Month: October 2022

Hey, the table sticker was there again, at the table this time Khalid &Sophie. On Tuesday evening, climate activist Jelle de Graaf clung to the talkshow table of Jinek. A fellow activist glued his head on Thursday The girlwith the pearl from Vermeer. Another, himself stuck to the wall with onehand, tossed another can of tomato soup over his glued skull for shock effect.”Shame on you”, you heard a bystander squeak in the video.

The Mauritshuis – that is where the painting hung – wanted to pay as littleattention as possible to the campaign. So the talk show did just that. And ithad clearly scaled up since Tuesday. Also at the table are two makers ofclimate documentaries, Bram Vermeulen ( Frontline on Thursday) and NicolaasVeul ( The climate explorer on Friday). Furthermore, a climate activist andtable lady Wouke van Scherrenburg who had finally wanted to put a “decentvegetable dish” on the table at home, but immediately jumped into the car (!)to talk about the “world that is on fire”. She’d watched Jelle’s stickingaction on the iPad, she said, and had been clapping all by herself. The otherlady at the table, Anniko van Santen, thought that the message was ‘diluted’by the extreme means used by climate activists.

Bram Vermeulen, who has just returned from Greenland, where the sea has notbeen freezing for 25 years, had to look back with Jelle at the table for “afragment” of Jelle on the table. Jelle was invited to that table on Tuesdayevening to talk about the actions and their usefulness. If you ask him aboutwhat we have to do, just practical, he will get abstractions about ‘the fossilfuel industry’ and Prime Minister Rutte who is best friends with the directorof Shell. No, that’s what it’s all about. Who oh who do you ask at the talkshow table to tell us what we can, no, should do and (especially) not do?

Weeds don’t exist

Why did we actually make hoeing a community service, you wonder after seeingthe movie Code Green (HUMAN). Confusing, because you just see everyone in anorange work suit as half-criminal, and for the workers in the green, it’s notparticularly a boost either. Marjoleine Boonstra follows the men (and onewoman) who work for social development company Pantar in Amsterdam. They donot hoe as punishment, but in “freedom”. They are ashamed at first, saysforeman Theo about the newcomers in his shack. A few have spent a few yearsbehind bars, but most have gotten stuck in life through other twists andturns. Addiction, confusion, loss of work and home. “The work is not importantin the first months.” Arriving on time, getting discipline, getting a routine,that’s what Pantar is all about. If they have a feeling for working in a greenenvironment, so much the better. Theo points the men to the fireweeds underthe honeysuckle, plantain and arugula. “There are no weeds,” he says. “That’swhat people make of it.” Just as the people turn green into a landfill, thegrabs of the green workers get more rubbish out of the bushes than weeds.

The most beautiful scene is the one with Pantar’s new director ‘Werk’, SaskiaFloore. The boss of a team of 70 people who again manage 700 people comes oneday to hoe between the blackberries and the roses. She is a greengrocer. “Hardwork,” she discovers. How Leslie then explains to her how to do it, hoeing.And how concentrated she looks at how he shows it.

Anton, Amina, Leslie, Luuk, Edwin, Alexandar each have their say. They telljust enough to make you want to know a lot about them. But that doesn’t last.Perhaps the green workers in the orange suits prefer not to be known.

video gamesYes, you know this actor from video game ‘Call of Duty: ModernWarfare II’. To help you identify Glenn Morshower, he’s known from TV showslike ‘Ozark’, ‘Agents of SHIELD’ and ’24’, in which he invariably playedauthority figures. Just like in the new edition of the annual military shooterseries, in which he, as General Shepherd, sends the player characters onshadowy missions.

His determined body language, his chiseled image, his cool facial expression,his calm but firm voice: it can’t be missed, the digitized character GeneralShepherd in video game ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II’ is, in all itsfacets, Glenn Morshower. “But then a version of myself that occasionally comesinto a fitness room,” laughs the 63-year-old actor.

To recognize Glenn Morshower, it is actually sufficient that you have switchedon a television set at some point in the past forty-five years. Since the ageof seventeen he has played in more than two hundred TV series, films and(later) video games, often as a role comparable to the one he plays in ‘ModernWarfare II’: he has already played more than twenty military roles, especiallyhigh-profile military roles. ranks as colonel or general, and more than tentimes he trotted up as a government agent. “I’ve built a career on playingauthority figures,” Morshower says. “It’s closest to my physiognomy, I guess.In any case, this wasn’t the first time I’ve played a general. But the firstin a diving suit.”

Image from ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II’. © Activision

Performance capture

The digital version of Glenn Morshower entered the so-called ‘cutscenes'(animation sequences between the shooting levels to propel the story forward)of ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II’ using a technique called performancecapture: the actors use their movements , facial expression and voice arerecorded in a studio with dozens of cameras set up around the entire space.They mainly register dozens of so-called ‘markers’, white plastic spheres onthe body of the actor, who is hoisted in a kind of diving suit, plus dozens of’facial markers’, which register the slightest movement of the face. It is nowa tried and tested way of making games, which is used in almost all majorblockbusters of the moment. But it is also a challenge for the actors, who arenot on a real set and therefore have to come up with the decor.

“You are at the mercy of your own fantasy,” Morshower says. “All the movingparts that you normally find on a film set are not there: everything is addedafter the recorded rendition. On the performance capture set, you have tobuild the scenery in your own mind. You operate in the dark, with a vision inyour mind of what the end result should look like.”

Morshower during the ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II’ show. © Activision

“Up and at ’em!”

Glenn Morshower , married since 1978 and father of two grown children, grew upin Dallas, the stepson of a soldier at heart. This gave him his authoritativevoice and persona, says the Texan, who, in addition to his often typecastacting roles, he also uses as a motivational speaker with his lecture ‘TheExtra Mile’. “I don’t have a military background, but I do know how military-trained people behave and think,” Morshower said. “My stepfather was one ofthe old-fashioned ones: as a child I had to get up at O’sebn, that is, seveno’clock in the morning, and he wouldn’t tolerate delay. It was from ‘Up and at’em’ and ‘Hit the deck’ and so on. A bit of overkill, perhaps, especially fora young child. Little did I know then that that experience was alreadypreparing me for ‘Call of Duty’ (laughs).”

The house could use a major cleaning once in a while. Cleaning expert MarjaMiddeldorp therefore helps to solve everyday problems. This week: the printsof sticky children’s hands on walls and cupboards.

With hands in her hair, a loyal reader of this column is sitting. Anenterprising two-year-old daughter touches everything: the white kitchencupboards, the windows, the TV, the white doors, the glass table… “Andpreferably after I’ve just cleaned it!”

The biggest brain teaser: the sticky toddler hands on the white, texturedwalls. If you use cloths and sponges, the fluff will remain in the structure,with brushes the structure grain will break again. Cleaning expert MarjaMiddeldorp comes to the rescue.

Kids proof house

Cleaning guru Marja has studied this problem. “Before I start: I’m not aeducator, but besides cleaning you can try to stop your children from touchingeverything. You teach them: this is for the children, this is for me. Givethem their own playground, a Lego, I know a lot. Touch that, it’s all yours.And first of all, see if your home is ready for a new family member. Of courseyou think: ‘children, yippee’, but then it is best not to choose the mostexpensive beige carpet that they can and will spill on. And keep the walls assmooth as possible. Coarse, textured walls can also be dangerous, scrapingtheir fingers or forehead if they fall.”

Quote >>> Apply white toothpaste to the stain and move as if you were brushing your> teeth. Your wall will become whiter and look neat again.>> Marja Middeldorp

Anyway, you have a structured wall and it has to shine again. And that isquite difficult, says the cleaning expert from The Hague. “First you canvacuum your wall with a vacuum cleaner with a round mouth and soft bristles.Because where there are dirty fingers, there is also dust.” Then the St. Marcappears. “That is a product that is specially made for degreasing. The bestremedy in my opinion. Read the user manual carefully. You can buy it at DIYstores. Perhaps you can check there whether it is suitable for your type oftextured wall. The disadvantage of such a structured wall is that it islargely made of lime and is porous (ie there are air bubbles in the material,ed.). This makes it difficult to clean it. But with this tool it still works.”

Do you still see spots? “Buy the cheapest white toothpaste, not with those redand blue stripes, and put some of it on an old, soft toothbrush. Apply it tothe stain and move as if you were brushing your teeth. Your wall will becomewhiter and look neat again, the structure has been polished. But again: achild should know that a wall is not his domain. With a coarse structure wallit is always difficult to clean and it is an obstacle every time. So I’d saytake the kids to the grandparents for a day and smooth out that wall. I myselfhave a protective layer with transparent paint in the kitchen, which causesmuch less staining.”

Quote >>> If you don’t feel any resistance when rubbing it dry, your cabinet is free> of grease.>> Marja Middeldorp

film layer

Okay, those walls are clean. But then you still have the fingerprints on glassor on the kitchen cupboards. “You can clean the refrigerator and the mirrorswith my ‘lean soapy water’ (a half-full bucket of water with a dash of all-purpose cleaner, ed.). Then wipe it dry with a soft cloth. If you don’t feelany resistance when rubbing it dry, it is grease-free. No resistance, it wasso easy with children.”

“The kitchen is fat-free, delicious, but in no time there will be those greasyfingers again. Then I have another tip that I think works really well. Ialways have a bottle of car wax in the shed. You spread it very thinly on yourcupboard or refrigerator. Car wax is made to repel grease, raindrops andlimescale. Rub it in thinly with a soft cloth and rub it again with a cleansoft cloth. If children do touch it, the film layer protects the wax. The waxlayer is getting thinner and thinner, so every once in a while you have torepeat the procedure. Or in the meantime you have taught your children not totouch everything.”

Michael J. Fox continues to navigate new health challenges amid his 30-yearbattle with Parkinson’s disease.

the Back to the Future star told people magazine that over the last year,”I broke my cheek, then my hand, then my shoulder, had a replacement shoulderput in and broke my [right] arm, then I broke my elbow. I’m 61 years old, andI’m feeling it a little bit more.”

Fox admitted, “It got worse,” from where he was in 2020 — and that period wasno picnic. At the time, in addition to the challenges he faces with theneurodegenerative disorder — including tremors, stiffness, cognitive issuesand moodiness — he had a risky surgery to remove a benign tumor on his spinalcord. His recovery included learning to walk again. As he was getting back onhis feet, he fell and fractured his arm, necessitating another surgery toinsert 19 pins and a plate.

“I’m coming through where the last of my injuries are healing up; my arm isfeeling good,” the Family Ties and Spin City alum said of his currentstatus recovering from injuries on top of injuries. “Life is interesting. Itdeals you these things.”

Fox, who has raised more than $1.5 billion for Parkinson’s research throughhis Michael J. Fox Foundation, said that his “whole mission” now is: ” Don ‘tfall down. So whatever works to not fall down, whether it’s a walker or awheelchair, a cane, a guy with a belt around my waist holding onto it — I useall those tools.” He was proudly able to walk unassisted across a stage forhis recent reunion with Back to the Future co-star Christopher Lloyd earlierthis month. He said, “I’m just getting to where I’m walking steadily again.”

The article notes that while Parkinson’s disease, which Fox was diagnosed within 1991, affects his movement, his new injuries don’t necessarily mean hisdisease is progressing any faster. It’s been bad luck in some cases — forinstance, he got an infection after surgery for his broken hand. Then, notbeing able to use his hand led to falls. It’s been a journey — and one thathas rocked his optimism.

Story continues

“I was never really a cranky guy, but I got very cranky and short withpeople,” Fox said. “I try to nip it in the bud. I always think of these aideswho work with me. And I often say to them, ‘Whatever I say, just imagine Isaid “please” at the beginning and “thank you” at the end. Just take a secondand absorb that I might have said that if I was more myself, but I didn’t, soI apologize.'”

He said it’s been challenging for his wife of 34 years, Tracy Pollan.

“It took me a while to get that it wasn’t just about me,” he said. “If I breakmy arm, I’m dealing with my broken arm. But if you’re the person who liveswith and loves and supports the person with the broken arm, you’ve got to doeverything.”

But his optimism still shines through despite his challenges.

“It’s been a struggle, but I’m happy,” he said. “I say that because I hope onsome level people can find happiness in spite of what they’re going through.”

Fox has been featured on the cover of the magazine’s Kindness issue. Pollan,with whom he shares four children, told the outlet that even during his mostdifficult days, Fox is “one of the most kind people I’ve ever met.”

Fox officially retired in 2020, saying not being able to speak reliably was agame-breaker. The Good Wife actor said the decision came after he couldn’tremember his lines while shooting on the set of Designated Survivor starringKiefer Sutherland.

“I couldn’t focus on a line,” he said. “I didn’t beat myself up. I couldn’t doit, so I didn’t do it anymore.”

That said, you’ll continue to see him. He is working on an AppleTV+documentary due in 2023 about his life. He’ll also receive the Jean HersholtHumanitarian Award, an honorary Oscar recognizing outstanding philanthropicefforts, at the Governors Awards on Nov. 19.

You’ll just be the son of an adored pop star. Always the uncertainty that youonly get attention and work because you are the son of. And then they alwayscompare your albums with your father’s. You see them thinking: ‘Less’.

British pop singer Julian Lennon had had enough. The son of Beatles leaderJohn Lennon opted for the flight forward: he named his new album Jude. Aclear reference to the Beatles hit ‘Hey Jude’. On the cover you see him as achild.

Julian (Liverpool, 1963) is a child from Lennon’s first marriage, born in theearly Beatlemania. His father was not at his birth due to Beatles commitments,and was rarely home after that. When his parents divorced in 1968, and Lennondisappeared from Julian’s life, his colleague Paul McCartney wrote the song’Hey Jude’ for the abandoned son, to encourage him.

Photo May Pang

pop album

Julian Lennon – Jude is out at BMG, €17.99. Inl:julianlennon.com

Since then, for Julian, Lennon was mostly an absent father, who hardly paidany attention to him. Lennon moved to New York with his new wife Yoko Ono,estranged from his British friends and family. The attention he denied hisfirst son, he put into his second son Sean, whom he cared for for the firstfive years. Just before Lennon was murdered before his New York home in 1980,he said in an interview that Julian was born “from a whiskey bottle.” In otherwords: in a drunken stupor, unplanned, unwanted. After his death, Julian saidbitterly: “Daddy was a hypocrite. To the world he spoke of peace and love, buthe could not show it to his wife and child.”

When Julian released his first album in 1984, Valotte , almost all criticswrote that his voice was so similar to that of his father. Initially Julianhad success with his soft rock, including the hit ‘Too Late for Goodbyes’, butafter the hit ‘Saltwater’ (1991) this became less and less. Until hecompletely stopped his music career in 2011, and focused on documentaries andphotography.

I see ‘Hey Jude’ as the beginning of my musical journey

Why the title ‘Jude’?

“I did that on purpose so that you would ask this question. I wanted toreclaim the name ‘Jude’. Until now, it’s always been the name others framed meas the boy that song was about.

“I’ve always felt a bit lost, I’ve had my share of depression and anxietyattacks. The corona crisis, when I was almost alone at home for two years,forced me to take a good look in the mirror. Who am I? Am I happy? Am Igloomy? If so, how can I fix that? I wanted to finally get myself together andfill the gaps in my life.

“In my passport my name was ‘John Charles Julian Lennon’. That means I wasalways told at customs, “Hey, you’re John Lennon. Witty.’ [Vermoeid:] fuckoff! Every time that confrontation. I already had a panic attack on my way tothe airport. I didn’t want to be another John Lennon anymore. I wanted to bemyself. That’s why two years ago I had my name changed to: Julian Charles JohnLennon. I put myself, Julian, first. It’s like shedding the old skin. I wantto do it on my own terms from now on, I want to become a happier and morepositive person.”

Wouldn’t you rather break free from the eternal association with your fatherand the Beatles?

“I can’t run from it, I can’t hide from it, so I better respect and acceptthat legacy. Paul wrote “Hey Jude” for me when I was five, and the lyricsremained appropriate for the rest of my life. ‘ Take a sad song and make itbetter‘. I see ‘Hey Jude’ as the beginning of my musical journey. I’veanswered literally every possible question about the Beatles and my father inmy life. Now I want to continue.”

Julian Lennon with his father and Yoko Ono in 1968.

Photo Getty

The Beatles have often crossed Julian’s path lately. To raise money for hischaritable trust, he held an NFT auction of Beatles memorabilia, including thehandwritten lyrics to “Hey Jude.” In the spring of this year, he sang’Imagine’, his father’s best-known solo hit, for the first time for a Ukrainebenefit. He also watched the new documentary with his half-brother Sean Lennon_Get Back_ about the recordings of the LP let it be. In pop magazine _mojo_he said: “It reminded me of what my father was like when we were together: socrazy, smart, funny and idiotic. I loved him again so much.”

Why did you return to music?

“I had to self-publish my last two albums, without the support of a recordcompany. I couldn’t exactly pay the bills from the sale. So I tried othercareers, documentaries, photography, and it worked out really well. So Iproved to myself that I could do more than sing songs. That was a relief.

“Then a former financial advisor, who retired, gave me a few boxes from hisbasement. Most contained financial papers, but one contained demos, in allpossible formats. Some I had recorded thirty years ago. I listened to them andthought some of them were quite good. So I started tinkering with it,initially with the idea of ​​extracting a few singles or an EP. But graduallyit became an album. I was able to do it at my own pace without furtherpressure. That made it feel very different from the previous albums.”

“My oldest friend, guitarist Justin Clayton, helped me. My memory is a cheesehole, but he remembered exactly which guitar we had used from every demo, andthat I was wearing a black T-shirt then and then. I used a lot of the originalvocals. Those demos were all recorded with a drum machine, because that wasfashionable at the time. So I dubbed real instruments over it. Four songs arereally new: ‘Freedom’, ‘Gaia’, ‘Breathe’, and ‘Lucky Ones’. Sound engineerSpike Stent has mixed the album in such a way that it still sounds like oneunit. He did a Nigel – he turned the album to eleven, just like in the movie_This Spinal Tap_.”

Why the cover photo of yourself as a child?

“I found the look in my eyes striking. That photo was taken by May Pang, wewere at Disney World with Dad. Someone said the photo is reminiscent of thecover of With the Beatles : with the face so half in the shade.”

Christmas vacation 1974, eleven-year-old Julian went to Disney World inFlorida with his father. The photo may mark the last time he saw his father.In an earlier interview, Julian said: “For me at the time, the big questionwas: how long is this going to take? Is he going to leave me again?”

At the time, Lennon was temporarily separated from Yoko Ono. His girlfriendMay Pang tried to mend Lennon’s older relationships, including those withMcCartney, and those with his ex-wife and son Julian. So during the year and ahalf that Lennon was with Pang, Julian saw his father more often. When Lennonwent back to Yoko Ono after this, he broke those contacts again. The ones heleft out in the cold, Pang, Cyntia, and Julian, kept in touch.

That Christmas break at Disney World is also significant in the history of theBeatles. There and then Lennon signed the papers officially ending the band,more than five years after the four members were last together.

What did you see in the child’s eyes?

“A lost soul, I think. But also determination. He knew he would survive, andthat it would propel him to better things.”

ReviewIn our playlist we guide you through the current range of on-demandfilms, series, albums and podcasts. What must you (not) have seen or listenedto and why? Today the Swedish drama series The Playlist.

Who is telling the truth in the six-part Swedish drama series The Playlist_about the genesis and the comet-like rise of the streaming service Spotify,the major player in offering almost the entire popular music history? Withsuch a reconstruction that pretends to represent reality, it is alwaysdifficult for the viewer to keep facts and fiction apart. The makers of _ThePlaylist have opted for a brilliant solution.

The Playlist

• • Star rating * Star rating * Star rating * Star rating * Star rating

Drama series (Netflix)

The six episodes are each told from a different perspective by one of thoseinvolved. As a result, certain events are placed in a different light by TheThinker, The Business Partner, The Company Lawyer, The Programmer, The SonyRecord Boss and The Singer, who feels exploited by Spotify.

The Playlist isn’t set up as a boring drama for computer geeks who swear bythe technicalities of paywalls and related stuff. It has more the character ofan overgrown boy’s book. The focus is initially on the creator, Daniel Ek, amusic lover and computer genius. He is annoyed by the poor quality of theillegal Pirate Bay site, where music is offered, much to the annoyance of therecord companies that are constantly taking the initiators to court.

mocked

Ek aims to set up a legal, user-friendly music service, in collaboration withthe record industry. But that seems an impossible task. I’m being mocked.Fortunately, he is not alone. He has an investor. Martin Lorentzon, who becamerich by selling advertisements on the Internet. He does see something in hisyoung counterpart whom he considers a genius. He doesn’t care about the agedifference (15 years) and clothing behavior (tailored suits versus unironedt-shirts).

The name Spotify – a combination of to spot (find) and identify (identify) -is quickly coined. But then the complicated procedures begin; setting up ateam with the best programmers in Sweden and arguing with the recordexecutives.

Scene from The Playlist © Netflix

The series, based on the book Spotify Untold , does not shy away from alsopeddling personal details of those involved. So Ek is a mother’s child. Hebombards her with devices she doesn’t need. Lorentzon turns out to be an ADDpatient with an energy bordering on hysteria. He often jumps on tables tofreak out.

Then there is an extraordinarily gifted programmer Andreas who takes care ofthe technical solutions. He is a model for the integrity of the company fromwhich less and less is left. His credo: “A computer is a child that you haveto learn everything.”

wickedly rich

Special is the contribution of the (fictional) singer Bobbi T, a formerclassmate of Ek who is emphatically in the picture at the beginning, but thendisappears. She reappears in the final parts (‘You thought you got rid of me’)in which she turns out to be a fierce opponent of her childhood friend who –now very rich – is accused by her of exploiting musicians on his site. Sheherself has no money to buy an iPhone for her daughter. Major artists such asTaylor Swift also want to see more money from Spotify.

The Playlist is a beautifully told drama that thoroughly addresses the battlebetween young dogs with vision and dozed dinosaurs, as Ek initially describedthe record directors. Who will win this battle? A jump to 2025 shows that thishas not yet been settled.

Party leader Xi Jinping was given a third term as party leader last weekend.He already put the last nail in the coffin of Hong Kong’s film industry lastyear. In October 2021, the censorship law of the former British colony wasexpanded: everything that threatens China’s ‘national security’ is now banned,a deliberately vague concept. Previously approved films can be retroactivelycensored.

The tightening was in response to documentaries about the 2019 Hong Kong massprotests, but genre film fans are not reassured. Will Stephen Chow’s crazy spycomedy be? From Beijing With Love (1994) soon cut up? And are heroes inclassic thrillers still allowed to smoke?

The American Hong Kong expert Grady Hendrix stocked blu-rays of genre classicsthis year. Now it’s still possible. Hendrix: “The new censorship law prohibitsanti-patriotic themes, but corrupt officials or certain forms of crime arealso sensitive, as are swearing and snake.”

wild freedom

Characteristic of the Hong Kong film, certainly before the transfer of theBritish colony to China in 1997, was precisely an almost savage freedom. A lotwas allowed – sex, violence, gore – as long as it made money. Hong Kong’shyper-commercial film industry in its heyday was a pressure cooker for cheap,fast-paced genre films, for young talent, innovation and experimentation.

The Imagine Film Festival, which takes place in Amsterdam from October 26 toNovember 5, honors Hong Kong with a panel, a lecture by Hendrix, new films anda small retrospective of films that represent phases in Hong Kong’s history.This is how musical illustrates The Wild, Wild Rose – 1960, about anightclub singer and unwilling femme fatale – the glory days of Hong Kong’sstudio system, gangster film trivisa (2016) the hangover after the Chinesetransfer and state the extreme horror film Dream Home – 2010, femaleworkaholic murders her way into housing – before Hong Kong’s real estatecrisis.

Although the metropolis still produces action films, little is left of HongKong’s dominant position in the past. In its heyday, Hong Kong, with studioslike The Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest, only tolerated Hollywood; a city ofabout 7 million inhabitants produced two to three hundred films a year. Theexport market was initially Taiwan and the Chinese diaspora, then all of Asiaand, since the kung fu craze around Bruce Lee in the early 1970s, also theWest.

kung fu

Grady Hendrix recently published a coffee table book about that martial artscraze in the United States: These Fists Break Bricks. The kung fu genreemerged in 1967 from the anti-colonial protests in Hong Kong, he says. „Italmost always came down to a angry young man against the corrupt power.Bruce Lee’s films are not without humor, but his film personality wascharacterized by frustration and rage. That struck a chord in the then deeplydivided America, especially among black viewers and Latinos.”

Exports of kung fu movies turned out to be a gold mine for Hong Kong, althoughthe boom in kung fu comedies continued after Jackie Chan’s double-cross Snakein the Eagle ‘s Shadow And especially Drunken Master in 1978 an Asianphenomenon – in the West this genre did not catch on. Jackie Chan was not anangry control freak but an improvising clown. Hendrix: „Hong Kong was readyfor its lighter tone at the time. At the end of the 1970s, the city becamericher, a middle class and a yuppie culture emerged. Angry kung fu also datesback to 1967, it became more something for your parents.”

exotic cult

In the 1980s, Hong Kong movies were exotic cult in the West, available inChinese theaters and obscure corners of the neighborhood video store. The HongKong ‘heroic bloodshed’ that conquered Asia after 1986 remained as marginalhere as kung fu comedies; crime films by directors such as Ringo Lam andespecially John Woo were characterized by extreme weapon use, a towering bodycount and gunmen who revolved through the screen in slow motion.

This kinetic style only really broke through in Hollywood in the 1990s, thanksin part to video nerds like Quentin Tarantino. Hong Kong’s modern wuxia –historical, often magical fighting films featuring weightless swordsmen onwires – went mainstream thanks to Ang Lees Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon(2000).

In the late 1990s, an exodus of talent towards Hollywood also began. JackieChan broke through in 1995 after numerous failed attempts with Rumble in theBronx Jet Li became a bona fide action star, John Woo filmed Americanblockbusters like Face/Off Yuen Woo-Ping choreographed The Matrix (1999).Hendrix: “At the time, the American public got bored of muscle bundles likeSchwarzenegger and Stallone. The speed, acrobatics and unpredictability ofHong Kong was a revelation.”

At the same time, the film industry in Hong Kong imploded: both the receiptsand the number of films halved in the late 1990s. This was related to the 1997handover to China, the 1998 Asian financial crisis, overproduction, risingcosts, and a demanding, cosmopolitan audience that digitally preferred moresophisticated Hollywood blockbusters. And maybe also with the exodus toHollywood.

Censorship

That exodus was inevitable, Hendrix thinks. “The logic of action movies isthat it has to get bigger and bigger. Hong Kong could no longer afford that.So why not walk into Hollywood financially as a filmmaker and master newdigital techniques at the same time?”

In the early 21st century, many greats – Tsui Hark, Jet Li, Jackie Chan –returned to apply their knowledge gained in Hong Kong. Another remarkableaction and art house film came out of Hong Kong, thanks to authors such asWong Kar-Wai and Ann Hui. Still, China became a problem. The 1997 transferinitially brought Hong Kong larger film budgets, beautiful new locations andaccess to an explosively growing film market. But we had to learn Hong Kong toavoid the sensitivities and censorship of the mainland. And that certainlybecame more difficult after Xi Jinping’s moral revival after the 2016Olympics.

Hendrix: „At the moment there is little interesting cinema in China. In Asia,Hong Kong can’t be honored with the foot on the brakes, Korea dominates popculture. Hong Kong’s film industry has ended up in a dead end.”

The censorship is slightly less strict than in China: for example, a film fromHong Kong is allowed to broach paranormal subjects. And sometimes somethingslips through the censorship: Hendrix points to Stephen Chow’s hit film TheMermaid from 2016, about a colony of aquatic creatures, half human, halffish, who are attacked by cruel oppressors from the mainland on an island offthe Chinese coast. This metaphor for Hong Kong may have escaped censorship.

But that’s subtext for insiders, flowers on the grave of a film industry thatflourished as a free outpost of a closed, inward-looking China, which itselfbarely produced any films. Hendrix advocates a more careful handling of HongKong genre classics, given the dangers of retroactive censorship and sloppyarchiving. If only because Hong Kong’s studios have shaped the rest of theworld for decades to see what China looks like.

Where Star Wars is going hard on Disney +, the promised new cinema films havenot been forthcoming for years. After several canceled projects, there is nowgood news: a great Marvel talent and the brain behind lost get started withthe franchise.

At the end of this week it will be ten years since Disney bought Lucasfilm andwith it Star Wars film. An expense of $4 billion.

Disney gives gas

Thanks in part to the merch factory that Disney is, that investment will havepaid off for them, but not entirely in the way that then CEO Bob Iger hadhoped.

The plan was to create a new trilogy of films, interspersed with standalonefilms. The Force Awakens wash with a box office of 2 billion dollars amega success, but the déjà vu level already went too far for many fans. Disneyplayed on safe with way too much fan service. A safe repetition of moves,rather than new ground.

That didn’t get much better with the following films. It also didn’t help thatthe trilogy felt like a story whose course was drastically changed by title.Add to that the spin-off movies that didn’t meet Disney’s extremely high salesbar, and you’ve got a situation that disappointed fans and the company itself.

Star Wars on the silver screen

A shame, because Star Wars is a gigantic universe in which you can always tellnew stories. But then you have to dare to focus on exactly that: new,unexplored territory. Not recycling the Skywalkers.

After the poorly received The Rise of Skywalker, the now three-year-oldclosing of the film trilogy, we have not seen Star Wars on the silver screen.Fortunately, Disney+ still exists. The Mandalorian was immediately a greatsuccess, and the current Andoro is the best Star Wars we’ve seen in years.

Star Wars as a resistance story, a raw war world. No Disney factor, nolightsabers or unnecessary cameos. Just a good story. What a relief.

Where are the movies?

The (not so) new Star Wars owner is better off on Disney+. But hey, Disneywouldn’t be Disney if they didn’t quietly make plans for a rematch intheaters.

Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins would be a dogfight film will bedelivered in 2023. The project was announced in a big way, with the promisethat we would be a kind Top Gun but then in the Star Wars universe. Thatsounded great, but recently the news came out that Disney has removed theproject from the cinema schedule.

What’s left then? Not so much. The Last Jedic director Rian Johnsonconfirmed last week that he still plans to make a Star Wars trilogy. He justdoesn’t know when yet.

What about Taika Waititi?

It is also known that Taika Waititi is working on a film that will show acompletely new side of the franchise. Initially, that film would also bereleased in 2023, but the latest update was that that film is also plagued by_scheduling conflicts_ and a downright uncertain future.

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy claimed last year that Waititi’s filmwill be the next Star Wars film. But yes, that too clearly remains uncertainfor the future.

Damon Lindelof and Marvel talent

We can now add another piece of music. none other than watchmen -showrunnerDamon Lindelof, also the brain behind lost is developing a new Star Warsmovie for Lucasfilm.

This is reported by the renowned journal Deadline. It is also already knownwho will direct the film. For that Lindelof managed to get Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. The journalist and activist who also made two episodes of the Marvelseries Ms. marvel directed. A series that stood out because of the freshtwist on what you are used to from Marvel.

SharmeenObaid-Chinoy with her Oscar for Best Documentary Short for ‘A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness’ (Image: Robyn BECK / AFP)

drawing board

In any case, you can’t buy a ticket for the time being. Deadline reports thatthey are still working on a script, “which means that the actual productionwill probably take a long time.”

A source within Lucasfilm adds: “It was important to Lucasfilm and Lindelofthat a director was brought in right away so that that person’s own vision ofwhere they want this story to go can be processed from the start. be in thescript.”

Furthermore, Lindelof and Obaid-Chinoy’s plans remain a complete mystery. Theyare really still at the drawing board. In fact, many films are completelydeleted after this phase.

Deep breath

It should be clear: it will really be years before we see another Star Warsfilm in the cinema. Fortunately, it is also clear that Lucasfilm is working onall sides to shape the future of the Star Wars universe with great talents,without too much haste.

A mindset which they actually needed in 2012, but luckily Disney has learnedits lesson now. Let’s hope you see that in the final films as well. In themeantime, we look forward to the next episode of Andoro and the third seasonof The Mandalorian.

Yorick has his father do the story. Understandable, says Kees. Father Hesselsays it all started with a call from the bank. He wonders whether the debitsfrom Yorick’s account are correct. Although the bank cannot go into detailsfor privacy reasons, they do say that Yorick is involved in a scam.

It all starts when Yorick has contact with a girl from Groningen viaInstagram. In lousy Dutch she tries to seduce him into sexual images. In thechats we read that Yorick is very blue when it comes to internet sex. ‘I justdon’t know if I dare to do it all. This is my first time doing this,” hewrites. Yet he does as he is asked. “At one point he was also naked,” says thefather.

And then the trouble starts right away. “Not a minute later he gets a photo ofhis head with a photo opportunity of the video recording below it sent to him.He was told: ‘You have to pay now, or I’m going to send these photos to yourfriends on Instagram.'” For 3700 euros, ‘the girl’ would remove the photos.

Yorick doesn’t dare to discuss it at home, but he doesn’t have that moneyeither. He begins to negotiate. He transfers 100 euros, but that is notenough. After another payment of another 100 euros, his bank freezes theaccount. Yorick is at his wits’ end. Because his account is frozen, he has toget the money from the blackmailer in a roundabout way. “During that time,messages have been sent to five friends of Yorick that he is jerking off to a12-year-old girl,” says the father. Yorick is absolutely devastated.

Eventually Yorick reports and goes to the doctor. That cheers him up a lot.But the police can do very little. That is why Kees is engaged. Kees and hisIT specialist find out that it is not a stunning girl, but an African man fromthe Ivory Coast.

Kees and Hessel go to Ivory Coast. Kees’ team can find out where the scammeris located via a link that the scammer clicks now and then. They see himwalking around the largest city in the African country. They follow him for awhile and decide to call the police. When the scammer is in an internet cafe,where he is still extorting Yorick at the time, they go after him. The police,who are traveling with Kees’s van, grab him and put him in the van, where Keesand Hessel are waiting for him.

Kees and Hessel are angry and tell him what he has done to Yorick. The Africanswindler is deeply affected. Moments later they decide to facetime Yorick. Hecomes face to face with his blackmailer. “We’ve got him!” exclaims Kees. “Hewants to apologize. He’s never going to do it again”, Kees translates theFrench-speaking scammer. Ivory Coast police open the scammer’s phone in thevan. It shows that he also made other victims.

Hessel is pleased that the Ivory Coast police react so accurately andintervene immediately. Something the Dutch police cannot do because of ‘hugefiles’. Hessel was in contact with the Ivorian police even after the arrest.They asked him if he is happy with the settlement. The blackmailer hasconfessed and 36 other crooks have been arrested after the arrest.

Kees van der Spek: Scammers Tackled see you every Tuesday at 8.30 pm on RTL5. You can watch the program again at Videoland.

Get ready for even more Taylor Swift Easter eggs!

Ahead of the release of midnights on Oct. 21, the singer revealed that shewould be releasing multiple music videos for the new album.

“Here’s the teaser trailer for the videos I’ve made for midnights ,” Swiftcaptioned the clip on Instagram, which shows her doing such things as blowinga smoke ring and dancing on stage in a Vegas-style sequined bikini.

While the trailer teases even more exciting things to come — including cameosfrom Haim, Jack Antonoff and Laura Dern — Swift’s first release, her video for”Anti-Hero,” had plenty for fans to enjoy right off the bat.

From references to her old eras to hints about what’s to come with this newone, here’s a breakdown of the Easter eggs from Swift’s midnights musicvideos.

RELATED: Taylor Swift Muses on Love, Revenge and Image on Moody Indie-Pop Masterpiece ** midnights**

lavender glitter

Taylor Swift, Anti-Hero Music Video Easter Eggs

Taylor Swift/YouTube

In the video, there are several instances of Swift encountering purpleglitter, including the yolk in Swift’s eggs and blood on her chest when shegets shot by an arrow. Not only could the purple glitter be a theme for the_midnights_ album as a whole, but it could be an Easter egg for an upcoming”Lavender Haze” music video, which was teased in her midnights music videotrailer.

Ghosts of her red era

Taylor Swift, Anti-Hero Music Video Easter Eggs

Taylor Swift/YouTube

As Swift sees ghosts in her home, two of them are sporting accessories fromher red era, a possible nod to re-closing the door on Red (Taylor ‘sVersion) with the release of her new album. One ghost is shown wearing theiconic red heart sunglasses from her “22” music video, while the other wears asimilar cat ears headband she donned later in the music video.

The old Taylor coming to the phone

Taylor Swift, Anti-Hero Music Video Easter Eggs

Taylor Swift/YouTube

Ahead of the release of midnights , Swift teased all the songs from thealbum on TikTok with a series called “Midnights Mayhem with Me,” in which sherevealed the track titles by speaking into a red rotary phone similar to theone from her “Look What You Made Me Do” music video. Many fans theorized thatthe phone symbolized the “old Taylor” coming to the phone as the songs wereabout past experiences throughout her life. A similar rotary phone appears inthe “Anti-Hero” music video as she tries to phone for help and realizes thewire has been cut.

Story continues

Speak Now guitar

Taylor Swift, Anti-Hero Music Video Easter Eggs

Taylor Swift/YouTube

In one of the scenes in which Swift interacts with different versions ofherself, the main Taylor is shown playing a guitar, while the morerambunctious Taylor is shown smashing the same guitar on the ground. Eagle-eyed fans noticed that the guitar is actually a limited edition Koi LivingJewels Acoustic Guitar by Taylor Guitars, which Swift famously played eachnight during her Speak Now tour. Perhaps this is a clue for her future re-recording of the album?

Alice in Wonderland

Taylor Swift, Anti-Hero Music Video Easter Eggs

Taylor Swift/YouTube

In the video, there appear to be several nods to Alice in Wonderland as agiant Swift joins a “tea party” and scares the party guests. Fans think thiscould be a clue for her upcoming re-recording of 1989 as the singer has atrack titled “Wonderland” on the album.

RELATED: All of Taylor Swift ‘s Love Songs Inspired by Boyfriend JoeAlwyn

“The Archer”

Taylor Swift, Anti-Hero Music Video Easter Eggs

Taylor Swift/YouTube

In the tea party scene, there is also a shot of Swift getting struck in theheart by an arrow, which fans have interpreted as a reference to her trackfive song “The Archer” from Foliage in which she grapples with her anxietyand fears, similar to her “Anti-Hero” lyrics.

A photo of Marjorie

Taylor Swift, Anti-Hero Music Video Easter Eggs

Taylor Swift/YouTube

As Swift weighs herself in the bathroom, there is a framed photo of hergrandmother Marjorie on the wall. Swift previously penned a track about hergrandmother, who was also a singer, on her Evermore album.

Taylor Swift’s cats

Taylor Swift, Anti-Hero Music Video Easter Eggs

Taylor Swift/YouTube

In the funeral scene, there is a photo of “older Taylor” surrounded by manycats, including her actual cats Meredith Grey, Olivia Benson and BenjaminButton photoshopped in.

fearless tour dress

Taylor Swift, Anti-Hero Music Video Easter Eggs

Taylor Swift/YouTube

Also in the funeral scene, Swift’s onscreen daughter-in-law Kimber (played byMary Elizabeth Ellis) is shown wearing a black dress the singer previouslywore during her fearless tour. Some fans have theorized that the fashionEaster egg could be a dig at Kim Kardashian and how she controversiallysported the late Marilyn Monroe’s dress at the 2022 Met Gala.

Additionally, one of Swift’s onscreen sons (played by John Early) can be seenwearing a similar shirt to one Swift wore in “The Man” music video.

snake boots

Taylor Swift, Anti-Hero Music Video Easter Eggs

Taylor Swift/YouTube

In one of the final shots of the video, Swift joins herself on the roof as thetwo drink wine together. While one Swift sports a ’70s-inspired look, anotherwears a pair of snakeskin-print boots, which could be a reference to Swift’s_reputation_ era.