#100 books by november 18th!

[onceuponastarryeye]

books read in twenty-twenty-four

hour zero - agatha christie (5/5)

if you could see the sun - ann liang (4/5)

his last bow - arthur conan doyle (4/5)

labor and monopoly capital: the degradation of work in the twentieth century - harry braverman (4/5)

the count of monte cristo (adapted text) - alexandre dumas (3.5/5)

before we say goodbye (btcgc #4) - toshikazu kawaguchi (5/5)

contagion - robin cook (2.5/5)

beach read - emily henry (4.5/5) (rr)

death by drowning and other stories - agatha christie (5/5)

little fires everywhere - celeste ng (4.75/5)

mrs. dalloway - virginia woolf (3.5/5) (rr)

five little pigs - agatha christie (4/5)

cinema e memória - milene de cássia silveira gusmão; paulo henrique alcântara; euclides santos mendes (3.5/5)

rouge - mona awad (3.75/5)

first love - ivan turguêniev (4/5)

the moving finger - agatha christie (3.5/5)

the memory police - yoko ogawa (5/5)

entre flechas e sapatos de cristal: fadas madrinhas s.a - kézia garcia (4.5/5)

the hunger games (thg #1) - suzanne collins (5/5) (rr)

the next girl - karla kovach (3/5)

the invisible man - h. g. wells (3.5/5)

death comes at the end - agatha christie (4/5)

welcome to the hyunam-dong bookstore - hwang bo-reum (4/5)

teias mortais - bel rodrigues, felipe castilho, jim anotsu, luisa geisler, samir machado de machado (5/5)

catching fire (thg #2) - suzanne collins (5/5) (rr)

introdução à filosofia de bergson - paulo césar rodrigues (4/5)

the very secret society of irregular witches - sangu mandanna (4.5/5)

the hollow - agatha christie (3.5/5)

hold tight - harlan coben (2.75/5)

the atlas complex (tas #3) - olivie blake (3/5)

todas as minhas libelulas (memórias dos pardes #1) - gabrielli casseta (5/5)

uma aprendizagem ou o livro dos prazeres - clarice lispector (5/5)

mockingjay (thg #3) - suzanne collins (5/5) (rr)

seis doses de culpa - luther alt (4/5)

the labours of hercules - agatha christie (4/5)

emily wilde's encyclopedia of faeries (eweof #1) - heather fawcett (4/5)

a man lay dead - ngaio marsh (4/5)

manual de cortej para princesas desencantadas - alien, maina, lyra, gabi, raquel & dulci (5/5)

taken at the flood - agatha christie (4/5)

capitalismo de plataformas - nick srnicek (4/5)

the reapperance of rachel price - holly jackson (4/5)

funny story - emily henry (4.25/5)

normal people - sally rooney (5/5) (rr)

18 brumário - karl marx (3.25/5)

extraordinary stories - edgar allan poe (4.25/5)

roteiro perfeito - vi carvalho (4/5)

they came to baghdad - agatha christie (4/5)

the familiar - leigh bardugo (4/5)

cidades pequenas não guardam seguredos - kézia garcia (5/5)

método científico: uma abordagem ontológica - ivo tonet (3.5/5)

the starless sea - erin morgenstern (5/5)

jantar secreto - raphael montes (3.75/5)

mrs. mcginty's dead - agatha christie (4/5)

atenciosamente, seu primeiro amor - tatielle katluryn (3.5/5)

the poverty of theory -edward thompson (2.5/5)

penance - eliza clarke (4/5)

the time machine - h. g. wells (3.75/5)

they do it with mirrors - agatha christie (4/5)

nothing more to tell - karen mcmanus (3.75/5)

persuasion - jane austen (5/5) (rr)

a sound of thunder - ray bradbury (4/5)

the chalk man - c.j. tudor (3.75/5)

after the funeral - agatha christie (3.5/5)

a hundred years of solitude - gabriel garcia marquez (4/5)

ariel - sylvia plath (3.75/5)

i'm the girl - courtney summers (3/5)

a pocket full of rye - agatha christie (4/5)

the piano (creepers series) - edgar j. hyde (3.75/5)

natural beauty - ling ling huang (3.5/5)

northanger abbey - jane austen (5/5) (rr)

uma estrada de histórias - rúbia albuquerque (3/5)

o amor é como a lua - vi carvalho (4/5)

into the drowning deep (rolling in the deep #1) - mira grant (5/5)

destination unknown - agatha christie (4/5)

gentilmente, amor - gabrielli casseta, kell carvalho, vi carvalho, maina mattos (4/5)

whose body? - dorothy l. sayers (3.75/5)

o ardil da flexibilidade - sadi dal rosso (3.5/5)

hickory, dickory, dock - agatha christie (3/5)

joyland - stephen king (4/5)

a detetive ruby johnson e o mistério da mesa 44 - noemi de paula (2.5/5)

the secret history - donna tartt (5/5) (rr)

rolling in the deep (rolling in the deep #0.5) - mira grant (3.75/5)

4:50 from paddington - agatha christie (4.5/5)

a mulher na sociedade de classes: mito e realidade - heleith saffioti (4.25/5)

the woman in cabin 10 - ruth ware (2.75/5)

days at the morisaki bookstore - satoshi yagisawa (4.5/5)

intermezzo - sally rooney (3.5/5)

house of hollow - krystal sutherland (4/5)

crime and punishment - fyodor dostoevsky (4/5)

the pale horse - agatha christie (4.5/5)

the other turn of the screw - henry james (4.5/5)

two sides to every murder - danielle valentine (3.5/5)

história das mulhers no brasil - mary del priori (3.5/5)

the frightened lady - edgar wallace (3/5)

cat among the pigeons - agatha christie (3.75/5)

the da vinci code - dan brown (3/5)

some choose darkness - charlie donlea (4/5)

twelfth night - william shakespeare (3.5/5)

orlando - viriginia woolf (3/5)

the mirror crack'd from side to side - agatha christie (4.5/5)

emily wilde's map of the otherlands (eweof #2) - heather fawcett (4.5/5)

memórias póstumas de brás cubas - machado de assis (4/5)

the clocks - agatha christie (3/5)

entre vestidos de noiva e bolinhos de baunilha - kézia garcia (4/5)

before we forget kindness (btcgc #5) - toshikazu kawaguchi (4.25.5)

meu amor agridoce - aline moretho (5/5)

the only one left - riley seager (3.5/5)

a caribbean mystery - agatha christie (4/5)

the cat who saved books - sōsuke natsukawa (3/5)

the colossus & other poems - sylvia plath (5/5)

good wives (little women #1, part 2) - louisa may alcott (3/5)

babel - r.f. kuang (4/5)

at bertram's hotel - agatha christie (3.5/5)

the lady of shalott - alfred tennyson (5/5)

one left alive - helen phifer (2.25/5)

água viva - clarice lispector (5/5)

the patient - jasper dewitt (4/5)

the answer is no - fredrik backman (5/5)

lovers at the museum - isabel allende (3.75/5)

a espera - lygia fagundes telles (4/5)

[fortunatefires]

I'm thinking about working on my old book idea but that means I'll have less time for my reading challenge. Also I was hit with the fanfic bug. I really want to reach my reading goal but do I deny myself other creative pursuits because of it? Aghhhh

[natalieriess]

Sara and I are auctioning off 4 iconic original Warriors: The Prophecies Begin Vol 1 inked pages for charity!

We've never sold originals online before, but are excited to get these pages out of our closet for some good causes. Check out Sara's thread here on Bluesky (or here on twitter) for more information and updates!

FAQ and links to listings under the cut:

"Fire Alone" Prophecy (Page 4)

ThunderClan Camp (Page 26)

ThunderClan Life (Page 65)

Fireheart and Graystripe (Page 260)

FAQ:

“I want to buy one, but I missed out on the auction/want a different page!”

Situation permitting, we will be selling more of these later down the line. We want them out of our closet and into paws that will appreciate them! Further sales will not be auctions and will be priced in the $100-300 range depending on complexity. We’re thinking ko-fi but haven’t settled on a storefront yet.

“Will you be doing more auctions for different charities?”

I would like to, but let’s see how this one goes first!

“I don’t see a page I really want-- will you be selling X page?”

Once we start selling more originals, you’re free to ask us to list a specific page, but we can’t promise it.

“Pages look a little different than they do in the printed book– what’s up with that?”

The lineart gets edited a bit once they’re scanned before color. You (might) get to own versions of these drawings no one else has ever seen before!

“What are the blue marks on the page?”

Sara uses a blue pencil to transfer rough drawings to the bristol board for inks, which are edited out for the final page.

“Do these come pre-framed/matted?”

No, but they will be bagged.

“When is the auction running from?”

Monday, November 11, 2024 - Monday, November 18th, 2024

“Do you ship internationally?”

Yes! The buyer will have to pay for the shipping, same as domestic.

“Will you ever be selling originals from other books (Dungeon Critters, Bawk-Ness Monster, Dibbit and Boo 2, etc.)?”

Let us know if you’re interested in these, actually! We still have most of the original pages for EVERYTHING Sara’s inked in the past several years, and would love them to go to good homes.

[riaaanna]

Queen I (2024) Boxset - Handwritten Lyrics, Diaries, and Other Memorabilia

Well as they say, Enough Time Has Passed. From the Queen I book here are the underrated gems of handwritten materials which I haven't seen posted around, not as trigger-quickly as the portraits and photos from the book anyway!

But first, I want this to be visible at the top - big love and thank you to the loveliest @justlike-awoman ❤ for helping me get this boxset, and the cutesy bonuses in the package, and the support for literally anything I do in this fandom, you are an absolute star babe 🥰✨

What I've done, apart from buying the boxset 💸 is take amateur photos and put on amateur filters on them. There's no way I'm splitting the book spine to press it face down on a proper scanner, so this is the best you'll get. I tried to edit them to make them look clearer but again, amateur filters, so manage your expectations. But if there's a specific bit you want to see much clearer let me know!

Also a heads up, they're not all new, like some of Roger's diary entries have been posted online and some of Freddie's scribbles are from Sotheby's. Still, I'll put them on here with context - these headings and descriptions are mostly taken as they are from the book.

So yes, this is for the "I'm not buying the boxset, I'm sure someone will post them online" crowd. As of now I am that someone, so while I'm fully aware I don't own the copyrights, if you're reposting these anywhere (I prefer these don't get reposted at all but doesn't seem like I have a choice these days), I would greatly appreciate being mentioned for sharing. I've been having issues with reposters who only ever take without any credits or a thanks, saying they don't remember where they got their stuff from (but they suddenly do when they find out I block them for reposting... so welp.)

Anyway! LONG POST warning. Click images then open in new tab to enlarge. I hope those of you interested in these will enjoy! 🥰

To start, here is Roger's diary entry dated May 27th 1970, that we've seen before, deciding that Queen was the best name for the band.

My Fairy King

The first time Queen's music was ever broadcast anywhere in the world was My Fairy King. On Feb 15th 1973, John Peel played a BBC session version of the song on his Radio 1 "Sounds of the Seventies" evening program. This is in the boxset on Disc 5.

Below is Freddie's handwritten lyrics for the song.

The Imperial College gigs (1970 - 1973)

August 1970 - This has circulated before. Roger's hand-drawn invitation for a show in a lecture theatre at Imperial College, to an invited audience of around 100 people. This, in August 1970, is their first ever London show. Two songs from this show are in Disc 6 of the boxset (Jesus and I'm A Man) and are taken from the earliest Queen recording in existence.

July 18th, 1971 - This invitation (titled inked by Freddie, text by Roger) was for a second private show in the Imperial College lecture theatre (another photo caption mentions it's in the Mechanical Engineering building), where the band had been rehearsing.

The handwritten agreement below (signed by Brian) for the use of the room confirms the show's date. The show was attended by John Anthony who will later produce their first album.

November 2nd 1973 - Here is another diary entry from Roger following their performance at Imperial College Main Hall in the Beit (Imperial College Union) building. Unlike the previous private shows, this was for a paying audience of around 1,000 people (30p admission price). This show earned the band's first live review by Rosie Horide for Disc Magazine. (Having to turn away people at the door must have been such a flex!)

The Black and the White Distinctively

Black/white became the band's recurring theme as they play other gigs in this era, such as Cornwall on August 21st 1971 (their first outdoor gig at Tregye Hotel, Carnon Downs, Truro) and a dance at King's College Hospital in London on 10th March 1972.

One of the gigs they did before those was for a Balls Park College Show in Hertford, Hertfordshire, on November 14th 1970. Here is Roger's diary entry on that show, confirming that they received £50 for the show (supposedly significant for that time!)

The accounting letter from the college is below signed by Brian, and afterwards he did the accounting to split it with the band.

De Lane Lea Studios (Dec 1971 - Jan 1972)

Queen recorded their demos at De Lane Lea on 16-track analogue tapes, including the following songs. Below is Freddie's handwritten lyrics for Jesus.

Here is Brian's original lyric sketch for The Night Comes Down, which was the only song in the album recorded in De Lane Lea studio, Wembley, with engineer Louis Austin. The band decided to add this demo recording (remixed at Trident) at the last minute, hoping the Trident owners (the Sheffield Brothers, also Queen's managers) wouldn't notice, and they got away with it.

Lastly, here is Freddie's lyrics of Great King Rat.

Live at the Marquee (1971 - 1973)

Queen performed four times at this venue during this period.

This is Freddie's lyrics for Mad The Swine which was supposed to be the fourth song on the debut LP in an early version of the tracklist, but it didn't make it there until it resurfaced as a bonus track in 1991. The boxset version of the album puts it in its original place.

Next is Freddie's lyrics for Hangman, one of the first songs written and rehearsed in the band's early days. It only ever featured in live sets and no studio recording of it exists. It's now released in CD 6 of the boxset, recorded from the last night of the US tour in early 1976.

Also regular songs played live during that era are Modern Times Rock 'n Roll, Song and Daughter, and Doing All Right. Here are their handwritten lyrics by Roger, Brian, and Freddie respectively.

April 9th 1973 - Jac Holzman, founder of Elektra Records, attended and later signed the band to the label. Here is Roger's diary entry on that show, also saying there was a lot of nervous energy because there were too many people attending that he knew (I am mentally giving him a hug).

Keep Yourself Alive - Debut Single Release July 1973

Brian's original lyric draft for the song is below (left), containing some ideas he later discarded and replaced. Meanwhile, here is Freddie's "singing copy" separately (right), as apparently he found it helpful to sing from a song sheet in his own handwriting (I too would need my own copy if I had to read Brian's scribbles - I don't blame him!)

Brian also made handwritten notation and lyrics for the song.

Queen Debut Album Release - July 13th 1973

Here is Brian's original rough sketch for the cover of the album. The original source photograph was shot by Douglas Puddifoot during the band's show at the Marquee on December 20th 1972.

Brian worked on paper prints and cut out the image of Freddie with a scalpel, then pasting it on an enlarged print of the spotlight part of the picture, assembled on a 24-inch square wooden board and then re- photographed. The back cover collage was made in a similar way, but the original boards disappeared from an EMI archive sometime later and never resurfaced. 💔

On Tour with Mott the Hoople

Queen's first tour opening for Mott the Hoople began in November 1973 around the UK. One of the shows was in Central Hall, Chatham on December 2nd 1973, when Roger, Brian, and Freddie joined Mott the Hoople to sing backing vocals on All the Young Dudes and Roll Away the Stone for the encore.

Here is Roger's diary entry from that day.

During this tour, Brian also wrote brief impressions of the shows they were playing, handwritten on a folded up Queen poster. Here are his notes from eight of their shows.

Headline Performance

Queen had been rehearsing not only for their Mott tour but also as they finally started to tour for the first time as a headlining act, promoted by Mel Bush.

This is Roger's diary entry dated July 8th 1973, when they had been rehearsing in Fulham, around the time their single and album were getting released.

US Album Release on Elektra

Elektra Records released Queen's debut album in September 1973, with a different color for the album cover (slightly pink/red) for release in their territories including North America and Japan. On their first run, the Queen logo and the crest on the back were embossed in gold foil. The slogans "British Rock in the Royal Tradition" and "Queen Has Arrived." were used for their promotion.

While EMI enver released a second single, Elektra released an edited-down Liar as a follow up single, in February 1974, as a follow up to Keep Yourself Alive. (I consider this unofficially the second single, since Roger mentioned in a recent interview that the band wanted The Night Comes Down as a third single but it didn't happen).

Here is Freddie's handwritten lyrics for Liar (left), and his arrangement notes for the song (right).

Lastly, here is a music chart handwritten by Freddie for Liar and Jesus. It was noted that this was not Queen's normal way of notating music, because Freddie's usual method to plan harmonies was to write the names of the notes in block.

And that is all for this post! That's... virtually half of the boxset book so you are welcome. Thank you if you've made it this far and I hope it was useful! I prefer if you don't repost but if you do, please don't forget to credit for sharing. ❤

[cultivating-wildflowers]

2024 Reading - October

I didn't set out to read quite so many eerie books this month, but about halfway through the month I gave up and leaned into the theme, partly because I was struggling to really focus on anything--as evidenced by the volume of books read via audio.

Total books: 11  |  New reads: 11  |   2024 TBR completed: 4 (0 DNF) / 33/36 total   |   2024 Reading Goal: 74/100

September | November

potential reading list from October 1st

#1 - The Republic of Pirates : Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down by Colin Woodard - 3/5 stars ('24 TBR, audio)

Well-organized as a historical account of a specific time period, and full of detail--perhaps too full at times. The author opens with the intention of focusing on three pirates (Blackbeard, Black Sam Bellamy, and a third whose name I've honestly forgotten) and one man opposed to them (Woodes Rogers). However, the sheer volume of names, dates, historical accounts, and side characters overwhelms any more focused narrative. Woodes Rogers hardly seemed to feature in most of the story, and where he was present, he didn't seem that important to proceedings. Blackbeard and Bellamy both have their time in the spotlight, but then it's back to the jumble with them.

As a sweeping look at the golden age of piracy and even everyday life in the early 18th century in much of the world, it's a decent account (and this is what I went into it seeking). If you want a biography of a specific pirate like Blackbeard or Black Sam or that other guy, or even of Woodes Rogers, it falls somewhat flat.

Note: Probably this would have been easier to follow in printed form; while the narrator for the audiobook is great, there're just so. many. lists. Names, dates, ships, cargoes, places, meetings.... So many.

#2 - Manners and Monsters by Tilly Wallace - 2/5 stars (audio)

This book has three things going for it: 1) Zombies and other supernatural creatures in Regency London; 2) Decent historical accuracy in Regency London; 3) Good pacing.

The negatives are largely rooted in the fact that this book probably thinks it has an enemies-to-lovers arc. It does not. What it has on one side is Wycliff, a whiny, self-important womanizer who is made out as brooding and damaged and only in need of the right woman to tame him. On the other hand, it has Hannah, a woman who is reasonably put off by Wycliff's attitude and lack of basic civility. They only manage to reconcile because she's desperate for male attention (tell me again how poor and plain and unloved you are, please, it's been a whole chapter since the last time) and he decides she's the only woman he's ever met who isn't shallow and prattling and unworthy of his respect as a gentleman.

This is not to say Hannah is blameless. Apart from her fixation on her status as an unmarriageable 22-year-old with good connections, she's just annoyingly inconsistent. One minute she's a wallflower who's just happy to be useful and the next she's the cleverest girl in all of London and no one can touch her.

And then there's the writing, wherein the readers are treated like idiots who can't put together a 10-piece puzzle of a picture of farm animals. All character reasoning was spelled out, all breaks in the murder investigation repeated ad nauseam so we didn't miss them. And any time marriage or men were mentioned, we were reminded that Hannah was going to die alone and unloved, but she was making the best of it. The final reveal about the murderer was the only real twist, and I'd argue that the narration had previously suggested the answer was practically impossible.

Read North and South for a better handling of whatever character dynamic this book tried to present. Read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies if you're here for the supernatural elements in Regency England. Don't read this book.

#3 - The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton - 4/5 stars ('24 TBR, audio)

Wharton's writing is breathtaking. The story itself, exploring the intricacies of high society is 1870's New York, was fascinating. No sympathy for Archer from me, naturally, but I still enjoyed the story as a whole.

#4 - Small Spaces by Katherine Arden - 4/5 stars ('24 TBR, audio)

Ooooo, this was much spookier than I was expected. I don't remember the last MG horror story that had me quietly stressing out like this. (I recommended it to Kenzie before I'd even finished.)

The narrator left much to be desired. Would not recommend the audiobook.

#5 - The Turn of the Screw by Henry James - 5/5 stars (audio)

Ahahahahaha what.

More like this: "Jane Eyre" and (probably; I don't remember it) "Wuthering Heights"; also the beginning (like the first half) reminded me, weirdly, of The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place. That...did not last.

#6 - The Light Princess by George MacDonald - 3/5 stars (audio)

When I added this short story to my list, I thought it was going to be an extended version of the fairy tale "Little Daylight" that was in At the Back of the North Wind. It's not, but it was still a solid fairy tale I could see myself reading to my nieces when they're older.

#7 - The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman - 4/5 stars ('24 TBR)

So short I feel funny counting it but here we are.

And it's just as creepy as I was expecting.

#8 - The Stone Road by Trent Jamieson - 4/5 stars (audio)

This was gorgeous. Yes, it was helped by the Aussie narrator, but the story itself--the slow and vivid unveiling of their world, the dangers that abound, the quest to conquer those dangers, even the sorrow--was an absolute treat. It's a post-apocalyptic horror driven by hope! So, so easy to fall into. Perfect pacing and a fantastic narrative voice. I was not expecting to love this one like I did. The only reason it doesn't get five stars is because the characterization was a bit odd and felt inconsistent at places, especially with side characters; and a character was introduced very close to the end who didn't seem to serve any purpose at all.

There's also a related novel, actually released several years before The Stone Road, that features the aforementioned character who turns up near the end of this book. I gotta see if I can find a copy.

(Note: Some reviews say this is difficult to read on account of...creative grammatical choices, suggesting it needed polishing. I cannot confirm this.)

More like this: it felt like a blend of "Sabriel" and the Tiffany Aching series of Discworld novels, with a young student learning their dangerous and vital trade at the feet of a respected master. There's something like the inherited necromancy of Sabriel and something like the rich, marrow-deep instinctive magic of Tiffany. Jean isn't exactly like Tiffany or Sabriel in personality, though she is clever and stubborn. It also feels a little like the earlier Earthsea novels, that feeling of watching the legend of a great hero unfold.

#9 - Zero G by Dan Wells - 4/5 stars (audio)

I picked up this audiobook during a promotion on Audible years and years ago and remembered it recently while browsing for something to listen to. A little over 4 hours, MG in space, and a "Z" title? Why not?

Reviews say this is "Home Alone in space". Having never seen "Home Alone", I'll have to take their word for it. It was surprisingly fun either way, with a good balance of sci-fi, danger, and comedy. Definitely something I'd recommend to kids in the right audience age range.

More like this: It felt a bit like "The Last Cuentista" but leaning into the levity more than the horror that surrounds "Cuentista".

#10 - Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett - 4/5 stars

Good as ever. Granny's a Top Five Discworld character for me, and I love her dynamic with Nanny and Magrat.

And Greebo.

#11 - The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (audio) - 5/5 stars

Predictably chilling. I loved the build-up. We know the house is haunted. We know it is dangerous. But it's still terrifying.

DNF:

The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead by Max Brooks - Fun concept but bland delivery. I was hoping for a smidge of a narrative throughline.

Zeroboxer by Fonda Lee - Admittedly a desperate attempt to get that "Z" title. Had potential until the MC's hormones took the wheel halfway through.

The Sisters of Straygarden Place by Haley Chewins - Fluffy writing full of weird metaphors and similes for every description. It bogged down the pacing big time.

Blindsight by Peter Watts - Picked a book at random from my TBR to listen to, got 15% of the way in, and decided I had no idea what was happening and no interest in continuing. Possibly this would have been easier to follow in print form? Confusing all around. Also very weird about autism.

The Lighthouse at the End of the World by Jules Verne, translated by William Butcher - I've read and enjoyed other works by Verne, but this one was an absolute slog. Not sure if it's down to the translation or the fact that the story was edited and published posthumously. I will say the edition I picked up would be a treat for someone wanting to come at this from more of a research angle. There are extensive notes about translation choices, notes Verne left in his manuscript, and a lot of "Verne said this in the text, but in the real world this makes absolutely no sense", which was lots of fun. (Note: This was my 40th DNF of the year....)

Currently Reading:

Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett - I'm about two-thirds of the way through this one. I tried so hard to finish it by the end of the month but didn't quite manage it.

Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger - Just started this one and I'm loving it so far!

[clarktooncrossing]

Didn't Wanna Feel Older in 2024? TOO LATE!

So long, 2023! You have been a weird-@$$ year to say the least. Between by having to repair old thumb drives, purchase a new printer, finding out I'm susceptible to anxiety attacks, trying out dating for the first time, getting my Discord and Steam account hacked, starting a new Discord server since said account was never unhacked, opened myself up to commissions, managed to post art for Halloween, got Covid, summoned more Kaijus to play an elaborate game of poker, and had a merry enough Christmas. Here's hoping 2024 will prove better. At the moment I have no new goals, since I just want to relax after four months of constantly being active. There's a mile of books, movies, and TV shows I need to get caught up on! My opinions on all of them will be given in future Giraffe's Eye Views, but for now let's get to what you all came here for: yet another unnecessarily long list of things celebrating major milestones this year!

You all loved it when I did this last year. In fact it got more attention that anything else I posted, including the original art I put way more effort and time into. Nah, that didn't sting at all. Seeing my sketches get ignored is so much fun. Passive-aggressive joking aside, I do still love making these lists, so let's get started with some major stuff this year.

Thanksgiving wasn't too long ago, so why not mention that the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade turns 100 this year? I know, that's insane! Watching this festive event has become a seasonal staple in my house and is the only reason I've ever signed up for Peacock. Thank goodness in all those years it hasn't been smashed by a giant monster.

Godzilla turns 70 freak'n years old this year! How crazy insane is that? Here's hoping his old age won't slow him down when he teams up with King Kong this April. Even if it does, Gojira will continue being cinema's coolest character!

Contrasting with the King of the Monsters, Mary Poppins turns 60 years old this year. This movie, considered to be Walt's last masterpiece, has aged considerably well even after all this time.

Oh yeah, and Mickey Mouse enters the public domain this year. Still not entirely sure how that works, but whatever. What I do know is...

Anything from 1974 turns 50 this year. That includes-

The Fort Wilderness Resort (January 1st)

Happy Days (January 15th)

Blazing Saddles (February 7th)

"Waterloo" by ABBA (March 4th)

“Sundown” by Gordon Lightfoot (March 25th)

"Rikki Don't Lose That Number" by Steely Dan (April 25th)

Herbie Rides Again (June 6th)

"Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd (June 24th)

America Sings (June 29th)

Gone in 60 Seconds (July 28th)

Hong Kong Phooey (September 7th)

Shazam! (TV series) (September 7th)

Little House on the Prairie (September 11th)

Wolverine debuted in The Incredible Hulk #180 (October)

Arkham Asylum makes its first appearance in Batman #258 (October)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (October 11th)

Phantom of the Paradise (October 31st)

Earthquake (November 15th)

The Year Without a Santa Claus (December 10th)

Young Frankenstein (December 15th)

The Godfather Part II (December 20th)

Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, Too! (December 20th)

The Island at the Top of the World (December 20th)

An Adaptation of Dickens' Christmas Carol, Performed by The Walt Disney Players

“Bennie and the Jets” by Elton John

"Hooked On A Feeling" by Blue Swede

“The Loco-Motion” by Grand Funk Railroad

Anything from 1979 turns 45 this year. That includes-

Captain America (The TV movie) (January 19th)

The Dukes of Hazzard (January 26th)

The Warriors (February 9th)

John Carpenter's Elvis (February 11th)

Hair (March 14th)

"In the Navy" by the Village People (March 17th)

The Bad News Bears (March 24th)

Phantasm (March 28th)

"We Are Family" by Sister Sledge (April)

Nickelodeon (April 1st)

"Boogie Wonderland" by Earth, Wind, & Fire (May 6th)

Alien (May 25th)

Rocky II (June 15th)

"My Sharona" by The Knacks (June 18th)

The Muppet Movie (June 22nd) - THIS MOVIE SLAPS!

The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (June 27th)

The Amityville Horror (July 27th)

"Highway to Hell" by AC/DC (July 27th)

Apocalypse Now (August 15th)

"Don't Bring Me Down" by Electric Light Orchestra (August 24th)

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (September 2nd)

The Bugs Bunny / Road Runner Movie (September 14th)

Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (September 22nd)

Spider-Woman (TV show) (September 22nd)

The Black Stallion (October 17th)

Atari's Asteroids (November)

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (November 6th)

Pink Floyd's The Wall (November 30th)

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (December 7th)

1971 (December 14th)

The Jerk (December 14th)

The Black Hole (December 20th)

Mickey Mouse Disco

Anything from 1984 turns 40 this year. That includes-

The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man (January)

Night Court (January 4th)

"Rock You Like a Hurricane" by Scorpions (February 3rd)

Footloose (February 17th)

Nintendo's Punch-Out!! (February 17th)

"Eat It" by Weird Al Yankovic (February 28th)

Splash (March 9th)

Children of the Corn (March 9th)

Run DMC (March 27th)

Romancing the Stone (March 30th)

The Toxic Avenger (April 11th)

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (April 13th)

My Little Pony: Rescue at Midnight Castle (April 14th)

"We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister (April 27th)

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Franchise (May)

Marvel's Secret Wars (May)

Spider-Man's Black Suit debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man #252 (May)

"What's Love Got to Do with It" by Tina Turner (May 1st)

WHAM!'s Make It Big (May 14th)

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (May 23rd)

Once Upon a Time in America (June 1st)

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (June 1st)

Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. (June 4th)

Ghostbusters (June 8th)

Gremlins (June 8th)

The Karate Kid (June 22nd)

Prince's Purple Rain (June 25th)

Conan the Destroyer (June 29th)

The Last Starfighter (July 13th)

The Muppets Take Manhattan (July 13th)

The NeverEnding Story (July 20th)

The Adventures of Andre & Wally B. (July 25th)

Dragon's Lair (TV show) (September 8th)

Voltron (September 10th)

Muppet Babies (September 15th)

Miami Vice (September 16th)

The Transformers Franchise (September 17th)

Murder, She Wrote (September 30th)

Thomas & Friends (October 9th)

Fist of the North Star (anime) (October 11th)

"We Belong" by Pat Benatar (October 16th)

The Terminator (October 26th)

"Like a Virgin" by Madonna (October 31st)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (November 16th)

Supergirl (movie) (November 21st)

Beverly Hills Cop (December 5th)

Hydlide (December 13th)

Starman (December 14th)

Frankenweenie (December 14th)

Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (December 19th)

The Country Bear Christmas Special (December 19th)

Anything from 1989 turns 35 this year. That includes-

The Arsenio Hall Show (January 3rd)

Gotham by Gaslight (February)

SimCity (February)

LJN's Friday the 13th for NES (February)

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (February 17th)

The Toxic Avenger Part II (February 24th)

"Like a Prayer" by Madonna (March 3rd)

Quantum Leap (March 26th)

The Jim Henson Hour (April 14th)

Ranma 1/2 (April 15th)

Pet Sematary (April 21st)

Nintendo's Super Mario Land (April 21st)

Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever (April 24th)

Dragon Ball Z (April 26th)

Disney's Hollywood Studios (formally Disney-MGM Studios) (May 1st)

Disney's Pleasure Island (May 1st)

The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (May 7th)

Konami's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for NES (May 12th)

Road House (May 19th)

"Bust a Move" by Young MC (May 22nd)

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (May 24th)

Typhoon Lagoon (June 1st)

Dead Poets Society (June 9th)

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (June 9th)

Tales from the Crypt (June 10th)

Ghostbusters II (June 16th)

Roger Rabbit in Tummy Trouble (June 23rd)

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (June 23rd)

Tim Burton's Batman (June 23rd)

The Karate Kid Part III (June 30th)

Do the Right Thing (June 30th)

Weekend at Bernie's (July 5th)

Seinfeld (July 5th)

Lethal Weapon 2 (July 7th)

When Harry Met Sally… (July 14th)

Splash Mountain (July 17th)

UHF (July 21st)

Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (July 28th)

Kiki's Delivery Service (July 29th)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (August 11th)

"Pump Up the Jam" by Technotronic (August 18th)

Saved by the Bell (August 20th)

"The Best" by Tina Turner (August 21st)

Little Monsters (August 25th)

LJN's Back to the Future on NES (September)

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (September 4th)

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! (September 4th)

American Gladiators (September 9th)

Captain N: The Game Master (September 9th)

Beetlejuice: The Animated Series (September 9th)

LJN's Who Framed Roger Rabbit for NES (September 14th)

Capcom's DuckTales for NES (September 14th)

Doogie Howser, M.D (September 19th)

Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 (September 19th)

Baywatch (September 22nd)

Family Matters (September 22nd)

Penn & Teller Get Killed (September 22nd)

Capcom's DuckTales for NES (October)

Neil Young's Freedom (October 2nd)

Prince of Persia for Apple II (October 3rd)

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (October 13th)

The Little Mermaid (November 17th)

All Dogs Go to Heaven (November 17th)

Prancer (November 17th)

Back to the Future Part II (November 22nd)

The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie (November 24th)

America's Funniest Home Videos (November 26th)

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (December 1st)

The Wizard (December 15th)

The Simpsons (December 17th)

Konami's Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse on NES (December 22nd)

Fester's Quest for NES

Anything from 1994 turns 30 this year. That includes-

You're in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown (January 18th)

The Critic (January 26th)

Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin (January 26th)

"Baby, I Love Your Way" by Big Mountain (February 1st)

Green Day's Dookie (February 1st)

Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog 3 for Genesis (February 2nd)

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (February 4th)

Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? (February 5th)

Aladdin: The Series (February 6th)

The Busy World of Richard Scarry (March 9th)

Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (March 18th)

Nintendo's Super Metroid for SNES (March 19th)

Food Rocks (March 26th)

Thumbelina (March 30th)

Final Fantasy VI (April 2nd)

Space Ghost Coast to Coast (April 15th)

All That (April 16th)

Doom II for MS-DOS (May 5th)

The Stand (May 8th)

Weezer's Blue Album (May 10th)

The Crow (May 13th)

The Return of Jafar and Disney Direct-to-Home Sequels as a whole (May 20th)

Beverly Hills Cop III (May 25th)

The Flintstones (May 27th)

Speed (June 10th)

The Lion King (June 15th)

Forrest Gump (July 6th)

Angels in the Outfield (July 15th)

True Lies (July 15th)

Black Beauty (July 29th)

The Mask (July 29th)

The Little Rascals (August 5th)

"Cotton Eye Joe" by Rednex (August 12th)

EarthBound for SNES (August 27th)

VR Troopers (September 3rd)

Street Sharks (September 7th)

The Magic School Bus (September 10th)

The Tick (September 10th)

Quiz Show (September 14th)

Léon: The Professional (September 14th)

Tekken (September 21st)

Friends (September 22nd)

The Shawshank Redemption (September 23rd)

Ed Wood (September 27th)

Earthworm Jim (October)

Spider-Man's Infamous Clone Saga (October)

A Troll in Central Park (October 7th)

Pulp Fiction (October 14th)

Wes Craven's New Nightmare (October 14th)

Sega's Sonic & Knuckles for Genesis (October 18th)

Clerks (October 19th)

Aaahh!!! Real Monsters (October 22nd)

Gargoyles (October 24th)

Gullah Gullah Island (October 24th)

Killer Instinct (October 28th)

Mortal Kombat II (November)

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (November 4th)

In Search of Dr. Seuss (November 6th)

The Santa Clause (November 11th)

Rare's Donkey Kong Country for SNES (November 18th)

Miracle on 34th Street remake (November 18th)

Star Trek Generations (November 18th)

The Swan Princess (November 18th)

Spider-Man: The Animated Series (November 19th)

Disney's Greatest Hits on Ice (November 25th)

Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger (December 12th)

The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure (December 13th)

Dumb and Dumber (December 16th)

Richie Rich (December 21st)

Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (December 25th)

Anything from 1999 turns 25 this year. That includes-

Ed, Edd n Eddy (January 4th)

Batman Beyond (January 10th)

The Sopranos (January 10th)

Jon Stewart becomes host of The Daily Show (January 11th)

Disney's All-Star Movies Resort (January 15th)

Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. for N64 (January 21st)

Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century (and a crap load of other Disney Channel Original movies for that matter) (January 23rd)

Zoboomafoo (January 25th)

"My Name Is" by Eminem (January 25th)

Family Guy (January 31st)

Square's Final Fantasy VIII for PS1 (February 11th)

The Planet's Funniest Animals (February 17th)

October Sky (February 19th)

Office Space (February 19th)

Konami's Silent Hill for PS1 (February 23rd)

Batman: No Man's Land (March)

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (March)

Pepsiman for PS1 (March 4th)

Test Trak (March 17th)

RollerCoaster Tycoon (March 22nd)

Doug's 1st (and only) Movie (March 26th)

"Livin' la Vida Loca" by Ricky Martin (March 27th)

The Matrix (March 31st)

"I Want It That Way" by The Backstreet Boys (April 12th)

"What's My Age Again?" by blink-182 (April 13th)

Mickey Mouse Works (May 1st)

SpongeBob SquarePants (May 1st)

The Mummy (May 7th)

"Genie in a Bottle" by Christina Aguilera (May 11th)

Aliens Versus Predator (game) (May 13th)

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (May 19th)

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (ride) (June 4th)

Disney Sing Along Songs: Flik's Musical Adventure at Disney's Animal Kingdom (June 8th)

Smash Mouth's Astro Lounge and their hit "All Star" (June 8th)

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (June 11th)

Tarzan (June 18th)

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (June 30th)

Wild Wild West (June 30th)

American Pie (July 9th)

The Blair Witch Project (July 14th)

Muppets from Space (July 14th)

Eyes Wide Shut (July 16th)

Inspector Gadget (July 23rd)

Deep Blue Sea (July 28th)

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith (July 29th)

The Iron Giant (August 6th)

The Sixth Sense (August 6th)

Rocket Power (August 16th)

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (the American version) (August 16th)

Dragon Tales (September 6th)

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (September 20th)

The West Wing (September 22nd)

Capcom's Resident Evil 3: Nemesis for PS1 (September 22nd)

Freaks and Geeks (September 25th)

Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein (September 28th)

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (September 29th)

Journey into YOUR Imagination (October 1st)

The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (October 1st)

Spider-Man Unlimited (October 2nd)

Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost (October 5th)

Fight Club (October 15th)

Namco's Pac-Man World (October 15th)

The Amanda Show (October 16th)

The Nuttiest Nutcracker (October 19th)

Grand Theft Auto 2 (October 22nd)

Ubisoft's Rayman 2: The Great Escape (October 29th)

Insomniac's Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! for PS1 (November 2nd)

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas (November 9th)

Courage the Cowardly Dog (November 12th)

Square's Chrono Cross for PS1 (November 18th)

Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow (November 19th)

Nintendo's Pokémon Gold and Silver for Gameboy Advance (November 21st)

Toy Story 2 (November 24th)

Fantasia 2000 (December 17th)

Stuart Little (December 17th)

Wakko's Wish (December 21st)

Man on the Moon (December 22nd)

Galaxy Quest (December 25th)

Asia at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Anything from 2004 turns 20 this year. That includes-

Winnie the Pooh: Un-Valentine's Day (January 6th)

Teacher's Pet: The Movie (January 16th)

The Butterfly Effect (January 23rd)

The Lion King 1 1/2 (February 9th)

50 First Dates (February 13th)

Power Rangers Dino Thunder (February 14th)

"Somewhere Only We Know" by Keane (February 16th)

Clifford's Really Big Movie (February 20th)

Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures for Gamecube (March 18th)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (March 19th)

Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (March 26th)

Home on the Range (April 2nd)

Danny Phantom (April 3rd) - Screw Butch Hartman, but this show still rocks!

Hellboy (April 2nd)

Ella Enchanted (April 9th)

Kill Bill: Volume 2 (April 16th)

Nintendo's Pikmin 2 for Gamecube (April 29th)

Super Size Me (May 7th)

Van Helsing (May 7th)

Shrek 2 (May 19th)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (May 31st)

Marvel Knights: Spider-Man (June)

DC's Identity Crisis (June)

Garfield: The Movie (June 11th)

Napoleon Dynamite (June 11th)

"My Happy Ending" by Avril Lavigne (June 14th)

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (June 18th)

Phil of the Future (June 18th)

The Notebook (June 25th)

Spider-Man 2 (June 30th)

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (July 9th)

"Breakaway" by Kelly Clarkson (July 19th)

Nintendo's Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for Gamecube (July 22nd)

Catwoman (July 23rd)

The Bourne Supremacy (July 23rd)

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (July 30th)

Justice League Unlimited (July 31st)

Blue's Room (August 2nd)

Alien vs. Predator (film) (August 13th)

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (August 13th)

Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers (August 17th)

Brandy & Mr. Whiskers (August 21st)

The Batman (show) (September 11th)

Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide (September 12th)

Higglytown Heroes (September 13th)

Sly 2: Band of Thieves for PS2 (September 14th)

Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! (September 18th)

Star Wars: Battlefront (September 21st)

Green Day's American Idiot (September 21st)

Lost (September 22nd)

Shark Tale (October 1st)

Drew Carey's Green Screen Show (October 7th)

Surviving Christmas (October 22nd)

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (October 26th)

Saw (October 29th)

Insomniac's Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal for PS2 (November 2nd)

The Incredibles (November 5th)

Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas (November 9th)

Halo 2 (November 9th)

Naughty Dog's Jak 3 for PS2 (November 9th)

The Polar Express (November 10th)

The Sims 2 (November 14th)

Stitch's Great Escape (November 16th)

Turtle Talk with Crush (November 16th)

Kangaroo Jack: G'Day U.S.A.! (November 16th)

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines (November 16th)

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (November 17th)

Half-Life 2 (November 18th)

National Treasure (November 19th)

Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi (November 19th)

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (November 19th)

Howl's Moving Castle (November 20th)

Nintendo DS (November 21st)

World of Warcraft (November 23rd)

Christmas with the Kranks (November 24th)

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II (December 6th)

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories for Gameboy Advance (December 7th)

PlayStation Portable (PSP) (December 12th)

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (December 17th)

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (December 25th)

Shaun of the Dead

Anything from 2009 turns 15 this year. That includes-

Hotel for Dogs (January 16th)

Wolverine and the X-Men (January 23rd)

Paul Blart: Mall Cop (January 16th)

Coraline (February 6th)

Friday the 13th (remake) (February 13th)

Halo Wars (February 26th)

Sega's Sonic and the Black Knight for Wii (March 3th)

Capcom's Resident Evil 5 (March 5th)

Zack Snyder's Watchmen (March 6th)

Power Rangers RPM (March 7th)

Race to Witch Mountain (March 13th)

The Secret of Kells (March 19th)

Monsters vs. Aliens (March 27th)

Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? (April 2009)

Special Agent Oso (April 4th)

Parks and Recreation (April 9th)

Dragonball Evolution (April 10th)

Iron Man: Armored Adventures (April 24th)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (May 1st)

Plants vs. Zombies (May 5th)

Star Trek (remake) (May 8th)

Terminator Salvation (May 21st)

The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story (May 22nd)

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (May 22nd)

Up (May 29th)

The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (June 1st)

The Sims 3 (June 2nd)

The Hangover (June 5th)

Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings (June 9th)

"I Gotta Feeling" by Black Eyed Peas (June 15th)

Ghostbusters: The Video Game (June 16th)

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (June 24th)

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (July 1st)

"Fireflies" by Owl City (July 14th)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July 15th)

G-Force (July 24th)

(500) Days of Summer (August 7th)

District 9 (August 14th)

The Time Traveler's Wife (August 14th)

Inglourious Basterds (August 21st)

Batman: Arkham Asylum (August 25th)

Rob Zombie's Halloween II (August 28th)

Disney buys Marvel for $4 billion (August 3st)

Waking Sleeping Beauty (September 6th)

Dinosaur Train (September 7th)

Walt & El Grupo (September 9th)

9 (September 9th)

The Vampire Diaries (September 10th)

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (September 15th)

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (September 18th)

Jennifer's Body (September 18th)

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (September 29th) - Still the dumbest name ever 15 years later.

Zombieland (October 2nd)

Where the Wild Things Are (October 16th)

Borderlands (October 20th)

DJ Hero (October 27th)

A Christmas Carol (November 6th)

Fanboy & Chum Chum (November 6th) - BOO! This show was the actual worst!

Fantastic Mr. Fox (November 13th)

Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues (November 17th)

Left 4 Dead 2 (November 17th)

Assassin's Creed II (November 17th)

Planet 51 (November 20th)

The Twilight Saga: New Moon (November 20th) - YUK!

Turtles Forever (November 21st)

Big Time Rush (November 28th)

Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation! (December 6th)

Prep & Landing (December 8th)

The Princess and the Frog (December 11th)

Avatar (December 18th)

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (December 23rd)

RuPaul's Drag Race

Minecraft

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Anything from 2014 turns 10 this year. That includes-

True Detective (January 12th)

The Lego Movie (February 7th)

South Park: The Stick of Truth (March 4th)

Mr. Peabody & Sherman (March 7th)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (March 7th)

Dark Souls II (March 11th)

Muppets Most Wanted (March 21st)

Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge (March 25th)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (April 4th)

Rio 2 (April 11th)

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (April 26th)

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (May 2nd)

Chef (May 9th)

Godzilla (May 16th)

X-Men: Days of Future Past (May 23rd)

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (May 28th)

Maleficent (May 30th)

Edge of Tomorrow (June 6th)

The Fault in Our Stars (June 6th)

Phineas and Ferb Save Summer (June 9th)

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (June 13th)

Shovel Knight (June 26th)

Transformers: Age of Extinction (June 27th)

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (July 11th)

Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie (July 21st)

Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars (July 26th)

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers's Hypnotic Eye (July 28th)

Guardians of the Galaxy (August 1st)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (movie) (August 8th)

Five Nights at Freddy's (August 8th)

P.T. (August 12th)

BoJack Horseman (August 22nd)

Destiny (September 9th)

Gotham (September 22nd)

Disney Infinity: 2.0 Edition (September 23rd)

Black-ish (September 24th)

How to Get Away with Murder (September 25th)

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks (September 27th)

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor (September 20th)

Star Wars Rebels (October 3rd)

Annabelle (October 3rd)

Gone Girl (October 3rd)

Alien: Isolation (October 6th)

The Flash (October 7th)

BİRDMAN or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (October 17th)

The Book of Life (October 17th)

John Wick (October 24th)

Taylor Swift's 1989 (October 27th)

Sunset Overdrive (October 28th)

Interstellar (November 5th)

Big Hero 6 (November 7th)

Assassin's Creed Unity (November 11th)

Far Cry 4 (November 18th)

Penguins of Madagascar (November 28th)

Toy Story That Time Forgot (December 2nd)

Peter Pan Live! (December 4th)

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (December 17th)

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (December 19th)

Wow, that took forever to type. Chances are I missed something, so if something you enjoy is hitting a major milestone this year, leave it in the comments below!

MAY THE GLASSES BE WITH YOU!

[scotianostra]

November 13th 1850 saw the birth of Robert Louis Stevenson in Edinburgh.

As the author of such classics as Treasure Island, Kidnapped and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Stevenson is known the world over, instead of reeling off the usual facts about the life of the man I thought I would dig up some facts that are not so well known.

When Stevenson first wrote Treasure Island, he submitted his stories under nom-de-plume of Captain George North to a children's periodical called Young Folks.

He may have invented the sleeping bag; according to the Stevenson House website: "R.L.S. has a good claim to be the inventor of the Sleeping Bag, taking a large fleece-lined sack with him to sleep in on the journey through France described in his book Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes." For the record, his six-foot square sleeping sack was made of "green waterproof cart-cloth without and blue sheep's fur within".

Stevenson collected corselets (a sort of protective girdle) and was particularly proud of his ones from the Gilbert Island, which were designed to offer effective protection against sharks’ teeth weapons, throwing spears and European knives and bayonets. They were made of coconut fibre and decorated with human hair. They were given to him by King Tembinoka, the Tyrant of the Island of Apemama.

He had wooden teeth, when he was living in America in 1878 and pursuing the unhappily married Fanny Vandegrift Osbourne - a woman 11 years his senior - Stevenson lived in San Francisco's Chinatown. He was lonely and in poor health and while in Tubbs Hotel he had trouble with a bleeding mouth and rotten teeth. A local dentist removed all his teeth and fitted him with false wooden replacements. He married Fanny shortly afterwards.

As well as a writer, he was also a keen musician and composer, Stevenson played the piano and flageolet and wrote more than 100 original musical compositions and arrangements, including solos, duets, trios and quartet. His works include ten songs written to his own poetry.

He burnt the first draft of Jekyll & Hyde, the story was promoted by a dream he had while in Bournemouth of a "fine bogey tale", was written around the same time as Kidnapped and was partly based on Deacon Brodie, the 18th-century Edinburgh cabinetmaker. His wife Fanny complained that he had not made the allegory strong enough and he tossed the 30,000 word manuscript into the fire. Then in "a white heat", using a quill pen and ink pot, he stayed in bed for three days and wrote a new version. He would later claim that it was the worst thing he ever wrote but The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sold 40,000 copies in its first six months on sale in 1886.

Long John Silver stayed at the Royal Infirmary. Treasure Island character Long John Silver was based on poet WE Henley, who RLS frequently visited at the Royal Infirmary. Henley suffered from tuberculosis of the bone and acquired a wooden leg after having his left leg amputated in 1868.

He left a number of books unfinished before his untimely death in Samoa on December 3rd 1894. Reports at the time said he had died of "apoplexy" due to the heat. It was also described as a stroke and a cerebral haemorrhage brought on by straining to opening a jar of mayonnaise. Or a bottle of wine. No one is sure. He was only 44.

Stevenson was buried in a grand ceremony on Mount Vaea, Upolu and his tomb is inscribed with the words: “Home is the sailor, home from the sea,/And the hunter home from the hill.” On the day he died he had been dictating words for his unfinished novel The Chief Justice's Clerk. He also left behind an uncompleted novel called St Ives (the story of a French prisoner who made his escape from Edinburgh Castle), The Young Chevalier, Heathercat and Weir of Hermiston.

Stevenson wrote his own inscription on his grave, the full verse reads...

Under the wide and starry sky,

Dig the grave and let me lie.

Glad did I live and gladly die

,And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me:

Here he lies where he longed to be;

Home is the sailor, home from sea,

And the hunter home from the hill.

[archerinferelden]

☽✩☾ Welcome ☽✩☾

☽✩☾ Hi, my name is Archer, the owner of this Dragon Age themed Side-Blog (main is @archerinthevoid) I use any pronouns (they/she/it especially). I’m a lesbian. While I'm not comfortable putting my actual age, I am 20+ years old.

☽✩☾ This blog is specifically for me to talk about Dragon Age (I have yet to play The Veilguard) so I can stop annoying my friend with my multi-paragraphed Rant.

☽✩☾ I have a specific canon for my games in my head that features duel protagonists in each game (because I am an indecisive mess with the romances in these games) and most of my posts will likely revolve around that world

☽✩☾ I may or may not be planning a fanfic to chronical this canon... Likely that will not be posted until each book is written which may take a while since I plan to 100% every game with at least 1 of the protagonists. Other shorter fics may be posted here if I write them but as of right now I only really plan to post my ideas as I work on these characters and also screenshots of how pretty my characters are...

☽✩☾ Any mods I use will be mentioned as they come up because I have forgotten most of them since I downloaded them months ago and only just managed to get to playing the game

☽✩☾ Navigatgion ☽✩☾

Main blog: @archerinthevoid

Dragon Age Origins Character Introductions (edited: 18th November)

[duckprintspress]

Progress on Fulfillment for Duck Prints Press Crowdfunding Campaigns

We’ve got three crowdfunding campaigns currently in the midst of fulfillment, and we wanted to take a moment to post about our progress on each of them!

Aim For The Heart: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Alexandre Dumas’s The Three Musketeers

Our most recent campaign on Kickstarter, to fund Aim For The Heart, ended on July 15th, 2023. After some print challenges revealed in the proof copy of the book, we had to make some fairly extensive tweaks to the manuscript, and getting that completely set has taken a fair amount of time. But we’re there now – the book is done and printed, and we’re just doing some final preparation on the e-book and backer data in anticipation of packing and shipping everyone’s orders this weekend, November 18th and 19th!

Many Drops Make a Stream by Adrian Harley

We were 100% on track to fulfill Many Drops Make a Stream orders within the next week or so…and then the enamel pins arrived, after 6 or so weeks in production, with an error that makes them undistributable (the poor tiger part of Droplet has no stripes on her back and hind legs!). Everything else for this campaign is ready to go, and the pin manufacturer has been very receptive to our issue and is rushing replacements for us, but we’re still at least a few weeks from having them even if they’re expedited – manufacturing enamel-ware takes time, and they have to ship from China.

That said, because we have everything else, we will be doing some distribution shortly: namely, for people who also backed Aim For The Heart, if we can save them shipping money by combining their orders, we will do so and refund the difference in shipping cost – combining the book shipping for these individuals, and then forwarding them their pins separately, will be a big savings for them.

For everyone else, we will prepare everything we can, and as soon as we have the pins we will distribute everything. If it looks like we will not have the pins before the December holidays start, we will send out everything BUT the pins, and send out pin orders alone subsequently. We appreciate everyone’s patience as we make sure that y’all get items of the quality and accuracy that you deserve!

To Drive the Hundred Miles by Alec J. Marsh

All of the merchandise for To Drive the Hundred Miles has arrived, and it looks great. We’re almost done repackaging it and preparing it for distribution. The proof of the book arrived last week, and we’ve reviewed it and made a few necessary tweaks; we re-submitted those files to the printer yesterday, and are awaiting their confirmation so we can sign off on production of the full print run. Once it’s in the print queue, our best guess is that it’ll be roughly two weeks before it arrives at our door. At that time, we’ll be able to get everyone’s pre-orders turned around pretty quickly.

Thank you everyone for your orders with us! We’re excited to bring all three of these large projects to a close, and get amazing books into all of your hands!

And keep your eyes open, because there’s more to come – the re-release of A. L. Heard’s Hockey Bois, revised and reprinted, will open for pre-orders on December 1st, and our next Kickstarter campaign for the anthology Aether Beyond the Binary will be launching on December 26th. We also expect to run a Kickstarter campaign in February for Tris Lawrence’s Twinned trilogy, and we’ve got more in the pipeline after that! So make sure you follow us on social media, subscribe to our newsletters, back us on Patreon for sneak peeks and backer-exclusive extras, and leave us reviews on Goodreads or Storygraph!

Want one or more of these books, and/or the merchandise that goes with them, but missed out on the campaigns? Don’t despair – the books and leftover merch will become available during this coming winter! So be on the look out!

[welcome-to-the-end-of-eras]

Live Reading: The Salt Miracles

I am only doing this for The Salt Miracles and not the other stories in The Winter Spirits because it's too much effort and I'm already going insane. I'm also going in 100% blind, I have absolutely no idea what it's about or whose perspective it's following, but my lord am I nervous.

I haven't even started yet but I just realised I've been calling it The Salt Mines by accident and put it in a twitter post oops-

OOO IT'S SOMEONE NEW

I STILL HAVEN'T STARTED READING YET BUT I SAW THEM REFERENCE A PRIEST AND NOW I'M GOING INSANE I NEED TO BE SEDATED

I'm chewing on glass and gnawing at the bars of my fucking enclosure

This (not) reading is more indicative of my mental illness than my actual diagnoses

If St Hilda is a fucking asylum I'm going to commit several crimes

I already love Mhairi she's so fun

Wait why is it changing to another dude Mhairi was fun :((( ik I'll probably like Flint but Mhairi is cool and I want her to write a proper female mc for once

Wait wait wait if the salt is pink it's probably Himilayan, and that along with Russia was where Mori said there was a weird no-clairvoyance zone thing so ??? I'm going to lose my marbles

Ohh nvm it's algae, that would've been cool

Okay Flint is also a priest, we have two priests now

"... I've been, you know, head first in a bucket the whole way" yeah okay this is a Pulley protag and I love him

" 'A whole...Christmas selection?' 'Nuts' " that may just become my new Twitter bio (probably not I like my Glass Onion reference too much)

He has a portable camera so this is probably taking place in like the twenties, but Kodak as a company was founded literally the same time tlfop was happening which is funny

Motherfucker are we getting animal-human hybrids???

I like fog as a metaphor, especially in tlfop, so I will probably write out something about it later

"...beehives, or cairns (graves)" this sounds like when Mori threatened Ito's wife who was allergic to bees

Why tf are there pilgrims??? Ik they're not like the Mayflower types of pilgrims, but what kind of religious journey thing are they doing???

I also want to write about the complete lack of respect for government officials and just general authority from the pulleyverse protags bc none of them have any fucks to give about authority figures

"...in his unofficial capacity as the bishop's shoulder-angel" PLS-

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was mentioned and now I'm 1.) thinking about tlfop again, and 2.) am fairly certain that this story takes place not far from the events of tlfop, because the first Sherlock Holmes book was published in 1887 and he references them as being "new:

"...now the bishop didn't believe in miracles"

"I'll be Eve in a cider factory" tbh I don't understand what that means too well rn but I love it regardless (ik Eve bit the apple and all that jazz I just can't wrap my brain around the metaphor please don't explain the Bible to me)

I auto-filled an Irish accent for Kerryn in my brain so when he called Flint "Father Kang" I thought he meant "King" for a minute

Okay so it starts December 18th, which is also the date that Mori said he would come back to Japan if I'm not mistaken??? (Edit: I WAS RIGHT AND I FEEL LIKE GOD)

But I must be slightly off because X-rays weren't invented until 1895 :(((

Also I know Kerryn is probably the secondary lead but there's something off about him I don't like, I can't put my finger on it

Either Ms. Pulley messed up her math or I don't know what an advent calendar is, because I was under the impression this was in December, so how tf has Rosemary been on the island for 38 days if she's been there since September??? She would've had to have come in November for that to be true

Flint out here profiling people by name like his name isn't fucking Flint (I also definitely laughed and thought of Batman when I read Bruce's name for the first time)

I can't handle references to the winter king rn don't do this to me-

I stopped to make dinner because I'm hungry, I started at like 5:30 and it's now like 7:35 and I have some yummy pasta and pumpkin tea (I also had like 1.5 margaritas)

I can finally use my insanely eurocentric art history class notes to explain the imagery of what Flint describes in Ezekiel's angels; each of the four creature's heads is representative of the four apostles who wrote the bible, and that coupled with the biblically accurate angels coming down from on high are clear indicators of the second coming in art, meaning the previous priest was preaching the end of days to these people

I've always been such a sucker for Catholicism in gothic media, especially when it comes to imagery, so this all is right up my alley

THE O W L ? ? ?

"...the Almighty had forgotten about the United Kingdom" she's so fucking real for that

Honestly??? The Bishop sounds like he'd be a good love interest for Flint. Maybe it's because I don't like Kerryn that much even tho he's the standard choice, but the whole "hearing them talking to you in times of stress" thing is a fun thing I like with all the pulleyverse couples and it happened with the Bishop so. Hmm.

Fliny's whole color metaphor for logic + Thaniel's synesthesia sounds like another essay for me

The optimism of Flint and the pilgrims is really going to make the horror aspect of this all hit so hard I'm excited

On that note, I love how the stones that looked like beehives so readily became cairns as the tone got darker

My computer started updating as I was making this and I was so scared that I lost everything but thank fuck for tumblr drafts

Anyways those salt rocks are a grade A prime example of Chekov's gun if I've ever seen one

The rocks are fuckin BIRDS???

The fear of machinery is something we have seen in Pulley novels before, especially around this time period, but it's just making me think of the Mars House and how that would tie in

HIMB BABY BIRD I'M ABOUT TO CRY-

N O NOT THE BIRD :(((

That was fast

"The islanders didn't leave a hundred years ago. We're walking in them." this line goes so hard, especially because it includes the audience in the "we"

OOO altitude sickness, very Bedlam Stacks-core

The cloaked devil imagery and unforgotten knowledge description is giving very much Edgar Allen Poe and it's gorgeous

I cannot say I care at all about Kerryn becoming salt but damn was it a creepy twist

And the way she physically started crumbling??? Genuinely horrifying

It took this short story for me to realise that that scene in twofs where Mori is giving his side of the argument with the priest in the future where he actually did go to the wedding, he's arguing about the story of Lot, which likely was derivative of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Wonder why that would come up. Hmm. A mystery.

"He could taste it -- something electric." PLS I'M GOING NUTS-

What in the fucking Cthulu-

Oh Mhairi's back!!! Yay!!!

Alright maybe I spoke too soon with the whole Bishop and Flint thing

Wait it's not Flint??? I thought Bruce was Flint for a second

Oh f u c k dude that was HEAVY

That's so nuts

I literally do not have words what the fuck was that ending

It was really good and clever and fun but w o w

Ending thoughts: I genuinely have none, that was terrifying and beautiful and cool as FUCK, and I think if Ms. Pulley started pumping out only horror novels from now on I would be in full support. It's a really fuckin out of pocket move considering her previous works and even her last short story that had a relatively happy ending but my god it was good. 10/10, very creeped out. Also the sign at the end??? Knowing Flint probably wrote that out and put it around his own neck like a noose??? That's so fucking hardcore I can't believe it. Utterly amazed.

[accapitalmarket]

The Week Ahead: Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

A raft of US jobs data will dominate this week.

A shortened Friday session didn’t stop the S&P 500 and Dow Jones closing at record highs. The S&P 500 rose by 0.56%, the Dow Jones gained 0.42%, and the Nasdaq leapt 0.83%. The dollar index (DXY) closed 0.35% lower, Brent crude fell 0.85% to $72,00 a barrel, and gold rose 0.48% to $2,650.35 an ounce.

Over the weekend, China's official manufacturing PMI rose slightly to 50.3, but Non-Manufacturing PMI slipped to 50.0. The stabilisation of China’s economy, however tenuous, will be overshadowed by President-elect Trump’s threats this weekend to impose 100% tariffs on BRICS countries if they undermine the US Dollar.

Trump's comments may weigh on Asian currencies and equities today, overshadowing any positive upside from the China Caixin Manufacturing PMI, and regional PMI releases.

The US dollar index (DXY) remains in correction territory but has yet to seriously threaten support at 104.80 and the medium-term bull market. After Trump's weekend BRICS threats, the DXY could regain support at 106.10 and threaten the recent down channel.

DXY H4

Oil may find some support from the Syria developments on Monday, but Trump-driven dollar strength could overwhelm it, pushing oil lower. Both Brent crude and WTI remain trapped in descending wedges, with neither contract managing to maintain a daily breakout of descending resistance.

WTI has critical support at $66.50 a barrel.

USOIL H4

If OPEC finally commences its much-delayed increase in production quotas this Thursday, it may be more vulnerable. It has critical support at $70.00 a barrel.

Asia's calendar this week is modest after today's PMI releases. Wednesday is China's Caixin Services PMI and Japan's Jibun Bank PMI. Thursday sees the release of Japan's December Tankan Index, while India should leave its repo rate unchanged on Friday.

US data dominates this week with ISM Manufacturing PMI today, October JOLTS Job Openings on Tuesday, and November ADP Employment and the Fed Beige Book on Wednesday. Fed Chairman Powell also speaks.

It is just a buildup to Friday's US Non-Farm Payroll (NFP) and Unemployment data. With hurricane impacts and the Boeing strike washing out of the data, there is side potential in the NFP release.

In totality, this week's US data releases will go a long way toward setting rate-cut expectations for December 18th's FOMC and the direction of US rates and the US dollar in general. We can never rule out Trump-speak, though.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this market commentary is of general nature only and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You are strongly recommended to seek independent financial advice before making any investment decisions. Trading margin forex and CFDs carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Investors could experience losses in excess of total deposits. You do not have ownership of the underlying assets. AC Capital Market (V) Ltd is the product issuer and distributor. Please read and consider our Product Disclosure Statement and Terms and Conditions, and fully understand the risks involved before deciding to acquire any of the financial products provided by us. The content of this market commentary is owned by AC Capital Market (V) Ltd. Any illegal reproduction of this content will result in immediate legal action.

[doctornilayxaksoy-esfahani]

sing me a song of ancient times, of forsaken gods and fallen empires; let me feel the heartbeat of history.

𓂀 𝚋𝚒𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚑𝚢 || 𓂀 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚜 || 𓂀 𝚋𝚕𝚞𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚋𝚘𝚛, 𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚘𝚒𝚜

🏺𝙳𝙾𝙲𝚃𝙾𝚁 𝙽𝙸𝙻𝙰𝚈 𝚈𝙰𝚂𝙴𝙼𝙸𝙽 𝙰𝙺𝚂𝙾𝚈-𝙴𝚂𝙵𝙰𝙷𝙰𝙽𝙸🏺

𝚊𝚐𝚎 & 𝚋𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚑𝚍𝚊𝚢: thirty-five & august 3rd, 1989.

𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 & 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚜: cis-woman & she/her/hers.

𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚌 & 𝚜𝚎𝚡𝚞𝚊𝚕 𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗: demiromantic pansexual.

𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚜: in a relationship with elijah falvey; dating since august 18th, 2021.

𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚗: hatshepsut kosem aksoy-esfahani, 7 ; rhiannon nurbanu falvey, 2.

𝚗𝚎𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚍: deer park.

𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚋𝚕𝚞𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚋𝚘𝚛, 𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚘𝚒𝚜: four years ; since august 2020.

𝚌𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚛𝚜: egyptologist ; anthropologist ; classicist ; assyriologist ; caucasologist ; content creator ; author ; documentary host ; owner and founder of the aspasia-hypatian academy (AHA) ; owner and founder of the blue harbor ancient mediterranean and near eastern civilizations institute (AMNEACI).

𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚖: hande erçel.

🏛️𝚃𝙻𝙳𝚁 ( trigger warnings: foster care, adoption, pregnancies, near-death experiences, comas, attack )

𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚕𝚞𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚋𝚘𝚛, 𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚘𝚒𝚜…

Born in Mardin, Türkiye and abandoned on the steps of a foster care organization by her biological parents, separating her from her fraternal twin, Doctor Nilay Aksoy-Esfahani grew up there for nine years before being adopted by the Esfahanis. Navid and Yasmine were two prolific scientists and patrons of knowledge, culture, science, and the arts, being one of the richest families in the world and the owners of the Silk Road restaurants and Jade Palace hotelier, who had adopted a boy from Greece named Theo just years prior. Proving to excel in her studies, she started college at the age of twelve, starting her Bachelors at the University of Chicago before working on her Masters and Doctorates primarily at the American University of Cairo between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, along with doing online schooling with other institutes during the years. After she turned twenty-four and returned to London for awhile to work at the British Museum to prepare for her first dig back in Egypt, she had gone out with some coworkers for one last hurrah before meeting someone. She doesn't remember his name nor his face; But they had drunkenly slept together that night, then she left right away the next morning. Returning to Cairo at age twenty-seven, she'd only been back for a few months when she discovered that she was pregnant. Without knowing who the father of her baby was, she decided she was going to take matters into her own hands, deal with her high-risk pregnancy of having placenta previa by herself, and ensure that her daughter, Hatshepsut "Hattie" Aksoy-Esfahani, would have the best life possible.

𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚕𝚞𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚋𝚘𝚛, 𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚘𝚒𝚜…

After raising Hattie, making a discovery of a lifetime by discovering a second Library of Alexandria beneath the Temple of Dendera, and her career kickstarting with some books and television programs, Nilay decided it was time to kickstart her dream projects. She has been working since 2020 of creating her own museum completely centered on the Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern world, languages, civilizations, histories, and cultures, which officially opened in November of 2022. Nilay has also worked on her own preschool to doctorates academy that was offered both online and on an in-person campus while being 100% free for all students, with the online schooling having been available since September 2021 and the first campus opening up in January 2025. She decided to work on these projects in Blue Harbor, Illinois, having visited the town numerous times while living in Chicago and having fallen in love initially with the town, and moved there in August 2020. Where she would soon meet Elijah Falvey not too long afterwards. She fell in love with the musician and while they tried to remain friends within that first year, soon after she had been attacked in July 2021 by a man trying to rob her, resulting in being in a two week-long coma before waking up, Nilay couldn't hide her feelings for longer. A few weeks later, her and Elijah confessed their feelings for each other and started dating. Eventually they moved in together and had a daughter, Rhiannon Falvey, in July 2022. They have been together ever since, going through every hurdle life has sent their way side-by-side.

𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢; 𝙱𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎, 𝚍𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝.

𓂀 𝚗𝚒𝚕𝚊𝚢'𝚜 𝚋𝚒𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚑𝚢

No one truly knows when someone who’ll become legendary later on in life is born. How history and destiny already have their eyes set on a person. Certainly, no one had expected for little Nilay to become someone like that. Especially not Ceren and Adem Aksoy. After all, who were they? Living originally in Mardin, not having much in money, yet over time giving birth to fraternal twins. A set of twins that they couldn’t afford. It had barely been a few days when they gave up little Nilay; Leaving her on the steps of a foster care organization in Mardin before they left for Istanbul. The Aksoys hadn’t left any information about their baby girl: not her name, not her birthday, nothing about her biological parents or her twin; Absolutely nothing. It was as if the baby girl showed up out of thin air.

The social workers had done everything they could to ensure Nilay’s safety and that she was well-provided for. Situating her in a group home while trying to find her a forever home. For the longest time, they thought it would be easy; She was a brilliant little girl with young, yet soulful, wise eyes. She excelled at school and kept being put in higher grades. Unfortunately, that didn’t leave her with many friends, if any at all, and some of her fosters finding her to be a “know-it-all”. The child remained focused on her studies. With no prospective family, no stable home and being moved from one group home to the other (some were great, making her believe that she would finally find her forever home; some were horrible, leaving her wishing and hoping that she would find her forever home and leave those wretched places forever), and no friends, it was easier that way. She liked it.

At least, she told herself that. For about nine years. The day she met Doctors Navid and Yasmine Esfahani, she hadn’t realized that her entire world was about to change forever. That this couple, who were one of the richest families in the entire world, were about to adopt her and give her the life she could’ve only ever imagined having in her dreams.

From the moment she left with them, her life was suddenly an adventure outside of her books and imagination. They held home bases in London, Isfahan, Yerevan, multiple cities in Egypt, Chicago, and Jerusalem; Both due to their families and due to their careers. Navid, Yasmine, their son, and Nilay traveled the world together, the two children being taught by their parents while on the job and visiting the world. This ended up proving to be the best form of schooling for young Nilay, until she graduated high school at the age of twelve. With the family stationed in Chicago for two years, she got her Bachelors at the University of Chicago with triple majors in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Classics, and Archaeology before moving to Cairo. Where she stayed between the ages of fourteen through twenty-four, using that as her own home base and eventually even becoming an Egyptian citizen. It was there that she worked on her Masters and Doctorate at the American University of Cairo, while also working on online schooling for a handful of other universities within the Mediterranean and Near East so that she could better her knowledge of the histories, civilizations, cultures, and languages of the region that she grew up in and loved. Of the region that has captivated her since childhood.

Of course, attending university in Cairo as a young teenager hadn’t been easy for her. While she more than excelled in her studies and in her extracurricular activities, the only friends she had in her life were one family that lived in Cairo that she knew through the Esfahanis, her professors, mentors, and the staff at the Egyptian Museum where she worked at the gift shop. Other students at the uni, especially the older students who had been there for years yet were suddenly shown up by a pipsqueak who was shy and quiet, weren’t too happy about having her there and surpassing them. While there were some who were subtle in showing their distaste for the girl they viewed as a smartass, there were others who were more than vocal about it. Eventually causing things to become so bad that she had to move off campus and at her parents’ home, trying not to be on campus too much for too long aside from class and her extracurricular activities. And if she was there for longer than initially planned, she was always with one of her professors. Her mentors acted as a sanctuary for her without their knowledge over what she was going through.

After her final graduation at the age of eighteen, she began to work at the museum full time. Having been promoted to work on the conservation team, after spending years in the gift shop then as a tour guide, and to work with all kinds of artefacts. While she loved her years there, she eventually moved to London to be closer to her family and to work at the British Museum. Using that time to work on what she wanted her first dig to be while also writing articles for a variety of archaeology, anthropology, and history-based publications. Things had seemed to be looking up for her once she figured things out and was preparing for her first dig season that she was to curate herself. Though, one night, she had gone out to celebrate with some of her colleagues a week before she was to return to her home when she met someone. With them both drunk and her excitement for the future making her feel bold, she shared the night with the stranger. It wasn’t until the next morning when she was sober and hungover that her usual embarrassment and shyness came rushing back in. She hadn’t gotten a good look at the man before she quickly left the hotel room. Telling herself that she would never remember her drunken night ever again.

Moving back to Egypt, she remained focused on her work. Between being on the dig to doing further research at the museum or libraries, Nilay kept her mind focused on the task at hand. It hadn’t been until two months later when she fainted at the excavation site and was rushed to the hospital. With her mentor and most trusted friend by her side, her entire world was changed: she was pregnant. And she had no idea who the father was, having never gotten his name nor even seeing his face while sober.

For the days afterwards, she struggled over what to do concerning the baby. She felt like she wasn’t the best person to raise a child and to become a parent, especially not by herself while she tried to work on her career. Yet the idea of giving the child up for adoption and foster care like she had felt wrong. After all, Nilay had first hand experience with how awful some foster homes could be; Was it fair to risk putting her own child through what she went through? The longer she contemplated things and tried to use work as a distraction, the further along she went into her pregnancy. It hadn’t been until her fourth month when she began to experience agonizing pain that her fear was suddenly escalated. As it turned out, she had placenta previa. And it was possible that she could die if she had this baby.

But the Egyptologist couldn’t give her up. As much as she tried not to think about it for too long, she had begun to love her daughter. She had begun to want her. With the rest of her excavation being put on hold and her family moving to Cairo to take care of her, Nilay focused on bringing her daughter into the world. And while labour had resulted in extreme blood loss, her dying for a moment, and being in a coma for a few days, Nilay woke up. And she met her daughter, Hatshepsut Kosem Esfahani, for the first time. Born in March of 2017.

Nothing had prepared her for how much she loved her daughter. As soon as she was old enough, she began to bring her on her excavations, to all the historical sites and museums that she fell in love with over the course of her life. When Nilay discovered an underground secret temple full of scrolls and scientific equipment dating back to the time of the Library of Alexandria, Hattie had been there. When she would attend conferences all around the globe and do lectures at universities, Hattie was her little helper. When she was promoting her first book and had filmed her first documentary for CuriosityStream, Hattie had joined her along for the ride. Life in Cairo had been good for the mother-daughter duo. However, it was time for a change. And that change came in the form of Blue Harbour, Illinois, back in 2020.

Nilay knew that had she never met her adoptive family, she might’ve never been able to continue her education. At least, not without a lot of grit and hardwork. After meeting many people over the years who’d dreamt of going to school yet couldn’t due to finances, she went to work to start creating her own academy that would go from preschool all the way up to graduate programs, was offered both online and having an in-person campus, all the while being completely free. She’d also always dreamt of starting up her own museum, dedicated to the region she grew up in and loved the most. While she had connections to Chicago, it didn't feel right to introduce the academy and museum there. Blue Harbor, on the other hand, felt perfect. She visited the nearby town numerous times when she was living in Chicago, and knowing that it would be a brilliant place to start her dreams, the anthropologist couldn’t be more than thrilled for the chance of a new adventure. And Hattie had been ready to go with her as well. The mother-daughter team made their way to the States and began to work on their new life together. Though, the new adventure and new home wouldn’t be the biggest change in their life. No… No, that would come in the form of former Amethyst keyboardist and songwriter, Elijah Falvey.

For the longest time, she swore up and down to anyone and everyone that they were purely friends. Yet anyone could see that it was more than that. She fell in love with him, even though she wouldn’t admit that for the longest time. He had become her best friend and the person she trusted the most in her new home. Though, as fate would have it, the man had been falling in love with her in return. The two had been completely drawn together. Though, after Nilay had been attacked in the summer of 2021 and put in a coma, dying multiple times and being brought back, she knew that she needed to tell Eli the truth about her feelings for him. After some time to find the courage, and much inner struggling, they put away their stubbornness and fears to confess their feelings for each other. The two became a couple where, eventually, they discovered that they were pregnant. In spite of having happy months there, full of adventures and love and the two even moving in together, the pregnancy had thrown them in a loop. For over a month, they struggled over what they were going to do. Yet, after a health scare that resulted in the discovery of her facing placenta previa once more, the fear of death and them having limited time together brought them back together. Taking on the rest of the pregnancy together as a team and, fortunately, without much complications, brought their daughter Rhiannon Nurbanu Falvey into the world in July 2022.

Going from best friends, to a couple, to becoming parents together had been unexpected, yet they welcomed the change with open arms. Over the past few years, raising Hattie and Rhia together and discovering who they were together as a couple and as individuals brought their own trials and tribulations for the anthropologist and musician. Yet, in spite of the odds, they worked through them together. Along with creating their own home together and starting a family, they’ve been there together with the opening of Elijah’s music studio, MOREMUSIC, with the opening of Nilay’s museum, Blue Harbor Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Civilizations Institute (AMNEACI, for short) in the autumn of 2022, and then the campus for the Aspasia-Hypatian Academy (A-HA) campus officially opening up in January 2025 after having successfully been online since 2021, and recently with the rest of Eli’s Amethyst bandmates coming back to town and secrets being aired out. While it hasn’t been easy, while there've been terrifying moments, Nilay and Elijah never stopped fighting together and finding ways to make their relationship work. And as far as the Egyptologist knows: there’s absolutely nothing that she wouldn’t do for her family and her relationship with the man she loves.

𓂀 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚜 & 𝚝𝚒𝚍𝚋𝚒𝚝𝚜

📜When it comes to Nilay's career as a documentary hostess and author, her career claim is of historian Bettany Hughes and historical fiction author Costanza Casati. She has written these books (and is currently writing a historical fiction book based on Shajar al-Durr):

Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore (2017) Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities (2019) Venus and Aphrodite (2022) Clytemnesta (2023) The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (2024) Babylonia (2024, UK ; 2025, USA)

And participated in these television programmes:

The Nile: Egypt's Great River (2019) Egypt's Great Treasures (2019) A Greek Odyssey (2020) Secrets of Pompeii's Greatest Treasures (2020) Egypt's Great Mummies: Unwrapped with Doctor Nilay Bailey - Also known as Top Ten Treasures: Egyptian Mummies (2021) Pompeii: Secrets of the Dead - One-off documentary (2021) Doctor Nilay Bailey's Treasures of the World - Three series (2021-2024) From Paris to Rome with Doctor Nilay Bailey - Travel series (2022) Exploring India's Treasures with Doctor Nilay Bailey - Two-part documentary (2023)

📜When it comes to her content creating, her career is like that of MoAnInc and Dig It With Raven. With this blog, she does reviews over books and movies that pertain to classical history, civilizations, and mythologies; She does reactions to movies and shows while also going in-depth about their historical accuracies and inaccuracies; She talks about history, civilizations, languages, and mythologies; She's done covers of songs from media such as EPIC: The Musical, Hadestown, Disney's Hercules, The Lighting Thief: A Percy Jackson Musical, etc.; And more. She started up the channel back in 2019 following the success of her four-part series The Nile: Egypt's Great River. While she hasn't reached one million subscribers yet, she still has a good amount of nearly nine hundred thousand.

📜Her adoptive family, the Esfahanis, have been the owners of the Jade Palace hotelier since the late 1800s and the global fusion restaurant, the Silk Road, in the 1980s. Her parents started working on the JP location in Blue Harbor back in early 2021 before opening officially in April 2022, along with the Silk Road that's located at the hotel yet opened for the public as well as guests. Her parents are also opening up a multicultural and multireligious institute, the Esfahani Diaspora Institute, to be a home away from home and a community for everyone in Blue Harbor, no matter their creed, and a way for others to learn more about other cultures and religions.

📜Her parents moved to Blue Harbor in July 2021, after her attack. Wanting to be closer to their daughter and granddaughter, not wanting to risk something happening again only for them to not be there to help them. Which would eventually end up being a good idea once news of Nilay's pregnancy with Rhiannon became known.

📜Nilay occasionally teaches some courses and host lectures for her academy throughout a wide variety of ages. However, due to her family, she doesn't teach much so that she could still find time to be with them instead of being busy 24/7.

📜Since moving to Blue Harbor in 2020, she has joined the town's Historical Society to help protect historical locations and to help inform residents and tourists about Blue Harbor's rich history. She and her family have become avid donators concerning the upkeep for Laurel Village, which is Nilay's personal favourite neighbourhood in town.

📜About every few months, and with a group of others, Nilay goes to the local cemetery to help clean the tombstones. She started doing this not too long after her attack and her brush with death again. It helps scratch the itch whenever she's not excavation, while also helping her feel more grounded. She often forgets that she's alive still; Sometimes, she feels more like a ghost in purgatory. Going to the cemetery and cleaning the tombstones, tracking down the names of those who reside there so she can research them, and bringing flowers when she can helps to remind her that she's not a part of their world—yet.

📜While not necessarily ghost hunting, per se, she sometimes likes to go to abandoned and/or "haunted" historical places. Much like the tombstone cleaning, she does this whenever she feels more ghost than human, and needed to be reminded that she's still alive. While she has yet to catch a ghost, she has wondered a few times if there might've been someone else with her instead of those a part of her party.

📜She's a massive geek for historical reenactments. While she's more partial to ancient, medieval, and the Victorian and Edwardian historical movements, Nilay's more than ready to give anything a try. She has done some videos on her channel of her recreating ancient civilizations wardrobes. One of her most popular videos was her recreating an ancient Anatolian and an Minoan outfits, along with doing historically accurate clothing for Disney characters Megara, Jane Porter, Ariel, and Jasmine, Dreamworks characters Miriam from The Prince of Egypt and Marina from Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, an ancient Anatolian-inspired redesign of Wonder Woman/Diana of Themyscira/Diana Prince, cosplaying Kassandra of Sparta from Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, and recreating feminine versions of Moon Knight and Mr. Knight (Madam Knight) and the Scarlet Scarab.

📜She's an avid gamer, completely obsessed with playing games such as Assassin's Creed, Tomb Raider, Uncharted, Civilizations, Catan, and other similar games. She has done some videos for her YouTube channel talking about the games, particularly Assassin's Creed: Origins, Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, and Assassin's Creed: Mirage, and some subscribers have recommended she start up a Twitch channel as well so that she could play those games with her audience there.

📜Nilay has been apart of EPIC: The Musical since 2021, when Jorge Rivera-Herrans had reached out to her to help with fitting the mythological aspects and turning The Odyssey into a musical. After learning that she could sing, he encouraged her to audition for a role. She was granted the part of Athena, the Greek goddess of Wisdom, Battle Strategy, Arts and Crafts, and Patron of Athens, and has been playing her ever since.

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Felix Jaehn (1994) - Ain't Nobody (Loves Me Better) sheet music

Felix Jaehn (1994) - Ain't Nobody (Loves Me Better) piano solo Noten, sheet music Felix Jaehn Please, subscribe to our Library. Thank you! Best Sheet Music download from our Library.Eff Laden Sie die besten Noten aus unserer Bibliothek herunter. Browse in the Library:Ain't Nobody (Loves Me Better) - Lyrics

Felix Jaehn (1994) - Ain't Nobody (Loves Me Better) piano solo Noten, sheet music

https://rumble.com/embed/v1sjaha/?pub=14hjof

Felix Jaehn

Felix Kurt Jähn (born August 28, 1994), known professionally as Felix Jaehn, is a German DJ and music producer specializing in tropical house. He achieved international success with his remix of Omi's song 'Cheerleader', which topped the charts in several countries and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2015. Jaehn was born in Hamburg, grew up on the Baltic Sea coast (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) and took violin lessons at the age of six. From the age of 16, he was booked for individual club appearances as part of his DJ project Felicious Beats, which he realized with his brother and friends. He graduated from high school at the Ernst-Barlach-Gymnasium in Schönberg. Two days after his 18th birthday, Jaehn moved to London for a year and attended the Point Blank Music School. In addition to his DJ skills, which were largely self-taught, he continued his training here, particularly in the area of ​​music production. Jaehn then moved to Berlin to study business administration at Humboldt University. In an interview with ZEITmagazin on February 22, 2018, Jaehn came out as bisexual.

He began his career in the early 2010s. In August 2013 he released his debut single “Summer by the Sea”. In November 2014 he released the single “Shine”. In March 2015 he released the single “Dance with Me”. In April 2015, he released a remix of the Rufus and Chaka Khan classic 'Ain't Nobody' with the new title 'Ain't Nobody (Loves Me Better)' featuring vocals by Jasmine Thompson (based on an earlier charting version of the Songs by Thompson). ). The remix was an international, pan-European hit that topped the German singles charts. He is now signed to Universal Music. In July 2015 he released the single “Eagle Eyes”. In 2017, he collaborated with Mike Williams on the single 'Feel Good', released via Spinnin' Records. He is probably best known for remixing Jamaican singer Omi's song 'Cheerleader.' The single was an international hit, topping the charts in Australia, Germany, Austria, Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), Canada, Mexico, Denmark, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of States. It was also known as a popular wedding dance song in the United States. In 2018, NOTD and Jaehn released the single 'So Close' with a music video starring Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover girl Camille Kostek. In February of the same year he released his first studio album I. The album features guest vocals from Marc E. Bassy, ​​Gucci Mane, Jasmine Thompson, Polina, Alma and Herbert Grönemeyer. Eff In 2015, Jaehn launched Eff, a music duo project consisting of German singer Mark Forster (real name Mark Cwiertnia, born January 11, 1984) as a singer and Jaehn as a DJ and producer. The two met at an event in Vienna in 2015. Eff is a reference to Felix and Forster. Her first and only single as Eff was 'Stimme', which topped the German singles charts for three weeks in a row and also charted in Austria and Switzerland. Felix Jaehn Discography German DJ Felix Jaehn has released two studio albums, an extended play, a remix album, a DJ mix and thirty singles. Ain't Nobody (Loves Me Better) - Lyrics Captured effortlessly That's the way it was Happened so naturally I did not know it was love The next thing I felt was You holding me close What was I gonna do? I let myself go And now we're flyin' through the stars I hope this night will last forever Oh oh oh oh Ain't nobody Loves me better Makes me happy Makes me feel this way Ain't nobody Loves me better than you I've been waitin' for you It's been so long I knew just what I would do When I heard your song You filled my heart with a kiss You gave me freedom You knew I could not resist I needed someone And now we're flyin' through the stars I hope this night will last forever Oh oh oh oh Ain't nobody Loves me better Makes me happy Makes me feel this way Ain't nobody Loves me better than you At first you put your arms around me Then you put your charms around me We stare into each other's eyes And what we see is no surprise Got a feeling most with treasure And a love so deep we cannot measure Ain't nobody Loves me better Makes me happy Makes me feel this way Ain't nobody Loves me better than you Ain't nobody Loves me better Makes me happy Makes me feel this way Ain't nobody Loves me better than you Read the full article

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Films of 2023

1. Aftersun - 2nd January

2. Triangle of Sadness - 4th January

3. Till - 16th January

4. TAR - 22nd January

5. The Fabelman’s - 30th January

6. The Whale - 5th February

7. Woman Talking - 29th February

8. Broker - 4th March

9. Close - 6th March

10/11/12. - The Cornetto Trilogy - 9th April

13. Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves - 12th April

14. Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3 - 5th May

15. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse - 3rd June

16. The Little Mermaid - 6th June

17. Astroid City - 3rd July

18. Elemental - 10th July

19. Indiana Jones & The Dial of Destiny - 10th July

20. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning - 15th July

21. Oppenheimer - 21st July

22. Barbie - 21st July

23. Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (Disney 100) - 10th August

24. Bambi (Disney 100) - 20th August

25. Cinderella (Disney 100) - 26th August

26. Peter Pan (Disney 100) - 5th September

27. 101 Dalmatian’s (Disney 100) - 8th September

28. A Haunting in Venice - 19th September

29. The Jungle Book (Disney 100) - 19th September

30. Beauty & The Beast (Disney 100) - 26th September

31. Dumb Money - 26th October

32. Toy Story (Disney 100) - 2nd October

33. The Princess & The Frog (Disney 100) - 10th October

34. Taylor Swift: Eras Concert - 14th October

35. Frozen (Disney 100) - 16th October

36. Killers of The Flower Moon - 23rd October

37. Wish - 28th November

38. Wonka - 13th December

39. Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget - 18th December

40. The Boy & The Heron - 27th December

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Releasing in November 2023

November 4th 100 Hooks and Rumours to Hear in or about the Trojan Reach II 100 Things to Find in an Alchemy Lab 100 Things to Find in an Alchemy Lab (PFRPG) Map – City 2 November 11th 20 Magic Consumables 100 Books for a Cyberpunk Setting A Dekas of Alchemical Items VII (5E) November 18th 100 Columns and Pillars to Find in a Dungeon (C&C) 100 Effects of a Primquake 100 Hooks and Rumours for…

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Special Episode: Hotels in Del Mar, CA

Special Episode: Hotels in Del Mar, CA

  Welcome to Dr. Mary Travelbest’s 5 Steps to Solo Travel Guide, for women like you who need extra support traveling (slowly) one woman at a time. Please share this podcast with your mom, aunts, and friends. I appreciate your feedback.

  I’ve returned from a 90-day trip around the globe to every time zone on the planet. My mission is world peace through cultural exchange. I was sustainable when I could by using local transportation, buses, and trains. I was solo, carrying a small backpack, called a “personal item” that fit under the seat in front of me on a plane.

  In this episode, FAQ is: Where was your next favorite place on your 90-day trip?

.

Today’s Destination is: Special Episode: Hotels in Del Mar

Today’s Mistake- I booked a hotel that was really a hostel in Manila

Travel Advice: Book at the source when you can and pay less plus control more.

  FAQ: Where was your next favorite place on your 90-day trip?

  Answer: For Iceland, the favorite place was Akureri, in the deep north of the country. It was a town of 20,000 residents, nestled in beautiful mountain areas. During my stay, there was an event for long-distance runners. The town came out to cheer them across the finish line after 100 miles of running, all the way from Godafoss. They had 43, 28 and 19 kilometer races, too. That was a powerful message to residents about getting and staying in shape.

I’ll do a podcast about this town soon, but for now, just say A-Ku-Rare-E, accent on the first syllable. That’s how they speak in Iceland.

  https://adventures.com/iceland/attractions/cities-towns/akureyri/#:~:text=Akureyri%20is%20by%20far%20the,Eyjafj%C3%B6r%C3%B0ur%20Fjord%20in%20Northern%20Iceland.

  https://www.visitakureyri.is/en/see-and-do/events-festivals/sulur-vertical

  Today’s destination: Hotels in Del Mar, CA

  Suppose you’ve been to San Diego, California, a small beach town north of the city called Del Mar. “In Spanish, Of the Sea” literally. The town's size is small, less than 4000 people. You know that the tourists take up a big portion of the traffic in summer and during the horse racing seasons at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, 6 weeks in summer and 4 weeks in November.

  L’Auberge, part of the Noble House Hotel Chain, is the highest-priced and most luxurious property of those near the beach. I met Taylor Webber, the Guest Experience Coordinator.

Hotel Indigo, Del Mar, and next door to…

Premiere Best Western, also called Hotel Del Mar

Del Mar Hotel upgraded from being the Del Mar Motel for many years. I met with the GM, Leslie Chavez.

Del Mar Hilton, near the Racetrack, is the lowest-priced one listed. the Yelp Reviews are less than favorable here.

  You can google this and find hotels priced at $2500 a night at resorts like La Valencia. The price is not listed here for the Fairmont, Del Mar, which is in a different zip code several miles away. If you really want to stay IN Del Mar, you should consider one of these hotels, and I’ve been to each of them recently. If you have visitors this fall or winter, you may be in luck to score a room for them.

  One of the best things I like to do in Del Mar is walk on the beach. You can also bring your dog to the beach during certain seasons on a leash. Tomorrow, I am going to a dog surfing contest in Del Mar. Seriously fun. The link is in the show notes if you want in next year.

https://www.visitdelmarvillage.com/all-events/18th-annual-surf-dog-surf-a-thon

  https://www.tmz.com/2023/05/19/bill-gates-mansion-bachelor-pad-completed-complaints-neighbors-noise/

One famous local resident is Bill Gates. He has a bachelor pad, recently upgraded, although purchased in 2020 for $43 million.

  Today’s Mistake- I booked a hotel that was really a hostel.

It was called the White Banana but changed its name. It was The Connector.

The ad said, “kitchenette, deluxe new room,”

It was old, broken, and dirty, and cash payment was due upon arrival—no money back for no-shows. Reviews were 7/10. I was stuck to pay for my stay or lose my reservation while I tried to find somewhere else.

Loud street noise. Blocked out windows. Not a good part of town.

The repairman entered my room without even knocking. He apologized, but that should NEVER happen. The kitchenette had a refrigerator and a sink. There is no electrical outlet or even any silverware or dish. All was dirty. AC was broken. I caution if it seems too good online.

  Today’s Travel Advice-Book at the source when you can and pay less plus control more.

  Search out listings on websites like Expedia and Booking.com, and check reviews on reputable websites. THEN book directly with the properties and airlines when you can. That will give you more control as the middleman is removed, and the transaction should be less expensive, usually.

      I want to bring meaning to your travels. Send a question or travel tip to info@drmarytravelbest.com. Sign up for the mailing list here. We can connect on my website, Facebook page, group, or Instagram. Subscribe to YouTube, Twitter, or other social channels. Find the 5 Steps to Solo Travel series on Amazon. The show notes have more details for you to connect. Support this podcast with a review, please.

  Connect with Dr. Travelbest

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