Category Archives: Nihilism

This may have just gotten lost in our Christmas shuffle, but we could have sworn Sea Girls had a show planned in Allston last month, one that apparently dropped off the calendar before we had a chance to swing down the holiday lights off Harvard Avenue. Were bummed about that, but quickly put at ease as the UK alt-rock band continue to provide a steady stream of radio-ready anthems, this time coming correct with the electric Ready For More.

The new track follows Septembers Violet and serves as a taste of Sea Girls forthcoming LP Under Exit Lights, set for release March 6 via Polydor.

Ready For More is the bad apple of the EP, says Sea Girls singer Henry Camamile. It looks and sounds sweet, but its basically staring into this abyss of nihilistic behavior and being scared that I couldnt change it. This song practically embraces the slippery slope I was on.

Sea Girls, named by its members after a misheard Nick Cave lyric, are poised for a wild 2020 breakout. Ready For More? You fucking bet.

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Sea Girls face the slippery slope of nihilism on 'Ready For More' - Vanyaland

Fifty years after Samuel Beckett won the Nobel prize for literature, newly opened archives reveal the serious doubts the committee had over giving the award to an author they felt held a bottomless contempt for the human condition.

Announcing that the Waiting for Godot author had won the laureateship in 1969, the Swedish Academy praised his writing, which in new forms for the novel and drama in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation.

But with Nobel archives only being made public after 50 years, documents have now revealed there were major disagreements within the Swedish Academy over the choice of the Irish writer. According to Svenska Dagbladet, the split was between Beckett and French writer Andr Malraux, with other nominations including Simone de Beauvoir, Jorge Luis Borges, Pablo Neruda and Graham Greene.

Four members of the committee supported Beckett and two backed Malraux, with the primary objections to Beckett coming from Nobel committee chair Anders sterling, who had campaigned against the playwright for years. sterling questioned whether writing of a demonstratively negative or nihilistic nature like Becketts corresponded to the intention laid out in Alfred Nobels will, to reward the person who, in the field of literature, produced the most outstanding work in an idealistic direction.

While sterling acknowledged the possibility that behind Becketts depressing motives might lie a secret defence of humanity, but in the eyes of most readers, he said, it remains an artistically staged ghost poetry, characterised by a bottomless contempt for the human condition.

But Becketts main supporter on the committee, Karl Ragnar Gierow, felt that Becketts black vision was not the expression of animosity and nihilism. Beckett, he argued, portrays humanity as we have all seen it, at the moment of its most severe violation, and searches for the depths of degradation because even there, there is the possibility of rehabilitation.

Beckett was rejected for the prize a year earlier in 1968, but a year later his champions won out. sterling did not give the speech presenting him with the award. That was done by Gierow, who expanded on the arguments he made to the committee, saying that Becketts work goes to the depths because it is only there that pessimistic thought and poetry can work their miracles. What does one get when a negative is printed? A positive, a clarification, with black proving to be the light of day, the parts in deepest shade those which reflect the light source.

Beckett himself accepted the prize, but did not come to Stockholm to receive it, or give the traditional winners lecture. And the division among the jury remained secret for half a century unlike today, when the split over the decision to award the 2019 award to Austrian writer Peter Handke prompted the boycott of the ceremony by Peter Englund, the former permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, and further resignations.

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'Ghost poetry': fight over Samuel Beckett's Nobel win revealed in archives - The Guardian

More young people are seeking help for mental health issues, including thoughts of suicide.

In the year since it launched, Pennsylvanias tip line for kids to report threats of school violence produced a bombshell: Most calls arent about potential school shooters, but teen mental illness.

The 40,382 anonymous tips received by the Safe2Say Something program were kids mostly concerned with other kids who seem troubled and clinically depressed. Some 6,487 were about potential suicide. Thats 16% a lot.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the numbers this week.

As I traveled across Pennsylvania to talk to students about Safe2Say, they werent peppering me on questions on school shooting drills or metal detectors. They were talking about fellow students who seemed depressed, came to school without lunch, and chronic online bullying, he said.

Shapiro seemed surprised, but why? Nearly 50,000 suicides were recorded in the U.S. in 2017, and it is the second leading killer of people ages 10 to 24 in America. The leading cause of death among young people is drug overdoses. Some 70,000 died.

These are diseases of despair, and the plague kills more than 100,000 people a year, most of them under 40.

The fragile state of the mental health of millennials (those 24 to 38) is well reported.

What we have is a continuing plague of diseases of despair, a plague that has touched nearly every family in America, but one that our college-edumicated political class rarely if ever discusses, because they a) dont care or b) have no remedy.

Whats causing widespread depression and nihilism among youngsters? Three observations from my turf in the middle class: Social media, pressure to go to college and apocalyptic predictions of the worlds end from climate change.

Of these, social media is 90% of the problem. Social media isolates. Its also the greatest personal propaganda tool ever placed into the hands of ordinary people.

Whatever media platform one favors, the message is similar: Look at me!

People present themselves as happy, content, having a great life and grand time. Theyre on vacation, posing with new car. There they are, all dolled up and headed to the prom or party. Theres passive-aggressive bragging, Honored to be named or Proud to learn Ive been chosen as

They never display their reality, which is as crummy, if not crummier, than yours. They never show pics of the pile of dirty dishes in their sink from last night. The splotches of black mold in their shower tile grout. The unfinished DIY projects. Their yellow teeth, receding hair and expanding guts. Things ordinary mortals have in common.

The effect of all of this fake reality on youngsters who dont know any better? Sadness, depression and despair. Online, everyones circumstances are better than ones own.

If youre 12, 13 or 14, social media makes it feel like youre stuck in the dim basement, while listening to the music, laughter and chatter of the party upstairs.

The next source of despair is the incredible pressure for middle class kids to go to college.

Nearly the whole primary and secondary education system in the U.S. is rigged to pressure kids into college. College is seen as superior to the trades or starting a small business. But what happens when you get through it, are deeply in debt, and cant get a job that pays a middle-class income? I dont blame an underemployed college grad for feeling screwed. They were. How would you feel? Depressed, probably.

Then there is the steady drumbeat of doom, largely from the left in this country, about the apocalypse of climate change. Idling SUVs in Levittown are killing the planet. The most outrageous and false statement is that climate change will cause the world to end in 12 years.

Imagine you hear this from the time youre a little kid, as todays high schoolers in GenZ have. Even the Vatican fans the flames of this stuff. How would it make you feel? Terrified, maybe. Then depressed, maybe hopeless.

All of this in addition to the cultural hellscape we boomers and GenXers created for young people. The stresses endured from failed marriages and single parenthood, no religion, the push, push, push to succeed.

Mental health counselors in every school might help. Really, it starts at home. Making our homes and schools social media-free zones would be more effective. Plus, some truth-telling at home. I saw it coming years ago.

When my kids were little, Id play a game with them at dinner or before theyd go to bed. Each of us would have to tell the others three good things that happened to them that day. There are 300 good things that happen every day to the average person, Id say.

Soon, they began noticing the good things that happened. They noted them in memory, because they knew Id expect a full report at the dinner table. Go to bed thinking about those three good things, Id say, and youll have peaceful nights sleep. That was my way of countering the negative nonsense that depresses so many today.

You can start the healing by declining to post your wonderful life on social media.

Some kids life may ride on it.

Contact JD Mullane at 215-949-5745 or at jmullane@couriertimes.com.

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Mullane: Why kids suffer mental health problems - Opinion - The Intelligencer

Sponsored by Studio 52. A community artist space located in the heart of Allston, and is proud to support the Boston music scene and local artist community.

Theres a certain freedom in acknowledging were all fragments of disposable data. Sure, weve all been slapped with an inevitable expiration date, but so has all human life since the dawn of time (and, come the information-harvesting, climate-crisis-ridden age of 2020, isnt it a relief that no one was built to last forever?) Call it cheerful nihilism, if you will.

Thats the exact lens though which Jenee Halstead chooses to view the world in her new tune Disposable Love, out today (January 17).

Disposable Love is an attempt to capture the hollowness and horror of the dark side of the digital/social media age, Halstead tells Vanyaland. Artificial Intelligence and big data serve as our new guiding principles and a compass for making sense of the world. This is a world that promises ease and accessibility, at the behest of turning over our valuable personal information. The dangers of a world driven by algorithm serves only to turn us further into consumers commodifying every human interaction and need as transaction.

Halsteads lyrics stalk her pop-rock noir melodies, eventually constricting the dampened heartbeat of this photoshopped hero wandering through the Internet age. Its morbid, yes, but its also revealing a kernel of truth.

Social media in particular plays off and takes advantage of our fundamental human needs: A desire for connection, to be informed and for recognition and relay with one another, Halstead adds. The companies behind these platforms manipulate our basest egoic nature seeking to profit off an environment steeped in voyeurism, comparison and competition. Digital devices further separate us into worlds of our of imagination, a hall of mirrors. Its lonely out there.

Fill some of the void with Halsteads new tune below, and catch her performing with Melissa Ferrick at The Burren for her single release party on Thursday (January 23).

Originally posted here:

Jenee Halstead eyes the vacuum of the Internet age with 'Disposable Love' - Vanyaland

TOLLAND Matthew Gudernatch may not be a household name, but it is very likely youve seen him in national television commercials in heavy rotation with Kristen Schaal or Jeff Goldblum.

Gudernatch left his hometown of Tolland more than 12 years ago and currently lives in West Hollywood.

Gudernatch was 16 when his father, Stephen who still lives in town took him and his sister on a trip to Las Vegas and introduced him to one of his comedy idols, Rodney Dangerfield.

It was like four months before he died, Gudernatch said. You had to be 18 or over, so my dad snuck me in and my mind was blown. I had no idea anybody could be that funny. I had no idea you could just stand there for an hour and a half and talk to people and have a blast. It was very formative. That was the day I wanted to do comedy.

With encouragement from his father and a professor at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts, Gudernatch moved to New York City where he lived with his aunt and started testing his comedy skills.

I had no idea what to do, he said.

He started by joining the improvisational comedy troupe Upright Citizen Brigade.

Their theater is really good, he said. Its low pressure. I started doing that, then on a whim started doing stand up.

Gudernatch made connections with other comedians who offered him encouragement and feedback on his stand-up routine. But he started to miss the Boston area, so he moved back north where he joined Improv Asylum and performed with them weekly.

While that was happening I booked my first major commercial, he said.

The commercial was for the Boston Bruins where he is on a date with a girl wearing a Montreal Canadians jersey. A bear then attacks Gudernatch for dating a fan of another team within the division.

The commercial garnered accolades and, more importantly, Gudernatch was now a member of the Screen Actors Guild He said that if there was ever a time for him to make a jump to Hollywood, it was then.

My friend Ryan (Gall) introduced me to my agent, AKA Talent Agency, and they signed me, he said. Hes been doing national commercials through them since 2012.

Success didnt come immediately for him, though, he said, not booking a single gig his first two years there.

He persevered though, and now Gudernatch has been performing his stand-up show, My Mom Died When I Was 14, runs his own production company, and is working on a feature film.

He admits his humor can be a bit avant garde, especially with his short films like Future Dust, a five minute short about him discussing life and death with his dog that was featured at the Palm Springs Film Festival.

What I try to do is border on hopeful nihilism, or nihilism and existentialism had a baby with lunacy, he said. But I also use that nihilism to have the best ride we can, even if this is all useless. Lets enjoy it.

Gudernatchs apparent preoccupation with finding humor in the tragic stems from the death of his mother when he was 14, who died from cardiomyopathy.

I lost my mom early on, but everyone loses somebody, he said. How can I tell this incredibly personal story and get people laughing and get people to want to hear?

The best compliment Ive gotten are friends coming up to me and say, Ive never laughed about a dead mom before. Every time Ive heard it in a movie or show before, Ive found it inaccessible.

Though it is a comedy show, Gudernatch said his show does address some sad and poignant moments in his life.

This is what its like being 14 years old and having the world fall apart around you, but at the same time, youre also sad that Kelly Richards doesnt want to go out on a date with you, he said. You were just at your moms funeral and youre still worried and afraid that no one is going to instant message you when you get home. That is a big section of my show. How do you deal with life and death when everything is life and death?

His first feature film, titled The Week After the Week After, is scheduled to start shooting this month and follows similar themes.

Its about a guy grieving his father who just died, he said. Hes from this small mountain town and he goes up to visit for a week. Its based on my experience on these grotesque moments in our lives that I find hilarious. You are so numb and so busy that nothing lands. You have bills, you have funeral arrangements, you have all these things and youre just going. Then that week ends and everybody leaves, and the phone calls dry up and the lasagna dries up and youre left in this week of What do I do? Can I smile? Can I be happy right now?

Youre still human and youre going through it, he said. Youre still mad you ran out of cereal. Its trying to use all the stuff I went through. Not many people openly talk about grief. In mental health we talk about grief, but its in this very clinical way or healthful way and this absolutely needs to exist. But nobody would ever joke about it. Isnt it kind of funny? There are these funny things that happen.

Gudernatchs other project is his production company, Owlie Productions, which he uses to operate Owlie Outreach, which offers cost-free, nonprofit film work for small to mid-sized local organizations that cant afford film advertising.

I own all that stuff, he said. If you have a niche skill, why not use that? Not just giving money and feel good about it for a day. Its really helping people. The only thing I charge for is if we have to rent anything. What I do, what my friends do, that comes for free.

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Laughing at Death: Tolland native putting his stamp on the national comedy stage - Journal Inquirer

All things considered, General Muhammadu Buharis regime is an anathema. General Buhari as President, continues to govern Nigeria as a nation where the lion is led by monkeys.

Buharis attorney general of the federation Abubakar Malami, is one of the most infamous members of Buharis cabinet. Malami always search for a banana peel to step on. When he cant find one to step on, he supplies his own. While we are yet to recover from his juvenile and primitive interpretation and application of court orders that granted Omoyele Sowore and Olawale Bakare bail, he came out like a confused lost cow and declared Amotekun illegal.

Amotekun is the security outfit established by the six governors of south west states to protect lives and properties of their citizens. Amotekun was conceived and birthed due to the abysmal failure of Buharis regime to secure life and properties of Nigerians. Political science 101 informs us that any government that fails to discharge the primary function of protecting life and properties of its citizens should cease to exist.

Only cowheads like Malami, Ibrahim Babangida and other backward feudal herdsmen terrorists need be reminded that as oxygen is to life, so also Amotekun is oxygen to Yoruba people for security. Malami, from time to time, believes administration of justice should be rationed selectively to different parts of the federation. He sees the application of justice as his prerogative to dispense to the ethnic group or groups he favours or the ones his northern terrorists recommend.

Malami is the worst unintelligent and professionally crude attorney general in modern Nigerian history. Malamis ethical and professional flagrant dishonesty in handling important national legal and constitutional issues that border on rule of law, equal justice, and the upholding of the constitution, shows how crooked the justice system has become under Buhari.

At every opportunity, Malami has managed to rewrite the constitution and redefine our laws: RUGA, court orders on bail, the supremacy of SSS, the illegal detention of Nigerians. The list goes on.

Malami has installed two systems of justice in the country - one for the south and another for the north with the north as superior to the south. As far as hes concerned, the north should be treated with special favour. Few examples will suffice: the security outfits of Hisbah and JTF in the north are legal and constitutional. Whereas Amotekun in the south is illegal and unconstitutional. Miyetti Allah is legal, but IPOB is a terrorist group.

Malamis ethical nihilism, his utter indifference to ordinary norms of professional behaviour, and his prostitution of justice, spell doom for the unity and co-existence of multi ethnic, multi culture, multi religion of different groups that make up Nigeria. Malami as the arrow head of northern feudal jihadists, is carrying out the larger agenda of the northern emirates: to suppress, oppress and subdue the south and Islamise Nigeria. This is why hes so concerned about the security and safety of northerners. But when it comes to the security of life and properties in the south, hes not affected. He could care less!

Malami has insufficient intelligence experience. As a lawyer and attorney general, he lacks the strong intelligence background to serve as attorney general. He does not represent the collective view of Nigerias intelligence community that believes in a fair, objective, and impartial one justice system for different ethnic groups in the country.

Justice security are key to a united Nigeria. Without justice and security, there can be no peace. Without peace, theres no Nigeria. Malami cannot sit in the comfort of his Abuja office and decree who has the right to live, who to wipe out, who Fulani herdsmen terrorists to kill or spare, where to deploy the police, which security agencies are legal or illegal. Yorubas will defend Amotekun with their last breath. No one can stop Amotekun. Amotekun is here and here for good and for life. Malami, bring it on... or go to blazes!

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Malami: Bring It On... Or Go To Blazes! By Bayo Oluwasanmi - SaharaReporters.com

Haruki Murakami, is an extremely popular Japanese author whose knack of stringing words together in a beautiful melody touches the deepest corners of our heart and soul. For a huge fan of Murakamis novels and short stories like myself, his writing evokes a long sigh born out of a feeling of peace after a consistent duration of a storm (something he too has spoken about in Kafka On The Shore in the voice of the boy named Crow). Ugh...

The authors masterstroke is his ease of prose and the way he creates this bridge between fantasy and reality, containing elements of both surrealism and nihilism.

From talking cats to fish that fall from the sky, to lonely characters in search for themselves, a Murakami story will have it all and then some. This is probably also the reason why the author has found a dedicated fan following amongst younger people and not because his stories are centred around protagonists struggling with adulting or dealing with the issues that youth might face or even bring upon itself. His writing speaks to those parts within our being that were all trying to figure out in one way or another and until then, everything seems like a large question mark, playing on loop like your favourite song or a GIF you love.

The Japanese author is considered an important figure in postmodern literature. Murakami is known to have a deep interest in music and thats reflected in his writing or the references he cites. Take the first few pages of Norwegian Wood for example, a title he chose because of the famous Beatles song. Once the plane was on the ground, soft music began to flow from the ceiling speakers: a sweet orchestral cover version of the Beatles Norwegian Wood. The melody never failed to send a shudder through me, but this time it hit me harder than ever, reads a paragraph at the beginning of the novel.

Haruki Murakami, who turned 71 yesterday on January 12 2020, had never dreamt of becoming a famous writer, infact he never knew he possessed the skill too. He studied drama as a young person and went on to open a Jazz bar and a coffeehouse. Writing came to him like an epiphany while he was watching a baseball match, and thus he got the inspiration for his first novel, Hear The Wind Sing. He draws a lot of his inspiration from great writers like Ernest Hemingway and F.Scott Fitzgerald, along with his deep love for music.

In 2006, Murakami was awarded the international literary award, Franz Kafka Prize, and is today considered to be one of the worlds greatest living novelists.

Haruki Murakamis work is a series of quotable quotes, something you never get enough of or get exhausted of trying out. Here are some of his insightful quotes that will pierce through your soul:

If you remember me, then I dont care if everyone else forgets. Kafka on the Shore

Sometimes when I look at you, I feel Im gazing at a distant star. Its dazzling, but the light is from tens of thousands of years ago. Maybe the star doesnt even exist any more. Yet sometimes that light seems more real to me than anything. South of the Border, West of the Sun

Were both looking at the same moon, in the same world. Were connected to reality by the same line. All I have to do is quietly draw it towards me. Sputnik Sweetheart

I was always hungry for love. Just once, I wanted to know what it was like to get my fill of itto be fed so much love I couldnt take any more. Just once. Norwegian Wood

The most important thing we learn at school is the fact that the most important things cant be learned at school. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Most people are not looking for provable truths. As you said, truth is often accompanied by intense pain, and almost no one is looking for painful truths. What people need is beautiful, comforting stories that make them feel as if their lives have some meaning. Which is where religion comes from. 1Q84

I sometimes think that peoples hearts are like deep wells. Nobody knows whats at the bottom. All you can do is imagine by what comes floating to the surface every once in a while. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

Anyone who falls in love is searching for the missing pieces of themselves. So anyone whos in love gets sad when they think of their lover. Its like stepping back inside a room you have fond memories of, one you havent seen in a long time. Kafka on the Shore

I never trust people with no appetite. Its like theyre always holding something back on you. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Its not as if our lives are divided simply into light and dark. Theres shadowy middle ground. Recognizing and understanding the shadows is what a healthy intelligence does. And to acquire a healthy intelligence takes a certain amount of time and effort. After Dark

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These quotes by acclaimed author Haruki Murakami will pierce your soul - Hindustan Times

With the 2020 election fast approaching, people's optimism that Trump's endless scandals and lies will keep him out of office for a second term is fast waning.

The result of the British election earlier this month, which saw a populist prime minister with a penchant for bending parliamentary norm to breaking point win an election by a landslide, has done nothing to assuage concerns that something similar could happen in the US.

The one saving grace was always the idea that Trump would at the very least be ousted in 2024 and the political pendulum would finally swing back to the left, as the US constitution prevents any one president from serving more than two terms.

But now people are beginning to panic that his reign will live on - via his daughter Ivanka.

Political commentator Ruth Ben-Ghiattweeted last night to reiterate her position that this is a very real possibility "as dispiriting as that may be".

And dispiriting it was for many, who responded with terrifying nihilism and almost apocalyptic resignation to the outrageousness of this possibility.

People feared for the future of the planet, given Trump's horrifying record on environmental issues.

Others pondered the short-sightedness of the Republican party if this actually happens.

People also pointed out it might not even end there...

...and wondered whether public opinion on political dynasties may have changed since 2016, when "outsider" was preferable to "most experienced person for the job whose husband just happened to get there first".

Perhaps most relatable were those who just refused to believe it.

Originally posted here:

This terrifying theory proves how Trump's reign could live on to 2028 - indy100

The production designer behind Joker, Mark Friedberg knows New York City like the back of his hand.

Growing up there at around the same time as Joker director Todd Phillips, and presenting distinct portraits of New York in such films as Wonderstruck and If Beale Street Could Talk, Friedberg most recently transformed the city into a gritty Gotham City of the 1980s, for a standalone origin story of an iconic DC villain.

To Friedberg, transforming New York repeatedly for different films has been a manageable task, due to his relationship with the city, but also the essential nature of the place. New York is in my blood; Im made of it, and Ive spent an extraordinary amount of my life driving around it, knowing every corner, the production designer says. But New York is also a city you could make any version of a world out ofupscale, downscale, ethnic, architectural, suburban.

For Joker, Friedberg was looking not only at the NYC of his youth, but also at the cinema coming out of the city at that time. This included the early films of Martin Scorsese, as well as dramas like Network, The French Connection and Midnight Cowboy, movies that are strangely beautiful, even though theyre stripped down, unadorned, and depicting a crumbling world, the designer explains.

Theres something about the decay or dysfunction that is poetic. Rather than shooting pristine architecture, which just reflects back at you, theres something about a world where the buildings are falling down, and people are writing all over them, thats human, and I think that was one of the things we were successful in, that theres a nihilism to the world of Joker, but theres also a humanity to it, Friedberg adds. Its really a story of opposing extremescomedy, tragedy, life and death, decay or beauty, rich or poor, imagined and real. So, I think we were curious about exploring those themes. Ultimately, its a story about Arthur, so the version of the world we made for him was both something that reflected him and maybe, in a weird way, came out of him.

Transforming a corner of the Bronx that was urine-covered and garbage-coveredincluding the instantly iconic set of steps Joker dances downinto a place now regularly visited by buses full of tourists, Friedberg has mixed feelings.

The people who live there were happy to have us come, as a distraction to some of the hardships. Like, they have to walk up those steps every day. Now, theres bus tours going to these steps, theyre sanitized, and I got a note from [screenwriter] Scott Silver saying, Mark, you broke the Bronx. Im a little anxious about all that, Friedberg laughs. You know, the South Bronx used to be the butt of jokes. In the 70s, it was the punch line for decaying urban life, although when it was built, it was a very special place. Those stairs are a few blocks from Yankee Stadium; that block is an architectural masterpiece thats just fallen apart.

Below, the production designer further describes his take on the rough and tumble city, his initial reluctance to be a part of Joker, and what it was that ultimately sold him on the project.

DEADLINE: What excited you about the prospect of designing Joker?

MARK FRIEDBERG: I wasnt excited about it. I didnt want to do it, because without paying much attentionwithout knowing much more than who was directing itI just figured it was the next in line of whatever the next DC franchise would be.

Thats just not my world, or the kind of film that I like to seeand nothing against those films. Im not in any way looking down on them; in fact, they are the reason we still have a film industry. Its just not my taste. I had done a Spider-Man, and on that particular movie, there were so many rules of engagement, because it was part of something that had already been established, and it was really a financial cornerstone for the studio. It just didnt feel like cinema, in the way that Im used to it.

But ultimately, I was persuaded to read the script. I was friends with Emma Tillinger [Koskoff, producer], I was friends with Randy Poster, the music supervisor, and the minute I read the first five pages, I was hooked. Id proved myself wrong on every front. It was a film, it was a really strong script, and I was surprised. I kind of couldnt figure out how that could happen.

I think it took someone like Todd Phillips to make it, not just because of his talent, but because of his clout, at a place where hes been one of the most successful directors, and it was clear in our meeting that he was going for it. He wasnt hedging; he wasnt trying to make a popular film. He was trying to make a good film, and in fact, willing to risk it not being popular, to make it true to an idea.

That hooked me, and the irony is, for being a rather big studio film, it was, in a way, more independent than some of my favorite independent films that Ive gotten to work on. Zero interference from the studio, zero concern for anything beyond adherence to the credo that we established. So, I was in.

And it was hard. Its tough material; its not the worlds most uplifting story. Obviously, we got criticized early on. I feel like maybe whoever that was misunderstood our intentions, but it was like throwing a live grenade around the room. Its intense stuff, and I think thats partly why its been successful. Its not so often that cinema on this level, with these kinds of stakes, does take these kinds of risks, and does challenge the audience in this wayand the audience has proved that they not only are up to the challenge, but that they are interested or identify with these themes.

And, you know, its not a didactic story. Were not saying what the outcome is; were not even saying what happened, really. You could interpret this story a lot of different ways. But its a tough story about a tough world, and by the way, open the window, look outside. Its a tough world out there.

DEADLINE: What was the location scouting process like? What informed your choices, as far as environments that would define this films version of Gotham?

FRIEDBERG: We looked a long time, to map out our Gotham. Obviously, where Arthur lived was a key element in all of that, the location we returned to the most. It says a lot about him, because its where he gets to be. But we looked long and hard. We looked at public housing, city projects, many of the tougher neighborhoods, of which there are less and less, as the city gentrifies, and everybodys pushed somewhere else. Where all those people are going is somewhat of a curiosity, but it aint happened in the South Bronx just yet.

Ultimately, we chose that area partly because it was very New York, but not something you think about, when you think about New York. I think that was the Gotham we were trying to make. Clearly, Gothams always related to New York, but we were trying to make some version of a mythologized city. We were also interested in the fact that even though thats where he lived, Arthur is kind of homeless. He doesnt have a room there; hes sleeping on the couch. He may be in and out of institutions.

In a weird way, his home is the streets. He spends a lot of time out there, whether its working on the street, riding subways around, or buses. Also, his journey home is just arduous. Everything bears down on Arthur. The citys falling down, people are punching him. Theres always trains over his head, garbage he has to navigate, and the stairs added the obvious stage for Joker to become Joker. Ultimately, theres many of those sets of stairs in the Bronx. We chose the Shakespeare Avenue stairs because it was right next to the place that we chose to be the exterior of his residence.

The movie was shot all over the city. We shot in Chinatown, in Harlem, in Midtown, in Brooklyn, and in Newark, New Jersey. As much as you want to talk about how this is New York, its New York area, East Coast urban. But Gotham Square, in the beginning, and the big riot at the end, that was all shot on Market Street in Newark.

Todd is a very hands-on as a director, and was adamant that the process of prep started way early. I had a lot of prep, when I was the only guy on the movie with a couple of scouts, and we drove and drove. We looked at New York for months and months before prep even started.

I used to have a class that I taught called My Best Design Tool Is My Carand it is, in a lot of ways. Because as much as we can sit at a drawing board and invent a world, that assumes that I know everything that I want to make. But the process of scouting is a process of discovery, and its not just discovering places. Its discovering the world of the story. That time in the car is really when things congealed.

DEADLINE: How did you approach designing the set of The Murray Franklin Show?

FRIEDBERG: Well, it wasnt just the set that we built. The stage we shot in was brand new, and we wanted it to be not just the thing that you saw on TV, but the thing that you saw when you were in the audience, or when you were backstage. So, we built an old stage inside the new stage, and dressing rooms and corridors. There was actually a lot more that we made than what was ultimately in the cut; you could have walked from Arthurs dressing room all the way out to the stage. There was a dressing room for Murray himself, where actually De Niro hung out when he was off camera, and then there was the design of that set, which was as important as any in the movie.

That went through some fits and starts. It started as a more regional talk show, more like a Joe Franklin Show, and it evolved into more of a national, classic talk show look. The curtains were the only other burst of color beside the clown-ness of him, [evoking] a kind of vibrance for him, when hes in that Joker state. But also, for me, the set offered a chance to have a backdrop of Gotham City, which was a big part of that set, the mural that you see through the window. And boy, did we labor over that. It was really science that got us there, as well as arta lot of variations in the design, a lot of models, a lot of testing of colors.

DEADLINE: On Joker, you also shot on real subway cars from the 70s and 80s. Hauled out of the New York City Transit Museum, these were placed on New York transit lines, and operated by MTA personnel.

FRIEDBERG: Heres to the MTA for being extraordinarily cooperative with us. They gave us a lot more help than they had to, and broke some of their own regulations to let us get shots we wanted, although they do have a lot of regulationsone of which is No graffiti, another of which is No traveling between cars. So, those were tricky things that we had to figure out how to do.

The ride at the end was shot practically, but the scene with the Wall Street guys was shot on stage. That car was not from the museum, but it was from a collectora guy I knew, a car I used once before that we completely changed. We had to make it look more like the one or two old cars we could get from the MTA that we used in other moments, just to make the connection. The car on stage, we were able to graffiti, and then we put these giant video walls on either side of it, so what you see out the window was live plates that we shot.

It was a big, complicated set. One of the things I think we did well, though, was to knit the stage world and the real world, where its hard to tell what we did where. I really wanted the film to feel docu stylelike we were out on the streets, alwaysand its hard to tell that that scene was all shot on a stage.

Read more:

Joker Production Designer Mark Friedberg On His Initial Reluctance To Work On Warner Bros. Pic & Embracing The Strange Beauty Of A Crumbling World...

"Adams Run" is a video opera composed by Ruby Fulton and produced by Rhymes with Opera. Baynard Woods, a former Charleston City Paper columnist, wrote the libretto, which is set in the Colleton County town of Adams Run. The story, set in the near future where the climate crisis is the only topic, centers around Billy Noble, an environmentally minded televangelist with a reality show about building an ecological ark for his flock, and Julie Shore, an existentialist weather woman who mocks our inability to act in the face of planetary change with gallows humor. They have the two most popular shows on TV and when Shore goes to Adams Run to cover Noble's ark, they fall in love. The following scenes open the film (which is available on Amazon Prime) by cross-cutting scenes from both of the shows.

JULIE SHORE

It's July 29th, 2020 and I'm Julie Shore, the Existentialist Weather Woman

It is snowing in Los Angeles

At twentynine degrees

Connecticut is burning,

one hundred-eighteen.

BILLY NOBLE

And it is the wrath of the Lord

that brings these end times upon

us. We have not shepherded his

Earth and his Oceans and his seas

JULIE SHORE

Today marks the eighth straight

year of severe drought in the Mid

and South West

BILLY NOBLE

And the Dust is blowing

JULIE SHORE AND BILLY NOBLE

So long it's been good to know you/

so long it's been good to know you/

so long it's been good to know you/

this dusty old dust is driving me

home/ and I've got to be drifting

along

BILLY NOBLE

And it is the wrath of a righteous

God Just as it was in the days of

Noah

JULIE SHORE

In the City of Baltimore today, the

mayor and City Council finally agreed

on the forceful and permanent

evacuation of the historic Fells

Point neighborhood

BILLY NOBLE

And that is why we are here today And

henceforth on the Rev. Billy Noble

Gospel Hour

JULIE SHORE

Baltimore is now the fifth city to

take such drastic action against

rising tides

BILLY NOBLE

at the Ark, our environmental retreat

and laboratory

In the town of Adams Run, SC

The story the people down the road

On Edisto island used to say

Is that Edisto was Eden and Adams Run

was where Adam stopped

the first night after the expulsion from the Garden

JULIE SHORE

Eight other cities, including New

York City, are contemplating similar

actions.

It is an especially fraught issue

in New York, where 232 people died

last week when a subway line flooded:

Still no word whether they

drowned or were electrocuted.

BILLY NOBLE

And so we, sinners expelled from our cities-

You heard about the flooded subway

in New York last week, no doubt,

We have come back to this spot, the

first dark night after the

realization of our sin to rebegin

again; to build an ark for the righteous

to claim our birthright

not only as the children of Adam

But also of Noah, for the Lord hath

so ordered to live in harmony with

the Earth and on this ark create a

new covenant with the Lord and the

JULIE SHORE

Meanwhile, in South Carolina where

two super tornados coming from

different directions collided into

the state capital in what one

spectator described as two

Godzillas having rough sex

Citizens, led by the famous Rev.

Billy Noble are claiming the end

times and declaring the weather

acts of God

BILLY NOBLE

And surely some of you, even those

amongst us here as soon as you turn

off our show flip through the DVR

to the Existentialist Weather Woman

The top show on the TV. And I

understand, I too have watched the

fetching young woman as she makes

light of the only topic that now

matters Infecting our country with

European nihilism and gallows'

humor

JULIE SHORE

Even if God is not dead it is now

More here:

In the S.C.-set Opera "Adams Run," the Climate is the Only Crisis - Charleston City Paper