although Beck proves himself no slouch when it comes down to physical action. The final revelation will make up for any slowness in build up.
I rate this a bit lower than the first books only because I felt more emotionally detached about the story, but I'm looking forward to more from this detective.
May 22, 2023
Becks zweiter Fall ist ein Gegenstück zum ersten: Wurde dort eine Leiche entdeckt, deren Identität lange Zeit nicht geklärt werden konnte, stellt sich in DER MANN, DER SICH IN LUFT AUFLÖSTE die Frage, ob ein schwedischer Bürger in Ungarn untergetaucht oder vermisst ist, oder ob er gar Opfer eines Verbrechens wurde. Die Ermittlungen gestalten sich auch hier ausgesprochen schwierig, da Beck in Ungarn keine Ermittlungsbefugnisse hat, der Fall ohnehin diskret behandelt werden soll, um internationale Verwicklungen zu vermeiden, und weil letztlich eben nicht einmal feststeht, ob es überhaupt ein Verbrechen gibt.
Auch dieser Krimi liest sich ausgesprochen gut, allerdings fand ich, dass die Detailfülle, die in DIE TOTE IM GÖTAKANAL ihre Berechtigung hat, hier doch an manchen Stellen etwas überdosiert ist. Mit Gesellschaftskritik hält sich das Autoren-Paar weitestgehend zurück, für die gehörige Portion skandinavischer Depri-Stimmung sorgt stattdessen Becks Ehe.
DER MANN ... ist auch heute noch ein lesenswerter Krimi, sofern man keine thrillermäßigen Schießereien und Verfolgungsfahrten oder einen durchgeknallten Serienkiller als Mindesanforderung ans Genre hat.
February 27, 2015
At their best these books have a great no fuss, straightforwardness. These are police procedurals with little in the way of histrionics, leftfield plot twists or characters whose motivations don’t have much relation to reality. The characters at the centre of these books are professionals who get on with their job – they interview the suspects, pull the pieces together and arrive at the correct conclusion. Indeed in this volume even the reveal of the killer is done in an understated, without thrills way – which actually in its ordinariness I found grippingly tense. And the fact that – without literal or metaphoric explosions – these books can bring me to bite my fingernails probably explains their success. These are quietly effective thrillers.
A Swedish journalist disappears in Hungary and Martin Beck is sent to investigate. The foreign locale takes him away from his support network and places him more as a lone man in a disaffecting city. In a way this give the book a Chandler-esque feel (and I wonder if Philip Kerr read it before creating his Marlowe as European cop character, Bernie Gunther). It’s a story with a strong – if subdued – emotional core, but no sentiment (for a book written by journalists, it really gives an unromantic portrayal of the profession). As Martin Beck tries to get to grips with possible murder behind the Iron Curtain, the tension builds and a genuinely intriguing and tense tale unfolds.
March 19, 2016
I finished this one last Thursday and it was fine. I mean the writing was smooth, the story is interesting with few twists. However it lacks the thrill, and the progress is very slow. but I guess each writer has his own style. Also what I find interesting is that when the case is solved, rather than feeling satisfaction and triumph, Inspector Beck express gloom and despair instead. The reason according to the writer is due to his introverted personality.
The story begins when inspector Martin Beck start to spend his holiday in an island. However, his holiday is ruined when he is summoned by his superior to investigate in a delicate case. It's about a journalist who has traveled to Budapest and disappeared there without a trace and the newspaper where he worked for wants to relate his disappearance to a political conspiracy, which might damage the relations between Sweden and Hungary. So Beck must travel there and find him within a week in order prevents this from happening, in a country where he's on his own.
November 5, 2021
Seconda tappa del percorso investigativo di Martin Beck. Anche questa volta non si puo' far certo conto su azione frenetica o trovate sceniche ma la qualita' della scrittura e la bravura con i dialoghi supportano una trama non scoppiettante ma quasi sempre intrigante.
August 8, 2024
Interesting with a whiff of outdated charm. Oh the slow investigation, rumbling in physical archives, notes written on slips of paper that get lost, the difficulty of getting hold of people and waiting for phone calls and to boot to order a phone call to another country and wait for it to be processed, so utterly quaint and sweet, it is like it is centuries ago and not just some 50-60 years ago.
One thing leaps to mind, Martin Beck obviously has problems in his marriage, yet there is no mention of other women or any thoughts of divorce which I am pretty sure would happen in today’s crime novels, has so much really happened in such a relatively short span of time that the view on marriage and divorce has totally altered?
September 7, 2016
The second 'chapter' in the Inspector Martin Beck chronicles sees Martin Beck our man away from home, out of ideas and lacking resources when he is recalled from his month long summer holiday with his family. Exactly twenty-fours hours into his sojourn, Martin Beck once again finds himself sitting in the office of Chief Inspector Hammar and agreeing to undertake a relatively hush hush investigation on behalf of the foreign office into the disappearance of a well-known journalist, a Swede named Alf Matsson. As ever, the refrain from wife Inga is familiar:
"There must be other policeman besides you. Do you have to take on every assignment?"
Occurring two years after the Roseanna investigation, Martin Beck is at odds with the language as he follows the trail behind the Iron Curtain with the Hungarian police force eschewing any attempts to share knowledge and highly suspicious of his motives for being there. Checking into the hotel of the missing man, and indeed into the room he was designated, Martin Beck learns that he disappeared on the day he arrived, leaving behind his luggage and his room key turning up on the steps of the local police department that very same day. Going through the motions, travelling to the place where he spent his first night, Martin Beck again takes one step forward and two back. Thanks to the erstwhile Kollberg whom he has patchy telephone contact with and some masterful eavesdropping on Alf Matsson's Swedish cronies, a glimmer of hope emerges, only to once again prove a dead end. However, the Hungarian police are circling closely and taking a keen interest as Martin Beck stumbles headlong into a even darker quagmire of international drug smuggling.
It is a morose Martin Beck who wanders the streets of Budapest and ponders just what he has taken on. As he brokers a fragile accord between his home nation and their counterparts is Hungary the results are once again down to more good fortune and arduous cross-referencing of facts than to the power of deduction. As painstakingly slow as the events of the Roseanna investigation, Martin Beck moves between meals times and bedtime as a sense of trust is fostered with the curious Major Vilmos Szluka of the Hungarian force. The result owes more to the unstinting slog and mundane work of fact checking, than to any spark of ingenuity and can be marked down to sheer determination and a thirst for the truth.
Published in 1966 one of the most topical aspects of The Man Who Went Up In Smoke was in furthering the discussion of drug smuggling into formerly capitalist countries via the Eastern bloc regions, largely because the authorities didn't think their was anything worth smuggling out of these regions! One of the most interesting facets of this case is the fact that something of a very similar nature did actually arise and the 'Wallenberg affair" referenced by the men from the foreign office is actually referring to the disappearance of Swedish architect, diplomat and humanitarian Raoul Wallenberg in Budapest in 1945. Whilst working as Sweden's special envoy in the later part of 1944, Wallenberg was accused of sheltering Jews and issuing protective passports and was subsequently detained by the KGB on suspicion of espionage.
December 21, 2022
This is the second in the Martin Beck series, first published in 1966. It is August in Stockholm and Beck is about to join his wife and children on an island for his summer holiday. However, no sooner has he arrived than he receives a call asking for him to return. A Swedish journalist, Alf Matsson, has disappeared in Hungary. Counter-espionage are interested in the missing journalist, who is said to be an expert on Eastern Europe. Abandoning the holiday (his wife bemoaning her lot in being left alone there with the children is wonderfully done and perfectly captures the ambiguous feelings most of us have about the summer), Beck goes, in dispirited mood, to Hungary.
Once there, Beck is wonderfully written. He looks at the boats outside the hotel, eats meals and basically spends much of his time lying on the bed, unsure of what to do or who to ask questions. It is refreshing to have a hero with no idea of what to do next, but, of course, eventually, things begin to occur and the mystery is solved. However, this series, and this book, feel extremely contemporary. The missing journalist is extremely unlikeable and it is debatable whether either the police or the reader, is particularly concerned about his whereabouts. Adding in Beck's inability to begin his investigation and the fact that he is not a stand-alone hero, but relies on his colleagues, and this does have a modern feeling. I look forward to reading on and have enjoyed the two books I have read in the series so far very much. Highly recommended.
July 20, 2017
Very methodical, finely plotted book. I am amazed by the way the writers managed to achieve a calm texture while keeping the narrative conflict alive.
Almost nothing happens in the first half. Clues are sparse and lead only to deadlocks. But we somehow keep reading. Give it to the meticulous attention paid to every scene. We see and understand how painful an investigation can be and we cheer when a small detail, the kind that is not even considered in a more kinetic thriller, leads us somewhere. The way a payoff is arrived at is brilliant, yes brilliant... something only confident writers are capable of, because you have to learn to let go of extravagance and gimmicks and focus only on the mundane.
You have to be a conjurer to produce an effect from daily objects while lesser mortals have to rely on secret bloodlines!
February 10, 2019
Authors Maj Sjowall and her husband, Per Wahloo, invite the reader into both the private and professional life of Detective Inspector Martin Beck of the Stockholm Homicide Squad. It is Beck's and his co-workers' dogged determination and time that enable them to solve their crimes.
I enjoy this series for its lack of gimmickry on the part of the authors and protagonist. Police work, and that of detectives specifically, is a grind. That is portrayed no where better than in the Martin Beck series. The reader feels it along with the character. Even when the reader may be ready to throw in the towel, Beck moves forward with a pace that is often turtle-like -- whatever it takes to get the job done.
July 29, 2015
Quite a few four and five stars for this one. I must be missing something.
From the uninteresting characters to the story that was boring in every way possible, I just could not care for this book. most of the time, the policeman goes around and questions people and goes back to his hotel to eat dinner and sleep. Nothing about the story was interesting to me. The ending was not worth the 170 previous pages and I felt like I wasted my time reading it. I expected something better, something that popped but the whole ending scene was very boring. Sorry, i know this one one of those novels that introduced ideas that were spread to other crime books but this was not my cup of tea.
April 9, 2021
The Man Who Went Up in Smoke is the 2nd book in the Martin Beck mystery series, set in Sweden, by author Maj Sjöwall. Beck is a police inspector working out of the Stockholm Homicide Squad.
In this story, Beck is finally, after a long while, going on vacation with his family. His boss tells him to lock up his desk and Beck makes sure his apartment is cleaned up and then he catches the boat to the island where his family awaits. (This is very nicely described, almost boringly, but you can picture Beck's actions, hear his thoughts). Not even being able to enjoy one day of vacation, Beck is called back to Stockholm.
A reporter, Alf Mattison, is reported missing in Hungary. The Foreign office wants Beck to go to Budapest and conduct an informal investigation. Reluctantly, Beck agrees, risking the anger of his wife due to putting police work over his family.
Beck heads off to Budpest and on arrival, begins an investigation. He is quite frustrated because he really doesn't have any info to work with. This investigation will involve the Swedish embassy, the Budapest police (Inspector Szulaka is a great character.) Is he helping Beck or tailing him? Also involved is a sexy, female predator. Is she trying to get Beck into a compromising situation?
In some ways the story reminds me of the Inspector Gideon mystery series or Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series. It's a police procedural, with the difference in this case being that Beck, instead of using his normal team, works with another police department. But, even having said that, he still communicates with those personnel and the final resolution comes about back in Stockholm.
Don't look for tons of action, even though there will be some. It's methodical, thoughtful, clearly described and flows along so well. Beck is a great character (why did it take so long to get to this 2nd book, I ask myself??). I like how he interacted with Inspector Szulaka and also with his people back in Stockholm especially with his partner Killberg. There was a crustiness, that curt style that people who know and trust each other sometimes use. I enjoyed it very much and the resolution was maybe somewhat pat but still interesting and satisfying. Now to get the 3rd book. (4 stars)
April 6, 2017
Some mystery novelists trace the origins of their craft to any one of several nineteenth century writers: Edgar Allen Poe, Willkie Collins, Arthur Conan Doyle, and others. But there appears to be a consensus among contemporary writers—at least among those who are partial to police procedurals—that the leading source of inspiration among modern authors was the Swedish husband-and-wife team of Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö.
Writing in the 1960s and 70s, Sjöwall and Wahlöö produced a series of ten novels featuring Inspector Martin Beck of the Swedish National Police. Unlike the contrived and stylized drawing-room mysteries of Agatha Christie and her many imitators, the Swedish duo never appeared to be in the business of entertainment alone, though their work is unquestionably entertaining: they used their genre as a mirror on society with all its flaws, much as Henning Mankell (in Sweden) and Jo Nesbö (in Norway) have done so ably in later decades. And Martin Beck, like Mankell’s Kurt Wallander and Nesbö’s Harry Hole after them, is a deeply flawed human being. Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö were the originators of Scandinavian noir.
The Man Who Went Up In Smoke is Sjöwall and Wahlöö’s second Martin Beck novel. I found it to be a much more accomplished effort than the first book in the series, Roseanna, in which the authors went to extraordinary lengths to communicate the tedium and wasted effort of police work and succeeded in becoming boring at times in the process. Set largely in Budapest, where Martin Beck has been sent to track down a Swedish reporter who disappeared there, The Man Who Went Up In Smoke is a complex, fast-moving, and suspenseful tale that will keep a reader guessing until the end (as it did Martin Beck).
August 19, 2021
“Martin Beck, the born detective and famous observer, constantly occupied making useless observations and storing them away for future use. Doesn’t even have bats in his belfry—they wouldn’t get in for all the crap in the way”
What is it that I love about Martin Beck? There’s something about him that I cannot get enough of. I think it’s actually his ordinariness to be honest that makes him quite extraordinary. His attention to detail, be it the meticulous details of the crime he is investigating or the mundane details of everyday life is so explicitly portrayed. The activities of daily life that intersperse with the investigative genius that he really is, come together to make him a totally believable and very likeable character albeit a somewhat aloof character.
“He got up, went out into the bathroom and coughed for a while, as he usually did in the mornings. After drinking a gulp of mineral water, he pulled on his dressing gown and opened the shutters and the window. The contrast between the dusky light of the room and the clear, sharp sunlight outside was almost overwhelming. So was the view”. What is it that I love about just knowing that Martin Beck goes to the bathroom and coughs for a while first thing in the morning? It’s his totally human and totally relatable portrayal.
The Man Who Went Up In Smoke is the second in the Martin Beck series written by the Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, the duo who virtually created Scandi Noir. The story sees Martin Beck investigating the disappearance of a Swedish man in communist Hungary. The climax of the investigation occurs back on Swedish soil, however, Martin Beck’s experiences in Hungary are what I enjoyed the most.. the descriptions of Budapest, what he could see from his hotel window and the interchanges with the Hungarian police.
I love too how Sjöwall and Wahlöö always and without fail refer to Martin Beck by both his names. Never just Martin or Beck but always Martin Beck. Not sure why I love that but somehow it adds to the whole style of their writing. Really looking forward to more of this series that set the scene for Scandinavian crime fiction.
August 4, 2009
The Man Who Went Up in Smoke is #2 in the series featuring Inspector Martin Beck. It's his vacation time, and his family has taken a cottage on an island off the coast of Sweden. But only a day into vacation time, he's recalled to work for an important case. It seems that the foreign office is concerned about a missing journalist, Alf Matsson, who was last seen in Budapest. While Beck's not clear as to why the foreign office should be so concerned, he takes on the case, starting in Matsson's last-known location. But other than where he was last seen, he really has no clue as to how he's going to find the missing man. He has to solve the case on the fly -- but his questions attract the attention of the police and people who knew Matsson, and he can't decide which group to trust.
To be honest, I liked the previous book (Roseanna) better, but this one was also good, not so much for the mystery, but because of the character of Martin Beck. At times he seems like a bit of a bumbler, but he's very smart, catching criminals off guard with his innate cleverness. There are a few humorous moments as well, and the scenes with his wife are really enjoyable. I can definitely recommend this book to anyone who is considering continuing in the series, or to anyone who enjoys a good mystery which is a cut above the normal stuff out there on the shelves. The Scandinavians can definitely write -- they are fast becoming my favorite group of mystery writers.
Overall -- enough of a good read to make me want to continue the series.
April 12, 2010
Based thus far only on the first in this mystery (police procedural) series and now this second title, I declare this series by wife / husband team Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo to be Compulsively Readable, as in everybody go away because I'm reading! Main character Martin Beck is an intelligent Everyman with subtle character quirks. The story in this book takes Beck behind the then Iron Curtain to Budapest (mid-60's), but with no emphasis on the Cold War - the authors make no East versus West political statements; the focus is on the police work as Beck traces a man who has simply vanished (hence the title). He teases out the truth in the authors' understated, wry style, wonderfully translated by Joan Tate. FYI, this is actually the second in the series - the English translation I read says it's the 3rd, but I think that's b/c the English pub dates for the 2nd and the 3rd (in original pub order in Sweden) were reversed. That said, and even though the next and third book in the series ("The Man on the Balcony") includes a quick reference to this second book, it's not important to read these two in order - I would read the 1st one first, though, to get an introduction to the main and supporting cast of characters. Given the current popularity of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (orig. in Swedish), for anyone who likes that book and the Swedish setting, the books in this series are a further particular treat.
October 20, 2020
I’m quite confused as to whether I should appreciate the elements of a detective story in this novel or whether I should solely base my opinion of this on how interesting it may be to a common reader.
When it comes to purely detective fiction, this particular novel has been crafted masterfully. It’s reminiscent of Hitchcock’s George Kaplan; there’s the right kind of red herring available (I admit I was thrown off and I arrived at the conclusion at the same time as Beck).
The things I had mentioned in Roseanna’s review are still the same. Martin Beck remains as sickly, tired and done with life as ever. His marriage is still on the rocks. He is not a Lone Ranger and requires the help of his colleagues time and again. In fact, at times, he misses out on the most important of clues and is reminded the same by his juniors.
Also, there’s no hurrah when Beck figures out who the bad guy is. This was prevalent in Roseanna as well. There’s almost some form of resignation and depression involved, I would say ? Almost as if he doesn’t want his calculations to be true. Both the endings have been bittersweet. With the female detective in the first novel commenting “poor guy” with respect to her almost-rapist/killer and, with both Beck and Kollander commenting time and again that if the Alf was found dead, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
But, the similarities end there.
I feel most of the suspense in this novel has been lost in translation, because once you look back on what you’ve read, you realise that the genius of Sjowall and Wahloo is unparalleled (at least during their times). But, I think the translator is unable to convey that.
If I could find an apt analogy, I’d say that if this book was edible, the initial taste would be bitter, but it would leave a pleasant aftertaste.
Readable, I guess.
February 10, 2014
Poor Martin Beck. He just can't catch a break. He has just started his month-long summer vacation with his family on a small island off the coast of Sweden when he receives a call to return to duty.
It seems that a Swedish journalist has gone missing in Hungary and Beck's superiors want him to go to Budapest to act as liaison to the investigation. He's told that he can refuse the assignment since he is technically on vacation. But, of course, he can't. Not really. So he packs his bag and heads off to Budapest.
These books were written in the 1960s and so we find a very different Eastern Europe described here to what we would read in a novel set in the present day. But Beck is struck with the beauty of Budapest and we learn a little bit about its history and the layout of the city.
Beck's investigation proceeds slowly at first, but then he meets his local counterpart and is very impressed with the organization and efficiency of the Budapest police. He finds that he is being followed by someone and at first suspects that it is the police, but finally learns that it is some associates of the journalist he is looking for. Indeed, the police save him from an attack by these associates.
He learns that the missing journalist is a misogynistic boor and bully and he is not much liked by anybody. In fact his disappearance is not a cause for sorrow for anyone, except perhaps his employer. Beck and the local police uncover the fact that the man had been involved in the trading of hashish from Turkey. Some of his associates would smuggle the drugs from Turkey and the journalist would pick them up in Budapest or some other Eastern European city and then take them back to Sweden where he would sell them at great profit.
The mystery is that none of his associates will admit to having seen him when he was supposed to have last been in Budapest in June. In May, yes, but not in June. Beck begins to suspect that they are telling the truth and that the journalist did not actually travel to Budapest in June, even though he shows to have been registered at a couple of hotels then. He suspects that the solution to the puzzle will be found back in Sweden.
What great fun this book was to read! And the fun begins right up front with Val McDermid's wonderful introduction. Martin Beck is aptly described as "not some solo maverick who operates with flagrant disregard for the rules and thinly disguised contempt for the lesser mortals who surround him. Nor is he a phenomenal genius blessed with so extraordinary a talent that mere mortals can only stand back in amazement as he leads them unerringly to the solution to the baffling mystery." No, indeed, Martin Beck is an ordinary man, a middle-aged hypochondriac whose marriage and family life is slowly disintegrating under the pressure of his obsession with his job.
Moreover, Beck works as a part of a team and we get to know the members of that team and learn how their strengths and weaknesses balance each other. This seems a truthful representation of the real nitty-gritty world of police work. At the time that Sjowall/Wahloo were writing these books, that seems to have been a new concept.
One of the great pleasures of reading this book was the descriptions - both of people and of places. Another pleasure was the sly humor which underlay so many of those descriptions and the conversations between Beck and his colleagues. As an example, here's a brief description of a man and woman that Beck saw in a hotel in Budapest.
Martin Beck turned his head and saw a person staring at him: a sunburned man of his own age, with graying hair, straight nose, brown eyes, gray suit, black shoes, white shirt and gray tie. He had a large signet ring on the little finger of his right hand and beside him on the table lay a speckled green hat with a narrow brim and a fluffy little feather in the band. The man returned to his double espresso.
Martin Beck moved his eyes and saw a woman staring at him. She was African and young and very beautiful, with clean features, large brilliant eyes, white teeth, long slim legs and high insteps. Silver sandals and a tight-fitting light-blue dress of some shiny material.
Presumably they were both staring at Martin Beck - the man with envy, the woman will ill-concealed desire - because he was so handsome.
I would recognize those people if they walked into my room right now! Especially that woman with her "high insteps." It must be said that Beck seems to have a bit of a foot fetish going because one of the things that he always notices about women is their feet.
Well, I could go on, but let me just sum this up by saying that I loved this book and I look forward with eager anticipation to reading the next eight in the ten book series. And while I'm reading, I'll be looking for the ways in which Sjowall/Wahloo's Martin Beck was the forerunner of so many other popular dour, dyspeptic Scandinavian policemen of modern-day fiction. | ||||
7165 | dbpedia | 3 | 41 | https://www.librarything.com/topic/30596 | en | The best crime writers from Scandinavia? | https://www.librarything.com/favicon_lt_32.ico | https://www.librarything.com/favicon_lt_32.ico | [
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1Anne51
Edited: Oct 16, 2011, 2:49 am
It is difficult to decide which I like the most. I'm inclined to think that each country has some very good authors:
- Sweden: Henning Mankell and Kerstin Ekman
- Norway: Karin Fossum and Unni Lindell
- Finland: Leena Lehtolainen
- Iceland: Arnaldur Indridason and Ævar Örn Jósepsson
- Denmark: Peter Høeg
What do you think?
2ostrom
Feb 25, 2008, 10:40 pm
Unfortunately, I can't argue with you! Mankell and Ekman are splendid.
3amberwitch
Feb 26, 2008, 2:33 am
I've just been on a Scandinavian reading spree - haven't stopped yet, in fact - but not any of the authors mentioned unfortunately (except Peter Høeg, and I never considered him much of a crime writer).
Arne Dahl's Misterioso is good, but not overwhelmingly so.
Liza Marklund's Primetime has an absorbing plot once it get going, but the tone is grating.
Åsa Larsson's Solstorm is the one I liked best from a Swedish author. The language was understated, and the portrayed characters and their complex relationships were very cleanly presented, without any telling needed.
Right now I am reading the 3. book in the Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbø. Probably the first crime novel I've read by a Norwegian writer. I'm only halfway through, but Rødhals seems like a very good book so far. Apart from a bit of disconnectedness in the beginning due to the very short chapters, and lots of time and character jumps.
If anyone had any recommendations to Finnish crime writers I'd be much obliged. As part of my 888 challenge I would like to read one - se http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=30546
4Anne51
Edited: Feb 29, 2008, 5:33 am
I'haven't read the next author yet, but she seems to be a good Finnish crime writer: Leena Lehtolainen wrote Tappava säde (1999).Look also at her website: http://www.leena-lehtolainen.de/ (in German).
5christiguc
Feb 28, 2008, 9:49 am
>3 amberwitch: Re: Finnish crime writers
What languages can you read in?
6amberwitch
Feb 28, 2008, 10:58 am
>5 christiguc: Very relevant question:-)
I can only read in Danish and English I'm afraid. A lot more in English than Danish, due to my genre preferences (science fiction and fantasy)
In general, if the original language of a book isn't English, I read in Danish.
I expect most Scandinavian crime writers are translated to Danish, but I may be wrong.
7Rullakartiina
Feb 28, 2008, 11:36 am
>6 amberwitch: I'd like to second theLeena Lehtolainen recommendation. Sorry, it seems like we're teasing you, since there are no English or Danish translations available. Some of her books have been published in Swedish, though. Is that any use to you?
Another possibility: Matti Yrjänä Joensuu. He's a former policeman who writes police procedurals. Books in English: Harjunpaa and the Stone Murders and The Priest of Evil. Here's the Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matti_Joensuu.
8alans
Jun 25, 2008, 3:10 pm
What about Karin Alvertegen? I think she is
Swedish. There are three mysteries in english, the
one I read and loved was Betrayal.
9KromesTomes
Edited: Jun 25, 2008, 3:38 pm
Another excellent Swedish choice is the writing team of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo ... their "Martin Beck" mysteries are quite good ... and the Uncertainty by the Danish author Michael Larsen was another winner.
10Behind_the_Lines
Jul 2, 2008, 5:46 am
Hi KromesTomes,
which book do you like most of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo? My favourite is 'The Locked Room'. And how do you find the more recent books of Maj Sjowall?
11alans
Jul 3, 2008, 10:04 am
My paper's crime reporter mentions a new book by Jo Nesbo, a Norwegian writer. And Asa Larsson of
Sweden has a new title coming out in the fall called
The Black Path .
12Lisanne624
Jul 17, 2008, 11:42 am
I also like Kjell Eriksson. His novels are being translated into English. Try The Princess of Burundi to start.
13Behind_the_Lines
Aug 21, 2008, 7:08 am
At the moment I'm reading Linda - is that a reference to Linda Wallander, I wonder - of Leif Persson. Has anyone read anything of him? I like it so far. He is an admirer of Sjöwall and Wahlö.
14bookstothesky
Edited: Jan 22, 2009, 10:22 am
I'll put in the good word for Jo Nesbo as well. I've read, in English (because that's all I can read besides a smattering of Spanish), The Redbreast, Nemesis, and The Devil's Star.
I've also read the late Stieg Larsson's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo which I really enjoyed, and I just finished his second book in the Millenium trilogy, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and I thought it was even better. I'm chomping at the bit to read the final novel, but it won't be released in English until the autumn of 2009.
Edited to try to get the touchstones to work for Larsson's books, but they're not loading correctly.
15alans
Jul 13, 2009, 11:27 am
Has anyone read Unseenby Mari Jungstedt? I plan to start it soon. It looks really good.
16Anne51
Oct 23, 2009, 5:32 am
Hi bookstothesy I just finished number 2 of Millenium trilogy, The Girl who played with fire, myself and I had some difficulties to get into a reading mood. In number 1 I was hooked from the start. But somehow somewhere after a certain page it happened again and now I'm also ready to read nr. 3. Did you finished it, yet?
17bookstothesky
Oct 23, 2009, 10:56 pm
Hello Anne,
Yes, I finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest a couple of weeks ago and, unfortunately, I was mildly disappointed by the whole thing. Probably a slight case of 'familiarity breeds contempt' with regard to Salander's character and abilities. I actually found Salander to be kind of bratty toward the end of the book, which I think was a character regression from book 2.
One of the things I really dislike in a book is when characters show selective levels of intelligence (i.e., the story won't work unless character X is dumb as a rock for a certain period of time) and that happened with virtually all the bad guys in this novel. I'll leave it at that, as I don't want to go into specifics and spoil things for you and others. The book was still pretty good but it's my least favorite of the three.
Now I can't wait for the next Nesbo book :)
18melystu
Jan 5, 2010, 2:34 pm
I'll put in a strong plug for the Sjowall/Wahloo books. All 10 that this husband and wife wrote together are excellent. Nearly all were made into films and TV movies, but none that I've been able to find are available to Americans. I was lucky enough to see a film fest of them all in Washington DC with subtitles many years ago, but I've never been able to obtain copies of any. "Roseanna", the first, is excellent.
19fickleflan
Jan 6, 2010, 10:07 pm
I, too, loved The Locked Room. It has the funniest scene in a book I've ever read. Thanks to you all for more suggestions for Scan. mysteries. I've read all the Sjowall/Wahloo books except The Terroists. I've read all English translations available for Indridason, Mankell, Fossum, Tursten, both Larssons, Edwardson, Erikson, Nesbo, Sigurdardottir, Wagner, Theorin, Dahl, Alvtegen, Nesser, van de Wetering. I'm eagerly awaiting the delivery of 2 more Nesbos. I'm ready for more authors to discover. Bring 'em on. My favorites are Alvtegen, Mankell, Indridason, Fossum, Erikson, Nesbo, and Dahl. K.O. Dahl has a Facebook page and writes back to fans!
20fickleflan
Jan 6, 2010, 10:24 pm
For those of you looking for a Finnish mystery in English, I can mildly recommend ICE MOON by a German, Jan Costin Wagner. It was short-listed for the Mystery division of the LA Times Book Awards in 08.
21jmyers24
Feb 19, 2010, 4:43 pm
>20 fickleflan:, eileenf Thanks for the recommendation!
22fellings
May 13, 2010, 11:48 am
I recommend SNOW ANGELS by James Thompson. He is an American but has been living in Finland for a number of years. The book is set in Finland.
I am also a Mankell fan. Karin Alvtegen is another Swedish writer I like although her books are a bit on the dark side. I think BETRAYAL is the first book of hers I read. I just finished THE ICE PRINCESS by Camilla Lackberg and enjoyed it very much.
I am most interested in Norwegian writers since my husband's father was born in Norway and we have many ties there. Have you found any of Unni Lindell's books available in English?
23flashMinor
May 15, 2010, 8:17 am
Hi - have just found your group. I loved Hakan Nesser's Borkmann's Point and read a further 2 or 3 of his & had the feeling that I was reading the same story over again in some odd way. Has anyone else found this with his works? It reminded me a little of Agatha Christie's 'batches' of storylines - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Endless Night. Love Asa Larsson, Inridason, Mari Jungstedt and Edwardson. Looking forward to working my way through the recommendations from this group. Stumbling my way through learning Danish.
24jmyers24
May 16, 2010, 1:57 pm
I know I read Ice Moon in translation so I'm curious whether or not anyone else was reminded of Hemingway's style while reading the book. Some where in the back of my mind, I kept was reminded of The Old Man and the Sea, which I haven't read since high school.
25alans
May 26, 2010, 2:45 pm
Read my first Karin Fossum on the weekend.Black Seconds will probably end up being one of my favourite reads of the past year. I have taken out more Fossumfrom the library and I'm looking forward to reading them.
26wordscribe
Jun 7, 2010, 6:01 am
Jarkko Sipila won Best Finnish Crime Novel for 2009 with his Helsinki Homicide: Against the Wall. That's actually up now for the Glass Key Award for best Scandinavian crime fiction with the winner to be announced around the end of June. There's a second book in the series, Helsinki Homicide: Vengeance that I just finished reading and it's quite good. They've both been translated into English.
27IronMike
Jul 4, 2010, 11:58 pm
I join bookstothesky in recommending Jo Nesbo's books. I read The Redbreast, Nemesis, and The Devil's Star and thought I would have to wait for ages for the next Nesbo book. Two more have recently been released: The Redeemer, and The Snowman and I have ordered both of them.
28jmyers24
Jul 6, 2010, 8:37 pm
I'd like to add What is Mine by Anne Holt.
29jmyers24
Edited: Jul 11, 2010, 12:55 pm
Just finished writing my review of The Stonecutter by Camilla Lackberg:
http://www.librarything.com/work/1351293
30alans
Sep 7, 2010, 3:57 pm
It was with great anticipation that I started reading Karin Alvtegen's newest book Shadow. But unlike an earlier one buy her, I thought this one was a total stinker. I didn't care for most of the characters throughout the book.And this
book was nominated for one of the top Scandinavian book prizes. It was
a major let-down and now I don't feel like reading any other of her work.I think the one I did like was called Betrayal. That was great fun.
31jmyers24
Sep 8, 2010, 11:10 pm
>#30 I think your touchstone is for a different book with same title.
32Anne51
Sep 19, 2010, 4:05 pm
I have made a new list in Google Docs today. Feel free to add your suggestions of best crime writers and novels:
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1qp0Ev93f0NVPn2IaPdiXadgtPu-LPk_486kjJSA...
33Anne51
Sep 19, 2010, 4:09 pm
This message has been deleted by its author.
34Thrin
Edited: Apr 30, 2011, 5:42 am
Has anyone read The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler? I haven't but am wondering how you think it compares with Larsson's Millenium Trilogy?
Edited to add that Touchstones is giving the wrong author.
35amberwitch
May 24, 2011, 4:48 pm
I wasn't impressed by The Hypnotist at all. Under all the 'fat' there was a halfway decent plot, but it never emerges from under the cliches and superfluous descriptions. But then I also thought that book two and book three of Stieg Larssons Millenium trilogy was highly overrated - especially the third book was twice as long as it should have been.
36RDHawk6886
May 24, 2011, 5:32 pm
I would highly recommend Asa Larsson's series, which starts with Sun Storm. I agree with the earlier statement that the Millenium trilogy is overrated. I find Asa Larsson's series to be much more substantive and introspective, along similar lines to Mankell's stuff, than the Millenium trilogy. I find the series highly rewarding.
37bookstothesky
May 25, 2011, 5:55 pm
A couple of weeks ago, I finished an eARC of Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen's book Mercy (UK title, came out in March, I think) and The Keeper of Lost Causes over here in America (coming in August, I believe). At first I rather disliked the story and the main character--a police officer recovering from a gunshot wound and essentially shuffled off to try and solve cold cases of murder involving high profile victims--but by the end of the book I found I'd quite enjoyed the whole thing. The main character (Carl, last name escapes me) becomes a more sympathetic protagonist, his "assistant" is clever and intriguing, and the villain is quite on par with anything my current favorite crime author Jo Nesbo has come up with. A minor drawback is the translation, which is just a little off when it comes to natural dialogue. Still, I will eagerly read the next in the series when it gets translated.
38Thrin
Edited: May 28, 2011, 5:48 pm
>35 amberwitch:,36 I'm not a Millenium Trilogy fan either, but was curious to hear about The Hypnotist as I've been waiting to see how long it would be before Millenium copy-cat works appeared. The first one of Steig Larsson's was quite enough for me. I do enjoy Nesbo's and also Asa Larsson's books, and shall have a look at Adler-Olsen's book soon (thanks for the tip bookstothesky).
40Anne51
Jan 8, 2012, 12:39 pm
Recently I also read Kvinden i buret - Mercy or Erbarmet in English and German - of Jussi Adler-Olsen and I quite liked it. I agree with you, bookstothesky, the main character isn't a very nice person, but he was growing on me. I find this author quite good and I'm glad there is now besides Peter Høeg, who is more a novelist, a very good Danish crime writer.
41PatMT
Jan 11, 2012, 6:32 pm
Thanks everybody I found your comments really helpful. I was a big fan of the Steig Larsson trilogy and enjoyed number 3 most. I also love Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole books but have been disappointed with 'Headhunters' which I thought was a Hole novel but it isn't.
Having liked the above and having watched 'The Killing 2' and the start of 'Brogen' on TV I am keen to read more. I have downloaded samples from many of your suggestions on my kindle to try some new names - so thanks again
Pat MT
42Maxine_
Edited: Mar 13, 2012, 9:02 am
Sweden: plus Johan Theorin, Asa Larsson, Karin Altvegen (& many others) - Sjowall and Wahloo, of course.
Norway: agree on Fossum. Don't think Lindell is translated into English. Also Gunnar Staalesen, Anne Holt and K O Dahl.
Finland: Lehtolainen isn't translated. Purge by Sofi Oksanen is very good (set in Estonia, mainly).
Iceland: Josepsson not translated. Agree on Indridason. Also Sigurdardottir, Ingolfsson.
Denmark: Jussi Adler-Olssen
43eclt83
Edited: Sep 8, 2012, 6:28 pm
To post 13, Behind_the_Lines
No, no relation at all to Linda Wallander. I am currently listening to "Linda" by Leif GW Persson. Linda is a common name in Sweden. ;)
44eclt83
Sep 8, 2012, 6:44 pm
IMO of the authors I've read;
1. Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo -- Martin Beck series
2. Leif GW Persson -- Evert Bäckström series
3. Henning Mankell -- Kurs Wallander series
4. Anders Roslund & Borge Hellstrom -- Ewert Grens series
5. Stieg Larsson -- Millennium triology
6. Ann Rosman -- Karin Adler series
7. Camilla Lackberg -- The Fjällbacka series
8. Jens Lapidus -- Stockholm noir | |||
7165 | dbpedia | 0 | 14 | https://www.mysteriousbookshop.com/products/sjowall-maj-roseanna | en | Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö - Roseanna | [
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] | null | [] | null | With a New Introduction by Henning Mankell.The masterful first novel in the Martin Beck series of mysteries by the internationally renowned crime writin... | en | //www.mysteriousbookshop.com/cdn/shop/t/4/assets/favicon.ico?v=83685581664704013481505763419 | The Mysterious Bookshop | https://www.mysteriousbookshop.com/products/sjowall-maj-roseanna | With a New Introduction by Henning Mankell.
The masterful first novel in the Martin Beck series of mysteries by the internationally renowned crime writing duo Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö ("the best writers of police procedurals in the world"), finds Beck hunting for the murderer of a lonely traveler.
On a July afternoon, a young woman's body is dredged from Sweden's beautiful Lake Vattern. With no clues Beck begins an investigation not only to uncover a murderer but also to discover who the victim was. Three months later, all Beck knows is that her name was Roseanna and that she could have been strangled by any one of eighty-five people on a cruise. As the melancholic Beck narrows the list of suspects, he is drawn increasingly to the enigma of the victim, a free-spirited traveler with a penchant for casual sex, and to the psychopathology of a murderer with a distinctive--indeed, terrifying--sense of propriety. | ||||
7165 | dbpedia | 3 | 57 | https://petronatwo.wordpress.com/2011/08/14/crime-fiction-from-sweden/ | en | Crime fiction from Sweden | [
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] | null | [] | 2011-08-14T00:00:00 | Having recently covered crime fiction from Norway, including books by authors not so well-known to English-language readers, I thought I would do the same for Sweden but from a slightly different perspective. Over the past year there have been repeated, often identikit, articles in newspapers and magazines as well as on blogs and internet sites… | en | https://secure.gravatar.com/blavatar/43d56737ccbfddb5c7c8d3e2b2b3ef60da3541373c85cf07237805cff8eada86?s=32 | Petrona | https://petronatwo.wordpress.com/2011/08/14/crime-fiction-from-sweden/ | Having recently covered crime fiction from Norway, including books by authors not so well-known to English-language readers, I thought I would do the same for Sweden but from a slightly different perspective. Over the past year there have been repeated, often identikit, articles in newspapers and magazines as well as on blogs and internet sites that don’t usually cover crime fiction, about Nordic – largely Swedish – crime fiction. I write “identikit” because almost all these articles take as a starting point the exciting Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson – and more recently, the similar-ish exciting Three Seconds by Roslund-Hellstrom (winner of the 2011 CWA International Dagger).
I do not intend to write here about these novels (you will probably be relieved to know), as Stieg Larsson in particular has been covered from every possible angle, with every last drop drained out of his novels and life-story by a range of opportunists, to screaming point. What I do intend to write about is the more typical Swedish crime fiction (in my experience), which is not usually a genre of breathlessly exciting, casually expressed thrillers, but is a more suspenseful, psychological and, yes, often gloomy world. Don’t think that Stieg Larsson or Roslund-Hellstrom’s Three Seconds is typical of Swedish crime fiction, because neither is (Three Seconds isn’t even typical of Roslund-Hellstrom’s earlier translated novels!).
PART ONE
I’ll soon begin highlighting Swedish authors who I think more “typical” than S Larsson, but first I should as usual mention Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, the originators of the modern crime-fiction genre (whether in Sweden or anywhere else). These authors wrote a series of ten books with the umbrella title The Story of a Crime, which followed the life of Martin Beck and colleagues as they investigate various cases (each one a take on a different crime subgenre) against a background of the crumbling of the 1970s Swedish welfare state much admired outside the country but less so by these Marxist authors. I mention these books for two reasons: one because they are not thrillers, even those that deal with bombs and other acts of group terrorism; and another because they influenced so many other Swedish crime writers to write their own novels in a similar style. First of these (to my knowledge) was Henning Mankell; subsequently authors such as Ake Edwardson and Kjell Eriksson started on their own 10-book series, well before Stieg Larsson decided to do the same (but only got as far as book 3).
I’ll go on to discuss these and some other authors whom I consider to be more typical of the output of the region – with the usual corollary that these are, of necessity, books translated into English.
Henning Mankell. First and until Stieg Larsson the most well-known of Swedish crime writers post Sjowall and Wahloo, his ten-book series about Inspector Kurt Wallander of the Ystaad police focuses on issues facing Swedish society as well as the character of the lugubrious Wallander and some of his colleagues and family (particularly his daughter Linda). My own take as a reader is that Mankell is more interested in these issues than his rather silly crime plots: the first novel in the series, Faceless Killers (first published in 1991), was inspired by issues of immigration and racial prejudice that had not figured in Martin Beck’s era of the 1970s. Subsequent novels addressed many of modern society’s problems, but with a veneer of sadness and depression, such as Kurt’s relationship with his father and broken marriage. Linda, Kurt’s daughter, is initially a rebellious and troubled teenager, but gradually becomes the life-force of the books, most clearly articulated in the final novel of the series, The Troubled Man, in juxtaposition with the ageing Kurt’s memories and decline. [Mankell’s Wallander series was written over many years with long gaps in between; the author has also written books that are not part of this series and which feature his take on the global sociopolitical agenda far more stridently, as well as children’s books, plays and polemics. Of course there have been popular Swedish (2) and English TV series based on the Wallander books.]
Hakan Nesser is another author of a ten-book series whose first title, The Mind’s Eye, was published in 1993 (first English translation 2009); the first six have been translated and a seventh is coming up soon. Inspector van Veeteren and team are in an indeterminate country (I see it as the Netherlands but others disagree) and, like Sjowall/Wahloo, each book (and case) is about a different crime subgenre (legal thriller, “locked room”, secretive religious community, etc). Unlike Edwardson and Eriksson (see below), Nesser shares with Sjowall and Wahloo a bleak but very funny sense of humour; and a strong disillusionment by the main character in police work and the crimes he has to investigate. After book 6, Van Veeteren is poised to quit the police force and buy a bookshop, an interesting departure from the police-procedural norm. Hakan Nesser also writes another, more recent series about Inspector Gunnar Barbarotti, a Swedish police inspector of Italian descent. This series has not (yet?) been translated into English but the first book is called Human without Dog.
Ake Edwardson was an academic at the University of Gothenburg, where he sets his Inspector Erik Winter novels, of which I think five have so far been translated – starting in 1997 – with at least two to follow. Like Sjowall and Wahloo, these novels focus on a group of police detectives and their professional and personal interactions as they accrue evidence and talk through the progress (or lack of progress) of their cases. Winter is the youngest Inspector in the Swedish police force, and during the series becomes the father of a baby, with associated domestic challenges. Again like those of Sjowall and Wahloo, the books are about the problems of modern society – disaffected youths, unemployment, foreign “guest” workers, racial harassment, teenage prostitution and child abuse. The author also writes non-fiction and children’s novels, so depicts his younger characters vividly.
Kjell Eriksson, the same age as Edwardson, writes a police-procedural series set in Uppsala. Three of these novels (from mid-series) have been translated into US editions, with a fourth one to follow later this year. Billed as “Ann Lindell” mysteries, these books really lost out from being translated out of order, not least because of the domestic situation of Ann, which is confusing for English readers who have not read the early books (the first one was published in 1999). Erkisson has written 10 crime novels, but I don’t know if they are all part of this series. Of the three I’ve read, these books tend more to the pyschological and bleak than focusing on social comment, with quite detailed investigations of the foibles and worse of various characters, though of course unemployment, immigration and so on are in the background of the cases the police investigate.
Helene Tursten is the last author of the overt Sjowall/Wahloo successors I’ll discuss in this post. She writes about Inspector Irene Huss of the Gothenberg police, with the first book, Detective Inspector Huss, first published in 1998. Unfortunately only the first three titles have been translated into English – in US editions. A fourth is apparently due out in English next year. Irene is a very attractive character – independent, happily married mother to two teenage girls, clever and intuitive. The other two translated books, The Torso and The Glass Devil, are increasingly bleak, and possibly a trademark is that Irene visits Denmark and England, respectively, in them- making me wonder if she goes to a different country in each book. Inspector Huss is also a very popular TV series in Sweden. I am very fond of these books and recommend them highly as excellent examples of classic crime fiction with a modern take – as well as a great female role model in the main character.
The authors above wrote their series starting in 1991 (Mankell), 1993 (Nesser), 1997 (Edwardson), 1998 (Tursten) and 1999 (Eriksson). Stieg Larsson’s first Millennium Trilogy novel, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, was first published in Sweden in 2005, and in the UK January 2008.
PART TWO.
I’ll move on now to Swedish crime fiction authors who don’t follow the police-procedural route originated by Sjowall and Wahloo. Just as Mankell is the first “icon” of these, Kerstin Ekman is perhaps the best equivalent for the rest. Ekman is more of a literary than a crime novelist, writing about a particular region in the north of the country, but her 1993 novel Blackwater (containing some characters from other novels) was the first of this set to be translated into English. I have read it but found it very dense and quite hard-going, perhaps because I had no earlier context for the large cast of characters. At its heart, it is a book about a woman who goes missing while camping, her past, and the effects of this situation on the small community of Blackwater. Its plot is very, very sad in one particular. I don’t know if this book has been influential to subsequent Swedish crime novelists, but it seems to me to be the origin of many common elements – isolation, a hard climate, a struggling small community, characters suffering inner despair or hiding deep secrets, and so on – while being on no level sensationalistic. To learn more about this fascinating author and her fictional world, please read the 2010:1 issue of the Swedish Book Review, featuring articles about her and some new translations of her work.
Asa Larsson is writing six (I think) novels about Rebecka Martinsson, a financial lawyer initially based in Uppsala who comes from Kiruna, in the far north of the country. Sun Storm (2003, aka The Savage Altar) follows Rebecka’s attempts to help an old childhood friend who is accused of murder, in the process having to confront the horrors of her own childhood. One of the many strengths of this haunting novel is the depiction of the old people in the northern village, and their way of life, in particular an old neighbour Sivving. The next two books (The Blood Spilt and The Black Path) follow these themes of small communities, religious or spiritual beliefs, and the struggle of a young woman to overcome her internal demons and some real threats to her life. The detective elements are satisfying too, with Anna-Maria Mella (mother of several children and heavily pregnant in book 1) and her increasingly complicated deputy, Sven-Erik. After a gap of 3 years, I am delighted that MacLehose Press has taken over the UK publication of this series and that the next book, Until Thy Wrath Be Past, is out in the UK this month. [Rebecka Martinsson’s name is said to be a tribute to Sjowall and Wahloo’s Martin Beck.]
Karin Alvtegen, another favourite author of mine, has written five non-series novels of psychological suspense, of which I most highly recommend Missing (2000, foreshadowing The Girl Who Played With Fire), Betrayal (2003) and Shadow (2007), all very different – Missing is very exciting, but the novels are bleak, grim, and not always leaving the reader with any hope. At a recent literary event, the author spoke about her increasing abhorrence with violence and the way it is so casually depicted on TV and other media, so has challenged herself to write a suspenseful book with no violence. I am sure she can do it, and the result will probably be my perfect crime novel!
Liza Marklund is another firm favourite of mine, in her superb depiction of a journalist, Annika Bengtzon, from her sad childhood and days as in intern with a ghastly boyfriend, desperately trying to keep her place as a subeditor in a newspaper office, to her role as a well-known journalist struggling to produce “real” stories with integrity while the media industry plunges downmarket, and equally struggling to be a good parent to two young children. Her friend Anne works in TV so we also see the crushing effects of that industry on the moral values and lives of those working in it. Annika’s job brings her into contact with dramatic stories of course, and her senior “deep throat”-like contact in the police force does her investigations no harm. She stays one step ahead of the game in the world of newspaper politics but it isn’t so clear that she’ll manage the same in her personal life. The first four books in the series were published a while ago; after a gap they are now being republished and the new novels (there are 9 so far) being translated for the first time, beginning with last year’s Red Wolf. The author is interested in journalistic values, political/historical issues (for example, sex-trafficking is the theme of the strongest (in my view) novel in the series, Paradise, and Red Wolf examines whether modern terrorism could have originated in the anti-war protest movements of the 1960s and 1970s); less so in providing “solutions” to the crimes, which are usually tossed over to the police to sort out. Hence, Liza Marklund is the perfect “anti-overblown ending” crime author – and for all these reasons is one of my very favourites.
Inger Frimansson writes very good psychological novels: so far translated are a pair and a standalone (I’ve reviewed them at Euro Crime). Disturbed protagonists, inadequate police investigations, small and superstitious communities – it is all here.
Johan Theorin is writing a marvellous quartet set on the small island of Oland, the first one published in 2007. In common with other novels in this second “tranche”, he writes so well about the old communities and residents (especially the 80-something fisherman Gerlof), embedding his novels with the superstitions and legends of the island. I can’t recommend the first three novels highly enough (the fourth one is not yet written); these novels are crime fiction at its very best. (See my Euro Crime reviews of them.)
Camilla Ceder is a new (to English speakers) novelist who on the basis of her first novel, Frozen Moment, fits into the Kersten Ekman mould. The novel is a vivid yet freezing portrait of small communities in the countryside round Gothenberg, a mystery that has its roots in the past, as many good mysteries tend to do. Both the police characters and the various witnesses and residents are portrayed with subtlety and individuality, so I am looking forward to seeing how this series develops.
AND THE REST
Two favourite Swedish authors who don’t seem to fit neatly in either of these categories are Camilla Lackberg and Mari Jungstedt. The former writes a series set around Fjallbacka, so far there are nine titles (five translated) beginning with The Ice Princess (2008). The protagonist is Erika Falk, a journalist and true crime author, who gets involved in various local cases, not least because of her relationship with Patrik Hedstrom, the sharpest of the local police force (though he isn’t as sharp as most readers!). Part crime novels and part domestic romances, these books are very popular. Mari Jungstedt sets her novels on the island of Gotland. Like Lackberg, they have police-procedural elements in the team led by Inspector Anders Knutas, and a strong romance theme involving Stockholm-based TV reporter Johan Berg and Emma, a woman who lives on the island. There are nine books in the series so far, of which the first five have been translated. Both these series contain dark themes and other typical elements of crime fiction, but they are both more preoccupied with the romantic lives of their characters than is common in a crime novel. Both series are very readable and involving, addressing many of the same contemporary themes of social and personal ills that figure in most crime novels; I very much enjoy them both.
Are these the only Swedish crime novels I’ve read? No. But they all started before Stieg Larsson began publishing his novels, or in a couple of cases began to publish at the same time. None can therefore be said to have been influenced by the Stieg Larsson phenomenon, and all can be read and enjoyed in their own right. A few details:
Mons Kallentoft’s first novel Midwinter Sacrifice will be out soon: I have read it and think he is an author worth looking out for – he writes about small-town life and has a female police detective as a main protagonist. There is also a slight supernatural element.
Lars Kepler’s The Hypnotist received a lot of publicity when first published (the authors are a husband and wife team) but my view is that although it has some good elements, it degenerates into a horror-thriller that I found too commercially driven for my taste, more hype than substance.
Lief G W Persson’s books are being translated now. The one I read, From Summer’s Longing to Winter’s End, was far too long and tedious for its content. It was as if someone had taken the “establishment conspiracy” elements common to the LeCarre end of the genre (as used by Stieg Larsson in The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest), created a few onion skins out of them, and added a bit of brutality to a slowly moving whole. It is the first of a trilogy but I don’t think I have the will to find out more about which spook turns out to be not as we thought, etc.
Roslund-Hellstrom’s Box 21 (aka The Vault) is perhaps the bleakest and most anger-making novel I’ve read in a long time, focusing on sex-trafficking and police corruption. Very good indeed.
Arne Dahl’s well-regarded novels will soon be available to English readers in US editions – I for one am looking forward to those.
The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist is not really a crime novel in the sense of having a perpetrator or much suspense – it has elements of science fiction – but I do highly recommend it as a haunting, thought-provoking study of both character and society.
More Swedish crime fiction authors (and reviews of some of their books) are at Euro Crime’s regional listing. If any readers of this post can recommend other Swedish authors who have been translated into English not mentioned here, I’d be very grateful and happy to read their books. [I should also note that there are writers from other countries who set novels in Sweden, of course. One I would recommend as being in the Eckman tradition is Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name by Vendela Vida, though for me it does not quite have the same resonance as the books discussed here written by Swedish authors. There is also a recent novel called Meet me in Malmo by Torquil MacLeod which is worth checking out.]
Thanks are due to the many translators who have bought these books to English-language readers: Laurie Thompson, Steven T Murray/Reg Keeland/McKinley Burnett, Joan Tate, Anna Patterson, Tiina Nunnally, Ebba Segerberg, Neil Smith, Marlaine Delargy and many others. | ||||
7165 | dbpedia | 1 | 35 | http://www.australiancrimefiction.com/grydehoj | en | Grydehoj — The Australian Journal of Crime Fiction | https://assets.squarespace.com/universal/default-favicon.ico | https://assets.squarespace.com/universal/default-favicon.ico | [
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] | null | [] | null | en | https://assets.squarespace.com/universal/default-favicon.ico | The Australian Journal of Crime Fiction | http://www.australiancrimefiction.com/grydehoj | Manufactured Exoticism and Retelling the Story of a Crime:
the Case of Sjöwall and Wahlöö’s Reception in France
Anne Grydehøj
University College London
Between 1965 and 1975 Swedish writer couple Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö wrote a series of ten police procedurals, to which they gave the collective title The Story of a Crime [Roman om ett brott]. The idea behind the decalogue was to employ the crime novel ‘as a scalpel to slit up the belly of the ideologically pauperised and morally debatable so-called welfare state of the bourgeois type’ (Wahlöö 1967, p. 176 , my translation) and to formulate a Marxist critique of successive Swedish Social-Democratic governments’ flirtation with capitalism (Lind 2012). The generic template would allow the critique to be accessible to readers from all social layers and educational backgrounds, and show international readers the downsides of the embellished image of ‘the Swedish model’, largely created by Sweden’s ‘talented PR man […] Olof Palme’, as Sjöwall explains in a recent interview (Lind 2012). While this was a didactic and highly politicised literary project, the engagement of French publishing and media with translations of The Story of a Crime suggests different considerations. The reception of these writers in France is simultaneously symptomatic of an ongoing international branding of the contemporary Nordic crime novel and — when investigated in a historical perspective — revelatory of specific internal conditions within the localised cultural setting of this host country.
From Erotica to Exotica: the Reception in France of Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
The shifting evolution over the last 40 years in the reception of Sjöwall and Wahlöö in France — from the first translations launched in the early 1970s to the way the works of these writers are embedded within the current reception of noir nordique — demonstrates how the image of the Nordic region is not static, but historically contingent. The selection and labelling involved in the marketing and critical reception of these writers bear witness to varying preoccupations at specific times in a process not only concerned with aspects of the representation of the Swedish Other, but also responding to various personal and commercial imperatives in France. The cultural transfer of these Swedish writers’ novels seems, moreover, a case in point because they directly and consciously deal with images and counter-images of Sweden produced internationally .
The Story of a Crime was introduced to the French public in three stages, with editions that each highlight, project, or indeed invent a hypothetical Scandinavian sensibility as part of the different marketing strategies of the publishing houses involved.
The first translated edition was a half-hearted, and commercially rather unsuccessful, attempt by Editions Planète to introduce Sjöwall and Wahlöö to a French readership. Between 1970 and 1972, Planète commissioned translator Michel Deutsch to translate Sjöwall and Wahlöö from the English of the American edition. Being at two removes from the Swedish original, the French translation consequently — but perhaps unintentionally — omits parts of the more political passages in the fifth and sixth novels, Brandbilen som försvann (1969) [The Fire Engine that Disappeared, 1970a] and Polis, polis, potatimos (1970b) [Murder at the Savoy, 1971], relating to Swedish police reform in 1965 and its consequences. Furthermore, the release of the novels did not follow the chronological order in which they were intended to be read, and Planète — due to the low sales figures — stopped their publication of the series after the sixth novel.
Sjöwall and Wahlöö viewed the series as ‘one long novel of about 3,000 pages broken into ten individual parts, or indeed, chapters’ (Sjöwall and Wahlöö 1973, p.24, my translation) which, in order to lure the crime reading audience in, would remain ‘as good as apolitical [until] the fourth or fifth book’ (Hertel and Larsen 1973, p. 14). Therefore, considering that the writers do not start revealing the political agenda until the middle of the series, the actual revelation of the big crime committed by Social-Democratic governments was thus lost for French readers in this first attempt to acquaint them with Sjöwall and Wahlöö.
The image of Sweden that Planète was using to brand The Story of a Crime contradicted the purpose of the series, almost to the point of its self-destruction. The photographs on the front covers show increasingly naked women posing in settings and colour schemes connoting those of pornographic magazines of the period. The original title of the fifth novel in the series, Brandbilen som försvann [‘The Fire Engine that Disappeared’] (1969), translates into a different, erotically charged reinterpretation in the French edition, Feu à Stockholm [‘Fire in Stockholm’] (Sjöwall and Wahlöö 1972), a suggestively altered title, further reinforced by the front cover featuring a nude, supposedly stereotypically tall, blonde ‘Scandinavian’ model on an orange-red background of flames.
Swedishness is exploited in the marketing strategy, but only as a signifier of exoticism. The exotic representation of this land of the North cultivates a view of Sweden as a pornographic paradise, where sexual liberation is in full swing. However, this is rather paradoxical as the pornography industry — though certainly more liberalised in 1960s Scandinavia than in France — is routinely, throughout the series, depicted as one of capitalist consumer society’s downsides, and is a major theme under critical scrutiny in some of the individual novels. In Terroristerna (1975) [The Terrorists 1976], the final novel, one of three plotlines constituting the narrative is that of a millionaire pornographer, Walter Petrus, who entices teenagers into the industry by promising them instant careers as stars, subsequently adding amphetamines and heroin as a means of persuasion. Early in the novel, Petrus is found murdered in his lover’s house; however, the subsequent investigation centres more on the disentanglement of his own criminal activities in the porn industry than on the unmasking of the culprit. The abysmal discrepancy between the visual imagery on Planète’s early French edition of the novels and the actual content of the novels is also a testimony to the fact that the French publishing industry at the time was not interested in, or perhaps not aware of, the radicalism and the agenda of protestation present in the novels. They were marketed disguised in jaquettes that classified them visually as extreme low-brow pulp with a marketing strategy that paid no attention to the social and political critique embedded in the narratives.
French journalistic reviews dating from the early 1970s make no mention of the political dimension in the novels either. Instead, articles stress the literary kinship between the Swedish and Francophone specimens of the genre and exploit presumed feelings of recognition and hommage; Martin Beck is thus referred to as ‘le cousin scandinave de Maigret’ [‘Maigret’s Scandinavian cousin’] or as ‘une sorte de Maigret suédois’ [a sort of Swedish Maigret’].[1]
In the 1980s a new edition of The Story of a Crime appeared. Translator and literary critic Philippe Bouquet approached the Union Générale d’Éditions with a proposition to re-launch the cycle. This initiative resulted in re-edited versions of the first six novels with the addition of Bouquet’s French translations of the final four novels, this time based on the original Swedish texts. These were published between 1985 and 1987 in the collection 10/18 with front covers that — in comparison with the previous edition (and perhaps as a commentary on these) — are remarkably neutral, with cover photographs generally showing a single object (a ladder, a water tap, a fire extinguisher or an electrical cord) on a simple monochrome background.
Bouquet embodies a certain French political approach to the noir nordique, which is noticeable in his initial advocacy of the genre and has an affiliation with his broader analysis of internal cultural and societal conditions within France and how these express themselves through the ways in which the country imports foreign literatures. Bouquet argues (1993, p. 401) that Swedish-French literary transfer in the 20th century is ‘l’histoire […] d’une longue suite d’occasions manquées’ [‘the story of a long succession of missed opportunities’], where Scandinavian literature has continuously been rejected by publishing and critical establishments in France. In his analysis of why Scandinavian literature has had difficulty breaking the French market, Bouquet introspectively finds the explanation in the French cultural self-image:
Notre culture latine, traditionnellement livresque, abstraite, élitiste, aurait pourtant trouvé là de quoi se régénérer, regagner le sens du pratique et de l’action, s’apercevoir que le monde des arts et des lettres a un rôle à jouer dans l’évolution sociale d’un pays et non seulement dans la formation de ses beaux esprits (Bouquet 1993, p. 406).
[Our Latin culture, traditionally book-centred, abstract, elitist, would yet have found in this something from which to regenerate itself, regain its sense of practicality and action, and to notice that the world of arts and letters has a role to play in the social development of a country and not just in the training of its finest minds.]
The quotation refers directly to the lack of French translations of Swedish ‘proletarian’ literature from the interwar period[2]. The notion, however, of an uninterrupted French resistance to Swedish literature over time is in Bouquet’s discussion contained within resistance to a non-intellectual, non-bourgeois foreign literature that cannot be properly digested within French culture more generally. Oppression, when it comes to letting alternative voices be heard, is a cultural characteristic of France:
Notre pays n’aime décidément pas que ‘la voix du peuple’ se fasse trop entendre. Cela pourrait bien sûr changer trop de choses dans une nation qui s’apprête à momifier dans la rhétorique, les flonflons et les banquets, le souvenir de 89. Il ferait beau voir que la littérature du peuple soit prise au sérieux au pays de Voltaire! (Bouquet 1988, p. 7)
[Our country definitely does not like the ‘voice of the people’ to be heard too much. This could obviously change too many things in a nation preparing to mummify the memory of 1789 in rhetoric, oompah bands and banquets. It would be nice to see the people’s literature taken seriously in Voltaire’s homeland!]
From a similar perspective, Bouquet argues that the Scandinavian collective novel as narrative form has never exerted serious influence on French literary culture:
Personne en France ne s’est mis à écrire des ‘romans collectifs’ […] pour la bonne raison qu’on aurait été bien en peine de dire de quoi il s’agissait. Nos grandes fresques sociales sont toutes bourgeoises […] et intellectuelles (Bouquet 1993, p. 409).
[No one in France has started writing ‘collective novels’ for the reason that they would have had a hard time saying what they were about. All our grand social frescoes are bourgeois and intellectual]
The only way to challenge the mummification of social action in France seems to be to impose an impetus from the outside. It is in this context that Bouquet, later in the same article, introduces Sjöwall and Wahlöö as part of a Scandinavian movement of engaged literature, which has something to offer French crime writers:
[Sjöwall et Wahlöö] leur ont prouvé que le roman policier pouvait fort bien […] être le véhicule d’une critique sociale, politique et même historique interdite dans le cadre de la fiction ‘respectable’ (Bouquet 1993, p. 418).
[[Sjöwall and Wahlöö] proved to them that the crime novel could very well […] be the vehicle of a social, political, and even historical, critique, prohibited within the framework of ‘respectable’ fiction]
Bouquet’s mid-1980s translations of The Story of a Crime thus constitute a way of contesting the French cultural establishment both as literary expressions of ‘the people’s voice’, and as exemplars of a genre that is not constrained by the oppressive norms of French bourgeois literature in general. When Bouquet later ‘discovers’ Henning Mankell and introduces the latter’s first novel to the French readership in translation (Meurtriers sans visage 1994)[3], it similarly relates to this broader cultural and political project, aiming to challenge received notions in France that literature is detached from social responsibility, and to counter in-built social and cultural stratification.
The latest edition of the Martin Beck series — introduced by Rivages after the international wave of Nordic crime novels following the commercial success of Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell — privileges the recent high profile and success of Scandinavian crime fiction with a red bandeau hailing Sjöwall and Wahlöö as ‘les fondateurs du roman policier suédois’ [‘the founders of the Swedish crime novel’]. This is by contrast with the first translations of their work from the early 1970s, which lacked the same focus on the construction of a supposed idea of Nordic identity as emphasised in the reception and presentation of Nordic crime fiction today.
Sjöwall and Wahlöö’s very immediate political agenda of showing the corruption of the Swedish state meets with different fortunes in successive French editions of The Story of a Crime. Marketing strategies are motivated by commercial considerations grounded contingently in localised tastes and concerns. Accordingly, a political agenda is downplayed in one edition and foregrounded in another. National identity, too, can be seen to be a malleable concept. Correspondingly, in an early edition of a work, Swedishness can be associated trivially or flippantly with pornography, whereas it later comes to denote a morose seriousness, linked with sober stock-taking of the successes and failures of a social model. That it is Swedishness that is in question is secondary to a status of Other in relation to a French norm dictated by local considerations.
In this light, images of Swedish (or other) national character are as much a surviving construct of the French gaze as they are a product of crime narratives written in the Nordic countries, where an imagined national identity is, by contrast, treated with scepticism and sometimes irony, contesting the very idea of a stable national identity. If the role of the engaged crime writer is to observe, describe and critique issues within the contemporary polity, the surrounding participants in the publishing, distribution and consumer industry seem to act in a way that contravenes the literary narrative expressions thereby restricting the possibility of debating the social and political issues with which the literature itself engages.
Polars polaires: Current French Cultural Representations of Nordic Crime Fiction
Within the field of crime fiction studies, it is a truism that ‘[c]rime fiction moves easily from one culture to the next’ (Platten 2012, p. 29). The increasing amount of crime novels translated and retranslated from the Nordic languages and the current popularity of Nordic films and series — both in France and internationally — bears witness to this. An ensuing argument that is easy to make would be that crime fiction functions as a social and communicative platform for intercultural exchange and dialogue between the world and the Nordic countries. Since it is a characteristic of noirs nordique that the foreign culture is not only illustrated, but also investigated, it is logical to assume that they provide French readers with insights into the cultures of the Nordic countries that go beyond national stereotypes and generalisations. However, while Nordic crime narratives have moved into France’s cultural sphere of reference, it is clear, from the analysis of the reception of Sjöwall and Wahlöö in France in a historical perspective, that this is not necessarily the same as assuming that the ideas, aims and background understanding of the texts are instantaneous travel companions. In current media coverage of noir nordique, in which a common reference point is precisely the works of Sjöwall and Wahlöö, a new set of more or less constructed ideas of the North again finds its expression. Rather than promoting intercultural understanding, it seems, contrarily, to be a case of transfer, where:
le fait que les textes circulent sans leur contexte, qu’ils n’emportent pas avec eux le champ de production […] dont ils sont le produit et que les récepteurs, étant eux-mêmes insérés dans un champ de production différent, les réinterprètent en fonction de la structure du champ de réception, est générateur de formidables malentendus. (Bourdieu 2002, p. 4)
[the fact that texts circulate without their context, that they do not bring with them the field of production […] of which they are a product, and that the receivers, themselves integrated within a different field of production, reinterpret them according to the structure of the field of reception, causes unbelievable misunderstandings]
The fact that there are many different actors involved in the production and promotion of the publishing and media phenomenon of the noir nordique, has the result that multiple — and potentially conflicting — imperatives will inevitably be in play.
The noir nordique or variations of the term (polar[4] nordique, polar scandinave) function as an easy recognisable marketing brand used to cover literature and TV series from the Nordic region. In French bookshops, Nordic non-crime-fiction authors are categorised and displayed under the signs of these categories. The translations of Swedish novelist Björn Larsson’s works are thus marketed and reviewed as ‘polars’ even though his novels have a questionable relationship with the genre. Even the works of French crime writers who have some affiliation with the Nordic countries (like Olivier Truc, correspondent for Le Monde in Stockholm) are branded as noir nordique. Tapping into this success, the ‘genre’ also extends into other literary domains exploiting the associated inventory of Nordic crime writing as revealed in the title and suggestive design of the cookbook, Crimes glacés: 50 recettes inspirées des polars scandinaves [‘Ice Crimes: 50 Recipes Inspired by Scandinavian Crime Fiction’] (Martinetti and Lebeau 2013).
If there is a noir nordique template in media and critical discussions, there are a number of typical features that it could be said to include. The first of these is an almost obligatory reference to Sjöwall and Wahlöö as founders of the genre. Another important feature is reference to the Nordic welfare model, linked in turn to fundamental and universal problematics of the development of Western societies treated in the novels, such as globalisation, corruption, immigration, neoliberalism, and so on and so forth. This feature is frequently discussed in terms of a civic fall from grace, as in the following example from France Culture’s introduction to an hour-long emission debating both the mass shootings carried out by Anders Breivik on the Norwegian island of Utøya, and Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy:
Ce pays nordique [la Norvège] était hier perçu comme idyllique par nombre de Français, admiratifs et peut-être un peu jaloux du fameux ‘modèle scandinave’, mélange heureux — pensait-on — de démocratie sociale et de dynamisme économique. (Le Côté obscur du modèle scandinave 2011)
[This country [Norway] was yesterday perceived as idyllic by any number of French people, who admired and perhaps were a bit jealous of the famous ‘Scandinavian model’, a joyful mix — it was thought — of social democracy and economic dynamism.]
The natural counterpart to the lost idyll of the ‘Scandinavian model’ is the frequently cited ‘côté obscur’ [the dark side] of the Nordic societies. This is particularly accentuated in the Swedish context by the idyllic background of Folkhemmat [‘the People’s home’]. It is linked in turn to the pervasive significance attributed to the Nordic climate, the typical coldness and darkness of which connote similar qualities in the moral sphere, not least in relation to the typically melancholic investigative protagonist. There are also other typical ‘Scandinavians’ (tall, blond…), in whom a supposed personality type conforms to a constructed body. In this respect, as in others, the noir nordique genre is one that is characterised as highlighting discrepancies between a stereotypical ideal and a less satisfactory reality. The novels thus describe a society that Prolongeau (2006: 64) situates ‘à cent lieues de l’image idyllique faite de blondes sculpturales, de richesses industrieuses et de paix sociale, qui s’attache encore aux capitales du Nord’ [‘a hundred miles from the idyllic image made up by sculptured blondes, industrial wealth and social peace, which is still associated with the capitals of the North’]. Such characterisations are no less based on such clichés to begin with. Frequently, the ‘genre’ is pigeon-holed by a negative definition and explicitly considered in the light of the absence rather than the presence of characteristic features. The enumeration of clichéd features — albeit recurrently presented with a certain ironic self-distancing from the stigmatising French perspective of the North — retains the reception of Nordic crime fiction in an iterative mode, eliding serious discussion of the actual issues debated in the works themselves.
There is an unusual contradiction in the fact that one of the reasons for the genre’s critical and commercial appeal in France is its unremitting attention to the minutiae of daily life, placed in a context exoticised by the filter of cultural transfer so that features of the everyday become ineffably Other in French critical discussion. This otherness extends to characters’ and authors’ names, including emblematically those of Sjöwall and Wahlöö: ‘Pareils noms les exposaient à des attentats phonétiques et orthographiques de la part des peuples “cultivés” du monde’ [‘Such names expose them to phonetic and orthographic attacks from the world’s “cultured” peoples’] (Bouquet 1994, p. 93). This kind of paradox is understood more generally by Graham Huggan (2002, p. 13) in the following terms:
The exotic is not, as is often supposed, an inherent quality to be found ‘in’ certain people, distinctive objects, or specific places; exoticism describes, rather, a particular mode of aesthetic perception — one which renders people, objects and places strange even as it domesticates them […] Exoticism, in this context, might be described as a kind of semiotic circuit that oscillates between the opposite poles of strangeness and familiarity.
French characterisations of the North in discussions of noir nordique can be said to operate within such a circuit. We might term borealism the hybrid of the realist depiction of the everyday and the exotically nordique that appeals to French critical sensibilities.
Geography is another key feature linked closely to climatic otherness. The covers of crime novels from the Nordic countries showing desolate and gloomy snow-covered landscapes form part of the ‘marque nordique’, which make them easily recognisable for a bookshop browser on the lookout for an exemplar of the genre. This uniform marketing template also confirms an imaginary of spatial marginality, which explicitly establishes a spatial organisation based on notions of the exotically cold and thus on otherness in relation to France. These repetitive covers apply a symbolic distance through the conventional imagery of cold, barren landscapes, repeated in titles of reviews dealing with Nordic crime fiction where climatic stereotypes serve an equally epitomising function: typical examples are ‘Les Grandes brumes du Nord’ [‘The Great Northern Mists’] or ‘La Dérferlante venue du froid’ [‘The Wave that Came in from the Cold’]. A frequent denominator in the titles is the use of the adjective froid [‘cold’] to create an ambiguous metaphorical constellation alluding both to the Nordic climate and to emotional expressions relating to either the coldness of a murderer’s actions or the chilling experience of the thrill that comes with reading about them. There are numerous variations on this theme: ‘Sueurs froides en Suède’ [‘Cold Sweats in Sweden’], ‘Le polar scandinave: il fait froid dans le dos’ [‘the Scandinavian polar: Spine-chilling’] or ‘Meurtres à froid’ [‘Cold-blooded Murder’].[5] Titles like ‘Frissons Nordiques’ [‘Nordic Shivers’] and ‘Polars polaires: ils sont passés maîtres dans l’art de vous glacer le sang’ [‘Polar polars: Past Masters in the Art of Making Your Blood Freeze’] similarly employ climatic and emotional terminology to frame the specificity of the genre.
This climatic exoticism can already be found in mid-1980s reviews of Sjöwall and Wahlöö’s novels. Bertrand Audusse’s 1987 review in Le Monde of Le Flic ricanant [The Laughing Policeman] appears under the title ‘Le Policier qui venait du froid’ [‘The Policeman Who Came in from the Cold’] and contains many of the ingredients that have become emblematic in journalistic engagement with the genre in France. It becomes clear and particularly curious in this context that the reviewer exploits a generalised expectation on behalf of his readers, which manipulates the novels’ fictional framework. While The Laughing Policeman does take place during the winter months, Sjöwall and Wahlöö’s series mostly uses the Swedish summer as the scenic background for the narratives, and this particular narrative frequently comments on foreigners’ perception of Sweden as covered in snow and ice irrespective of the season. The predominant outdoor images instead feature people going on their summer holidays, girls in bikinis, blooming trees, and chief investigator Martin Beck and his colleagues frequently suffer from the heat in their offices at the police station. Intentionally or not, the expression ‘…qui venait du froid’ — which has become a staple of French commentary on Nordic crime writing — echoes John Le Carré’s 1963 novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. Evoking the polarity between the East and the West during the Cold War, the re-situation of the expression contains a sense of (re-)intrusion and of outsiderdom. While alluding climatically to the supposedly mono-seasonal USSR, the new polarity between the North and the South replaces old opposites.
The Nordic countries are regularly referred to and epitomised as one uniform entity, not taking into account national distinctiveness, and all under the umbrella concept of ‘cold exoticism’, emphatically coined in the expression polar polaire. This is a notion bizarre to most Danes, Norwegians and Swedes, who live as far away from the polar circle as from Paris; or as the narrator states at the opening of the sixth Martin Beck novel, Murder at the Savoy: ‘Malmö is closer to Rome than to the midnight sun’. In the novel this statement continues into a correcting crystal-ball response to future stigmatising characterisations of Sweden found in the outside world: ‘[a]nd even if many winters are slushy and windblown, summers are just as often long and warm, filled with the song of the nightingale and scents from the lush vegetation of the expansive parks’ (Sjöwall and Wahlöö 2007, p. 1).
In the representation of the North, climatic elements — such as snow and ice — comprise more than an immediate semantic understanding; their symbolic connotations expand into the ‘idea of the North’. This conceptual exoticism implies a notion of forced marginality, where the collective characteristics of what we might term the ‘geo-genre’ (a genre notion defined by its authors’ geographical position rather than the individual — and varied — literary specificities of their writing) is artificially pushed towards an invented arctic imagery. Hyperbolic manipulation of the sense of latitude towards the North Pole, as the point farthest away from a (normative) centre in France, nurtures a polarised vision of ‘nordicité’, as opposed to ‘latinité’.
The categorisation and classification of the ‘polars polaires’ generate an oppositional difference between France and the North, a discursive space in which it is possible to both idealise and criticise the Other in a movement of self-reflection. When the reception deals with images of ‘le modèle nordique’, the Nordic model of the welfare state is often represented equally in terms of idealisation and self-reflection. Aurélien Masson, current editor of Gallimard’s Série Noire, thus claims that the success of Scandinavian crime fiction comes down to the fact that ‘ils [les polars venus du froid] évoquent une social-démocratie assez proche de la nôtre’ [‘they conjure up a social democracy rather close to ours’] (Leménager and Reymond 2010, p. 32). Benjamin Guérif, responsible for the Scandinavian division at Rivages, states that the genre’s popularity can be attributed to the fact that ‘beaucoup de lecteurs français se reconnaissent dans cette dénonciation du puritanisme et de l’autosatisfaction arrogante des hommes politiques’ [‘many French readers recognise themselves in this denunciation of puritanism and of the arrogant self-satisfaction of politicians’] (Leménager and Reymond 2010, p. 32). The process thus contains bi-directional forces both drawing attention to exotic aspects of Nordic crime fiction and emphasising similarities between the French Republic and the Nordic welfare model.
What Bourdieu (2002, p. 4) refers to as ‘malentendus’ [‘misunderstandings’] generated by mechanisms in the reception field, often find their way to the French public. Journalistic reviews like the following from Le Figaro not only conform to a quasi-uniform formula, which here presents Søren Sveistrup’s television series, Forbrydelsen [The Killing], to the French audience by highlighting the dull and rough weather (and likewise characters) in conjunction with the negation of the myth of the perfect welfare state, they also transfer certain misinterpretations:
Bienvenue dans la sombre et pluvieuse Copenhague. Dans cette série policière, le commissaire est une femme sans grâce qui boit sa bière au goulot, emmaillotée dans son pull tricoté par les Inuits du Groenland. […] Sarah Lund […] a tout faux au pays des familles modèles: mère célibataire, elle s’occupe peu de son fils. En face de ce caractère rude comme l’hiver, toutes les bassesses humaines qui se dissimulent derrière le puritanisme d’une société impeccable. (Luteau and Duponchelle 2012)
[Welcome to dark and rainy Copenhagen. In this crime series, the detective is a charmless woman who drinks her beer from the bottle, wrapped in her sweater knitted by Inuits from Greenland. […] Sarah Lund incarnates everything wrong in the land of the model family: she is a single mother and does not take much care of her son. Confronted with this character as rough as winter, we find all the downsides of humanity hiding behind the puritanism of an impeccable society.]
Sarah Lund’s now iconic sweater was designed and created for the series from traditional Faroese knitting patterns. In the review, however, it is geographically relocated to Greenland, reinforcing the construct of the far-away polar North as signifier for all parts of the Nordic region. This supposedly also fits with a certain idée recue of Denmark’s postcolonial relationship with Greenland — by association perhaps with Peter Høeg’s success in France with the crime novel Smilla et l’amour de la neige (1995) [Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne, 1992].[6] This misinterpretation runs counter to the immediate connotations of the sweater for a Danish audience, for whom Sarah Lund’s outfit alludes to the 1970s and the origins of politically engaged crime fiction. With reference to a childhood in a hippy milieu in Copenhagen in the 1970s, Sofie Gråbøl, the actress playing Inspector Sarah Lund, explains the symbolic meaning of the jumper to the international audience: ‘I wore this sweater and so did my parents. That sweater was a sign of believing in togetherness […]. To me it says that she’s wanting to sit around a fire with a guitar; it gives a great opposite to her line of work and behaviour’ (Frost 2011). Further into the French review from Le Figaro, its authors give a parenthetical explanation to the meaning of the main character’s name stating that the surname Lund refers to ‘marécage’ [‘swamp’] in Danish. The meaning of en lund is, in fact, ‘a grove’, precisely the place where one could imagine a group of friends sitting around a campfire. Instead, the faulty French translation fits into the elementary noir nordique template by pointing to the sombre and wet conditions associated with a swamp.
The above example shows that interpretation of fictional national symbolism finds different considerations in the new context, which leads to stigmatisation and misreading. There has, however, been a development in the media’s treatment of Nordic crime fiction in France, which operates against the uniform template and tones down the exoticism. Elisabeth Tegelberg, having studied the representation of Swedish crime fiction in French journalistic reviews in the first half of the 2000s, identifies a tendency towards a more nuanced treatment of the genre in which the discussion is ‘less influenced by horizons d’attente than previously and where one has a feeling that literary reviewers are treating Nordic literature in French translation with greater respect’ (Tegelberg 2007, p. 431, my translation). While Tegelberg merely highlights this, the change can be interpreted in the light of the increased number of academics with a background in Nordic or Scandinavian studies (from universities in Lille, Paris, Caen, Lyon and Strasbourg) employed in the publishing business. These increasingly and frequently contest the clichés surrounding the ‘genre’ in the media as in this interview with Marc de Gouvenain[7], who ridicules the French construct of the imagined North:
C’est tout de même paradoxal: chaque fois qu’on évoque les Scandinaves, il faut qu’on ajoute des rennes! Effectivement, dans cette trilogie [Millénium], on trouve des ordinateurs, des motos, des loubards dans le métro et des iPods, mais... pas de rennes. (Ferniot 2009)
[It’s rather ironic: every time you mention Scandinavians, you have to add reindeer to the mix! In this trilogy [Millennium], you effectively find computers, motorbikes, louts in the metro and iPods, but… no reindeer.]
However, while the more serious exceptions to the French media’s general treatment of the noir nordique also engage with the social critique present in this imported literature — or, as we have seen in Bouquet’s case, attempt to use the imported literature as a vehicle to contest the French literary establishment’s concerns — it seems as if they are having a hard time breaking into the dominant template. Commercial imperatives govern the French reception of crime fiction from the Nordic countries to the extent that it might even now be possible to talk about the geo-genre’s demise. Ironically, however — as Bouquet puts it — ‘le coupable ne fait aucun doute: c’est le succès’ [‘there can be no doubt as to who the culprit is: it is success’] (2010, p. 107).
References:
Audusse, B 1987, 'Le Policier Qui Venait Du Froid', Le Monde, 7 February, p. 23.
Bouquet, P 1988, L’Écrivain Et La Société: Textes Choisis, Traduits Du Suédois Par Philippe Bouquet, Pleins Chants, Bassac.
Bouquet, P 1993, 'Les Relations Littéraires Franco-Suédoises à L’époque Moderne', Battail, M. and Battail, JF (eds), Une Amitié Millénaire: Les Relations Entre La France Et La Suède à Travers Les âges, Beauchesne, Paris, pp. 397-420.
Bouquet, P 1994, 'Sjöwall Et Wahlöö: Les Moralistes Venus Du Froid', Europe, 780, pp. 93-101.
Bouquet, P 2010, 'Qui A Tué Le Roman Policier Suédois?', Nordiques, 22, pp. 95-107.
Bourdieu, P 2002, 'Les Conditions Sociales De La Circulation Internationale Des Idées', Actes De La Recherche En Sciences Sociales, 145, pp. 3-8.
Delacoche, P, 1986, 'La Voiture De Pompiers Disparue, Madame Figaro, 15 February, p. 18.
Ferniot, C 2009, 'Polar Polaire, Lire. 376, p. 26.
Frost, V 2011, 'The Killing: Sarah Lund’s Jumper Explained', The Guardian [Online], 10 March [Accessed 18 October 2013], Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/
Hertel, L and Larsen, E 1973, 'Sjöwall Og Wahlöö Interview', Information, 19 October, p. 14.
Huggan, G 2001, The Postcolonial Exotic: Marketing the Margins, Routledge, London.
'Les Matins d’Été, Le côté obscur du modèle scandinave' 2011, France Culture, 2 August, 07:00.
Leménager, G and Reymond J 2010, 'Le Polar Nordique: Pourquoi ça Marche En France', Le Nouvel Observateur, 10 March, p. 32.
Lind, K 2012, 'Maj Sjöwall', Faktum [Online], 116, [Accessed 1 June, 2013] 24 May, Available from: http://www.faktum.se/2012/05/maj-sjowall
Luteau, L and Duponchelle, V 2012, Les Six Séries TV à Connaître Absolument, Le Figaro [Online] 17 April, [Accessed 10 September 2013], Available from: http://www.lefigaro.fr/culture/
Martinetti, A and Lebeau, G 2013, Crimes Glacés: 50 Recettes Inspirées Des Polars Scandinaves, Marabout, Paris.
Platten, D 2011 The Pleasures of Crime: Reading Modern French Crime Fiction, Rodopi, Amsterdam/New York.
Prolongeau, H 2006, 'Le Polar Scandinave: Il Fait Froid Dans Le Dos', Transfuge, 11, pp. 63-69.
Sjöwall, M and Wahlöö, P 1969, Brandbilen Som Försvann, Norstedt, Stockholm.
Sjöwall, M and Wahlöö, P 1970a, The Fire Engine that Disappeared, trans. Joan Tate, Pantheon Books, New York.
Sjöwall, M and Wahlöö, P 1970b, Polis, Polis, Potatismos, Norstedt, Stockholm.
Sjöwall, M and Wahlöö, P 1971a, 'Kriminalromanens fornyelse', Politiken, 30 July, p. 24.
Sjöwall, M and Wahlöö, P 1971b, Murder at the Savoy, trans. XX, Pantheon Books, New York.
Sjöwall, M and Wahlöö, P 1972, Feu à Stockholm, trans. Michel Deutsch, Planète, Paris.
Sjöwall, M and Wahlöö, P 1975, Terroristerna, Nordstedt, Stockholm.
Sjöwall, M and Wahlöö, P 2007, Murder At The Savoy, Harper Perennial, London.
Tegelberg, E 2007, 'Le Polar Suédois: Reflektioner Kring svenska Deckares Framgångar I Frankrike', Finsk Tidskrift, 7-8, pp. 421-438.
Wahlöö, P 1967, 'Grisen är ett gåtfullt djur', Pan/Norsted (eds), Tryckpunkter: 23 Svenska Författare I Egen Sak, Nordstedts, Stockholm, pp. 174-181.
Notes:
[1] Unattributed newspaper review of Sjöwall and Wahlöö, Elles N’iront Plus Au Bois (Planète 1970) [Mannen På Balkongen, Norstedt, 1967], 31 May 1970, Bibliothèque Des Littératures Policières, Paris, Archive ‘Le Polar Scandinave’; unattributed newspaper review of Sjöwall and Wahlöö, L’Homme Qui Partit En Fumée (Planète 1971) [Mannen Som Gick Upp I Rök, Norstedt, 1966] 16 February 1971, Bibliothèque Des Littératures Policières, Paris, Archive ‘Le Polar Scandinave’.
[2] The Swedish proletarian novel is the topic of Bouquet’s doctoral thesis, L’individu Et La Société Dans Les Ouvres Des Romanciers Prolétariens Suédois, 1910-1960 [‘Individual and Society in the Works of Swedish Proletarian Novelists 1910-1960’], successfully defended at the University of Lille III in 1980.
[3] Bouquet has translated more than 200 novels from Danish, Norwegian and (especially) Swedish. The selection of Nordic crime novelists he has translated (including Mankell, Staffan Westerlund, Fredrik Ekelund, Kjell Eriksson and Leif G. W. Persson) points to a preoccupation with the engaged spectrum of Nordic crime fiction.
[4] Informal abbreviation for (roman) pol(icier).
[5] Sueurs Froides is the French title of Hitchcock’s Vertigo.
[6] In the UK, Sarah Lund’s sweater is often referred to as the ‘Fair Isle jumper’, which stresses a different re-appropriation of symbolic value to suit the local flavours of this host country.
[7] Marc de Gouvenain is a translator from Swedish and the editor for Actes Sud responsible for bringing Stieg Larsson to France long before the Millennium trilogy had been discovered in the Anglophone world.
Anne Grydehøj holds an MA in French and Comparative Literature from Aarhus and a PhD from the University of Kent, where she previously taught Danish. She now works in the Department of Scandinavian Studies at University College London under the provisions of the Danish government’s lecturer scheme. She is currently working on a book project on her major research interest, namely the representation of identity issues in contemporary French and Scandinavian crime fictions.
Back to Contents
The Australian Journal of Crime Fiction
Vol 1 No 1 2017
http://www.australiancrimefiction.com
Editors: Christiana Gregoriou, David Platten, Gigliola Sulis | |||
7165 | dbpedia | 0 | 96 | https://abookwormsmusing.wordpress.com/2018/01/08/book-review-the-locked-room-by-maj-sjowall-per-wahloo/ | en | Book Review: The Locked Room, by Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö | [
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] | 2018-01-08T00:00:00 | Book review of The Locked Room, crime fiction novel written by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. ISBN: 9780007242986 | en | https://secure.gravatar.com/blavatar/7549a6f9fc61e9bbfd6460be092e215770ddc998789c10a420e50004ac70a2cd?s=32 | A Bookworm's Musing | https://abookwormsmusing.wordpress.com/2018/01/08/book-review-the-locked-room-by-maj-sjowall-per-wahloo/ | Though I love the genre of crime fiction, I only very recently chanced upon the sub-genre of locked room mysteries. When I found this book in a quaint little bookstore, I didn’t hesitate to pick it up. The blurb was quite intriguing.
The Locked Room begins with the woman making her way toward the bank at Hornsgatan. She’s nervous, and with good reason to be. She’s about to rob that bank. Everything seems to be going without a hitch, but someone tries to play the hero, and she shoots him dead. In another part of the city, cops discover a corpse. The victim seems to have been shot through the heart, and the room is locked from within. Did he commit suicide? The cops think so, but Detective Inspector Martin Beck notices something that indicates otherwise. He also feels the two incidents are related. Can he piece the clues together?
This was different from any crime fiction novel I’ve read so far. The authors not only offer an insight into the crime, but also the mindset of the criminals as they approach their task. I liked that descriptive nature of the narration. The level of detailing, however, is constant through the book in all aspects almost. Whereas it is good when it comes to character sketches and crime scenes, it doesn’t feel as necessary with the politics of the country or minor quirks of a character. There was very little pace, and at times it felt quite difficult to persist with. The authors also bring about a third impending crime scene, a robbery, and show how the investigations are focused on that instead. Maybe it’s a very realistic touch, and I admire that, but as a reader, I wished the two cases in focus were kept in focus.
Martin Beck, as an investigator, felt very meticulous, at times a bit distracted by his thoughts or surroundings. He irks his fellow officers, and doesn’t make a good impression on them too. I found the names of the places and the people a bit difficult to keep track of, but it’s not a negative point for the book of course. The reasons why the perpetrators did what they had to do are pieced together close to the end, and I couldn’t predict either reason. So it is quite excellent in that regard.
Would I read this book again? I think so. I liked the plot and its execution in general, and the book is only let down by a few things. Not one of my favorite books in the genre, but I’d still say it’s worth a read.
Book Details Title: The Locked Room Series: Martin Beck #8 Author(s): Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö Genre: Crime Fiction ISBN/ASIN: 9780007242986 Publisher: Harper Perennial
No payment was taken for this review. The views expressed here are mine, and they remain uninfluenced and unbiased. | ||||
7165 | dbpedia | 0 | 5 | https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/authors/32244/per-wahloo | en | Penguin Random House Canada | https://images.randomhouse.com/author/32244 | https://images.randomhouse.com/author/32244 | [] | [] | [] | [
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"Per Wahloo"
] | null | Born in 1926, Per Wahlöö was a Swedish writer and journalist who, alongside his own novels, collaborated with his wife, Maj Sjöwall, on the bestselling Martin Beck crime series, which is credited as inspiring writers as varied as Agatha Christie, Henning Mankell, and Jonathan Franzen. In 1971 the fourth novel in the series, The Laughing Policeman, won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. Per Wahlöö died in 1975. test | en | /themes/custom/penguin/images/favicons/favicon.ico | Penguin Random House Canada | https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/authors/32244/per-wahloo | |||
7165 | dbpedia | 3 | 94 | https://stargazer-online.com/2019/09/19/focus-on-crime-fiction/ | en | For Book Lovers and Random People | [
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"stargazer"
] | 2019-09-19T00:00:00 | Why do we love crime fiction so much? The crime/thriller genre made up 36% of total book sales in Britain in 2017 and for the first time crime fiction exceeded literary/general fiction. | en | For Book Lovers and Random People | https://stargazer-online.com/2019/09/19/focus-on-crime-fiction/ | Why do we love crime fiction so much? The crime/thriller genre made up 36% of total book sales in Britain in 2017 and for the first time crime fiction exceeded literary/general fiction.
A range of explanations have been suggested for this trend, perhaps I will discuss these in another post. For now, I will just feature some recent reads and highlight what I look for in crime fiction, or more particularly, in mysteries.
1. The Plot
Most mysteries follow a well-defined structure, with a crime or discovery of a crime early in the story and the remaining part focusing on the gradual discovery of facts – possibly with a good many red herrings – ultimately leading towards the climatic revelation and finishing with a short epilogue.
My ideal mystery features relatable characters, but at its best, a strong plot can stand alone. A prime example of a strong plot is Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, which I read as a child. It was my first Christie and it shook my world. I have been an avid fan of Christie (and crime) ever since.
I recently read Smallbone Deceased by Michael Gilbert on recommendation from FictionFan. This is one of British Library’s Crime Classics and another example of a clever plot. The action is centred around a solicitor’s office, where the body of Mr. Smallbone is found. The suspects are a charming bunch, but Gilbert didn’t engage much in character studies, which meant only a few of them stood out to me. Occasionally, I had to go back to remind myself about one of the characters. However, the plot combined with excessively charming writing made up for that and I enjoyed it very much.
2. The Characters
A plot has to be unique to stand on its own. A good plot can keep me entertained, but the stories I remember afterwards typically include a gallery of interesting characters. Ann Cleeves is in my opinion a master in this respect. Her characters are real, complex and nuanced. Like in real life, nothing is black or white. Inevitably, you will sometimes feel deep empathy with the ‘bad’ guys or be utterly frustrated with the ‘good’ guys.
P. D. James also excels in depicting interesting characters. Last month, I listened to The Murder Room, which revolves around the Dupayne, a small crime-focused London museum. The air is filled with tension, because a member of the Dupayne family wants to close down the museum.
This is a slow burner and not the strongest plot seen from P. D. James. It breaks with the usual plot structure; the first incident happens quite late in the story. It did not matter to me. I had a blast delving into the lives of the characters.
3. The Escapism Factor
Sometimes, depth and nuances are of less importance. Instead, fast-paced entertainment, which will induce you to frantically flip the pages, is required.
Before I got my Kindle, I often picked up such books in the airport from the bestseller shelf. The right book can keep my attention fixed even in a noisy airport and (almost) make me forget my annoyance about the plane being two hours delayed. Airport reading has introduced me to authors like Lee Child and David Baldacci, which I doubt, I would have picked up otherwise.
Recently, I read Mel Sherrat’s Hush Hush, which fits perfectly in this category.
DS Grace Allendale is a sympathetic heroine, who like all modern detectives has moved to a new city for a new start. Also, like any modern detective with respect for herself, she has a seriously dark and messed-up past, which she escaped from. True to form her past catches up with her and she has to face her ghosts.
Besides from Grace, the other characters are one-dimensional, or in best case two-dimensional. The plot is not particularly original. But I spent some happy hours completely immersed in this mystery and I don’t regret it for a minute.
🤔
Good writing and an interesting setting can contribute to my enjoyment of a mystery, but these attributes cannot stand alone.
Do you enjoy crime fiction? Which books got you hooked? And what does it take to create the perfect mystery for you?
Don’t forget the upcoming Capital Crime Festival which will take place in London 26th – 28th September. | |||||
7165 | dbpedia | 2 | 37 | https://www.amazon.com/Laughing-Policeman-Maj-Sj%25C3%25B6wall/dp/0679742239 | en | Amazon.com | [
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