#Edward Stern & Co.

[uwmspeccoll]

Typography Tuesday

Today, we complete the initials from Some Examples of the Work of American Designers, edited and arranged by J. M. Bowles. Shown here from top to bottom are:

A - Ralph Fletcher Seymour

C - Walter D. Teague

M - Guernsey Moore

O - Frederic Goudy

P - Charles E. Howell

T - Egbert G. Jacobson

W - Carlton D. Ellinger

Y - Bruce Rogers

Some Examples of the Work of American Designers was printed in Philadelphia by Edward Stern & Co. for Dill & Collins Co. Papermakers in 1918 on thirty styles of paper manufactured by Dill & Collins Co in Philadelphia.

View our previous post on initials from this volume.

View our other Typography Tuesday posts.

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

Part one

Part two

Part three

Part four

Part Five

@estrellami-1

Version 1: False Positive

Steve stared at his boyfriend sitting across from him. It was Steve's turn to make dinner for himself and Eddie tonight. Eddie was chowing down on it, his cheeks stuffed full like a chipmunks. It was endearing, really, the way he ate. When the fork wasn't acting quick enough, he shoveled the rest of the food into his mouth with the palm of his hand. Metallica played softly in the background as Eddie shook his head back and forth. Eddie grinned, his mouth stained with spaghetti sauce.

"Hi, baby," Eddie said. "Watchya thinking about?"

"I was just thinking about you and how cute you are," Steve said.

"Really? Wanna know what I was thinking about?" Eddie asked.

"Sure, go ahead," Steve said.

"You know how I've been debating on who should take over for Hellfire now that school is coming back around? Between Will, Gareth, and Dustin?" Eddie asked, and Steve sighed. "Well, I think I decided that the Will and Gareth should just co-DM, you know? Take turns? Isn't that a great idea? Dustin already told me he wasn't interested. He prefers to play. What?"

"So you weren't thinking about how cute I am? I see. So, the magic is already dead, then?" Steve asked dramatically.

"What? No, I swear I was also thinking about how cute you are," Eddie said.

"Sure, Edward," he mocked.

"Baby! Can't I think about both?!" Eddie asked, not realizing that Steve wasn't serious. "Seriously, I was also thinking of getting them a new throne and taking the old one to put in here in your house. Say, right in front of the fireplace? You and Bumpy would look great in the chair. Also, I would LOVE to draw you naked in the chair. I've been working on my drawing."

"Baby," Steve laughed. "I was messing with you, and of course, the throne would look great in here. I was thinking about something else, though."

Bumpy jumped into Eddie's lap and tried to grab a noodle from his plate. Eddie tsk-ed and gave her a stern talking to before setting her on the floor, scratching her head. Bumpy gave him a look before turning around and leaving.

"I'm going to pay for that one," Eddie muttered. "What were you thinking about, sweetheart?"

"Well, we still haven't told the rest of the party, and I think that we should," Steve said. "And I totally get it if you aren't ready to. I mean, I figured that since Robin, Dustin, Joyce, and Hopper already knew that we should tell the others."

"Let's do it!" Eddie exclaimed, clapping his hands. "And we can show them our baby!"

So, here they were gathered together for a party at Steve's house. Everyone was over. I mean, everyone and they were seated at Steve's large dining room table. Eddie and Steve stood up at the same time, clearing their throats.

"We have an announcement to make," Eddie said.

"Eddie and I are dating," Steve declared.

Everyone paused and glanced around the table before bursting into exclamations of congratulations. They both welcomed all of the hugs from everyone around the table. Even Mike gave them a hug. Eddie was pretty sure that Claudia and Sue gave Steve enough hugs to last him a lifetime.

"Quick question," Eddie said. "What was with the hesitation?"

"Well. . ." Max said.

"We, kind of, sort of. . .," Lucas trailed off.

"Already knew," Max finished.

"What?! How?" Steve and Eddie asked.

"You weren't very subtle, boys," Wayne said.

Eddie scowled at his uncle.

"Well, did you know that we had a baby?!" Eddie yelled.

"What?!" Everyone yelled.

"Jesus," Dustin and Robin muttered.

Eddie rolled his eyes and left the room. He came back carrying Bumpy in his arms.

"Well, you got me. I did not know about the cat," Wayne said dryly.

"We got him after our pregnancy scare," Eddie said.

"After your what?!" Mike asked.

Everyone was too distracted by the cat in Eddie's arms to really take in what he had said. Except Mike, that is.

"Steve, Eddie, he looks just like you two," El cooed.

"Thanks, we think so too," Steve replied.

"Is everyone seriously going to ignore what Eddie just said?" Mike asked.

"Mike, you're going to scare the kitty," Nancy scolded.

Mike threw up his hands and pouted in his seat as everyone cooed over the cat.

"Can I be godmother to this child too?" Robin asked.

"Yeah," Steve said. "You're godmother to all my kids."

"Uh, what other kid is she godmother to?" Mike asked.

"Dustin, duh," everyone in the room said.

Version 2: Baby Bat

"So you weren't thinking about how cute I am? I see. So, the magic is already dead, then?" Steve asked dramatically.

"What? No, I swear I was also thinking about how cute you are," Eddie said.

"Sure, Edward," he mocked.

"Baby! Can't I think about both?!" Eddie asked, not realizing that Steve wasn't serious. "Seriously, I was also thinking of getting them a new throne and taking the old one to put in here in your house. Say, right in front of the fireplace? You would look great in that chair. Also, I would LOVE to draw you naked in the chair. . . With your swollen belly and all. . . I've been working on my drawing."

"Baby," Steve laughed. "I was messing with you, and of course, the throne would look great in here. I was thinking about something else, though."

"Oh, yeah, what were you thinking about?" Eddie asked.

Steve smiled as the baby started to kick. She was most active during the nighttime. He pressed a hand to his stomach. They didn't know the sex of the baby yet, but they both firmly believed it was a girl.

"I was just thinking it was probably time that we tell the others about us and the baby," Steve said. "I am showing more now, and I'm getting tired of Mike asking me why I decided to let myself go."

"You want me to kick his ass, baby?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah, and have Nancy kick your ass afterward? No thanks," Steve said.

"So, I should I get Nancy to kick his ass?" Eddie asked.

"That would probably be best and hilarious," Steve said. "So, do you think that we should tell them?"

"Oh, yeah, let's show off our baby," Eddie said.

So, here they were. A few days passed, and they were all gathered together at Steve's house. They were sitting around the dining room, eating and conversing. Eddie and Steve stood up at the same time.

"We have an announcement to make!" Eddie exclaimed.

"Eddie and I are dating," Steve declared.

There was a long pause as everyone glanced at each other before they burst into congratulations. They welcomed hugs from everyone, and Eddie made sure that no one hugged Steve too tightly.

"Thank you for telling us," Will had whispered to them when he hugged them both.

Eddie practically had to peel Sue and Claudia off of Steve.

"Quick question," Eddie said. "What was with the hesitation?"

"Well. . .," Max said.

"We sort of already knew," Lucas said.

"What?! How?!" Steve and Eddie asked.

"You weren't exactly subtle, boys," Wayne said.

"Oh, well. . .did you know that I got Steve pregnant?!" Eddie yelled.

Everyone stared at Eddie and then at Steve's belly before they burst into laughter.

"Hey!" Hopper yelled, and everyone got quiet. "They're telling the truth."

"But they're two guys," Mike said slowly.

"Bat bites," Hopper said gruffly.

"Ohhhhh," everyone said.

"Hey, you're just in time. She's starting to kick," Steve said.

Everyone stood in line to feel the baby kick.

"You boys already know that it's a girl?" Wayne asked.

"Not yet, it's just what we believe," Eddie said. "And hey, I'm sorry about not telling you sooner."

"I get it, and I'm happy for you, Eds. Can't wait to meet your little girl," Wayne said.

"You're going to be the best Pepaw ever," Eddie said.

"What about you?" Steve asked Claudia, Sue, and Charles. "What are you wanting to be called now that you guys are going to be grandparents? Joyce already called dibs on Nana and Hop is Bunny."

"Again - ," Hopper started to say.

"Oh, just let it go, Hop, it's happening," Joyce said.

"Oh, I always wanted to be called Grammy!" Claudia exclaimed tearfully.

"I wouldn't mind being called Poppy," Charles grinned proudly. "Congratulations, sons."

"My own grandmother was called Grams, I wouldn't mind being called that," Sue said, smiling proudly at Steve.

El was the last one to come feel the baby kick. As soon as she placed her hands on Steve’s belly, the lights started flickering.

"El?" Hopper asked.

"It was not me," El said. "It was the baby. She is like me."

A/N: Should I have Steve give birth or do the c-section? I'm still debating on that. Also, I can't get the image of Eddie drawing Steve in his throne out of my head. Does anyone want to draw that? No pressure or anything?

Part Six

[vintagelasvegas]

Flamingo Hotel, 1946-

Construction of the Flamingo, 1946, facing west from behind the hotel. Highway 91 (the Strip) runs horizontally across the photo. Unknown photographer.

‘44: Margaret M. Folsom buys the property from Charles Squires in Nov. (RJ 11/18/44) and begins building Rancho Aloha auto court motel.

‘45: W. R. Wilkerson writes down payment check for purchase of the property in Mar. Folsom opens Rancho Aloha in Apr. (RJ 4/27/45). Sale of the property to Wilkerson is recorded in Jun. (RJ 6/9/45); Rancho Aloha closed. Construction begins for Hotel Wilkerson in Dec. (RJ 12/18/45, 1/21/46, 2/5/46). Note: Several buildings of Folsom's motel, on the far south of the property, remained on site until the 70s.

Early Flamingo

‘46: Wilkerson sells shares to new group represented by Benjamin Siegel in Mar. The name “Flamingo” is chosen some time in ‘46 during Siegel’s involvement. Siegel takes over the project, opening the casino 12/26/46 while the hotel is still under construction. Architects George Vernon Russell hired by Wilkerson, Richard Stadelman hired by Siegel.

‘47: Casino closes 2/4/47 while the hotel is being completed. Full reopening on 3/1/47. Second sign (altered version of original sign) in place during reopening. Siegel killed 6/20/47. Greenbaum, Rosenberg, Sedway take over management of the resort.

‘49: Gruen attraction board; 60-room addition in three V-shaped wings on the east property opened in May; wedding chapel addition, designed and built by Miller, Haynes and Smith (Henderson) in Jul. (RJ 4/21/49, 6/5/49, 7/1/49)

‘51: 3-floor, 100-wing addition, designed by Paul R. Williams Associates, opened in Aug. on the north side of the resort. Flamingo now totals 300 rooms, largest in Las Vegas. (RJ 12/22/50, 8/20/51)

‘53: Casino remodel and “Champagne Tower” addition, completed in Oct.; wedding chapel removed.

‘54: Sale by Greenbaum & partners to T. Hull, Parvin & partners. (Nevada State Journal, 11/3/54)

‘58: 2-floor, 92 room addition, designed by Honnold-Rex and William Stephenson (Los Angeles), built by Edward Gray Corp (Chicago) on the east property, opens in Aug. The T-shape wing replaces the center bldg of the ’49 expansion. (RJ 8/31/58)

‘59: Second T-shape wing replaces the north bldg of the ‘49 expansion. Date unknown, circa ‘59-60.

‘60: Sale by Parvin to M. Landburgh, S. Cohen, and Lifter of Miami. A decade later, Lansburgh and Cohen were convicted on charges related to skimming est. $10M Flamingo casino proceeds. Meyer Lansky, whose finder's fee was paid during the skimming, also charged but not convicted. (New York Times, 2/4/73 p15; Miami News, 2/10/77 p77)

‘61: Convention Hall addition opens in Apr. with “Champagne bubble block” facade on the southwest property. 4-floor south wing addition opened in Oct. (RJ 10/10/62 p27) replacing part of the original south wing and some of the Rancho Aloha buildings.

‘63: South east wing addition, modeled after the ‘61 south wing, replaces the last building of the ‘49 expansion. (RJ 10/10/62 p27) 

‘67: Flamingo sold to Kirk Kerkorian in Aug.

‘68: Casino remodel. Champagne tower, attraction board, and bubble breeze blocks removed; replaced with “plume” neon sign designed by Bill Clarke, Ad Art; 2-floor lounge designed by Martin Stern Jr.

Hilton era, and beyond

‘71: Flamingo sold to Hilton Corp.

‘77: Bull-nose porte-cochère neon sign by Heath & Co, completed in Jun. Tower 1 addition.

‘80: Tower 2 addition (expansion of tower 1).

‘82: Tower 3 addition (southeast side of property along Flamingo Rd). Parking garage addition, north side of the resort. Redevelopment of the courtyard & pool.

‘86: Tower 4 addition (extension of  tower 3).

‘88: ‘68 pylon removed, replaced with O'Shea’s casino.

‘89: Extension of the north casino.

‘90: Tower 5 addition (north).

‘93: Last of the original structure, Oregon Suite and Garden Rooms, demolished in Dec. (RJ 12/15/93).

‘94: Tower 6 (north) and Hilton Grand Vacations Club addition (RJ 2/6/93, 10/27/94).

‘98: Hilton’s gaming business including Flamingo spun off into Park Place Entertainment. Hilton name removed from Flamingo in 2000. Park Place renamed Caesars Entertainment in 2003.

Other sources include: W.R. Wilkerson III. “The Man who Invented Las Vegas” (2000) and “Hollywood Godfather: The Life and Crimes of Billy Wilkerson” (2018); L. Gragg. “Benjamin Bugsy Siegel: The Gangster, the Flamingo, andthe Making of Modern Las Vegas” (2015); M. Shnayerson. “Bugsy Siegel: The Dark Side of the American Dream” (2021).

Updated 10/28/2024.

[sunny6677]

CAM IN SALOONATICS!!!

@mayisgoingnuts

So basically—Cam is shown running with the others in the rain at the beginning of the episode—having his hoodie over his head. He seems less phased than the others do, though I can see him making a comment asking why it's raining so much anyway or just kinda commenting on how cold it is now. After they burst into the museum though, Cam wonders in quietly, shaking his hair since it got kinda wet and taking his hood off. He also probably helps Matt shake the water off his jacket off-screen. And when Tom locks Matt in the jail cell only to refuse to help him, Cam decides he'll help, but struggles with doing so the entire time.

For the Saloonatics story, I can't really decide if Cams counterpart should be a hitman who's trying to hunt Edward Gold down specifically under the order of some escaped criminal who was caught by him—only to decide Edward's way too cool and not assassinate him after all. Or if Cam should just be a bartender alongside Tords bartender counterpart. But I'll tell of how different parts would go for either of those possibilities either way.

Hitman! Cams name is Cameron James or 'Chaotic Cam'. And Bartender! Cams name is just Cameron.

Cameron James, if in this episode, isn't seen until about a minute into the episode kinda peeking out from a building while Edward heads into the bar. While Cameron is just seen kinda walking past Bartender Tord as he hands a beer to Edward.

Cameron James tries to probably take the shot on Edward while he's talking to Sheriff Thompson, only to sneak off or scatter when someone busts in to tell Sheriff Thompson about the nails being stolen by bandits. And then while trying to shoot Edward again later ad he's shooting bottles with Thompson, Cameron realizes things might be a bit easier if he gains Edward's trust. So he heads in and shoots down a couple of bottles too. Edward is impressed while Thompson is skeptical, and when Edward asks who he is, Cameron lies and either just says he's 'nobody' or that he was told about the bandits and figured he could be of some help since he knows the town better than anyone (with Thompson pointing out how that's weird considering he's literally never seen him before). But Cameron dodges that anyway, and when someone tells them that a bank is (literally) being robbed, Cameron decides to help out.

As the montage of Edward trying to clean up the town but miserably failing plays out, Cameron tries to take several opportunities to shoot him, but eventually gets caught up in the whole thing and starts just actually helping out rather than just saying he will so he can kill him. And he becomes pretty invested too, but feels bad for Edward (Cameron also always tries to help when things go wrong but just ends up making things worse in the process).

In the next scene with Edward, Cameron tries comforting him and patting him on the shoulder, telling him it's alright and he can still try finding the prince—and says he'll still help look for him if he'd like, though Thompson doesn't make Edward feel any better with his snarky comments. When Bartender Tord gives Edward the cola drink after Thompson dramatically yells 'NOOOOO!', Cameron tries encouraging him to go drink some while he tries to get Thompson to calm down.

Though if this were the Bartender Cameron universe—I imagine he either tries asking what happened to Edward or still comforting him even if he doesn't know exactly why he's so sad—and he also tells Edward that the 'Co-La' drink is pretty good and that he's apparently tried it himself once (which makes Tord give him a stern look since that implies he might have drunk something in the bar without permission).

Either way, when Edward suddenly becomes energized, Cameron James gets kinda worried as he walks over, only to become shocked when Edward suddenly runs off.

When Edward passes out and wakes up, Cameron helps him up while remarking about how he kinda went crazy there, but then congratulates him and says he did a good job since he was able to clean everything up just like he thought he would. And is like 'Let's go get your prince, man :]". I can see him eventually looking down at his gun though, and then back at Edward—and then at the contract he signed to kill him. And after a bit of thinking, he tosses the contract to the side and follows Edward.

Once he does, Cameron is standing alongside Edward when Thompson points to the both of them saying 'these two' once Eduardo asks who and what army he has. But Eduardo immediately starts shooting at the both of them, with all of the bullets somehow always missing Cameron as he literally just stands there—though one shot he makes nearly kills Eduardo. He ends up noticing Prince Matt though, and drags him behind one of the rocks with Sheriff Thompson. He doesn't day much afterwards, but does flash Edward an encouraging smile when Thompson says 'Everybody needs a little something' yet again. And kinda watches as bro proceeds to fucking clock the bandit version of the neighbors.

In the next scene, Cameron is seen laughing at Prince Matt bragging to the ladies, and also denies Edward's offer to go to England afterward because he apparently thinks the Prince is really cool and would kinda prefer to br with him (and he also implies that he has something to patch up with Bartender Tord).

Either way, it cuts back to reality, with Edd turning over to the others once he finishes reading and Cam helping Matt out of the jail alongside Tom. He's also the one to point out that the rain stopped here, while Matt still says his line about going back home before it comes back for revenge. That's kind of it for Cam in this episode tho jsnsnsn.

[adzeisval]

I thought I was getting better

Happy last day of Whumptober! Wrote the first draft of this a while back. Happy things were better for Izzy and the crew in reality. Also on AO3.

Izzy Hands watched the dinghies row away from the revenge and sighed. Even after two years of being on the Revenge with Ed and Stede as co Captains and everything going rather well Izzy was nervous. 

Because Ed and Stede, along with Jim, Olu, Roach, and Fang were in the dinghies heading to land and Izzy was temporarily the Captain of the Revenge. 

It had only happened a few times before and every time Izzy had been nervous. But this time was different. He didn’t have Fang, Jim, or Roach around, the crew that he was closest too and felt more comfortable around. It just so happened that they also needed to do some routine ship maintenance and Edward had given the direct order that he would like it done before he got back. 

Izzy knew asking Lucius, Pete, Wee John, Frenchie, the Swede, and Buttons was going to be a challenge. Maybe Buttons wouldn’t protest. Maybe. 

“Alright you lot, we’ve got some work to do. We need to restrain the foredeck and get some barnacles off the stern,” Izzy said. 

“Really do we have to,” the Swede asked. 

“Yes, if you don’t want this ship to fall apart,” Izzy said. 

“Maybe we do,” Lucius said. 

“Maybe you’d like to go for a swim Izzy,” Pete said. 

“Fuck off, this really won’t take long and then you can do whatever you want,” Izzy said. Izzy was fairly certain that the crew wouldn’t actually tie him up and throw him overboard but he wasn’t one hundred percent certain.

The crew started to move to work and Izzy thought he might be able to get the work done. Izzy set up a few stations for some of the crew to hang over the edge of the ship so they could work on the barnacles. He tested the rigging out himself to make sure it was safe. He brought a chair over to where the deck needed staining; Wee John could clean the surface and maybe even paint sitting if his back was acting up, which it often was. He checked to make sure he had some lamps to hang wherever the Swede was working to help with his poor night vision of things took that long. He hoped not. He’d like the crew to have time to rest and he’d like to have time to sit in the crows nest and rest, they just needed to take care of the ship first. 

Izzy heard a splash and went to investigate. He caught Lucius and Frenchie giggling though the quickly tried to hide it. 

“We dropped the stain,” Lucius said pointing to the water, “I guess we can’t work now.” 

“The hell you can’t,” Izzy growled, “I’m going into town to get more stain and when I get back the barnacles better be gone. If they’re not you’d better be fucking dead!” Izzy stomped away. 

He was fuming all the way in and back from town. Really was it that much to do a little work to keep their home safe and floating now and then? The sun was setting by the time Izzy got back and he noticed right away that the lamps weren’t lit and the barnacles were still there. Izzy sighed. 

Izzy climbed back aboard the Revenge ready to yell at the crew. He had his mouth open ready to lay into the first person he saw but…something was wrong. It was too quiet. Something caught his eye and Izzy gasped. 

Blood on the deck. 

A body. Frenchie’s body. Izzy dropped the tin of stain and drew his sword. His heart was pounding as he looked around for danger. He saw more blood and he saw Wee John’s body. 

“Izzy…” 

Izzy turned and saw Lucius stumbling toward him, clutching his gut, his shirt torn and bloody.

“Spriggs…” 

Lucius fell to his knees and Izzy ran to him. Lucius clutched the wound and groaned. Izzy saw blood trickling from Lucius’ lips and where the wound was and how much blood was there…Izzy knew a fatal wound when he saw one. 

“Keep still Spriggs, what happened?” Izzy asked, “Are they still here?” 

“No. They…they were looking for you…don’t know…ahhh….” 

“Easy Spriggs,” Izzy pulled Lucius into his arms. 

“It fucking hurts,” Lucius said. 

“I know,” Izzysaid, “I won’t hurt you.” 

“They wanted you,” Lucius said, “I don’t want to die…” 

“I’m sorry Lucius,” Izzy said gently, “I should have been here.” 

Lucius groaned and tears fell down his cheeks. Izzy could feel him shaking, could feel how labored his breathing was. It wasn’t going to be long. 

“I’ve got you Lucius,” Izzy said.

Lucius shuddered and went limp in Izzy’s arms. Izzy laid Lucius gently on the deck. He retrieved his sword and looked around. No one was there. He was the only living person on the ship. No one was groaning or screaming. Silence. Death. Izzy’s chest felt tight and tears sprang to his eyes. 

He should have been there. The tightness in his chest was too much and he fell to his knees barely able to breathe between the tightness and the sobs. 

“I’m sorry, I should have been here. Fuck!” Izzy sat on the deck and drew his knees to his chest and buried his head. He couldn’t even really think about the fact that someone had come looking for him. At the moment that person could be on the ship and he wouldn’t care. He’d just gotten six people killed. He was going to have to stand in front of the Captains and the rest of the crew and tell them he hadn’t even been on the ship. 

It wasn’t the first time Izzy had lost crew, it was almost impossible in his line of work. It hurt every time. Izzy sobbed and wished he had been on the ship. He might have been able to save them or at least he would have fallen alongside his crew.

“Izzy?”

Izzy gasped and looked over as Lucius sat up and wiped blood off himself. Izzy heard movement and looked as the other crew members were also getting up. 

“We’re alright Izzy, it was just a prank,” Lucius said as he stood. A prank? Why would they do such a cruel thing? Izzy stood, still a little bit shaky, still trying to make sense of what just happened. Lucius was looking at him a little bit sheepishly. He looked like he was expecting Izzy to tear into him and Izzy certainly felt like it. 

Then he heard the others laughing and his throat was too tight to even speak much less yell. Izzy wrapped his arms around himself and walked away from the crew and to his room trying not to cry and failing miserably. 

Izzy fell into his bed and sobbed. 

Izzy couldn’t get to sleep, even once he stopped sobbing. Every time he closed his eyes he saw blood and death. He kept seeing the faces of crew members lost in the past. Izzy had lost men on his watch before. He had held many dying crewmates over the years. Each loss was seared into his heart no matter how he tried to keep his distance, no matter how hard he tried to wall himself off. 

Izzy was getting quite fond of the crew of the Revenge no matter how he tried to deny it and hide it. He was glad that the crew were alright, but at the same time he was devastated. He thought the crew at least somewhat liked him, he thought he’d made efforts to get closer to the crew. 

Pretending to have been slaughtered in his absence was cruel enough, but Lucius had specifically said they had been killed by someone looking for Izzy, making it Izzy’s fault doubly. Lucius had wanted it to hurt Izzy. A prank was not unexpected, especially on the Revenge but what they had done to him was beyond that. 

Izzy slept in fits and woke from horrible nightmares and memories. He ended up getting up around four in the morning because he didn’t think he would be able to get any more sleep and there was work to be done. 

The crew had cleaned up their fake bloody mess at least. Izzy stained the foredeck by himself. He didn’t care about being quiet, if the crew didn’t want to be woken in the early hours of the morning they should have done the work the night before. 

When he was done with that Izzy went to make breakfast. Roach had made a batch of porridge the previous morning for the crew to reheat for something to eat while he was gone. Izzy had a bowl and kept the pot on the burner for the crew when they woke up. 

It was still early when he was done so he went to scrape barnacles off the ship. The rigging was still in place from the night before so it didn’t take him long to get started. He wanted to get a good portion of it done before the Captains got back. 

He wasn’t going to tell the Captains what happened. He didn’t think they would laugh but it would kill him if Edward laughed at him for falling for the prank. He didn’t want to hear Stede downplay what the crew had done. He didn’t want the other crew to come back and laugh at him though Lucius was sure to tell them. 

Izzy's stomach was churning at the thought of it. Izzy felt his stomach cramp and realized that wasn’t all. Luckily he was already hanging over the edge of the ship so all he had to do was hang on to the ropes as he vomited into the water below. 

Izzy tried to work a little longer but he was feeling a little dizzy and decided to go up. He vomited twice more. When he was sure his stomach was empty he made his way up to the crows nest so he could at least keep an eye out for the crew and watch for the Captain’s return. 

The crew started getting up just after sunrise and went about their morning routine. Roach and Fang came back first with supplies. Then Jim and Olu came back. 

An hour or so later Izzy saw Edward and Stede heading back. Izzy made his way down to greet them. He caught sight of Lucius who looked nervous. Izzy still wasn’t going to tell anyone what had happened. 

“Izzy? Are you feeling alright?” Edward said. 

“Nightmares,” Izzy said, “Vomited this morning.” 

“Ah, I’m sorry mate, you should go rest, I’ll come check on you later,” Edward said. 

Izzy nodded. He really didn’t want to try to sleep again but he didn’t feel like he could go about his duties as usual. And he didn’t want to hear it if the rest of the returned crew were laughing at him. 

Izzy managed to fall asleep but it wasn’t long before his nightmare interrupted. 

Izzy had been first mate less than a month. A raid was going bad.Izzy was trying to get everyone back to the Queen Anne alive. A hail of musket fire hit the retreating crew. Izzy was hit in the arm but barely noticed it when the man beside him, a man barely of age, screamed in agony. 

Izzy managed to help him back to the Queen Anne but once Izzy got a good look at the man he knew there was no hope. The man had been hit twice in the gut. He was squirming in agony in Izzy’s arms. 

“Help me, please, it fucking hurts.”

“I’ve got you Tom,” Izzy muttered. Tom spent the next twenty minutes screaming in Izzy’s arms until finally death took him. 

Izzy woke with a cry and groaned. Izzy spent the day in and out of sleep and nightmares and stomach cramps. 

He wasn’t sure he was going to be able to go get dinner but he knew it would only make his stomach problems worse if he didn’t try to eat something. 

“I made you some soup Izzy, heard you were having stomach trouble,” Roach said. 

“Yeah, thank you,” Izzy said. He thought it might settle well and then Lucius, Pete, and Wee John sat down across from him. 

“What?” Izzy asked.

“You didn’t tell the Captains?” Lucius asked. 

“No. What the fuck were they going to do?” Izzy said.

“I’m sorry Izzy, we went a bit too far,” Lucius said. 

Izzy scoffed, “Then why did you do it? I’ve had a lot of sailors die in my arms over the years and somehow pretending to do so is funny? What the fuck have I done to you to earn such cruelty?” 

“I was just being a dick,” Lucius said. 

“We didn’t think you really cared that much for us,” Pete said. 

“I would be devastated to lose any one of you,” Izzy said, “I would do anything to protect every single member of the crew.” 

“Duty,” Wee John said, “Out of duty and because it’s your job not because you actually care.” 

“I do care,” Izzy said quietly, “I thought that I was getting better at showing it.” 

Wee John shook his head and Pete scoffed. 

“I am sorry about the prank Izzy,” Lucius said, “I just don’t see you going down to save any of us.” 

Izzy watched them go and turned back to his half eaten soup. His stomach clenched and thought he shouldn’t eat anything else. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep what he had eaten down. 

Having people around him not realize he cared about him or how he showed that care was not a new thing. Izzy didn’t know any other way to show people he cared besides doing things for them. He wasn’t charismatic and good with conversation like Edward or kind like Stede. But he could be practical and keep the ship safe and the supplies topped up. He wasn’t always good at it of course but he tried. It was the only way he knew how to be.

Izzy was glad he didn’t eat anything else; he barely made it topside and to the railing before he vomited everything he just ate. 

Luckily he was off duty for the evening and night and went straight to bed once his stomach was empty. 

That  night he had another nightmare. 

Will Roughton was just seventeen when he joined Blackbeard's crew. He was young and eager and Izzy rather liked him. It turned out that Will was a rather good sailor. He worked hard, learned fast, and best of all he was loyal. He was a bright and up and coming sailor and Izzy thought he was an asset to the crew. 

Will went over the railing during a particularly nasty storm. Izzy went after him and managed to get Will and himself back onto the Queen Anne. 

Izzy spent ten minutes that felt like ten hours trying to get Will to breathe again. He gave the young man compressions and breathed air into his lungs but to no avail. Will was gone and Izzy couldn’t save him. 

Izzy woke with a cry. 

He groaned and wondered if it was close enough to dawn to get up or maybe he should just get up anyway. 

A moment later someone knocked on his door. 

“Izzy? Are you alright?” Jim’s voice came through the door. 

Izzy groaned and went to the door, “I’m sorry. Nightmare.” 

“Are you alright Izzy? You look like shit,” Jim said. 

Izzy snorted, “I feel like shit too. I…I’ll be alright.” 

“Good,” Jim said. 

Izzy sat back down on his bed and figured at last he might as well get up. He went about his morning rounds and tried not to pay too much attention to the looks the crew were giving him. 

Izzy tried to look like he didn’t care, but he did. He cared a lot about the crew and he thought they knew. They didn’t. Izzy didn’t know how to make them understand. Maybe one day they would see it, but until then all Izzy could do was protect the crew as best he could.

[crossover-enthusiast]

Cameron James tries to probably take the shot on Edward while he's talking to Sheriff Thompson, only to sneak off or scatter when someone busts in to tell Sheriff Thompson about the nails being stolen by bandits. And then while trying to shoot Edward again later ad he's shooting bottles with Thompson, Cameron realizes things might be a bit easier if he gains Edward's trust. So he heads in and shoots down a couple of bottles too. Edward is impressed while Thompson is skeptical, and when Edward asks who he is, Cameron lies and either just says he's 'nobody' or that he was told about the bandits and figured he could be of some help since he knows the town better than anyone (with Thompson pointing out how that's weird considering he's literally never seen him before). But Cameron dodges that anyway, and when someone tells them that a bank is (literally) being robbed, Cameron decides to help out.

As the montage of Edward trying to clean up the town but miserably failing plays out, Cameron tries to take several opportunities to shoot him, but eventually gets caught up in the whole thing and starts just actually helping out rather than just saying he will so he can kill him. And he becomes pretty invested too, but feels bad for Edward (Cameron also always tries to help when things go wrong but just ends up making things worse in the process).

In the next scene with Edward, Cameron tries comforting him and patting him on the shoulder, telling him it's alright and he can still try finding the prince—and says he'll still help look for him if he'd like, though Thompson doesn't make Edward feel any better with his snarky comments. When Bartender Tord gives Edward the cola drink after Thompson dramatically yells 'NOOOOO!', Cameron tries encouraging him to go drink some while he tries to get Thompson to calm down.

Though if this were the Bartender Cameron universe—I imagine he either tries asking what happened to Edward or still comforting him even if he doesn't know exactly why he's so sad—and he also tells Edward that the 'Co-La' drink is pretty good and that he's apparently tried it himself once (which makes Tord give him a stern look since that implies he might have drunk something in the bar without permission).

Either way, when Edward suddenly becomes energized, Cameron James gets kinda worried as he walks over, only to become shocked when Edward suddenly runs off.

(Stopping so ya can read)

Oooooo!!!

[ulkaralakbarova]

Basket-case network news producer Jane Craig falls for new reporter Tom Grunnick, a pretty boy who represents the trend towards entertainment news she despises. Aaron Altman, a talented but plain correspondent, carries an unrequited torch for Jane. Sparks fly between the three as the network prepares for big changes, and both the news and Jane must decide between style and substance. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Tom Grunick: William Hurt Aaron Altman: Albert Brooks Jane Craig: Holly Hunter Ernie Merriman: Robert Prosky Jennifer Mack: Lois Chiles Blair Litton: Joan Cusack Paul Moore: Peter Hackes Bobby: Christian Clemenson Bill Rorich: Jack Nicholson Martin Klein: Robert Katims George Wein: Ed Wheeler Gerald Grunick: Stephen Mendillo Young Tom: Kimber Shoop Young Aaron: Dwayne Markee Young Jane: Gennie James Jane’s Dad: Leo Burmester Elli Merriman: Amy Brooks Anne Merriman: Jane Welch Clifford Altman: Jonathan Benya Mercenary: Frank Doubleday Lila: Sally Knight Spanish Cameraman: Manuel Alvarez Guerilla Leader: Luis Valderrama Guerilla Soldier: Francisco Garcia General McGuire: Richard Thomsen Commander: Nat Benchley Date-Rape Woman: Marita Geraghty Weekend News Producer: Nicholas D. Blanchet Makeup Woman: Maura Moynihan Floor Manager: Chuck Lippman Paul’s Secretary: Nannette Rickert Edward Towne: Timothy W. White Tom’s Soundwoman: Peggy Pridemore Emily: Emily Crowley Newsroom Worker: Gerard Ender Donny: David Long Chyron Operator: Joshua Billings Technical Director: Glenn Faigen Technical Director: Robert Grevemberg Jr. Control Room Director: Richard Pehle Weekend News Director: James V. Franco Assistant Director: Jimmy Mel Green Assistant Director: Raoul N. Rizik Technician: Mike Skehan Audio Visual Engineer: Franklyn L. Bullard News Theme Writer: Glen Roven News Theme Writer: Marc Shaiman Lecture Host: Alex Mathews Aaron’s Cameraman: Steve Smith Aaron’s Soundwoman: Martha Smith Mother in Hall: Cynthia B. Hayes Young Tough: Dean Nitz Young Tough: Phil Ugel Young Tough: Lance Wain Ellen: Susan Marie Feldman Tom’s Female Colleague: Jean Bourne Carinci Cab Driver: M. Fekade-Salassie Uniformed Cop: Gerald F. Gough Defense Dept. Spokesman: Robert Rasch NATO Spokesman: Robert Walsh Angry Messenger: John Cusack Film Crew: Producer: James L. Brooks Production Design: Charles Rosen Casting: Ellen Chenoweth Editor: Richard Marks Director of Photography: Michael Ballhaus Unit Production Manager: David V. Lester Music Editor: Bob Badami Associate Producer: Kristi Zea Original Music Composer: Bill Conti Camera Operator: David M. Dunlap Co-Producer: Penney Finkelman Cox Foley Editor: Mark P. Stoeckinger Costume Design: Molly Maginnis Executive Producer: Polly Platt ADR Recordist: Charleen Richards Associate Producer: Susan Zirinsky Color Timer: Bob Hagans Boom Operator: Joseph F. Brennan Hairstylist: Colleen Callaghan Foley Editor: Cindy Marty ADR Voice Casting: Barbara Harris Still Photographer: Kerry Hayes First Assistant Editor: Karen I. Stern Stunt Coordinator: Jery Hewitt Construction Foreman: Steve Callas Sound Effects Editor: Patrick Drummond Supervising Sound Editor: Robert Grieve Makeup Artist: Carl Fullerton Property Master: Mark Wade Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Rick Kline Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Donald O. Mitchell Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Kevin O’Connell Dialogue Editor: Dave Kulczycki Location Assistant: Peggy Pridemore Script Supervisor: Mary Bailey First Assistant Camera: Gábor Kövér Dialogue Editor: Jacqueline Cristianini Dialogue Editor: Frank Smathers ADR Editor: Jessica Gallavan Construction Coordinator: Bruce J. Gfeller ADR Editor: Jeff Rosen Set Decoration: Jane Bogart Best Boy Electric: Jerry DeBlau Unit Publicist: Anne Marie Stein Gaffer: John W. DeBlau Sound Effects Editor: Linda Whittlesey Production Coordinator: Cynthia Streit Sound Mixer: Thomas Causey Supervising ADR Editor: Beth Bergeron Second Assistant Director: David Sardi Negative Cutter: Donah Bassett Key Grip: Dennis Gamiello Location Manager: Stuart Neumann Dolly Grip: John Lowry First Assistant Director: Yudi Bennett Se...

[xtruss]

Rest In Peace! Frank Duckworth Dead At 84: Statistician Who Co-Founded Famous Duckworth-Lewis Method Used In Cricket 🏏 Passes Away. Tributes Have Flooded In For The Trailblazer

— Henry Tomlinson, Freelance Sports Reporter | 25 June 2024 | The Sun, UK Edition

Dr. Frank Duckworth. Credit: Getty Images.

He created the system with Dr Anthony Lewis which is regularly used in cricket matches. The system was originally created by the pair but is now known as DLS as Professor Steven Stern started to upgrade the methodology.

It was renamed in 2014 after Duckworth and Lewis retired. The method is a mathematical formula that is designed to calculate a target score in a cricket match for the second batting team.

It comes into play when a match has been interrupted by weather or other circumstances. Duckworth was born in 1939 in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire and attended the Kind Edward VII School.

Dr. Frank Duckworth with Dr. Anthony Lewis. Credit: PA

He worked as a mathematical scientist for the nuclear power industry. In 2010, he was appointed as an MBE on the birthday honours list.

Tributes have flooded in for the trailblazer on social media.

One posted: "Sad loss." A second wrote: "May his soul rest in peace." A third commented: "Thank you for your major contribution to our beautiful game! Praying for your family. RIP!"

Frank Duckworth Obituary! Statistician Who Became A Household Name To Cricket Fans As The Co-Inventor of The Duckworth-Lewis Method

— Cricket 🏏 | Peter Mason | Sunday 30 Jun, 2024

Frank Duckworth, left, with his fellow Mathematician Tony Lewis at Stone Cricket Ground in Gloucestershire, 1998. Photograph: Philip Brown/Popperfoto/Getty Images

Rain has a nasty habit of curtailing one-day limited overs cricket matches, but it was not until the mid-1990s, thanks to the intervention of the statistician Frank Duckworth, that a watertight formula was found to provide a satisfactory result for weather-affected encounters.

From the 60s onwards, when the shortened form of the game became popular at the top level, the cricketing authorities had experimented with a number of crude ways of deciding the result of a rain-interrupted match.

Although these worked effectively in some circumstances, they were by no means foolproof, and quite often teams that were batting second found themselves being set unfeasible targets to win after a rain break.

This came most dramatically into the public consciousness during the semi-finals of the 1992 World Cup, in which, after rain had briefly stopped play, with South Africa needing a manageable 22 runs to win off 13 balls against England, the players came back to the field to be told that under the system in place they still had 22 runs to score to win, but off just one ball – essentially an impossibility.

Keen to right such injustices, Duckworth, who has died aged 84, had by that time already been working on a complex mathematical formula that would take many more factors into account than just overs and runs, and would place more of an emphasis on the real state of the game when rain had stopped play.

Eventually finding a kindred spirit to help him with the task – a fellow mathematician, Tony Lewis – he tuned and retuned the system until it emerged as the Duckworth-Lewis method and was adopted across the game from 2001 onwards.

Although there have been minor adjustments since, the formula has proved so robust that rain-related run-chase controversies have virtually disappeared from the game. Hardly could a more comprehensive and effective solution have been found to any sporting problem, and its originators became, through its widespread use, household names across the world – even if few people knew exactly who they were.

Before rain briefly stopped play during the semi-finals of the 1992 World Cup, South Africa needed 22 runs to win off 13 balls against England; by the time they were able to return to the field of play, they were faced with an impossibility. The Duckworth-Lewis Method Was Introduced to avoid such injustices. Photograph: Getty Images

Duckworth was born in Lytham St Annes in Lancashire, to Eric, who ran a building company, and his wife, Annie. A cricket fan as a child, he enjoyed playing the game at the town’s King Edward VII grammar school, although he never progressed beyond house matches.

A maths prodigy, by the time he had arrived at Liverpool University to study physics in the late 50s he had become an armchair cricketer instead, listening avidly to matches on the radio.

After graduating in the early 60s he stayed on at Liverpool to study for a PhD in metallurgy, sharing a house for a time with John Lennon, as a lodger of Lennon’s aunt Mimi (“not that we had much to do with him, although we heard him plucking his guitar occasionally”). Later he moved on to a flatshare with the future TV presenter Johnny Ball.

Duckworth’s first job was with the Central Electricity Generating Board at Berkeley Nuclear Laboratories in Gloucestershire, where he was responsible for examining radioactive fuel after its service in nuclear reactors. Recruited initially as a metallurgist, within a year he had established himself instead as a statistician, remaining in that role at Berkeley for the rest of his working life.

Statistics also became Duckworth’s hobby: in his spare time in 1971 he carried out an analysis of football league ground attendances, which he shared with the FA, and he joined the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) in 1975. However, it took some years for him to turn his attention to cricket.

In 1988 he heard the cricket commentator Christopher Martin-Jenkins reading out listener suggestions on how to find a way of fairly adjusting matches to account for time lost to rain. Most of the ideas were so mathematically unsound that he determined to set his own more finely tuned mind to the problem.

“I realised that a fair correction needed to take account not just of how many overs were lost, but the state of the match – overs bowled, wickets lost, and when the overs were lost,” he said. “This required a mathematical relationship to be established, giving the number of runs that could be scored from all combinations of overs available and wickets in hand.” After coming up with a formula that could do just that, he wrote a computer program to encapsulate it.

Taking a generous early retirement package from his employer in 1992, the year of the World Cup semi-final debacle, at the age of 53 Duckworth found himself in a position to pay more attention to his project. He phoned up the Test and Country Cricket Board to tell them of his work, and when they showed interest he presented a paper to an RSS conference in Sheffield which he titled Fair Results in Foul Weather.

The following year he received a letter from Lewis, a maths lecturer at the University of the West of England in Bristol, who had heard about his presentation and was interested in taking the idea further. The pair discovered that they lived only a few miles apart in Gloucestershire and shared a love of beer, and so began to meet regularly in the snug of the Pickwick Inn in the village of Lower Wick to thrash out and refine the formula. By October 1995, after many adjustments, they had found the Solution: Z(u, w) = Z0(w)[1 − exp{−b(w)u}].

First adopted in 1997 on England’s tour of Zimbabwe, the Duckworth-Lewis Method was so successful that it was officially taken up across the whole of the game four years later, and remains in place to this day. “Our way is not perfect, but it works about 99.5% of the time,” said Duckworth.

Soon after the method’s widespread adoption, Duckworth became a consultant statistician to the International Cricket Council, a position he occupied alongside his longstanding editorship of the RSS’s news magazine. He retired from both jobs in 2014.

In 2009 an Irish pop band called The Duckworth Lewis Method (formed by Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy and Thomas Walsh of Pugwash) released an album of the same name that featured a series of cricket-themed songs. In 2011 Duckworth and Lewis jointly wrote a book on the method and its origins.

Along with Lewis (who died in 2020), Duckworth was appointed MBE in 2010 for his statistical work, which also included the creation, after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, of an International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, which tries to put the risks related to nuclear power generation into perspective.

He is survived by his wife, Jeannie (nee Shorey), a teacher, and their daughter.

— Frank Carter Duckworth, Statistician, Born 26 December 1939; Died 21 June 2024

Comments:

— TheBernWisdom: Thanks to the Pair. Sometimes, We Vented Frustration, and Yet We Forget How Difficult the Underlying the Methodology is. Your Influence Would be Long Lived. Rest in Peace, Sir.

— BounceBack: Nice Obit., What a Great Life. I Like That You Include the Solution: Z(u, w) = Z0(w)[1 − exp{−b(w)u}]. But without defining those terms, I'm afraid it's as Good as Meaningless.

— KindRegards: A Decent Innings Not Detailed by DLS thankfully!

[run-me-through-but-not-like-that]

ooohhh, maybe a fic where reader is a pirate too, the captain of their own ship? maybe they had an agreement not to fight with blackbeard and even be allies, but they just heard about the toe thing and now izzy has to hold them back so they don't violently dismember ed, lol

I'll Kill Him:

As soon as the ship came into sight, Izzy recognise it. Its flag was raised high and proud, making sure it couldn't be missed.

"Should we get the captains?" Oluwande asked, frowning slightly. The ship was definitely approaching them but who would risk raiding a ship that flew Blackbeard's flag.

"They won't attack us, prepare to let them board," Izzy sighed, already feeling the migraine coming on.

"...seriously?" Normally Izzy wouldn't be so lenient with one of Bonnet's crew questioning him but the concern was fair if they didn't know better.

"They're old allies. Just do it," was all the information Izzy gave.

"And the Captains?"

"...wait for now..."

Izzy watched from the quarterdeck as the ships lined up, a friendly approach considering a canon hadn't been fired. He watched as you boarded the ship, shaking his head. A captain shouldn't board another ship alone but your arrangement with Blackbeard was an unique one.

The majority of your crew, including your stony first mate, stood at the railing of your ship, watching. Waiting to see if their assistance would be required. They understood the peace between you and the other captain but you had sought out the Revenge in a rage, making them wonder if it still stood.

You assessed the crew with a stern expression, figuring out what to make of them. Izzy waited to see what conclusion you came to.

"You," you pointed to Lucius, who scrambled over and stood to attention. He could be a right twat but he wasn't stupid. "Where is your captain?"

"Uh...which one?" the scribe asked nervously, hoping you wouldn't think he was being difficult on purpose.

You frowned a little before putting the pieces together. So, that part of the rumours was true...

"...he took him back?!" you snapped in disbelief.

"Uh...I guess you want Captain Teach?" Lucius decided not to get into Stede's return.

That was when a familiar voice called your name, saving the scribe from your wrath. Though, all of the anger fell away from your face when you turned to see Izzy approaching you, a grin on your face instead.

"There you are!" you approached like an old friend, arms held out at your sides, "thought you weren't going to welcome me aboard for a minute."

Izzy grumbled as you pulled him into a hug. He didn't resist but he didn't wrap his arms around you either. Had to uphold his reputation at least a little after all.

You were still smiling when you stepped back. At least, you were until your gaze dropped to the cane he clutched. Instantly grimacing at the fire raging behind your eyes once again.

Of course, you were disgusted by his weakness. The cane being a dead give away of what, he was sure, you had already heard rumours about. He refused to hang his head in shame.

"Fucking Blackbeard," you muttered through your teeth before turning away from him. "Edward fucking Teach!" you called, the same shout you would use when taunting an enemy to fight you, "get your arse out here!"

The crew quickly when from cautiously curious to completely stunned. They had taken part in their fair share of raids now and couldn't believe you would address the fearsome Blackbeard in such a way, even if they had come to know him as Edward now. They had also had a taste of him at his worst.

Thankfully, you didn't have to storm into the captain's cabin because the two captains soon came running out to see what was going on.

"Uh, who are you?" Bonnet asked with a small frown, unsure whether this would be another Calico Jack incident. Should he be welcoming a friend of Edward's or shooing them away before they can do any damage.

"Seriously, Edward? Everything that happened and you're co-captaining again?" you asked, sounding almost disappointed in him but your anger was more prominent.

"Not that it's any of your business but we have talked all of that out," Bonnet huffed defensively.

"Does he speak for you now?" you raised an eyebrow. You weren't here to speak with the Gentleman Pirate after all.

"Of course not," Edward sighed, rolling his eyes at you. "What are you doing here?" he would have greeted you with more excitement, if you hadn't come here with obviously hostile intentions.

"I had hoped the stories Jackie told me were just rumours, imagine my surprise when I decide to visit and find your first mate needing a cane just to walk across the deck," you glared the pirate captain down.

"Y/n," Izzy sighed, shaking his head, "that's why you're here?"

"That's why-of course that's why I'm here!" you spun back round to face the first mate. Did he really think you wouldn't have something to say about all the nonsense that happened over the last few months? "Seriously, Izzy, I told you that you should have accepted my offer years ago," you sighed, thinking about how this whole thing could have been avoided.

"So, that's why your here," Edward scoffed, "trying to poach my first mate. I thought we settled this."

You faced Edward again with another harsh glare. "We settled it until you fucking mutilated him!"

"It's more complicated than that," Izzy insisted, coming up by your side.

"What? Eddie had his feelings hurt so had to dismember you?" you knew you were taunting him, pushing all the right buttons, but you didn't care.

"Fuck you," Edward spat, Stede sharing his sentiment.

"Well, that sounds enough like a challenge for me," you smirked, unsheathing your sword with a little flare.

With a smirk of his own, Edward accepted by drawing his own sword. "Edward...is this necessary?" Bonnet asked, eyeing the other ship nervously. The crew wasn't exactly prepared for a raid and you seemed like you meant business.

"Stand down. Both of you," Izzy demanded, even if he had no authority over either of you.

"I'm the Captain, Iz," Edward reminded him without taking his eyes off of you.

"And a Captain only lives if his crew allows it, you should know that," you reminded him, threat clear in your words. "How many mutiny attempts has our dear Mister Hands put down?" you asked, earning a glare from Edward as he stepped forward.

The crew watched on intently, honestly a little excited to see the two captains duel.

Your smirk grew as you approached him, sword firmly in your hand.

"Enough," Izzy grabbed your arm, jerking you to a halt, before demanding, "Bonnet, make yourself useful."

Stede got the hint and hurried over to Edward, holding him back and trying to dissuade him. He wasn't the biggest fan of Izzy but if he thought this duel would be a bad idea, he was probably right about something.

"You should let me fucking kill him," you seethed, addressing Izzy but glaring at Edward. "But I'm feeling forgiving, so I'm thinking I might only take a foot," your smile was twisted, sadistic if Izzy hadn't known any better. But he did know better.

You always had been protective over those you called friends, even back on Hornigold's ship.

"I don't need you fighting for my honour or some shit," Izzy scoffed.

"Are we fighting or not?" Edward asked, his glare nearly as cruel as yours.

"Oh we're fucking fight, you bastard," you lunged towards Blackbeard, only to have Izzy catch you and hold you back.

"This is ridiculous!"

But what broke out next was an even more ridiculous scene.

Edward stood seething beside Stede as you spat vitriol at him, making all sorts of threats, each one Izzy was certain you would follow through on if he released you. Each one worse then the last.

You fought against Izzy's hold, occasionally slipping loose but only to be pulled back by the first mate.

"Izzy, get their ass off my ship," Edward ordered. "Or our agreement is off the table," he settled a heavy glare on you. Threatening you like you weren't the one to track him down with the intention of dismembering him.

"Fuck your agreement, Edward. If you want fight, fucking do it," you tried to tug out of Izzy's hold, but to no avail.

"Off my ship. Now," Edward snarled before letting Stede pull him back into the captain's cabin.

In an instant you spun around to face Izzy, the speed and force of your movement causing him to stumble back. Thankfully, you caught him by the arm before he could lose his balance. He used to have impressive balance, helped make him such an impressive fighter, but you were certain his missing toe had impacted that.

"You should let me gut the fucker," you insisted.

"Obviously, I can't let you do that," Izzy rolled his eyes.

"He cut off your damn toe, Izzy," you said, as if he needed reminding.

Izzy huffed, shifting as he became aware of the number of eyes on him. "Can we talk about this somewhere else?" he asked.

"Fine," you sighed, knowing this was a private conversation.

You didn't speak as you followed Izzy down to his cabin, ignoring the rest of the crew.

"He took your toe, Iz," again, he really didn't need to be reminded, but you said it anyway once the door was closed. There was another part of the rumour, more speculation than usual, some people believed it some people didn't. However, knowing how impulsive Edward could sometimes be, you couldn't rule it out. "Did...is it true, that he made you eat it?" you asked.

Izzy glanced at you before sitting down on the edge of his cot with a heavy sigh, "yeah."

A beat of silence.

"Can I see it?"

"It's not-"

"Please, Iz."

Izzy looked up at you for a moment before nodding. He knew that you just needed to see the proof, wanted to see how bad the damage was, you weren't enjoying this anymore than he was.

You just watched as Izzy removed his boot and unwrapped his bandages. Neither of you spoke as you knelt down in front of him, lifting his injured foot into your lap. Cradling it.

Izzy bit back his complaints that as captain shouldn't be kneeling for somebody else but you weren't a pirate captain right now, were you? No, you were his friend. Somebody who cared about him. You always had, hadn't you?

Instead, he just watched as you examined the injury. You were well experienced in controlling your facial expressions, but he still caught the sadness in your eyes.

"It looks like it healed alright. Did it get infected?" you asked quietly.

"Yeah...Roach managed to salvage it before I had to lose another toe," Izzy answered honestly.

"And you're still here..." you thought out loud before looking up at him. "You know I admire your loyalty, I always have, but...I can't help but think it may be misplaced."

"I threatened my Captain, he punished me. Any other captain would have killed me," Izzy insisted, it sounding a little like a script, like this has been what he's been telling himself since it happened.

"But Edward isn't just your Captain, he's suppose to be your friend. You've known each other for decades," you reminded him, "even Jack was speechless when he heard, and he normally finds this type of shit hilarious."

"You saw Calico?" Izzy asked but wasn't too surprised. Of course the bastard wasn't dead, maybe nothing could kill that cockroach.

"Oh yeah, drinking his sorrows down in Jackie's. Until she kicked him out, of course," you nodded.

"Useless bastard," Izzy grumbled, earning a small smile from you before you glanced back down at his foot.

"...does it still hurt?" you asked.

Izzy sighed. He had hoped you had forgotten about his foot, even if it was still in your lap. "Yeah, sometimes," he admitted, "most of the time. On bad days it goes right up to my hip."

"When it hurts, you take care of it by yourself?"

"Obviously," he huffed, no real bite to it.

"Ed doesn't help?" You felt like you already knew the answer.

"Don't think he knows how bad it can get. Thinks I'm just down a toe," he explained.

You carefully placed his foot down and stood before joining him on the cot, sitting close enough that your thigh touched his.

"I'll kill him," you whispered, more so to yourself than to Izzy.

"You and Ed have been friends for nearly as long as I've known him. You'd kill him because he took my toe?" Izzy asked, like he didn't believe it. Couldn't believe it.

"Don't act like you don't already know that," you sighed, the way you looked at him stealing the breath from Izzy's lungs. Yeah, he did know that. "You know I would, Iz. When I heard about what happened, I demanded that Jackie told me where the Revenge was last sighted. Had to come see if the rumours were true, and if they were...I had to kill or dismember Edward," you told him as if it were nothing, just a simple fact of life. For you, it was.

"I don't understand you," Izzy sighed, staring down at his lap.

"Oh c'mon, you know I've always sweet on you. Never tried to hide it," you nudged your shoulder against his, your words coming easy and with no shame. Just another fact.

You were sweet on him.

You cared for him.

You would kill Edward for him.

"Never understood that either," Izzy confessed.

You loved him.

And he lov-

"I'm going to ask again," you warned him.

"Please, don't," Izzy pleaded, bracing himself.

"Come with me, sail with me. Be my first mate. Fuck it, if Blackbeard can co-captain, so can I. Be my first mate or be my co-captain. Just come with me," you took his hand in yours, holding it in your lap.

Izzy at least did the decent thing at met your gaze as you spoke. As you pleaded with him to leave with you. As you silently promised to take care of him.

"I can't."

"You can," your thumb brushed over his palm, making him shiver, "and you should."

"I can't."

"I won't stop asking." Another simple fact of life.

You wouldn't stop asking.

You wouldn't give up on him.

"I know," Izzy found himself smiling slightly.

"And if Ed thinks he can make me leave this ship before I'm ready to go, he's obviously forgotten who I am," you huffed. You weren't leaving until you were ready, until you said everything you wanted to say.

"As stubborn as he is," Izzy agreed with a small nod, making you chuckle.

You just watched him for a moment. The slightest smile on his face, the pain in his eyes mixed with...something else.

"Fuck, Iz," suddenly feeling an intense wave of sympathy, you practically threw yourself at him. Arms circled around his neck as you embraced him.

"Wha-"

"Shut up," you mumbled into his shoulder.

And he did. Izzy let out a shaky breath before slowly returning your embrace, giving up his weak attempt at resisting and burying his face into the crook of your neck.

"I don't care what you did, Izzy. If I were here, I wouldn't have let him hurt you, would have killed him if he tried. I don't even care if he was justified, people don't hurt my Israel and get away with it," you spoke into his hair, fingers running through his hair.

"I'm not your anything," he reminded you. Still, he tightened his hold on you.

"Not from lack of trying," you retorted. His grip tightened further.

"Are you going to kill him?" Izzy asked after a short silence, knowing that the two of you couldn't stay down here forever.

"...no. Only because I know it would hurt you," you conceded, pulling away from the embrace, cupping his neck in your hands, touch gentle and caressing. "But I am going to be having a word with him," you told him, using that tone that told him there was no point arguing.

He was looking at you in that way he did sometimes. Reverently. Like you were God's gift.

"My offer will always stand. If you ever decide to leave, there will always be a place for you with me," you promised him, running your thumb along his jaw. Izzy lent into the soft touch.

You wet your lips with the tip of your tongue as you watched him, deciding to take the chance. You closed the distance between the two of you, pressing your lips to his. Izzy didn't hesitate for a moment, like he had been expecting it, hoping for it. He didn't deny himself this one thing, desperately melting into you instead.

It wasn't the first kiss the two of you had shared during your time knowing each other but it had been so long that it felt like the first. And for the first time Izzy truly knew you would do anything for him. It only made this whole thing that much more difficult.

You weren't sure how much time had passed by the time you and Izzy remerged back onto the deck, but you didn't really care. Still ignoring the tense crew, you marched right over to the Captains' cabin

You didn't know, you just let yourself in. Edward could earn your respect back another day.

"I thought I told you-" Edward was up from his seat in an instant, glaring and pointing at you.

"Shut it, Teach," you rolled your eyes. To your surprise, he actually went silent. His glare remained. "You ordered me to leave but since when did I ever listen to you?"

"So, did you steal my first mate?" Edward asked bitterly, as if Izzy wasn't standing right beside you.

"Nah, he turned me down once again," you shrugged, trying not to lash out at Edward's smug look. "He should have accepted my offer, any sane man would, but it's always been Blackbeard and First Mate Hands, right?" you added.

"And always will be," Edward reminded you.

"Until you decide you've changed your mind," you agreed.

"What are you implying?" Edward growled.

"I'm not implying anything, and I'll get out of your hair, but one more thing..."

"Which is?"

You stepped up to Edward until you were only inches away from him, holding his gaze with no fear. Izzy watched you, hoping his awe didn't show on his face. Stede anxiously glanced between you both, wondering if he should step in.

"If you ever lay a hand on him again, I will kill you, Edward. I don't care what he does, I don't care if he kills half the crew, if you so much as slap him, I will kill you. Right in front of your crew," you threatened. Edward had known you long enough to know when your threats were real. This one certainly was.

"Now, I don't-" Stede began to protest but you didn't give him a chance.

"And you," you practically growled, pointing at Stede accusingly. "If you ever leave or hurt Edward again, I will track you down and kill you," your threat had the blond widening his eyes and going speechless.

"Do you both understand?" you asked, looking between them both.

"Yes," Stede nodded. Of course, he had no plans on hurting or leaving Edward ever again, so it would be an easy promise to keep.

"You've always been a protective friend," Edward recalled, almost fondly.

"Yeah. Just don't forget that my loyalties lie more with Izzy than they do you," you warned.

"You never let me forget it," Edward rolled his eyes.

Deciding that this conversation was over, you nodded and turned back to Izzy. "Remember what I said. No matter what, there's a place for you. Always will be."

"I know," Izzy nodded. And he really did, which made it all the more painful.

You sighed but accepted the answer before leaving the cabin, Izzy following after you. If Edward didn't like that, he could tell him about it later.

You didn't care if the crew was around, you gave Izzy one last hug before you returned to your ship, greeted by your diligent first mate before they shouted to raise the anchor.

On either ship, you and Izzy stood at the railing. Focused on nothing but each other, watching the distance between you both expand once again.

[uwmspeccoll]

Typography Tuesday

The designers highlighted in Some Examples of the Work of American Designers, edited and arranged by J. M. Bowles, designed the initial letters for their own entries. Shown here are:

A - Frank H. Weikel

B - W. P. Schoonmaker

C - Adrian J. Iorio

L - Louise Ames Norman

M - Arthur Finley

P - Charles R. Capon

T - Charles B. Falls

Some Examples of the Work of American Designers was printed in Philadelphia by Edward Stern & Co. for Dill & Collins Co. Papermakers in 1918 on thirty styles of paper manufactured by Dill & Collins Co in Philadelphia.

View our other Typography Tuesday posts

[comicaurora]

As you occasionally dispense writing advice from here that resonates, do you have any advice for or resources to point to assisting in crafting a central story arc?

With caveats that obviously no advice is universal and effort and repetition is required but to get metaphorical an average group of high school students would not be able to pilot a galleon no matter how much effort without a proper direction.

Concepts, characters, world building even the occasional cool scene come to me reasonably enough but whenever I try to string it all together things fall apart and I have years of abandoned writing projects staring back. Without a solid central plot it's just ambient vibes that doesn't go anywhere.

A central story arc is foundational to a story in the same way the tracks are foundational to a train trip. It IS important, but if it's doing its job, it's probably the part of the journey you think about the least. Instead, focus will ideally be drawn to the views, the stops, the fellow travelers and anything else encountered along the way.

There's a reason most central arcs are fundamentally very simple - they exist to enable forward motion. Most of them take the form "heroes want/need X and Y is stopping them from getting it." X is the end goal, but Y is why the plot happens.

Dorothy wants to go home. Glinda sends her on a hit first.

Frodo needs to destroy the ring. Sauron and co make this difficult.

The Beast needs true love to break his curse. His terrible people skills make this difficult.

Edward and Alphonse Elric want to restore their bodies. An ancient countrywide immortal conspiracy inconveniences them along the way.

Hamlet needs to avenge his father. Hamlet gets in the way.

Columbo wants to bring murderers to justice. Their convoluted coverups make this complicated.

Light Yagami wants to make a perfect world by killing everyone he doesn't like. Many people object to this.

Sailor Moon needs to protect the world from bad guys. Bad guys make this difficult.

These driving motivations are simple by design. Functionally speaking, the core plot is just a momentum vector - speed and direction. Where are they going, and how fast are they getting there? It exists to propel the heroes forward when they won't propel themselves, enabling all the actual interesting stuff in their stories. Concepts, characters, worldbuilding and individual cool scenes are what populate the rest of the story - the core driving impetus is just what's needed to push the protagonists through all the fun stuff you build for them. There's a reason so many stories just put a Big Bad at the end of all the other fun stuff and say "he burned down your village and killed your stern but fair father figure! GET 'IM!" It's basic, but it's really all you need. Gosh, what an evil villain! It'd be a shame if stopping him required you to take a tour of all the most interesting settings in this shiny new world I made for you-

The number one problem I've run into when formulating core plotlines is making them too complicated. The complications exist tangential to or intersecting with the core plot. They're the fun bits of worldbuilding and character moments. The core plot is just what gets your heroes there. The detective has sizzling chemistry with the femme fatale because of the murder he's trying to solve. The hero accumulates a colorful band of misfits with the power of friendship because of the evil overlord they're trying to stop. When you're laying down tracks for a railroad, you don't put in loop-de-loops - providing excitement is the job of the scenery and the stops. The tracks just need to get you there.

If you're stumped for the core but you've got everything else, go as basic as you can. Solving a crime. Rescuing a friend. Stopping a bad guy. Traveling from point A to point B. Finding an object. Then ask what events and chatacters this core journey can carry your protagonists through, and that's where all the interesting bits happen.

[fraiserabbit]

finally, some young Edward hcs/lore!!

Edward was a quiet kid, but absolutely not shy -- can and will fight anyone. Actually was pretty feisty, and this cost him a social life because a lot of the neighbourhood kids were scared away.

Early days working on the Furness Railway his co-workers found him “weird” because he never really engaged with anyone in a friendly manner and backtalked anyone who crossed him. The Furness didn’t really like him, so when Edward was moved to Sodor to assist with building the NWR they took that chance to sell his engine and get rid of him. His pride was certainly hurt when he found out, so he endeavoured to become a lot more sociable afterwards.

Making a conscious effort to be friendlier he ended up being a bit of a pushover in his early days on Sodor, getting bullied by the big guys. He absolutely would’ve curb stomped them but restrained himself, wanting to appear amiable. Bill and Ben finally got to him and Edward somewhat reverted to his bolder and fiercer self, becoming much more stern and standing his ground for years to come as a result.

[kwebtv]

Gavin MacLeod (born Allan George See; February 28, 1931 – May 29, 2021) Film and television actor, Christian activist, and author whose career spanned six decades. He also appeared as a guest on several talk, variety, and religious programs.

MacLeod made his television debut in 1957 on The Walter Winchell File at the age of 26.  He was soon noticed by Blake Edwards, who in 1958 cast him in the pilot episode of his NBC series Peter Gunn, two guest roles on the Edwards CBS series Mr. Lucky in 1959,

Between 1957 and 1961, MacLeod made several television appearances. He was cast as the devious Dandy Martin in the 1960 episode, "Yankee Confederate", of the syndicated anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews and starring alongside Tod Andrews and Elaine Devry.

In December 1961, he landed a guest role on The Dick Van Dyke Show as Mel's cousin Maxwell Cooley, a wholesale jeweler. This was his first time working with Mary Tyler Moore. MacLeod had three guest appearances on Perry Mason: in 1961 he played Lawrence Comminger in "The Case of the Grumbling Grandfather", and in 1965 he played Mortimer Hershey in "The Case of the Grinning Gorilla", and Dan Platte in "The Case of the Runaway Racer". He played the role of a drug pusher, "Big Chicken", in two episodes of the first season of Hawaii Five-O. His other guest roles included ones on The Untouchables, Dr. Kildare, Rawhide, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., The Man from U.N.C.L.E., My Favorite Martian, Hogan's Heroes, Combat!, The Big Valley, The Andy Griffith Show, It Takes a Thief, The Flying Nun, The King of Queens, and That '70s Show.

His first regular television role began in 1962 as Joseph "Happy" Haines on McHale's Navy; Between the years of 1965 and 1969, MacLeod appeared in many weekly episodes in multiple roles on the television series Hogan's Heroes including Major Zolle (season 1, episode 19), General Metzger (season 3, episode 27) Major Kiegel (season 4, episode 1), and General von Rauscher (season 4, episode 23). Each role was usually a stern and discerning officer of the Schutzstaffel (SS), Luftwaffe or Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo) which are vastly different in nature from the lovable characters he portrayed in his subsequent TV roles.

MacLeod's breakout role as Murray Slaughter on CBS' The Mary Tyler Moore Show won him lasting fame and two Golden Globe nominations. His starring role as Captain Stubing on The Love Boat, his next TV series was broadcast in 90 countries worldwide, between 1977 and 1986 (9 seasons). His work on that show earned him three Golden Globe nominations. Co-starring with him was a familiar actor and best friend Bernie Kopell as Dr. Adam Bricker and  Ted Lange as bartender Isaac Washington. (Wikipedia)

[bindi-the-skunk]

Night is day and day is night In a world that's lost its mind! Chapter 1

Summary: Jekyll always thought no one else could have something worse to keep a secret than he did but he will find out, others have things they choose to "hyde"

Oh, Robert was going to be so upset at him when they got back to his house!

Hyde ended up losing control Henry was able to wrench it back and return into his body, thankfully Edward had enough sense to rush into a motels bathroom before it got too bad, the visitors having been pissed off members of the black fog Bazaar who had been less than pleased to have their shows canceled early because the feds got led to their hiding spot and they nearly tore the blond to shreds before he ran for the nearest room with a lock and barricaded himself in and changed back.

Robert had managed to get the trio of Bazaar employees away from the door, using his alpha presence to force them out of his way, he despised using pheromones to get what he wanted, too much like an animal, he had confided in Henry one time, before they had chosen to become mates and he had never used them on the chemist once before or after.

Robert's father had not approved of them getting properly married, despite complimenting the omega on his work ethics, he still refused to bless a marriage between the two.

He had been the reason they bonded in secret, witnessed by a couple of trusted friends, even to this day he knew nothing, just assumed the two had managed to remain good friends.

If he only knew...

Henry still had to fight down giggles or a blush whenever the stern alpha ended up sitting on a chair or sofa they had...christened, and was sure Robert sat his father in said seats on purpose, the little subtle smirk he wore when the elder Lanyon sat down said it was intentional.

The omega had nearly bolted when the door opened and he saw his mate on the other end, staring with wide chocolate eyes before Robert had grabbed Henry's arm and pulled him out, not saying a word, somehow that was more frightening than if he had chosen to scream.

Couldn't he have just enjoyed getting one over on Hyde for ONCE!?

Sneaking out the back way proved easier than expected and not a word was said between the two, what could Henry possibly say to save his skin? Robert had obviously seen Hyde disappear into the bathroom and found just Jekyll inside with no available windows or any other methods of escape but the door, he was caught...what would ..could he say...

That he created Hyde in a poor attempt to cure the depression that nearly killed him back in school?

That the pest known as Edward Hyde lived rent-free in his brain till he drank a potion to change...and this same omega chose to unleash horrific monsters only the body-sharing omegas could see out of the said brain to torment him? All because he wanted to go to the mad scientist version of a mall?

He would be lucky if Robert did not demand a bond severance immediately! He knew those occurred over cases FAR less serious than this!

The alpha would no doubt survive the break, he was strong, but the chemist was sure he himself would come down with mating sickness...and die a slow and painful death of heartbreak.

Please forgive me, Robert...

The door opened and closed in a flash as soon as they made it to the porch of the Lanyon home and Henry noticed too late it was Roberts FATHERS house, and a chill ran down the omegas spine at the realization.

No...He couldn't possibly be about to...it was too cruel!!!

Robert was going to denounce him in front of his father and any servants who came looking...any way but this way! Henry knew his mate would be mad at him but he did not think he would be THIS mad!

The chemist found himself pulled inside and was gently sat on a sofa, Robert surprisingly sitting next to him, the other now facing Jekyll properly so his face was in view.

He was smiling

"This is amazing, why didn't you say anything? Wait...I know...you thought I would be mad" Robert still smiled as he looked sympathetic at the other man who just nodded dumbly confused "Don't worry father will certainly let us...make it official once I tell him you have your own ...little secret,"

Little secret?

"I will explain everything to my father and you go pick out a nice wine in the cellar, whatever you like, I'm certain he won't mind" Robert smiled wider and helped Henry to his feet and pointed towards the cellar and walked away when he heard the voice of the elder Lanyon in the other room and the split man found himself doing as he was asked and headed for the cellar.

'what are you doing?! We can get away now! He's faking being all happy about it so we won't escape well his pops calls the police!'

'Robert would not do that...he can't fake his emotions that well...I can tell by his eyes...he is happy...'

Edward went silent after that

Deeper and deeper into the cellar Jekyll went, where did they keep the wine? After the events of tonight he might have to bring up two bottles! And force himself not to drink one by himself...escaping three angry Bazaar benefactors by the skin of their teeth and finding out his mate had some dark secret of his own...

What could it possibly be? He always was a perfect alpha to him and others, charming, well-mannered, attentive, and handsome to boot, did he also dabble in dark science? He did co-own the society, but he never really seemed too interested in the goings about there.

Something wet squelched under his shoe, and looking down, the chemist went pale.

A bloodied severed hand lay on the stone floor, tools that had been previously ignored because of the chemist's thought process also hung on the walls, dark with rust or fresh blood that had not yet dried and Jekyll slapped a hand to his mouth to keep from screaming or throwing up.

Robert's voice drew his attention back to the enterance.

"Love? Did you grab the wine? I hope you did not trip down there, several items my father uses are sharp!"

This could not be...

This is a more modern AU so if you see references to up-to-date stuff that is why I can't write victorian to save my life and this will also be a dark comedy (with some grimmer stuff later on that I won't spoil ) so do not take any of this TOO seriously and let your own Hyde's take the forefront! Mine certainly is with this fic!

fun fact: an actor who played Jekyll on stage (back when the book was first published) act was apparently so convincing HE was a suspect for jack the ripper! (bet that was FUN for him...not)

PS: should Jekyll and Frankenstein be related here like they are in my "Son of Frankenstein" story?

[kinnaman-smorgasbord]

Esquire Singapore Dec 2019 - Joel Kinnaman Interview

OBSERVERVABLE ACTS

Editor-in-Chief: Norman Tan Photography: Michael Schwartz Stylist: Chloe Hartstein Groomer: Kristan Serafino Story: Wayne Cheong

Instead of a rooftop shoot that we had planned, we’re indoors at Dune Studios on Water Street. Outside, the weather is every writer’s dream: “It is an ash-streaked sky that portents a downpour.” “Like a warning, steel wool hangs overhead.” “A dishevelled blanket of grey that drifts languidly like detritus in a muddied pond.” A wet weather doth not a good shoot make.

When Joel Kinnaman arrives, the first thing you notice is how large he is. Bigger than life, broad-chested, he sometimes stands astride, like he’s about to break the spirit of a wild stallion. Then, there’s that presence; a sort of aura that’s quiet but still strong-arms you for your attention.

Just as the fashion shoot is about to start, Kinnaman asks if he could put on his own playlist for the shoot. He brings up his Spotify playlist, titled ‘For some of mankind’. ‘What Becomes of the Brokenhearted’ by Jimmy Ruffin plays.

“The playlists are just for fun,” Kinnaman tells me. “I’ve made a playlist for every project that I’ve been in.”

The project that this particular playlist was made for is For All Mankind, now playing on Apple TV+. It’s a show that puts forth the idea: what if America lost the space race to Russia?

Created and written by Ronald D Moore, the visionary behind the reimagined Battlestar Galactica and Outlander, For All Mankind stars Kinnaman as Edward Baldwin, a NASA astronaut who works alongside Buzz Aldrin (Chris Agos) and Neil Armstrong (Jeff Branson). Kinnaman’s character isn’t based on a particular historical figure, instead he is a composite or a representative of the ‘all-American’ astronauts of that era.

“I’m half-American and half-Swedish,” Kinnaman says. “I’ve lived in Sweden and America so, in a way, I’ve a split identity. My favourite part of the American spirit is not giving up. If they get knocked down, it is a national honour in getting back up and continuing the fight. In reality, when the US got to the moon, it concluded the space race. We didn’t get the continuation in space exploration that everyone was promised.”

Kinnaman is drawn to the science-fiction genre, fantasising of what could have been (though it can be said that the broad field of fiction can also put forward, ‘ what if’). Growing up, he watched the Star Wars movies, he loved the cyberpunk feel when he shot Altered Carbon. He is a fan of Blade Runner due to its dystopian future.

Do you think that sci-fi’s dystopian trope is becoming a reality? Kinnaman muses on that. “We’ve a president who is a national and international embarrassment. He’s immoral, a compulsive liar, a narcissist who doesn’t respect or appreciate democracy. I pray and hope that this nightmare would soon come to an end.

“But I believe we have the potential to overcome this. If we change paths and realign our focus in coming together as a human family, we can solve whatever problems that come our way together.”

This sentiment is echoed in For All Mankind, although the loss wasn’t the be-all and end-all for America. According to Moore, in losing the space race, America ends up the winner in the long run because of the continual effort into space exploration.

“Art can be a little lazy in pointing out the negatives. In many instances, the role that art and the artist play is showing us what’s wrong: that’s important but showcasing the positives is equally important. For All Mankind shows us how we should be operating if we are guided by our better angels.”

Physicist and theoretical biologist, Erwin Schrödinger, came up with a thought experiment. Imagine, if you will, a cat that’s sealed in a box. And inside that box is a device that might or might not kill the cat. Quantum theory states that quantum particles can exist in a superposition of states at the same time. Some even theorise that the quantum particles will collapse to a single state when it’s observed. When applied to Schrödinger’s cat, the feline is both dead and alive until you open the box.

Schrödinger came up with this thought experiment to explain that “misinterpreted simplification of quantum theory can lead to absurd results which don’t match real world quantum physics”. In the real world, it’s absurd that the cat is both dead and alive at the same time.

But one can also see this as an example of how the scientific theory works. Nobody really knows if a theory is right or wrong until it can be tested and proved. It’s like asking someone out on a date, you don’t know if that cute girl or guy will go out with you until you ask; the possibilities of rejection and acceptance remain in co-existence.

That is before you open the box.

Observe: Joel Kinnaman wouldn’t have existed if his father, Steve, had not defected from the US Army. An Indianapolis native, the elder Kinnaman was drafted and stationed in Bangkok, Thailand during the Vietnam War. While he was there, he started spending time with European backpackers, who have a different perspective of the war. A seed was planted. It finally blossomed when he attended a friend’s wedding in Laos. “It turned out that the woman’s family was half Laotian and half Vietnamese,” Kinnaman says. “It was an emotional moment for my dad. He asked himself if these were the people that he was going to kill.”

Still reeling from the love he had witnessed, the elder Kinnaman returned to his base. It was then that he was given the news that he was being reassigned to the battlefront in Vietnam.

In the history of war, the common punishment for desertion is death. According to the US Uniform Code of Military Justice, Article 85, it is meted out “by death of other such punishment as a court-martial may direct”. (Since the Civil War, only one American serviceman was executed for desertion: Private Eddie Slovik in 1945.)

Knowing the penalties for desertion, the elder Kinnaman made the decision that night to leave camp. He hitchhiked his way up into northern Thailand and into Laos. He burned his passport, changed his name and passed off as Canadian. For the next four years, he lived life among the Laotians doing odd jobs. Then, he found out that Sweden grants asylum to Vietnam deserters. Since moving to Sweden, President Jimmy Carter eventually issued an amnesty in 1977. The elder Kinnaman continues to reside in Sweden. After his first marriage ended, he was involved with Bitte, a therapist. This relationship yielded Joel.

“I’ve been working on the script about his life,” Kinnaman says. “The idea would be that I’d play my dad but I’m getting a little old.” It’s a story to be told, one about the dangers of blind patriotism; a tool that’s often exploited by governments. “We need to be critical individuals who should make up our own minds.”

Observe: Kinnaman had his first taste of acting when he was 10. He played Felix Lundström on Storstad, a soap opera that looks at the lives of the residents living in the fictional town of Malmtorget. Back then, Sweden had only two TV channels so even if it’s a secondary or even tertiary role on an ensemble piece, people will recognise you. “I didn’t understand it,” Kinnaman says. “There was something thrilling about being famous but there was something I didn’t like about it either.” His whole experience as a child actor was underwhelming.

In fact, taking a page from ‘history repeating itself ’, observe as Kinnaman could have been a soldier in the Swedish army.

“It was mandatory for the men to be conscripted for a year in the army and it was during my time when the rules for enlistment started to relax,” Kinnaman says. “If you didn’t want to enlist, all you have to do is purposely fail the proficiency tests.”

Alas, Kinnaman was so caught up in the competition that he aced it. His results showed potential to be a company leader. He was enlisted and assigned to an 18-month tour in the Arctic Circle but Kinnaman plum forgot about it. When he moved to Oslo, Norway, to be a bartender, he received a call from his mother, informing him that there was a government notice stating that he was supposed to enlist in three days.

He called the army to tell them that he was no longer in the country. “They said, this is a serious offence and I could get prison time for this. But if I were to write a letter to explain the situation, I could get out of this.” And then he forgot to write the letter. Kinnaman continued working odd jobs but he was always haunted by the thought that if he were ever to be arrested by the police for anything, they might discover his draft dodge from his records and he would be sent to prison.

“I ended up at this fight outside a night club and got taken in by the police.” Kinnaman says. Observe: Kinnaman could have ended up serving his sentence for draft dodging but nothing came of it.

Acting was calling out to him once more. His friend, Gustaf Skarsgård (famously known for his role as Floki in History Channel’s Vikings), was on track to becoming an actor and advised Kinnaman to apply for theatre school. After several applications, Kinnaman finally got into what he describes as “Sweden’s second-best acting school” and would go on to film two movies during his enrolment.

After graduation, he continued acting in Sweden before moving to America. He kept himself busy. He made an appearance in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; starred as Governor Will Conway in House of Cards; made people notice with his portrayal as the homicide detective, Stephen Holder; scored the lead role in the Robocop remake; was cast as Rick Flag in Suicide Squad.

The one genre that Kinnaman can’t seem to appear in is comedy. Yes, he has a stern demeanour but the man is also funny. “Sometimes, Hollywood sees you in a certain way and it’s much easier to get cast for it. And the next is similar to that and so on. I haven’t made an effort to dissuade people’s opinion. The lighter side is probably more me.”

The closest he has gotten to doing comedy is the shooting of the Suicide Squad sequel. Helmed by James Gunn, Kinnaman said in another interview that it feels like he’s “shooting his first comedy”.

“I’ve been around tough people with issues before,” Kinnaman continues. “I’ve had some bad times so those kind of environments were natural to be in. It’s a survival mechanism too. A way for me to cope as I grew up. At the time, you’re figuring out about your identity. I felt insecure, powerless and didn’t know what to do in life.

“It was a period of my life that was pretty negative. But one of the beauties of acting is that those dark periods become a mother lode that you can mine from. Maybe I’ve drawn a little bit too much from it by playing too many tough guys.”

In May 2016, Kinnaman was one of the delegates and personalities from Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Finland and Sweden who was invited to one of President Obama’s final state dinners. Kinnaman, dressed in a sharp tuxedo, attended the dinner with his then-wife, Cleo Wattenström.

He overheard that the Obamas were fans of House of Cards and was looking forward to being introduced to them. At the reception, he and the other representatives stood in a row as President Obama made his way down the line, shaking hands and posing for a photo op. By Kinnaman’s admission, his mind wandered as he imagined what he’d say when President Obama came up to him. “Maybe I’d say, ‘Mr President’, and then he’ll say ‘Governor Conway’, and then we’ll laugh. And we’ll end it with a cool handshake.”

And all of a sudden, the president stood before him and Kinnaman muttered, “Mr President…” There was an awkward pause. Kinnaman would recount that it’s very possible that either the Obamas hadn’t watched the episode that he was in or if they did, his presence made zero impact. Before the silence could prolong, Kinnaman ended with, “thanks… for everything”. President Obama said something along the lines of, “Surely but surely, we cannot lose hope” and Kinnaman was ushered off.

He would retell this story when he introduced President Obama at Brilliant Minds, a conference of creative individuals who embody the forward-thinking spirit of Sweden, in June 2019. After the introduction, he returned backstage, where President Obama was waiting for his cue to go up. “He had this huge smile on his face and he said to me, ‘bring it in for a cool handshake.’ We hugged, we talked for about five minutes. He was super friendly. I’ll always remember that moment.”

Kinnaman isn’t shy about his politics. He voiced support for the #metoo movement; he had championed the environmental cause by one of his fellow Swedes, Greta Thunberg; he does not hide his disdain for the Trump administration.

“I think the last UN report stated that we have about eight years to turn back our carbon expenditure into the atmosphere,” Kinnaman says about where we’re heading as a species. “You don’t have to be a prophet to see that the world is heading towards the wrong direction. The oceans are heating up, the glaciers are melting. These natural disasters will be more frequent and that’s gonna lead to more tensions among countries.

“Politically, we’re moving towards a more nativist direction; people are pulling away from international cooperation. There’s the rise in disinformation campaigns, which will threaten democracy.”

But Kinnaman, ever the optimist, still believes in the human spirit, that we can innovate our way out of this quagmire.

Observe: Kinnaman, who was born with pectus excavatum, chose to correct the disorder instead of living with it.

Pectus excavatum is a chest-wall deformity that affects roughly one in 400. Instead of the breastbone being flush against the chest, it sinks in. Measured on a scale called the Haller index, anything above an index of 3.2 is considered severe. Kinnaman’s index was a seven or an eight.

“It’s something that’s survivable,” Kinnaman explains. “But it’s a condition that grows worse over time: your posture becomes worse; your stamina worsens as your heart is not given room to pump. By correcting it you can add years to your life.”

For a condition this severe, doctors had to insert two curved metal bars across his chest. Then the bars are turned to force the chest out and then the bars are wired to his ribs. The operation changed his life for the better. He doesn’t feel self-conscious whenever he removes his top. Six weeks after his surgery, he had to do reshoots for Suicide Squad. It was a fight sequence but Kinnaman sucked it up. “Would you like to feel it?” He asked.

He raised his arm like an invitation. I reached out and felt the spot, where the metal bars are, beneath the fabric and skin.

That’s an interesting party trick, I say. Kinnaman could only chuckle in response.

“It’s funny, if you ask me to say a line from a movie that I’ve been in before, I can’t. Not one line from any movie that I’ve done but I once did a monologue that was one hour and 30 minutes and I knew it by heart after 10 days.”

Kinnaman used to opine that as a Swedish American, growing up with dual cultures gives him a better perspective of the world but that also left him feeling like he doesn’t belong. He jumps from place to place, leading a nomadic existence.

“But I think,” he says as though he had stumbled upon some great truth a long time back, “I don’t wanna travel so much any more. Home. That’s where I’d like to be. I have two bases: one in Venice, LA and the other, an hour outside Stockholm.

“Growing up, my family didn’t have any money. We lived in this tiny little cottage that was in the middle of the woods. Now, I have this piece of land, where my family lives. This past midsummer was the first midsummer that we all spent together.

“That’s my new happy place.”

Joel Kinnaman looks like a man who has placed the final piece in that mystery of his life. He has stopped worrying about how he’s perceived by the public. He has exorcised people who have “struggled with jealousy, who don’t have a natural inclination towards generosity”. He has zero tolerance against bullshit. He likes how his career is shaping up—aside from Suicide Squad 2, For All Mankind is now filming a second season, and Kinnaman has three films coming out: The Informer; The Sound of Philadelphia and The Secrets We Keep; the last two, he avers, are his best work. “People who have watched me for a long time, it will remind them of my early career and for people who recently followed me, they will see a new side of me.

“I have goals that I’d like to achieve. Actor awards are such bullshit… until you get one. But yeah, that would be great. In future, I’d definitely want to be in a producing role and at some point, I’d like to also direct.

“I’ve said that I’d direct in five years time for about 10 years now.” That might change. His life is still a long and open road ahead.

Schrodinger’s cat posits two states that the creature can be in—dead or alive. But what if there’s a third option. That within the confines of the box, the cat is not there. It’s escaped. Unburdened from the stipulations of a thought experiment, free to do what it wants.

[tabloidtoc]

National Enquirer, February 15 -- 2 of 6

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Page 6: Natalie Portman has smeared the line in the sand of her once-tight friendship with Julia Roberts by competing with her own range of lipsticks -- Julia looked upon her former Closer co-star as a younger sister and protege but now she's seeing her more as a crass copycat -- Natalie has always looked up to Julia and tried to emulate her but many see her new Dior line as a total copycat move -- Julia who has long been an brand ambassador for Lancome turned heads at the 2019 Oscars when her lips rocked the company's Le Lip Liner in Sheer Raspberry topped with Le Mademoiselle Shine gloss -- now Natalie is trying to outshine her pal by coating her kisses with Rouge Dior lipstick and various shades of red-hot scarlet and Natalie has watched how massive Julia's association with Lancome has been over the years with a focus on Julia's favorite lipstick shades and that's what they're trying to recreate at Dior and Natalie was willing to ditch the friendship by copying Julia then tell all their mutual friends to buy her Dior makeup products -- the direct affront to Julia is how they're selling this with Natalie smiling and laughing and approachable; they're stealing a page out of Julia's playbook and timing it to awards season and Natalie would love all her celebrity friends to wear her Dior makeup at these events like the Oscars and word has gotten back to Julia who stepping up her own selling game

Page 7: Winona Ryder is trying to save ex Johnny Depp's career by pushing a sequel to their cult hit Edward Scissorhands -- Winona feels Johnny was mercilessly dragged over the coals in his domestic abuse trial against former wife Amber Heard and Winona is not at all happy about where Johnny has found himself lately and the treatment he's gotten -- after being raked over the coals for her shoplifting arrest nearly 20 years ago she knows what he's going through but she fought her way back and now she's starring in a hugely popular TV show and making more money than she did in her movie heydey -- she wants the same for Johnny and unlike a lot of people in his life her caring for him doesn't come with strings attached -- Johnny and Winona began dating during the filming of Edward Scissorhands in 1990 and were engaged for several years before splitting up and she would do a sequel to Edward Scissorhands in a millisecond if Johnny was willing

* Lovestruck Kourtney Kardashian is playing with fire by hooking up with combustible musician Travis Barker and baby daddy Scott Disick is leading the parade of naysayers -- Travis is a sweet and talented guy but everybody is concerned because he's also a love 'em and leave 'em type and Scott doesn't want his ex to become another notch on Travis' belt -- Travis has broken a string of hearts since his marriage to Shanna Moakler ended in 2008 and since then he's run through relationships with Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Rihanna and Rita Ora -- Kourtney's started to fall for him in a big way but hearing Travis talk to his friends he seems to think of it as more of a friends-with-benefits situation

Page 8: Larry King went to his grave raging over his divorce payoff to his estranged wife Shawn but she'll get a huge chunk of his $50 million estate -- Shawn had negotiated to receive $33,000 a month in spousal support and a lump sum payment of $20,000 though their split wasn't finalized before Larry passed due to COVID-related complications -- Larry was not happy he had to pay Shawn so much money because he didn't come from money so it was important to him and money was a measure of success so he felt it was his own

Page 9: Radio shock jock Howard Stern claims a lusty Larry King once tried on move in on his then-girlfriend Beth Ostrosky -- the unsettling scene unfolded before the couple wed in 2008 and Howard was a guest on Larry's late-night CNN show -- Beth was left alone with Larry after his staff moved Howard to another room and Larry was being very flirtatious

(continued)