My Dear Melancholy

Gaspar Noe/Cannes Film Festival
The My Dear Melancholy era notable for being a time when The Weeknd was in proximity to a lot of serious directors. While he’s had a foot in Hollywood for awhile, 2017 through 2019 he was actively engaging with filmmakers like the Safdies Brothers, Gaspar Noe, and Claire Denis, amongst others. While he had been actively courting the Safdies since Good Time was released, he attended the 2018 Cannes Film Festival where he crossed paths Noe, whose film Climax took home a number awards at Cannes. Noe’s Enter the Void had previously served as an inspiration for Kiss Land, and for MDM (and later After Hours) seem to call back to Noe’s other films, like Irreversible and Love, which are both twisted depictions of heartbreak. On the other hand, Climax is about a French dance troupe who accidentally take LSD, and according to Noe is not a “message” movie. It is an audacious psychedelic technical exercise, with numerous long takes and highly choreographed set pieces. The idea for Noe, who had previously captured the feeling of drugs in previous films, was to do the opposite, and present the objectively reality of drugs, watching people high from a sober perspective.
Noe is a rather strong advocate of film, and the opening scene of Climax features VHS boxes of a number of films that have influenced his filmmaking. Two of note are Schizophrenia, otherwise known as Angst, one of Noe’s favorite films which The Weeknd name checked to the Safdies, and Possession, which would go on to be an influence on After Hours (more on this later). He is also said to have sat next to Benicio Del Toro at Cannes, which means he likely caught some of the Un Certain Regard section, where Del Toro served as a jury member. Outside of that section, there were a few other films of interest such as The House That Jack Built from Lars Von Trier (The Weeknd has previously expressed affection for Von Trier’s Antichrist), Mandy from Pastos Costamos, and music video director Romain Gavras’s The World Is Yours, as well as a restoration of 2001: A Space Odyssey, which Noe has referred to as the film that got him into filmmaking.
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Asian Cinema
Later in 2018, The Weeknd continued his globetrotting with a tour of Asia. He once claimed in an interview that whenever visiting a foreign country he only watches films from there. I’ve previously written about the influence of Asian cinema on Kiss Land, and there’s not enough work from the MDM era to glean anything cinematically adjacent to this, but now would be a good time to mention that the "Call Out My Name" video was heavily inspired by the work of famed Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto. The Asian tour poster seems to be a reference to Ichi the Killer, which leads us to Takashi Miike. Though he is notoriously prolific across a number of genres, his most popular works internationally are genre melding blends of horror, comedy and crime, most notably Audition, Ichi the Killer and Gozu. Another film worth mentioning is Perfect Blue, Satoshi Kon’s masterwork about a pop star’s mysterious stalker that The Weeknd posted about on Instagram before. Bloody and haunting, the film was a major influence on Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan and Requiem for a Dream. In Interviews he has also mentioned a number of Korean films, such as The Wailing, I Saw the Devil and Oldboy. While Wong Kar Wai was previously mentioned as an influence on Beauty Behind the Madness, also worth mentioning is the work of John Woo, specifically A Better Tomorrow, well known for the shot of smoking a cigar off money, and Infernal Affairs, Andrew Lau’s crime classic which served has the basis for Scorsese’s The Departed.
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After Hours

Martin Scorsese
While After Hours more so than any other Weeknd album is bursting at the seams with cinematic references, the influence of Martin Scorsese stands above all. Similar to The Weeknd’s body of work, many Scorsese’s are explorations of violence and masculinity, investigating them from a perspective that depending on who you ask (and how they’re feeling) glamorizes, condemns or just simply presents the reality of characters on the fringes of society.
While there are direct references to a number of prominent Scorsese films, what’s interesting is that his influence also reverberates in other films/filmmakers that influence After Hours. Todd Phillips’s Joker is in effect an homage to Scorsese’s loner-centric New York films, and the Safdie Brothers have been putting their own millennial spin on the type of 70s gritty thriller that Scorsese trafficked in (Scorsese was also a producer on Uncut Gems). Specific Scorsese works will be discussed more in depth in the requisite sections, but it is worth mentioning upfront what a prominent role that Scorsese plays in the nucleus of After Hours.
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Urban HorroIsolation
With After Hours, The Weeknd departs from the slicker sounds and influences that permeated Starboy and returns to the cinematic grittiness of Beauty Behind the Madness. While urban horror is a theme that permeates throughout The Weeknd as a project overall, there is a thorough line to be drawn here that follows a number of 70s and 80s cinematic and aesthetic references. For one thing, while the initial bandaged nose was a reference to Chinatown (previously, The Weeknd has a Kiss Land demo titled "Roman Polanski"), the full bandaged face that is so prominently featured throughout the After Hours era is a classic cinematic visual trope that was especially prominent throughout 60s and 80s, though it saw a slight re-emergence in the 2010s. The fully bandaged face is often used to remake someone in the image of another, usually against their will (The Skin I Live In, Eyes Without Face), or as a case of mistaken identity and doppelgängers (Good Night Mommy, Scalpel), themes present throughout much of After Hours. The "Too Late" video acknowledges these references, but instead presents the bandages on two Los Angeles models recovering from plastic surgery, in a nod to a famous Steven Meisel’s photoshoot for Vogue Italia.
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The “masks” people wear is another horror trope that is featured prominently on After Hours, and this is best seen in the red suit character. One important reference in the film is to Brian De Palma’s Dressed To Kill, where a serial killer is targeting the patients of a psychiatrist (any more on this film will veer towards spoiler territory). The Weeknd is on the record as saying Jim Carrey’s The Mask as being a large influence on the Red Suit character, it being one of the first film’s he watched in theaters. One of the more complex references would be to Joker. While it sort of an in-joke that the character of the Joker is commonly overanalyzed and misinterpreted, referencing Todd Phillips’s Joker is more nuanced because it is in essence a full on homage to Martin Scorsese’s New York films, most notably Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, which focus on eccentric loners, and can both be seen as cautionary tale of urban isolation, a theme explored perhaps in songs like "Faith." The King of Comedy revolves around a would be obsessive stand up Rupert Pupkin haggling his way to perform on late night TV, with The Weeknd’s talk show appearances being a prominent part of the early After Hours marketing, most notably in the “short film”. This idea of isolated and compressed urbanites recurs throughout After Hours and it’s films.
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The idea of urban repression is in the subway scene of the After Hours short film. The entire film itself is something of a reference to the subway scene to Possession (another Gaspar Noe favorite), mimicking the (also subway set) scene in which Isabelle Adjani’s Anna convulses on the subway due to a miscarriage, as well as Jacob’s Ladder, a 90s cult classic horror film starring Tim Robbins as a Vietnam vet (like Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle) who is experiencing demonic hallucinations, encountering them in the subway and later at a party he attends, splitting the scene into two.
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Las Vegas
As always, The Weeknd once again grounds After Hours with a strong sense of place, this time setting the album against a nocturnal odyssey through Las Vegas. One of the most prominent films is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Terry Gilliam’s adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s book. This is directly referenced in the "Heartless" video, which sees The Weeknd and Metro Boomin in the Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro roles as they tumble through a Las Vegas casino. The Weeknd has gone on the record to state that the famous red suit character was influenced by Sammy Davis Jr.’s character in the film Poor Devil. However, similar red suit has also been sported by a number of Vegas characters, most notably Richard Pryor and Robert De Niro’s Sam Rothstein in Martin Scorsese’s Casino. With the red suit, The Weeknd seems to be playing with the idea of a devil-ish other, another side of his personality that emerges in Las Vegas.
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While the city lights are the oft discussed part of part of Las Vegas, it should be noted that similar to Beauty Behind the Madness, the desert that surrounds Las Vegas is just as important to the juxtaposition of its beauty. The "Until I Bleed Out" video ends/"Snowchild" video in the desert, similar to the confrontation between Robert De Niro’s and Joe Pesci’s showdown in the desert in Casino, as well as Joe Pesci's death in Goodfellas. The idea of a hedonistic desert playground also bears semblance to Westworld, both the film and the TV show. The desert seems to represent some sort of freedom to The Weeknd, as the "Snowchild" video portrays the desert as a pensive location for reflection, as well as the "In Your Eyes" video showing the girl prominently dancing with the dismembered head out in the open, in reference to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, another prominent desert film.
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New York/The Safdies
Despite it’s Las Vegas setting, After Hours also takes a good amount from films set in New York, most notably Martin Scorsese’s 1983 film After Hours. Besides the title, After Hours is similarly about a twisting and turning nighttime odyssey. The film stars Griffin Dunne as Paul, a working class stiff who heads downtown to rendezvous with a woman he met at a diner earlier that night. Of course, things don’t turn out the way they should, chaos ensues, and Paul is set on a dangerous trek back uptown. Like the film, the album After Hours is set off by a woman (though the album takes more stock in romantic endeavors), seems to be set over a single night (or at least a condensed period of time), and involves similar chaos and misadventures (sirens at night at the end of Faith). Tonally, After Hours the film is more comedic perhaps than After Hours the album, however The Weeknd is on the record as having said that "Heartless" and "Blinding Lights" placement on the album is intended to be somewhat comedic, reflecting exaggerated machismo and ecstasy, respectively (to comedic effect).
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Another of the most prominent filmmakers of After Hours are the Safdies, who featured The Weeknd in Uncut Gems. They also served as a link to Oneohtrix Point Never, who scored their last two films and later worked After Hours. I believe there are three major film tropes (not genres) that inspired After Hours, all of which the Safdies’s have engaged with. There is the one-long-night films, in which a character spends one-long-night on the run from whatever chaos and forces may be that they left in their path. This can be seen in the Good Time, as well as After Hours (the movie). Then, there is the descent-into-madness type, where a character slowly loses grip with reality and ends up in over their head (something like Scarface or Breaking Bad, but for our purposes Jacob’s Ladder can be categorized here as well), which the Safdies did with Uncut Gems. Lastly, but maybe most importantly, the Safdies also explored toxic romance (more on this later) in their less seen film Heaven Knows What, about two heroin addicts and the destructiveness their love brings out in each other, an idea that recurs throughout After Hours on songs like "Until I Bleed Out" and "Nothing Compares." A recurring song throughout Heaven Knows What is Isao Tomita’s synth version of Debussy’s "Claire De Lune", which is featured in some episodes of Memento Mori and bears some resemblance to the start of "Alone Again".
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Obsession/Toxic Romance
While love and lust and the ups and downs with it have been a formative part of The Weeknd’s ideology and themes, I don’t think it would be remiss to say that After Hours is perhaps his most outwardly romantic album. Despite this, one of the major arcs of the album is toxicity that comes with it, which a number of already mentioned films deal with. While "In Your Eyes" is one of the more romantic and accessible songs on the album, a re-assessment of it Ala Sting’s “Every Breathe You Take” could frame it as lonely obsessing, such as Travis Bickle’s infatuation with Jodie Foster’s teenage prostitute Iris, Joker's fixation on Murray Franklin, Rupert Pupkin’s obsession with Jerry Langford. Casino also deals with toxic romance, another prominent theme in After Hours, best seen in the love triangle that forms between Sam, his partner Nicky and his wife Ginger, played by Joe Pesci and Sharon Stone respectively.
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In almost all of the After Hours’s video content, The Weeknd seems to constantly meet his demise at the hands of women. Another interesting reference that may be something of a reach is to Phantom Thread, Paul Thomas Anderson’s film about Reynolds Woodcock, a couture dressmaker loosely based on Cristobal Balenciaga and his muse Alma, played by Daniel Day Lewis and Vicky Krieps, respectively. The film delves into their dysfunctional relationship, with Woodcock berating her and Alma poisoning his tea to keep him dependent on her. One of the highpoint of the film is a New Years Eve Party that bears strong resemblance to the "Until I Bleed Out" video. While the balloons may just be a callback to his earlier work, there is something about the color grading/temperature and the production design of the "Until I Bleed Out" video (as well as parts of the "Blinding Lights" video) that made me immediately think of Phantom Thread. A similar relationship is seen in the German horror film Der Fan, which The Weeknd has mentioned in a recent interview. In Der Fan, a young girl Simone spends her days obsessing over popstar R, until she finally encounters him outside his studio. The film is similar to the aforementioned Takashi Miike’s Audition in its exploration of obsession and idealization. In the film, an older man puts up a fake casting call to search for the perfect girlfriend. While Audition explores these themes from an Eastern perspective of societal pressure, Der Fan explores it through a Western lens of pop idolization and idealization. Both films deal with the idea that despite outward appearances, the perfect partner does not exist, and anyone that claims to be (or has the expectations put on them) is not who they seem.
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One film he has spoken at length about is Trouble Everyday, Claire Denis’s arthouse vampire movie. The film stars Vincent Gallo as Shane, a scientist who travels to Paris under the guise of his honeymoon to track down core, a woman who he was once obsessed with who has now become a vampire. Core is locked up in a basement but sometimes sneaks out to seduce and consume unwilling victims. This seems to be where some of the bloody face stuff comes from, but I believe it’s influence is a little more conceptual. To me, a good companion film to Trouble Everyday is American Psycho, which seems to also have been a thematic influence on After Hours. Both films concern idealized version of masculinity and femininity, both very sexual and physical, but hostile as well. American Psycho ends with Patrick Bateman confessing to the killing of a prostitute, but no one believe him. Trouble Everyday ends with Shane killing Core, but Shane is unable to arouse himself after that except through violence. Koji Wakamatsu, a former Yakuza turned prominent extreme Japanese filmmaker (and a major influence on Gaspar Noe) is quoted as saying “For me, violence, the body and sex are an integral part of life.” Despite being hollow, idealized impressions of the self, a vampire and as a banker (cold, seductive bloodsuckers = monsters), Patrick Bateman and Core represent the Frankenstein-ian relationship between sexuality and violence, which I believe is the main theme of After Hours. Truly, we hurt the ones we love.
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Postscript

To cap things off, I would just like to illuminate some key takeaways. As a filmmaker myself, this has been an extremely helpful exercise in understanding other artists process and ideas.
Steeped in the history of the medium…
It’s clear that The Weeknd is not your typical “I’m influenced by cinema” artist but an extremely legit film buff with serious credentials. The Weeknd’s film taste leans towards 70s-00s genre works, mostly horror, drama and thriller, and is well versed in the classics but also has the nose to sniff out deeper cuts and obscurities. The mantra of “good artists borrow, great artists steal” works even better if not many people know where you’re stealing from! What is impressive to me is that he is not just versed in “mainstream” obscurities, but also serious deep cuts. Films like Possession and Phantom of the Paradise may not stick out to the average person on the street but are well known in most film circles. Films like Inland Empire and New Rose Hotel (Der Fan was especially impressive to me, it is one of my favorite films) however are not as well known and it is very impressive to me that he can come across films like that, and really get enough out of it to bring into his own work.
…is able to interpolate contemporary/mainstream films…
This perhaps is one of the most impressive aspects of his integration of film into The Weeknd’s work. It is very easy for film buffs to get lost within their own obscure taste, living in a world where everyone is an idiot for not knowing who Shinya Tsukamoto. Trilogy and Kiss Land had a lot of contemporary obscurities, like Stalker, David Lynch etc., well known but they still existed as artifacts, not of the time we live in. However, perhaps picking something from his work on Fifty Shades of Grey, of late he has kept his finger on the zeitgeist and anticipated/integrated what the filmmakers of today are doing, such as his work on Black Panther and Game of Thrones, general appreciation of Tarantino, the works of Nicolas Winding Refn in Starboy, and his use of the Joker and Uncut Gems on After Hours, both of which came out just a few months before the album. It feels Jackson-esque, and I believe this is one thing that will help him further in his quest for pop stardom.
…while also being fully in tune to the works of modern transgressive auteurs…
In addition to keeping up with the mainstream is in touch with, The Weeknd also makes it a point to seek out and learn from the cutting edge filmmakers of today. While the Safdies were always going to blow up, I don’t doubt that a Weeknd co-sign accelerated their rise. Gaspar Noe is one thing, Enter the Void and Irreversible exist as masterpieces of the mainstream obscurities I’ve been mentioning, but he really truly tries to understand the heart of Noe’s work, even going so far back as to understand Noe’s influences (I sincerely hope he is tuned in to the work of Koji Wakamatsu). But most of all, to be a fan of Claire Denis is one thing, but to seek her out and make her an offer that she ACCEPTED is absolutely astounding to me. Just spitballing but it would be like if Michael Jackson shot a music video with Rainer Werner Fassbinder (who I’d bet good money that The Weeknd was put on to by Noe). We can only PRAY that one day we will be blessed with a David Lynch Weeknd video.
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…and that just about does it. Hope you enjoyed this and thanks for being patient with me. I got quite busy after the first two and had my own projects/work going that kept me occupied. As we’re still technically in the After Hours era, I also wanted to wait until a few more videos and interviews came out to aid me in my research.
I also wanted to find enough time to make the Letterboxd for this. I personally don’t love Letterboxd culture, I find the popular culture surrounding the site a bit snobbish and exclusive, but I’ve gotten a number of requests for one and you gotta give the people what they want. Throughout the list are a few films that he hasn’t mentioned but are some of my personal favorites and I believe Weeknd fans will like, I encourage you to accidentally stumble upon things on it. Don't overthink, just pick something and watch!
If you’d like to follow me further, you can find me on Instagram here, where I post about film reviews Letterboxd style. I prefer Instagram so that more average people see it instead of an echo chamber of film snobs. I am also a filmmaker myself, I just recently wrapped this short film and am currently in the process of putting together my next project.
The main reason I did this however, besides a general appreciation of The Weeknd’s work, was to put more people on to the beautiful art form that is cinema. One thing I learned from Scorsese is that one must be an advocate and truly champion your medium. I hope that this encourages to check out more interesting movies than they wouldn’t normally come across, and I hope this will inspire more people to create more as well, whether it be to write, make films, music, anything. If even one person picks up a pencil, a camera or a keyboard because of these posts, I will be satisfied.
Thanks all!

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Melawan Lupa Kilas Balik Sejarah Judi Online (sumber : google.com)
Melawan Lupa Sejarah Judi Online tidak jauh dari awal mulanya terjadi judi offline sebelumnya yang telah lama berlangsung dari jaman prasejarah. Sejarah umat manusia terkait erat dengan sejarah perjudian, karena tampaknya tidak peduli seberapa jauh Anda pergi ke masa lalu, ada tanda-tanda bahwa di mana sekelompok orang berkumpul bersama, perjudian pasti telah terjadi. Sekarang kami tidak akan mencoba melacak setiap putaran dan mengubah evolusi perjudian di artikel ini, tetapi apa yang akan kami lakukan adalah memilih beberapa tanggal terpenting untuk bertindak sebagai tonggak dalam perjalanan menuju perjudian hari ini. pengalaman.
Sejarah Perjudian
Berjudi selama berabad-abad adalah sekilas yang menarik ke dalam cerita budaya dan peradaban. Membawa keberuntungan bagi rakyat biasa sambil tidak menghormati raja, adalah sifat kebetulan yang berubah-ubah dan harapan akan putaran yang menguntungkan yang telah memikat kita selama ribuan tahun. Kami melihat kembali sejarah perjudian.
Permainan Judi telah ada sepanjang sejarah yang tercatat. Itu juga salah satu hiburan favorit dunia. Ini adalah pengaruh besar budaya populer (pikirkan Casino Royale, Ocean's Eleven, The Color of Money, dan banyak lainnya), dan dengan sendirinya terus berubah seiring waktu. Bergabunglah dengan kami saat kami melakukan perjalanan yang menarik melalui sejarah perjudian.
6000 SM: Afrika & Timur Tengah
Tidak mungkin untuk mengetahui secara pasti kapan manusia pertama mempertaruhkan sesuatu untuk hasil dari suatu kejadian kebetulan. Papan dari dua atau tiga baris lubang paralel yang ditemukan di Timur dekat berasal dari era Neolitik (10.000 - 4.500 SM) tetapi kami tidak dapat mengatakan dengan pasti apakah ini benar-benar permainan papan atau bukan.
Jadi kita akan memulai Sejarah Perjudian kita dengan apa yang kita ketahui. Arkeolog di Mesir telah menemukan apa yang sekarang kita anggap sebagai dadu yang berasal dari sekitar 3000 SM. Adegan yang dilukis di dinding makam dan gulungan papirus kuno menunjukkan pemain di sisi berlawanan dari papan yang menikmati permainan rekreasi seperti Mehen, Senet, Twenty Squares, dan Hounds and Jackals. Tampaknya permainan ini menyebar ke seluruh Mesir dan Timur Dekat melalui perdagangan barang dan kampanye militer. Faktanya, empat game kuno populer ini ditampilkan di The Metropolitan Museum of Art di New York City jika Anda pernah berada di lingkungan tersebut.
Untuk memberi Anda gambaran tentang ini semua, kami akan menggunakan game Mehen sebagai contoh. Dimainkan pada Periode Predinastik Mesir dan Kerajaan Lama (itu 2649 - 2130 SM), papan tersebut menunjukkan seekor ular melingkar yang dibagi menjadi beberapa kotak. Ular itu melambangkan dewa yang melingkari dewa matahari Re untuk melindunginya selama perjalanannya sepanjang malam. Kita tahu ini karena permainan itu dilukis di makam Hesre di Saqqara (2700 SM) bersama dengan potongan permainan yang akan digunakan dengan papan Mehen (tiga singa, tiga singa betina, dan enam set enam kelereng). Kami juga memiliki ide bagus tentang bagaimana permainan itu dimainkan berkat dokumen keagamaan yang disebut Teks Piramida. Ini menunjukkan bahwa akhirat dapat dicapai jika Anda berhasil melewati papan permainan Mehen dan mencapai pusat spiral, secara simbolis bergabung dengan Re.
Selain Mehen, ada lusinan game peluang yang dimainkan di dunia kuno. Senet adalah yang paling terkenal dan sangat populer sekitar 664 - 332 SM. Lain adalah Mancala yang, luar biasa, masih dimainkan hingga hari ini di seluruh Afrika, Timur Tengah dan Asia. Faktanya, ada banyak varian dari game strategi (baca : Game Judi) dua pemain ini yang bertujuan untuk menangkap semua atau sebagian bidak lawan.
Permainan dimulai dengan penempatan sejumlah benih, yang ditentukan untuk permainan tertentu, di setiap lubang di papan. Pemain mengambil giliran dengan membuang semua benih dari lubang, “menabur” benih (menempatkan satu di setiap lubang berikut secara berurutan) dan menangkap berdasarkan keadaan papan. Tujuannya adalah menanam benih paling banyak di bank. Jika bermain dalam mode tangkap, setelah pemain mengakhiri giliran di lubang kosong di sisinya sendiri, dia menangkap bidak lawan secara langsung. Setelah ditangkap, pemain dapat meletakkan benih di banknya sendiri. Setelah menangkap, lawan kehilangan giliran.
Tercatat ada lebih dari 800 nama permainan mancala tradisional. Aspek-aspek tertentu dari permainan mengingatkan kita pada aktivitas pertanian dan pemain tidak memerlukan peralatan khusus untuk ambil bagian. Bukti Mancala telah ditemukan di begitu banyak peradaban kuno, dari daerah Aksumite abad ke-6 di Eritrea dan Ethiopia, hingga Spanyol Muslim abad ke-10 dan pemandian Romawi yang digali di kota Gedera, Israel, dan bukti yang ditemukan di Yordania yang berasal dari sekitar 6000 SM . Hal ini membuat beberapa sejarawan menyarankan bahwa game tersebut bisa jadi yang tertua di dunia, sejak awal peradaban itu sendiri.
2000 SM: India
India memiliki sejarah panjang permainan taruhan. Salah satu permainan, Mahabharata, berada di tengah-tengah mitos epik dalam teks-teks Hindu yang berasal dari tahun 2000 SM. Dalam ceritanya, permainan dadu menyebabkan Pandawa bersaudara kehilangan kerajaannya. Mereka dikirim ke pengasingan sementara istri mereka dianiaya oleh lawan mereka yang menang. Ini membuat marah Dewa Krishna yang menyelamatkan para istri dan cerita berakhir dengan pertempuran epik di mana Pandawa bersaudara menang. Ini adalah kesimpulan yang sangat memuaskan ketika pembaca menemukan bahwa saudara-saudara ditipu untuk memainkan permainan judi yang dicurangi sehingga saudara-saudara itu selalu ditakdirkan untuk kalah - sampai Krishna turun tangan. Ada bukti bahwa judi kadang-kadang digunakan di India untuk menyelesaikan perselisihan antara musuh.
2300 SM: Tiongkok
Meskipun hampir pasti bahwa beberapa bentuk taruhan telah terjadi sejak awal sejarah manusia, bukti konkret paling awal berasal dari Tiongkok Kuno di mana ubin digali yang tampaknya digunakan untuk permainan kebetulan yang belum sempurna. 'Buku Lagu' China mengacu pada "gambar kayu" yang menunjukkan bahwa ubin mungkin merupakan bagian dari permainan jenis lotere. Kami memiliki bukti dalam bentuk slip keno yang digunakan pada sekitar 200 SM sebagai semacam lotre untuk mendanai pekerjaan negara - mungkin termasuk pembangunan Tembok Besar China. Lotere terus digunakan untuk tujuan sipil sepanjang sejarah - Harvard dan Yale sama-sama didirikan dengan menggunakan dana lotere - dan terus berlanjut hingga hari ini.
500 SM: Yunani Kuno & Roma
Penyair Yunani, Sophocles, mengklaim bahwa dadu diciptakan oleh pahlawan mitologis selama pengepungan Troy, dan meskipun ini mungkin memiliki dasar yang agak meragukan, tulisan-tulisannya sekitar tahun 500 SM adalah penyebutan dadu pertama dalam sejarah Yunani. Kita tahu bahwa dadu ada jauh lebih awal dari ini, karena sepasang dadu telah ditemukan dari kuburan Mesir dari tahun 3000 SM, tetapi yang pasti adalah bahwa orang Yunani dan Romawi Kuno suka bertaruh pada segala hal, tampaknya pada setiap kesempatan. Faktanya semua bentuk perjudian - termasuk permainan dadu - dilarang di dalam kota kuno Roma dan hukuman dijatuhkan pada mereka yang tertangkap yang bernilai empat kali lipat taruhannya. Akibatnya, warga Romawi yang cerdik menemukan chip judi pertama, jadi jika mereka ditangkap oleh penjaga, mereka dapat mengklaim bermain hanya untuk chip dan bukan untuk uang sungguhan. (Perhatikan bahwa tipu muslihat ini tidak akan berhasil jika dicoba di kasino Vegas).
200 SM: Mesoamerika
Salah satu permainan tertua di Amerika, Patolli, adalah permainan strategi dan keberuntungan dengan komitmen pada perjudian yang akan membuat rambut Anda berdiri tegak! Varian permainan dimainkan di seluruh Mesoamerika (hari ini meliputi Meksiko tengah, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nikaragua dan Kosta Rika utara). Ada bukti bahwa patolli dimainkan oleh Teotihuacanos (sekitar 200 SM - 650 M), Toltec (750 - 1000), Aztec (1168-1521), dan Maya (yang peradabannya ada dalam satu bentuk atau lainnya dari 2000 SM sampai penaklukan Spanyol di Amerika Selatan pada 1697 M).
Patolli adalah perlombaan atau permainan perang dan apa pun bisa dipertaruhkan - selimut, batu dan perhiasan berharga, makanan, tanaman dan bahkan rumah, anggota keluarga, dan kebebasan penjudi! Anda dapat memahami mengapa permainan patolli selalu dianggap serius dalam kasus 'pemenang mengambil semua' dan pemain mempersiapkan diri secara psikologis dengan memanggil dewa permainan atau perjudian - Macuilxochitl.
Setiap pemain biasanya bertaruh enam item yang dihitung dengan enam penanda yang digunakan setiap pemain untuk menyelesaikan sirkuit di sekitar papan. Gagal melakukan ini dan pemain harus kehilangan satu item. Seberapa jauh bidak-bidak itu bisa bergerak ditentukan dengan melempar lima biji kacang hitam yang diberi tanda pada satu sisi berlubang. Ada banyak kendala yang harus diatasi saat memindahkan enam penanda di sekitar papan bertanda 52 kotak. Misalnya, jika penanda mendarat di salah satu dari dua ruang segitiga gelap di dekat ujung setiap lengan X, pemain harus memberikan harta karun kepada lawan.
Setelah Penaklukan Spanyol di Meksiko, pendeta Spanyol melarang pitolli dan tangan penduduk setempat dibakar jika ketahuan sedang bermain.
800: Tiongkok
Kami kembali ke China untuk penemuan kartu remi. Sebagian besar sejarawan setuju bahwa setumpuk kartu remi modern saat ini yang digunakan di setiap kasino berbasis darat dan online saat ini, mulai hidup di China pada abad ke-9. Jenis permainan yang digunakan untuk kartu ini telah hilang, tetapi beberapa menyarankan bahwa mereka mungkin telah digunakan dalam permainan yang mirip dengan permainan kartu perdagangan anak-anak modern atau mungkin bentuk kertas dari kartu domino Cina.
1300: Italia & Prancis
Permainan kartu dua pemain Baccarat merupakan permainan tertua di dunia yang masih bisa dinikmati di klub judi saat ini, walaupun sangat berbeda dengan permainan yang pertama kali dimainkan di Italia dan Perancis. Kami masih belum tahu bagaimana game ini sampai ke Eropa. Satu teori adalah bahwa itu didasarkan pada permainan Cina Pai Gow (dimainkan dengan ubin, bukan kartu), yang dibawa ke Italia oleh Marco Polo ketika ia kembali pada 1290-an dari ekspedisinya. Sulit untuk mengatakannya karena catatan tertulis pertama tentang Baccarat ditulis pada tahun 1800-an.
Beberapa orang percaya bahwa permainan modern (baca : Judi Online) berasal dari permainan Macao yang populer saat itu atau diciptakan menggunakan kartu Tarot oleh orang Italia - yang bernama Felix Falguiere - kemudian diperkenalkan di Prancis oleh tentara yang kembali dari konflik Italia pada tahun 1490-an. Yang lain menautkan Baccarat hari ini ke game Vingt-et-un yang berasal dari Prancis.
Either way, itu milik dunia sekarang dan tetap menjadi permainan favorit sebagian besar berkat kemudahan bermain dan keunggulannya rendah (dan kami tidak lupa betapa kerennya James Bond membuatnya terlihat!).
1600: Spanyol dan Blackjack
Pada awal 1601, penulis Spanyol Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes, menyebutkan permainan veintiuna dalam bahasa Spanyol di salah satu bukunya. Mungkin saja ventiuna adalah nenek moyang blackjack modern, atau dia bisa saja merujuk pada trente-un, permainan populer pada tahun 1570. Bahkan mungkin itu adalah permainan quinze Prancis. Tampaknya dengan persediaan kertas yang sedikit, tingkat melek huruf yang rendah dan tidak adanya pulpen, para jenius yang menemukan versi paling awal dari permainan yang kita sukai, jarang ditulis dalam sejarah.
Jadi apa yang kita ketahui tentang blackjack? Permainan seperti yang kita kenal sekarang secara resmi dinamai oleh orang Amerika dan dikaitkan dengan promosi 'get'em through the door' di Nevada pada tahun 1930-an - dengan peluang 10: 1 dibayarkan jika seorang pemain menang dengan Jack of Clubs or Spades hitam bersama dengan Ace of Spades.
1638: Italia dan kelahiran kasino
Meskipun perjudian adalah aktivitas yang populer dan tersebar luas di Venesia pada tahun 1600-an, baru pada tahun 1638 para pemimpin kota mengubah sayap Palazzo Dandolo Venesia menjadi rumah judi milik pemerintah bernama Il Ridotto, yang berarti "kamar pribadi".
Il Ridotto terbuka untuk umum, tetapi taruhannya yang tinggi dan aturan berpakaian formal tidak mencakup semua orang selain bangsawan. Permainan termasuk biribi dan basetta. Dalam biribi, pemain akan bertaruh pada salah satu dari 70 kemungkinan hasil. "Bankir" bertanggung jawab untuk menarik nomor, dan mereka yang bertaruh pada nomor itu akan memenangkan pot permainan. Pemain yang menang hanya akan mengumpulkan 64 kali taruhan aslinya, memungkinkan rumah untuk membuat bayaran 10 persen pada permainan. Ini nantinya akan menjadi tepi rumah.
Permainan paling populer di Il Ridotto adalah basetta, yang menggabungkan unsur-unsur dari apa yang kita kenal sekarang sebagai blackjack, poker, dan gin rummy. Pemenang bisa mendapatkan 60 kali lipat taruhan mereka dalam pembayaran.
Klub ini akhirnya ditutup pada tahun 1774 oleh pembaru Venesia, Giorgio Pisani, dengan tujuan "untuk menjaga kesalehan, disiplin yang baik, dan perilaku yang moderat".
1796: Rumah Judi Paris
Para Pemain Judi memiliki rumah taruhan di Paris untuk berterima kasih atas roulette. Versi paling awal dari gim ini tampaknya merupakan hibrida dari roda gim yang ditemukan pada awal 1700-an dan gim biribi Italia yang populer. Permainan dalam bentuk modern pertama kali disebutkan dalam novel Prancis tahun 1801, La Roulette - Ou le Jour, dan diperkirakan dimainkan di Paris untuk pertama kalinya pada tahun 1796.
Kasino Little Wheel di Paris memiliki skema warna yang berbeda saat itu. Merah digunakan untuk nol tunggal dan hitam untuk nol ganda, tetapi di beberapa titik di tahun 1800-an, hijau diperkenalkan untuk menghindari kemungkinan kebingungan.
Sepanjang tahun 1800-an, game judi ini semakin populer dan menyebar ke seluruh Eropa setelah dibukanya Kasino Monte Carlo yang ikonik. Meskipun bentuk nol tunggal dari permainan ini dimainkan di Eropa dan sebagian besar dunia, orang Amerika tetap menggunakan roda nol ganda yang asli.
1829: Pertumbuhan global Poker
Di sini sekali lagi, kita harus berspekulasi tentang asal mula poker. Beberapa ahli percaya bahwa permainan tersebut dapat ditelusuri kembali 1.000 tahun ke jenis permainan kartu domino yang dimainkan oleh seorang kaisar di Tiongkok abad ke-10. Sekolah pemikiran lain memiliki poker yang berasal dari permainan kartu Persia abad ke-16 yang disebut "As Nas".
Yang kita tahu adalah bahwa permainan bernama Poque semakin populer di Prancis pada tahun 1600-an bersamaan dengan padanannya di Jerman, pochen. Kedua permainan perjudian didasarkan pada permainan primero Spanyol abad ke-16 - tiga kartu dibagikan kepada setiap pemain dan menggertak adalah bagian penting dari permainan.
Poque dibawa ke Amerika Utara oleh penjajah Prancis, dan pemukim berbahasa Inggris Anglicized Poque ke poker. Pada tahun 1834, banyak fitur modern dari permainan ini digunakan, termasuk lima kartu untuk setiap pemain dan setumpuk 52 kartu.
Segera, popularitas permainan di antara anggota kru di perahu sungai yang mengangkut barang ke atas dan ke bawah Sungai Mississippi menyebarkan permainan itu ke seluruh negeri. Kita tahu pasti, bahwa tentara di kedua sisi Perang Saudara Amerika bermain poker dan itu juga merupakan favorit perusahaan di bar Wild West di permukiman perbatasan pada tahun 1870-an dan 1880-an.
Itu adalah Menteri Amerika untuk Inggris Raya yang memperkenalkan permainan ke Eropa pada tahun 1871. Ratu Victoria mendengar dia menjelaskan permainan kepada anggota istananya dan meminta aturan. Secara umum diterima bahwa fenomena global poker benar-benar melonjak selama Perang Dunia I karena tentara Amerika mengambil kesempatan untuk bermain kapan pun mereka bisa.
Baik Anda menikmati permainan poker langsung atau versi meja yang lebih tradisional, Anda mungkin paling akrab dengan varian Texas Hold'em tahun 1970-an, tetapi ada sejumlah versi berbeda selama bertahun-tahun.
1891: One Armed Bandit Amerika
Mesin slot yang sangat populer saat ini mulai hidup sebagai mesin judi sederhana yang dibuat oleh Sittman dan Pitt dari Brooklyn, New York pada tahun 1891. Mesin ini menggunakan 50 dari 52 kartu setumpuk poker untuk menantang pemain membentuk tangan poker. Permainan ini membutuhkan biaya satu nikel untuk dimainkan dan meskipun semakin populer, tidak ada cara untuk menstandarkan pembayaran untuk semua kombinasi kemenangan yang beragam - ini berarti hadiah untuk menang bervariasi dari satu batang ke batang lainnya.
Kemudian, pada tahun 1895, seorang pria bernama Charles Fey menciptakan mesin tiga drum dengan menggunakan lima simbol. Ini membuatnya lebih mudah untuk menstandarkan pembayaran pada jumlah kombinasi. Mesin slot elektronik pertama baru lahir pada tahun 1963. Kemudian pada tahun 1976, mesin slot video ditemukan dengan layar berwarna 19 inci dan papan logika Sony, yang ternyata lebih dapat diandalkan daripada suku cadang mekanis, lebih murah untuk diproduksi dan tidak terlalu rentan terhadap penipuan. Ini tentu saja membuka jalan bagi slot digital di klub berbasis darat dan slot online yang merupakan tulang punggung sebagian besar operasi perjudian saat ini.
1960-an: Taruhan Olahraga Inggris
Inggris Raya memiliki sejarah panjang dalam taruhan olahraga, tetapi baru setelah Undang-Undang 1960 melegalkan taruhan di luar jalur, Inggris berkembang menjadi pasar yang sangat besar seperti saat ini dengan lebih dari 1.000 toko taruhan di London saja. Tidak diragukan lagi daya tariknya adalah menambahkan taruhan seseorang melalui taruhan pada hasil salah satu hiburan favorit kami, dan seringkali obsesif, - olahraga.
Pasar taruhan olahraga online saat ini di Inggris Raya bernilai sekitar £ 650 juta dengan populasi perjudian online 2,1 juta pelanggan dan terus bertambah.
Taruhan pada olahraga telah menjadi rekor sejak orang Yunani menemukan Olimpiade ribuan tahun yang lalu. Tidak diragukan lagi legalisasi tahun 1950-an atas hobi di Las Vegas dan pelonggaran undang-undang tahun 1960-an di Inggris menyebabkan penggunaan hobi tersebut. Tetapi baru setelah internet menjadi arus utama, taruhan online melonjak ke ketinggian baru. Anda dapat membaca lebih lanjut tentang sejarah taruhan olahraga di Inggris di blog ini.
1994: Perbatasan Baru untuk Perjudian
Sama seperti kita telah memindahkan begitu banyak aktivitas kita secara online, tidaklah mengherankan bahwa perjudian di dunia maya telah meledak sejak Internet tersedia di rumah kita. Faktanya, dalam lima tahun setelah online, industri taruhan diperkirakan bernilai £ 3,8 miliar. Saat ini, ini adalah industri multi-miliar pound dengan lebih dari seribu kasino online di seluruh dunia.
Sekarang tablet dan ponsel cerdas memungkinkan penjudi untuk bermain game online di mana pun mereka berada, dan kapan pun mereka suka, dan para ahli memperkirakan bahwa ini hanyalah awal dari tren peningkatan dalam perjudian seluler. Dengan pemikiran ini, situs perjudian terus berupaya untuk membuat pengalaman online semudah dan seautentik mungkin bagi pelanggan mereka, sehingga terbentuklah situs taruhan online.
Dengan teknologi baru yang menarik segera hadir di bidang Virtual dan Augmented Reality, tidak sulit untuk percaya bahwa tak lama kemudian, pengalaman online akan menawarkan semua realisme ruang judi, tanpa Anda harus meninggalkan kenyamanan rumah Anda. .
Bermain langsung di VIVA99 sebagai agen judi adalah pengalaman yang benar-benar unik. Penawaran kelas satunya memberi para pemain kesempatan untuk mengambil bagian dalam permainan kasino langsung favorit mereka tanpa perlu mengunduh untuk bermain - hanya pengalaman kasino sejati setiap saat.
2020: Perjudian Telah Beralih ke Seluler
Sejak New Jersey melegalkan perjudian online pada tahun 2011, minat orang-orang terhadapnya telah meningkat pesat. Amerika telah melihat langkah untuk melegalkannya negara bagian demi negara, serta mengalami peningkatan pesat dalam perjudian seluler. Di seluruh dunia, pengguna internet secara bertahap beralih dari desktop ke perangkat genggam mereka. Ini juga berlaku untuk penjudi online, ingin dapat menikmati permainan favorit mereka saat bepergian. Situs judi online teratas di luar sana telah mengenali pasar dan telah meningkatkan kualitasnya. Dengan gelombang tujuan perjudian online yang berfokus pada seluler yang mengesankan dan menggemparkan dunia, aman untuk mengatakan bahwa desktop tertinggal jauh demi alternatif yang lebih seluler.
Apa Selanjutnya, Masa Depan
Memprediksi masa depan perjudian sama sulitnya dengan mengungkap beberapa asal mula permainan judi yang kita kenal dengan baik hari ini. Sebagian besar fokus saat ini adalah di pasar game seluler, dengan kasino online berebut untuk membuat lebih banyak konten yang kompatibel dengan perangkat genggam terbaru. Teknologi realitas virtual baru saja mengambil langkah pertamanya sebagai proposisi komersial, dan Anda dapat yakin bahwa akan ada aplikasi perjudian di masa mendatang. Bagaimana Anda ingin duduk di sekitar meja poker virtual dengan sekelompok teman Anda dari seluruh dunia, berbagi sedikit tawa, mencoba untuk mengetahui apakah Anda dapat melihat tanda centang wajah; dan semua ini dari kenyamanan rumah Anda? Headset VR dapat mewujudkannya - mungkin tidak hari ini, tetapi tentunya hanya beberapa tahun ke depan jika teknologi terus berkembang pesat.
Dan setelah itu? Siapa yang tahu, tetapi jika menyangkut perjudian, semua hal mungkin terjadi.
SUMBER : Mengenang Sejarah Judi Online - https://id.quora.com/q/bloggerviva99/Mengenang-Sejarah-Judi-Online

Previous Section-Part 2B
[3/5]
Chapter 9

Highways and dead ends

The hunt for Xavier Ligonnès is enough to drive you crazy. It’s like looking for a lost object, a bank card for example, of which we can determine the exact moment of disappearance: we used it to pay, it was there, and the next moment it is not there anymore. Logic dictates that we look for it where we usually store it (a wallet, a handbag), then where it could be (a back pocket of pants, a hall cabinet), and the less we find it , the more we seem to see it everywhere. Faced with absence, the brain constructs images (the credit card in an office drawer, as a bookmark in a book, forgotten on the counter of the last store) but these are fictions or mirages; they encourage further research but they do not provide a solution. Xavier Ligonnès’s apparent volatilization follows the same logic and produces the same effects on the investigation. The more weeks and months go by, the more places to look get smaller. Emmanuel Teneur ends up leading the investigators to the Société Générale agency on Place Royale in Nantes, but the safe he holds there is simply empty. A request for information on Joven Soliman is sent to the security attaché for the French Embassy in the Philippines. He is a sedevacantist priest, a fringe of traditionalist Catholicism who considers the Pope to be an imposter. The attaché transmits the hours of mass where he officiates. A trip to the Philippines is being considered, but that would mean going to the other side of the world to look for a needle in the thousands of islands of the archipelago. If this track has never been closed, nothing has supported it to date.
Since we must push logic to the end, the investigators even contact the American authorities to corroborate or contradict the story of protected witnesses told by Ligonnès in his famous letter. The DEA has never heard of the individual, and the liaison officer based at the Miami consulate assures us that his last trip to the United States was in 2003: Ligonnès arrived in Florida on July 18 and left on August 22. The study of his entourage also did not highlight anyone capable of providing false papers to the fugitive, and if he had gone through a criminal network, the police believed that an informant would undoubtedly have warned them to protect himself.
Then there are the news reports: the portrait of Ligonnès goes around France, and even if he has undoubtedly changed his physical appearance, his hairstyle, perhaps had even resorted to cosmetic surgery, someone, somewhere, might recognize him one day. After all, that’s how John List, a New Jersey insurance salesman who killed his wife and mother in 1971, was arrested. He waited for two of his children to return from school to coldly shoot them, then attended his youngest son’s football game before shooting bullets through him at home. He evaded justice for 18 years until a co-worker recognized him from a report on America’s Most Wanted.
Rarely has a criminal case given rise to as many appeals as that of Ligonnès, because his stalking not only bewitches the police, it torments an entire country. More than 1000 reports, thousands of pages of depositions, letters, verifications. You have to imagine the miles of printed paper that this represents when they are stacked on a desk. The most recent: in July, after the broadcast of a Netflix documentary on the subject in the United States, the producers of the film claimed to have received an interesting lead in Chicago; but it’s just one more drop in the bucket. Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès has been seen in Annecy, Nancy, Cholet, Corsica (several times); on the side of a road, thumbs up, by a French tourist in Las Vegas; disguised as a chimney sweep in Nîmes; in a hotel in Cantal and in a pizzeria where he paid cash in a hurry; seen again in Germany, in Italy, and heard on the telephone by the reception of the psychiatric hospital of Troyes. Since he disappeared looking like the ordinary neighbor, since he was a representative and his profession has taken him to all corners of France, there is no less reason to see him in Mulhouse than in Roche-sur-Yon, and you can simply see him everywhere.
Aire de Lançon-Provence in July 2020
Extracts: “It was the same look, except that he looked very sad, in the west, but he had the same glasses as in the photo you are showing me”; “He looked like a man like everyone else, but there was something odd in his eyes;” “Yesterday, around 1:00 pm, I was watching the news on television on the TFI channel. I saw a report where an individual killed his children and his wife before disappearing into the wild. (...) Seeing the gentleman in the photo, I made the connection with the person whom I had crossed Sunday afternoon because he had the same smile.” At the Vauvert tourist office: “I hardly look at the news, but Thursday evening I saw the photo of Mr. Ligonnès, I had the impression of having already seen him, my heart was racing.” Between Carpentras and Avignon, when he comes back from the bakery, the manager of one of Nicolas Sarkozy’s brothers crosses paths with a man with a beige bob, which he is certain is the fugitive. “I flashed,” he says. “For me, there is no doubt. This is him.” Still more letters are sent to the police to offer them help. An amateur astrologer requests a copy of the suspect’s birth certificate to establish a birth chart, a woman in child-like writing recommended a great medium who had helped her find her daughter who had become a junkie in Marseille. A prisoner asked in writing to be sent to Guinea to go hunt him down in the jungle, attaching to his letter a list of the necessary equipment, including infrared glasses and a “samurai sword.”
With each letter, with each phone call to report a suspicious individual, investigators attempt to cross-reference the information. They patiently collect the testimonies of the depositors to know where Xavier Ligonnès was seen, if he was accompanied or not, what was his size and his outfit. Inconsistent testimonies or those referring to individuals who are too young (Ligonnès would be 59 years old today) and too small (he measures a little over 1.80 meters) are discarded. For the others, investigators check the CCTV recordings, when they have not been erased and when the cameras have actually recorded on tape. If the person has been spotted pumping gasoline, in a Géant Casino, or in a Courtepaille, they trace the means of payment used and seize the duplicates of bank cards. They give priority to the restaurants, especially the Buffalo Grill, Ligonnès’ favorite establishment. And when the trail is still hot and the dishes haven’t been done yet, they collect DNA from the plates and cutlery. A few months after the start of the investigation, the investigating judge in charge of the case will even be forced to ask them to slow down, the seals starting to take on the appearance of a china cabinet in a large restaurant.
The Total service station in Lançon-Provence, July 2020
The PJ of Nantes believed on several occasions to finally have in hand the winning ticket and to be on the point of intercepting Ligonnès. This was the case in Borgo, where a photo taken from the video surveillance of a supermarket in this small Corsican town was very similar. Upon verification, it was only a local. They believed in it even more in January 2018 when they were told that an individual with a strong resemblance to Xavier Ligonnès was at the Saint-Désert Notre-Dame de Pitié monastery near Roquebrune-sur-Argens. About twenty police officers raided and searched the premises until they came across Brother Jean-Marie Joseph, who certainly looked disturbingly like Ligonnès, but who was not him. In still other cases, the police were never able to “close the track,” and it is perhaps Ligonnès who was seen.
For example, in Lançon-Provence, April 26, 2011. That day, at 2:44 am, Mahjoub B., a handler by profession, parks his vehicle at the Total service station after the Lançon-Provence toll. He fills up, then goes to the store to pay. On his way, he passes a 45- to 50-year-old man, about six feet tall, who hangs out there between the gas pumps and the store. When he returns to his vehicle, his colleague asks him if he has seen the man, whom he is convinced is the one everyone is looking for, the one who killed his family in Nantes. Mahjoub then takes a new look at the individual, notices that he is wearing glasses, light jeans, that he has brown hair a little graying and a beard of a day. At his feet, four rigid shopping bags, one red, one white, one brown and one whose color he cannot distinguish. Inside the store, employees also noticed the individual. He’s been out for almost three hours. At one point, he walks in to ask for free coffee, as part of a promotion. Behind her cash register, Jocelyne H. notes a detail: he is missing a tooth. “The second on the left, I believe,” she says when heard by investigators. This is information that has never filtered out and yet, it’s true – a little detail, Xavier Ligonnès was missing a tooth. Little by little, the space has filled in, but you can always see it when he smiles. The images from the station’s surveillance cameras are confusing: if this man is not the one we are looking for, it must be his twin brother. At 3 a.m., the cameras show him hitchhiking by a Volkswagen Combi, which investigators quickly find. The driver’s name is Christophe B. He has not heard of the case, and he must be one of the only ones in the country; but Christophe is no longer listening to the news because, he says, “the news is bad all the time.” From the hitchhiker on the night of the 25th to the 26th, he remembers that he “did not smell very good” and that he had a growing beard. They didn’t discuss much. The man simply told him that he was coming from Paris where he had gone to see “his sick old father,” and that he wanted to take the train to Aix-en-Provence. Christophe dropped him off at a motorway exit, the 30 or the 31, between 4 a.m. and 4.15 a.m. The surveillance cameras at Aix train station allow you to get back on track. He is filmed on the forecourt at 6 am, he wears light pants, a dark jacket. He buys a ticket at 1.20 euro, free destination. Then we lose track.
Despite all the checks, despite all the cameras, it will be impossible to track this man perfectly resembling Dupont de Ligonnès, who could nevertheless have confirmed that he was, at least on this date, still alive.
How can one suddenly evaporate in plain sight, and how could a man who has collected chess all his life accomplish this feat? The XDDL mystery makes it possible to scaffold all the theories. These flourish in books, in docudramas and, of course, on the Internet. We imagine Ligonnès protected by the secrecy of a monastery, flown to the United States, where he can go unnoticed thanks to his English without an accent, or even on the escape alongside a woman he would have manipulated. The police officers in charge of the case do not work on theories or psychological profiles, but according to a scientific approach: they always start from a fact, which opens a track, which they then explore until the end, close, and move on to another. This method is also a way to protect yourself from endless guesswork, or insanity, but it doesn’t always work. Several times, the track looks like a highway towards the fugitive, and the police are convinced that they will finally close this investigation. But they end up stumbling upon the worst thing ever, as was the case with the allusion to Emmanuel Teneur’s sailboat: coincidences.
Coincidence number 1. When the Ligonnès C5 was discovered in the Formula 1 car park in Roquebrune, the night watchman informed them that two reservations had been made in the name of Dupont Xavier, one on April 5 and the another on April 14. The hotel manager then specifies that the first reservation was actually made for April 6. That day, however, XDDL was in Nantes, probably digging the grave of Thomas, murdered the day before. Had he thought of accomplishing his crimes earlier or had he reserved a room for an accomplice, who might have been hiding something for him? The videos of April 5 and 6 are no longer available, but payment for the room was made with a Crédit Agricole credit card. The number gives a name, Faiçal E., and an address. Could it be an accomplice? The checks are launched immediately lead to a man who simply used “Dupont Xavier” as an assumed name - like Ligonnès - to book a night in the same hotel, the same year, the same month, within ten days.
Coincidence number 2. The liaison officer in Miami launches research around the various aliases used by XDDL, for operations of “mystery shopper” or to stay in hotels. In the FBI file, he finds a certain Xavier Laurent, one of Ligonnès’s favorite nicknames, installed in Jacksonville, north of Florida. Jacksonville is not just any city. This is where Hugues, the cousin of XDDL lived, and it is also this locality that Ligonnès and his friend Michel Rétif declared to customs in 1990 during their trip to the United States. At the very end of the personalized letter sent to Michel on April 8, Xavier Ligonnès seemed to allude to it: “I will think about you there. (Not the right to tell you where, but you went there with me...in November 90…a clue to dig. LOL).” But this Xavier Laurent is another twist of fate: the police come across a certain Evan Shaffer, a petty criminal who has chosen this alias to commit crimes.
Coincidence number 3. Ten days before the crimes, XDDL reconnects with a childhood sweetheart, Catherine K., whom he met in Versailles in the 1980s. Between March 22 and 24, they exchange text messages and try to find a date to meet the week of April 12, in Chamonix. These messages intrigue the investigators, some answers seem surprising, almost illogical, and they suspect Ligonnès of having wanted to ensure a logistical relay in his escape. A little later, a certain Patrick O. reports having seen XDDL in the queue of a Sixt car rental agency at Nice airport on April 17, 2011. By peeling the names of dozens of people having rented a car that day, the police officers miss the infarction: in capital letters, white on black, appears the surname of Catherine, who would have rented a vehicle at 1:30 am. A few hours later, their heart rate drops again: it was only a perfect disambiguation.
Each coincidence causes the same chain of reactions. First a eureka!, the certainty of having finally found the tiny detail from which to trace everything. The police then cast their nets like fishermen on the high seas, telephone or banking requisitions, requests for listings, identity checks. Then they wait. It can last from a few hours to several weeks, and inevitably it is a burning, nagging wait, tense by the fear that the track will fly away. Finally, there is the immense disappointment and the obligation to face reality again: Xavier Ligonnès is still nowhere to be found, a track has flown again, and we have to hoist the rock up the mountain again. Those who have worked or are still working on the affair strive to maintain a cold, rational, police facade. But little by little, by dint of chasing a shadow - not even a shadow, a ghost - obsession lurks. One of them, a police officer with a professional Protestant pastor, now out of the investigation, still returned until recently to consult the investigation file every week, saying he simply wanted to put the 12,000 pages of documents in order. For a year, a criminal analyst has also been mobilized. He enters all the elements of the file in a software which digests them and spits out, perhaps, new threads to draw. In the meantime, the two police officers who are still following the investigation - one at the PJ in Nantes, one at the OCRVP, in Paris - “live” the case, as their colleagues say. Among these thousands of pages there is no doubt a clue that has gone unnoticed or, better, a lead that has not yet been explored.
Track number 1. Who typed “fraternité saint-thomas becket” on Google on April 3 at 11:34 pm, before clicking on a link in the Cité-Catholique forum? Is it the same person who, the same night at 2:01 am, from an iPhone, did the search for “communion state mortal sin,” bringing it to the same forum? On April 8, the user of this phone will in any case send the search engine the request “hello Chacou”, which will lead him (her) again to the Cité-Catholique forum. Chacou was one of the pseudonyms of Xavier Ligonnès. Investigators saw crazier coincidences, but still: can it really be someone other than Xavier Ligonnès, who himself connected to Cité-Catholique almost every day of his escape? The last article published on the site about Saint-Thomas Becket, an ultra-traditionalist fraternity which practices mass in Latin, dates from January 2009. It indicates the name of its founder, Father Jean-Pierre Gac, and specifies this: “Born in the diocese of Blois where there are two communities (…), the fraternity has also extended in the diocese of Toulon - a parish is also entrusted to them in Ollioules.” Ollioules is located six kilometers from La Seyne-on-Mer, where XDDL spent its penultimate known night, and 94 kilometers from Roquebrune. Jean-Pierre Gac was questioned by the police but claimed to have never been in contact with the fugitive. Investigators have always believed in the possibility that Ligonnès took refuge in a monastery in the Var. They considered to search them one by one, before understanding that there are dozens and dozens of brotherhoods and fraternities, that they are not always castles of the Purple Rivers but sometimes simple farms, lost in the hinterland. To mount a search, it would be necessary to ensure that they do not communicate with each other, and therefore to visit them all at the same time. The examining magistrate quickly tempered the fervor of the police and declared the operation impossible.
Track number 2. Xavier Ligonnès had two secret Facebook accounts. The first is named after his favorite country singer, Waylon Jennings. One of his nieces had also found him a month before the crimes, sending him a message, “but who is behind this nickname?,” to which XDDL had immediately replied “How did you manage to arrive on the Waylon Jennings Facebook profile? Too clever! Microsoft Advantage??? Kiss.” The second account concerns a certain “George Town” residing in Nantes and is linked to one of Ligonnès’ many email addresses, [email protected]. The police send a requisition to the management of Facebook in Palo Alto to obtain the creation and connection logs of the two profiles. The answer comes in days: the first was created in February 2010, the second in December 2007, when France had barely discovered the social network. Above all, the response indicates that Ligonnès connected to the two accounts on the night of April 4 to 5, between the first assassinations and that of Thomas. The profiles have since been deleted but suggest he could have used them to communicate with a third party. Catherine K., the youthful lover that XDDL contacted a few days before the tragedy, also reported to the police that she had been approached by a certain Philippe Steiner, whom she did not know, around May 20. He sent her a strange message, suggesting that they might have had a relationship in the past. When she went to respond, the profile had already been deleted. Today there are almost 100 Facebook accounts on behalf of Waylon Jennings, some are created and deleted every day.
Track number 3. When the Ligonnès family is having their last meal on April 3, 2011, around 9 pm, a young woman walks through the glass doors of the police station on Place Waldeck-Rousseau in Nantes. Originally from a small village near Vannes, Julie is a BTS student and comes to file a complaint: the Twingo that her father lets her drive has been broken into, probably during the night. There was not much inside, but Julie reported the theft of her car radio as well as the vehicle’s logbook, which she normally stored in a small Renault gray faux leather pouch. This same pouch was found on April 22 in the dresser of the Ligonnès living room where Xavier used to store his papers, during the investigation the day after the discovery of the bodies. The police did not follow this track: they put the break-in of Julie’s car on the account of one of the Ligonnès sons, Arthur, who had already been arrested for theft of a bicycle and driving under the influence of cannabis. But why would Arthur have taken the vehicle papers with the car stereo, and why would he put them in the middle of his father’s papers? And if the theft was committed by Xavier Ligonnès a few hours before killing his family, how can this be explained? Was he able to steal other identity papers to facilitate his escape?
In this case, it is always about cars. Those imported by XDDL from the United States, the Citroën C5 from the escape, the vehicles he claimed had been stolen over the years: the first at the Brest police station in 1998, while living in Pornic, a second at the same time at the Saint-Nazaire police station, and then again, in Nantes, on May 17, 2006, a Golf convertible finally found then sold a few months later to a mechanic, a friend of Cédric M.
Cédric M. is never far away when it comes to cars. He is also a mechanic, that’s how Ligonnès met him in Vannes a few years earlier. He is one of the recipients of the departure letter, therefore a close friend. He was even the first employee of the RDC. Ligonnès regularly went to visit him in Locmalo in the heart of Morbihan, a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Nantes. With Cédric and his partner, Renaud, they went to the local creperie. They had lunch there together on March 31, 2011, four days before the crimes. In the village, it is said that Ligonnès took care of the dark accounts of the “guys,” who have quite a reputation. Could he have built up a slush fund there that no one would have found until now? Cédric and Renaud’s garage is not indicated by any sign. It is at the end of a road. In the yard, wrecks of American cars and a goat on a leash. Inside, Renaud is working on a shiny yellow Cadillac. His attitude is confusing. He is angry with the police who have never come to question him when he is, according to him, “the last to have seen [Xavier] alive. But I will not tell you when, because that the date is important,” he adds before returning to his Cadillac, wrench in hand.
To date, Renaud has still not been heard by investigators.
At the same time, reports continue to flow.
Ligonnès seen in Mulhouse, on the four lanes between Saint-Brieuc and Rennes in a Peugeot 308 and overtaking on the right, Ligonnès seen again in Tunis and Toulouse.
Ligonnès seen, but never caught.
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Next Section-Part 2D