Now this is Sonnet 29 recited properly — it’s Welsh actor Ben Crystal at the 2014 Sonnet Slam in New York. (I am linking here to the Willful Pictures Youtube channel.)
I like Crystal’s conversational style and the way that he appears to address the audience directly. He “speaks” the poem, instead of ostentatiously reciting it it. It reminds me of the performances in The Guardian’s “Shakespeare Solos” series — particularly the readings by Eileen Atkins and David Morrissey.
Oil on panel.
My buddies and I have “Avengers” fever. We can barely wait to see “Avengers: Infinity War,” which opens tonight, and answer some burning questions. I myself want to know how the relatively humble Captain America can deflect a blow from Thanos’ omnipotence-granting Infinity Gauntlet (as depicted in the trailer). Meanwhile, a pal of mine insists it’s possible that some iteration of the Venom alien symbiote will make an appearance — even though that character is owned separately by Sony Pictures. (I’m inclined to think that this is wishful thinking.)
I was actually around for the 1991 debut of “The Infinity Gauntlet” — the six-issue 1991 crossover series upon which this movie is based. (“The Infinity War” was actually a sequel comic crossover that Marvel released a year later.) An upperclassman upstairs in my sophomore dorm lent it to me, and it pretty much blew my mind. I had only recently discovered that the characters owned by the “big two” comic book companies inhabited shared universes. (DC Comics has released its own universe-wide crossover series at about the same time — “Armageddon 2001,” a series I still love, despite other fans’ contempt for it.) I had read a lot of comic books growing up, but they were usually war comics or horror comics; superheroes had always seemed lame to me when I was a kid.
“The Infinity Gauntlet” was thick stuff, as comics went. The sheer number of characters involved (and an abundance of cosmic characters) made it a little hard to follow for a reader new to Marvel. (DC’s major characters were fewer, more familiar and easier to understand.)
But it was still a load of fun. I still think it’s messed up what Thanos did to poor goddam Wolverine, who’d skillfully gotten the drop on him at first.
Opaque watercolor, fabricated chalk and graphite pencil on paper.
I’m linking here to another look at New York City through historical photos — this one from the Jordan Liles Youtube channel. It’s beautifully crafted, with seamless then-and-now transitions between 1873 and 2014.
The shots of the Brooklyn Bridge are my favorite.
Dark Horse Comics.
When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
This is easily one of the coolest things I’ve found on the Internet in a long time — street-level footage of New York City in 1911. (I’m linking here the guy jones Youtube channel. There’s a truly impressive collection of antique films there.)
This video surprised me in two ways. First, I had no idea that the film quality for something this old could be so good. Second, the added sound effects actually worked. (I figured something like that would be awkward and distracting.)
You’ll enjoy this more if you maximize the window on your computer and lay it in a dark room.
Oil on canvas.
I’m linking here to the stuart bailey media Youtube channel — this is footage of Manhattan over 40 years ago, shot by some unknown tourist with a Super 8 camera. Most of the buildings look the same. The clothes, haircuts and cars look very, very different.
Check out the frame you can see below. That is indeed the original “Rocky” playing at a Loews Theater — alongside the year’s truly awful “King Kong” remake that I’ve mentioned previously here at the blog.
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 