Following

Following is a 1999 British neo-noir crime drama film written and directed by Christopher Nolan. It tells the story of a young man who follows strangers around the streets of London and is drawn into a criminal underworld when he fails to keep his distance.

As Christopher Nolan's debut feature, it was designed to be as inexpensive as possible to make. Scenes were heavily rehearsed so that just one or two takes were needed to economise on 16 mm film stock, the production's greatest expense; and for which Nolan was paying from his salary. Unable to afford expensive professional lighting equipment, Nolan mostly used available light. Along with writing, directing, and photographing the film, Nolan also helped in editing and production.

Plot

A struggling, unemployed young writer (credited as "The Young Man") takes to following strangers around the streets of London, ostensibly to find inspiration for his first novel. Initially, he sets strict rules for himself regarding whom he should follow and for how long, but he soon discards them as he focuses on a well-groomed, handsome man in a dark suit. The man in the suit, having noticed he is being followed, quickly confronts the Young Man and introduces himself as "Cobb". Cobb reveals that he is a serial burglar and invites the Young Man (who tells Cobb his name is "Bill") to accompany him on various burglaries. The material gains from these crimes seem to be of secondary importance to Cobb. He takes pleasure in rifling through the personal items in his targets' flats and drinking their wine. He explains that his true passion is using the shock of robbery and violation of property to make his victims re-examine their lives. He sums up his attitude thus: "You take it away, and show them what they had."

Following (solitaire)

Following is a solitaire card game which uses a deck of playing cards. It is so called because a player has to follow a rotation of suits. It was first described in the book "Games of Patience" by M. Whitemore Jones and has since seen in the book Games for One and at least two computer solitaire packages.

At the onset, one has to lay six cards in a row; this will compose the tableau. Like any solitaire game, the object is to remove the aces and build them up to kings. The catch of this game is the rotation of suits that the player must remember: A Club must be placed over a Heart, a Diamond over a Club, a Spade on a Diamond, and a Heart on a Spade. This rule applies to both the foundations and the tableau.

Building on the tableau is down, provided that the rotation of suits described above is followed. An entire sequence in any length can be moved, again retaining the rotation of suits. When the cards in the tableau are not sufficient for building, the stock is dealt one card at a time onto a wastepile. The top card of the wastepile can be used to build on the tableau and the foundations. Once the stock is used up, the wastepile is picked up to become the new stock. This can be done only once in the game. Also, spaces in the tableau can be filled up with any card, whether it is from one of the cards already in the tableau, the top card of the wastepile, or the next card from the stock.

Following (song)

"Following" is a song by US pop band The Bangles. The acoustic ballad carries vocals by Michael Steele, who composed the song. In 1987 Following was the fifth and final single released off their album Different Light (1986).

Background and style

"Following" is one of two songs on Different Light on which Michael Steele sang lead vocals, the other one being a cover of Big Star's "September Gurls". The song was written solely by Steele, her first original composition released with the Bangles.

Musically, "Following" is radically different from the rest of Bangles' material, being a folksy acoustic ballad featuring minimal instrumentation. Its lead instrument is an acoustic guitar, played by Steele. "Following" also features hovering, atmospheric keyboard sounds. In this context this arrangement renders it similar in style to Suzanne Vega's "Night Vision" from her album Solitude Standing (also released in 1987), giving both semi-acoustic songs a somewhat haunting feeling. The musical input from the other three Bangles members on the song appears to be minimal or nonexistent.