Category Archives: Rockall

Given that hes an excellent guitarist who had one of rocks best ever guitarists for a dad, you would assume that Wolfgang Van Halen learned everything he knew about playing the six-string from his father. In a recent interview on Chris Jericho's podcast Talk Is Jericho, however, Van Halen Jr revealed that it wasnt the case. Instead, he taught himself.

Everybody thinks my dad woke up me up and strictly went, practice your scales!, he told host Chris Jericho. But no, the only thing he directly taught me was how to play drums. He had magazines on the table and was like, do this and do this. The second he saw I could do that he bought me a V drumkit and for my birthday the next year got me an acoustic kit. Thats where I started.

All of his tuition on the guitar, he continued, came from himself, trying to learn the guitar parts to some of his favourite songs. I taught myself, looking at guitar tabs for System Of A Down and stuff like that, teaching myself. I think thats important because I was able to develop my own voice and flavour of playing stuff rather than just being a copy of dad.

Asked by Jericho if there was any particular guitar players that he tried to emulate, Van Halen said there wasnt, his influence more band and song-based. There wasnt any specific, shreddy guitar players that I was directly following, he said. It was more a bunch of bands Tool was a big band for me, expanding my musical knowledge. I noticed I became a better drummer when I learned how to play Tool songs.

He obviously did a good job of learning, and it wasnt the only stringed instrument he taught himself to master in 2007, he joined Van Halen as their new bassist.

Excerpt from:

"Everyone thinks my dad woke me up and went "practice your scales ... - Louder

MAL ROGERS heads to Iceland to see at first hand the gap between America and Eurasia

My left hand was in North America, my right hand was in Europe. This is not normally an easy trick to perform, but Silfra Canyon in Iceland technically speaking separates North America from Eurasia.

Technically speaking usually means not really, but here in southwest Iceland it certainly is true. Silfra is a fissure between two continental, or tectonic, plates located in Thingvellir National Park.

The massive forces of these plates occasionally cause earthquakes, and sometimes spectacular volcanic eruptions releasing molten rock and lava so dont forget your brolly.

Silfra is about 50km northeast of Reykjavik. On a clear day, from the Icelandic capital you can see the glacier-capped Snfellsjkull volcano across wide Faxafli. Viewed from here, the giant shimmering diamond of ice seems suspended between sea and sky. Novelist Jules Verne imagined that this was the entrance to the centre of the Earth, and mystics, Verne aficionadas and hippies still journey here to commune with the forces of the universe.

Despite having no confirmed adherence to any of these niche communities, I visited. In fact I was staying in the shadow of the volcano on Snaefellsnes Peninsula. From my room in the Budir Hotel I had a clear view of peak if Snfellsjkull blew, Id have a grandstand view and Instagrams to beat the band, were I to survive.

But nothing untoward seemed to be happening as far as I could tell. The view from the Budir appeared to indicate that all was quiet.

A treeless expanse stretched towards the volcano. Bubbling black cauldrons contrasted with the jagged mountains, the glaciers glistening white. If youre a fan of desolate and strange landscapes, youll scarcely do better.

The Budir, as you may have guessed by now, has no carefully manicured lawns, no shrubberies, no ornamental trees. As the phlegmatic Styrt, the manager pointed out, "Plants die quickly up here, unless they are lovingly cared for. In which case they die slowly." Styrt would be played by Gary Oldman in the movie about the journey.

After only two nights at the Budir I reluctantly had to get on the road again.

Because I was headed for Silfra, and those tectonic plates.

Just about everywhere in Iceland volcanoes growl deep beneath the earths crust. The movement of magma causes earthquakes throughout the country. Tectonically speaking, the plates can do likewise.

One earthquake in 1789 exposed a fissure that left Silfra Canyon the only place in the world where you can dive or snorkel directly in a crack between the plates separating America and Eurasia.

This is where Jules Verne should have headed you can well believe that looking into this canyon you might be able to spot the earths core. In fact, I may well have.

This product of geological happenstance would be reason enough to visit the area just to stand and gawp, but theres more. Water from Langjkull glacier gurgles and flows gently down the fissure and into Lake Thingvellir. The water, filtered through porous underground lava for up to100 years before reaching the spring that feeds into Silfra, is probably the purest youll find anywhere. Its certainly the clearest. Theres visibility of 100 metres below the surface. Tours down the river are always organised, with no facility for lone journeys, as far as I could ascertain.

To get down the waters of Silfra to Lake Thingvellir myself and the rest of the party were togged out in dry suits so that we could float downstream, between America and Eurasia, as it were.

So, it was on with dry suits. These came with incredibly tight bands on wrists, ankles and necks. After all, the temperature of the water would be between 2 to 4 degrees C. This would be roughly the same temperature as that which greeted the passengers of the Titanic as they entered the water. Without dry suits, of course.

Then it was on with the snorkelling headgear, and the flippers.

We launched into the water, head first, carefully keeping our hands behind our backs as we drifted downstream. These were the only part of our body exposed to the water, so best to keep them out of the near freezing temperatures as much as possible.

Soon I became unaware of the rest of the group as the current gently moved me down the channel. It was peaceful, and not cold at all inside my dry suit it was almost like floating along in a warmish balloon.

Both sides of the tectonic plates were clearly visible, everything with a turquoise, bluish-green hue.The crystal clear waters revealed a unique plant ecology that has evolved in the extreme environment. To be fair, its mostly moss, with a few wispy green things called troll hairs.

But the colours are stupefyingly vivid. Even Faberg might consider them a bit gaudy. The geology here looks like its made it up as it goes along elements deep in the earth are brought to the surface by the geothermal activity with a resulting kaleidoscope of striking colours.

Finally we floated into Lake Thingvellir, pretty much dry, definitely invigorated, and with a better grasp of geology than many of us had ever imagined would be possible.

A few years ago, I think around 2019 or 2020, Iceland re-affirmed its claim to the waters around Rockall. These, as you know, are already at the centre of a slow-burn diplomatic dispute between Britain and Ireland. It seems that Iceland has entered this bickering. But if youve got somewhere as magical as Silfra, why on earth would you want a rocky outpost like Rockall?

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A visit to Iceland where two continents meet - Irish Post

On

On Tuesday, Southern Living released its annual list of The Souths Top 50 Barbecue Joints of 2023, and it should come as no surprise to any Arkansawyer that Kibbs Bar-B-Q, the venerable Stuttgart institution, has taken the No. 44 spot.

Robert F. Moss, Southern Livings barbecue editor and the writer of the list, had this to say about Kibbs:

Central Arkansas has a distinctive if not widely-known barbecue style, and theres no better place to sample it than at Kibbs. Walter Kibble founded his first Stuttgart restaurant around 1980, and his family members now operate outposts in Pine Bluff and North Little Rock. All serveribs and rib tips, burgers, and smoked bologna, but the barbecue sandwiches are the real standouts. Sliced pork is tucked inside a warm toasted bun and dressed in the thick, sweet brown sauce that is a hallmark of the local style. The beef version is even better, with meat sliced thin then chopped into shards that brim with rich hickory smoke. That sticky brown sauce comes in mild, medium, or hot varieties, and even the medium version will leave your tongue tingling long after the last bite.

Its not the first time Kibbs Bar-B-Q has taken a spot on Southern Livings Top 50 list; last year the restaurant came in at No. 42. No other Arkansas barbecue joint made the list. Of the states represented, Texas had the most entries, with 15, followed by South Carolina, which garnered nine, and North Carolina, which took eight. Three barbecue joints from our neighbors in Memphis snagged a mention as well: Charlie Vergos Rendezvous (No. 47), Cozy Corner (No. 25) and A&R Bar-B-Que (No. 11).

Kibbs Bar-B-Q is again included on this years Arkansas Times Barbecue Trail and Passport as one of five barbecue joints representing the Lower Delta.

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Kibb's Bar-B-Q in Stuttgart lands on Southern Living's 'Top 50 ... - Arkansas Times

Now, unless you've been living under a rock, all that anyone seems to be capable of talking about at the moment is Apple's launch of its latest iPhone.

The tech giant officially announced the launch of the iPhone 15 series complete with a brand-new set of features on Tuesday (12 September) but it seems Apple users have noticed some pretty big differences between the devices bought in the UK and the US handsets.

And the difference in question?

It's all to do with an eSIM which Apple describes as: "An industry-standard digital SIM that allows you to activate a mobile data plan from your network provider without having to use a physical SIM.

"You can install eight or more eSIMs on an iPhone and use two phone numbers at the same time."

This effectively means that customers can load up more than just one mobile plan at a time onto their phone without having to go through the faff of physically removing and replacing physical SIM cards every time - something that I'm sure has come in super handy for people with both personal and work numbers, as well as jet-setters who hop onto a different data plan when abroad.

Not only is an eSIM said to be more convenient, but it is also meant to be more secure.

Apple writes: "An eSIM allows you to conveniently and securely activate cellular service without needing a physical SIM card.

"eSIM is stored digitally on your iPhone, which reduces the risk of physical damage, loss, or theft of your SIM.

"Once your eSIM is set up, your SIM card will be deactivated and can be removed from the SIM tray."

"Setting up your eSIM is usually just a matter of turning on your new iPhone and following the onscreen instructions," the company adds.

The move first came into action with the iPhone 14 last year, while the rest of the globe continued having devices fitted with both a SIM card tray and an eSIM option.

It's just a little over a week away now until folks can get their hands on Apple's latest offering, which will be available to buy on 22 September in the UK.

LADbible are on WhatsApp! We've launched a dedicated news channel to send you the latest news, features and plenty more directly on WhatsApp - all you need to do to sign up is click through to our one-way broadcast channel HERE for 'LADbible News' to appear in the 'Updates' tab on your WhatsApp.

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iPhone 15 you buy in UK has a big difference to US handsets - LADbible

By Kate Ellis, News Editor

September 14, 2023

When Ouachita enrollment hit its peak for the first time in 57 years, thus making Jones Performing Arts Center incapable of holding all students for Tuesday morning Chapel, James Taylor, director of campus ministries, was tasked with finding a solution. For the first time in Ouachita history, the student body is split among two locations for the weekly chapel: the seats of JPAC and the pews of Berry Chapel. Overflow chapel in Berry consists of acoustic worship, a medley of guitar, piano and Cajon drum led by sophomore Christian studies and Christian ministries major Blair Yager, and a live stream of the larger chapel gathering in JPAC. Yager, who has a long history of leading worship, shares how this unprecedented event came to be.

James Taylor, Larry Grayson, Joel Winters, Ben Sells and a few others had a meeting about what to do for chapel overflow worship and they thought I would be a good fit, Yager said.They reached out to me this summer about the opportunity. Ive led worship since I was in the 4th grade, so Ive led at many different churches and events. I interned at a church in Little Rock all summer, and now I am currently the youth worship leader for Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock. All of these experiences have helped me grow tremendously into the leadership roles Ive been given. If it werent for those opportunities growing up then I would not be musically or spiritually skilled enough to lead today.

The acoustic worship in Berry is a large shift from the sound systems, light fixtures and overall encompassing stage presence in JPAC. However, this change is proving to be a positive one, with both students and leaders in agreement that the acoustic sound and close knit chapel building makes for a more intimate worship environment.

I personally love the atmosphere in the Chapel. Since it will always be an acoustic set, its more vulnerable and raw, Yager said. Everyones voices echo in the room so you can hear everyone around you singing, which is super encouraging and refreshing to hear your peers around you worship. It feels more like a church and that everyone wants to be there, not another class that people are required to go to.

Not only did overflow chapel succeed in finding a space for over 150 students, but it has also increased students desire to attend. Alaina Moore, junior accounting and finance major, shares her appreciation for this new development.

The acoustic worship in Berry is awesome, Moore said. Hearing everyone sing around you in Berry brings this feeling of fellowship and joy that isnt available in JPAC. The atmosphere is similar to that of Refuge, and it lends to a serene time of worship. The acoustic worship is very intentional and genuine. Its not showy and everyone is just invited into a space of communion with God. The people in Berry seem to want to worship and draw near to God and it leads to an environment filled with joy and peace. If overflow Chapel was ever offered again, I would jump at the opportunity to participate in it. I think its a great space of genuine worship, and I would love to be able to have Chapel in Berry every semester.

Whether this be a long or short term solution, it is safe to say that Berry Chapel is breathing new life into what is already an incredible weekly gathering among students, staff and faculty.

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Overflow Chapel takes an acoustic approach to worship The OBU ... - OBU The Signal

Now, unless you've been living under a rock, all that anyone seems to be capable of talking about at the moment is Apple's launch of its latest iPhone.

Apple officially announced the launch of the iPhone 15 series complete with a brand-new set of features yesterday (12 September), but it's clear that not everyone is 100 per cent on board with them.

iPhone users have since been warned theyre being 'robbed' as a new feature on the devices has already been on Android for years now.

The latest phone now marks the 16th generation of a device which changed the smartphone scene forever when it launched back in 2007. This update has been described by experts as the 'biggest update to the device in three years'.

There's a whole load of features including a USB-C charging cable point and Precision Finding, but there's one particular feature which seems to have really rubbed some people the wrong way - namely the latest model's panel feature.

In short, many Apple fans were left wondering what the latest model's screen refresh rate would be.

If that's all jargon to you - let me quickly explain.

The screen refresh rate effectively measures how often a screen's static image changes per second and this is measured in Hertz (Hz).

So, for example, a screen display with a refresh rate of 60 Hz means 60 frames per second, whereas 120 Hz and means there are 120 frames each seconds and so on.

And why does this matter?

Well, a faster refresh rate means a smoother viewing experience so it would make sense that people would be hoping for the higher end of the Hertz spectrum for the new iPhone 15 series but this was far from the case.

Canadian tech content creator, @RjeyTech, took to Twitter to share exactly what he thought about the latest iPhone series.

He penned: "120hz is not a 'Pro' feature, just because Apple calls it Pro Motion, doesnt make it a premium feature.

"There are $200 android phones that come with a 120hz.

"My point is an $800 iPhone shouldnt launch with a 60hz display in 2023!"

He continued: "Its the consumer who is getting is robbed, stop trying to justify a 60hz panel on an $800 phone!"

In another tweet, Rjey discussed why 'the average consumer doesnt care about 120hz' isn't a 'valid argument'.

"Its not that the average consumer doesnt care, the average consumer DOESNT KNOW THEY ARE BEING ROBBED," he claimed. "The iPhone 15 should at least feature 90 HZ in 2023.

"But no, here we go again with 60HZ."

Another tech head, @android_fhd, also took to the platform to share his verdict on Apple's recent launch.

He wrote: "It's that time of the year when many people still buy $799 iPhone with 60hz display because they think iPhone 60hz >>> Android 120hz."

Price-wise, the iPhone 15 Pro will set you back $999, with the iPhone 15 Pro Max costing $1,199.

It won't be long until folks can get their hands on the latest offering which will be available to buy on 22 September.

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Apple users warned they're being 'robbed' as new iPhone feature ... - LADbible

Tagged under: District 1, Gameday Hub, News

Ted Podberesky | September 15, 2023

West Chesters Henderson Warriors hosted the Sun Valley Vanguards tonight, looking to build from their win last week and continue their success. Sun Valley came into this game striving for revenge after a tough loss in week three of their season. The Vanguards showed true pride this Thursday night, coming to Henderson and taking home their first win of the season over the Warriors 33-30.

Henderson received the ball to start the game and wasted no time, coming out and showing a true passing attack. Sun Valley however, was ready for this kind of offense stopping the Warriors after a couple first downs and was given the ball after a punt. From there it was the start of running back Noah Griffins show.

It only took a couple plays for the Vanguards to score, keeping the ball on the ground and letting Noah Griffin rumble for a 57 yard touchdown. With five minutes remaining in the first the Warriors offense got to work with quarterback Braeden OConnell, who spread the rock all over tonight with his weapons downfield. Unfortunately, on this drive Henderson was only able to come away with a field goal with time winding down in the quarter.

Sun Valley kept the ball on the ground after the made field goal from the Warriors, showing no signs of slowing down their running game heading into the second quarter. Henderson had other things in mind however, plugging up the run with linebacker Charlie Watson and defensive end Logan Goodwin.

Braeden OConnell capitalized from the defensive stop and threw a beautiful spiral down the numbers to his wide receiver Seamus Murphy for a 54 yard touchdown. The Warriors were right back in the game leading the Vanguards 10-7. Sun Valley was stopped once again after getting the ball back and was forced to punt.

The Vanguards defense showed up big tonight with multiple tackles behind the line of scrimmage led by senior linebacker Ryan Creegan, who totaled the pack with four tackles for loss. Sun Valley made a big stop on third down inside their own territory and forced Henderson to try a field goal with just under three minutes remaining in the second quarter.

The snap was shot over the head of the holder and safety Matt Jackson for Sun Valley recovered. Quarterback RJ Sharrer quickly found his big tight end Aidan Cook over the middle for a 30 yard gain. Sharrer eventually found himself in the endzone making one man miss and tumbling in for the score on an 11 yard run. The Vanguards now led the Warriors 13-10 after a missed extra point to head into halftime.

Sun Valley got the ball back for the start of the third quarter and wasted no time going back to their tight end Aidan Cook, who caught a pass from Sharrer and ran for 67 yards. Running back Noah Griffin continued his game on the ground with a couple runs, before punching in an 8 yard touchdown run.

It wasnt long until Braeden OConnell commanded his offense down the field once again and found Evan Kearney who made a leaping 22 yard touchdown catch. With Henderson missing the extra point the score was 20-16 with a little over three minutes to go in the quarter. The Vanguards were soon stopped after getting the ball back with big tackles led by linebacker Aaron Nelson and cornerback Jake Ball.

The Warriors air raid game plan was still in full effect, mixing in plays with running back Matt Wagner. Henderson drove down the field into Sun Valley territory with ease before running into linebacker Ryan Creegan once again. OConnell threw a ball over the middle and was intercepted almost immediately by Creegan, who ran for green grass ahead on a 75 yard pick six.

Henderson blocked the extra point and got the ball back with under a minute to go in the third, Matt Wagner took some small runs before heading into the fourth. It was an all out war in the fourth quarter coming down to the last five final minutes of the game. With the Vanguards leading 26-16 Henderson needed a big play from some big time players, and thats exactly what happened.

With five minutes remaining in the quarter the Warriors dialed up a screen pass to Matt Wagner who caught the ball and ran for 64 yards down the field before being pushed out of bounds by Matt Jackson. The very next play OConnell found Evan Kearney on a 26 yard touchdown play.

The Vanguards kept the ball on the ground, chewing up the clock making sure the Warriors couldnt get it back. That was until Noah Griffin made a statement, breaking tackles and getting to the outside running down the sideline in a foot race to score a 69 yard touchdown.Sun Valley had pushed their lead to a two score game once again, looking to close out a win.

With the high powered offense that Henderson contained they still werent out of this game however. With two minutes remaining in the fourth OConnell kept finding his weapons, throwing a strike to junior Evan Stiles who was tackled down after a gain of 66 yards. The big play set up yet another touchdown for the Warriors after a busted coverage let Evan Kearney wide open to score his third touchdown of the game.

The Warriors got a stop on the Vanguards and got the ball back with under a minute to go, but it wasnt enough time. The Vanguards held the Warriors to a fourth down and forced a turnover on downs with eighteen seconds remaining. RJ Sharrer took a knee for the Vanguards to secure their first win of the season.

Head Coach Ernie Ellis for the Sun Valley Vanguards said after the game that, We showed extreme grit and when it came down to our moment we made the most of our opportunities, these young men deserved a win tonight and they got one.

Running Back Noah Griffin for Sun Valley who had a monster game on the ground with 247 rushing yards to pair with 3 touchdowns said that, Wins keep me motivated, these types of games with the teammates I play with goes a long way. Without my teammates and family none of this would be possible.

Linebacker Ryan Creegan for the Vanguards who combined for 9 solo tackles and 4 tackles for loss to go with a 75 yard pick six stated that, When Noah and I are on the field our energy is unmatched, we always seem to get things done. I guess you can say hes the O to my J.

Quarterback Braeden OConnell for the Henderson Warriors who had a spectacular game through the air, passing for over 260 yards and 4 touchdowns said that, The receivers and I have an unbreakable bond that goes a long way and I think that shows every time we step out onto the field, building a culture is what were here for and we have to keep doing that day in and day out.

Sun Valley takes on Avon Grove next week at home, while West Chester Henderson travels to Downingtown West.

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews

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Sun Valley Vanguards Noah Griffin rushes to the promise land over ... - PA Football News

OL/DL - Taylor Lewan

Giphy Images.

Do I have to go into detail? My man could likely block the entire DL himself in 1940 with that wingspan plus his mustache certainly fits.

TE/DE - Billy Football

Giphy Images.

They didn't really have TEs back then but this is okay because I need another big dude to block and as we know, Billy can't really catch the ball anyway.

Specialist - WSD

No, I don't mean specialist in the sense that I need a punter/kicker. I mean this as the guy who goes in the same to dive at the other team's best player's knees. I feel like that was an acceptable practice in 1940 and although I don't condone dirty play, there is no controlling that raccoon boy.

TE/LB - Will Compton

Giphy Images.

If Will played pro ball in 1940 we would be firmly in year 10 and that's not up for debate. Massive glue guy. All heart. Not to mention he could have a bookie on the side and the NFL would be none the wiser.

OL/LB - Trent

If you're new, educate yourself by watching the video above. Trent is the definition of a lunch pail guy and that is exactly how you win football games in 1940. Plus I think in 1940 the more Midwest guys you have the better.

OL - Large

Listen. I need to fill the roster and I'm pretty sure Large would be the biggest guy in the league in 1940. Plus, he has gout and I think that was a lot more common in 1940. He can't move all that well these days but did you watch the highlights? No one was setting the world on fire with how nimble they were.

OL - Big T

His size. That's it. I have no clue if he's played a down of football in his life.

FB/DL/K -PFT

Toughness is a prerequisite for 1940s football and anyone willing to play rugby certainly has a few screws loose. Not to mention, we need a kickereven though I don't think we will ever really find ourselves in 4th down situations.

OL/DL -Feits

Giphy Images.

Some of you are thinking, isn't Feits small to play OL? In 1940 he ain't and not to mention, he has the hands of a brick layer so he will fit right in no problem. Also, he can be the one to hand out the cigarettes and whiskey at halftime.

Get Him On The Field Somewhere - Biz

Giphy Images.

Flat out, he has much too much experience with contact to not be out there somewhere. It's entirely possible he gets himself banned from the league for fighting but damn if I don't want him on my team.

OL/DL/LB - Chief, Carl, Smitty

Chief will cry if he's not part of the hypothetical that includes us playing against his beloved Notre Dame in their heyday. Carl's size and arm strength makes him a valuable asset. CTE didn't exist back in 1940 so Smitty would be great to have running into people without concern for his brain.

Bench- Titus, Dana, Reags. Our basketball contingent. Titus has experience there (this isn't rude because I rode the bench in college too and he wrote an entire book about it so how about you pipe down) and Reags is a basketball guy so he likely hates contact. Dana did average 12 and 10 though so we could find a spot for him.

Assistant Coach- RA

If you watched the latest sandbagger you'll see that a guy roaming the sidelines guzzling booze just makes sense.

Bag Guy- Jersey Jerry

I don't know why, but in 1940 it feels like this is a required role and I can think of no one better.

Party Guy- Stu

Giphy Images.

I think in 1940 there was more focus on the celebration than training in the offseason so we need Stu. Although his size fits for 1940 football.

Head Coach - Dave

Giphy Images.

Dave coached the Barstool basketball team and we won exactly zero games so it stands to reason we just needed to put together a football team.

So there you have it, your 1940 National Champions. We would go undefeated and unscored upon while averaging 63 points per game. Simple as that.

NOTABLE OMISSIONS

KFC - Have you seen the original Barstool Draft Combine? That mess wouldn't even cut it against plumbers and electricians.

Whitney - Was he a very successful pro athlete? Yes. Was he an Olympic athlete? Yes. Would he be a great addition to the team? Yes. But I don't think Whit wants to be bothered these days with even hypothetical scenarios where he might have to hit people when he'd rather be playing golf.

Rico - Sorry, you don't get to call me a back-up and bag on my athletic career for years while you played on the equivalent of a club team in college and couldn't hold my jock. I could've started on your team when I was a sophomore in high school. Remember as Dave said, D3 football is pointless.

Dan - I don't think Dan has the stamina and he would also get us in trouble with throwing games for his bookie.

Brandon Walker - For no other reason than it will irk him to no end to be left off a hypothetical football team.

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Fire Up The Delorean - I Constructed A Roster Of Barstool ... - Barstool Sports

September 15, 2023

Lead ImageShirt in cotton and wings in brass (both worn throughout) by LOEWE. Band trousers in wool (worn throughout) by WALES BONNERPhotography by Joshua Woods, Styling by Ellie Grace Cumming

Thisprojectis taken from the Autumn/Winter 2023 issue of AnOther Magazine and wasrealised before the SAG-AFTRA strike was announced:

Its two hours past call time andLaKeith Stanfieldstill hasnt shown up for the cover shoot. His absence has engendered a slightly anxious mood on set. Walkie-talkies crackle. The crew paces back and forth under the hot sun. Rattlesnakes forage in the dry chaparral. Everyone seems a little on edgeand, geographically speaking, they are. From 2,000 feet aboveMalibu, perched at the summit of the dry hill-scape, the sky out over the city blends seamlessly with the Pacific Ocean, to the point where its difficult to tell one from the other in the vast expanse of blue. There is the sense that youve arrived at the worlds outer limit or at least the end of California. It doesnt seem irrational to wonder if, by now, Stanfield has grown tired of the weathering demands of celebrity: the endless procession of reporters, the fans interrupting dinners withweed offerings or impressions of his characters, the ambient expectation that he should always be available to entertain.

The truth is that Stanfield hasnt been outside the publics sphere of attention since he found his way into it ten years ago, as a 21-year-old off-the-radar newcomer from San Bernardino,California, who didnt own a cell phone and had been most recently employed at a weed grow house. His first role wasthat of an emotionally volatile kid about to age out of a grouphome for at-risk teens, in a thesis film-turned-small budgetfeature calledShort Term 12. Theories abound that the movieis charmed; its lead actors Rami Malek and Brie Larson are big names now. But it was Stanfield, playing Marcus, who left the most lasting impression. He dissolves into his characters;sometimes it seems more like hes transcribing his own moods than reciting lines. The wounded sensitivity he brought to therole was so internalised that, when Marcus burst into tears after shaving his head and finding no scars left over from his mothers abuse, Larson had to excuse myself from the scene and cry. The breakdown hadnt been in the script.

Back at the motorhome at the base of the hill, Stanfield is dressed as himself, in a pale green knitted polo, black jeans, a black baseball cap and socked feet slipped into Birkenstocks. Thick, arcane symbols are tattooed along his hands and arms like doodles scrawled into a high school notebook. Hes stretched out on a couch that lines the back wall, his posture easy and relaxed. Its hard to say whether the four hours of shooting under the hot California sun has drained his sociability, because there is a perpetual air of almost monastic tranquillity about him, a natural orientation that could easily be misattributed to the composure of perma-friedness. He denies my offer of Reeses Pieces in favour of a transparent container filled with large slices of dried mango, which he picks at while we talk. Poisoning yourself makes you do things you dont want to, he says in response to a question about spirituality, which sounds more like the reasoning behind his sobriety. You start to become the things you ingest, so you want to stay away from things that can damage your body.

Stanfield is currently on double-promotion duty for films that could not seem more distinct (this interview took place before Sag-Aftra announced strikes on 14 July 2023): a Disney remake of 2003s The Haunted Mansion, in which he plays an expert hired to evacuate ghosts from a decrepit property, and Jeymes Samuels enigmatic The Book of Clarence, which is due out in January. What is known about the latter is as follows: (1) it takes place in 29 AD Jerusalem, but was filmed in Matera, the same southern Italian town where Pasolini shot The Gospel According to St Matthew; (2) Stanfield plays the titular cult leader, who is looking to capitalise on the rise of celebrity and influence the Messiah for his own personal gain; and (3) camels shit so frequently and profusely that there were workers whose sole job on set was to clean up after them. Peace to all the gods that allow these people to be so great at what they do, Stanfield says. But, like, bless them. I know thats a stinky job.

I always wanted to be the centre of attention LaKeith Stanfield

Stanfield previously worked with Samuel on 2021s The Harder They Fall, a high-octane, orgiastic bloodbath of a film that everyone called revisionist because it inserted Black people into the western epic tradition never mind that the whole master narrative of John Wayne types as the heroes of the Old West is itself a romantic construct. Samuels film instead took up a playful, winking disinterest in the trappings of historical accuracy. He laundered the real stories of 19th-century Black cowboys through his Blaxploitation-conscious sensibility, and metaphorically killed Tarantino when he shot the first white person who fixed their mouth to say the n-word. He intentionally undermined the time period with an anachronistic soundtrack, smuggling Jay-Z, Lauryn Hill and Barrington Levy into the 1870s. Jeymes just knows how to create these special environments that are unlike any other film sets youve ever been on, he says of the director. You go on his sets and there are these giant speakers playing music, and everybodys dancing and its like a party. Its all these Black people, and were all having organic fun. And so, when we get on screen, that transition is seamless. The fun you see is real.

It seems like hes having a blast in The Harder They Fall. In a cast of otherwise serious, quick-tempered characters, Stanfields interpretation of Cherokee Bill (whose infamous last words before he was hanged were, I came here to die, not make a speech) is calm, reluctant, humorous. He doesnt want to use violence. Hes an outlaw with a bountiful kill record who seems bored by his lack of competition, an arrogant, western One-Punch Man with a haunted stare and perfect comic timing. Its often Stanfields comic instincts his eccentricity, his unsettled physicality, his nonchalant delivery of utterly absurd lines that make him a reliable scene-stealer, alternately magnetic and memorable even among an ensemble cast of seasoned performers. That In Living Color and Saturday Night Live were his favourite programmes growing up tracks. Consider, for example, an unscripted moment from Atlanta, when his character, Darius, is cleaning his gun and lovingly refers to it (him?) as Daddy. You call your gun Daddy? says Paper Boi, hilariously played by Brian Tyree Henry. Thats weird, man. They go back and forth like this, bantering over the sexual implications of the word before Darius pauses, then suggests, softly: You not gonna see this, but your assumed perversion of the word Daddy? I think thats stemming from the fear of mortality, man. What?

Stanfield had odd dreams while he was away filming Clarence in Matera, dreams where he was trapped in a stone dimension not unlike the dark, yawning grottos scooped out of the calcareous rock all over the prehistoric city. He describes feeling isolated while he was there, a condition exacerbated by personal issues he alludes to but does not elaborate on. Sometimes youll get these roles and theyll mirror you, or youll mirror them, and it feels like youre literally going through the same thing, he says. I was going through some hard stuff while I was filming, and I would often ask myself, like, What would Clarence do? It was really strange. Ive never really done that with a character. Whether or not a cult leader would make for a trustworthy spiritual guide remains inconclusive.

Stanfield was raised in Riverside, near San Bernardino, and later in Victorville, out in the Mojave Desert. He came of age in a barren landscape known mostly as a set piece for Lethal Weapon and Kill Bill: Volume II, but also for the nickname it was graced with by the people who live there: Victimville. The seventh top employer when Stanfield lived there was the Victorville Federal Correctional Complex, a dark mass of grey watchtowers, double electric fences and squat concrete buildings spread out over 1.2 million square feet of the Mojave.

Its unclear whether the nickname Victimville was intended to reference the 4,000 inmates housed in those prisons or to describe the culture of violence and poverty in the region. Stanfield occasionally got into trouble while living there, got in fist fights over girls or stole sandwiches and bottles of beer and got Tasered for smoking weed and learnt the hard way or so he told Complex magazine in 2016 that you cant really outrun a helicopter. But on the whole, his life in Victorville was far less violent than it had been in Riverside, where he sometimes witnessed his mothers boyfriend beating her up. And so he decided that it was a kind of haven. It was sleepy. Not much to do.

The boredom forced his imagination. I always wanted to be the centre of attention, Stanfield says. He was the designated entertainer of the family, the one who would stage sock puppet shows and feign accents at gatherings, who would slip into his aunts church wigs and then dance around the living room, pretending to be someone else. His bedroom walls were papered with sketches, poems and symbols, and there was a makeshift recording booth made from egg cartons. He watched Love Jones, Menace II Society, Boyz n the Hood, Brown Sugar then wandered the flat desert plains and allowed his mind to compose its own characters, with their own specific micro-dramas. I was completely apathetic towards school, he says, and he flunked nearly every class except for drama. When he was 15, he started googling any terms he could think of related to acting and signed up to whatever materialised online and sent off his information to random email addresses in the hopes of landing an audition.

I think there has just been a fire lit under me ever since the opportunity to be a performer first arrived in front of me. And I havent looked back. I have to take advantage of every opportunity I get so that I can continue to do this work. So Im always going to throw everything at it. My ambition hasnt waned LaKeith Stanfield

The first response he got wasnt for a part in a play or film, but for a slot at a school called the John Casablancas Modeling & Career Center, which was founded by the same man who launched Elite Models and cost $5,000 to attend sessions for. Eventually he landed the Short Term 12 role and though Destin Daniel Crettons short premiered in 2009 at Sundance and won a jury award, nothing really came after that. Stanfields inbox stayed empty and nobody came knocking at his door. He moved to Sacramento to develop a relationship with his father and worked as a lawn mower, a door-to-door salesman for AT&T and a weed salesman at a grow house. The day he was fired from the AT&T job for childhood run-ins with the law he checked his inbox and found five consecutive emails from Cretton, who said he was adapting the short into a feature and was hoping Stanfield would audition to reprise his role. (He was the only cast member carried over from the short and ended up with a best supporting actor nomination at 2014s Independent Spirit Awards, as well as a nod from the Satellite Awards for a rap song he wrote with the director.)

In 2014 alone, the year after Short Term 12 came out, Stanfield appeared in Selma and The Purge: Anarchy, two big-budget studio movies that were smashes at the box office. The following year, he had credits in seven films. He released experimental rap songs as part of a band and, on his own, appeared in music videos for Run the Jewels and Jay-Z, danced drunk at a party, as if he was the only one in the room, and was hired on the spot to play Darius in Atlanta. He had all of two scenes in Get Out and nobody forgot them. He worked, and worked some more, and somehow managed to eke out a place for himself in Hollywood that doesnt require a series of bargains and compromises, which gives him the latitude to play an unusual set of characters who reflect the expansiveness he sees in his own humanity. When I ask him why he works so often, what might happen if he finally decides to be still on top of Clarence and Haunted Mansion, hes also starring in a new Apple TV+ series called The Changeling he pauses.

I think there has just been a fire lit under me ever since the opportunity to be a performer first arrived in front of me, he says. And I havent looked back. I have to take advantage of every opportunity I get so that I can continue to do this work. So Im always going to throw everything at it. My ambition hasnt waned. He has always understood that the line between having and not having is tenuous.

Its really hard, maybe even impossible to maintain a perfect centre all the time, Stanfield says. Ive just finished telling him a story about my aunt, a stage actress known as the first lady of Jamaican theatre, who would sometimes, in my mothers words, bring her characters home with her. How she would come home attended by a shroud of misery, moving through the house as though behind a veil of cellophane. It seems to resonate. Stanfield makes himself blank when accommodating a new character, and then excavates from his own old wounds and past experiences to fill out the psychic space. The goal is to achieve a state where one is not performing so much as being. His characters become portals through which he can explore the inner lives of other people and also a mirror within which he can more clearly evaluate himself. If youre paying attention, and if youre lucky enough to come across a role that was written well, youll typically learn something about yourself or a version of life you havent had, he says. And those can be positive lessons. Or not. It doesnt always feel good.

Stanfield doesnt call it method, but his immersion can still be destabilising. Anecdotes that could pass for mythology proliferate around his craft, his intensity, his dedication to the role; Hollywood loves a martyr, the high drama of suffering transmuted into art. For his scene in Selma when Jimmie Lee Jackson is beaten and shot to death by state troopers, Stanfield ran laps around the set so he would lose consciousness as the cameras started rolling, his eyes fluttering shut and his body shutting down. In Short Term 12, when his character whacks another boy with a wiffle-ball bat, the rage felt so real to Stanfield that he actually struck the other kid, whose father ran out to chastise him with a reminder that hes supposed to be acting. And after wrapping Uncut Gems, Adam Sandler told its co-director Josh Safdie that the only other actor hed ever seen get that deeply into character was Dustin Hoffman, who infamously antagonised Meryl Streep on the set of Kramer vs Kramer by slapping her across the face and taunting her with remarks about her recently dead boyfriend.

Of all the roles hes played, something about Stanfields performance in Judas and the Black Messiah is outstanding moving, sends shivers down the spine. He plays William ONeal, the FBI informant who infiltrated the Black Panther Party in the late 1960s and provided the floor plan of Fred Hamptons apartment that facilitated his assassination. For his part, ONeal is a haunted, tragic figure; even after drugging Hampton the night before his murder, he begged the family to let him be a pallbearer at the funeral. Stanfield plays it all with a simmering neuroticism, every movement animated by an uncertain twitchiness, every spell of laughter reaching for a hysterical pitch. In the moments when the room is dense with fraternity and affection, we see him quietly tortured by the scale of his own betrayal, his posture suddenly resigned, his eyes tearful and dark, the weight of this double consciousness seizing his faculties. The only documents that Stanfield had to consult were court transcripts and a PBS documentary from 1990 called Eyes on the Prize II, in which ONeals delusions are on uncomfortable display: he claims that at least nobody can call him an armchair revolutionary because he was actually part of the struggle. He killed himself the night the documentary aired, ran out onto Chicagos Eisenhower Expressway and had his body crushed by traffic.

Youre playing with your psyche, as an actor. Thats something that is sensitive. And if youre a performer, chances are youre sensitive, like me. So you have to be careful about some of the places you go. I learnt that the hard way LaKeith Stanfield

Stanfield was haunted by the part. He had panic attacks on set that sent him scurrying out of trailers and into the open air. Alopecia that had been in remission returned, inexplicably. His hands would shake, then go numb. He couldnt straighten out the ethics of bringing sensitivity and understanding to a man who had acted with such murderous self-interest, whose entire system of morality seemed at odds with Stanfields own. And a scene when he drugs Hampton, which didnt make it to the final cut, felt somehow real to him. His body couldnt differentiate between the role and the reality something his co-star Dominique Fishback had warned him of. I didnt know what was going on at the time, but I guess I was putting myself under a lot of stress, he says. There arent really too many apparatuses in place to help artists deal with the aftermath after putting their all into these things. So you have to take the responsibility upon yourself to try to figure out what that means. And since Im not super-religious, I had to find a way to help me in those moments.

He ended up in therapy, which has since become a spiritual parachute that keeps him from going too far. You have to be aware of how the things that youre downloading affect you, Stanfield says, because you can sometimes go to places that, if you arent careful, can be hard to navigate and come back from. Youre playing with your psyche, as an actor. Thats something that is sensitive. And if youre a performer, chances are youre sensitive, like me. So you have to be careful about some of the places you go. I learnt that the hard way.

LaKeith Stanfield is Showing Hollywood How to be Weird. Or is the Greatest Weird Actor of Our Generation. LaKeithStanfield is Reframing Black masculinity, Redefining Blackmasculinity, Revolutionising Black masculinity or anyway, hes doing something that involves Blackness, weirdness, masculinity and Hollywood. The way critics write abouthow Stanfield fits into the tapestry of Hollywoods leading men tends to focus on the perceived strangeness of the parts he chooses, how hes presenting a contemporary vision of Black manhood that (some) people arent accustomed to seeing. The idea, however myopic, is that our Black movie stars are always possessed of an impenetrable cool, an easy-going charisma shared by Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman,Samuel L Jackson, Sidney Poitier. Stanfield gravitates towards characters who could scarcely be described as cool. His men are offbeat, tense, unsure. Anxiety is common. And its clear he identifies with them in some capacity. Its why he picks them.

But he doesnt recognise himself in that sociological way that critics write about him. Probably its annoying to have a bunch of journalists, often white, repeatedly call you weird. Theres a way that people tend to conflate Stanfield with his roles, assuming theres no significant distance between LaKeith Stanfield the person and, for example, Darius the character. This seems at least partially merited. Much of what Darius says on Atlanta, like the gun thing, is improvised. And, like Darius, Stanfield prefers a freewheeling conversation style involving unbroken eye contact and the occasional meditative, slightly off-kilter digression. After five series of the show, Darius is the part people most associate him with. Its been a long run with theAtlantaboys, and Im so grateful to have been part of that, he says, noting theyve wrapped filming on the final season. It was cool to play this character who sticks with so many people, someone they resonate with and who feels like a real person to them. So many people run up to me acting real goofy because they think Im Darius.

It could also be that he doesnt seem to take fame particularly seriously. There was a time when he was suspended from Twitter for impersonating other celebrities, from Offset, MoNique and Jack Black to Cardi B and Donald Trump. In 2018, having already acted in enough films to be considered famous, he posted his real phone number online. He showed up to interviews on his press tour forDeath Noteas his eccentric detective character, L, crouching in chairs andsaying things to reporters like, Shoes have soles. Humans havespirits. He has crashed awards ceremonies with acceptance speeches for TV shows he never worked on, worn a Kamala Harris-inspired wig on a livestream just after the vice-presidential debate, randomly pulled out accents to confuse reporters at press junkets.

Im wondering how one reconciles a profound desire for attention with the concomitant need for privacy. Stanfield says hes still working it out, how to be in the movies and the magazines while keeping whats sacred to him sacred. It still baffles him the way people project certain moral and politicalresponsibilities onto actors and musicians, how whatever theysay is taken as gospel. It seems to me hes been finding different ways to describe fame as unnatural or unhealthy, but he argues that celebrity isnt necessarily a bad thing. When his publicists file into the motorhome, right on schedule, wevebeen caught in an exchange about fame and religion, Stanfieldon a digression about the cult of attention.

I think people tend to value who theythinkhave value, and people who are popular seem to have that because everyones paying attention to them, he says. But placing all your faith in the human wouldnt be the wise thing to do. Sometimes I think theres too much importance placed on celebrity, and people think celebrities cant make mistakes or cant be wrong. Which is weird. Especially when anyone can be famous now, for doing anything at all.

Grooming: Sian Richards using concealer and skincare by SIAN RICHARDS LONDON and Bed Head by TIGI. Make-up: Frankie Boyd at Streeters using DANESSA MYRICKS BEAUTY. Set design: Patience Harding at New School. Photographic assistants: Bummy Koepenick, Todd Weaver and Cory Hackbarth. Styling assistants: Bella Kavanagh, Raphael Del Bono, Elliot Soriano and Gemma Valdes Joffroy. Make-up assistant: Megumi Asai. Set-design assistants: James Beyer, Mia Brito and Bradford Schroeder. Research: Daniel Obaweya. Printing: Sarah England. Production: Connect the Dots. Post-production: Ink

This story features in the Autumn/Winter 2023 issue of AnOther Magazine, which is on sale now. Order here.

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How Lakeith Stanfield Soared to the Heights of Hollywood - AnOther Magazine

It drives me absolutely crackers. Would you say that you were on Edinburgh? On Leith?

Unless you are sunshine, then no, you absolutely would not. Ah but, they say, you are talking about islands. They are standalone objects. I might take that point but, would you say on the UK?

Why not? Oh, because it is a place. Made up of many entities. Too many things of importance exist for us to say on. On would reduce it to no more than a rock. Of course we wouldnt do that.

So why do we refer to our island communities that way? On Harris, on Tiree, on Skye.

That grammatical tic is everywhere you look, and Im proposing that it shouldnt be. You should never be on a populated island. You should be in these places. These are communities of living, breathing people. They are stuffed with histories and stories. They are not rocks nor artefacts you just gaze at. When you write about them, you should use in.

Its not hard. The difference is easy to grasp. It is the difference between a geographical feature and a town, village, community or place in which there is or has been habitation.

You can be on a rock. Lets say you are on Rockall. Assuming you dont believe in the human rights of a weather station, it is an uninhabited geographical feature which has never been home to people. (Those with a death wish and a brass neck dont count.) So, be on it until you are blue in whichever extremity you choose.

You can be on a hill, on a mountain. You can even be on an island if the context is geographical. You could technically be on the island of Mull. But you should always be in Mull, the place.

Isle of, is tricker. It can, so to speak, swing both ways. But I can be as pedantic as any online commenter; their red pen quivering in their clenched fist. So I make a point of always saying in the Isle of. Its entirely deliberate. I have even written it into funding applications as an impact I want to achieve from projects to get more people saying in in the context of islands because to me, it acknowledges the communities of people.

I pushthe point because I firmly believe that when a living place becomes something you are on, or even worse, at, that place becomes an object. It is reduced to a mere commodity. And that is not how our islands should be seen. It is not how anyones home should be seen.

You can be at a theme park or a museum. You should never be at a town, or a village. Be at a beach, but not at Tobermory or at Stornoway. We have Zuckerberg to thank for that one. Rather than putting the effort into making the algorithm differentiate between on or in, he presumably settled on at during that period of social media hell where we announced our location on a per-second basis. Why? Because it was easier.

And we all started doing it. At, on. It is indeed easy. It requires no thought. And therein lies the issue.

When you are in the islands (see what I did there) there is a temptation, driven by an industry focused mainly on the view, to see them as adorable, quaint little objects where time stands still. Some people even claim to go back in time as soon as they set foot in them!

The scenery is the goal. Fewer and fewer who visit get under the skin of these places or make an effort to understand what makes them actually tick. Our homes become little more than a checkbox in an I-Spy book. Have you done Skye? Im doing Shetland next summer.

Being in a place requires some mental and emotional work. If only to acknowledge the people past and present who made it their home.

To some it might seem over the top, it might even seem petty. But to those of us for whom it matters, it is neither.

For those of us with Gaelic on our lips, you are always in. Ann an Tiriodh, ann am Muile. You would never hear on used in Gaelic about a living place. On is not grammatically possible, unless it is a rock, or a skerry or something forever uninhabited. In Gaelic, we still use in for St Kilda in recognition of those who were once there.

And thats when the knife cuts that little bit deeper and sharper because once upon a time the debate would not have been had. And most certainly not in English.

Link:

Our islands are living communities you are in them, not on - The National