#Carol McGrath

[milfsource]

Katie McGrath as MORGANA in MERLIN 3.05 "The Crystal Cave"

[jimhenson-themuppetmaster]

Sesame Street Behind the Scenes Photo

[doyouknowthismusical]

[kerry-fever]

Big delulu energy

[leatheryhoward]

ER Rewatch: S01E17 The Birthday Party

[savantefolle]

My reading pile update into the new year

My reading pile update into the new year

A reading pile update for my fans. I am not always writing, and those days of the new year, I am currently reading five very disparate novels. Two SF Canadian authors first: Den Waldron’s Axis of Andes for the historical context of south America before WWII, and The Nightingale’s Tooth by Sally McBride, a fantasy novel set in an historical uchrony. Progressing through Joyce Carol Oates, A Book of…

[storybursts]

The Christmas Special Day 13: Christmas Eve on Sesame Street (1978)

The Christmas Special Day 13: Christmas Eve on Sesame Street (1978)

Director: Jon Stone Writer: Jon Stone, Joseph A. Bailey Cast: Caroll Spinney, Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Linda Bove, Northern Calloway, Debbie Chen, Will Lee, Loretta Long, Sonia Manzano, Bob McGrath, Roscoe Orman, Alaina Reed Plot: On Christmas Eve the gang on Sesame Street takes a trip to the local ice skating rink. While everyone else is having a good time, Oscar the…

[alightinthelantern]

Movies on Youtube:

Brief Encounter (1945, David Lean)

Opening Night (1977, John Cassavetes)

Close Up (1990, Abbas Kiarostami)

Taste of Cherry (1997, Abbas Kiarostami)

The Song of Sparrows (2008,  Majid Majidi)

Russian Ark (2002, Alexander Sokurov)

Dreams (1990, Akira Kurosawa)

Dersu Uzala (1975, Akira Kurosawa)

The Idiot (1951, Akira Kurosawa)

Drunken Angel (1948, Akira Kurosawa)

Tokyo Story (1953, Yasujirō Ozu)

Early Summer (1951, Yasujirō Ozu)

Late Spring (1949, Yasujirō Ozu)

The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice (1952, Yasujirō Ozu)

Good Morning (1959, Yasujirō Ozu)

An Autumn Afternoon (1962, Yasujirō Ozu)

Sword for Hire (1952, Inagaki Hiroshi)

Rebecca (1940, Alfred Hitchcock)

Thunderbolt (1929, Josef von Sternberg)

Larceny (1948, George Sherman)

Among the Living (1941, Stuart Heisler)

Andrei Rublev (1966, Andrei Tarkovsky)

Mirror (1975, Andrei Tarkovsky)

Solaris (1972, Andrei Tarkovsky)

Ivan’s Childhood (1962, Andrei Tarkovsky)

Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972, Werner Herzog)

Fitzcarraldo (1982, Werner Herzog)

Medea (1969, Pier Paolo Pasolini)

Medea (filmed stageplay)

Is It Easy To Be Young? (1986, Juris Podnieks)

We'll Live Till Monday (1968, Stanislav Rostotsky)

Ordinary Fascism (aka Triumph Over Violence) (1965, Mikhail Romm)

Battleship Potemkin (1925, Sergei Eisenstein)

The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed)

Johnny Come Lately (1943, William K. Howard)

Mister 880 (1950, Edmund Goulding)

Beethoven’s Eroica (2003, Simon Cellan Jones)

Katyn (2007, Andrzej Wajda)

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004, Brad Silberling)

Mean Girls (2004, Mark Waters)

The Neverending Story (1984, Wolfgang Petersen)

The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter (1990, George T. Miller)

The Thief and the Cobbler (Richard Williams)

Osmosis Jones (2001, myriad directors)

Megamind (2010, Tom McGrath)

Ghost in the Shell (1995, Mamoru Oshii)

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004, Mamoru Oshii)

Steamboy (2004, Katsuhiro Otomo)

Badlands (1973), Terrence Malick

Wargames (1983, John Badham)

By the White Sea (2022, Aleksandr Zachinyayev)

White Moss (2014, Vladimir Tumayev)

The Theme (1979, Gleb Panfilov)

The Duchess (2008, Saul Dibb)

Bed and Sofa (1927, Abram Room)

Fate of a Man (1959, Sergei Bondarchuk)

Ballad of a Soldier (1959, Grigory Chukhray)

Uncle Vanya (1970, Andrey Konchalovskiy)

An Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano (1977, Nikita Mikhalkov)

Family Relations (1981, Nikita Mikhalkov)

The Seagull (1970, Yuli Karasik)

My Tender and Affectionate Beast (1978, Emil Loteanu)

Dreams (1993, Karen Shakhnazarov & Alexander Borodyansky)

The Vanished Empire (2008, Karen Shakhnazarov)

Winter Evening in Gagra (1985, Karen Shakhnazarov)

Day of the Full Moon (1998, Karen Shakhnazarov)

Zero Town (1989, Karen Shakhnazarov)

The Girls (1961, Boris Bednyj)

The Diamond Arm (1969, Leonid Gaidai)

Operation Y and Shurik's Other Adventures (1965, Leonid Gaidai)

Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession (1973, Leonid Gaidai)

Unbelievable Adventures of Italians in Russia (1974, Eldar Ryazanov & Franco Prosperi)

Office Romance (1977, Eldar Ryazanov)

Carnival Night (1956, Eldar Ryazanov)

Hussar Ballad (1962, Eldar Ryazanov)

Kin-dza-dza! (1986, Georgiy Daneliya)

The Most Charming and Attractive (1985, Gerald Bezhanov)

Autumn (1974, Andrei Smirnov)

War and Peace: Part 1 (1966, Sergei Bondarchuk)

War and Peace: Part 2 (1966, Sergei Bondarchuk)

War and Peace: Part 3 (1967, Sergei Bondarchuk)

War and Peace: Part 4 (1967, Sergei Bondarchuk)

The Red Tent (first half) (1969, Mikhail Kalatozov)

The Red Tent (second half) (1969, Mikhail Kalatozov)

Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939, Sidney Lanfield)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939, Alfred L. Werker)

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942, John Rawlins)

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: The Spider Woman (1944, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: The Scarlet Claw (1944, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: The Pearl of Death (1944, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: The House of Fear (1945, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: The Woman in Green (1945, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: Pursuit to Algiers (1945, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: Terror by Night (1946, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: Dressed to Kill (1946, Roy William Neill)

If any of the links don’t work, try looking up the film in this playlist: link

[uwmspeccoll]

A Poultry Piece Feathursday

Here are four hand-colored illustrations from A Poultry Piece written, illustrated, designed, and hand-printed in 1978 by Carol J. Blinn at her Warwick Press in Easthampton, Massachusetts, in an edition of 250 copies signed by the artist/printer. The book is a brief memoir of Blinn's time in Warwick, Massachusetts, "a picture post card New England town," and her most cherished memory of raising ducks and geese, particularly Pekin ducks: "It was not only the Pekins' beauty that attracted me, it was their cleverness." She writes:

Many years have passed since leaving Warwick and those ducks and geese behind. Living in Warwick enriched my life and I often yearn for another country home. . . . The building where I have my printing shop has a canal running behind it. Early in the morning I often see three sparkling white Peking ducks lazily swimming up the muddy water course. Standing quietly and watching, I hold my breath, secretly making believe they are mine.

Carol Blinn is among what we call the Pioneer Valley School artists. She apprenticed with the legendary master printer Harold McGrath at Leonard Baskin's Gehenna Press before beginning her own work as a printer, artist, paper decorator, and founding Warwick Press in 1973.

This book is dedicated to Blinn's friend Ron Masse who "helped share my anxieties & joys in the writing of this book. (What he actually did was egg me on.)" Our copy is another donation from the estate of our friend Dennis Bayuzick.

View posts on other Pioneer Valley artists.

View more Feathursday posts.

[retropopcult]

Muppeteeers and human cast members pose during the first year of Sesame Street, 1969

[novelsandnewfies]

I want a channel like CinemaSins but instead of Sins it points out things that are obviously gay.

Like:

• Carol and Maria interacting (in general)

• Kara meeting Kate Kane

• Kate Bishop meeting Yelena

• Katie McGrath

• Pretty Boy and Viktor being “buddies”

• Adora meeting Huntara

Etc

[sinful-lanterns]

Oooofff, I'm so sorry to break it to you and MAJOR SPOILER for the ending of insatiable fiesta npc but

I'm 99% sure the person on the far right is a man, or they indentify as one.. at the end of the event we see them crying and yelling at chief and macchiato, saying something along the lines of "What? You've never seen a man dress like this?" In a relatively deep voice. At the end though, it makes sense, especially because of the description the disgusting chef and Cabernet give them. And the fact that another npc threatened to reveal their secret. Very sad, overall. I feel really bad:(

I am aware of this, anon. However, I am pretty sure Carol identifies as a woman because with the way I interpreted Carol’s story, it aligned much more with her being a trans woman, rather than being a cross dresser like the English version said (in my personal opinion I feel like it was a translation error)

Nothing wrong with cross dressers either and there is a big difference between trans people and cross dressers, but in my opinion I believe Carol is a trans woman and that statement at the end of the event was just her breaking down, because it’s understandable with what kind of trauma she’s been through at the event. She was literally exposed by McGrath in front of everyone about her identity. It’s why her food outfit theme was an oyster, because she was literally ripped open by McGrath and had her vulnerable “insides” (her secret) being exposed to everyone, like an oyster.

Whether or not you think Carol is a trans woman or a cross dresser is up to you, though. You are free to interpret Carol as however you wish, but in my interpretations she is a trans woman and identifies as a woman! :)

[gancegancerevo]

Insatiable Fiesta and Carol; or an Example of (too) Real Transphobia in Fiction

[First seen on my Twitter.com but I don't trust it anymore so reposting here]

TW: transphobia and sexual harassment

For me, the failures of the trans representation in the story stem from the fact that Aisno chose being trans as one of their sub-conflicts.

Insatiable Fiesta is one of those events where you interact with a lot of people and see several people that are affected by the situation/Sinner (think Sloane street for another example).

Ryan’s fear, the blogger’s performative veganism, the waiter’s Syndicate background, etc. etc. are all small stories of people being imperfect and getting severely punished for it. And the story makes us sympathize with these random people who have fears and worries that are suddenly put on display and denounced as sins worthy of essentially death.

Carol is no exception, but she is unique among them. Not only because she’s actually quite honorable even before shit goes down but also because her judgement is even more egregious: everyone else hides who they are, Carol is punished for being who she is.

Being transgender has so many aspects and facets and story possibilities that a lot of us who want to see good representation will scrutinize these stories and discuss when they do well and how they fall short.

And for me, the story’s main stumbling point is in how it doesn’t really protect or advocate for its trans character. It’s disgustingly realistic how they weaponized Miss against Carol and how McGrath AND Cabernet make snide comments about her.

And let’s not forget that she was outed by some creep who was stalking the women’s bathroom in such a way that he saw her genitals. It’s fucked up that the peeping tom wasn’t punished on-screen but that is a point in favor of how realistically the transphobia was written in the event; that in the effort to out and demonize trans people, lots of creeps feel empowered to violate women’s spaces.

The biggest point against the story is that the narration misgenders Carol during her "elimination". That sort of choice on some level legitimizes calling Carol a man which is frankly, shit. Such a simple letter can really change things.

On the topic of Carol and Macchiato's interaction at the end, This moment with Carol was satisfying to me in that after all the shit others gave her, Carol found someone who complimented her even after shouting that she was a man in a dress. Now, would I have been happier if Macchiato affirmed Carol's gender a bit more definitively? Yes, definitely. But in terms of the 3 line resolutions that are usually given to these side conflicts, this gets a passing score from me.

I guess my personal preferences make me less concerned by the fact that none of the transphobes got directly punished because I prefer stories that maximize positive relationships. Like, I don’t care for the opinions of transphobes and I’m certainly not in the mood to see more people getting hurt/punished after that terror of a party.

It goes back to how there are so many ways to write queer media. Seeing someone deny herself after McGrath's nonsense is an interesting narrative and it's just disappointing that Aisno didn't follow through on this in several minor yet noticeable ways

Thank you very much for reaching the end of this rambling :)

I do want to analyze more PtN stories in the future and I do hope Aisno steps up and advocates for gender and trans issues more strongly in the future

BTW: required reading

[iwanthermidnightz]

Gracie Abrams is, as the kids say, the moment. Since releasing her first EP—“It's not been very long, but it feels like a million years”—the singer-songwriter has graduated to opening for Taylor Swift on her Eras Tour. Now enjoying the success of her debut album, Good Riddance, Abrams will be touring again with stops in Europe this fall—all before she turns 24.

Her third grade teacher had the class keep “tiny palm-size journals. It wasn't a grand plan to get us into storytelling, but it did feel very serious to me. I was immediately drawn to this private place where you could talk about anything. I lost the journal and it was my first real heartbreak.”

“It’s not to paint my parents in a negative light. I mean, they're the fucking best of all time,” says the middle child of director, writer, and producer J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot's Katie McGrath. “But my strict curfew was not because I was like, ‘There's this concert I'm really passionate about, please, please, please, let me go.’ It was like, ‘There's this boy that I've heard of once who's having a party,’ and they're like, ‘Cool. You're not going.’ I was more observing the clichés of LA than participating in them.”

She credits Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and Phoebe Bridgers—whom she discovered at age 12 on YouTube—as “these formative flags, waving a little bit, that changed my life.”

Attending an all-girls high school and an all-women college, Barnard, helped Abrams find her voice. “I've personally found that you're removing a factor that is so real when you grow up as a girl—these social dynamics where there's a certain sexism.” In school, “I felt zero fear or hesitation to raise my hand every single time I had a thought about anything.”

Abrams watches Swift's show every night she opens for her, getting a master class in how to “maintain intimacy as you grow and step away from 200-cap venues. She does 80,000 people three times a weekend, and regardless of where you are in the stadium—because I've walked around and looked at different views—it feels like just you and her. And she's the biggest star in the world.”

She’s an avowed Swiftie herself. “Every formative memory in my life is paired with a Taylor Swift song that helped me get through. My boyfriend the other day did the thing where we shuffled her discography and played a song for one second…I got them all.”

She first heard from Swift via a call from an unknown number inviting Abrams to the superstar's birthday. Abrams checked it out by calling a mutual producer: “Can you confirm something for me, or is there someone just trying to break my heart?”

Ahead of her first concert performance ever, “I was vomiting because I was so scared. My anxiety had just kind of reached this peak; I was like, ‘I can't do this. I don't want to do this. This isn't for me. I like to write by myself. I don't want to be around other people. This is private.’ And the second I got onstage, I was just so happy. I was so proven wrong. I felt so immediately like the songs that I was singing onstage were no longer about me, but it was about all of the people that were in the room that night. And that's kind of carried on every time I've been lucky enough to play a show since then.”

[thejadedjewel]

Little Muppet Sesame Things #76

So the Sesame Street 20th anniversary special ended with a great form of credits having everyone singing "Sing".

Ernie and Bert, chillin' together - Jim Henson and Frank Oz

Don Music jamming on his piano with some kids hanging out - Richard Hunt

Luis and Maria with two kids, who need a toy car fixed - Emilio Delgado and Sonia Manzano

Bob serenading us with his amazing voice with Barkley, everyone's favorite Sesame doggo - Bob McGrath and Fred Garbo

Big Bird at his nest - Caroll Spinney

Susan, Gordon, and Miles sitting on the stoop of 123 Sesame - Loretta Long, Roscoe and Miles Orman

Prarie Dawn and Ruby, the ladies of the Muppets - Fran Brill and Camille Bonora

Two kids with the Snuffleupagus siblings, little Alice and big brother Aloysius "Snuffy", Alice being an echo for Snuffy - Judy Sladky and Martin Robinson and Bryant Young

The Children of Sesame Street... a couple dozen kids, plus Maria and Luis

The Original blue man group: Herry Monster, Grover, and Cookie Monster - with David Rudman

Linda signs while Elmo sings happily - Linda Bove and Kevin Clash

Count solos after a countdown - Jerry Nelson

Telly sings while Baby Natasha babbles along - with Pan Arciero

Uncle Wally, Gina, and David with two kids at Hoopers - Bill McCutcheon, Alison Bartlett, and Northern Calloway

The first muppet we ever saw on Sesame...

... and the many friends and family. There are too many characters to even list off, but I love that Ernie and Kermit are close together as are Bert and Grover. You know Jim and Frank are controlling them with one hand each.

And end with a special tribute to Joe Raposo, who passed before the special aired.

I'd recommend this special, but... it's hosted by Bill Cosby.

...yeah...

[muppetydyke]

Muppet MainStage September 25th, 2023

“What’s the Name of That Song?” was written by Sam Pottle and David Axlerod. It first appeared in 1974, in season 6 of Sesame Street. The song has been performed many times since then, usually performed by an ensemble.

The first instance of the song follows the residents of Sesame Street as they try to figure out what a song stuck in their heads is. The song starts with David (Northern Calloway), who is then joined by Bob (Bob McGrath), then Susan (Loretta Long) and Gordon (Roscoe Orman) come out and ask what the song is. Maria (Sonia Manzano) then starts singing the song and is accosted by the others asking what it is. Bert (Frank Oz) and Herry Monster (Jerry Nelson) say they know the name of the song, but they do not. Luis (Emilio Delgado) then comes out to ask what the song is (in Spanish). Then Oscar (Caroll Spinney) pops up to ask what the song is and complain. The Count (Jerry Nelson) then adds to the few remembered lyrics. Mr. Macintosh (Chet O’Brien) appears with his fruit stand to join the group. Mr. Hooper (Will Lee) asks what the name of the song is. And the ensemble walks off saying different songs, leaving David to finish the number.