Its almost impossible — at least for me — not to love deeply relaxing and abstract space ambient compilations. They are generally so smooth, so expansive, so serene, so cohesive, so creative, that its very easy to enjoy and to appreciate them. The graceful intonations, the discreetly, but imponderable colorful vitality, the proverbial acquiescence of the harmonies, all these elegant features are easily captivating. Of course, you really have to love deeply this genre of music; otherwise, you will be astoundingly bored. 

I really can expend a lot of time on the web searching for marvelous compilations to listen. And fortunately, there are an extraordinary abundance of them. If you are not familiar with this kind of music, I ask you to listen at least one of the compilations selected below; after all, it's not that bad to experience something new. 

Evidently, there is not too much rhythmic variations on this type of music — as you may notice —, but the general purpose of the genre is to create an environment of relaxing and serene sonorous cosmogony, where you can just forget entirely everything concerning existential matters; just be yourself, and rest with profound vigor. Something that we do not practice frequently, on this turbulent times we're living in, since we are always, always very busy with great amounts of work, appointments and general daily obligations. So, this is where this formidable, amazing and fantastic genre of music fits into our lives. Its the perfect gateway for moments of salutary grace, to ensure sanity stays exactly where it should be.

But, setting aside this brief introduction, we should go directly to the first compilation. After all, this is really not the type of music that needs rationalization, an analysis, or a serious "explanation". On the contrary. You just need to relax, to be yourself, and to let the music penetrate deeply into your whole immaculate sensitivity. If you do this at night, listening to the sound in a quiet, serene environment, preferably in a dark room — not in a loud volume —, you will definitely understand what space ambient music is all about. This is the magic that I'm trying to truthfully convey here. 

Of all the compilations I've selected here, probably this one is my favorite. Already on the first song, you are contemplated by fantastic and marvelous harmonies, that will definitely transport you to another world; one a lot more serene, calm. peaceful and generous than the one we're living in. It's easy to wish this magnificent song never ends. With a solitary, but comfortable vividness, its fascinating musical graciousness will certainly leave you astounded. The sensible and gentle atmosphere of the sound is almost a firm invitation to enjoy happily a satisfactory moment of contentment, like very few musical genres are able to properly propitiate to its listeners. I'm sure you will love this formidable compilation, as much as I do!

This marvelous compilation depart from the general serenity that revolves around the most elementary axis of this type of music, whose core element consists of exceedingly smooth and overtly diluted melodies, since "space ambient" is not effectivelly a musical genre, but rather an umbrella term, that includes generally calm and easygoing synthesizer driven music.  

While this is probably the most concise of the compilations selected, its beauty and uneasiness are also overtly peculiar, since its melodies are a little more vibrant and vivacious than the previous selections, while cohesively preserving all the sonorous features relevant to the genre; nevertheless, the songs present on this setlist are amazingly graceful, and all the increasingly tender and delightful harmonies —while delivering a delicate degree of sensibility that can be vastly appreciated with remarkable joy —, conceives a sagacious parallel universe full of dense and splendorous intensity, that departs from the most impenetrable understanding of the human nature. 

This graceful — and somewhat hyperbolic — compilation displays a calmer, but consistent sonorous expansion, that seems to discreetly come from within the serenity of its own dispersive calmness. Its salutary, though expressively dark tenderness dilates the overwhelmingly diffusive tranquility that gradually departs from its dense and horizontal musical eagerness. Like a galaxy whose overall contingencies overflow beyond the mordacious restlessness of an infinite and deleterious agony, this marvelous and imponderable symphony of existential vitality overexposes the placid grace of the human despair, with a terribly realistic and grievous detrimental insolence. Only if you're not human you can definitely survive to fully appreciate this level of existential magnificence. 

Despite the fact, that space ambient is an exceedingly abstract musical genre, its dense, horizontal and profound anatomy propitiates to audiences a formidable level of introspection, that almost works as a therapy session. Though you may find the sound to be simple — and to a certain extent, it is — the graceful tenderness that comes from the melodies definitely redirects a peaceful and relaxing part of the universe to our sensibilities, with the aim to heal the anxieties of the heart. 

While the consistent musicality that comes from all this formidable compilations has the potential to reverberate within ourselves, its easy to assimilate the graceful and imponderable virtues of serenity. While you can rest for a moment — a moment that can last centuries within the proverbially transient dimension of time and space, as your senses become more volatile and susceptible to a lethargic degree of dispersive rapture — its ephemeral vitality remains within you, in your consciousness, in the restless abscesses of divinity, delivering discreetly into the renitent peripheries of your thoughts the exponential eagerness that longs for an everlasting existential placidity, that may not exist in the daily turbulent and disdainful palace of human exasperation. 

I hope you have appreciated this marvelous sonorous journey, and my suggestions. If you didn't knew this genre of music, I hope you have liked as much as I do. Feel free to write your personal opinion about it. Until our next appointment, keep on listening this wonderful compilations, and feel free to discover new ones for yourself on the web! 


Wagner

Introduction, selection and commentaries by Wagner Hertzog

For most human beings, its simply impossible not to love music. It is in our nature to become completely delighted listening the sound of extremely pleasant music and to surrender ourselves entirely to it, in serene, though somewhat rapturous abandonment. And the musical variety that exists certainly helps, since we can explore a lot of different genres, as it is amazingly fabulous to discover something we didn't knew. I think there's nothing more rewarding than listening to a beautiful song, and be really sensitive and receptive to what the melodies are communicating. 

If you feel the same way, let me invite you to listen to some marvelous songs with me. I sincerely hope we can have a very pleasant time together, while we appreciate the incredible and magnificent grandiosity of the spectacular tunes selected below. To listen to wonderful music – and really be grateful about it –, produces an incredibly distinct sense of astonishment, that compliments the rapture infused by the music. So everything that the sound propitiates is eventually assimilated by a turmoil of dilated emotions, that makes the imaginary world of reason fall apart as the grandiosity of the sound prevails. 

Well, let me go now straight to the point! There are a lot of old songs, especially from the eighties and nineties – although here I've decided to include also others released more recently –, that are simply too marvelously captivating, fascinating and beautiful, to be neglected and forgotten. So let's remember some of them, to appreciate these songs at the fullest, and enjoy a nostalgia moment, that definitely deserves to be conceived, to give this excellent songs the level of exposure they certainly deserve. 

All of these artists and bands – with a few exceptions – remains mostly unknown to the general public, though some of them acquired variable degres of fame, at least for a brief period of time. Some have been totally forgotten, if at any given time they were known, while others have started their careers only a few years ago. Nevertheless, the most important fact I wish to emphasize is that all of the songs selected below are exceedingly special to me, in a very personal level, though they mostly belong to different periods of my life; some I have discovered in my childhood, some in my adolescence, others in my early adulthood.  Most of the songs present on this list, though, I have discovered while working the night shift in the warehouse department of a large corporation, several years ago, that used to play in a local radio station, and I used to hear it in my working schedule, the night shift. Regardless of the sentiments involved, these are all wonderfully magnificent songs, and I sincerely hope that, if you do not know any of them, you somehow enjoy and appreciate them as much as I do. 

The first song, In The Heat Of The Night, by German singer Sandra Lauer – known mononymously as Sandra – was originally released in 1985 as a single from her debut album, The Long Play. While she never had too much success outside her native country, she has enjoyed a prosperous career. She had released ten albums so far, and remains active to this day. For almost twenty years, she was married to notorious musician Michael Cretu, the famous songwriter and record producer who is the mastermind behind the original and innovative new age/ electronica / experimental musical project Enigma, who has released eight albums since 1990, and has sold millions of records worldwide. 

This song by Gary B. – Love Rain Down –, is one of the most marvelous songs I probably have ever heard. I simply love this song, it has such strength, personality and vigor. With a formidably impactful, melancholic and nostalgic atmosphere, this gracefully conceived song is perfect for rainy, exasperating, grayish days of futile labour, apathy and sadness; let's be real, can a song be more perfect and exceedingly beautiful than this one? If I properly remember, the first time I've heard this amazingly delightful tune I was at work, probably more than a decade ago, in a period of my life where I used to do the night shifts in the department of a large company, and a local radio station used to play mostly this type of music, which helped me to create a taste for the genre, though I already had a fascination and a general inclination to love smooth, poetic, depressive, adult contemporary easy listening music, given the fact that, when I was a teenager, in the late nineties, I regularly visited my father in the distant neighborhood where he lived with his mother, my grandmother, in the outskirts of the city. His work office was located in that same area, and he used to listen to a radio that used to play similar genres of music, mostly seventies and eighties nostalgia hits. This radio station in particular I don't known if its still exists, but several compilations of their sets are available on YouTube, and I may write an article about that in the future. 

Still Here, by Aural Float, is another song that I love very much! This absolutely wonderful work of art – like the song featured above – also displays a fatalist atmosphere of melancholy, sorrow and absolute consternation, though expressively more downplayed, while delivering wonderfully poetic melodies, that increasingly improves the peripheral sensitivities of the listener. While the song's style is somewhat reminiscent of Madonna, Aural Float demonstrates a sonorous cohesiveness, overflowing with simplicity, that somehow underestimates their captivating creativity. This song I also have discovered while listening the radio at work, exactly like the following three songs. 

Good Life, by Inner City, was released as a single in 1988, and it was their only major hit, although in the late eighties and early nineties they scored other successful singles in the music charts. During their most notorious period, the group was a duo consisting of record producer Kevin Saunderson and singer Paris Grey. They are no longer together, though Saunderson occasionally performs under the moniker Inner City. This song is very beautiful; its melodic vibe, catchy groove and flavored soul texture was a mixture that functioned as the creative apex of this ephemeral, but brilliant musical act.  

I have never been a great fan of Daft Punk, though I really like some of their songs, and their animated music videos – featuring the Japanese style of anime – are undoubtedly astounding and characteristic of their then proverbial (but long gone) anonymity. Despite the fact that this song is simple, and resigns itself to the basic elements of electronic dance music, the style of the duo is ostensibly prominent, and the rude eccentricity of its somewhat profoundly circular harmonies is an integral component of its beauty.

This marvelous song, Saw Something, by Dave Gahan – better known as the lead singer of Depeche Mode –, I also listened for the first time in the radio, although back then I was already acquainted with Depeche Mode, being a severely huge fan of the band, having several of their albums, compilations, live releases and singles (Depeche Mode is probably the band I have the most CD's, as well as some DVD's). I already had Paper Monsters, the first Dave Gahan solo album, released in 2003. Saw Something is a single taken from Gahan's second solo album, Hourglass, released in 2007. It is a formidable, spectacular, exceedingly fantastic and overtly poetical song, despite its melancholic atmosphere, that adds beauty to it.  

City Lights is the only known release by American singer William Pitt, of which practically nothing is known. This song was a modest hit in Europe – when released in 1986 –, and the little notoriety the singer achieved was totally dependent on this track. Nevertheless, its a beatifully fascinating song, that it's literally impossible to listen just one time. 

Johnny Hates Jazz is a British pop band, and Shattered Dreams, released in 1986, was their only major hit, though their scored a lot of other singles in the music charts. They have released two albums, Turn Back the Clock, in 1988, and Tall Stories, in 1991, before disbanding the following year. In 2009, the original members reunited again, though one of them left the band before they released one more album, Magnetized, in 2013; since then, Johnny Hates Jazz has since been performing as a duo. This song, Shattered Dreams – despite its simplicity –, is marvelously catchy, sentimental and elegant. Certainly, displays, incorporates and reverberates all the flavor of eighties' pop music. 

Unfortunately, Laura Branigan has died in 2004, but her music is still widely appreciated, and remains captivating new audiences worldwide. Released in 1984, Self Control is a cover song, originally performed by Italian singer Raffaele Riefoli, better known as Raf; it was written by Raf himself, in partnership with Steve Piccolo and Giancarlo Bigazzi. This single was extracted from Branigan's third album, which was also titled Self Control. With simple, but beautifully arranged harmonies, the song is marvelously enticing, and its vibrating club atmosphere certainly catches up with its sensible melodic features.  

Sincerely, I could listent to this marvelous song all day long, without a problem. Originally written and performed by Everlast, this version sung by Swedish singer Jay Smith is simply too marvelous to be true. With a flavored country vibe, though displaying a savage, dry and unadorned rhythmic simplicity – with all the desert grains of sand that arid melodies can endure  –, this fabulous version pleased audiences so much that easily people proclaim its superiority over the original version.  

This ambient mix version of I Count On You, by Endanger, is an exceedingly graceful – almost religious – anthem of spiritual resistance and deliverance, that displays a very redeemer and comforting appeal. With a salutary atmosphere of love and resilience, this serene song of faith and hope is a formidable work of creative sensibility, that definitely deserves to be widely appreciated, especially for its capacity to radiate lights of splendor and divinity, wherever it plays.  

Another marvelous song that I discovered while listening radio at work, Flood is one of the major hits of American Christian rock band Jars of Clay, from Nashville, Tennessee. Released in 1995, it was their first single, taken from their self-titled debut album. A fantastic, vigorous and amazingly energetic song, Flood displays direct, but rapturous melodies, that punctuates the anatomy and the framework of the sound's strength.  

Embrace is a wonderful song released by Australian electropop act PNAU, in 2008, as a single taken from their eponymous album. With a simple, but effusive charm, the song displays a sensible vigor and a latent density, that easily overwhelms its gracious and flexible musical appeal. 

With graceful, serene and wonderfully soft harmonies, To The Moon And Beyond, by Galimatias, is a formidable alternative electronic music track, whose simple, but amazingly defined harmonies definitely revolve around its own fluid, melancholic and sober atmosphere. Displaying a flexible, though moderately restrained rhythmic expansion axis, the diluted sonority of its intuitive density flirts with an imperative tenderness, that discreetly surpasses its own volatile subtleties, while mordaciously anticipates the overall sentiments of its lethargic, but beautiful musical layout.  

This is one of the most beautiful songs ever created. Drowning, by The Eden Project – alias of Irish singer Jonathon Ng, that now operates under the moniker EDEN – is a marvelous masterpiece, that I could be listening twenty-four hours a day, without stopping; the lyrics are also amazingly beautiful and sensible. With a dense, poetic and melancholic atmosphere, Drowning is a desperate quest for a life of happiness, meaning and consistence, an anthem that claims for a more plausible and fruitful existence, full of spiritual serenity. Definitely, this is one of the most fantastic songs ever written, and Jonathon Ng certainly deserves more exposure, given his enormous talent as a singer and songwriter. 

Laura Branigan was an American singer, that achieved worldwide fame in the eighties. Perhaps she is most remebered today for the single Self Control — a cover version of Italian singer Raffaele Riefoli, better known as Raf —, that was a nº 1 hit in countries like Sweden, Austria and Canada, became a Top 10 UK Singles Chart, and achieved high scores in the first places of several American music charts as well, entering the hit charts of many other countries around the globe. Nevertheless, Laura Branigan was way more than just a marvelous performer; she was a gracefully talented singer with a powerful and singular vocal range, really passionate about music and severely devoted to her fans. And despite all of this, she was very detached from fame, money and notoriety, and all the things that usually come together with success. 

Branigan was born Laura Ann Branigan, in July 3, 1952 in Brewster, in the state of New York, and very early she never hesitated to display her musical inclinations. From the onset of her life, she was determined to pursue a musical career. In the early seventies, Branigan joined with some musicians she had met, to form a band called Meadow, which would be a frustrating experience. They worked on a record, and eventually released an album called The Friend Ship, from which two singles emerged. Despite being in her early twenties, Branigan already could be properly qualified as a discreet, but effervescent talent. Nevertheless, the band doesn't achieved any degree of success, and almost immediately the group disbanded. Soon afterwards, one of the main songwriters — guitarist Walker Daniels — killed himself. After she became famous, Branigan refused to discuss her involvement with Meadow, or to debate any topic related to this period of her career.  

When the band was over, Branigan worked in all types of jobs to support herself. Eventually, though, she managed to find occupations within the music business, and was hired to work for a period of months as a backup singer for Leonard Cohen, in his 1976 European tour. 

Unfortunately, the seventies came, but for the most part of the decade, a career as a singer never materialized, doesn't matter how hard she tried. Soon, Branigan would be entering her thirties, and was still fighting for a place on the spotlight, trying severely to break into the music business, but she was apparently going nowhere. Her fortunes changed, though, when she met by chance in 1979 renowned talent manager and music promoter Sidney Bernstein. Therefore, she managed to get a contract deal to Atlantic Records. 

Unfortunately, things would remain complicated for some years. Branigan first recorded an album — titled Silver Dreams — that would never be released, though the record produced three singles and a B-side, that resulted in moderate commercial success. These four songs would be commercially released only more than three decades later, as bonus tracks on an American reissue of the singer's first album. Unable to market her properly, the record company didn't knew how to make Branigan a commercial standout, so she remained frozen for a few more years, until she was finally given another opportunity. In 1982, her first full length album, simply titled Branigan, was finally released. In a few months, she would be turning thirty years old. At this point, she felt she was finally going somewhere in her life. 

Branigan proved to be a moderate success, and produced two singles, All Night with Me and Gloria — a cover version of Italian singer Umberto Tozzi — that, besides being remembered today with nostalgia, became one of the most recognizable of Laura Branigan's career. 

In the wake of her newfound fame, the record company decided to keep investing in the singer's career. Branigan 2 was released in March 1983, precisely one year after her debut album. The strenght of the album was an English-language version of a French song, called Solitaire, originally written by Martine Clémenceau. The lyrics for the English version were provided by Diane Warren, who at the time was working as an employee of the Branigan team. Below, you can see the video for Solitaire, and feel the sentimental and sensible beauty of the music, although it may be necessary to ignore its atmosphere, saturated with excessively melodramatic and romantic tenderness, qualities that were a typical commonplace in the music business for that time period. 

Another single from the album was the ballad How Am I Supposed to Live Without You, a song written by Michael Bolton and Doug James. A music video was not provided to back the hit. Despite the lack of a music video, several performances by Branigan were recorded while performing this song, though its not always possible to know if she was indeed singing, or just lip-synching, since she frequently appeared in staged television productions, though the one selected below clearly features a live performance. 

How Am I Supposed to Live Without You proved to be so popular with audiences, that eventually — after some years —, Michael Bolton himself decided to record his own version of the song. The single became a worldwide hit, achieving the number one spot in the Billboard list of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1990. 

In the following year, 1984, the singer released her most successful album, Self Control, that definitely consolidated her worldwide reputation in the mainstream pop scene. The song Self Control — that gives the album its title —, a cover version of a song by Italian singer Raffaele Riefoli, was an international hit, topping the charts in several countries. The album sold more than a million copies in the United States alone. Besides Self Control, three more singles were taken from the album: The Lucky One, Satisfaction and Ti Amo. This last one was a song composed and written by another Italian pop singer, Umberto Tozzi, of whom Branigan had already recorded Gloria. 

Below, you can see the original music video for Self Control, made to promote the single. 

In the following year, 1985, Branigan released Hold Me, another album that was destined to be a success — though not matched by its predecessor —, and provided four singles: Spanish Eddie, Maybe Tonight, Hold Me and I Found Someone. This album also displays a version of Forever Young, the famous hit by then emerging German synthpop group Alphaville. Below, you can see a live version of this marvelous song, in the unforgettable and gracious voice of Laura Branigan.

After Hold me, Branigan stopped recording and releasing one album a year. Despite her unimaginable degree of success, the singer would release only three more records: Touch, in 1987, Laura Branigan, in 1990 and Over My Heart, in 1993, after which she would retire. 

Touch was only moderately received, and doesn't achieved the same level of success of its predecessors. Featuring a great amount of technical personnel and studio musicians, on this album, Branigan — being way more proactive —, also took the role of producer, having acquired a respectable degree of creative independence, being free to modulate tracks according to her personal musical sensibilities. The album produced three singles: Shattered Glass, Cry Wolf and Power of Love.

In 1990, the singer released her sixth studio album, whose title simply carried her name, Laura Branigan. The reception to this work was warm at best; it was barely perceived in general by the mainstream. The album generated only two singles. Nevertheless, despite the moderate repercussion, the singles — Moonlight on Water and Never in a Million Years — definitely placed her on a high spot in the dance scene, and she managed to score the club and disco charts. Only one music video was provided to promote the album. The team of professional musicians that worked on the record was even larger than the predecessor. Renowned individuals were listed in the credits. Jeff Porcaro, of Toto fame, worked as a session musician, having recorded drums for the track nº 5, Let Me In. 

In 1993, Laura Branigan released her final studio album, Over My Heart. She also worked behind the scenes as a producer. The album generated three singles — Didn't We Almost Win It All, It's Been Hard Enough Getting Over You and How Can I Help You to Say Goodbye — and, to a certain extent, was a moderately simple swan song, that did not fulfilled major expectations. AllMusic gave only two stars out of five, to the release. 

After the release of Over My Heart, Branigan's husband Larry Kruteck —with whom she was married for fifteen years, since 1978 — was diagnosed with cancer. So the singer decided to retire, to fully dedicate herself to care for her husband, and to help him undergo the medical treatment. Unfortunately, in June 1996, Kruteck passed away. 

From this point onwards, several greatest hits compilations of Branigan's work were released, in many countries around the globe. After her husband had died, the singer gradually came out of retirement. She never recorded an album again, but occasionally, Branigan performed for audiences in one-off concerts and sang on television shows. In early 2001, she had an accident, in which she broke both her legs, after she fell while trying to hang a plant in the ceiling outside her house. She had to undergo physiotherapy for months to recover, something that made impossible for her to properly become again fully active in the music scene.  

Branigan was also an amateur actress. She has participated in two movies in the eighties, and has done some television work, though she was mostly featured as herself. In 2002, she accepted the role of Janis Joplin in a Off-Broadway musical, titled Love, Janis. Branigan left the show after two performances, though, saying that the decision behind her dropping the project was mainly due to the producers refusing to comply with the requirements demanded by Equity, the theater actors labor union. 

Branigan, despite the fact that she was not reclusive, wasn't a very public person either. She lived quietly and discreetly for the rest of her life, before dying of a brain aneurysm, in August, 2004, at the relatively young age of fifty-two years old.  

Immediately after her death, fans attended a memorial in Long Island near one of her former residences, to celebrate her life and achievements. Eventually, the commemoration converted into an annual gathering, becoming a ritual held in her death anniversary, always in the same place. The event has grown over the years, as it was gradually promoted by the company that manages her legacy. The enterprise actively promotes through several online spaces — primarily through an official website and social media pages — the singer's artistic legacy, with the complement of several partnerships made with record companies and other private institutions, designed to keep the singer's artistic contributions alive and updated, and attractive to new audiences. 


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As a consequence of all this work, Laura Branigan's legacy will be far from being forgotten. More recently, St. Louis ice hockey team St. Louis Blues began using Branigan's version of Gloria as an unofficial anthem. A team that until not long ago held some of the worst records in the hockey league, they have been gradually improving, and eventually, they successfully became a favorite in the tournament's most recent season. The company team that manages Laura Branigan's legacy has deeply appreciated the initiative, and has since been publishing on their various online media outlets — like the singer's official website and Twitter page — enthusiastic support for the St. Louis Blues. 

Laura Branigan was undoubtedly a fabulous singer, that made the world a more colorful, vibrant and vivacious place, with her profoundly graceful, astonishing and remarkable voice. A delicate spirit — whose strength relied on her innocent and splendid sensibility —, her majestic  talent and her sincere devotion to the essence of life certainly lives in her music, that will be played, sung and remembered for generations to come. 


​Wagner

James Spader is an American actor — active since 1978 —, that initially found fame in Hollywood portraying charismatic, maladjusted and mysterious young characters, in movies mostly directed to teen audiences, like 1985 Tuff Turf and 1986 Pretty in Pink. Both movies gave him notoriety, and helped Spader in his road to consolidate a cohesive career as a professional actor.

A succession of moderately successful, accessible and friendly movies in the eighties established him as a talent on the rise, until 1989 Sex, Lies, and Videotape — a movie where he plays the main antagonist, a sexually deviant and obsessed psychopath — definitely increased his profile, casting Spader to stardom, and earning him a Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival. From then on, James Spader's career flourished, and he eventually became a household name. Since his first movie, 1978 Team-Mates, he has made more than forty films, so far. 

One of the most remarkable movies of his career was certainly 2000 The Watcher, where Spader plays the main role, opposite Keanu Reeves. The plot revolves around FBI agent Joel Campbell, played by Spader, who is constantly tormented and disturbed by mysterious and somber serial killer David Allen Griffin, portrayed by Reeves. Marisa Tomei was also part of the cast, playing a character named Polly Beilman. One of the most sinister movies in James Spader's filmography, The Watcher follows a tense, reluctant and anxious law enforcement agent, that probably has to endure the most terrible ordeal of his life, having to decipher the clues left by the sadistic and cruel serial murderer, deliberately handed over to Campbell to see if he can — within a matter of hours —, find out where the killer's next victim is; so Campbell is always in a rush againt the clock, in an effort to rescue the person being held captive, and prevent the hostage from being murdered by Griffin.

A dense, dynamic and intelligent thriller, The Watcher definitely leaves the audience exceedingly interested in the events as the plot unfolds, and in great expectation as to what will happen to both the protagonist, the afflicted and desperate Campbell, and the antagonist, the brutal and insensible Griffin. It's a movie that will severely hold your attention for the entirety of its dark and lugubrious ninety-eight minutes, keeping your eyes directly fixed onto the screen.

Despite the success in the film industry, in the beginning of the 21st century, Spader became an iconic television presence, in the wake of his portrayal of the remarkable Alan Shore, in the shows The Practice and Boston Legal. More recently, Spader has been playing criminal underground informant Raymond Reddington, in The Blacklist, a character that consolidated his reputation and his presence as a reference and a familiar face to television audiences. With an amoral, somewhat rude, and a very pragmatic attitude, Alan Shore captivated audiences with his frivolous, sometimes despondent and indifferent, but always combative personality, that fought challenges and difficulties with a restless, but rational temper, eventually becoming a beloved and deeply estimated character in primetime television. 

While Spader appeared in The Practice only in the show's final season — being the series basically led by a character named Bobby Donnell, played by Dylan McDermott —, in Boston Legal, almost everything revolved around his character Alan Shore, which was from the beginning a cornerstone and a fundamental element of this successful legal drama. For his portrayal of Alan Shore in The Practice and Boston Legal, Spader won several Emmy Awards, in the category of Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. In 2006, he won a Satellite Award. Boston Legal also infused William Shatner's career with more prominence and vitality. 

For six years now — since 2013 —, Spader has been playing Raymond Reddington, in The Blacklist. In the series, his character is a deranged and immoral criminal, that turns himself over to the FBI, willing to make an exchange. He will reveal to the agents information about several prominent and conspicuous criminals, if they grant him legal immunity. So they make a deal, and Reddington partners with young FBI rookie Elizabeth Keen (played by Megan Boone), to start the monitoring of the illicit activities of all the offenders about whom Reddington keeps a secret. The show is currently on its sixth season, with the seventh set to premiere in October, and it has been a popular hit, with audiences and critics alike praising its intricate plot and cohesiveness, as well as James Spader's performance. 

James Spader is a veteran actor, that now — at fifty-nine years old — is on the crest of the wave. Having earned recognition in the film and television industries, and most importantly, a place in the hearts of audiences, the actor, in every work, always reveals new professional capabilities, and a new side of his personality, that the fans didn't knew. Always willing to accept a challenge, to showcase how far his acting abilities can go, James Spader will continue to be an actor on the rise. And luckily, we will keep seeing him, for many more years to come. 


Wagner

John Shea is an American actor of movies, television and theater, that for almost forty-five years, has been exceedingly dedicated to the dramatic arts. Active since 1975, Shea began his career on Broadway, in an adaptation made by stage director Robert Kalfin of a play titled Yentl, written by iconic Polish-American man of letters Isaac Bashevis Singer. Shea was then nominated for a Theatre World Award, and eventually won the prize. This was a glorious sign that a promising career in the dramatic arts was just beginning. 

The play then converted to an Off-Broadway spectacle, but the success continued. After seeing him performing in the play, famous Polish-American theatre practitioner and acting courses pioneer Lee Strasberg invited the actor to study method acting, in the now renowned Actors Studio. Shea gladly accepted the offer, and welcomed the opportunity to hone and refine his acting skills. 

Soon afterwards, in the end of the seventies, Shea made his television debut. He was offered the role of Joseph, in a made-for-television adaptation of the birth of Jesus — based in the Gospels as well as in the apocrypha —, titled The Nativity, opposite Madeleine Stowe, who played Mary. The movie was released in 1978. In 1980, he made his debut in the movie industry, with a starring role in the British production Hussy, directed by Matthew Chapman, opposite Helen Mirren. 

In 1981, he had a role in another made-for-television production, Family Reunion, which was starred by iconic and legendary American actress Bette Davis. In the following year, Shea played a character named Charles Horman, in the controversial and disruptive Missing — a movie about the military dictatorship in Chile —, directed by legendary Greek-French filmmaker Costa-Gavras. 

From then on, the actor was on the rise. John Shea managed to consolidate a solid reputation as a serious, versatile and highly skilled actor, and remained in constant demand in movies, television and theater productions to this day, never being short of offers and invitations. In 1987, the actor was cast in an ABC miniseries, where he portrayed a character named William Stern. His performance was so critically celebrated that he eventually won his first Emmy Award in the Supporting Drama Actor category. 

In 1993, Shea was cast as malevolent and eccentric millionaire Lex Luthor — on what came out to be one of his most memorable television roles — in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Though he was moderately credible and sinister as a villain, Shea left the show after only one season, returning occasionally for the remainder of the series as a guest star, despite the fact that he managed to left a personal signature and a lasting impression in his interpretation of the famous DC Comics character. 



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In television, Shea would continually land exceedingly remarkable and exceptional roles. He became a face recognizable to audiences of police procedural dramas when he was cast in Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and from five seasons, from 2007 to 2012, the actor was introduced to younger audiences, in the wake of his portrayal of Harold Waldorf, the father of Blair Waldorf — one of the show's main characters, marvelously played by famous actress Leighton Meester —, in The CW hit teen-oriented drama series Gossip Girl. In 2009, he also appeared in The Good Wife, a television show that ran for seven seasons on CBS, starred by Julianna Margulies. 

In this same year, Shea had a prominent role in the Indian movie Achchamundu! Achchamundu!, portraying a character named Theodore Robertson. Besides breaking boundaries being the first American actor to work in a Tamil-language film, he also took the role of associate producer. Directed by emergent  Indian-American filmmaker Arun Vaidyanathan, the movie won several awards upon its release, and was shown on several film festivals around the world. It was also the first Indian movie to be shot with the Red One camera technology.  

Since then, John Shea has never stopped, though sometimes he takes some personal time to be with his family. Engaged in artistic events within the community, the actor also spends time working to develop independent efforts locally, a task that he has been doing with great responsability and diligence as artistic director of the Theatre Workshop of Nantucket. Nevertheless, John Shea — despite being seventy years old — works hard to reconcile his passions, and to continually expand his legacy in the performing arts. 

A familiar face to audiences for decades in movies, television and theatre, John Shea has managed to conquer his place of honor in the business. Certainly someone that we will keep seeing frequently until he decides to retire — if he will ever do that —, John Shea is the perfect example of a discreet, but highly talented individual, that undoubtedly deserves everything he has achieved. 


Wagner

Carl Dreyer — whose birth name was Carl Theodor Dreyer, but later became better known as Carl Th. Dreyer — was one of the most important Danish filmmakers, and the first in his country to acquire in the history of cinema a place of honor. Born in Copenhagen in February 3, 1889, to an adulterous relationship, his father Jens Christian Torp, a married farmer who had an affair with one of his female employees, a Swedish woman named Josefine Bernhardine Nilsson, didn't want to assume the responsibility to raise him, so very soon he was given for adoption. The young boy, after two years going from one orphanage to another, was adopted by a couple; a man named Carl Theodor Dreyer and his wife, Inger. Eventually, they gave him precisely the same name of his surrogate father. In the distinctive Danish culture, though, no "Junior" or "Senior" is applied as a name complement.  

There is scarcely very little information about Dreyer's childhood and adolescence. When he became an adult person, Dreyer started his professional activities working as a journalist. After opportunities appeared in the film industry, he accepted a position as a writer of title cards, and soon he begun working as a scriptwriter. When his energetic passion for movie making became uncontrollable, he decided to write his own screenplays, and began to look for someone who would finance his projects. 

Since it was difficult to find financial support in his own home country, Dreyer frequently had to go to other European nations. In France, he became acquainted with famous directors, like Jean Cocteau, and established artistic connections who would somehow facilitate his journey as a filmmaker. In 1919, he directed his first movie, Præsidenten.

Highly influenced by the expressionism of the twenties, Dreyer managed to work on this period in a succession of movies that were, more or less, well received. Despite some difficulties, the twenties were his most prolific decade. He made eight movies — almost one per year — of which La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc, made in France, proved to be the most successful. 

His next movie, Vampyr, was released in 1932. This movie — a loose adaptation of literary works by famous nineteenth century Irish gothic writer Sheridan Le Fanu — was partly financed by the dilettante actor Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, that starred in the film as the main character, Allan Gray, though he was listed in the credits as Julian West. The screenplay was written by Dreyer and Christen Jul. 

The plot of the movie revolves around Allan Gray — a student of the occult —, that moves to a modest pension in the French countryside. Suddenly, mysterious and unexplained things begin to happen, and he has to discover why so many dreadful things has been occurring at the inn. He eventually finds out that a vampire has been haunting the region, and discreetly tormenting the village inhabitants. So he has to find courage to fight back the source of evil, and to defeat the curse that has been bestowed upon the people. 

With an intriguing premise, a somber, but incisive storyline and a very lugubrious stylistic sensibility, Vampyr certainly was one the best movies directed by Dreyer, and certainly was a landmark of European cinema at the time. Despite its conciseness — the movie is only seventy-three minutes long — its lucid, but dark tonalities, as well as its pungent quality, gave the film a realistic and sober tenacity, that becomes insidious as the story reaches a climax. The movie proved to be technically difficult to make, though. Since it was Dreyer's first sound film, he had to shoot in three different languages. To surpass this difficulty, the director used little dialogue, and basically kept the silent movie method of title cards to communicate to audiences the narrative, as the plot unfolds.

Gunzburg was not a professional actor, and Vampyr was the only movie in which he worked in his life. It is speculated that Dreyer accepted him for the role mainly because he was financing the film, though most of the cast was also made of amateur actors. Later, Gunzburg emigrated to the United States, and found fame as editor of several prominent magazines.  

Vampyr was Dreyer's only movie made in the thirties. In the forties, he experimented for the first time with short films, eventually becoming fond of the format, and directing six of them. He also directed two features, 1943 Vredens Dag, and 1945 Två människor. Vredens Dag was a sixteenth century period drama, that became a very celebrated movie in some countries, after it was released. With a script written by Dreyer, Mogens Skot-Hansen and Poul Knudsen, the movie was based on a play called Anne Pedersdotter — authored by Norwegian playwright Hans Wiers-Jenssen —, which, by its turn, was based on a real life event, about an eponymous woman that was burned at the stake in 1590, in Bergen, because she was accused of witchcraft. After the movie was made, Dreyer left Denmark, and went to Sweden, as his country was being occupied by the nazis.

In the fifties, Dreyer directed two short movies, and one feature film, titled Ordet. Released in 1955, the movie was written and produced by Dreyer, who based his script on a play written by Danish Lutheran minister and playwright Kaj Harald Munk. The movie shows the hardships and difficult ordeals of the Borgen family in the Danish countryside. Ordet is considered by many to be Dreyer's masterpiece. The movie won the Golden Lion prize at the Venice Film Festival. 
His next movie, Gertrud — which would be his last — was the only one he made in the sixties. Released in 1964, this drama, based on an eponymous play authored by Swedish writer Hjalmar Fredrik Söderberg, is about an unhappy opera star, the titular character, played by Nina Pens Rode, who discovers love in a complicated and unusual moment of her life. A movie that met with some controversy upon its release, eventually Gertrud was lauded as a precious and refined cinematic work, and today is considered a fundamental part of the director's artistic legacy. 

After Gertrud, Dreyer stopped directing and retired. In a forty-five years career, having directed twenty-two movies — fourteen feature films, and eight short movies —, with at least five of them being considered masterpieces, Carl Theodor Dreyer has certainly left his mark in twentieth century cinema, having contributed to develop a singular, profound, polyvalent and expressively sensible form of art, that undoubtedly would not have been conceived in the same way, without his technique and gloriously audacious virtues. Disseminating the enormously rich, dense, majestic and diversified Scandinavian culture by reevaluating its proverbial literary traditions, and adapting some of its most controversial and relevant works to the screen, Carl Dreyer managed to create amazingly beautiful and consistent masterpieces, that somehow discreetly revolved around his poignantly personal and extraordinary perspective on life. 

Dreyer died in Copenhagen, in March, 1968, at seventy-nine years old. He was survived by his wife, Ebba Larsen, who died nine years later, in 1977.


Wagner  

The Infographics Show is an interesting YouTube Channel, that explores a great variety of content in colorful and dynamic animations. Although you have to watch carefully – because the content sometimes is politically biased – displaying a critical point of view, I highly recommend this channel. Complex subjects are intelligently explored and treated wisely, showcasing a marvelous perspective in a wide variety of questions, and they always depart from facts and general knowledge. Its always interesting, of course, for you to execute afterwards your own research, if this is possible; nevertheless, the videos are interesting, and certainly explain with objectivity a great array of intriguing content.

To give you a modest taste of this great channel, I selected below my twenty favorite – so far – videos, for you to discover something new, in case you do not know this channel. With inteligent schemes, sometimes undergoing bizarre, but wonderfully funny eccentricities, I may enphasize the importance of always looking for a variety of sources when searching about any subject. The Infographics Show, though, is an interesting point of departure, that will introduce you to a series of mysteries and curiosities, that certainly will aggregate a great deal of knowledge to what you already know, and will motivate you to discover more about the subjects that you find relevant.

 The videos can be divided into two distinct categories, the ones based in fact – sometimes engaging in intelligent and curious comparisons – and those more funny, with speculative content. For the first part, I've selected those that discusses events, history, and confirmed data. For the second half, I've selected the more funny ones, that exposes features based entirely on hypothetical situations. 

Well, here are twenty videos I selected for you to see. I hope you find them entertaining.

1 - This video about the most scary and nefarious websites of the world wide web certainly will leave you frightened, at least a little bit. Try not to visit anyone of them out of curiosity, after seeing this video. 

2 - This video about the most evil kings of the world is amazingly fascinating. The first in this list is the unmerciful and cruel Henry VIII of England, who was married six times, and had murdered even two of his wives. He was majestically  played by Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the marvelous TV series The Tudors (although the series was not entirely based in fact). 

3 - Despite catholicism being one of the most widespread and practiced religions in the world today, some popes were really acolytes of the devil, be sure about that. On this video, you will be presented to the horrible, cruel and sadistic lives of the most brutal popes that ever ruled over the Vatican and the catholic church. 

4 - This video about the most depraved cults that are known to exist delivers a magnificent narrative of evil and perversion. It requires that we ask ourselves why people that are generally good and kind are brainwashed to the point of blindly obeing charismatic leaders, to carry on horrible acts of murder, madness and violence. 

5 - NASA undoubtedly hides a lot of things from the general public. This video reveals some speculation about a potential extrasolar planet, that the famous astronomy agency is possibly omitting from us all. 

6 - This awesome video shows what your life would be like, if you were born in South Korea, one of Asia's most developed countries. A very curious video, it gives you an awesome idea of how different your life would be, with all of its positive and negative points precisely explained.  

7 - This comparison about the average Canadian and the average American man is exceedingly interesting. It showcases something of a series on the channel, that regularly post videos doing comparisons on the different lifestyles of peoples and their respective cultures around the world. 

8 - One of the most interesting videos ever made, on this one, you get to know a little about hundred years old private companies. Some of them are more than a thousand years old. Their stories – and how they successfully managed to thrive in the always wild and competitive business world – are certainly a fascinating apprenticeship on management and entrepreneurship.

9 - This video about Japan versus North Korea – who would win in a possible military conflict – is also exceedingly interesting. Comparing the armies and the warlike power of the two countries, the video presents an analysis that evaluates who would likely win such a tragic and ferocious dispute.

10 - This video about North Korea versus the United States – similar to the one featured above – is another interesting video. Describes what would possibly occur if such a war would be deflagrated, and what would be the probable outcome of the conflict. 

11 - This awesome video displays what would happen if Superman become evil, and decided to use his powers to kill people. If he intented to turn himself into a mass genocide serial killer, things will definitely become terrible for us, fragile human beings. Fortunately, Superman doesn't exist. I will not even mention how grateful we should be, for not having around this speculative maniac serial killer version of him. 

12 - Could you ever be able to defeat Michael Myers, the horrible and aggressive serial murderer of the Halloween movie franchise? This video – despite its hypothetical nature – gives us some interesting curiosities about the character, and reveals how hard could it be for anyone of us to actually kill him, given his superhuman strength and practical invincibility, in the case of a chance encounter with this fictional murderer.  

13 - This video about Batman versus Superman is really amazing. Given the fact that Superman is an alien, and have superhuman strength, it could be obvious that Batman would lose. Nevertheless, Batman is one of the most intelligent heroes in the comic book world, and to confront Superman in a fight – while it would certainly be a relevant challenge – means that he will have to use his intelligence in its full potential to be able to overcome the powers of the Man of Steel. 

14 - This video displays what you should do, to be able to overcome the Terminator in a fight. This certainly would require courage, and disposition to die. Although this would never occur in real life, its funny to discover what things you would have to pass through, in order to survive this exceedingly terrible ordeal. 

15 - On this amazingly fascinating video, you discover what you will have to do in order to survive the Slenderman, the legendary supernatural creature that was conceived as an internet creepypasta character, and rapidly acquired a status of an horror icon, within the worldwide web underground community. 

16 - On this video, you will discover what you will have to do in order to fight and to survive a battle against Darth Vader, the infamous antagonist of the notorious Stars Wars franchise.

17 - On this video, you will discover what you will have to do to survive a fight against the funny Marvel superhero – or anti-hero, if you prefer – Deadpool, certainly one of the greatest, most unpredictable, hilarious and fascinating comic book creatures of all time.

18 - On this video, you will discover what you will have to do in order to fight and to survive the horrible supernatural creature known as Pinhead, the primary antagonist of the horror movies franchise Hellraiser.  

19 - In this awesome video, you discover about your real chances in an encounter with another famous horror movie antagonist, the Leatherface, from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise. Departing from the "realistic" possibility of being one of his victims, on this episode of The Infographics Show, you will see the best strategy to fight this terrible serial murderer, and what would be your real chances to survive. 

20 - The last of my favorite The Infographics Show video displays what you will have to do in a chance encounter with the deadly serial killer known by the alias of Zodiac. Contrary to the other villains featured on the series "You versus...", the Zodiac was real. He terrorized Northern California in the late sixties and early seventies, and was known to have killed at least five people, though he claimed to have killed as many as thirty-seven. He was the subject of a 2005 movie directed by Alexander Bulkeley, starring Philip Baker Hall, Justin Chambers, Rory Culkin and Robin Tunney, and the better known and most sucessful 2007 film, directed by David Fincher, starring Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr and Jake Gyllenhaal. 

Wagner

Fujiwara no Shunzei was an twelfth century Japanese poet, who was also known as  Fujiwara no Toshinari. He was a member of the distinctive Fujiwara clan, who remained prominent in Japanese politics and culture for several centuries, until their slow decline, that started in the eleventh century and developed gradually, though they eventually divided into five branches, that can be traced to present times.  

Fujiwara no Shunzei became prominent for renovating a genre of Japanese poetry known as Waka, the other major forms being Kanshi, Tanka, Haiku – probably the best known and most imitated in the west – and diverse forms of complex collaborative writing, like the Renku, that remains little acknowledged in the western world, and needs to be read in Japanese to be better understood and appreciated. Waka, strictly speaking, was a complex setting of poetic meters, that could comprise several different forms of poetry, that also changed and evolved over time. Fujiwara no Shunzei was responsible for giving a more rejuvenated and modern refinement to this particular form of poetry. He also achieved notoriety for compiling the seventh imperial anthology of Waka Poetry. Literary compilations, poetry readings and poetry competitions remained widely popular in the Japanese imperial court for several centuries, being a cultural trademark in the classic history of Japan.   

Fujiwara no Shunzei apparently was born in the year 1114, and has enjoyed a long existence, having died at eighty nine or ninety years old, in 1204, in the dawn of the thirteenth century; little is known about his life, though his literary legacy and achievements remains quite solid to this day. His offspring would also carry on his talent ahead, since his son, Fujiwara no Teika, would become one of the greatest literary icons in the history of Japan, being a notable poet, literary critic and essayist, whose lasting reputation survives to the present day. Indeed, affinity with the literary arts ran within the family for generations. He was also proficient in classic Chinese literature, a cultural characteristic that would remain a common feature among Japanese writers. 

Given his importance and status in the Japanese literary circles – and his vast knowledge and deep analysis of the literary oeuvre of his contemporaries –, Fujiwara no Shunzei eventually acquired also a respectable reputation as a critic. Nevertheless, it was for his poetic style, introspective, lucid and intellectually embedded in philosophic treatment, that he remains appreciated. His poetry is dense, yet sensibly melancholic and somber, resting sincerely in the shadows of a lethargic, but innocent grace, that allows words to fluctuate over the meaning of existential cosmogonies, relying fully in the atmosphere of a passionate restlessness, that yell at the fate of the general human condition.  

At sixty-three years old, Fujiwara no Shunzei fully embraced Buddhism, changing his name to Shakua, and isolated himself, something that another prominent Japanese man of letters, fourteenth century essayist Yoshida Kenkō – better known for his work Tsurezuregusa – would also do. From then on, until his death, his life became enshrined in obscurity, and what is mostly known as a fact, which is close to nothing, would be information recollected in his own work. 

According to some sources, Fujiwara no Shunzei liked to wrote at the full darkness of dawn, with an oil lamp as the only source of light. In these quiet, lonely hours, he would compose his finest pieces, embraced by the somber solitude of creative tranquility, where his personal thoughts could contemplate the density of poetic expression in full accordance to his creative urges. While his literary efforts never brought him financial fortunes, he managed to be greatly recognized as a major poet in his lifetime. 

Literary talent would remain in the family for generations. Besides his son, Fujiwara no Teika, Fujiwara no Shunzei had a granddaughter – Fujiwara Toshinari no Musume – that would become a famous poet, one of the most relevant of her generation. Despite not widely read today, Fujiwara no Shunzei’s literary legacy remains alive, and teaches important creative and historic elements of the Japanese literature of his period. An author that evokes sentiments of nostalgia, perplexity and devotional rapture with strong vividness, Fujiwara no Shunzei certainly is a marvelous example of the pure degree of perfection that Japanese poetry could easily achieve. 


Wagner

Osamu Dazai – born Shūji Tsushima in the now defunct city of Kanagi, in June 19, 1909 – was a Japanese writer of literary fiction, that is widely considered one of the most relevant authors in 20thcentury Japan. Despite his untimely demise at age 38, Dazai managed to become one of the greatest talents of his generation in the literary arts, composing a substantial body of work that remains relevant to this day. 

Severely autobiographical in nature, the literature of Tsushima can be described as a precise reflex of his short, yet deeply turbulent life. An undisciplined bohemian with restless impulses – severely inclined to alcohol and narcotics abuse –, Tsushima’s behavior frequently put him in friction with his family. Often running away with geishas and mistresses, his rebellious nature made him clash with authorities in several occasions, something that became ostensibly dangerous when he joined the communist party. 

After befriending writer Masuji Ibuse, Tsushima became more interested in a serious literary career, working out his talent and creative propensities with a more proficient and ambitious passion. With relevant connections established, at the early 1930’s, he started having his works published. Almost from the very beginning, he used the pseudonym Osamu Dazai. 

Despite the immensurable reputation that Tsushima would acquire in just a few years – managing to become a respectable published author – he never became well known outside his native country. In the west, he is mainly recognized for his largely autobiographical novel No Longer Human, originally published in 1948, shortly before the author committed suicide. 

The novel’s protagonist is Ōba Yōzō, the author’s alter ego, a man severely depressed, that feels largely displaced and inadequate, unable to fulfill society’s standards. Always permanently melancholic and despondent, he doesn’t know properly what to do with his life, and makes constant use of narcotics to anesthetize his pain. With his life running in circles – doesn’t going anywhere –, his permanent sense of restless uneasiness distresses him to the point of becoming an irreversible pathological disturbance, and life itself is resented as an oppressive burden, a cage where he is doomed to the restraints of severe imprisonment, never being able to achieve a relevant level of happiness, consistence or coherence to his existence. 

A very remarkable novel, that reveals in depth the personal grief and disturbances of a truly depressed spirit, in No Longer Human, Tsushima really offers to the reader a greater picture of his perspective on life, one that not only scorns positivity, but doesn’t known optimism at all; maybe just as an empty word, totally devoid of true significance. Life is primarily felt as an uninterrupted succession of difficulties, and – in between the problems –, some level of relief can be find in drugs and ephemeral liaisons with women. 

Probably suffering from a severe case of depression – or, as a professional analyst more convincingly suggested, from a complex case of post-traumatic stress disorder, and his fragile mental state could have been exacerbated by his constant substance abuse –, Tsushima rises as probably one of the saddest and most desperate icons of Japanese literature; someone who saw writing as a means to relief and exteriorize his pain – and we certainly can find a lot of other examples in world literature as well – although evidently his creative abilities weren’t merely cathartic in nature. His style was sober and clean, and carried along the vulnerability of its taciturn qualities all the sensibilities of the writer’s profoundly immensurable and inherently hostile perceptions of life. 

With a tempestuous, though somewhat incisive density captured by a pristine component of clear expression, Tsushima’s literary style can be considered sober for its simplicity, despite the profoundness of his graceful virtuosity –  that submits the reader to the idiosyncrasies of the main character –, with an invisible strength that sidelines with the inherent fatalism of a doomed existence. Moreover, the prose of Tsushima is full of implacable sincerity and dramatic tenderness, being able to awaken the most dormant sensibilities of the reader to the fragility of the human condition. 

Shūji Tsushima was never happy in his life, despite the fact that he managed to be a successful author, and in a relatively rapid period of time. He also managed to be productive, publishing several works in sequence. During the Second World War, he was discharged from duty, because he had a very precarious health, having developed tuberculosis. This period, however, was personally difficult for the writer, as his residence was completely destroyed two times, as a consequence of the bomb attacks carried out by the American warplanes in Tokyo. Luckily, in neither occasion he or his family suffered any injuries. 

After the war, Tsushima kept on writing, with his popularity constantly expanding. Nevertheless, he couldn’t behave decently for long periods of time. Eventually, he always descended into his old habits, returning to alcohol and narcotics. He constantly had affairs with women, and took advantage of his notoriety to win them over. By this time, he met a younger woman named Tomie Yamazaki, a widow who had lost her husband during the war, only after ten days of marriage. Tsushima – always an irresponsible libertine – abandoned his wife and children to live with her. 
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His last days were no different from the rest of his life, except maybe that they could have been even more distressful. On June 13, 1948 – six days before his 39th birthday – Tsushima and Yamazaki drowned themselves in the Tama river, in the Tamagawa Aqueduct. The tormented existence of a profoundly disturbed writer, that never had any interior peace while alive, had finally reached its afflictive conclusion.   

In his short life, Tsushima has published more than twenty-five literary works – mostly novels and short stories –, although he could write essays and plays as well. A very productive writer, he could publish four works in a single year, maintaining an ardent discipline, that would seem somewhat incompatible with his dissolute lifestyle and erratic behavior. Nevertheless, he managed to be not only one of the greatest Japanese writers of his generation, but one of the most relevant in his country’s literature, displaying pure creative standards, that could be seen as imperiously passionate, as well as frivolously distant, maintaining a dignifying sobriety, that elegantly pursued the veracity of sensibility, without ever renouncing to a prominent degree of poetic sophistication. 

Unfortunately – despite his stature as one of the greatest Japanese writers – Tsushima remains little known outside his native country. Giving the difficulty that poses translating Japanese to other languages, especially an author with such a respectable degree of complexity like Osamu Dazai, the translations would be better provided by professionals native to Japan, already familiar with the language. 

In 1965, the Dazai Osamu prize – in Japanese, the surname comes first – was established, to reward the best original short story inscribed in the competition. Exclusive for amateurs, unknown writers and beginners in the literary scene, the winner recollects a gift and a cash ward of one million yen. The prize was interrupted for more than two decades, having ceased in 1978, but returned in 1999. In Goshogawara – the city that incorporated the town where Tsushima was born –, there is a museum dedicated to him, which is located in a house built by the writer’s father. Tsushima lived there for fourteen years, from his birth, in 1909, until 1923. 

Shūji Tsushima was a tragedy, but also an excelling beauty in the literary world. With a vivacity and a deep sensibility that was capable of filtering the most dense and tragic aspects of existence, he was engrossed in a struggle against himself, in an effort to determine the validity of life. A warrior whose soul felt with regret the misery and the uneasiness of a world full of emptiness, Tsushima resented living a life without the proper answers to the most relevant and sincere elements of what it means to be human. Never being able to find true happiness anywhere, he managed to be content with the ephemeral pleasure of prostitutes, brief liaisons, alcohol and narcotics, resining himself to pretend that this is all that life has to offer.    

Not being able to restrict his impulsive restlessness, the ardent savagery of his disturbed heart couldn’t bear the sordid anguish of a miserable existence. Although it is somewhat easy to perceive that he was not a nihilist, he apparently at some point gave up looking life as a more profound and meaningful source of redemption, the effort apparently no longer being considered worthwhile. 

A formidable literary talent that deserves to be vastly appreciated, Shūji Tsushima will always be a dramatic, though inspiringly graceful landmark in Japanese literature. As someone who saw life as a battle fought between the visceral agony of the perceptions of the soul and the inherent fatalities of a darkness that never fades away, this colossal literary icon will remain a splendid strength of glorious sensibility in the literary arts – unparalleled with anyone before or after him –, never to be matched in the lancinating brutality of his diffuse sincerity.  


Wagner

On June 15, died in Rome famous Italian director Franco Zeffirelli, well known for movies like 1967 The Taming of the Shrew, 1968 Romeo and Juliet – that won Golden Globe and Academy Awards – and television productions, like 1977 Jesus of Nazareth, that Zeffirelli wrote in partnership with Italian screenwriter Suso d'Amico and acclaimed British novelist Anthony Burgess. He was also a successful opera director, achieving an international degree of notoriety showcasing his talent in productions like La traviata, with famous Greek soprano Maria Callas, whom he honored in his last movie, 2002 Callas Forever. 

Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli was born in Florence, Tuscany, in 12 February, 1923, an illegitimate son born out of wedlock. Very precociously, the young Zeffirelli felt attraction to the arts, and studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti Firenze, graduating when he was only eighteen years old. He fought as a resistance soldier in the Second World War, eventually sidelining with the allies. When the war was over, he resumed his formal studies, but relegated them as secondary obligation, becoming amazingly attracted to theater after seeing legendary British actor Laurence Olivier in a 1944 movie adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Henry V, which was also directed by Olivier. Despite being a movie, Olivier was predominantly known as a theatre actor, being active in the stage for more than six decades, having participated in more than one hundred different theater productions.

Zeffirelli’s fortunes with prospective artistic career opportunities flourished, when he was introduced to famous Italian director Luchino Visconti – acclaimed for masterpieces like 1954 Senso, starring Farley Granger and Alida Valli, and 1963 Il Gattopardo, an adaptation of the famous novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, starring Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon – that hired him as assistant director for his third feature film, La Terra Trema, released in 1948. It would be nearly two decades, though, for Zeffirelli actually managing to go behind the cameras to work as a director. His first movie was the documentary Florence: Days of Destruction, about a terrible and tragic flood that occurred in 1966 in Zeffirelli’s native city, that was the most devastating in centuries, and killed more than a hundred people. Released the same year, the work was fifty minutes long, and would be the only documentary in the director’s career. In between directing his first film and his entrance in the movie industry, Zeffirelli worked as an assistant for famous Italian directors, like Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica, acquiring a large amount of experience, that would be extremely beneficial to him in his career as a filmmaker. 

His first feature film was an adaptation of William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew. Released in 1967, the movie starred famous Hollywood actors, like Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor – that were married at the time – and was a moderate box office success. His next movie was also an adaptation of Shakespeare, the more famous Romeo and Juliet. Released the following year, despite the more modest and unknown cast, the movie was a box office success, grossing almost forty times its actual budget; taking into account that – projected at less than a million dollars – was very moderate for a Shakespeare adaptation. Nevertheless, audiences and critics alike loved the film. Renowned movie critic Roger Ebert commented that it was the best movie ever produced from a work of Shakespeare.

This was followed by the movie Fratello Sole, Sorella Luna, largely inspired by the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, the notorious Catholic friar. On the movie, the pious religious deacon is played by an unknown British actor named Graham Faulkner, that was active in the show business for just a little more than a decade. In the movie, his character was named Francesco di Bernardone, which was a mixture of the nickname and the real name of Saint Francis of Assisi, whose birth name was Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, but he was dearly known as Francesco. Al Pacino screen tested for the lead role, but his method acting style was disliked by Zeffirelli. Released in 1972, this movie – contrary to the previous one –, was only moderately received.  

Zeffirelli would return to religious themes, with Jesus of Nazareth, a 1977 British-Italian television co-production, that run for a month in the NBC network in the United States, ITV in the United Kingdom and Rai 1 in Italy. Presenting the life and ministry of Jesus Christ as depicted in the gospels, the show had English actor Robert Powell in the title role, with an ensemble cast consisting of highly acclaimed stars, like Peter Ustinov, Christopher Plummer, Anthony Quinn, Ernest Borgnine, James Earl Jones, James Farentino, Stacy Keach, Ian Holm and even Laurence Olivier, one of Zeffirelli’s heroes, amongst many others. A highly successful miniseries, Jesus of Nazareth was hugely acclaimed both in Europe and North America. Nevertheless, the production had its share of criticism, concerning what was felt by certain religious groups as a somewhat “mundane” portrayal of Jesus, though this perception was entirely subjective. Lead actor Robert Powell was highly praised for his depiction of Jesus, and remains best remembered to this day for this role.  

After Jesus of Nazareth, Zeffirelli turned to opera productions, directing Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci for the Metropolitan Opera House, both in 1978. His next movie was The Champ, an American production starring Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroder. Remake of a 1931 movie of the same name directed by King Vidor – despite being a box office success –, the film was only moderately received by critics, and to this day remains one of the least favorable in the director’s filmography. 

From the early eighties to the mid-nineties, Zeffirelli mostly concentrated on opera, although he mixed his two passions in several occasions, adapting several operas to the screen. In 1996, he released Jane Eyre, an adaptation of the famous eponymous novel by English novelist Charlotte Brontë, starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and William Hurt in the main roles. In 1999, he released Tea with Mussolini, a work notable for his semi-autobiographical nature. His last movie was 2002 Callas Forever, a homage he made to honor opera soprano Maria Callas, that died precociously at fifty-three years old from a heart attack, in September 16, 1977. He personally directed her in three operas. 

After that, Zeffirelli went into semi-retirement. He was also active for a time in politics, having served as senator for seven years, from 1994 to 2001. He died in his home in Rome, in June 15, ninety-six years old. Fortunately, he leaves a formidable artistic legacy – which overflows very peculiar qualities, like outstanding beauty and marvelous sensibility – that will shine vividly for the decades to come.  


Wagner