Maladaptive daydreaming: Rami Malek in Mr. Robot, Blade Runner (Unicorn Dream)

Rami Malek says he’s more cognizant of how technology is harming the ways we socialize and relate to one another. And as his star continues to rise, the 35-year-old is retreating inward. It’s a consequence of spending so much time in the hoodie and shoes of a cynical cybersecurity engineer who hacks at night and suffers from social anxiety and clinical depression.

“It’s a very vulnerable process being in Elliot’s shoes because I can’t help but ask the same questions of myself that he poses in the show,” Malek says, two weeks into production on the second season. “Sometimes that can be quite devastating.” He adds, “But there’s something very comforting, sadly, about putting that dark wardrobe back on. It draws a lot from me as a human being and an actor. Once we started shooting again, there was a sigh of relief that came over me, even though I knew I was going into some pretty dark waters.” Source: www.vulture.com

Mr. Robot, Elliot’s deceased father, Edward, is unmasked as a projection of Elliot’s subconscious. The relationship between Elliot and his father is arguably the most contentious, ranging from friendly to outright dangerous. Such a violent shift in behavior is rooted in Elliot’s childhood, and has informed his relationships with men as an adult. This is perhaps best realized in Elliot’s vigilante hacks, all of which have targeted men.

Though raised by an emotionally and physically abusive mother, who undoubtedly worked in tandem with Edward to support Elliot’s maladaptive schemas, she does not seem to be as influential a factor in Elliot’s relationships with women. In fact, those are the healthiest relationships he engages in. Despite trauma and abuse, Elliot managed to make and keep a childhood friend, develop sexually, and exercise a general concern for those in his life, allowing him to act as a source of support and protection for others.

Sam Esmail has made a statement on the inability of the individual to address what is corrupted within them on their own. In fact, when Elliot’s memory is stitched back together, and the fabric of his hyper-reality is torn again, he finds himself angrier and more anxious than before—for the program that is his mind, these traits are not bugs, but features. Elliot is incapable of deleting these files no matter how corrupted they may be because they are essential. 

Source: www.neondystopia.com

“Maladaptive daydreaming naturally necessitates isolation from others and is almost always accompanied by repetitive body motions, such as pacing or rocking,” Professor Somer said. “About a quarter of these individuals had endured childhood trauma and many suffered from social anxiety.” “People with this disorder have developed an extraordinary ability to become completely immersed in daydreaming, to such an extent that their daydreams can make them laugh or cry,” Somer explains. “This ability to feel fully present in a self-directed imaginary plot is not only a powerful source of the attraction, but it also makes it difficult to disengage from it, creating a mental addiction.” Source: nocamels.com

In the director’s cut of Blade Runner, there’s a short scene where Deckard daydreams about a unicorn; later, near the end of the film, Gaff (Edward James Olmos) leaves an origami unicorn for Deckard to find. “The unicorn that’s used in Deckard’s daydream tells me that Deckard wouldn’t normally talk about such a thing to anyone,” Scott explained to WIRED in 2007. “If Gaff knew about that, [the origami unicorn] is Gaff’s message to say, ‘I’ve basically read your file, mate.’” He knows about Deckard’s private daydreams because those daydreams were implanted in his (bionic) brain.

Actress Mackenzie Davis has joined Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford and Robin Wright in the Denis Villeneuve-directed sequel to Ridley Scott‘s 1982 sci-fi classic “Blade Runner.” Davis made notable turns in the 2015 Matt Damon hit “The Martian” and in “That Awkward Moment” (see above with Miles Teller). “Blade Runner 2” is slated to open opposite a Marvel-related event film from 20th Century Fox, which previously had “Gambit” opening on that date. Source: www.thewrap.com

Masculine Polarity in Hollywood

Miles Teller and Keleigh Sperry were seen enjoying some music and drinks as they partied away at the first day of the Bottlerock Music Festival on Friday. Miles strolled around barefoot carrying a drink in one hand whilst vaping with the other. His girlfriend Keleigh looked casual but chic in her double denim outfit a she donned a pair of mini jean shorts, a khaki bodysuit and a denim jacket.

Miles has a very busy year ahead of him. He's just finished production on Thank You for Your Service which is due to come out later this year. The film looks at how Post Traumatic Stress Disorder affects American servicemen and women returning home from war.

Also this year Miles will star in the biography Bleed for This, which is the inspirational story of World Champion Boxer Vinny Pazienza. Katey Sagal, Aaron Eckhart join him for this sport drama.

Then next year Miles will reprise his famous role as Peter in the Divergent series, Ascendant. In this latest installment Tris and Four fight to end the Bureau of Genetic Welfare's authoritarian reign over the US. He will join Shailene Woodley, Naomi Watts, Zoë Kravitz, Theo James and Ansel Elgort in the sci-fi adventure. Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Few have explicated sexual polarity more eloquently than David Deida in his masterpiece work “Way of the Superior Man.” Deida explains polarity as: “Sexual attraction is based upon sexual polarity, which is the force of passion that arcs between the masculine and feminine poles. It is this force of attraction that is the dynamism that often disappears in the modern relationship. The sexual polarity fades unless in moments of intimacy one partner is willing to play the masculine role and one partner is willing to play the feminine. You have to animate the masculine and the feminine differences if you want to play in the field of sexual passion.” Just as with electromagnetic polarity, sexual polarity requires two polar entities to create the energy between them: the masculine and the feminine. This ratio of masculine vs. feminine traits Deida describes as a person’s “sexual essence.” 

There are also people that lie right in the middle of the scale at 50% masculine and 50% feminine. They have balanced or neutral sexual essences and are often described as androgynous - Still, these people are in the minority as most people have either a dominant masculine or feminine essence. The greater the polarization, the greater the attraction and passion; you are most attracted to those whose sexual essences are the equal opposite pole on the scale: your sexual reciprocal. If you are a man with a masculine essence that is at 70%, you will find yourself most attracted to women whose essences sit right around 70% on the feminine side of the scale. 

This is the reason you find highly feminine women in relationships with ultra masculine, perhaps even dangerous or violent men. It is also the reason why you will see people who are more balanced, perhaps even androgynous be attracted to people much like themselves. Source: evolutionmale.wordpress.com

Ryan Gosling in "The Nice Boys" (2016)

Eva Mendes' significant other also admitted that he feels it's time for America to be led by a woman. Ryan Gosling opened up about the fairer sex, and why he'll never lose touch with his feminine side: "I think women are better than men. They are stronger. More evolved. You can tell especially when you have daughters and you see their early stages, they are just leaps and bounds beyond boys immediately," he told the mag. And when asked what percent woman he'd claim to be, he replied, "I'd say 49 percent, sometimes 47 percent, it depends on what day you catch me." Source: www.eonline.com

The Spectacular Now, Creation of Memories

Miles Teller on his character Sutter Keely in "The Spectacular Now": "The script was so good. I knew that I could play this part because I knew that I was very similar to Sutter. If you strip away our differences—I always knew I would be successful and go to college and my parents are still married—I could understand him. There's always stuff you deal with that no one knows you're going through. Shailene and I just talked about what felt right in the scenes. We'd go hang out, walk around, get food, and go thrift-shopping. Shailene is certainly different from a lot of actresses that I’ve met and that I've worked with. I think The Spectacular Now is one of the first movies to deal with teenagers honestly in a long time. There's no escapism. It's real and in your face."

The Spectacular Now never once feels like a cautionary tale. The Spectacular Now is not a light movie, and it never veers into easy sentimentality. Although Sutter’s fidelity to the present moment often seems like superficial evasion, the movie makes it clear that it’s not that simple. Sutter’s presence of mind is, after all, what led him to notice Aimee Finicky in the first place. Source: observer.com

"Lately, my hangovers have started to take on a mean streak. It’s the opposite of that fine redemption feeling—a vague, weird guilt instead. Maybe it’s just a chemical thing, the old brain misfiring, the wiring shortcircuiting. For some reason, as soon as my eyes open, I start in worrying about Aimee. I didn’t do anything but try to build the girl up. She liked the kissing. There’s no doubt about that. I would’ve laid another one on her when I took her home, but I ended up having to hold her hair while she puked off the side of the porch instead.

But what happened between the time we left the pier and when we said good night is a little sketchy. I keep trying to remember what all we talked about on the drive home, but my memory is like a broken watch that you can’t find all the pieces to. I know we talked about doing something else together, but I’m not sure what it was. There’s a gnawing feeling that I might have told her I’d take her to the prom, but that might just be a trick the hangover’s playing on me. I mean, why would I do that?"—"The Spectacular Now" (2013) by Tim Tharp 

"Until now, neuroscientists have focused on how the brain creates and stores single memories," said principal investigator Alcino Silva, a professor of neurobiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "We wanted to explore how the brain links two memories and whether the passage of time affects the strength of the connection."

"In the real world, memories don't happen in isolation," said first author Denise Cai, a researcher in Silva's lab. "Our past experiences influence the creation of new memories and help us predict what to expect and make informed decisions in the future." "The memories became interrelated in how they were encoded and stored by the brain, such that the recall of one memory triggered the recall of another memory related in time," says Silva. Source: medicalxpress.com

Miles Teller (Whiplash) was already an accomplished drummer after spending his high school years playing drums in a band he started in his Pennsylvania church youth group. "I played piano, saxophone, drums, and guitar, but for me, drumming was something that came more naturally and if I was better at it, I would have loved being a musician. But I just wasn't good enough." 

He’s a surprisingly ordinary-­looking baby-faced guy who charmed his way out of the manatee-infested Confederate backwater of Citrus County, Florida, where his dad worked for a nuclear-power plant (until it recently cracked and shut down after being deemed too expensive to fix) and his mother sold real estate (until the market crashed). Teller played baseball, saxophone, and drums—in a church youth-group band (“Hard-rocking for Jesus”)—while acting in school plays. Teller worked at a restaurant called Crackers and was into the Grateful Dead. His best friend is still a guy from high school, who’s now a Navy SEAL. What they had in common was ambition: “We’re not content with just being a part of a bigger collective,” he says. Source: www.vulture.com

"I didn't know necessarily if I would have an opportunity to play the lead character because I realise, at times, it's a very superficial business," Teller says bluntly. "For a while, I would go into an audition and the casting director would say, 'Oh, Miles, very good actor, but it doesn't make sense for the character to have scars' because they used to be a lot worse before I had a bunch of laser surgery. It took a little bit for me to understand the severity of the accident and how lucky I was to survive. I had the doctors tell me that 99.9% of the time when you get in a car accident like that, you are dead or paralyzed. For a couple years, it was very significant to me, but at this point I don't even notice the scars. Source: www.harpersbazaar.com

The Spectacular Now is gorgeously shot—on 35mm—rich with warm, full tones. There’s one really beautiful Steadicam two-shot, a long take set at a riverside keg party, in which the chemistry between these two characters is almost palpable—you can just about see them falling in love in front of your eyes. If it weren’t for prominent appearances on the soundtrack by the likes of Washed Out, Kurt Vile, and others, this story could easily have been set any time between the early ’70s and now, so effortlessly hazy is its mood. Discounting Elizabeth Mims and Jason Tippets’ deceptively simple documentary Only the Young, no film since Gregg Mottola’s Adventureland has so affectionately portrayed the fumbling and attendant foibles of late adolescence as this.  Source: www.listener.co.nz

Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg in "Adventureland" (2009)

Jesse Eisenberg and Amber Heard in "Zombieland" (2009)

Lex Luthor will be present in the big DC team-up, with Jesse Eisenberg revealing at MCM Comic Con that he’ll be reprising his role from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). Justice League will reunite stars Henry Cavill as Superman, Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Jason Mamoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth and Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor alongside J.K. Simmons (Whiplash) as Commissioner Gordon, Amber Heard (The Danish Girl) as Mera and Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man) in an as-yet-unrevealed role. Part One is set for release on November 17th 2017, with Part Two following on June 14th 2019. Source: www.flickeringmyth.com

James Ponsoldt's The Spectacular Now (Miles Teller & Shailene Woodley), I Want My MTV

A24 has announced that they've picked up the rights to Rob Tannenbaum and Craig Marks' critically-acclaimed 2011 book I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution, and that they have hired THE SPECTACULAR NOW and SMASHED filmmaker James Ponsoldt to write and direct the adaptation. I Want My MTV chronicles the founding and first 10 years of the network, a golden era in both music and television where MTV became the emblem of a new generation. Source: www.joblo.com

The US government’s film diplomacy initiative American Film Showcase (AFS) produced by the USC School Of Cinematic Arts has unveiled its official 2016-2017 film slate of 33 documentaries and five non-fiction films to screen from September 1-August 31, 2017. US embassies will use the film slate for cultural programming around the world and AFS will send select film-makers for short international tours. Titles include Batkid Begins and The Spectacular Now.

-Vanity Fair: Your love scene [in The Spectacular Now] was so natural and sweet. Was that a difficult balance to strike, especially when filming in front of crew members?

-Shailene Woodley: It's my favorite scene in the whole movie! I think we only did three or four takes. It was both of our first times having an onscreen [sex] scene. It was such a safe, comfortable environment and I am so grateful that it was with Miles, because he was such a gentleman and made me feel very comfortable and nurtured. And I think I made him feel very comfortable and nurtured. It was really sweet. We wanted it to just feel natural. Just the way that it was filmed, with just James and a camera, and the way it was lit, it was really easy to forget that anyone was in the room aside from Miles and I. Source: www.vanityfair.com

-Miles Teller: I auditioned for Four [in Divergent], like a long time ago. If I would have played that character maybe that would have been interesting. In this one we have a relationship that is not as developed as it is in The Spectacular Now. 

-Miles Teller: Sutter was experienced.

-Shailene Woodley: [joking] But it was Miles’ first time.

-Miles Teller: That’s why it’s called acting. No, that was actually one of our favorite scenes. And I think when we filmed it we were pretty comfortable with each other at that point. And obviously after that, even more so. And the room that we shot everything in, all the sets were just so real. This was actually some girl’s room, lower middle class house – we were doing the sex scene, and I look up on the wall and look all around me, and I am in a 16-year-old’s bedroom. That was weird. 

-What do you think are Sutter’s redeeming qualities?

-Miles Teller: I think Sutter is… I think he makes other people feel good. He doesn’t deal with himself, so it’s kind of easy for him to just develop himself from making other people feel a certain way… he’s got a big heart... he lets you loosen up. [joking] And he’s got a huge dick. Source: www.hypable.com

Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley ("Love Explosion") video.

Sexual Tension: Marlene Dietrich's indifference, Shailene Woodley (Theo James, Miles Teller)

“Marlene,” C.W. Gortner’s new novel, takes us through the first half of “The Aloof One’s” life, up to the end of World War II. Young Maria Magdalene Dietrich trains as a classical violinist only to lose interest when a teacher advises that she might do all right in an orchestra but lacks the chops for a solo career. She finds her way to the Berlin demimonde of cabarets catering to gay men, lesbians and transvestites; and although her legs are already drawing attention, she feels most at home in a tuxedo.

She evolves from hanger-on to performer, and it turns out she can sing. Her voice, if not a precision instrument, is an expressive one. As for acting, she and her gams slog their way through minor roles in German films until the big break comes: the role of Lola Lola in “The Blue Angel” (1930). Dietrich is whisked off to Hollywood, where Paramount is seeking an answer to MGM’s Garbo. Paradoxically, Gortner suggests, Dietrich comes into her own when she stops resisting the comparison to her Swedish rival. “Perhaps all I needed to do was cultivate a magnificent indifference like Garbo,” she thinks. Source: www.washingtonpost.com

“Divergent” star openly committed to being pansexual during one of her interviews, which lead many to believe that Shailene Woodley is lesbian. Reports suggests that she has dated “Juno” star Ellen Page and Emma Stone in the past.

In her interview with Hollywood Reporter, while mentioning some trek, Woodley declared, “I fall in love with human beings based on who they are, not based on what they do or what sex they are!” 

According OK! Magazine, Woodley and Ellen Page were caught flirting during their visit to L.A. Hypster Guru claims her being associated with Emma Stone. It further noted, “Emma Stone has been extremely guarded, but when she met Shailene Woodley she was finally able to let go of the past. Turns out the risk was worth the reward because Emma has been overheard saying this is the real thing.”

“Divergent” co-stars Shailene Woodley and Theo James have always openly praised each other in public. They have made comments on doing weird things together which only couples are thought to be doing! Shailene Woodley and Theo James dating rumors caught so much attention that James long-time girlfriend Ruth Kearney even felt insecure. Source: www.movienewsguide.com

Shailene Woodley and Theo James are known to have great chemistry on screen and a great friendship off screen. While many wish the two stars were together in real life, fans can catch their fantasy come true in “Allegiant.” Fans have seen the undeniable chemistry between Woodley and James, but this time it looks like she will be sharing some hot chemistry with another actor.

Woodley is starring opposite of Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a new Oliver Stone film, and this apparently doesn’t go well with James and reports stated that the “Divergent” actor doesn’t like the fact that Woodley will be kissing Levitt. However, according to the Morning Ledger, James and Woodley are just friends, and they support each other no matter what project they are a part of. The report states that there is no reason for James to be jealous, because Levitt is married and has a baby.

Woodley understands the hype surrounding her on-screen romance with James, so much so that people are desperately hoping that the two stars will end up together in real life. Woodley is not bothered by the rumors. Whenever she is asked about a possible romance with James, the actress will "just keep answering that nothing is happening." Source: www.fashionstyle.com

Miles Teller's character Sutter is the self-proclaimed life of the party, while Shailene Woodley's Aimee is a bit more reserved. However, after getting dumped by his girlfriend, Sutter ends up bonding with Aimee and it's safe to say neither of them will ever be the same. 

In The Spectacular Now, Shailene's character is into comic books, which leads Sutter to do a bit of research on them to get to know Aimee better. When we asked Miles if he ever did something like that for a girl, he replied: "I play instruments and there’s a girl and her favorite song is 'Tiny Dancer.' So, I learned that on guitar and I played it for her." Shailene then playfully quipped that she was the girl he learned the song for.

Also in the film, Shailene's character mentions how opposites attract when it comes to relationships, so does she agree with that philosophy in real life? To put it simply, no. Shailene said, "I mean I think that it’s different with every single person and every relationship. We’re complete opposites but we attracted each other. I think every relationship brings something new to the table and you learn something new in each dynamic and I think that’s important to carry with you throughout life."

When it comes to Divergent – where the two essentially play enemies as opposed to love interests in this film — we asked how that will translate. Shailene replied, "I think it will seem like we don’t like each other but I feel like there will always be some sexual tension." Miles then joked, "I think Tris and Peter have a child, and that's where it goes." Shailene added, "The child's named Allegiant." On a more serious note, Miles said, "it does allow for, even though our characters may not necessarily be getting along, as actors we can still work together to get the best scene done." Source: www.teen.com

Though monogamy may be the norm nowadays, Michael Hammer’s study cast it as anathema to humans’ biological history—and inspired psychologist David Barash, of the University of Washington, to describe it as “a recently inspired cultural add-on.”

Another Study conducted by Dietrich Klusmann, a psychologist at the University of Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany, provided a glimpse into the bedrooms of longtime couples. His surveys comprise one of the few systematic comparisons of female and male desire at progressive stages of committed relationships. He shows women and men in new relationships reporting, on average, more or less equal lust for each other. But for women who’ve been with their partners between one and four years, a dive begins and continues, leaving male desire far higher. Source: www.nairaland.com

A recent study published in the journal Biological Reviews suggests women's sexuality has evolved to be more fluid than men's as a mechanism to reduce tension among co-wives in polygynous marriages. Researchers believe women's sexual preferences tend to be a gray area. Straight women were strongly sexually aroused by videos of both attractive men and women, even if they chose men as their sexual preference. The truth is straight women, not just lesbians, ogle at beautiful women. The distinction between admiration and same-sex fantasies should be noted, but not generalized. Women can think other women are beautiful, and not have sexual fantasies about her. Or, some women can do both. Source: www.medicaldaily.com