#Douglas McKay

[politicaldilfs]

Oregon Governor DILFs

Victor Atiyeh, John Kitzhaber, Douglas McKay, Ted Kulongoski, Robert W. Straub, Paul L. Patterson, Earl Snell, Robert D. Holmes, Tom McCall, Mark Hatfield, Neil Goldschmidt

[marcovaleyeah]

18.07.24

#Mira-Marathon | MCU

Film Name: Ant-Man (2015); Production Studios: Walt Disney Pictures, Marvel Studios, Gary Sanchez Productions; Director by: Peyton Reed; Screenwriter: Adam McKay, Paul Rudd, Joe Cornish, Edgar Wright; Starring: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Michael Peña; Genres: Science Fiction, Action, Comedy; Running Time: 1 hour 57 minutes;

Ant-Man is a superhero action movie where Scott Lang, a thief with a unique suit that can shrink him to the size of an ant, teams up with Dr. Hank Pym to stop a criminal threat. Pros: Light and fun tone, Interesting and unpredictable plot, Inventive fight scenes, Impressive visual effects, Charismatic performance by Paul Rudd. Cons: Lack of significant impact on the MCU, Lack of development of some characters, Dragging ending. Overall, Ant-Man is an entertaining superhero movie with a light tone, interesting plot and impressive visuals, although it has its flaws in character development and overall impact MCU.

My rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🎀 Holiday Books Released in 2024

❓ Are you reading any holiday/seasonal books this December?

🎁 A Corpse in Christmas Close - Michelle Salter 🎁 Christmas Sweater Weather - Jaqueline Snowe 🎁 A Very Irish Christmas - Debbie Johnson 🎁 Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop - Otto Penzler 🎁 Take Me Home for Christmas - Miranda Liasson 🎁 Tis the Season for Secrets - Kate Callaghan 🎁 Unromance - Erin Connor 🎁 A Jingle Bell Mingle - Julie Murphy 🎁 A Home for the Holidays - Taylor Hahn

❄ The Wood at Midwinter - Susanna Clarke ❄ Brightly Shining - Ingvild H. Rishøi ❄ A Winter Wish - Emily Stone ❄ Blue Christmas Bones - Carolyn Haines ❄ Love You a Latke - Amanda Elliot ❄ Christmas at Glitter Peak Lodge - Kjersti Herland Johnsen ❄ The Most Wonderful Time - Jayne Allen ❄ All the Jingle Ladies - Beth Garrod ❄ Death at a Scottish Christmas - Lucy Connelly

🎄 Make the Season Bright - Ashley Herring Blake 🎄 The Merriest Misters - Timothy Janovsky 🎄 The Merry Matchmaker - Sheila Roberts 🎄 The Wedding Witch - Erin Sterling 🎄 Most Wonderful - Georgia Clark 🎄 Rockin' Around the Chickadee - Donna Andrews 🎄 The Mistletoe Mystery - Nita Prose 🎄 One Big Happy Family - Susan Mallery 🎄 The Christmas Catch - Toni Shiloh

💜 Eight Nights to Win Her Heart - Miri White 💜 Christmas in Aspen - Anita Hughes 💜 The Holiday Honeymoon Switch - Julia McKay 💜 Christmas Ever After - Jaimie Admans 💜 Mistletoe Magic in the Highlands - Bella Osborne 💜 Snow is Falling - Sarah Bennett 💜 I'll Be Gone for Christmas -Georgia K. Boone 💜 Make My Wish Come True - Rachael Lippincott 💜 Flopping in a Winter Wonderland - Jason June

❄ Some Like It Cold - Elle McNicoll ❄ Snowed In - Catherine Walsh ❄ The Christmas Cookie Wars - Eliza Evans ❄ You Better Watch Out - James S. Murray ❄ Spectacular - Stephanie Garber ❄ A Merry Little Murder Plot - Jenn McKinlay ❄ Madrigals and Mayhem - Elizabeth Penney ❄ Holiday Wedding - Melissa Dymond ❄ Puppy Love at Mistletoe Junction - Shannon Richard

🎄 The Christmas Crush - Noelle Douglas 🎄 A Novel Christmas - Charity Shane 🎄 Christmas in Chestnut Ridge - Nancy Naigle 🎄 Kiss Me at Christmas - Jenny Bayliss 🎄 Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret - Benjamin Stevenson 🎄 I'll Get Back to You - Becca Grischow 🎄 The Knife Before Christmas - Kate Carlisle 🎄 The Nightmare Before Kissmas - Sara Raasch 🎄 Christmas with the Queen - Hazel Gaynor

❄ The Christmas Countdown - Holly Cassidy ❄ Christmas in Spite of You - K.C. Mills ❄ Christmas at Spruce Hill Farm - Kathryn Springer ❄ Christmas Is All Around - Martha Waters ❄ The Christmas Inn - Pamela M. Kelley ❄ All I Want Is You - Falon Ballard ❄ The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year - Ally Carter ❄ A Christmas Duet - Debbie Macomber ❄ The Christmas Tree Farm - Laurie Gilmore

[twunny20fission]

Books of 2024

Here are the books I read in 2024, with some thoughts on each

“The World We Make” by N.K. Jemison. A sequel to a book I was looking forward to, but found a bit disappointing. This one was fine. It really made the first book shine by comparison. The series was supposed to be a trilogy, but the author didn’t want to do it anymore. So this one felt rushed.

“Sweet Tooth, Book One” by Jeff Lemire. Visually great and well-written. Didn’t blow me away, but felt worthwhile. I’d like to read the next in the series, but it’s harder to find.

“Pageboy” by Elliot Page. This is one of those memoirs where you think, “well, they definitely didn’t hire a ghost writer.” Page is not a skilled writer. The stories he lived through were enough to be good nonetheless.

“Moon Knight, Vol. 1: The Midnight Mission” by Jed McKay, et al. Pretty tame for such an interesting character.

“Moon Knight, Vol. 2: Too Tough to Die” by Jed McKay, et al. Meandering, with a rushed ending. Meh.

“Safe & Sound” by Mercury Stardust. How to take care of a lot of stuff around your house. It was inspiring and affirming. Not a lot of it was necessarily useful to me presently. But it was still good.

“Usagi Yojimbo, Vol 6: Circles” by Stan Sakai. I love everything about Usagi. This is a strong volume.

“Evvie Drake Starts Over” by Linda Holmes. A great time. I took a swing on a type of book I don’t normally pick up, and I’m extremely happy I did. It’s a romance novel, but not AT ALL a bodice-ripper. A modern, thoughtful, realistic novel about an adult woman falling in love. Super good.

“The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck” by Mark Manson. Nowhere near as good as I wanted it to be. Very bro-ey, and not particularly resonant.

“Ms. Marvel Vol 5: Super Famous” by G. Willow Wilson, et al. A very middle-of-the-road entry in Wilson’s Marvel volumes.

“Making It So: A Memoir” by Patrick Stewart. Outstanding. Exceeded every expectation, and my expectations were high. Even the less-than-flattering elements of his life were handled well.

“Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant” by Iman Vellani, et al. This book really hung its hat on “Iman Vellani got to write this one.” Which is great, but it wasn’t a spectacular book.

“An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us” by Ed Yong. Very disappointing. It could have been very cool, but it was not.

“poyums” by Len Pennie. I dislike 95% of all poetry I've ever experienced. This book is in the other 5%. Even when I didn’t understand it (either because it was in Scots, because it was poetry, or both) it was great.

“Ms. Marvel Vol 6: Civil War II” by G. Willow Wilson, et al. Good art, mediocre plots, pretty decent dialogue.

“Camp Damascus” by Chuck Tingle. I listened to the audiobook, but I’m counting it. This was engaging start to finish. The creepy parts were good, and the sense of fun that the author brings to things was apparent throughout.

“Mighty Nein Origins: Beauregard Lionett” by Mae Catt, et al. None of these Origins books were great standalone stories. This one was *pretty* good.

“Sourcery” by Terry Pratchett. Another great entry in what might at this point be my favorite book series. Like ever. After I reckoned with the fact that I’d never read another Douglas Adams book, I figured that part of my brain would go fallow. Thank goodness for Sir Terry, and thank goodness he was so prolific. This one was exciting and emotional.

“Three Novels,” by Samuel Beckett. I don’t get what he was trying to do here. Beckett’s plays work for me. Whatever this was did NOT. I tortured myself into finishing it, after a months-long break.

“Star Trek: Lower Decks #1” by Ryan North, et al. Really enjoyable. You have to come into the book with a knowledge of how Lower Decks works. Which I have, and it was great. Ryan North has never missed.

“Survival Street” by James Asmus, et al. As with any good satire, this was hard to “enjoy.” It was too sharp an implement, but it was very well-executed. The idea is that the S*same St*eet m*ppets are real, living, immigrant people. And when the tyrannical government takes over and de-funds PBS and basically all non-propaganda children’s TV, they go HAM.

“Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros. Very glad I picked this one up. I get caught in the “do I really have bandwidth for a long book, or to start another series right now” of it all. But this one was worth it. But I wish it had been a little less infatuation-obsessed. The romance makes sense, and is even relevant to the plot. But the “oh, how could I ever have denied myself the exquisite pleasure of having this person’s skin under my fingertips” is just…blegh.

“The Adventure Zone, Vol. 6: The Suffering Game” by the McElroys, et al. The comics are not as good as the podcast. Part of that opinion might be nostalgia for the golden age of “about 10 years ago.” But it’s how I feel. This one fits in nicely with the others, which is to say it’s competently written and arted. There are one or two great bits per book, but overall it’s fine.

“Wyrd Sisters” by Terry Pratchett. I look back on every Discworld novel with a sense of it being the best one and not as good as at least one other one. My favorite is constantly in flux. This one stands out for its treatment of the magic of theater (and greater magick of headology) and its deeper insights into the witches.

“A Wizard of Earthsea” by Ursula Le Guin. I should have read this sooner. It pretty much holds up, though the style is clearly of a type that no one really uses anymore.

“Priestdaddy” by Patricia Lockwood. Bit of a disappointment. It was like reading a clever blog of an autobiography. I didn’t really hold together well. A lot of it was entertaining, but it wasn’t Great.

“Legends and Lattes” by Travis Baldree. Right up my alley. A very cozy, thoughtful story in a kind of hand-wavy fantasy world. Really enjoyed it.

“The Theory of Everything Else” by Dan Schreiber. Wasn’t exactly a narrative, wasn’t exactly just a list of facts & curiosities. It was okay. I feel like Schreiber is at his best in the audio format, in the company of other weirdos.

“Pyramids” by Terry Pratchett. Very cool expansion of Discworld. I’m hoping it is a foundation to something ahead, as I liked the characters and the new elements of the plane.

"Iron Flame" by Rebecca Yarros. A stellar second entry in the series. It was infuriating how engrossed I was for the last 150 or so pages especially. The spicy scenes still seem to be...too much. They stick out as an insanely different experience than the rest of the narrative. Look, I liked the book a lot. I had a hard time telling certain characters apart sometimes, and some of the narrative bits were too confusing until they weren't. This series is A Lot.

Metrics!

Total books: 31 Total (non-graphic novels and other picture-heavy books) pages: 6450 Total pages: 8403 Highest-rated: Making It So Lowest-rated: Three Novels Very Glad I Read It Award: poyums Honorable Mention: Evvie Drake Starts Over Glad It's Over Award: The World We Make Most disappointing: Three Novels

[brian-in-finance]

Douglas Henshall as Taran MacQuarrie (Outlander/Starz) and Jimmy Perez (Shetland/BBC)

Bill Paterson as Ned Gowan (Outlander/Starz) and James Perez (Shetland/BBC)

Grant O’Rourke as Rupert MacKenzie (Outlander/Starz) and Jamie Narey (Shetland/BBC)

3 of 52 and counting…

Overheard (via text) in November:

Bill Paterson (Ned Gowan in Outlander) makes an appearance in Shetland. Sorry if this is old news. — GreyMatterMaelstrom

Love Shetland and was gutted when Douglas Henshall announced he was leaving. As far as actors go, the more episodes you watch, the more Outlanders you'll see. I used to keep a list, but stopped updating it for no good reason. — Brian-in-Finance

Decided to update the list. You might need a magnifying glass to read it. 🔍 Appreciate notification of errors and omissions.

Actors in both Outlander and Shetland

Remember when Brian Fraser married Flora MacDonald in Shetland Season 6? Remember when Anne Kidd played Grannie Wilson the purported corpse in Outlander and Dr Cora McLean the pathologist in Shetland? Remember when Torin the blacksmith’s “It’ll cost ye” sounded just like Connor McKay the Health and Safety inspector’s “But it might take some time?”

This one’s for you @greymattermaelstrom 😂

[mogai-sunflowers]

MOGAI BHM- Day 11!

happy BHM! today i’m going to be talking about music and literature during the Harlem Renaissance!

Literature During the Harlem Renaissance-

[Image ID: A black-and-white photograph of Langston Hughes, a Black man with short hair. In the photograph, he’s sitting with his arm resting on the back of a chair in front of a table and a bookshelf. He’s smiling widely and wearing a light-colored long-sleeved collared shirt with thin, vertical white stripes. End ID.]

One of the spheres most influenced and prominent during the Harlem Renaissance was that of Black literature. Black writers began to publish works about being Black in America, about Black pride and stories, about forging a racial and cultural identity, and as Black stories began to become more told on stages, they also began to be told more through literature. 

Magazines were a huge part of literature during the Harlem Renaissance- they were opportunities for Black writers to collaborate and reach larger audiences. Some of the most influential magazines of the era include the NAACP-published The Crisis, and Marcus Garvey’s and the UNIA’s N*gro’s World. Publications such as these boldly discussed racial topics and allowed readers to connect with their own racial identities.

The most famous writer of the Harlem Renaissance, indeed one of the most famous and influential American writers ever, is Langston Hughes. Langston was many things- he was a poet, an essayist, a novelist, and an activist. He is most known for his poetry, but all his genres of writing revolved around racial identity. Hughes is known for saying that Black artists rejecting their racial identity stood in the way of them truly creating Black art. 

Langston’s most famous works include The Weary Blues, a poetry collection about Black jazz and blues musicians and Black life in America, famous for incorporating blues and jazz into his writing as well as Black American dialects. He also collaborated with other famous artists like Aaron Douglas and Zora Neale Hurston on the magazine Fire!!, a bold magazine for Black artists focusing on race, sex, intersections, and more. Hughes wrote about and memorialized the Harlem Renaissance in his autobiography The Big Sea.

Zora Neale Hurston was another very famous writer during the Harlem Renaissance. She wasn’t afraid to write in an explicitly Black way- she wrote in Southern Black dialects, about Black pride and autonomy, and didn’t worry about appealing to a white audience, which earned her criticism for being “too black”- a label she wore with pride. She was also known for writing about colorism within Black communities. Zora wrote famous works like “Their Eyes Are Watching God” and “Barracoon”.

The Harlem Renaissance saw the growing popularity of many, many writers. Other famous Harlem Renaissance writers include Countee Cullen, whose poetry chronicled Black lives in America, Claude McKay, whose famous story ‘Home to Harlem’ detailed the life of a Black soldier, James Weldon Johnson, whose famous poem ‘Lift Every Voice And Sing’ has been set to music, and many, many others.

The Harlem Renaissance left a huge legacy on Black literature.

Music During the Harlem Renaissance-

[Image ID: A black-and-white photograph of Louis Armstrong, a Black man with short hair. In the photo, he’s wearing a white, button up, collared undershirt beneath a light-colored suit jacket and a black bowtie, and he’s playing a trumpet. End ID.]

If there’s one aspect of the Harlem Renaissance that has had the most lasting impact on the world, it is music. Two of the world’s most popular, well-known, and influential genres, jazz and blues, were developed by Black musicians around and during the Harlem Renaissance. Developed in New Orleans, jazz music became an international music phenomenon.

Jazz was fast-paced, exciting, and had a focus on musical improvisation, allowing musicians to come up with their own music on the spot. Blues, a post-war musical genre that focused on slowly, passionately expressing deep emotions and difficult truths, became a staple of music in the Harlem musical scene and the Black musical scene across the country. 

One of the staples of the Harlem Renaissance was a vibrant night life- this included many night clubs where Black musicians played music- as time went on, these night clubs became extremely popular, attracting huge crowds every night. They were a beautiful celebration of Black music, culture, and unity, and clubs like this are what led to the rising popularity of many Black musicians during the Harlem Renaissance.

Some of the most famous musicians of the Harlem Renaissance were Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Gladys Bentley, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, among many others! Louis Armstrong is famous for songs like ‘What A Wonderful World’, ‘Hey Dolly’, and ‘La Vie En Rose’. Songs like these are still famous today, as are songs by the likes of Bessie Smith and Duke Ellington.

Jazz and blues music were the beating heart of the Harlem Renaissance, and to this day they are some of the hugest genres in the world, cementing the influence of Black people on the world of music.

Summary-

Literature during the Harlem Renaissance heavily focused on Black identity, pride, experiences, and exploring Black life in America

Famous Harlem Renaissance writers include Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, County Cullen, and Claude McKay

Music during the Harlem Renaissance was largely jazz and blues, two Black music styles

Music performances at night clubs sustained the energy and popularity of the Harlem Renaissance

Famous musicians of the Harlem Renaissance include Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Gladys Bentley, and Cab Calloway

tagging @intersexfairy​ @metalheadsforblacklivesmatter​ @neopronouns​ @justlgbtthings​ @genderkoolaid​ @spacelazarwolf​ 

Sources-

https://macaulay.cuny.edu/seminars/henken08/articles/h/a/r/Harlem_Renaissance_and_Literature_fb80.html#:~:text=The%20Harlem%20Renaissance%20brought%20along,to%20signify%20their%20cultural%20identity. 

https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/langston-hughes-harlem-renaissance 

https://www.zoranealehurston.com/

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/harlem-renaissance-literature-guide 

https://www.history.com/news/harlem-renaissance-writers

https://www.biography.com/musicians/louis-armstrong

https://www.biography.com/musicians/bessie-smith

https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/harlem-renaissance#louis-armstrong 

[lestweforget5]

So I read the long shadow (brilliant btw) and Millie and Jack talking about their uniforms and how they are both filling out their clothes again and it got me thinking about the wedding. (Yay!!)

Mostly thinking about how Millie’s dress would be so small, and how her daughter might have wanted to wear it or see it decades later but it wouldn’t have fit! Or maybe with rationing Millie would have just gone for a nice dress?

They would both invite family, some of their fellow POW’s (Brady’s crew, Dennis, McKay (?), and some of the others in their room (I feel like depending on the size of the wedding, most of the 100th in their room would have had an invite, but some might not have been able to come)) and on Millie’s side from the 100th, Maggie and Winks? Maybe? But who else do you think would have received an invite from the 100th on Johns side? Crosby, maybe Blakely and Douglas?

Size of the wedding is something I’m catching myself on, because neither Millie or John would be completely comfortable with a lot of people watching them, with them both being quieter, their PTSD and the nature of their relationship. But on the plus side, they have all these people that love them and want to celebrate them. And they are alive. That is worth celebrating.

And a slightly bigger wedding would have music as well. Which would be something they like.

Hello, Nonnie! Thank you for the ask. I'm so glad you enjoyed The Long Shadow. As to the wedding, further discussion is below the cut given the potential for spoilers for the future:

So given the logistics of travel in the '40s, there are actually going to be two weddings: one in Arkansas and one in New York, and what crew comes to which depends on where they live. I haven't started on the wedding story yet, so this is totally spitballing.

I'm imagining maybe an actual wedding dress in New York, which means I need to go find pictures of 1940s wedding dresses, but a Sunday dress in Arkansas. Whether a dress might be too small would somewhat depend on whether her daughter takes more after her or Jack in size, as Millie is naturally smaller, although she is still rather thin early post-war.

As to invitations: Brady's officers, of course; Dennis and McKay as the remains of her crew. They're each friendly with the enlisted on their crews, but the level of friendship isn't the same so I doubt the enlisted boys would get invites ... except Gangwer, maybe, but if you invite one and not the others, it could get awkward, so I don't know about that. Crank and Murph would be a must. Winks and Maggie, too. I could definitely see Brady inviting Crosby, but I've got no idea about Blakely and Douglass yet.

Maybe to the issues with the crowds, although it can be a little different, I'd think, when it's all friendly and familiar faces and you're on your own home turf.

The New York wedding is most likely bigger than the Arkansas one. And yes, I think there's definitely music for the New York one. It would be pretty hard for her to dance, but Millie would still enjoy the music. And I like the image of Brady dancing with one/both of his sisters, too.

[rewritethisstxry]

Hello and welcome to my mixed mosh little corner of tumblr. Here I write for a variety of fandoms and characters. Primarily will be featuring drabbles with the occasional longer piece. Headcanons will feature from time to time.

At the time I do NOT consent for my work to be translated or posted anywhere else.

Below you will find some more information on who and what I write.

MINORS DNI. Due to the nature of potential content, only 18 and older are allowed.

Characters || Rules || Masterlist || Slasher/horror writing blog : @slxsherwriter

What I will write:

Angst

Fluff

Smut

Platonic relationships

Alpha/Omega dynamics

What I won’t write:

Snuff

Rape, rape play, non con

Underage

Inc*st

Real person fic

Marvel: Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Alexei Shostakov, Peter Parker, Victor Creed, Deacon Frost, Peter Quinn, Frank Castle, Matt Murdock, Foggy Nelson, Bruce Banner, Brock Rumlow, Nathan Summers, Eddie Brock, Cletus Kasady, Otto Octavius

DC Universe: Bruce Wayne, Harvey Bullock, Jim Gordon, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Jonathan Crane, Clark Kent, Arthur Curry

Stranger Things: James Hopper, Steve Harrington, Jonathan Byers

Stargate Atlantis: Rodney McKay, John Sheppard, Ronan Dex, Carson Beckett

Sons of Anarchy: Jackson “Jax” Teller, Harry “Opie” Winston, Filip “Chibs” Telford, Juan Carlos “Juice” Ortiz, Lincoln Potter, Galen O'Shay

The Walking Dead: Rick Grimes, Shane Walsh, Negan Smith

What We Do in the Shadows: Nandor the Relentless, Guillermo de la Cruz, Laszlo Cravensworth

Resident Evil: Karl Heisenberg, Albert Wesker, Chris Redfield

Ted Lasso: Ted Lasso, Coach Beard, Jamie Tartt, Roy Kent

Good Omens: Gabriel, Aziraphale, Crowley

Video Games: Connor RK800, CaptainJonathan Price, Simon Ghost Riley, Sniper

Movies: Finn Brody (Godzilla), Raleigh Becket (Pacific Rim), Terry Malone (Black and Blue), Abe Guevara (Point Blank), Bobby O’Neill (The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard), Guy Clifton (The Crash), Roy Pulver (Boss Level), Sloan (Into the Ashes) Braxton Wolff (The Accountant), Ethan Sawyer (Those Who Wish Me Dead), Bradley James (Grudge Match), Sam Rossi (Sweet Virginia), Mr. McCarthy (Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl), Grady Travis (Fury), Griff (Baby Driver), Adam Frawley (The Town), Buddy (Baby Driver), Clyde Brenek (The Posession), Patrick Sullivan (The Accidental Husband), Harvey Russell (Rampage), Jude Fisher (Peace, Love, and Misunderstanding), Luke Vaughn (Heist), Franklin Clay (The Losers), Max (The Resident), Nicomund the Red/Santa Claus (Violent Night), Doug Dennison (Sleepless), Frank Masters (The Equalizer), Hellboy (2019), Alex Baldr (Max Payne), Matt Graver (Sicario), Douglas Hunsiker (The Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Steve Emmett (Boa vs Python), Joe Braven (Braven), Lee Christmas (The Expendables), Deckard Shaw (Fast & Furious)

Musicals: Jack Kelly (Newsies), Dewey Finn (School of Rock), Hades (Hadestown)

Tv shows: Ike Evans (Magic City), Jason Crouse (The Good Wife), John Winchester (Supernatural), Mason Baldwin (Elementary), Colton Fisk (The Equalizer), Kevin Tidwell (Life), Declan Murphy (Law & Order: SVU), Eugene McGillicutty (Royal Pains), Chuck Martin (ER), Dickie Flood (Th Practice), Malcolm Bright (Prodigal Son)

Tolkien: Boromir, Faramir, Eomer

[lonestarflight]

"In the center foreground of this 1953 hangar photo is the YF-84A (NACA 134/Air Force 45-59490) used for vortex generator research. It arrived on November 28, 1949, and departed on April 21, 1954. Beside it is the third D-558-1 aircraft (NACA 142/Navy 37972). This aircraft was used for a total of 78 transonic research flights from April 1949 to June 1954. It replaced the second D-558-1, lost in the crash which killed Howard Lilly. Just visible on the left edge is the nose of the first D-558-2 (NACA 143/Navy 37973). Douglas turned the aircraft over to NACA on August 31, 1951, after the contractor had completed its initial test flights. NACA only made a single flight with the aircraft, on September 17, 1956, before the program was cancelled. In the center of the photo is the B-47A (NACA 150/Air Force 49-1900). The B-47 jet bomber, with its thin, swept-back wings, and six podded engines, represented the state of the art in aircraft design in the early 1950s. The aircraft undertook a number of research activities between May 1953 and its 78th and final research flight on November 22, 1957. The tests showed that the aircraft had a buffeting problem at speeds above Mach 0.8. Among the pilots who flew the B-47 were later X-15 pilots Joe Walker, A. Scott Crossfield, John B. McKay, and Neil A. Armstrong.

On the right side of the B-47 is NACA's X-1 (Air Force 46-063). The second XS-1 aircraft built, it was fitted with a thicker wing than that on the first aircraft, which had exceeded Mach 1 on October 14, 1947. Flight research by NACA pilots indicated that this thicker wing produced 30 percent more drag at transonic speeds compared to the thinner wing on the first X-1. After a final flight on October 23, 1951, the aircraft was grounded due to the possibility of fatigue failure of the nitrogen spheres used to pressurize the fuel tanks. At the time of this photo, in 1953, the aircraft was in storage. In 1955, the aircraft was extensively modified, becoming the X-1E."

Date: April 27, 1953

NASA ID: E-960

[breha]

claudia poems

we don't know exactly when she died (or even for absolutely sure if! at this point! technically! here's how 47 years after the publication of the book alive claudia can still win–) but i'm dividing this into "before 1950" and "after 1950" as a guesstimate

poems from before 1950

gwendolyn bennett, "hatred"

countee cullen,"thoughts in a zoo"

emily dickinson, "it was not death, for i stood up," "after great pain, a formal feeling comes–" "i never hear the word 'escape'" "they shut me up in prose"

alice moore dunbar-nelson, "if i had known"

john keats, "lamia [left to herself]"

georgia douglas johnson, "the heart of a woman" "foredoom" "your world" "smothered fires"

d.h. lawrence, "ressurection"

marie luhrs, "cry"

claude mckay, "adolescence" (thank you this post)

edna st. vincent millay, "departure" "rendezvous"

esther popel, "theft"

robert roe, "a light song"

marjorie allen seiffert, "the man-made woman"

poems from after 1950

lucille clifton, "my dream about time"

angela jackston, "angelhair"

rebecca hazelton, "book of memory"

lisel mueller, "happy and unhappy familes i & ii" "imaginary paintings" "the late news" "letter from the end of the world"

alice notley, "the descent of alette ['a car' 'awash with blood']"

sharon olds, "satan says" (thank you this post) "after 37 years my mother apologizes for my childhood"

sue owen, "written in blood"

justin phillip reed, "pushing up onto its elbows, the fable lifts itself into fact"

sonia sanchez, "poem at thirty" "blues" "sequences" "under a soprano sky" "fragment 2"

prageeta sharma, "the imperishable and perishable family"

keith s. wilson, "impression of a rib"

jamila woods, "on naming yourself (a cento)"

charles wright, "nightletter"

kevin young, "i am trying to break your heart"

[ljones41]

Top Favorite Car Racing Movies

Due to the upcoming release of "GRAN TURISMO", I had decided to list my current favorite movies about car racing:

TOP FAVORITE CAR RACING MOVIES

"Speed Racer" (2008) - The Wachowskis wrote and directed this exciting and very original adaptation of Tatsuo Yoshida's late 1960s Manga animated series about a young American race car driver. Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci and Matthew Fox starred.

2. "The Love Bug" (1968) - Robert Stevenson directed this funny and first-rate adaptation of "Car, Boy, Girl", Gordon Buford's novel about a sentient Volkswagen Beetle named Herbie and his relationship with his driver, Jim Douglas. Dean Jones, Michele Lee, Buddy Hackett and David Tomlinson starred.

3. "Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies aka Monte Carlo or Bust" (1969) - Ken Annakin directed and co-wrote this all-star comedy about the European car rally , the Monte Carlo Rally. Tony Curtis, Susan Hampshire and Terry-Thomas starred.

4. "Rush" (2013) - Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl starred in this biopic about the rivalry between two drivers, the Briton James Hunt and the Austrian Niki Lauda, during the 1976 Formula One motor-racing season. Ron Howard directed.

5. "Ford v Ferrari" (2019) - James Mangold directed this biopic about automobile designer Carroll Shelby and racer Ken Miles, who were hired by the Ford Motor Company to lead a team to build a race car that would defeat the perennially dominant Italian racing team Scuderia Ferrari at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France. Matt Damon and Christian Bale.

6. "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" (2006) - Adam McKay wrote and directed this sports comedy about an immature yet successful NASCAR driver. Will Farrell starred.

7. "The Great Race" (1965) - Blake Edwards directed and co-wrote this comedic and fictionalized account of the 1908 New York to Paris Race. Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Natalie Wood starred.

8. "Grand Prix" (1966) - John Frankenheimer directed this story about the fate of four Formula One drivers through a fictionalized version of the 1966 Formula One season. James Garner, Eva Marie Saint and Yves Montand starred.

9. "Viva Las Vegas" (1964) - Elvis Presley and Ann-Margaret starred in this musical comedy about a romance between a race car driver competing in Las Vegas' first annual Grand Prix race and a hotel swimming instructor. George Sidney directed.

10. "Cars" (2006) - John Lasseter directed and co-wrote this Disney animated film about a hotshot rookie race car named Lightning McQueen who gets stranded in Radiator Springs, a rundown town that is past its glory days. Owen Wilson starred.

[thetangential]

Audiobook review: “Big Swiss” is an affair to remember

In her mid-40s, Greta realizes she’s been drifting through life. In response, she leaves her decade-long relationship, moves across the country into an infested house, takes up work as a sex therapist’s transcriber, and embarks on an affair with one of his clients, not bothering to mention the connection. We’re in the last wave of gen-X midlife crisis novels, and these slackers are not going gently.

Daily life with Greta and her housemate Simone, in fact, isn’t far removed from the rhythms of Douglas Coupland’s 1991 novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, wherein post-boomers hang out in an isolated house, swapping stories and half-assedly trying to make some sense of it all. In Jen Beagin’s new novel Big Swiss, the women live in an 18th-century upstate New York farmhouse where they smoke cigarettes, load the wood-burning stoves, and maintain an uneasy balance with the various bugs suffusing the structure.

Greta never claims to be a good person; in fact, she experiences chronic low-level suicidal ideation linked to her feelings of worthlessness. Readers inclined to judge Greta for acting on an opportunity to sleep with a woman whose therapy sessions she’s been privy to are essentially invited to fire away: we’ll never loathe Greta more than she loathes herself.

That all sounds very bleak, and it certainly is, but Beagin counts on us to keep turning pages — or listening — based on shared curiosity about the object of Greta’s mounting obsession. Flavia, or “Big Swiss” as Greta regards her after making a correct supposition about the European American’s physical stature, is a married gynecologist in her late 20s. By various rules of society, neither woman should be with the other. That gives their affair a tenuous quality that manifests, for both of them, as an extra kick of sexual electricity.

Greta’s mordant humor buoys the novel even as it delves into the traumatic events that have shaped these characters’ lives. The therapist character plays a surprisingly constructive role: despite Greta’s contempt for his dubious holistic practices, ultimately he emerges as a voice of reason, encouraging his clients to see themselves honestly but charitably. (His decision to hire a transcriptionist who’s not just human, but local, while he’s telling clients the task is handled by software, is a contrivance that’s never fully explained.)

In Hollywood, the setup would lead to a third-act payoff where Big Swiss discovers the deception and Greta pays the piper. It remains to be seen what producer Adam McKay will do with the forthcoming HBO series based on this novel, but Beagin takes her time to follow the story’s unwinding strands. Even amid shocking surprises, the novel’s focus remains on the unexpected bond between the two lovers — then, latterly, returns to the friendship between Greta and Simone.

The audiobook involves a cast of five, which helps to differentiate the therapy sessions Greta transcribes from her inner dialogue. The audiobook credits fail to specify which actors portray which characters, but together they have fun with Big Swiss’s Nico-esque rumble and Greta’s self-deprecating wit. Director Nikki Banks Maurer ensures that the narrators capture the character’s nuances and the text’s shifting tones: with a novel like this, autopilot performances would be disastrous.

Despite its crackling dialogue and meme-worthy moments, Big Swiss is ultimately a patient examination of two women’s relationship with each other, and with their disparate histories of trauma. The characters don’t ask for our empathy, but Beagin ensures that by novel’s end they have it.

– Jay Gabler

[dr-archeville]

This weekend (Friday, March 24th to Sunday, March 26th, 2023) at the Carolina Theatre of Durham, it’s RetroGothic!

WHAT IS THE RETROGOTHIC FILM SERIES?

Gothic horror movies are adult fairy tales.  Young women appear at ancestral castles and fall in love with the dark, brooding masters of the estate.  Or flee in terror while wearing flowing dresses.  One window is always lit by candlelight against stormy midnight skies.  There is murder, confinement, revenge, and ancient curses.  Dark secrets pile up at alarming rates.  The blood of resilient gothic heroes and heroines is ignited while saving their souls from Satan, or Vincent Price.  

The heyday of the gothic horror pictures spanned the 1950s through the 1970s, with Hammer Film Productions and American International Pictures’ gloriously gothic takes on classic monster stories that starred Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and other British stars of the day.  Even Edgar Allen Poe gets involved.  In short, RetroGothic is the counterpart to our beloved Splatterflix Film Series, but this one is for those who prefer their horror movies to involve polite vampires in velvet capes.

Featuring:

Mario Bava's Black Sunday: Uncut Version (1960)

Jacques Tourneur's Curse of the Demon (1957)

Terence Fisher's The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

Freddie Frances' Dracula Has Risen From The Grave (1969)

Roger Corman's The Fall of the House of Usher (1960)

Terence Fisher's Horror of Dracula (1958)

John Gilling's The Plague of the Zombies (1966)

Val Guest's The Quatermass Xperiment, aka The Creeping Unknown (1955)

Douglas Hickox's Theater of Blood (1973)

Movie tickets are $10.00 each, or you can get a 10-pack for $80.  Check here for schedule.

“Along with the City of Durham, we have made major investments in the Carolina Theatre for the comfort and safety of our guests during our closure,” says Randy McKay, the Carolina Theatre’s President & CEO. “That includes tens of thousands of dollars in new state of the art HVAC upgrades from Global Plasma Solutions (GPS) that remove biohazards, pollen, and other contaminants to make our air as pure — and sometimes purer — than outdoor air.”  The theater has also earned a Global Biorisk Advisory Council® (GBAC) STAR™ accreditation for its cleaning practices to ensure that guests have a safe and enjoyable experience.  “Together, these cleaning practices and advanced air filtration make the Carolina Theatre one of the safest spaces to attend a film or live event in the region,” says McKay.  [source]

Carolina Theatre of Durham 309 W. Morgan St., Durham, NC http://www.carolinatheatre.org/

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🎀 Holiday Books Released in 2024

❓ Are you reading any holiday/seasonal books this December?

🎁 A Corpse in Christmas Close - Michelle Salter 🎁 Christmas Sweater Weather - Jaqueline Snowe 🎁 A Very Irish Christmas - Debbie Johnson 🎁 Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop - Otto Penzler 🎁 Take Me Home for Christmas - Miranda Liasson 🎁 Tis the Season for Secrets - Kate Callaghan 🎁 Unromance - Erin Connor 🎁 A Jingle Bell Mingle - Julie Murphy 🎁 A Home for the Holidays - Taylor Hahn

❄ The Wood at Midwinter - Susanna Clarke ❄ Brightly Shining - Ingvild H. Rishøi ❄ A Winter Wish - Emily Stone ❄ Blue Christmas Bones - Carolyn Haines ❄ Love You a Latke - Amanda Elliot ❄ Christmas at Glitter Peak Lodge - Kjersti Herland Johnsen ❄ The Most Wonderful Time - Jayne Allen ❄ All the Jingle Ladies - Beth Garrod ❄ Death at a Scottish Christmas - Lucy Connelly

🎄 Make the Season Bright - Ashley Herring Blake 🎄 The Merriest Misters - Timothy Janovsky 🎄 The Merry Matchmaker - Sheila Roberts 🎄 The Wedding Witch - Erin Sterling 🎄 Most Wonderful - Georgia Clark 🎄 Rockin' Around the Chickadee - Donna Andrews 🎄 The Mistletoe Mystery - Nita Prose 🎄 One Big Happy Family - Susan Mallery 🎄 The Christmas Catch - Toni Shiloh

💜 Eight Nights to Win Her Heart - Miri White 💜 Christmas in Aspen - Anita Hughes 💜 The Holiday Honeymoon Switch - Julia McKay 💜 Christmas Ever After - Jaimie Admans 💜 Mistletoe Magic in the Highlands - Bella Osborne 💜 Snow is Falling - Sarah Bennett 💜 I'll Be Gone for Christmas -Georgia K. Boone 💜 Make My Wish Come True - Rachael Lippincott 💜 Flopping in a Winter Wonderland - Jason June

❄ Some Like It Cold - Elle McNicoll ❄ Snowed In - Catherine Walsh ❄ The Christmas Cookie Wars - Eliza Evans ❄ You Better Watch Out - James S. Murray ❄ Spectacular - Stephanie Garber ❄ A Merry Little Murder Plot - Jenn McKinlay ❄ Madrigals and Mayhem - Elizabeth Penney ❄ Holiday Wedding - Melissa Dymond ❄ Puppy Love at Mistletoe Junction - Shannon Richard

🎄 The Christmas Crush - Noelle Douglas 🎄 A Novel Christmas - Charity Shane 🎄 Christmas in Chestnut Ridge - Nancy Naigle 🎄 Kiss Me at Christmas - Jenny Bayliss 🎄 Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret - Benjamin Stevenson 🎄 I'll Get Back to You - Becca Grischow 🎄 The Knife Before Christmas - Kate Carlisle 🎄 The Nightmare Before Kissmas - Sara Raasch 🎄 Christmas with the Queen - Hazel Gaynor

❄ The Christmas Countdown - Holly Cassidy ❄ Christmas in Spite of You - K.C. Mills ❄ Christmas at Spruce Hill Farm - Kathryn Springer ❄ Christmas Is All Around - Martha Waters ❄ The Christmas Inn - Pamela M. Kelley ❄ All I Want Is You - Falon Ballard ❄ The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year - Ally Carter ❄ A Christmas Duet - Debbie Macomber ❄ The Christmas Tree Farm - Laurie Gilmore

[brookstonalmanac]

Birthdays 9.26

Beer Birthdays

Johnny Appleseed (1774)

Phillip Best (1814)

John Bechtel (1815)

William Hamm (1857)

Jonathan Goldsmith (1938)

Glen Falconer (1961)

Michael Altman (1966)

Jay Goodwin (1986)

Five Favorite Birthdays

T.S. Eliot; poet, writer (1888)

George Gershwin; composer (1898)

Edmund Gwen; actor (1877)

Martin Heidegger; German philosopher (1889)

Julie London; jazz singer (1926)

Famous Birthdays

Lynn Anderson; country singer (1947)

Melissa Sue Anderson; actor (1962)

Carlene Carter; singer (1955)

James Caviezel; actor (1968)

John Chapman; "Johnny Appleseed" (1774)

Jane Darling; adult actress (1980)

J. Frank Dobie; folklorist, writer (1888)

Donna Douglas; actor (1933)

Andrea Dworkin; feminist (1946)

Bryan Ferry; singer (1945)

Francis of Assisi; Umbrian saint (1181)

Linda Hamilton; actor (1956)

Mary Beth Hurt; actor (1948)

Jack LaLanne; exercise guru (1914)

Winnie Mandela; political activist (1936)

Kent McCord; actor (1942)

Windsor McKay; animator, cartoonist (1867)

Olivia Newton-John; pop singer, actor (1948)

Patrick O'Neil; actor (1927)

Ivan Pavlov; experimental psychologist (1849)

George Raft; actor (1895)

Marty Robbins; country singer (1925)

Tony Sales; rock bassist (1951)

Jane Smiley; writer (1949)

Tracey Thorn; singer (1962)

Ted Weems; orchestra leader (1901)

Serena Williams; tennis player (1981)

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"LONG SENTENCE IN PENITENTIARY IS GIVEN GUNMAN," Hamilton Spectator. October 12, 1933. Page 7. --- Ratigliano Involved in Attempted Hold-up ---- Will Serve Five Years in Portsmouth Prison --- Alcohol Cases Are Adjourned a Week ---- After he had pleaded not guilty in police court yesterday morning to a charge of theft of a wallet containing $50 from the person of Frank Boronif, Tony Ratigliano, aged 19 years, no address, amended his plea to one of guilty in police court before Deputy Magistrate James McKay this morning. Yesterday he was remanded for eight days on this charge and also on one of attempted robbery while armed and another of carrying a revolver.

To-day he came up for sentence on the two latter charges. On the charge of attempted robbery while armed, Ratigliano was sentenced to five years in the penitentiary: on the possession of a revolver count, the term imposed was two years in the penitentiary and on the theft charge, two years in the penitentiary. All sentences will run concurrently.

Must Pay Fine Convicted of theft of a quart of milk, William Cook, 1258 Cannon street east, was fined $20 and $5 costs or one month in jail. Edwin Blackmore, complainant in the case, testified that milk supplied by the Purity Dairy had disappear- ed for several days. On the morning of September 28, he and several others had kept watch and had seen the accused, who is employed by the Acme Farmers Dairy, remove a quart of milk from outside the door. He had denied knowing anything of the loss of three quarts of milk previously.

It was testified that the Blackmore family had been customers of the Acme dairy for some time and were trying the Purity dairy product. The accused stated that he had taken the one bottle of milk to find out who owned the bottle and to make a report to the manager of his firm.

Court was adjourned for half an hour this morning as Deputy Magistrate McKay had received a subpoena to appear as a witness in a case in county court. Court Clerk Harry Burville and Douglas Ewing, court stenographer, were also subpoenaed in the same case.

Charges Adjourned At the request of Constable Bailey, of the Royal Canadian Mounted police, charges of possession of alcohol of illicit manufacture against George Alaska and John Godava, both of Delhi, were laid over for eight days, Bail was set at $500 each. The constable told the court that the two men were arrested on Cheever street yesterday and three gallons of what is believed to be illicit alcohol was found in the back of their car.

In the absence of Magistrate Burbidge, who is confined to his home with a bad cold, several cases upon which the magistrate is to pass sentence, were laid over until his return. Thomas McDonald, St. Catharines, who is charged with theft of $900 from his employers, was remanded for sentence until next Wednesday as Was Fred Drage, Toronto, who is charged with theft of $300.

Ernest Pike, who is awaiting sentence on a charge of false pretences, was also remanded until Wednesday. On charges of breach of recognizances, George Bristol, London, was also remanded for sentence until Wednesday.

A further remand until Tuesday was granted in the case of Ernest Denyes, alias Edward Burns, who faces charges of housebreaking with intent to commit and indictable offense and burglary.

Given Warning A warning was given electrical contractors to-day that permits must be taken out in advance of the commencement of work on wiring contracts, when the Hunter-Strome company was fined $50 for an infraction of this rule. [Ratigliano was 19, single, born in Naples but came to Canada as an infant, had a tattoo of claspsed hands, a serpent and dagger in several places, a pierced heart, a girls head, the name doris, an American eagler, and a United States Navy anchor with a serpent and dagger. He was a shoe-maker by trade, and had been in the Guelph Reformatory. He was convict #3196 at Kingston Penitentiary, and worked in the shoe shop. He was reported six times for disobedience. He was transferred to Collin's Bay Penitentiary June 1935, becoming inmate #867, and was released April 1937.]