moriartysskull:

12 Cumbermoments of sheer acting brilliance in no partucular order

Benedict Cumberbatch Acting Appreciation Post 

He’s on his way to international blockbuster stardom, but first and foremost, he’s a great thespian, one of the best in the world. As an actor, Benedict Cumberbatch is intelligent, fearless, versatile, chameleon-like, peerless, sensual, sexy, mesmerising, eye candy… you simply can’t look away when he’s on screen, he sucks you in…

1) In Hawking (2004), Cumberbatch manages the masterstroke of acting out the physicist’s MND disease in pinpoint precision, but entirely without making him an object of pity. He shows the struggle with the disability getting worse each day without portaying Hawking as a tragic figure. The disease is never at the center of his acting, the viewer’s attention is always drawn to Hawking’s way to science stardom and his emotional life. All that makes the heartbreaking moments of the movie (the final diagnosis, for example) even more special. The lesson is clear: What we witness here is a genius playing a genius. 

2) There are obviously countless magical acting moments in all episodes of Sherlock (2010/2012) - from Cumberbatch AND Freeman - but A scandal in Belgravia surely has excessively many. The absolute highlight (besides every single scene in which Sherlock interacts with Irene Adler): The last ten - not showy but nearly pious - minutes, in which Cumberbatch acts out - with sparing gestures and mimic art - that Sherlock is capable of all kinds of emotion, from trustfulness to admiration and probably even love. The last moment at the rainy window with it’s only four words of monologue leaves you breathless with empathy and sentiment.

3) The sadly undervalued drama Third Star (2010) is without any doubt one of the most throat constricting movies ever made, and Cumberbatch as deathly ill James is responsible. I don’t believe that there’s a more powerful performance of agony anywhere in any movie ever made. No, I’m not exaggerating. And then, on the other side of the scale, there’s so much tenderness, joy and lust for life in his performance… you have to see it to believe it. 

4) In the Golding entwicklungsroman adaption To the ends of the earth (2005), Cumberbatch plays young British aristocrat Edmund Talbot, who travels by ship to Australia. Everything in this TV drama is very dream-like and weird, and Cumberbatch’s performance fits in perfectly. There are loads of impressing acting moments… the love at first sight moment at the dance on the high sea for example; but all the tense encounters with Captain Anderson (Jared Harris) are the highlights of this series…

5) In Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Cumberbatch delivers the probably most hearttbreaking gay movie scene sinceBrokeback Mountain. It’s really really short but it’s one of the highlights of the entire movie. Besides that, he also owns the best and most suspenseful scene in TTSS. You might even say that he’s the heart and soul of the movie - without diminishing Gary Oldman’s great performance.

6) One of the supreme disciplines of acting: playing twins. Cumberbatch does it in the short film Inseperable (2007) - and mind-blowingly so. The film is only 11 minutes long, but Cumberbatch is so intense in his gestures and facial expressions, he manages to tell two full life storys with only a dozen words of dialogue. A moment of desperate crying alone in a car is the only crescendo in this calm psychological mini thriller.

7) If a lesser actor had taken on the part of Alexander inStuart: A life backwards (2007), he wouldn’t have had a chance to stand his ground against the impressive, showy  ”Stuart” part of Tom Hardy. Stumbling mumbling Hardy is the center of the movie, without any doubt. But Cumberbatch isn’t intimidated in the least by his counterpart. He has a great chemistry with Hardy and they interact brilliantly. Cumberbatch is moving and genuine and often funny, and when he’s on screen, the eyes of the viewer tend to wander off Hardy, towards him.

8) Another troubled genius: Cumberbatch as Vincent van Gogh in the magnificent BBC documentation Painted with words (2010)… true greatness. A perfect study in mental alienation. Cumberbatch recites words from original letters Van Gogh wrote to his brother, and he interacts with the camera - a magical experience. The scenes in the asylum are gut-wrenching.

9) “Bite it. You have to bite it!” This one sentence is the key to Cumberbatch’s unforgettable Paul Marshall in Atonement (2007). Small role, large effect. He’s pitch perfect (and, Jesus, a bit sexy) as the slick, creepy chocolate factory owner - irritatingly good, as director Joe Wright points out in the DVD’s audio commentary: “We never expected him to be that unsettling.” Cumberbatch’s scene with Juno Temple is the most memorable and best played in the whole movie.

 10) The last enemy (2008)… pretty good mini series, BRILLIANT lead. Cumberbatch plays Stephen Ezard, a scientist in a future UK who feels sold down the river in a world he doesn’t understand anymore. His acting of sheer desperation is breathtaking, and there are painfully beautiful love scenes…  so sensual you want to look away. 

11) Wreckers (2010)… Rural love triangle with loads of sexual tension between all characters. The film has it’s weaknesses and is much too low key to really wow you, but Cumberbatch does the job. He’s shady and likeable in equal shares, and there’s a strange jumpiness to his character that’s totally fascinating. He has a fantastic chemistry with *Chris Shaun Evans who plays his violated brother, and the tension between them is never far from sexual and leaves a bad taste in the viewer’s mouth.

12) Star Trek into Darkness (2013)… An absolute artistical triumph for Cumberbatch and some kind of a first climax of his career (besides Sherlock). It’s a first rate fun popcorn film, colourful, loud, exciting, full of plot faults and innuendos and flip dialogue and explosions and bromance - and then there’s Cumberbatch: majestic, stoic, Shakespearian, barbaric, grave. And painfully, alarmingly sexy. His face does things that I’ve never seen a face doing in my entire life, and his physicality is out of this world. And then there’s his character’s big moment, and I will eat my pants if he doesn’t get an Oscar nom for it…

THIS THIS THIS^^^^^^ SO MUCH THIS

*Just a quick fix with the name

Source: moriartysskull

16 May 766 brokenshellofaman Permalink

evankart:

lilsoutherncuss:

kaciart:

evankart:

Tuesday.

Monk Philip met a knight in Greenwood. His name was Richard or something and he lost his way in the forest, twice. So monk decided being company of knight for a while.

Eeeeeeee This is gorgeous!

I love his face and the drapes and folds of fabric.

Also horse

I love the horse too.

“Why do you walk if you have a horse?” Sir Richard asked after they had been traveling together for nearly half a day.  ”We could go much faster if you rode.”

“Because the weather is fine, and my body is healthy, and the horse is good enough to carry my own burdens - I will not burden it with my body unless I need to,” the monk answered.  ”Do you have some great hurry, sir knight?”

“I have a quickly dwindling supply of provisions,” Sir Richard muttered grumpily.

“God will provide,” Philip said serenely.

“God provided this labyrinth of a forest, too.”

“And then, God provided you with me, to lead you out,” Philip smiled.  ”Perhaps you needed to meet me, sir knight.  Certainly I needed to meet you.  Sarah here is a poor conversationalist.”

“You named your horse…Sarah,” Sir Richard said dubiously.

“Sarah’s a fine name.  And she twitched her ears most endearingly when I tried it out on her.  Why, what is your horse named?”

“…Thunder,” Sir Richard admitted.

“Ah - do his hooves thunder as he gallops?”

Sir Richard shifted a little, and color rose in his cheeks.  ”Er - no.  Well, yes, but that’s not why.  There was an awful storm not long after I bought him, and he was so scared of the noise he broke the door of his stall trying to escape.”

Philip paused and Sir Richard could see him fighting a smile.  ”A wandering warrior with a sensitive stallion.  I suppose I will be a meandering monk and then we can form a plodding pair.  Though as I am afoot, it may as well be a trotting trio.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

“When you travel as much as I do, and so often without company, you do become a little odd.  Some folks make up songs, but I am no great singer and an even worse composer.  So I think about words, and what they mean, and sometimes dream up idle poems.  None worth remembering, I’m afraid, but it passes the time.  And you, Sir?  How do you keep awake in the saddle on long journeys?”

Sir Richard frowned.  ”I don’t.”

“No wonder you were lost,” Philip teased, grinning without restraint.

“No, I mean - I don’t…pass the time.  I just…am.”

“Then why ‘are’ you with such a grim face?  We are not hungry or cold, and you have found your way again.  Have you suffered a loss recently?  Or perhaps you are simply of a somber nature.”

“This armor is damned hot, my rations are low, and I’m forced to depend on your honesty and goodwill, when I’ve no way of even knowing you are what you claim.”

“Ah, perhaps I can be of some assistance there, at least,” Philip said amiably.  He handed a scroll to Sir Richard, who looked at it blankly.  ”…Unless, of course, you cannot read.”

“O-of course I can read!” Sir Richard snapped.  His mouth moved as he sounded out the words under his breath.  ”Bisshopp Juuuliiiian,” he murmured aloud.  ”I’ve never heard of him.”

“He is the bishop of this diocese.  As a duke rules his dukedom, so does a bishop command his bishopric.  In religious matters, of course.  I have his permit to wander the lands in pious poverty, toiling for alms when necessary.  I am also encouraged to spread learning - well, certain types of learning, but I hope to teach reading in addition to Scripture.  A man should be able to write his own name, at the very least.”

“Has anyone wanted such lessons?”

“I preached the Word of God in the previous town and was given bread and produce, with great energy and surprising volume,” he said earnestly.

Sir Richard considered that statement for a long moment.  ”You mean…they threw food at you.”

“I believe they were simply made exuberant by the Scripture,” Philip said, a little less earnestly.  ”I do wish the man with the apples had been calmer in his enjoyment of my sermon.  I caught most of the potatoes, as that vendor telegraphed his movements quite clearly, but the apple seller I think hid behind his cart, and anyway they were priced low enough that some people bought extra to gift to me from various angles.  I did eat very well that night, and have since then, though I have run out of all but potatoes now.  Still, as I said - God will provide.”

It was difficult to tell how seriously the monk took his own words, but Sir Richard thought he might be on to something.  It didn’t particularly matter why people were sending food your direction, if it meant you got a meal out of it.

O M T I love this, love, love. You also inspired me.

16 May 409 evankart Permalink

raggedytrenchcoats:

This is officially my new favourite thing

Source: raggedytrenchcoats

16 May 19519 pataookami Permalink

cinnamon-and-mey:

detenebrate:

0xymoronic:

shitarianasays:

theeyesinthenight:

the-sonic-screw:

platinumpixels:

volpesvolpes:

unseilie:

sarahvonkrolock:

gaysexagainstawall:

them-days-was-olden-as-fuck:

The spread of the black death.

Poland

Poland, tell us your secret.

Poland is the old new Madagascar. 

If I remember correctly, Poland’s secret is that the jews where being blamed all over europe (as usual) as scapegoats for the black plague. Poland was the only place that accepted Jewish refugees, so pretty much all of them moved there. 

Now, one of the major causes of getting the plague was poor hygiene. This proved very effective for the plague because everyone threw their poop into the streets because there were no sewers, and literally no one bathed because it was against their religion. Unless they were jewish, who actually bathed relatively often. When all the jews moved to Poland, they brought bathing with them, and so the plague had little effect there.

Milan survived by quarantining its city and burning down the house of anyone showing early symptoms, with the entire family inside it. 

I reblogged this tons of times, but the Milan info is new.

Damn Italy, you scary.

Poland: “Hey, feeling a bit down? Have a quick wash! There, you see? All better”

Milan: “Aw, feeling a bit sick are we? BURN MOTHERFUCKER, BURN!!!!!”

Also, this might have something to do with it: from what I understand, O blood type is uncommonly… common in Poland. Something to do with large families in small villages and a LOT of intermarriage. The black plague was caused by a bacterium that produced, in its waste in the human body, wastes that very closely mimic the “B” marker sugars on red blood cells that keep the body from attacking its own immune system. Anyone who has a B blood type had an immune system that was naturally desensitized to the presence of the bacterium, and therefore was more prone to developing the disease. Anyone who had an O type was doubly lucky because the O blood type means the total absence of ANY markers, A or B, meaning that their bodys’ immune system would react quickly and violently against the invaders, while someone with an A may show symptoms and recover more slowly, while someone with B would have just died. Because O is a recessive blood type, it shows in higher numbers when more people who carry the recessive genes marry other people who also carry the recessive gene. Poland, which has a nearly 700 year history of being conquered by or partnering with every other nation in the surrounding area, was primarily an agricultural country, focused around smaller, farming communities where people were legally tied to, and required to work, “their” land, and so historically never “spread” their genes across a large area. The economy was, and had been, unstable for a very long period of time leading up to the plague, the government had been ineffective and had very little reach in comparison to the armies of the other countries around for a very very long time, and so its people largely remained in small communities where multiple generations of cross-familial inbreeding could have allowed for this more recessive gene to show up more frequently. Thus, there could be a higher percentage of O blood types in any region of the country, guaranteeing less spread of the illness and moving slower when it did manage to travel. Combine this with the fact that there were very few large, urban centers where the disease would thrive, and with the above facts, and you’ve got a lovely recipe for avoiding the plague.

Interestingly enough, as a result from the plague, the entirety of Europe now has a higher percentage of people with O blood type than any other region of the world. 

WHY IS THIS ALL SO COOL

When Tumblr teaches you more about the plague than 12 years of school ever did.

Just to throw a nod in, as a medieval historian, this is all credible, and is the leading theory as to the plagues effectiveness at this point. So. Enjoy your new knowledge!

I’m from that fucking Milan! 

Source:

16 May 122115 pataookami Permalink