hangingfire at tumblr

Jan 27

heyoscarwilde:

Can anybody find me somebody to love?
Freddie Mercury illustrated by Elena Dolgova :: via behance.net

The Power of Freddie cannot be denied.

Can anybody find me somebody to love?

Freddie Mercury illustrated by Elena Dolgova :: via behance.net

The Power of Freddie cannot be denied.

Jan 24

“Q: What made you decide to start composing your own film scores? Was it out of financial necessity, or because you felt you could capture the atmosphere of your films better than someone else?

JC: I composed the score for my first film Dark Star because I was cheap and fast. I talked to a couple of other composers but they all seemed weird. One guy had glitter all over him. Not that wearing glitter is a bad thing… it just didn’t inspire confidence.” John Carpenter, interviewed in The Quietus (via rocketsandrayguns)

sunnykindofwonderful:

Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy

Click on the photo for a whole batch of really terrific set and costume photography.

Somewhere, at this very moment in time, this actual multi-chapter, 10,000-word fanfic is being written.

(via chicklittumbls)

Jan 23

flavorpill:

A gallery of presidential letters to pop culture icons

(via guardianmusic)

“At their first conference, as Wykys laid out the papers, he had said, ‘You’re Walter’s lad, aren’t you? So what happened? Because, by God, there was no one rougher than you were when you were a boy.’

He would have explained, if he’d known what sort of explanation Wykys would understand. I gave up fighting because, when I lived in Florence, I looked at frescoes every day? He said, ‘I found an easier way to be.’” Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall

Jan 19

emotionallychargedtowel replied to your quote: There is a letter George wrote to Ann Smiley

B. and I finally went to see Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy yesterday and it has left me really wanting to read some Le Carre.

Do it! You won’t regret it. I’ve gotten through Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Honourable Schoolboy, and am saving the third Karla book (Smiley’s People) as a reward for when I finish my latest review books.

I think I must have been writing them off all these years as “eh, Cold War spy novels; whatever”, which was a mistake; they’re so good, so marvelously written.

Jan 18

“

There is a letter George wrote to Ann Smiley—he says—in the heat of the crisis, presumably in one of the long waiting periods in the isolation ward. Guillam leans heavily on it for his theory. Ann showed it to him when he called on her in Wiltshire, in the hope of bringing about a reconciliation, and though the mission failed, she produced it from her handbag in the course of their talk. Guillam memorised a part, he claims, and wrote it down as soon as he got back to the car. Certainly the style flies a lot higher than anything Guillam would aspire to for himself:

I honestly do wonder, without wishing to be morbid, how I reached this present pass. So far as I can ever remember of my youth, I chose the secret road because it seemed to lead straightest and furthest toward my country’s goal. The enemy in those days was someone we could point at and read about in the papers. Today, all I know is that I have learned to interpret the whole of life in terms of conspiracy. That is the sword I have lived by, and as I look round me now I see it is the sword I shall die by as well. These people terrify me, but I am one of them. If they stab me in the back, then at least that is the judgement of my peers.

As Guillam points out, the letter was essentially from Smiley’s blue period.

”

John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy

Probably one of the most emotionally devastating spy novels you’ll ever read, by which I mean I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Jan 15

inlaterdays:

The Reichenbach Fall

THIS.

(via numb3r5ev3n)

“But there is a world of difference between the traditional notion of public participation in a newspaper or magazine and the cacophonous, sometimes libelous free-for-all that passes for it today. Whereas the old-fashioned letter to the editor involved crafting a letter, figuring out where to send it, springing for a stamp, and knowing that its publication-worthiness would be determined by an actual editor who might even call and suggest some actual edits, today’s readers are invited to “join the conversation” as if the work of professional reporters and columnists carries no more authority than small-talk at a cocktail party.”

Meghan Daum, “Haterade”, in The Believer

This is easily one of the top pieces I’ve read on the toxicity of comments sections and the shouty-shouty nature of internet discourse in the modern era. “Joining the conversation” is bullshit; it’s only worth it in fora where the commentariat is thoroughly self-policing and well-organized (usually in well-moderated blogs or boards that have been around since before 2001). Anyone considering a comments section, whether a private blogger or a national newspaper, should ask themselves whether having “a conversation” for their readers is worth the energy and resources it will take to provide a bunch of assholes with a free, unaccountable platform to say whatever they like, up to and including threats of physical harm.