#James MacDuff

[justforbooks]

James Earl Jones

American actor hailed for his many classical roles whose voice became known to millions as that of Darth Vader in Star Wars

During the run of the 2011 revival of Alfred Uhry’s Driving Miss Daisy in London, with Vanessa Redgrave, the actor James Earl Jones, who has died aged 93, was presented with an honorary Oscar by Ben Kingsley, with a link from the Wyndham’s theatre to the awards ceremony in Hollywood.

Glenn Close in Los Angeles said that Jones represented the “essence of truly great acting” and Kingsley spoke of his imposing physical presence, his 1,000-kilowatt smile, his basso profundo voice and his great stillness. Jones’s voice was known to millions as that of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars film trilogy and Mufasa in the 1994 Disney animation The Lion King, as well as being the signature sound of US TV news (“This is CNN”) for many years.

His status as the leading black actor of his generation was established with the Tony award he won in 1969 for his performance as the boxer Jack Jefferson (a fictional version of Jack Johnson) in Howard Sackler’s The Great White Hope on Broadway, a role he repeated in Martin Ritt’s 1970 film, and which earned him an Oscar nomination.

On screen, Jones – as the fictional Douglass Dilman – played the first African-American president, in Joseph Sargent’s 1972 movie The Man, based on an Irving Wallace novel. His stage career was notable for encompassing great roles in the classical repertoire, such as King Lear, Othello, Hickey in Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh and Big Daddy in Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

He was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, the son of Robert Earl Jones, a minor actor, boxer, butler and chauffeur, and his wife Ruth (nee Connolly), a teacher, and was proud of claiming African and Irish ancestry. His father left home soon after he was born, and he was raised on a farm in Jackson, Michigan, by his maternal grandparents, John and Maggie Connolly. He spoke with a stutter, a problem he dealt with at Brown’s school in Brethren, Michigan, by reading poetry aloud.

On graduating from the University of Michigan, he served as a US Army Ranger in the Korean war. He began working as an actor and stage manager at the Ramsdell theatre in Manistee, Michigan, where he played his first Othello in 1955, an indication perhaps of his early power and presence.

The family had moved from the deep south to Michigan to find work, and now Jones went to New York to join his father in the theatre and to study at the American Theatre Wing with Lee Strasberg. He made his Broadway debut at the Cort theatre in 1958 in Dory Schary’s Sunrise at Campobello, a play about Franklin D Roosevelt.

He was soon a cornerstone of Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare festival in Central Park, playing Caliban in The Tempest, Macduff in Macbeth and another Othello in the 1964 season. He also established a foothold in films, as Lt Lothar Zogg in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove (1963), a cold war satire in which Peter Sellers shone with brilliance in three separate roles.

The Great White Hope came to the Alvin theatre in New York from the Arena Stage in Washington, where Jones first unleashed his shattering, shaven-headed performance – he was described as chuckling like thunder, beating his chest and rolling his eyes – in a production by Edwin Sherin that exposed racism in the fight game at the very time of Muhammad Ali’s suspension from the ring on the grounds of his refusal to sign up for military service in the Vietnam war.

Lorraine Hansberry’s Les Blancs (1970) was a response to Jean Genet’s The Blacks, in which Jones, who remained much more of an off-Broadway fixture than a Broadway star in this period, despite his eminence, played a westernised urban African man returning to his village for his father’s funeral. With Papp’s Public theatre, he featured in an all-black version of The Cherry Orchard in 1972, following with John Steinbeck’s Lennie in Of Mice and Men on Broadway and returning to Central Park as a stately King Lear in 1974.

When he played Paul Robeson on Broadway in the 1977-78 season, there was a kerfuffle over alleged misrepresentations in Robeson’s life, but Jones was supported in a letter to the newspapers signed by Edward Albee, Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Miller, Lillian Hellman and Richard Rodgers. He played his final Othello on Broadway in 1982, partnered by Christopher Plummer as Iago, and appeared in the same year in Master Harold and the Boys by Athol Fugard, a white South African playwright he often championed in New York.

In August Wilson’s Fences (1987), part of that writer’s cycle of the century “black experience” plays, he was described as an erupting volcano as a Pittsburgh garbage collector who had lost his dreams of a football career and was too old to play once the major leagues admitted black players. His character, Troy Maxson, is a classic of the modern repertoire, confined in a world of 1950s racism, and has since been played by Denzel Washington and Lenny Henry.

Jones’s film career was solid if not spectacular. Playing Sheikh Abdul, he joined a roll call of British comedy stars – Terry-Thomas, Irene Handl, Roy Kinnear, Spike Milligan and Peter Ustinov – in Marty Feldman’s The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977), in stark contrast to his (at first uncredited) Malcolm X in Ali’s own biopic, The Greatest (1977), with a screenplay by Ring Lardner. He also appeared in Peter Masterson’s Convicts (1991), a civil war drama; Jon Amiel’s Sommersby (1993), with Richard Gere and Jodie Foster; and Darrell Roodt’s Cry, the Beloved Country (1995), scripted by Ronald Harwood, in which he played a black South African pastor in conflict with his white landowning neighbour in the 40s.

In all these performances, Jones quietly carried his nation’s history on his shoulders. On stage, this sense could irradiate a performance such as that in his partnership with Leslie Uggams in the 2005 Broadway revival at the Cort of Ernest Thompson’s elegiac On Golden Pond; he and Uggams reinvented the film performances of Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn as an old couple in a Maine summer house.

He brought his Broadway Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof to London in 2009, playing an electrifying scene with Adrian Lester as his broken sports star son, Brick, at the Novello theatre. The coarse, cancer-ridden big plantation owner was transformed into a rumbling, bear-like figure with a totally unexpected streak of benignity perhaps not entirely suited to the character. But that old voice still rolled through the stalls like a mellow mist, rich as molasses.

That benign streak paid off handsomely, though, in the London reprise of a deeply sentimental Broadway comedy (and Hollywood movie), Driving Miss Daisy, in which his partnership as a chauffeur to Redgrave (unlikely casting as a wealthy southern US Jewish widow, though she got the scantiness down to a tee) was a delightful two-step around the evolving issues of racial tension between 1948 and 1973.

So deep was this bond with Redgrave that he returned to London for a third time in 2013 to play Benedick to her Beatrice in Mark Rylance’s controversial Old Vic production of Much Ado About Nothing, the middle-aged banter of the romantically at-odds couple transformed into wistful, nostalgia for seniors.

His last appearance on Broadway was in a 2015 revival of DL Coburn’s The Gin Game, opposite Cicely Tyson. He was given a lifetime achievement Tony award in 2017, and the Cort theatre was renamed the James Earl Jones theatre in 2022.

Jones’s first marriage, to Julienne Marie (1968-72), ended in divorce. In 1982 he married Cecilia Hart with whom he had a son, Flynn. She died in 2016. He is survived by Flynn, also an actor, and a brother, Matthew.

🔔 James Earl Jones, actor, born 17 January 1931; died 9 September 2024

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[rosencrantzsguildenstern]

Set in a three Michelin star restaurant owned by celebrity chef Duncan Docherty, with Joe Macbeth as the sous chef and his wife Ella as the Maître d'. Joe and his fellow chef Billy Banquo are annoyed that Duncan takes the credit for Joe's work, and that Duncan's son Malcolm has, in their opinion, no real flair for the business. Then they encounter three supernatural binmen who predict that Macbeth will get ownership of the restaurant, as will Billy's children. Joe and Ella are inspired to kill Duncan, but the binmen subsequently warn that Macbeth should be wary of Peter Macduff, the head waiter.

Banquo's name is Billy Banquo, Macbeth's name is Joe Macbeth. Macbeth is played by James McAvoy WITH the Scottish accent. The witches are garbage men. A pig flies. It's like if The Bear was literally Macbeth and James McAvoy was there. It's genuinely so good I think it's still all on youtube. It's literally SO 2005, it's my babygirl. Let it be known this movie came out the same year as the first Narnia movie so James McAvoy was Mr Tumnus AND Macbeth in the same year which I think is delightful.

A retelling of MacBeth set in feudal Japan. Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place.

Overall this just translates the rising sense of the doom and drama of Macbeth so well! The film is also beautifully atmospheric. It really leans into using mist and darkness to set an eerie feeling tone. Shoutout to Washizu’s (Macbeth’s) absolutely wild death scene in this version.

Moody, atmospheric, visually beautiful film that captures the vibe of Macbeth better than any I've seen. The illusion of the trees moving is astonishing (especially if you're lucky enough to see this on a big screen) and Lady M's hand-washing scene is as creepy as you'll ever see. And Toshiro Mifune gives a splendid performance (and is extremely hot).

[aceofsnacks]

I did a tour of GO filming locations

It was around London, so I didn't get all of them, but the trip has been such a blast I just have to share the pics!

1. St James park: so many birds! And tourists. Which is good because the secret government agents wouldn't be able to feed so many ducks. I saw pelicans too—they were huge and pink and funny!!

2. Berkley Square (they actually didn't film anything here, but still): it's a giant construction site now. The only birds I spotted were parrots, so many of them, at least 5 nests, and loud too. No sane nightingale would ever come there, this much is true. But the song is referenced on one of the bench plaques <3

3. The Ritz / The Criterion: they both look nothing like the restaurant in the show (maybe the Criterion changed since 2019?) But both are fancy! When my rich uncle leaves me a giant inheritance and I find my 6000 year soulmate, I am so taking them out there, just you wait.

4. The Globe: this is my favourite theatre now!!!Macbeth was magnificent! And the standing tickets were so worth it: actors were down in the crowd and interacted with everyone! I got some of Macduff's blood on me! (Can't get this anywhere else :D) The Globe is closed in winter, so I'm already planning to buy tickets for next year.

5. The Bandstand and the-place-where-Gabriel-was-running: after marinating on Tumblr for so long I felt shocked seeing the word "bandstand" on a physical sign in the park. Like, put up a warning at least, my heart needs to be prepared?? The actual bandstand was at the same time smaller and bigger than I expected. Also those red bits—apparently they were there the whole time; I was imagining it black and white for some reason.

Also I met another crazy fan taking pictures of the bandstand in the rain, and I remember thinking, they have to be just as crazy as me xD

6. Tavistock square (where they switched bodies): the filming crew must have moved the benches around, because the square itself is so tiny and you can only match the scene background if you stand all the way back in the bushes. Surely there must have been a better way.

7. Crystal palace: just as I suspected, you can't see the dinosaurs from the bench because of all the trees in the way. The dinos are hilarious though, they look more like🗿and not like 🦖. In the show Warlock seems to have written a rude word on the teleosaurus info card, how dare he!

8. Tadfield (Hambleden, really): I thought, it's just two hours from London, easy day trip, in and out, what could go wrong. Cue to me stumbling over muddy fields in the dark surrounded by menacing sheep and regretting everything. The village is cute and English and has literally three streets and a post office and nothing else. And sheep.

9. Bonus round, my take on Aziraphale's bookshop xD "Seducing women? I think you've got the wrong shop!"

10. Bonus bonus round, food! (am I or am I not the ace of snacks after all?) An oyster recipe from Marcus Gavius Apicius' cookbook (Rome, 1c CE, stumbled upon it in the museum of Reading), and Eccles cakes (soooo sweet they don't calm people down but give them instant diabetes)

And that's it!! Thank you for reading all the way <3 Here is a secret snack 🍎

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

alright antony and cleopatra let’s get it

part ONE! (which is just until wherever the intermission break is)

-choreographed prologue??? 👀

-TECHNO PROLOGUE!!! low key this is such a vibe

-“my boss is a manwhore”

-just let them have bed wrestling fights!

-ANTONY BYRNE??? DUKE VINCENTIO ANTONY BYRNE??? yaaaaaaaaaay

-i love them both already

-seriously they are such an amazing vibe

-the way he covers his face with a pillow when she teases him for blushing omg

-they are just so utterly besotted and it’s making me so happy

-ooh boy we have another soothsayer

-this has the same energy as the carmen card trio

-wait i feel like this actor playing one of the ladies in waiting was in troilus and cressida (edit: yes! it’s amber james! aka cressida and now charmian!)

-cleopatra fully just said “i’m out i’m not talking to him right now” lol

-well that just happened (fulvia is dead!)

-somebody give antony a hug pls

-enobarbus what are you doing

-“I CAN’T DO THE HONEYMOON PHASE ANYMORE”

-she is just so. utterly. brilliant. and. so. MUCH. and i love it

-“eternity was in our lips and eyes”

-oh wait this is the scene from this play they did at [area shakespeare company’s] founder’s retirement party

-their energy is so much and i love it

-“Sir, you and I must part, but that’s not it/Sir, you and I have loved, but there’s not it…”

-soundtrack continues to pop off

-octavius: insecure about masculinity

-octavius wants to cancel antony and lepidus isn’t so sure

-YAAAAAAAY PIRATES OF PLOT CONVENIENCE! (okay maybe just plot spice but whatever)

-okay we fully just skipped a scene i guess (from the few lines i skimmed it looks like “cleopatra and her girls do edibles”)

-okay so pompey is collaborating with Pirates Of Plot Spice TM?

-“okay so how do we get the boys to start fightingggggg”

-okay we’re jumping back to cleopatra and her girls doing edibles

-love the music and love the mardian dude

-“where’s my serpent of old Nile?…now i feed myself with most delicious poison” so uh. about that.

-‘you’re not mark antony’ lolol

-not sad or merry but a secret third thing

-‘charmian that was LAST play’

-the boys are fightingggggggg

-‘i didn’t say i wouldn’t, i just didn’t do it’ mood

-“That truth should be silent I had almost forgot.” OOOOOOOOH

-oh this is definitely a great idea /s

-oh hey it’s the barge speech!

-he’s just a boy who cain’t say no!

-“Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale/Her infinite variety.”

-sleepover at agrippa’s!

-LUCY PHELPS OCTAVIA??? (so the duke and isabella did get married in an alternate universe then)

-“i will definitely, 100%, not cheat on you” yeah it’s act two i’m not putting it past you

-no one ever listens to the soothsayer

-FUCKIN CALLED IT

-“Give me some music—music, moody food/Of us that trade in love.” 🤝 “if music be the food of love, play on”

-y’know, iras is so Not Even In This Play

-she is a QUEEN

-“But sirrah, mark, we use/To say the dead are well.” ross over in scotland, about to tell macduff his family is dead: *shuffles uncomfortably*

-i love their banter

-“you did NOT just say octavia was better at banging than me”

-oh she’s straight up beating him up

-“PLEASE DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER”

-she is Going Through It

-pompey: *gives very emotional speech*

octavius: …take your time

lmao

-BOAT PARTY

-so enobarbus and menas are besties anyway? i thought they were on opposite sides (which obvs does not prevent bestie relationships but yeah)

-enobarbus knows what’s up

-BOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAT PAAAAAAAARTY

-yeah lepidus words are hard

-menas has a Plan

-octavius: buddy i am Not Getting Drunk Tonight

-PLAY THIS IN THE CLUB

-Many Complicated Emotions Between These Two,

-antony, fully intending to ditch octavia at first opportunity: well this is awkward

-messenger: i can’t fucking believe i still have to work this customer service job even after getting beat up

-scoping out the competition

-uh oh. there are Political Problems

-GO OFF OCTAVIA (also this is just like blanche in king john)

-“The Jove of power make me, most weak, most weak, your reconciler. Wars ’twixt you twain would be As if the world should cleave, and that slain men should solder up the rift.”

-oh octavius is Big Mad

-“YOUR HUSBAND IS CHEATING ON YOU OCTAVIA” “NO I JUST WANT YOU GUYS TO STOP FUCKING FIGHTING”

-ooh did octavia just take her ring off 👀

and that’s intermission! this is GREAT and i would continue watching but it is also late and i am tired so…rest tomorrow!

[scotianostra]

On November 16th 1700 James Macpherson, the famous fiddling freebooter, was hanged at Banff.

The outlaw’s father was a laird and his mother a tinker. How he became a criminal is as unclear as some of his activities, but his career appears to have culminated in “a reign of terror” on the Banff, Elgin and Forres markets. He seems to have enjoyed the Laird of Grant’s protection, but was captured in Keith when, according to his own account, a woman threw a blanket over him and he was disarmed before he could free himself.

He was tried in Banff where he was especially disliked. The jury was packed with the dependants of Lord Duff, who had previously organised a group to capture MacPherson, but as on many other occasions, he escaped.

MacPherson was found guilty, but a reprieve was said to be on its way to Banff at the time of the execution. Duff turned the clock 15 minutes forward and MacPherson was hung before the pardon arrived. There is a traditional account that says the clock was kept 15 minutes fast for years and Macduff has its west-facing town clock covered so the people of Banff can't see the right time.

The story goes that in the week before his hanging, Macpherson reportedly composed an air variously described as “Macpherson’s Lament” or “Rant” or “Farewell” which he then performed on the gallows.

In the most picturuesque version, he played his own fiddle in this exit performance, then dramatically smashed the instrument.

By all accounts MacPherson was a big muckle man, this is justified by his sword, which is preserved in Duff House, at Banff as seen in the second pic, and you have to question the story a wee bit.

The first pic is a depiction of MacPherson playing before they hung him, now would they have given a Goliath the free use of his hands at such a desperate moment?

Well there are, as always different versions of the song, I will post my favourite afterwards, which was written by oor Bard Rabbie Burns, this is an earlier version:

Fareweel, ye dungeons dark and strang, fareweel, fareweel tae ye,

MacPherson's time will no be lang on yonder gallows tree

Chorus

Sae rantinly and sae wantonly, sae dauntinly gaed he

For he played a tune and he danced aroon, below the gallows tree

It was by a woman's treacherous hand that I was condemned tae dee

Above a ledge at a window she sat and a blanket she threw ower me

There's some come here tae see me hang, and some come tae buy my fiddle

But before that I would part wi her I'd brak her through the middle

And he took the fiddle intae baith o his hands and he brak it ower a stane

Sayin, nay other hand shall play on thee when I am dead and gane

The reprieve was comin ower the Brig o Banff tae set MacPherson free,

But they pit the clock a quarter afore, and they hanged him frae the tree.

Additional verses

The Laird o Grant, that Hieland saunt, that first laid hands on me,

He pleads the cause o Peter Broon, tae let MacPherson dee

Untie these bands frae aff my hands and gie tae me my sword,

And there's no a man in all Scotland but I'll brave him at a word.

[oceansmotion]

Hi! I recently downloaded Berrybury to translate it and I love it! Unfortunately, because I play in another language than English the Sims names are completely changed (even ancestral ones!) to randomly generated, and I was just wondering if there was a possibility you could make a full list of the names of the Sims in the neighborhood?

Hello! I have created a list of all the Sims in Berrybury as well as made a terrible picture in paint to show which family is where. @goatskickin had this issue as well and figured out how to fix that here! Allen Family Auguste Dupin - Poe's father Poe Allen - toddler Annabel Allen - Poe's mother (deceased) Madame Eugenie Allen - Annabel's mother (deceased) Gordon Allen - Annabel's father (deceased) MacBeth Family Lorna MacBeth - Matriarchy Angus MacBeth - Patriarchy Elspeth MacBeth - daughter (child) Rory MacBeth - son (teen) Fergus Ferguson - Lorna's father (deceased) Fiona Ferguson - Lorna's mother (deceased) Duncan MacBeth - Angus's father (deceased) Divya MacBeth - Angus's father (deceased) Starveling Family Ikelos Starveling Shailyn Starveling MacDuff Family Daibhidh MacDuff - Patriarchy Catriona MacDuff - Matriarchy Wallace MacDuff - son (child) Fionnuala MacDuff - daughter (teen) Emily Gemmell - Daibhidh's mother (deceased) James Gemmell - Daibhidh's father (deceased) Padraig MacDuff - Catriona's mother (deceased) Grace MacDuff - Catriona's mother (deceased) Apollonia Family Priam Apollonia - Patriarchy Hecuba Apollonia - Matriachy Zenna Apollonia - daughter (teen) Troy Apollonia - son (teen) Laomedon Apollonia - Priam's father (deceased) Strymo Apollonia - Priam's mother (deceased) Dymas Hellenic - Hecuba's father (deceased) Euagora Hellenic - Hecuba's mother (deceased) Okimura Family Matsukichi Okimura - Matriarchy Mitsurugi Okimura - Patriarchy Criseyde Okimura - daughter (teen)

[denimbex1986]

'Production images have been released for the Donmar Warehouse’s revival of Macbeth.

Leading the production are David Tennant (Doctor Who, Good) and Cush Jumbo (Julius Caesar, Hamlet), taking on roles of the regicidal Macbeths, alongside Moyo Akandé (as Ross), Annie Grace (as Musician and Gentlewoman), Brian James O’Sullivan (as Donalbain/Soldier/Murderer and Musician), Casper Knopf (as Macduff’s Son/Fleance/Young Siward), Cal MacAninch (as Banquo), Kathleen MacInnes (as The Singer and ensemble), Alasdair Macrae (as Musician and ensemble), Rona Morison (as Lady Macduff), Noof Ousellam (as Macduff), Raffi Phillips (as Macduff’s Son/Fleance/Young Siward), Jatinder Singh Randhawa (as The Porter/Seytan), Ros Watt (as Malcolm), and Benny Young (as Duncan/Doctor).

Director Max Webster’s production employs binaural technology to create an immersive 3D sound world, courtesy of sound designer Gareth Fry (The Encounter), which the audience experience through wearing headphones.

In addition, live music comes from an onstage Scottish folk band led by Macrae and featuring award-winning Gaelic singer MacInnes.

The creative team also includes Rosanna Vize (designer), Bruno Poet (lighting designer), Shelley Maxwell (movement director), Macrae (composer and musical director), Rachel Bown-Williams and Ruth Cooper-Brown of RC-Annie Ltd (fight directors), and Anna Cooper CDG (casting).

Macbeth officially opens tonight and runs until 10 February 2024.'

[ifwewerevillainsbrainrot]

ok i’m actually so-

help my brain hurts

oliver compares himself and james to romeo and juliet but who is who? juliet fakes her death so is james actually alive? or is it that the 10 year prison sentence is close enough to death to the point where james kills himself.

also macbeth. richard’s ghost follows oliver the way duncan follows macbeth, but macbeth was the killer. is james lady macbeth (commits s**cide because of guilt) or is he macbeth (tragic hero)? is oliver macbeth, or macduff (kills macbeth in the end of the play- since james feels guilty not just over richard’s death, but also oliver taking the blame)?

is filippa the true villain? there’s that quote where she says she would’ve killed richard for hurting everyone else if james hadn’t done it by mistake first and oliver comments that they wouldn’t gotten away with it if she had been the killer. why would they have gotten away with it? bc filippa wouldn’t let the guilt get to her.

brain is working so hard rn.

[triviareads]

Any recs where the heroine is just badass? She knows what she wants and goes after it (hopefully a man/woman) I want to read more than just a wallflower sort of heroine.

The Viper by Monica McCarty: You'll never get more badass than Bella MacDuff, who defies her husband and his political views and escapes him to crown Robert the Bruce, and survives torture and imprisonment because of it (and she's also a real person!). There are other Highland Guard books with badass heroines (The Arrow and The Ghost come to mind) but Bella is honestly on her own level.

The Conquering of Tate the Pious by Sierra Simone: Two strong heroines; Adelais is a Norman warlord who takes over from her late husband during the Invasion, and Tate is the abbess of Far Hope Abbey which Adelais is trying to take over, and Tate basically offers herself up to Adelais to prevent this.

The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne: Justine was raised to be a child soldier/agent for the French Secret Service in Napoleonic France, and she and the hero Adrian play this decades-long cat-and-mouse game as they switch between enemies and allies, and they eventually become lovers as well.

Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase: Jessica is super self-possessed and has no qualms about shooting the hero after he publicly ruins and rejects her, and then indirectly threatening to spill his simpy behavior in a court of law for public record.

An Island Princess Starts a Scandal by Adriana Herrera: Honestly both the heroines are badass in this one, and in different ways; Cora is a business mogul who wants to expand railways in South America, and Manuela is super into Cora from the start and chases after her right from the start. There's a very hot scene where Manuela finally breaks Cora via reverse psychology and Cora storms into a party and demands Manuela be fetched and brought into her carriage for imminent seduction.

Cutthroat Countess by Minerva Spencer: Jo is a strong, silent type and is great with knives which comes in handy when she takes down half a private army in Napoleonic France; definitely a gal with a particular set of skills. She also has a pet raven!

Grace Callaway's Lady Charlotte's Society of Angels series has all kickass heroines who work as investigators and are generally very forward when it comes to expressing desire to their love interests. I'd specifically recommend Charlotte and the Seductive Spymaster because Charlie is this hypercompetent lead investigator who does so much good work for women who have nowhere else to turn.

Sarah MacLean's Hell's Belles series generally has strong feminist heroines, all of whom are operating outside the law to help women and kick ass. Heartbreaker is a personal favorite of mine; the heroine has criminal origins and uses her social invisibility to break off unwanted matches for women.

If we're talking about heroines who unabashedly chase after their love interests, then I can recommend no better than When a Girl Loves an Earl by Elisa Braden. Viola is obsessed with James to the point where the entire ton refers to her pursual of him as the “Tannenbrook Hunt”. And Olivia and the Masked Duke by Grace Callaway (from the aforementioned Lady Charlotte series) also has similar vibes except with an age gap and a hero who feels suuuuuper guilty about his attraction to Livy. At first.

[theterrornaut]

+ The ‘Luddites’, which were supposed to be the protagonists

(Feat. Twiddy (rather unsubtle self-insert), Pilgrim (skinned preacher robot), SC4RF4CE (a robot replica of Chicago’s favourite celeb, created as an attraction for the Bar-chain SPEAK-EZ), Murphy MacDuff (CEO of Kelso Robotics Chicago and Scottish Lex Luthor clone) as well as ‘Luddites’ leader and heir James Rueben Jr.)

Not beloved characters of mine but a marginally fun project nonetheless.

[kwebtv]

The Ox-Bow Incident  -  CBS  -  November 2, 1955

A presentation of the 20th Century-Fox Hour (Season One Episode 3)

Drama 

Running Time:  60 minutes

Stars:

Robert Wagner as Gil Carter

Cameron Mitchell as Donald Martin

E. G. Marshall as Davies

Raymond Burr as Major Tetley

Wallace Ford as Monty Smith

Hope Emerson as Ma Grier

James Westerfield as Deputy Mapes

Walter Sande as Moore

Ray Teal as Bartlett

Tyler MacDuff as Gerald Tetley

Eddie Firestone as Art Craft

Michael Ansara as Jeff Farnley

Rodolfo Hoyos Jr. as Mexican

Taylor Holmes as Judge Tyler

Russell Simpson as Old Man

Robert Adler as Mark

Jay Brooks as Sparks

[yon-yon-writes]

The Tragedy of Macbeth: His Death, Historically Inaccurate

By: Yon-Yon

Macbeth is a beautiful, brutal, and bloody play written by none other than William Shakespeare himself in 1606. The play was written as a tribute to King James I a few months after he had become king of England. He was a patron of Shakespeare’s company which allowed him to write and have his plays performed live for an audience. Shakespeare wrote this particular play about the tragedy based on the real-life events of King Macbeth and how he gained the throne of Scotland. Shakespeare’s play Macbeth is still so relevant to today’s history and culture due to the play being about how the role of jealousy, greed, and the overarching ambition in the downfall of men, women, and some children. Not everything in Macbeth is historically accurate though, as the main source for Macbeth was based on the Holinshed’s Chronicles. A very famous scene that is not at all historically accurate is Macbeth’s death. This scene is important as it ended Macbeth’s rule of the Scottish throne, but comparing it to the actual event, the original plays scene, and the movie scene from The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) will be interesting as they are all portrayed differently in how Macbeth is killed. 

Macbeth’s death took place in the battle of Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire by Malcolm’s hand and with the help of the English army in 1057, which was 17 years after Macbeth had killed his cousin King Duncan I, who was Malcolm’s father. Malcolm wanted to avenge his father’s death, by overthrowing Macbeth, and to do so he fled to England to get help from the English king to help him raise an army to defeat Macbeth. Malcolm brings the British army with him to Scotland 17 years later to make his move to kill King Macbeth for the throne. Once he was slain, Malcolm was crowned as Malcolm III in 1058. In Shakespeare’s play adaptation of Macbeth’s history, Macbeth was slain by Macduff, Thane of Fife who declared Malcolm the new King of Scotland. This is how the play Macbeth’s death is different from the actual history of Scotland’s King Macbeth. 

In Macbeth the play, the scene starts out with Macbeth talking about how he would not commit suicide, where Macduff then enters the stage telling him to turn around. They have a short dialogue that goes back and forth with each other. Then they start to fight, and while they are fighting they begin to again exchange words with each other, where Macduff tells Macbeth to “yield thee, coward” (5.7.35, 967). Macbeth refuses to yield, not wanting to have to “kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet” (5.7.58, 967) as they then continue fighting with each other. Macbeth is then slain by Macduff, with his head cut off, as Macduff drags Macbeth’s body off stage. Macduff then takes Macbeth’s decapitated head to Malcolm, who is then pronounced King of Scotland. As the army starts to chant “Hail, King Of Scotland!” (5.7.88, 968). 

The movie The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021), the screenplay written, directed, and produced by Joel Coen, was a black-and-white film adaption of Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. This film was captured quite beautifully in the camera angle shots, the visuals, the way scenes changed, and the way they added blackbirds as a motif into the film for more emphasis on death as a concept throughout the film. The film portrayed some aspects of the play as either different than what they really were or added features to the play to make it more exciting and thrilling to watch than it would be to just watch the play on a stage. Specifically, Macbeth’s death scene in the film took place on a lookout spot on one of his castle walls. The same lines from the play were said but they didn't start fighting until after all the dialogue, unlike the play. The way they filmed the fight scene between Macbeth and Macduff was really amazing as it only focused on the two of them fighting, no one else, and never showed the armies fighting. This was a good idea to keep the focus on Macbeth getting killed by Macduff. The way they fought in such an enclosed, tight space really added to the suspense of who would win the fight. We already know who would win based on the play, but if someone who didn't know was watching it would keep them on their toes. Something that was a really great touch to his death scene, was when Macduff knocked Macbeth's crown off of his head and onto the ground. Macbeth cared only about being king and needed to pick it up, so he knocked Macduff backward as he went to pick up the crown, as he stood up straight to put the crown back upon his head he was decapitated as Macbeth had no way to defend himself in such a quick time. When Macduff struck Macbeth, killing him, the crown from Macbeth’s hand went flying into the air.

Comparing these scenes is difficult but also not, as the scene from the play is only words, there’s no visual representation of exactly how things are being done, and how things look. The movie, however, shows the visual side of the play, but not the exact same as the play. The things are quite different but are mostly the same. Most of what is done are to make the story flow better for how the movie is captured, but in film, you can make anything happen with CGI. In a play set, this is much harder to do. As the play is the original work of Macbeth, the play is what went off the making of the screenplay for The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021). Joel Coen, the screenplay writer, director, and producer, did a beautiful job capturing Shakespeare’s imagery from the play, to put into the movie. This allowed for the motifs to be able to be shown which is something that can’t be done on a staged set. Joel Coen talks about how he built similarities between Shakespeare’s play and the film by using parallel editing. Parallel editing is when you cut back and forth between scenes that are happening at the same time, “How brilliant Shakespeare was as a dramatist,” he said, “to anticipate that kind of [visual] storytelling.” (Tichenor, 2022). Coen used this type of editing in Macbeth’s death scene. It cut between Malcolm talking to his army back to Macbeth with a beautiful transition. Then, the fight scene between Macbeth and Macduff begins. After Macbeth is killed, the scene switches to Malcolm being shown that Macbeth is indeed dead, and is given the crown.

The film and play are of course acted out by different people in each role, this can not really be controlled due to filming time, actors aging, and actors just not fitting the role how the director wants them to. In the film, The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021), Macbeth is played by an African American man named, Denzel Washington, who does a beautiful job portraying Macbeth in the film. When the film first came out people wondered why Macbeth, someone from Scotland, was being played by an African American. The actors and actresses that play characters, play characters and don't always fit the perfect description of the characters that they get cast to play. This was something many people didn’t like as it wasn't “accurate”. If an actor fits the role, the actor fits the role. This is something that should not matter in film or in any occupation. That being said, this was a major difference though, from how the play was most likely written during the time of 1606.

        That being said the film, The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) and the play Macbeth are both very similar in their portrayal of the story, especially in Macbeth’s death scene. The film and play though, are both historically inaccurate but are very close to being historically accurate with Macbeth’s death. A reason that Shakespeare didn’t write for Malcolm to kill Macbeth, might be because he wanted to add something a little more dramatic and unknown to the historical event. Malcolm still becomes the King of Scotland, Malcolm brings an army (but not the English army), and the death of Macbeth is the only historic event that is correct. Leaving the rest of the tragedy of Macbeth a mystery, for the interpreter’s imagination.          

Works Cited

“Dates and Sources: Macbeth: Royal Shakespeare Company.” Royal Shakespeare Company, https://www.rsc.org.uk/macbeth/about-the-play/dates-and-sources#:~:text=Macbeth%20is%20based%20on%20the,plot%20to%20overthrow%20King%20Duncan.

“Macbeth: The Prisoner of Gender.” Proquest, https://www.proquest.com/openview/2a23a2cbb5120e46257b5130075d124b/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1819311.

Editors, History.com. “King Macbeth Is Killed by Malcolm Canmore.” HISTORY, A&E Television Networks, 21 July 2010, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/malcolm-slays-macbeth. 

“King Macbeth's Family Tree.” LeRoy, http://leroy-quebec.weebly.com/king-macbeths-family-tree.html. 

Editors, Biography.com. “Macbeth Biography.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 2 Apr. 2014, https://www.biography.com/royalty/macbeth. 

Tichenor, Austin, and is the creator of The Shakespereance; co-artistic director of the Reduced Shakespeare Company; and the co-author of Pop-Up Shakespeare (illustrated by Jennie Maizels); the irreverent reference book Reduced Shakespeare: The Complete Guide for the Attention. “The Tragedy of Macbeth: The Power of Restriction in Joel Coen's Film.” Folger Shakespeare Library The Power of Restriction Joel Coens The Tragedy of Macbeth Comments, Folger Shakespeare Library, 14 Jan. 2022, https://www.folger.edu/blogs/shakespeare-and-beyond/tragedy-of-macbeth-film-joel-coen/. 

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Wordsworth Editions, 1992.

Coen, Joel, director. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Apple Original Films A24 IAC, 2021. 

[teachingmycattoread]

Things We've Yelled About This Episode #4.3

Macbeth, William Shakespeare

"By the pricking of my thumbs Something wicked this way comes" Act IV, Scene 1

Blackadder Series 3 Episode 4, Sense and Senility; specifically this scene

Tory power posing (metro)

"When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?" Act I, Scene 1

"Well I can do next Tuesday", p. 5, Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett

Sophie Devereaux; Leverage (2008-2012)

"Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty", Act I, Scene 5

Strange women in ponds distributing swords, Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) (youtube)

Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett

Macbeth (RSC, 1979)

Ian McKellen (imdb)

Judi Dench (imdb) /

Christopher Eccleston (imdb)

Macbeth (RSC, 2018)

Macbeth (2015)

Michael Fassbender (imdb)

Troy (2004)

The Illiad, Homer

Marion Cotillard (imdb)

"I have given suck, and know How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me" Act I, Scene 7

"Out, damned spot, out, I say! One. Two. Why then, 'tis time to do't. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?" Act V, Scene 1

Be blood, bold, and resolute. Laugh to scorn The power of man, for none of woman born Shall harm Macbeth." Act IV, Scene 1

"Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill Shall come against him." Act IV, Scene 1

BBC Bitesize on the context for Macbeth (youtube)

The Aeneid, Virgil

The ghosts with two orbs and three sceptres are from Act IV, Scene 1

Sources for Macbeth (wiki)

Holinshed's Chronicles (wiki)

Tanistry (wiki)

"Welcome hither. I have begun to plant thee and will labour To make thee full of growing." Act I, Scene 4

"The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step On which I must fall down or else o'er leap For in my way it lies." Act I, Scene 4

"Malcolm: Dispute it like a man. Macduff: I shall do so, But I must also feel it as a man. I cannot but remember such things were That were most precious to me." Act IV, Scene 3

Busman's Honeymoon, Dorothy L. Sayers, p. 328 (2003 edition) - in reference to shaken port, not shattered chessmen.

"What, all my pretty chickens and their dam At one fell swoop?" Act IV, Scene 3

"Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble." Act IV, Scene 1

Hamlet, William Shakespeare (our episode here)

"To be or not to be: that is the question" Hamlet, Act III, Scene 1

"Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest" Hamlet, Act V, Scene 1

"Then live, Macduff; what need I fear of thee? But yet I'll make assurance double sure And take a bond of fate. Thou shalt not live," Act IV, Scene 1

"But screw your courage to the sticking place And we'll not fail." Act I, Scene 7

"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death." Act V, Scene 5

Hamilton (musical)

Take a Break, Hamilton (spotify)

"Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires." Act I, Scene 4

Stars, Hide Your Fires, Jessica Best

Sigh No More, Mumford and Sons (spotify)

Mansplain Manipulate Malewife (meme)

Macbeth Murder Mystery, James Thurber

We Didn't Start The Fire, Billy Joel (spotify)

Merlin as prophet and poet (wiki)

Hot reading (wiki)

Cold reading (wiki)

Once you pop the murders don't stop - referring to the Pringles slogan (wiki)

Historical Macbeth (wiki)

J. R. R. Tolkien

Brandon Sanderson

The Wheel of Time series, Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

David Tennant (imdb)

Macbeth (2025)

ShakespeaRe-told: Macbeth (2005)

Much Ado About Nothing, William Shakespeare (our episode here) 2

Taming of the Shrew, William Shakespeare

James McAvoy (imdb)

Hercule Poirot; fictional detective, Agatha Christie

Columbo; fiction detective, Columbo (1971-1978)

Sherlock Holmes, Dr Watson; the Sherlock Holmes series, Arthur Conan Doyle

Parry this you filthy casual (meme)

Sabriel, Lirael; the Old Kingdom series, Garth Nix

The Locked Tomb series, Tamsyn Muir

The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, MXTX

The Untamed (2019)

Harrowhark Nonagesimus; the Locked Tomb series, Tamsyn Muir

Wei Wuxian; The Untamed/The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

Harrow the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir

Gideon Nav; the Locked Tomb series, Tamsyn Muir

Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien

Anakin Skywalker; Star Wars

"…and the thought came into his head…", The Silmarillion, J. R. R. Tolkien

The old problems have been murdered, but new problems have emerged is a reference to this scene from The Untamed:

The Discworld series, Terry Pratchett

Graymalkin, the witch's cat familiar (source)

Greg Davies (imdb)

Little Alex Horne (imdb)

Andy Serkis (imdb)

Samwise Gamgee; the Lord of the Rings series, J. R. R. Tolkien

Sean Astin (imdb)

Cat Rating: 8/10

What Else Are We Reading?

Taskmaster New Zealand

Advent of Code

The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal, Jodi Taylor

Towers of Midnight, Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

A Memory of Light, Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, J. R. R. Tolkien (audible)

Next Time

Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, Becky Chambers (previous episode here)

A Closed and Common Orbit, Becky Chambers

[dstrachan]

'Views From The Edge' - w/c 6th May 2024

Estelle ‘American Boy’

Alston / Kirk Overdrive ‘American Stranger’

The Choir Of Westminster Abbey & The Choir of His Majesty's Chapel Royal, St James's Palace & Choristers from Truro Cathedral Choir & Choristers from Chapel Choir of Methodist College Belfast & Octet from the Monteverdi Choir & Andrew Nethsingha ‘Byrd: Prevent Us, O Lord, T 207’

London Symphony Orchestra & Barry Wordsworth

‘Beethoven 9th: Ode an Die Freude (Ode to Joy)’

Ebony Buckle, Bobby Eccles, John Steele, Philip Granell & Cormac Byrne ‘Silver Dagger’

American Gypsy ‘Birth Control & Beer’

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band ‘Boston Tea Party’

MC Chippy feat. Mc Cruzy T & Fat B ‘Bradford Boy’

Chain Ripper ‘Bayonet’

Faust ‘Knife’

Colin MacDuff ‘For All We Know’

Elis MacFadyen ‘Dark Side Of Town’

Anita Abram ‘Gravity Running’

Aoede ‘Gravity’

Pixie Lott ‘Gravity’

Suddyn ‘Gravity’

David Bowie ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’

Jill Scott ‘Hate On Me’

Hilary Duff ‘Haters’

Jennette McCurdy ‘Don’t You Just Hate Those People?’

Taylor Swift ‘Mean’

L7 feat. Joan Jett ‘Fake Friends’

Toby Keith ‘How Do You Like Me Now?’

Not Now Norman ‘Why Don’t Ya Like Me!’

Hatcham Social ‘Shut Your Mouth’

Lou Reed ‘Caroline Says 1’

Tanita Tikaram ‘Twist In My Sobriety’

Belle 'Fluorescent Light'

Groove Armada feat. Saint Saviour ‘I Won’t Kneel (Beaumont remix)’

Kala Chng ‘Lights Out’

[celticbarb]

#BookReview #ComingSoon #ScottishHistorical #DragonbladePublishing

Book:’’ The Swan Laird ” formerly ‘’The Swan Maiden”

Author: Susan King

Series: Celtic Hearts, Book #3

Release Date: April 26, 2024

Publisher: Dragonblade

Length: 312 Pages

Overall Rating: 5/5 Stars

Blog Rating: 5/5 Saltire Flags

This is the third book and the conclusion of the Celtic Hearts series. It is another revised edition originally titled “The Swan Maiden.” The hero is Sir Gawain the Knight, not the goshawk, who was last seen in “The Hawk Laird” but like the previous two books the author has upgraded and rewritten.

Scotland, 1300-1306

Sir Gawain Avenel makes sure no one knows he is really Scottish born and birth name was Gabhan MacDuff, as his Scottish Laird father and Grandfather were killed by the English. They burned down their castle, his mother and he escaped to her homeland in England, changed his name, was not allowed to speak gaelic, and he could no longer wear his plaid either and had to wear English clothes. His mother eventually met his loving step-father Sir Henry Avenel, now Gawain had three step-brothers, eventually his mother and his step-father had two twin daughters. If his Scottish origins were discovered it could easily put his very life in danger and his entire English family would be accused of being traitors! He pledged himself to the Hammer of the Scots, King Edward the I of England and became a Knight especially having a step-father who was so very respected and well connected among the English nobility. The King is now testing Gawain to see if he will be loyal or betray him again!

Although trouble seems to find Gawain where he had spent some time in an English prison for running with rebel Scot’s and helping James Lindsay and his wife. He had a soft spot for the Scots; he had a lot of guilt as it cost his English family some problems and tragedy. He had also saved a young girl who was Juliana Lindsay-from drowning some six years ago while trying to escape the English who were pursuing her. Somehow all the swans in her loch seemed to protect her, he had named her the Swan Maiden and she named him the Swan Laird. She would not see him until six years later under very different circumstances.

Six years later the King wants to humiliate Juliana Lindsay and eat one of her favorite Swans cobs she named Artan! All the men at this feist try to make a fool of her to make her an example to force her to obey King Edward, except it only makes her despise all these Sasseanchs even more with a passion! The cruel sheriff Sir Walter de Soulis had arrested her and her little brothers as rebels from The Abbot who was their Guardian. They had her in a dungeon and now in golden chains and dressed like a swan. It was Gawain who was kind to her and her swan cobb trying to protect her against the men who were unkind and trying to humiliate her!

Gawain is shocked when the King orders him to marry this bonny lass! Juliane is even more beautiful than she was six years ago although she looks at him with such hatred! He would be bringing her back to Scotland to her castle at Elladoune though eventually there will be a garrison something Juliana will loathe and they want her to sign an oath of loyalty to the KIng. Gawain wants a real marriage and Juliana just wants to escape plus they both carry secrets not trusting each other. Will they ever trust each other and be able to escape people that want to hurt them both and discover love? Read and find out.

Susan King has been one of my go-to-authors for close to thirty years! I think I have read every book she has written. She does amazing research on all of her stories that is always so awe-inspiring and impressive. I seem to always learn something new in each of her books. In this book I learned a lot about swans in this book that I did not know and I found so fascinating. I loved the Arthurian names for the swans and our hero Sir Gawain too! I look forward to reading “The Scottish Bride” next coming in June in her new Highland Secrets series!

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy and an advance reader copy from Dragonblade publishers. I voluntarily agreed to do a fair review and blog through netgalley. All thoughts, ideas and words are my own.

Celtic Hearts

Book 1 - The Hawk Laird

Book 2 - The Falcon Laird

Book 3 - The Swan Laird

Buy Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Swan-Laird-Medieval-Historical-Romance-ebook/dp/B0CZ7KWHMN

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-swan-laird-susan-king/1145381949?ean=9781963585414

[shinxeysartgallery]

OC MASTERPOST PART 2

Character limits, amirite? (Click here to return to the first part)

Dusty Dysprosium the Phoenix Earth King Earth Queen Ebony the Maine Coon Eclipse Ella Elliot Therium Eloise the Corgi Ember Eric Espy Eva the Alicorn Evelyn the Oranda Fern the Wolf Fire King Flare the Falcon Fleur Beaumont Flint the Mole Flora Forest Queen Frank the Rat Fresh the Snail Frost Saber Fuego Gale 94RN37 Gear the Maned Wolf Gem Gol Dee Greg the Pegasus Guava Halcyon Hannah the Alicorn Hazel the Lioness Hunter Huxley Ian Ice King Iggy Iguanodon Irwin the Shonisaurus Ivy the Venus Flytrap J4D3 James the Chinchilla Jane the Echidna Jelli the Jellyfish Jennifer the Chinchilla Jinxy the Bat Pony John Adair Judy the Dilophosaurus Julian the Dragonfly Kaitlynn Kronos Kelpsey the Seaweed Kelsi the Kiwi Kenji the Otter Kevin the Pegasus Kina King Aurum King Mercury Koe the Cricket Lagoon the Caiman Lance the Dilophosaurus Laura Williams Lear Leo Fairburn Ligth Lilac Lily Lo Lola Louvre Lucas the Falcon Lucy the Octopus Luna Lychee Lyra the Axolotl Maelstrom Maisy MacDuff Mango Marshmallow

(part 3) (part 4)