On this day in movie history – Aniara (2018 movie & books):

Aniara

directed and written by Pella Kågerman & Hugo Lilja,

based on the epic book-length poem Aniara: An Epic Science Fiction Poem by Harry Martinson,

released at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada on September 7, 2018.

Music by Alexander Berg.

Cast: Emelie Garbers / Emelie Jonsson, Bianca Cruzeiro, Arvin Kananian, Anneli Martini, Jennie Silfverhjelm, Emma Broomé, Jamil Drissi, Leon Jiber, Peter Carlberg, Juan Rodríguez, David Nzinga, Dakota Trancher Williams, Otis Castillo Ålhed, Dante Westergårdh, Enzo Westergårdh, Elin Lilleman Eriksson, Agnes Lundgren, Alexi Carpentieri, Mattias Appelqvist, Unn Dahlman, Laila Ljunggren, Thomas Lundgren, Malin Olsson, Susanna Salonen, Cornelia Sjöblom, Oskar Snickars, Max Stenerudh, Markus Waltå, Carl Kumlin, Masoud Owji, Andreas Wicklund, Jacob Stefansson, Malin Friis, Jörgen Hallqvist, Tobias Cronwall, Pau Boluda Hernández, Mats Plyhr, Ida Sandberg, Rabie Jirjis, Inez Kontio, Nicole Ardizzone, Nicklas Dahlin, Mikaela Stenström, Vinicio Skoog, Hans Svensson, Tobias Sondén, Sylvia Kren, Rudy Lindberg, Nandor Ingevald Hegedüs, Emmelie Ginste, Irene Duckert, Jonas Larsson Grönström, Mattias Königsson, Pablo Salvador N.G.

Recommended reading:

Aniara:

An Epic Science Fiction Poem

By Harry Martinson.

Published by Story Line Press.

First published 1956.

ISBN-10: 1885266634

ISBN-13: 978-1885266637

Description:

Aniara is a great space epic and a story of an inner journey of the soul – at once a warning of despair in the age of nuclear weapons and ecological threats, and perhaps the fullest expression of Harry Martinson's lifelong project to show us man's attempt to see himself and his role in creation. Aniara was first published in 1956 and received a great reception. But it is perhaps only today that the verse epic fully emerges as one of the most artistically and intellectually challenging works of our time.

Aniara

By Harry Martinson.

Introduction by Tord Hall.

Translated by Hugh MacDiarmid & E. Harley Schubert.

Illustrated by The Voice of Nick.

Kindle Edition.

ASIN: B0BTJTQGDT

Published by The Voice of Nick.

Published 2023.

Description:

"Who could foresee that just this flight, all in the day’s work as it seemed, was singled out to be unique and doomed to bear us all away from Earth and Sun, Venus and Mars, and life’s entire environment?"

Featuring 11 beautiful illustrations and dozens of hours of behind-the-scenes videos documenting the artwork's creation.

Nobel laureate Harry Martinson's 1956 sci-fi epic, translated by Hugh MacDiarmid and Elspeth Harley Schubert. A passenger ship is lost in space during a routine journey, and its 8,000 inhabitants must somehow come to terms with their new life. What awaits them in the bitter Galactic night?

On this day in music history:

A World Away by 2002 (2018)

Broadway by Renée Fleming (2018)

A World Away

Album by 2002,

released September 7, 2018.

Track list: Dream of Life; Finding You; To Live Again; Butterfly; Memory of Tomorrow; Stars and Moon; We Are Always; Stars Will Guide Us; The Space Between; Strings of Your Heart.

Broadway

Album by Renée Fleming,

released September 7, 2018.

Track list: Rodgers: The Sound of Music - From The Sound of Music; Guettel: Medley: Wedding / Fable - From The Light in the Piazza; So Big/So Small - From Dear Evan Hansen; Rodgers: Medley: Children will Listen / You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught - From Into the Woods & South Pacific; Lay Down Your Head - From Violet; Porter: Down in the Depths on the 90th Floor - From Red, Hot and Blue; Kander: Medley: Winter / Love and Love Alone - From The Visit; Bock: Dear Friend - From She Loves Me; Rodgers: A Wonderful Guy - From South Pacific; Rodgers: Loneliness of Evening - From South Pacific; Unusual Way - From Nine; Till There Was You - From The Music Man; Sondheim: The Glamorous Life - From A Little Night Music; Rodgers: Something Wonderful - From The King and I; Lloyd Webber: Tell Me on a Sunday - From Song and Dance; Weill: September Song - From Knickerbocker Holiday; Kern: All the Things You Are - From Very Warm for May; Sumner: August Winds - From The Last Ship.

On this day in movie history - Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema (2018):

Women Make Film:
A New Road Movie Through Cinema

documentary directed and written by Mark Cousins,

was released at the Venice Film Festival in Italy on September 1, 2018.
Narrated by Adjoa Andoh, Jane Fonda, Kerry Fox, Thandiwe Newton, Tilda Swinton, Sharmila Tagore and Debra Winger.

On this day in movie history - Friedkin Uncut (2018):

Friedkin Uncut

documentary directed and written by Francesco Zippel,

was released at the Venice Film Festival in Italy on August 31, 2018.
Music by Costanza Francavilla.

Cast:

William Friedkin, Wes Anderson, Dario Argento, Samuel Blumenfeld, Ellen Burstyn, Damien Chazelle, Francis Ford Coppola, Willem Dafoe, Caleb Deschanel, Gina Gershon, Walon Green, Randy Jurgensen, Philip Kaufman, Matthew McConaughey, Zubin Mehta, Antonio Monda, Gianandrea Noseda, William Petersen, Michael Shannon, Quentin Tarantino, Juno Temple, Edgar Wright, Thierry Frémaux, Walter Hill, Fritz Lang, Orson Welles, Mark Kermode, Sherry Lansing.

On this day in movie history - What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael (2018):

What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael

documentary directed and written by Rob Garver,

was released at the Telluride Film Festival in the United States on August 31, 2018.
Music by Rick Baitz.

Cast:

Pauline Kael, John Guare, David Edelstein, Greil Marcus, Gina James, Camille Paglia, Brian Kellow, Craig Seligman, Jaime Manrique, Daryl Chin, Dick Cavett, Lili Anolik, Edward Landberg, James Wolcott, Paul Schrader, Molly Haskell, Phillip Lopate, David O. Russell, Christopher Durang, Chester Villilba, Ortrun Niesar, Dirk Van Nouhays, Carol Van Strum, Stevens Van Strum, Marcia Nasatir, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Towne, Joe Morgenstern, George Malko, Daniel Menaker, John Boorman, Tom Pollock, David Lean, Woody Allen, Peter Bogdanovich, Michael Sragow, Jerry Lewis, David V. Picker, William Peter Blatty, Johnny Carson, Norman Mailer, Francis Ford Coppola, Carrie Rickey, Ridley Scott, Stephanie Zacharek, Alec Baldwin, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jackie Netis, Mike Pollock, Joel Haberli, Amanda Sykes, Debbie Irwin, Michael Bryan, Cliff Resnick, Rob Garver, Carol Baum, Thomas Baum, Jean-Paul Belmondo, James Broughton, George Chakiris, Joan Collins, Keir Dullea, Robert Evans, Dick Hogan, Maila Nurmi, Diana Ross, Shawn Shillingford, Gene Siskel, George Williams.

On this day in movie history - Destroyer (2018):

Destroyer

directed by Karyn Kusama,

written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi,

was released in the United States on August 31, 2018.
Music by Theodore Shapiro.

Cast:

Nicole Kidman, Toby Kebbell, Tatiana Maslany, Sebastian Stan, Scoot McNairy, Bradley Whitford, Toby Huss, James Jordan, Beau Knapp, Jade Pettyjohn, Shamier Anderson, Zach Villa, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Colby French, Kelvin Han Yee, Joseph Fatu, Cuete Yeska, Doug Simpson, Kale Clauson, Jan Hoag, Peter Vasquez, Mickey O'Hagan, McCabe Slye, Brandon Morales, Chido Nwokocha, Cecily Breaux, Kenley Smyth, Jay Hieron, Dan Southworth, Brett Easton, Chris Fiore, Justin Rivera, Alex Marshall-Brown, Alecia Batson, Rey Borge, Monique Gall, George Griffith, Brian Hanford, Austin Hanner, Sofia Kaempfe, Abbey Paige, Yvette Saunders, Evan Whitten.

Recommended reading - The Age of Dimes and Pulps: A History of Sensationalist Literature, 1830-1960 (2018):

The Age of Dimes and Pulps:
A History of Sensationalist Literature, 1830-1960

By Jeremy Agnew.

Published by McFarland.

Published 2018.

Illustrated edition.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 1476669481

ISBN-13: 978-1476669489

Description:

From the dime novels of the Civil War era to the pulp magazines of the early 20th century to modern paperbacks, lurid fiction has provided thrilling escapism for the masses. Cranking out formulaic stories of melodrama, crime and mild erotica – often by uncredited authors focused more on volume than quality – publishers realized high profits playing to low tastes. Estimates put pulp magazine circulation in the 1930s at 30 million monthly.

This vast body of "disposable literature" has received little critical attention, in large part because much of it has been lost – the cheaply made books were either discarded after reading or soon disintegrated. Covering the history of pulp literature from 1850 through 1960, the author describes how sensational tales filled a public need and flowered during the evolving social conditions of the Industrial Revolution.

On this day in music history - Diamond Baby Blues, by Lee Aaron (2018):

Diamond Baby Blues

Album by Lee Aaron,

released April 27, 2018.

Track list:

Diamond Baby Blues; Mistreated; American High; I’m A Woman; Mercy; The Best Thing; Black Cat; Hard Road; In The Bedroom; Cut Way Back; You’re No Good; My Babe.

On this day in movie history - Unsane (2018):

Unsane

directed by Steven Soderbergh,

written by Jonathan Bernstein and James Greer,

was released in the United States on March 23, 2018.
Music by David Wilder Savage.

Cast:

Claire Foy, Joshua Leonard, Sarah Stiles, Marc Kudisch, Amy Irving, Colin Woodell, Myra Lucretia Taylor, Lynda Mauze, Zach Cherry, Polly McKie, Jay Pharoah, Raúl Castillo, Juno Temple, Mike Mihm, Robert Kelly, Natalie Gold, Sol Marina Crespo, Will Brill, Steven Maier, Matthew R. Staley, Matt Mancini, Emily Happe, Gibson Frazier, Erin Wilhelmi, Aimee Mullins, Joseph P. Reidy, Matt Damon, Erika Rolfsrud, Elizabeth Goodman, Roshanna Jenkins, Lance Coughlin, Kevin Dean O'Connor, Laura Rothschild, Arthur Shaffer, Ursula Triplett.

On this day in movie history - Annihilation (2018 movie & novels):

Annihilation

directed by Alex Garland,

based on the novel by Jeff VanderMeer,

was released in the United States on February 23, 2018.

Music by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow.

Cast:

Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Tuva Novotny, Oscar Isaac, Benedict Wong, Sonoya Mizuno, David Gyasi, Sammy Hayman, Josh Danford.

Recommended reading:

Annihilation

The Southern Reach Series, 1.

By Jeff VanderMeer.

Introduced by Karen Joy Fowler.

Published by MCD x FSG Originals.

First published 2014.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0374537151

ISBN-13: 978-0374537159

Description:

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide; the third expedition in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, we join the twelfth expedition.

The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers – they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding – but it's the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.

Authority

The Southern Reach Series, 2.

By Jeff VanderMeer.

Introduced by N. K. Jemisin.

Published by Picador.

Published 2014.

ISBN-10: 1250824052

ISBN-13: 978-1250824059

Description:

After thirty years, the only human engagement with Area X―a seemingly malevolent landscape surrounded by an invisible border and mysteriously wiped clean of all signs of civilization―has been a series of expeditions overseen by a government agency so secret it has almost been forgotten: the Southern Reach. Following the tumultuous twelfth expedition chronicled in Annihilation, the agency is in complete disarray.

John Rodriguez (aka “Control”) is the Southern Reach’s newly appointed head. Working with a distrustful but desperate team, a series of frustrating interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, and hours of profoundly troubling video footage, Control begins to penetrate the secrets of Area X. But with each discovery he must confront disturbing truths about himself and the agency he’s pledged to serve.

In Authority, the second volume of Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy, Area X’s most disturbing questions are answered . . . but the answers are far from reassuring.

Acceptance

The Southern Reach Series, 3.

By Jeff VanderMeer.

Introduced by Helen Macdonald.

Published by Picador.

Published 2014.

ISBN-10: 1250824060

ISBN-13: 978-1250824066

Description:

It is winter in Area X, the mysterious wilderness that has defied explanation for thirty years, rebuffing expedition after expedition, refusing to reveal its secrets. As Area X expands, the agency tasked with investigating and overseeing it – the Southern Reach – has collapsed in on itself in confusion. Now one last, desperate team crosses the border, determined to reach a remote island that may hold the answers they’ve been seeking. If they fail, the outer world is in peril.

Meanwhile, Acceptance tunnels ever deeper into the circumstances surrounding the creation of Area X – what initiated this unnatural upheaval? Among the many who have tried, who has gotten close to understanding Area X – and who may have been corrupted by it? In this last installment of Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy, the mysteries of Area X may be solved, but their consequences and implications are no less profound – or terrifying.

Absolution

The Southern Reach Series, 4.

By Jeff VanderMeer.

Introduced by Julia Armfield.

Published by Picador.

Published 2024.

ISBN-10: 1250397804

ISBN-13: 978-1250397805

Description:

Absolution opens decades before Area X forms, with a science expedition whose mysterious end suggests terrifying consequences for the future – and marks the Forgotten Coast as a high priority for Central, the shadowy federal agency that monitors extraordinary threats.

Many years later, the Forgotten Coast files wind up in the hands of a washed-up Central operative, Old Jim. He starts pulling a thread that reveals a long, troubling record of government agents meddling with forces they clearly cannot comprehend.

Old Jim’s investigation culminates in the first Central expedition into what has now been labeled Area X. A border has come down, and a full team has been assembled to find Area X’s “off switch” somewhere in the volatile, dangerous terrain that has defied all attempts to be explored, mapped, or controlled.

Absolution converges the past, present, and future in unnerving, ecstatic, and mind-bending ways. It is the final word on one of the most provocative and popular speculative fiction series of our time.