#June Johnson beauty review

[thaoworra]

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association recently released the poems that made it to the finalist stage for consideration for the 2024 Rhysling Awards for Short and Long Speculative Poems of the year. Congratulations to all of the nominees! This will be the 46th year these awards have been conferred!

Short Poems (50 finalists)

Attn: Prime Real Estate Opportunity!, Emily Ruth Verona, Under Her Eye: A Women in Horror Poetry Collection Volume II

The Beauty of Monsters, Angela Liu, Small Wonders 1

The Blight of Kezia, Patricia Gomes, HWA Poetry Showcase X

The Day We All Died, A Little, Lisa Timpf, Radon 5

Deadweight, Jack Cooper, Propel 7

Dear Mars, Susan L. Lin, The Sprawl Mag 1.2

Dispatches from the Dragon's Den, Mary Soon Lee, Star*Line 46.2

Dr. Jekyll, West Ambrose, Thin Veil Press December

First Eclipse: Chang-O and the Jade Hare, Emily Jiang, Uncanny 53

Five of Cups Considers Forgiveness, Ali Trotta, The Deadlands 31

Gods of the Garden, Steven Withrow, Spectral Realms 19

The Goth Girls' Gun Gang, Marisca Pichette, The Dread Machine 3.2

Guiding Star, Tim Jones, Remains to be Told: Dark Tales of Aotearoa, ed. Lee Murray (Clan Destine Press)

Hallucinations Gifted to Me by Heatstroke, Morgan L. Ventura, Banshee 15

hemiplegic migraine as willing human sacrifice, Ennis Rook Bashe, Eternal Haunted Summer Winter Solstice

Hi! I am your Cortical Update!, Mahaila Smith, Star*Line 46.3

How to Make the Animal Perfect?, Linda D. Addison, Weird Tales 100

I Dreamt They Cast a Trans Girl to Give Birth to the Demon, Jennessa Hester, HAD October

Invasive, Marcie Lynn Tentchoff, Polar Starlight 9

kan-da-ka, Nadaa Hussein, Apparition Lit 23

Language as a Form of Breath, Angel Leal, Apparition Lit October

The Lantern of September, Scott Couturier, Spectral Realms 19

Let Us Dream, Myna Chang, Small Wonders 3

The Magician's Foundling, Angel Leal, Heartlines Spec 2

The Man with the Stone Flute, Joshua St. Claire, Abyss & Apex 87

Mass-Market Affair, Casey Aimer, Star*Line 46.4

Mom's Surprise, Francis W. Alexander, Tales from the Moonlit Path June

A Murder of Crows, Alicia Hilton, Ice Queen 11

No One Now Remembers, Geoffrey Landis, Fantasy and Science Fiction Nov./Dec.

orion conquers the sky, Maria Zoccula, On Spec 33.2

Pines in the Wind, Karen Greenbaum-Maya, The Beautiful Leaves (Bamboo Dart Press)

The Poet Responds to an Invitation from the AI on the Moon, T.D. Walker, Radon Journal 5

A Prayer for the Surviving, Marisca Pichette, Haven Speculative 9

Pre-Nuptial, F. J. Bergmann, The Vampiricon (Mind's Eye Publications)

The Problem of Pain, Anna Cates, Eye on the Telescope 49

The Return of the Sauceress, F. J. Bergmann, The Flying Saucer Poetry Review February

Sea Change, David C. Kopaska-Merkel and Ann K. Schwader, Scifaikuest May

Seed of Power, Linda D. Addison, The Book of Witches ed. Jonathan Strahan (Harper Collins)

Sleeping Beauties, Carina Bissett, HWA Poetry Showcase X

Solar Punks, J. D. Harlock, The Dread Machine 3.1

Song of the Last Hour, Samuel A. Betiku, The Deadlands 22

Sphinx, Mary Soon Lee, Asimov's September/October

Storm Watchers (a drabbun), Terrie Leigh Relf, Space & Time

Sunflower Astronaut, Charlie Espinosa, Strange Horizons July

Three Hearts as One, G. O. Clark, Asimov's May/June

Troy, Carolyn Clink, Polar Starlight 12

Twenty-Fifth Wedding Anniversary, John Grey, Medusa's Kitchen September

Under World, Jacqueline West, Carmina Magazine September

Walking in the Starry World, John Philip Johnson, Orion's Belt May

Whispers in Ink, Angela Yuriko Smith, Whispers from Beyond (Crystal Lake Publishing)

Long Poems (25 finalists)

Archivist of a Lost World, Gerri Leen, Eccentric Orbits 4

As the witch burns, Marisca Pichette, Fantasy 87

Brigid the Poet, Adele Gardner, Eternal Haunted Summer Summer Solstice

Coding a Demi-griot (An Olivian Measure), Armoni “Monihymn” Boone, Fiyah 26

Cradling Fish, Laura Ma, Strange Horizons May

Dream Visions, Melissa Ridley Elmes, Eccentric Orbits 4

Eight Dwarfs on Planet X, Avra Margariti, Radon Journal 3

The Giants of Kandahar, Anna Cates, Abyss & Apex 88

How to Haunt a Northern Lake, Lora Gray, Uncanny 55

Impostor Syndrome, Robert Borski, Dreams and Nightmares 124

The Incessant Rain, Rhiannon Owens, Evermore 3

Interrogation About A Monster During Sleep Paralysis, Angela Liu, Strange Horizons November

Little Brown Changeling, Lauren Scharhag, Aphelion 283

A Mere Million Miles from Earth, John C. Mannone, Altered Reality April

Pilot, Akua Lezli Hope, Black Joy Unbound eds. Stephanie Andrea Allen & Lauren Cherelle (BLF Press)

Protocol, Jamie Simpher, Small Wonders 5

Sleep Dragon, Herb Kauderer, The Book of Sleep (Written Image Press)

Slow Dreaming, Herb Kauderer, The Book of Sleep (Written Image Press)

St. Sebastian Goes To Confession, West Ambrose, Mouthfeel 1

Value Measure, Joseph Halden and Rhonda Parrish, Dreams and Nightmares 125

A Weather of My Own Making, Nnadi Samuel, Silver Blade 56

Welcoming the New Girl, Beth Cato, Penumbric October

What You Find at the Center, Elizabeth R McClellan, Haven Spec Magazine 12

The Witch Makes Her To-Do List, Theodora Goss, Uncanny 50

The Year It Changed, David C. Kopaska-Merkel, Star*Line 46.4

Voting for the Rhysling Award begins July 1; a link to the ballot will be sent with the Rhysling Anthology, as well as with the July issue of Star*Line. More information on the Rhysling Award can be found here.

[goosemixtapes]

max's june 2024 reads

fiction

Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea by Sarah Pinsker (review)

Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? by Kathleen Collins (reread)

Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier (review)

The Price of Knives by Ruoxi Chen (a perfectly normal and friendly mermaid story)

Fandom for Witches by Ruoxi Chen (best thing about fandom i have ever read)

Why We Eat Each Other by Yoon Chung (what if you were spiderman and it sucked, ft. cannibalism)

The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado (review)

more of The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

started rereading Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities

literally just the waterloo section of Les Miserables because it was like a jungle i had to fight through

Spar by Kij Johnson ("In the tiny lifeboat, she and the alien fuck endlessly, relentlessly.")

innumerable beautiful and incredible and genius unpublished short stories from my critique group

nonfiction

Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel (reread)

finished Fat Talk by Virginia Sole-Smith (review)

Writing the Other by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward (review)

the first half of The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel (yes, again)

misc

Recuerdo by Edna St. Vincent Millay

[unsealedcube77]

Hey you! Yeah you! Have you ever been living life when you think to yourself, man I wish I could do that. Think to yourself,

Yeah I can do that! Who's gonna stop me!

Please ignore the previous statement if thought involved illegal activities.

Well I hand made a plushie and I'm proud of myself.

When Jaiden Animations uploaded her video reviewing gen 5 pokemon plushies, I wondered what Drifloons official plush looked like. Looking it up, it was kinda disappointing. There were parts I thought I'd change if I made it myself...

Then I thought, why don't I make it myself! So I stopped studying for my exam and proceeded to plan out the designs. However, I'm no expert by any means. My credentials were essentially:

Learned how to sew a quilt in grade 11.

Quick fixes in clothes or toys.

Lots of videos of doll customizations and a few cosplay tutorials I've seen on YouTube.

So, I set my expectations low and kept my self-confidence high. My margin of error for the drifloon plush was going to be huge, so regardless of the end result, I'll be happy.

Above are some of the first drafts of templates I used. The seem-lines excess grew as I learned that more is better. The circular tag for the bottom of Drifloon I had to remake a few times, so it was big enough with the final product. The arms I originally thought to make with fabrics, but once realizing it would look like shoelaces, I challenged myself to use rope.

I also had no plan for the cloud. I did know I wanted to use fabric rather than it to be pure fluff like the official design. I ended up just stuffing and stretching fabric into a sphere shape and sewing it together, hiding all the raw edges.

When I went to buy the material, I didn't buy plush and soft materials. If I remade the plush, I probably would make the cloud part fluffy, but since drifloon is a balloon, the smooth pillow-like sheets (Linen, I think) worked fine.

Gotta love the stitch work of my first attempt. I probably used a total of four stitch methods. One was stitched the machine, then handstitched the rest since I realized it was crazy to machine stitch something so small. Two of the stitches I probably made up. I stuffed the pads, and the end result is smooth enough, and I love each little flaw. The mistakes also helped me understand how to approach the rest of the body.

One, two, skip a few, I stitched 5 oval patterns together to make the body. I then bought an embroidery hoop to make the eyes. I thought of doing an outline for the mouth but settled for machine stitching.

This poor baby wasn't properly stuffed. Originally, I planned on using old stuffing, but then I bought cotton to stuff it properly. I accidentally ripped the material and thought I fixed it, but after stuffing it I realized he had a Dwane Johnson eyebrow. Luckily, with new stuffing, it's less noticeable, kind of.

Above is the finished product immediately after I finished! Ignore the calendar it was actually June. He can sit without rolling and the colours look great together! It wasn't until recently when the weather was beautiful and I took him outside for a photo shoot!

While there was lots of mistakes, I had lots of fun learning. I love my shiny baby who was inspired by a shiny I caught in Pokemon Scarlet, my first non-guaranteed shiny in a main game! Her ingame name is Aurora, but I've been calling the plush a he, so do with that info as you will.

Thank you for reading!

This project was really fun for me, and it all started by just wanting to do it myself. I hope this encourages you to just make something you've been holding out on doing. You may make mistakes like I did, but you may also finish with a final product that YOU made! What's cooler than that?

[newmusickarl]

5-9’s Album of the Month Podcast – Episode 6 Out Now!

The June review episode of the 5-9 Album of the Month Podcast is now available - and it might just be my favourite episode yet!

As ever I take a seat alongside 5-9 Editor Andrew Belt and Check This Out’s Kiley Larsen to review five high profile album releases from the past month in music, and ultimately name one as our Album of the Month at the end of the discussion.

For this episode, the five albums discussed are:

PARANOIA, ANGELS, TRUE LOVE by Christine & The Queens

Off Planet by Django Django

Chaos For The Fly by Grian Chatten (Poll winner, thanks for voting!)

The Art of Pleasure by Janelle Monáe

Guy by Jayda G

If you want to listen to the June episode or any previous episodes simply click the link below, but also be sure to follow 5-9 Blog on Instagram and Twitter for more news and polls relating to the podcast, along with other great content like film reviews, sports articles and more.

Listen to the June 2023 episode here

Learn more about the Album of the Month podcast in my interview with Left Lion here

Album & EP Recommendations

My Back Was a Bridge For You To Cross by ANOHNI and the Johnsons

Once upon a time, I refused to listen to ANOHNI and the Johnsons’ music.

You see when this unknown album to me titled I Am A Bird Now beat one of my favourite albums of all time in Bloc Party’s Silent Alarm to the 2005 Mercury Music Prize, I couldn’t quite believe it. As a 15-year-old kid at the time, I think I gave half a listen to ANOHNI’s record and then squawked endlessly at the injustice of the decision. Years later though when I had finally matured (my music taste along with it), I listened to I Am A Bird Now properly and saw the beauty that the Mercury judges had seen in that record years earlier.

Fast forward to 2016, I was even more blown away by ANOHNI’s solo debut, Hopelessness, with its cutting political commentary and dazzling experimental synth-pop melodies. In a stacked year for new music (my favourite ever in fact), it would finish 11th in my Top Albums of 2016 list, but in any other year it could’ve easily been a Top 5 contender. So now, 7 years on from that record and 13 years after the last ANOHNI and the Johnsons album, she has finally got the band back together for some new music – and I’m pleased to say it’s every bit as outstanding as those two previous efforts.

Whilst thematically My Back Was a Bridge… picks up partly where Hopelessness left off - looking in despair at humanity and the current state of the world but with personal tales scattered in there too - sonically it couldn’t be more different. This time around the electro-pop of that album has been replaced, with this collection of songs instead beautifully backdropped by bluesy guitars and sweeping orchestral strings. ANOHNI’s own inimitable vocals then remain the ever-present constant, her voice frequently making the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. Not a moment is wasted across the album’s concise 40-minute runtime either, with sublime opener It Must Change, the gospel-like refrains of Can’t, the soaring rock riffs of Scapegoat and Rest, as well as the mesmerising balladry of There Wasn’t Enough just some of the many highlights here.

Without question this is one of the finest records of the year so far, with ANOHNI once again hitting heights few other artists can reach. Incredible songwriting, stunning vocal performances and some beautifully cinematic instrumentation - this one is quite special indeed.

Listen here

Angels & Queens by Gabriels

It’s crazy to think that just a couple of weeks ago, myself and a lot of other people weren’t even aware of this Compton-based soul trio. That all changed though when Elton John invited frontman Jacob Lusk to join him for a performance of Are You Ready For Love during his instantly iconic Glastonbury headline set. In that one moment, Elton quickly put the band on everyone’s radar if they weren’t already – a testament to his greatness by being such a champion for new music and artists. Now striking whilst the iron’s hot, Gabriels have delivered their debut album which has quickly become one of the most critically acclaimed records of the year. Does it live up to the praise it’s received so far? Very much so.

With seven of the songs initially released as a shorter project in September last year, listeners early to the party would’ve already gotten insight into Gabriels’ richly textured soul through moments like the orchestral R&B of the title track, the operatic, Succession-theme-esque Taboo and haunting closing track, Mama. However now the full scope of the project has been revealed it is sure to be even more breathtaking to both new and existing fans alike, with goosebump-inducing ballad We Will Remember and the mind-blowing, gospel-soul trio of Love and Hate in a Different Time, Glory and Great Wind some of the standout moments.

Similarly to the ANOHNI and the Johnsons project, this is another colossal work from the past week that is sure to leave you floored. Instantly timeless, expertly crafted and exquisitely-produced, this is another staggering collection of songs that is sure to feature highly on multiple year-end lists come December – at this stage, my own included.

Listen here

The Greater Wings by Julie Byrne

Whilst I always enjoy reading everyone’s “Albums of the Year so far” lists over the summer and using them as a guide to check out some records I might have otherwise missed, there is a reason I don’t do my own and this past week is a prime example. As soon as June finished, three records have come out of nowhere to easily rank amongst the year’s very best. Joining Gabriels and ANOHNI is American singer-songwriter Julie Byrne, whose third album is a devastatingly beautiful meditation on heartache and grief. Summing it up perfectly here’s what friend of the blog Kiley Larsen, who recommended the album to me, has to say:

“Byrne is one of those singer-songwriter talents whose transcendental voice is more than worth the price of admission, and she wisely continues to focus almost exclusively on a minimalist presentation of her vocal beauty. Her past work found her mostly accompanied by fingerpicked acoustic guitar, but The Greater Wings excels at painting the vocal focus while adding celestial synths and well-placed strings. These haunting textures are most apparent on “Summer Glass,” which links the two phases of The Greater Wings, but every song is must-hear. The album rightfully carries a heavy air, but Byrne wonderfully mixes gratitude alongside grief - one has to be in the right mood for The Greater Wings, and many oncoming autumns listens should only solidify Julie Byrne’s latest as a still blossoming career high and one of the year’s best.”

Read Kiley’s full blog here

Listen to The Greater Wings here

I Don’t Know by bdrmm

Another super strong effort that’s been in heavy rotation the past few weeks, British shoegaze outfit and cult favourites bdrmm recently released their brilliantly hypnotic sophomore album - I Don’t Know. The evolution from their debut is immediately apparent, as the raw rock soundscapes carry over from that album but feature noticeably more refined production and are now occasionally filled with some more electronic elements too.

Boasting this more expansive sound, it makes for a spellbinding experience that surpasses even that of their debut, with dreamy opener Alps, the spiralling guitars of We Fall Apart and the blissfully epic, aptly-titled The Final Movement all worth tuning in to hear for yourself.

Listen here

Música del Corazón by Justin Nuñez

Now if country rock music with some welcome Latin-American flair is your thing, then look no further than this sensational debut from New Mexico-based singer-songwriter, Justin Nuñez.

Packing plenty of charm and simply beaming with those warm, timeless Southern state sounds, this is one record you’ll find yourself returning to again and again. From The Black Keys’ style stomp of Forget Our Misery to the Brazil-inspired love song Open Road and heartbreaking acoustic lament of Momma, it’s a strong introduction to Nuñez’s music that boasts plenty of potential for the future.

Listen here

Pink Tape by Lil Uzi Vert

And finally on the albums front this week, whilst it may have been a drab year for hip hop so far, I’m pleased to say that Lil Uzi Vert has delivered one of the more fascinating and experimental hip hop records of 2023 thus far – albeit not for everyone. At 90 minutes and 23 songs + bonus tracks long, it’s definitely a patchy listen but there’s enough intriguing moments here to dip in and discover.

The crossover tracks in particular are some of the highlights as Lil Uzi Vert enlists metal heavyweights Babymetal and Bring Me The Horizon for two blockbuster collaborations, whilst CS sees the rapper deliver his own cover of System of A Down’s Chop Suey no less. Whilst this will be sacrilege to some no doubt, I’m sure some will enjoy this chaotic take – even as parody.

However, the most surprising and most fun highlight is Nakamura, which sees Lil Uzi sample WWE wrestler Shinsuke Nakamura’s awesome entrance theme, transforming it into a huge summer anthem. Weird, wild, wonderful.

Listen here

Also worth checking out: Time Will Wait For No One by Local Natives, Dead Club City by Nothing But Thieves, In The End It Always Does by Japanese House, Slugs of Love by Little Dragon, 3 of Us EP by FLO

Tracks of the Week

Troubled Waters by The Streets

The big comeback this week was that of legendary British MC Mike Skinner, who announced The Streets are finally back and would be releasing a new visual album this October titled The Darker The Shadow, The Brighter The Light. Whilst they did release a mixtape back in 2020, this will excitedly mark The Streets’ first new album since 2011’s Computer and Blues.

This first taster track shows plenty of promise for the new record too, with a captivating electronic beat backdropping Skinner as he turns his attention to society’s accountability and hedonism, with cutting lines like “Outside of the nightclub, I don’t know what to do – inside of the nightclub, it’s too dark to care.” A very welcome return and I already can’t wait to hear more.

Listen here

The Trench Coat Museum by Yard Act

Well, who was expecting this?! A band that built their following and earned themselves a Mercury Prize nomination from crafting short sharp slices of post punk the like of those found on their acclaimed debut The Overload, the Leeds band have taken a sharp left turn with this incredible new single.

At eight minutes long it’s nothing short of epic, channelling their peers in the Working Men’s Club by delivering a single filled with big rock riffs and a psychedelic vortex of synths. I love it and recommend that its best experienced alongside the zany and surreal music video that you can watch below.

Watch the music video here

Vampire by Olivia Rodrigo

Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album SOUR was one of the surprise highlights for me in 2021, a brilliant and concise pop record with a welcome splash of punk energy. Now readying her highly anticipated sophomore effort titled GUTS, vampire is the anthemic first single. With some similarities to her blockbuster hit driver’s licence, it suggests that Olivia will continue her rapid trajectory into superstardom.

Listen here

Hippodrome by Jamie T

Released a couple of weeks back to coincide with his triumphant headline show in London’s Finsbury Park, this is a typically fantastic new single from Jamie T. An instant gem that features all his signature hallmarks, I can see this one being a live favourite for years to come.

Listen here

Time To Run by Tycho

Whilst the summer weather may have disappeared from the UK as quickly as it arrived (sad face), the sun-soaked electronic singles are still arriving and this one from Tycho might be one of the best of the year so far. A cool neon-soaked groove propelled by a big funky bassline, if you’re in the UK it’ll help you pretend the rains and clouds don’t exist – at least for a little while!

Listen here

Now U Do by DJ Seinfeld & Confidence Man

Also serving up one of the songs of the summer, whilst Confidence Man’s recent collaboration with Daniel Avery was a blast this one with DJ Seinfeld is somehow even better. With an absorbing, string-tinged groove and some throwback vocal manipulation, this one will have you joyously dancing around your front room like it’s the early 2000s.

Listen here

Where Are Your Kids Tonight? By CMAT featuring John Grant

Irish singer-songwriter CMAT may have only released her highly acclaimed debut last year, but she has wasted little time delivering the follow-up. Crazymad, For Me is due for release this October and if this latest collaboration with John Grant is anything to go by, it is sure to be another cracker.

Listen here

Pendulum by Spanish Love Songs

Having got into the American rockers off the back of their 2020 album Brave Faces Everyone, Spanish Love Songs’ No Joy is already one of my most highly anticipated records for this coming August. My expectations for their record are only escalating with each new excellent single too, as Pendulum marks the album’s spiritual title track through its anthemic, emo-tinged chorus of “I know what they say when I walk in the light, there’s no joy in my life, there’s no joy when I’m right.”

Listen here

If I Could Turn Back Time by Deaf Havana

And finally this week, I always like to include a fun cover if I can and this is a surprisingly sublime one as rock duo Deaf Havana deliver this amazing cover of Cher’s classic single. Putting their own unique spin on the track with some soaring strings and atmospheric electronics, if it wasn’t such an iconic song, you’d easily mistake it for one of their own.

Listen here

Also worth checking out: Overdrive by Post Malone, The Skin and the Glove by Drab Majesty, A Little Bit Further by Tourist, On Purpose (For My Future Daughter) by Bellah Mae

REMINDER: If you use Apple Music, you can also keep up-to-date with all my favourite 2023 tracks through my Best of 2023 playlist. Constantly updated throughout the year with songs I enjoy, it is then finalised into a Top 100 Songs of the Year in December.

Add the playlist to your library here

[thegirlandthewardrobe]

STUFF YOUR KINDLE DAY IS FRIDAY JUNE 30TH!!! (HUNDREDS OF FREE BOOKS)

There's going to be TONS of free romance books available on Amazon for download! The books can be also be downloaded/sent to Non-Kindle devices as well. The list of available books was released early and can be found here. I also took the time to scroll through some of the categories and compile a brief list of some of the books that I'm looking forward to downloading, in case anyone needs help choosing books😊 I also linked the Goodreads description for each and every book for those of you who want more info or reviews!

P.S. These are all spicy reads (with probably the exception of the YA ones), IYKYK😏

Happy Reading❤️

**=Reverse Harem/Why Choose

Young Adult Romance

Midnight Prince by Aisha Urooj

White by Angelina J. Steffort

Gravebriar by Casey L. Bond

Kingdom of Embers by Trina Copeland

Teaching the Teachers Pet by Sarah Sutton

Crimson Born by Amy Patrick

Her Dark Love by Isra Sravenheart

In the Dust by K.A. Gandy

Fire and Ice by Michelle Barrow-Belisle

Keeper of Dragons: The Prince Returns by J.A. Culican

Fantasy Romance

The Prince of Dragons by Tameri Etherton

Veiled by Michelle Areaux

Dragon Soul by L.J. Swallow

Empath's Lure by Jen Lynning

Wolf Shunned by Laurel Night

To Catch A Fae by Mila Young

Taming the Vines by Anita Primrose

The Gilded Survivor by Daniela A. Mera

Empath: The Tale of Flora and Cale by Meghan Shaltes

The Queen's Wings by Jamie K. Schmidt

Captured by the Fae by Vera Rivers

The Coven of Ruin by T.K. Tucker

The Lost Siren by Raven Storm

Death Wish by Harper A. Brooks

Maiden Flight by Bianca D'Arc

The Borderlands Princess by Ophelia Wells Langley

Blade and Rose by Miranda Honfleur

Princess of Thorns by Amberlyn Holland

The Captive and the Cursed by Alexa Saint

Lord of the Hollow Court by C.K. Beggan

**Queen of the Stars by Catherine Banks

**Captive Beauty by Cassia Briar

Queen of Roses by Brior Boleyn

**Psychotic by Elle Lincoln

Night Elves of Ardani by Nina K. Westra

The Gardener and the Water-horse by Mallory Dunlin

**Our Fae Queen by Traci Lovelot

Sun Serpent by Geneva Monroe

**Torn Apart by D.E. Chapman

Paranormal Romance

Never Say Never by Sarah Spade

**Daughter of the Sun by Laura Greenwood

**The Stalking Dead by Eva Chase

Forbidden Wolf by CR Robertson

**Splintered: Brookview Academy by A.J. Moran

**A Monstrous Claim: Part 1 by R.K. Pierce

Breaking the Lovers' Curse by Lore Nicole

The Dragon's Reluctant Sacrifice by Ines Johnson

**Monsters by Katie May

Night Revelations by Godiva Gleen

**Scarred Wolf by Elizabeth Blackthorne

**Vampire's Kiss by Atlas Rose

**Red by Tracey H. Kitts

**Dark Spirits by N.A. Jameson

Feral by Trish Heinrick

Her Primal Love by Rianne Burnett

**Magic Claimed by Charmaine Ross

**Life's a Witch by Skyler Andra

**Vampires Don't Give Hickeys by Holly Ryan

[midnight-star-world]

#CountryMusic

CMA Fest 2024

So today on the MSR (Midnight Star Review), I would like to talk about the 2024 edition of CMA Fest. This special aired on ABC (Channel 9 where I am at) and originally aired at 8pm EST (Eastern Standard Time) on Tuesday June 25th, 2024. This was also co-hosted by Jelly Roll & Ashley McBryde. Let's see what they play for us on the music event of the Summer.

Set list. Lainey Wilson - Hang tight honey. Lainey Wilson & Terri Clark - Poor, poor pitiful me. Bailey Zimmerman - Where it ends. Megan Moroney - I'm not pretty. Jon Pardi & Clint Black - Killin' time. Little Big Town (LBT) - Girl crush. Thomas Rhett - Beautiful as you. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet home Alabama. Ashley McBryde - The devil I know. Gretchen Wilson with Ashley McBryde - Redneck woman. Jelly Roll with Keith Urban - Halfway to Hell. Jelly Roll with Lainey Wilson - Save me. Cody Johnson - That's Texas. Shaboozey - A bar song (Tipsy). Parker McCollum - Burn it down. Jackson Dean - Fearless (The echo). The War & Treaty - Called you by your name. Kelsea Ballerini - Penthouse (Healed version). Keith Urban - Messed up as me. Keith Urban with Lainey Wilson - Go home w u. Post Malone with Blake Shelton - Pour me a drink. Brothers Osborne - Won't back down (Tom Petty Tribute). Hardy - Six feet under (Caleigh' song). Hardy with Big & Rich - Save a horse. Jordan Davis - Next thing you know. Brittney Spencer - I got time. Luke Bryan - Love you, miss you, mean it. Carly Pearce - Truck on fire. Brothers Osborne - Break mine. Lynyrd Skynyrd with ZZ Top's Billy F. Gibbons - Call me the breeze.

And that's a wrap for what they played for us on this special recap of CMA Fest 2024. Thanks for taking the time to read this review. And on the MSR (Midnight Star Review), I would give this a 3.5 out of 5 stars. They focused some people a lot more then others, and they could have given some more stars a chance to play. See ya all next time.

[totallynotgayforyou]

I posted 18,897 times in 2022

That's 15,401 more posts than 2021!

438 posts created (2%)

18,459 posts reblogged (98%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@stoned-ratpack

@orcboxer

@katekanemybeloved

@ratbastarddotfuck

@rekanochi

I tagged 6,216 of my posts in 2022

#simon ghost riley - 289 posts

#overwatch - 155 posts

#pokemon - 119 posts

#bayonetta 3 - 64 posts

#prev tags - 50 posts

#prev tag - 43 posts

#i would like to hold his hand - 33 posts

#hades - 31 posts

#god of war ragnarok - 31 posts

#john soap mactavish - 30 posts

Longest Tag: 133 characters

#there’s a very real reason they’re displayed as maniacal masterminds and that is to cover up the fact that the police are incompetent

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

See the full post

215 notes - Posted December 3, 2022

#4

Its so funny how the British media is theorising that boris Johnson could come back like its a fucking doctor who regeneration, like Ooh maybe jodie could turn into david Tennant again!

283 notes - Posted October 22, 2022

#3

Saw this on tiktok and thought the tumblr ghost girls might like this

345 notes - Posted November 22, 2022

#2

Okay was no one gonna tell me there were gays in destiny? And they're the games most popular characters? That it's a beautiful tragic love story where they save each other time and time again and there's almost kisses and hand holding and never quite having the time to express their love for each other even though they so obviously do?

400 notes - Posted June 20, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

This man is married with 3 kids, hooks up with you on the DL and calls you a slur in public

While this man treats you good, cuddles you afterwards and makes you breakfast in bed

425 notes - Posted May 11, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[swanlake1998]

Article: Five Pioneering Black Ballerinas: ‘We Have to Have a Voice’

Date: June 17, 2021

By: Karen Valby

These early Dance Theater of Harlem stars met weekly on Zoom — to survive the isolation of the pandemic and to reclaim their role in dance history.

Last May, adrift in a suddenly untethered world, five former ballerinas came together to form the 152nd Street Black Ballet Legacy. Every Tuesday afternoon, they logged onto Zoom from around the country to remember their time together performing with Dance Theater of Harlem, feeling that magical turn in early audiences from skepticism to awe.

Life as a pioneer, life in a pandemic: They have been friends for over half a century, and have held each other up through far harder times than this last disorienting year. When people reached for all manners of comfort, something to give purpose or a shape to the days, these five women turned to their shared past.

In their cozy, rambling weekly Zoom meetings, punctuated by peals of laughter and occasional tears, they revisited the fabulousness of their former lives. With the background of George Floyd’s murder and a pandemic disproportionately affecting the Black community, the women set their sights on tackling another injustice. They wanted to reinscribe the struggles and feats of those early years at Dance Theater of Harlem into a cultural narrative that seems so often to cast Black excellence aside.

“There’s been so much of African American history that’s been denied or pushed to the back,” said Karlya Shelton-Benjamin, 64, who first brought the idea of a legacy council to the other women. “We have to have a voice.”

They knew as young ballet students that they’d never be chosen for roles like Clara in “The Nutcracker” or Odette/Odile in “Swan Lake.” They were told by their teachers to switch to modern dance or to aim for the Alvin Ailey company if they wanted to dance professionally, regardless of whether they felt most alive en pointe.

Arthur Mitchell was like a lighthouse to the women. Mitchell, the first Black principal dancer at the New York City Ballet and a protégé of the choreographer George Balanchine, had a mission: to create a home for Black dancers to achieve heights of excellence unencumbered by ignorance or tradition. Ignited by the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he founded Dance Theater of Harlem in 1969 with Karel Shook.

Lydia Abarca-Mitchell, Gayle McKinney-Griffith and Sheila Rohan were founding dancers of his new company with McKinney-Griffith, 71, soon taking on the role of its first ballet mistress. Within the decade, Shelton-Benjamin and Marcia Sells joined as first generation dancers.

Abarca-Mitchell, 70, spent her childhood in joyless ballet classes but never saw an actual performance until she was 17 at the invitation of Mitchell, her new teacher. “I’ll never forget what Arthur did onstage” she said of his Puck in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at New York City Ballet during a Tuesday session in January. “He made the ballet so natural. Suddenly it wasn’t just this ethereal thing anymore. I felt it in my bones.”

Marcia Sells, 61, remembered being 9 and watching with mouth agape when Abarca-Mitchell, McKinney-Griffith and Rohan performed with Dance Theater in her hometown, Cincinnati. “There in front of me were Black ballerinas,” Sells said during a video call in April. “That moment was the difference in my life. Otherwise I don’t think it would’ve been possible for me to think of a career in ballet.”

Shelton-Benjamin left her Denver ballet company, where she was the only Black dancer, turning down invitations from the Joffrey Ballet and American Ballet Theater, after reading a story about Dance Theater of Harlem in Dance magazine. Abarca-Mitchell was on that issue’s cover — the first Black woman to have that honor. At her Harlem audition, Shelton-Benjamin witnessed company members hand-dying their shoes and ribbons and tights to match the hues of their skin. Here, no traditional ballet pink would interrupt the beauty of their lines. “I had never seen a Black ballerina before, let alone a whole company,” Shelton-Benjamin, 64, said during a February Zoom meeting. “All I could think was, ‘Where have you guys been?’”

Finding one another back then, at the height of the civil rights movement, allowed them to have careers while challenging a ballet culture that had been claimed by white people. “We were suddenly ambassadors,” Abarca-Mitchell said. “And we were all in it together.”

They traveled to American cities that presented such a hostile environment that Mitchell would cancel the performance the night of, lest his company feel disrespected. But they also danced for kings and queens and presidents. In 1979, a review in The Washington Post declared their dancing to be a “purer realization of the Balanchinean ideal than anyone else’s.” Their adventures offstage were similarly electric, like the night in Manchester when Mick Jagger invited them out on the town. “We walked into the club with him and everybody just moved out of the way,” Shelton-Benjamin said.

Cultural memory can be spurious and shortsighted. Abarca-Mitchell was the first Black prima ballerina for a major company, performing works like Balanchine’s “Agon” and “Bugaku” and William Dollar’s “Le Combat” to raves. In an April Zoom session she said she first realized how left out of history she was when her daughter went online to prove to a friend that her mother was the first Black prima ballerina. But all she found was the name Misty Copeland, hailed as the first. “And my daughter was so mad. She said: ‘Where’s your name? Where’s your name?’ It was a wake-up call.”

While Abarca-Mitchell paused to wipe her eyes, Shelton-Banjamin stepped in: “I want to echo what Lydia said. There was a point where I asked the women, ‘Did it all really happen? Was I really a principal dancer?’ And Lydia told me: ‘Don’t do that! Yes, you were. We’re here to tell you, you were.”

Sells went on to a career that included serving as the dean of Harvard Law School, until she left this year to become the Metropolitan Opera’s first chief diversity officer. Shelton-Benjamin is now a jeweler who recently became certified in diamond grading. She, along with Abarca-Mitchell, McKinney-Griffith and Rohan, continue to coach and teach dance. They all have families, including another grandchild on the way for McKinney-Griffith, who announced the happy news to whoops on a recent call.

But they are done swallowing a mythology of firstness that excludes them, along with fellow pioneers like Katherine Dunham, Debra Austin, Raven Wilkinson, Lauren Anderson and Aesha Ash. It’s true that Misty Copeland is American Ballet Theater’s first Black female principal. It is also true that she stands on the shoulders of the founding and first generation dancers at Dance Theater. A narrative that suggests otherwise, Sells said, “Simply makes ballet history weak and small.”

Worse, it perpetuates the belief that Blackness in ballet is a one-off rather than a continuing fact. And it suggests a lonely existence for dancers like Copeland, a world absent of peers. “We could’ve been Misty’s aunties,” Abarca-Mitchell said. “I wish she was part of our sisterhood, that’s all.”

Dance Theater saved them from being the only one in a room. The work was so hard, the expectations so high, the mission so urgent, that those early days demanded a familial support system among the dancers. “Someone would take you under their wing and say, ‘You’re my daughter or sister or brother,’” McKinney-Griffith said. “The men did it also. Karlya was my little sister, and we kept that through the years.”

Like in any family, the relationships are complicated. The women speak of feeling shut out of today’s Dance Theater of Harlem. They are rarely brought in for workshops or consultations on the ballets they were taught by Mitchell. At his memorial service in 2018, they wept in the pews unacknowledged. “We’re like orphans,” Rohan said with a laugh in a Zoom session. “If the outside world neglects us, it seems all the more reason that Dance Theater of Harlem should embrace us.”

Virginia Johnson, a fellow founding member, is now the company’s artistic director. She assumed the helm in 2013 when Dance Theater returned after an eight-year hiatus caused by financial instability. “It makes me sad to think that they feel excluded,” Johnson said in a phone interview. “And it’s not because I don’t want them. It’s just because I can’t manage. I’ve probably missed some chances but it’s not like I haven’t thought about the value of what they bring to the company. They are the bodies, the soul, the spirit of Dance Theater of Harlem.”

“We all think about and love and respect what Arthur Mitchell did,” she added, “but these are the people he worked with to make this company.”

By the end of May, the five members of the 152nd Street Black Ballet Legacy were fully vaccinated. They traveled from Denver, Atlanta, Connecticut, South Jersey and, in Sells’s case, five blocks north of Dance Theater of Harlem for a joyful reunion. So much is different now at the building on 152nd Street. The old fire escape in Studio 3 where they’d catch their breath or wipe tears of frustration is gone. So are the big industrial fans in the corners of the room, replaced by central air conditioning. But they can still feel their leader all around them in the room. Crying, Abarca-Mitchell told McKinney-Griffith, “I miss Arthur.” (Though they all laugh when imagining his response to their legacy council. “I do believe he would try to control us,” Rohan said. “’What are you doing now? Why are you doing that? Let me suggest that. …’”)

The body remembers. In Studio 3, all Shelton-Benjamin had to do was hum a few notes of Balanchine’s “Serenade” and say “and” for the women to grandly sweep their right arms up. “These women help validate my worth,” Abarca-Mitchell said afterward. “I don’t want to take it for granted that people should recognize Lydia Abarca. But when I’m with them I feel like I felt back then. Important.”

Even as the world reopens and they grow busy again, they’ll carry on with their Tuesday afternoons. They want to amplify more alumni voices. They dream of launching a scholarship program for young dancers of color. This fall, they’ll host a webinar in honor of the director and choreographer Billy Wilson, whose daughter Alexis was also part of Dance Theater.

“What we have is a spiritual connection,” said Rohan, who turns 80 this year. She was 27 when she joined the company, already married and hiding from Mitchell that she was a mother of three young children for fear it get her kicked out. When she eventually confessed a year later, he got mad, insisting he would have increased her salary if he’d known she had mouths to feed.

“Arthur planted a seed in me, and all these beautiful women helped it grow,” she said. “Coming from Staten Island, I was just a country girl from the projects. My first time on a plane was to go to Europe to dance on those stages. I thanked God every day for the experience. This year, coming together again, I remembered how much it all meant to me. I didn’t have to be a star ballerina. It was enough that I was there. I was there. I was there.”

[sophia-sol]

Books read in 2021

It's time for my yearly roundup of books I read over the last year! This time with links to my tumblr posts with my reviews for each book, aww yeah!

Under a cut for length, because a) I read a lot of books and then b) I talk about them a bunch.

January **** Boyfriend Material, by Alexis Hall **** Mirage, by Somaiya Daud **** Stories of Your Life and Others, by Ted Chiang **** Strong Poison, by Dorothy L Sayers February ***** Winter's Orbit, by Everina Maxwell ***** I Overcame My Autism and All I Got Was This Lousy Anxiety Disorder, by Sarah Kurchak - nf *** Court of Lions, by Somaiya Daud *** Rent a Boyfriend, by Gloria Chao ***** Elatsoe, by Darcie Little Badger March *** That Can Be Arranged: A Muslim Love Story, by Huda Fahmy - nf **** Paladin's Strength, by T Kingfisher ***** An Anthology of Russian Folk Epics, Translated with an Introduction and Commentary by James Bailey and Tatyana Ivanova - nf **** Measuring Up, by Lily LaMotte, illustrated by Ann Xu ** The Forgotten Sisters, by Shannon Hale **** Moon of the Crusted Snow, by Waubgeshig Rice **** Two Roads, by Joseph Bruchac April **** The Devil Comes Courting, by Courtney Milan *** Ring Shout, by P. Djèlí Clark *** Exhalation, by Ted Chiang May *** Act Your Age, Eve Brown, by Talia Hibbert *** The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System, by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu *** Cemetery Boys, by Aiden Thomas *** First Comes Like, by Alisha Rai **** Warrior Scarlet, by Rosemary Sutcliff **** Drowned Country, by Emily Tesh June **** Jackalope Wives and Other Stories, by T. Kingfisher *** Falling in Love with Hominids, by Nalo Hopkinson *** Sarah, Plain and Tall, by Patricia MacLachlan *** Skylark, by Patricia MacLachlan **** The Two Princesses of Bamarre, by Gail Carson Levine ***** Catherine's War, by Julia Billet **** Black Sun, by Rebecca Roanhorse *** Raybearer, by Jordan Ifueko *** Legendborn, by Tracy Deonn **** The Empress of Salt and Fortune, by Nghi Vo ***** When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain, by Nghi Vo ** Come Tumbling Down, by Seanan McGuire **** Finna, by Nino Cipri ** Upright Women Wanted, by Sarah Gailey *** A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler, by Lynell George - nf **** The Barren Grounds, by David A Robertson **** Fugitive Telemetry, by Martha Wells ***** Beowulf: A New Translation, by Maria Dahvana Headley July **** Liquid Intelligence: The Art and Science of the Perfect Cocktail, by Dave Arnold - nf **** The Vanished Birds, by Simon Jimenez ***** Black Water Sister, by Zen Cho **** The Space Between Worlds, by Micaiah Johnson *** Accidentally Engaged, by Farah Heron **** The Bombay Prince, by Sujata Massey **** The Witness for the Dead, by Katherine Addison *** The Relentless Moon, by Mary Robinette Kowal August *** Silk and Steel: A Queer Speculative Adventure Anthology, edited by Janine A. Southard *** Islamicates Volume I, edited by Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad ** A Mosque Among the Stars, edited by Ahmed A. Khan and Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad *** A Treasure of One's Own, by Lydia San Andres *** A Deadly Education, by Naomi Novik ***** Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik *** The Girl from the Sea, by Molly Knox Ostertag September *** The Chosen and the Beautiful, by Nghi Vo *** The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison ***** The Raven Tower, by Ann Leckie **** My Remarkable Journey: A Memoir, by Katherine Johnson - nf **** Fence, vol. 1-4, by C.S. Pacat, art by Johanna the Mad **** While We Were Dating, by Jasmine Guillory October ***** She Who Became the Sun, by Shelley Parker-Chan *** A Master of Djinn, by P Djeli Clark *** The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, by Becky Chambers *** Working on a Song: The Lyrics of Hadestown, by Anaïs Mitchell - nf *** Paladin's Hope, by T. Kingfisher ***** Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer - nf *** Care Of, by Ivan Coyote - nf **** Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier **** An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, by Chris Hadfield - nf ***** My Cousin Rachel, by Daphne du Maurier November *** Redemptor, by Jordan Ifueko *** Bayou Magic, by Jewell Parker Rhodes *** Superior: The Return of Race Science, by Angela Saini - nf **** Witches of Brooklyn, by Sophie Escabasse **** How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America, by Clint Smith - nf *** The Last Graduate, by Naomi Novik **** Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad, by MT Anderson - nf *** Carmilla, by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu *** The Fire Never Goes Out, by Noelle Stevenson - nf **** Be Prepared, by Vera Brosgol ***** They Called Us Enemy, by George Takei - nf ***** Snapdragon, by Kat Leyh *** Heartstopper volume 1, by Alice Oseman *** Witches of Brooklyn: What the Hex?!, by Sophie Escabasse ***** The Magic Fish, by Trung Le Nguyen *** Operatic, by Kyo Maclear *** How Mirka Got Her Sword, by Barry Deutsch ** Jane, the Fox and Me, by Fanny Britt & Isabelle Arsenault December *** The Kingdom of Gods, by NK Jemisin **** The Awakened Kingdom, by NK Jemisin *** The Jumbies, by Tracey Baptiste ** The Dating Playbook, by Farrah Rochon **** Light from Uncommon Stars, by Ryka Aoki **** Heartstopper volume 2, by Alice Oseman *** The Prince and the Dressmaker, by Jen Wang This year I read 102 books! (As a result I'm not going to bother including percentages for any of these stats, as the straight numbers will be pretty close to the percentage of total.) Of the books I read, only 7 were rereads, which is super low when compared to past years; not sure what all factors played into that. Fantasy: 51 Graphic novels: 21 Kidlit: 20 Historical fiction: 14 Nonfiction: 13 Romance: 13 YA: 13 Science Fiction: 11 Old books: 4 Short Stories: 7 Memoir: 5 Famous/Classic: 4 Translated: 3 Mystery: 3 Literary Fiction: 2 Gothic: 2 Folk/fairy tale collection: 1 Poetry: 1 Books with male authors: 20 Books with female authors: 73 Books with nonbinary authors: 12 Books with authors of colour: 52 5-star books: 16 4-star books: 38 3-star books: 42 2-star books: 6 1-star books: 0 Books continue to be an important source of good in my life. I love reading books, I love figuring out what I think about a book and how to express it clearly in my reviews, and I love talking about the books I read with other people who have opinions on them - whether in the comments of one of my book posts, in the comments of their book posts, in person, in twitter DMs, in chat....it's great. I've also been working on feeling like it's okay for me to not write/post a review of a book when I don't actually want to though, for whatever reason, and I feel like this year I was successful at not pressuring myself to! (however: if you want to talk with me about any of the books I listed without a review linked, please feel free to, talking to people is different :)) The kinds of books I read in any given year are highly influenced by what sorts of kicks I end up on. Last year I read a whole bunch of poetry, for example, because I started reading Robert Service and couldn't stop. This year my graphic novel count is the highest it's ever been because I went through the the list of all graphic novel ebooks my library had to offer. Both last year and this year I've done my best to read my way through all the Hugo nominees in all the categories I can, which introduces books into my life that I might not otherwise have thought to give a try to, and which sometimes result in exciting finds and sometimes result in me going "ugh WHY THIS." I've been making good use of my library's curbside pickup this year instead of just relying on their ebooks like I did last year, which opened up more books to my availability even in a time when covid means wandering through the library on a regular basis isn't as safe as it used to be. I started tagging all my book thoughts posts this year with my star rating of them (...at least on dreamwidth, where tags work differently), which I think is a net benefit to my overall tagging/info-conveyance system. It makes it really easy to discover, for example, how MANY of the books I read are ones that I really do like. A good sign that I'm curating my own reading well. And I read so many good books this year! I say this every year but it's really true! There are so many amazing books in the world and I put LOTS of them in front of my face. What's my favourite of them??? How to even narrow it down! She Who Became the Sun absolutely blew me away, When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain felt like it was written just for meeeeee, Elatsoe was a delight, An Anthology of Russian Folk Epics was fascinating, Beowulf: A New Translation was endless fun, Spinning Silver continues to be brilliant, The Magic Fish did a perfect job of marrying form and theme to enhance an already amazing story, My Cousin Rachel sent me basically feral for a week straight.....BOOKS!!! I successfully managed to not read any one-star books this year, go me. I think my least favourite would be either Upright Women Wanted or Come Tumbling Down, though it's possible that feeling like the Hugos made me read those ones made my feelings of dislike for them more intense than for the books I personally inflicted upon me. At any rate although both books emphatically did not work for me, they clearly have elements that speak to other readers, and honestly it's nice when my least favourite books of a given year aren't just irredeemable dreck.

[tcm]

Mickey Rooney’s Best Performance By Jessica Pickens

Mickey Rooney’s home studio wanted him to serve his country during World War II … but not in the way that you think. During World War II, Hollywood film studios helped express patriotic ideas through film. This could be through a film on soldiers experiencing military life, depicting Americana or Americans on the World War II homefront making sacrifices for those overseas.

As Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s top box-office draw, Rooney was cast in homespun comedies and musicals with wholesome values. Since 1937, Rooney starred in the Andy Hardy film series, where he played a teenager that figured out life, love and turned to his judge father for a “man-to-man talk” when he needed help. In total, there were 15 Andy Hardy films from 1937 to 1946 (and one later in 1958 with Andy Hardy as an adult) and they were hugely successful for the studio.

MGM felt that Rooney’s films, like Andy Hardy, personified American ideals and what servicemen and women were fighting for overseas. At least … that’s what MGM told the draft board.

With the war raging overseas, it was a real possibility that Rooney would be drafted, especially when other MGM contract players enlisted or were drafted. But studio heads wanted to keep Rooney out of the war and in front of film cameras, according to his biographers Richard A. Lertzman and William J. Birnes.

In 1942, Eddie Mannix, MGM executive and “fix it” man, sent formal documents to the local draft board to get Rooney an occupational deferment. Mannix cited the Andy Hardy films and their patriotism and that Rooney would soon begin production on another film important to the American homefront, THE HUMAN COMEDY (’43). Lertzman and Birnes noted that Mannix also stated the main reason MGM didn’t want Rooney in the military: the studio would lose millions.

The appeal was denied, but Rooney received an extension; allowing him to make THE HUMAN COMEDY. Based on a story by William Saroyan and directed by Clarence Brown, THE HUMAN COMEDY is a quiet story that follows an American family, the Macauley’s, during a year of adjustments in the small town of Ithaca. The film is narrated by Mr. Macauley, played by Ray Collins, who died two years prior. The eldest son Marcus (Van Johnson) is drafted. To help support the family, teenaged Homer (Rooney) gets an evening job in the local telegraph office. Homer’s family is rounded out by Ma (Fay Bainter), his sister Bess (Donna Reed) and his five-year-old brother Ulysses (Jackie “Butch” Jenkins).

As Homer gets more comfortable in his job, he matures and feels like everyone around him is changing — when it’s really just that he is growing up. As a telegraph delivery boy, he takes difficult messages to mothers who have lost their sons, and he has the responsibility of looking after alcoholic telegraph operator Willie Grogan, played by Frank Morgan. Everyone around Homer also changes and adapts. Bess and her friend Mary allow three soldiers on furlough to join them at the movies; knowing that soon they will see action on the battlefield. Homer’s boss Tom Spangler and socialite Diana Steed marry — bridging a social class gap and realizing that they are more similar than they think. Even Ulysses starts to learn more about life around him, like what it means to be afraid.

While the entire cast of notables play their roles superbly, Mickey Rooney is the standout performance in THE HUMAN COMEDY, and earned an Academy Award nomination for the role. In many of his other films, Rooney’s characters were variations of his Andy Hardy character. It didn’t matter if Rooney was portraying Huckleberry Finn or putting on a musical show with Judy Garland, shades of Hardy shine through.

But in THE HUMAN COMEDY, he plays the role in a restrained and mature manner. He’s emotional but doesn’t overact. It’s one of Rooney’s best performances. Perhaps because of a warning director Clarence Brown gave him: “The first time you shed an unnecessary tear or start any of the mugging you’re famous for, I’m going to halt everything, walk right out in the middle of the set, and give you a swift kick in the pants.”

Despite the early admonishing, Brown later said that Rooney was one of the greatest film talents and “could do no wrong in his book,” according to Brown’s biographer Gwenda Young. In one scene, Rooney had to emotionally read a telegram and react to the bad news. Brown was amazed that with each take, Rooney would “read it as though he’d seen it for the first time.” Brown and Rooney both later said that THE HUMAN COMEDY was one of the best films they made.

The film also features new talent such as Van Johnson, Donna Reed, Don DeFore, Barry Nelson and Robert Mitchum in his first film role.

Released in March 1943, the film garnered mixed reviews from critics, but ultimately was a success. Critics like Bosley Crowther of the New York Times said it was charming and had “moments of extraordinary beauty” but was also filled with “maudlin gobs of cinematic goo” when it came to some of the sermon-like dialogue. Critics overseas, who were closer to the battlefield, struggled with the message of “all men are angels,” according to Young.

As Rooney was filming THE HUMAN COMEDY, Mannix continued to submit appeals to the draft board from August 1942 to February 1943. Studio physician Dr. Edward Jones even stated that Rooney had a heart flutter, classifying him as 4F — unfit for duty, according to Lertzman and Birnes. Eventually, Rooney was able to serve his country more than in his film roles. Rooney was reclassified as 1A and he was enlisted in the Army in June 1944. Rooney later said he was proud of his service and continued to support veterans and attend World War II veteran ceremonies, including leading the Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C. in 2008.

[2wivesbooks]

2021 is shaping up to be a great year for WLW

Release Radar for 2021:

February 23 – A Dark and Hollow Star – by Ashley Shuttleworth - YA urban fantasy. “Set in the magical underworld of Toronto, follows a queer cast of characters racing to stop a serial killer whose crimes could expose the hidden world of faeries to humans” Series starter. For people who thought The Cruel Prince should have been gayer.

February 23 – Honey Girl – by Morgan Rogers – Adult Contemporary “Grace is not the kind of person who goes to Vegas and gets drunkenly married to a woman whose name she doesn’t know…until she does exactly that.”

March 2 - I Think I Love You – by Auriane Desombre – YA Rom Com. A diehard romantic and a jaded pragmatist work together on an entry for a film competition.  Sweet and lighthearted enemies to lovers.

March 9 – Sweet and Bitter Magic – by Adrienne Tooley. YA Fantasy. “a witch cursed to never love meets a girl hiding her own dangerous magic, and the two strike a dangerous bargain to save their queendom.” Sounds dangerous.

March 30 – She’s Too Pretty To Burn – by Wendy Heard– YA Contemporary Thriller. Billed as a sexy, sapphic, psychological thriller inspired by The Picture of Dorian Grey, set in San Diego’s underground art scene.

April 13 – Malice - by Heather Walter – YA Fantasy/Fairytale retelling – “A princess isn’t supposed to fall for an evil sorceress. But in this darkly magical retelling of “Sleeping Beauty,” true love is more than a simple fairy tale.”

April 20 – She Drives Me Crazy – by Kelly Quindlen - YA Highschool Rom Com. Enemies to lovers. Fake Dating. Jock/Cheerleader.

April 20 – These Feathered Flames – By Alexandra Overy – YA Fantasy Retelling of The Fire Bird. Twin princesses who were raised for very different roles must work together to discover who killed their mother. (Pretty sure the romance isn’t between the sisters.) This is just a guess, but I’m getting “#giveelsaagirlfriend” vibes?

May 11 – Cool for the Summer – by Dahlia Adler – YA coming of age high school romance. Bi love triangle. Lara has finally hooked the boy she’s been crushing on for years, when the girl she had a summer fling with transfers to her school.

May 25 - How to Find a Princess – by Alyssa Cole. Adult Contemporary Romance. Anastasia vibes. A long-lost princess and the detective tasked with finding her. Alyssa Cole is an award-winning author of romance with a focus on black leads. This will be her second WLW story. It’s a capital R romance, so a happy ending is pretty much guaranteed.

June 1 – One Last Stop – Casey McQuiston- Adult High Concept Rom Com. Time travel. “A 23-year-old realizes her subway crush is displaced from 1970's Brooklyn” By the author of Red, White, and Royal Blue.

June 1 - The Chosen and the Beautiful – by Nghi Vo – Adult Historical Fantasy - For anyone who hadn’t heard, The Great Gatsby entered the public domain this year, and here’s your first sapphic re-imagining. Jordan Baker is a bi/pan, Vietnamese magic user now. ((Finger guns))

June 10 – The Jasmine Throne – by Tasha Suri - Adult Epic Fantasy “inspired by the history and epics of India”. Enemies to lovers. Revenge plot. Morally gray. Start of a trilogy.

June 29 – Gearbreakers – by Zoe Hana Mikuta – YA Scifi. Mechs. An evil empire that uses mechs and the rebels who fall in love while taking them down from the inside. Enemies to lovers. Found family. Early reports speak of ~Piiiiining~.

July 6 – Rise to the Sun – by Leah Johnson - YA Contemporary. “Three days. Two girls. One life-changing music festival.” From the author of You Should See Me in a Crown.

July 15 – This Poison Heart – by Kalynn Bayron - YA Urban Fantasy. Loosely inspired by The Secret Garden. Girl with the power to make plants grow inherits estate in upstate NY but runs afoul of a witch. Series starter.

July 20 - She Who Became the Sun – By Shelley Parker-Chan – Adult Epic Fantasy inspired by the founding of the Ming Dynasty. A girl who has passed herself off as her twin brother to enter a monastery learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to change her destiny. The publisher is calling it Mulan meets The Song of Achilles. Early reviews are calling it tragic, complex, realistic, and beautifully written, filled with delightful characters in a fantastic setting. Series starter.

What are you excited to read?

[ceeceerae]

Mary William Ethelbert Appleton "Billie" Burke (August 7, 1884 – May 14, 1970) was an American actress, famous on Broadway and in early silent film and subsequently in sound film, best known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the movie musical The Wizard of Oz. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1938 for her performance as Emily Kilbourne in Merrily We Live and is also remembered for her appearances in the Topper series. Billie Burke was the wife of Broadway producer Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr., of Ziegfeld Follies fame, from 1914 until his death in 1932. Her voice was unique in intonation, which she accentuated in her later character roles as dim-witted, spoiled society types.

Billie Burke was born Mary Burke, the daughter of William "Billy" Burke and Blanche (née Beatty 1844–1921), in Washington, D.C. She toured the United States and Europe with her father, who was a singer and clown and worked for the Barnum & Bailey Circus. Her family ultimately settled in London where she attended plays in the West End. In 1903, she began acting on stage, making her debut in London in The School Girl. Other London shows included The Duchess of Dantzic (1903) and The Blue Moon(1904). She eventually returned to America to star in Broadway musical comedies.

Early life

Career

Burke went on to play leads on Broadway in Mrs. Dot, Suzanne,The Runaway, The "Mind-the-Paint" Girl, and The Land of Promise from 1910 to 1913, along with a supporting role in the revival of Sir Arthur Wing Pinero's The Amazons. There she caught the eye of producer Florenz Ziegfeld, marrying him in 1914. Two years later they had a daughter, Patricia Ziegfeld Stephenson (1916–2008).

Billie Burke in the Broadway production of Arthur Wing Pinero's The "Mind the Paint" Girl (1912).

The actress's beauty and taste made her a major trendsetter throughout the 1910s and 20s. Much of her wardrobe, on screen and off, at this time was provided by the leading European couturier Lucile (in private life Lady Duff Gordon), whose New York branch was then the fashion mecca for socialites and entertainment celebrities.

Burke was signed for the movies, making her cinematic debut in the title role of Peggy (1915). Her success was phenomenal, and she was soon earning what was reputedly the highest salary granted a motion picture actress up to that time. She followed her first feature with the 15-part serial Gloria's Romance (1916), another popular and critically acclaimed vehicle. By 1917 Billie Burke was a favorite with silent movie fans, rivaling Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish,Clara Kimball Young and Irene Castle. Billie Burke starred primarily in provocative society dramas and comedies, similar in theme to The "Mind-the-Paint" Girl, her most successful American play. The star's girlish charm rivaled her acting ability, and as she dressed to the hilt in fashionable gowns, furs and jewelry, her clothes sense also won the devotion of female audiences. Among the films in which she appeared during this period were Arms and the Girl(1917), The Mysterious Miss Terry,Let's Get a Divorce (1918), Good Gracious, Annabelle (1919), Away Goes Prudence (1920) and The Frisky Mrs. Johnson (1920).

In 1933, Burke was cast as Millicent Jordan, a scatterbrained high-society woman hosting a dinner party in the comedy Dinner at Eight, directed by George Cukor, co-starring with Lionel Barrymore, Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Jean Harlow and Wallace Beery. The movie was a great success, and revived her career. She subsequently starred in many comedies and musicals, typecast as a ditzy, fluffy and feather-brained upper-class matron with her high-pitched voice.

In 1936, MGM filmed a sanitized biopic of Florenz Ziegfeld (The Great Ziegfeld), a film that won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actress (Luise Rainer as Ziegfeld's common-law wife, Anna Held). William Powell played Flo Ziegfeld and Myrna Loy played Burke, which infuriated Burke because she was under contract to the studio and could have played herself, but MGM considered her too old to cast in the part despite her obviously having the look and mannerisms down perfectly otherwise.

Despite her success in film, Billie Burke eventually returned to the stage, appearing in Caesar's Wife (1919), The Intimate Strangers (1921), The Marquise (1927) and The Happy Husband (1928). But when the family's savings were wiped out in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, she took up screen acting again to aid her husband.

In 1937 Burke appeared in the first of the Topper films, about a man haunted by two socialite ghosts (played by Cary Grant and Constance Bennett), in which she played the twittering and daffy Clara Topper. Her performance as Emily Kilbourne in Merrily We Live (1938) resulted in her only Oscar nomination. In 1938 she was chosen to play Glinda the Good Witch of the North, in the musical The Wizard of Oz (1939), directed by Victor Fleming, with Judy Garland. She had worked on a Garland film, Everybody Sing, in which she played Judy's histrionically hysterical actress-mother. Another successful film series followed withFather of the Bride (1950) and Father's Little Dividend (1951), both directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, and Elizabeth Taylor.

Burke wrote two autobiographies, both with Cameron Van Shippe, With a Feather on My Nose (Appleton 1949) and With Powder on My Nose (Coward McCann, 1959).

Radio and television

In 1932, Burke made her Hollywood comeback, starring as Margaret Fairfield in A Bill of Divorcement, directed by George Cukor. (She played Katharine Hepburn's mother in the film, which was Hepburn's debut). Despite the death of Florenz Ziegfeld during the film's production, she resumed filming shortly after his funeral.

Burke joined the cast ofEddie Cantor's radio show in 1948

On CBS Radio, The Billie Burke Show was heard on Saturday mornings from April 3, 1943 until September 21, 1946. Sponsored by Listerine, this situation comedy was initially titled Fashions in Rations during its first year. Portraying herself as a featherbrained Good Samaritan who lived "in the little white house on Sunnyview Lane," she always offered a helping hand to those in her neighborhood. She worked often in early television, appearing in the short-lived sitcom Doc Corkle (1952). She was a guest star on several TV and radio series, including Duffy's Tavern.

On television, Burke starred in her own talk show, At Home With Billie Burke, which ran on the DuMont Television Network from June 1951 through the spring of 1952. She was one of the first female talk show hosts, after the hostesses of the earlier DuMont series And Everything Nice (1949–50) and Fashions on Parade (1948–49) which both included some talk show segments.

Burke tried to make a comeback on the New York stage. She starred in two short-lived productions: This Rock and Mrs. January and Mr. X. Although she got good reviews, the plays did not. She appeared in several plays in California as well, although her mind became clouded, and she had trouble remembering lines. In the late 1950s, her failing memory led to her retirement from show business, although her explanation for that was, "Acting just wasn't any fun anymore."

Burke's last screen appearance was in Sergeant Rutledge (1960), a Western directed by John Ford.

Source - Wikipedia

@ceeceerae

[newstfionline]

Sunday, June 13, 2021

Rash of mass shootings stirs US fears heading into summer (AP) Two people were killed and at least 30 others wounded in mass shootings overnight in three states, authorities said Saturday, stoking concerns that a spike in U.S. gun violence could continue into summer as coronavirus restrictions ease and more people are free to socialize. The attacks took place late Friday or early Saturday in the Texas capital of Austin, Chicago and Savannah, Georgia. In Austin, authorities said they arrested one of two male suspects and were searching for the other after a shooting early Saturday on a crowded pedestrian-only street packed with bars and restaurants. Fourteen people were wounded, including two critically, in the gunfire, which the city’s interim police chief said is believed to have started as a dispute between two parties. In Chicago, a woman was killed and nine other people were wounded when two men opened fire on a group standing on a sidewalk in the Chatham neighborhood on the city’s South Side. In the south Georgia city of Savannah, police said one man was killed and seven other people were wounded in a mass shooting Friday evening.

Summer camps return but with fewer campers and counselors (AP) Overnight summer camps will be allowed in all 50 states this season, but COVID-19 rules and a pandemic labor crunch mean that many fewer young campers will attend, and those who do will have to observe coronavirus precautions for the second consecutive year. “Camp might look a little different, but camp is going to look a lot better in 2021 than it did in 2020, when it didn’t happen,” said Matt Norman of Atlanta, who is getting ready to send his 12-year-old daughter to camp. Even though most camps will be open, reduced capacity necessitated by COVID-19 restrictions and the labor shortage will keep numbers well below a normal threshold of about 26 million summer campers, said Tom Rosenberg of the American Camp Association.

Mexico says COVID-19 has affected a fourth of its population (Reuters) About a quarter of Mexico’s 126 million people are estimated to have been infected with the coronavirus, the health ministry said on Friday, far more than the country’s confirmed infections. The 2020 National Health and Nutrition Survey (Ensanut) showed that about 31.1 million people have had the virus, the ministry said in a statement, citing Tonatiuh Barrientos, an official at the National Institute of Public Health. According to Barrientos, not all of the people in the survey’s estimate necessarily showed symptoms. The survey was based on interviews with people at 13,910 households between Aug. 17 and Nov. 14 last year, and confirmed preliminary results released in December.

Peru on edge as electoral board reviews result of disputed presidential election (Guardian) Peru was on a knife-edge on Friday as its electoral board reviewed ballots cast in the presidential election, after a challenge to the tally by the losing candidate Keiko Fujimori. The final tally gave the leftist teacher Pedro Castillo a razor-thin 50.17% to 49.83% advantage over his rightwing rival Fujimori, which amounts to about 60,000 votes. However, the country’s electoral authority has yet to confirm the win, and Fujimori, the scion of a controversial political dynasty, has refused to concede. She alleges fraud, even though national and international observers said the vote was clean, and has called for up to 500,000 votes to be nullified or reexamined, forcing the electoral board to conduct a review of ballots.

For Cornwall, G7 summit brings disruption (AP) Towering steel fences, masses of police, protests on the beach: The Cornish seaside’s turquoise waters and white sandy beaches are looking decidedly less idyllic this week as leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies descend for a summit. U.S. President Joe Biden and leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan are arriving for three days of talks starting Friday at the tiny village of Carbis Bay, near St. Ives in Cornwall. The region is a popular holiday destination in the southwestern tip of England. Locals may be used to crowds and traffic jams during the peak summer tourist season, but the disruptions caused by the summit are on another level. A naval frigate dominates the coastline, armed soldiers guard the main sites and some 5,000 extra police officers have been deployed to the area. Authorities have even hired a cruise ship with a capacity of 3,000, moored offshore, to accommodate some of the extra officers. A main road is closed for the whole week, and local train lines and bus services have been shut down. A 3-meter (10-foot) tall metal fence nicknamed the “ring of steel” has been erected around Treganna Castle in Carbis Bay, where world leaders will stay. Security is also tight in the nearby town of Falmouth, the main base for international media covering the summit.

World leaders are in England, but beautiful British beaches have stolen the show (Washington Post) When President Biden shared a photo to Twitter on Thursday of him standing alongside British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and gazing out onto an unspoiled, sandy white beach from the Group of Seven summit in Cornwall, England, the post was supposed to be a tribute to the “special relationship” between the United Kingdom and the United States. But to many, it was the image of the picturesque coast that stood out. It looked somewhat suspicious. Too good to be true. Others questioned the authenticity of the scene, wondering whether it was photoshopped. Although it is true that some of Britain’s beaches have a reputation for pebbles, angry seagulls that steal food from unsuspecting tourists and diapers that float in murky waters, the county of Cornwall boasts some of the country’s best seaside destinations—complete with calm, clear waters that are perfect for swimming in and long stretches of soft sand that attract families from around the world. Carbis Bay is one of several beaches that make up St. Ives Bay, which, according to the Cornwall tourist board, is considered by the “Most Beautiful Bays in the World” organization to be one of the world’s best. The bay is described as being “surrounded by sub-tropical plants and lapped by turquoise waters.”

Ransomware’s suspected Russian roots point to a long detente between the Kremlin and hackers (Washington Post) The ransomware hackers suspected of targeting Colonial Pipeline and other businesses around the world have a strict set of rules. First and foremost: Don’t target Russia or friendly states. It’s even hard-wired into the malware, including coding to prevent hacks on Moscow’s ally Syria, according to cybersecurity experts who have analyzed the malware’s digital fingerprints. They say the reasons appear clear. “In the West you say, ‘Don’t . . . where you eat,’ ” said Dmitry Smilyanets, a former Russia-based hacker who is now an intelligence analyst at Recorded Future, a cybersecurity company with offices in Washington and other cities around the world. “It’s a red line.” Targeting Russia could mean a knock on the door from state security agents, he said. But attacking Western enterprises is unlikely to trigger a crackdown. The relationship between the Russian government and ransomware criminals allegedly operating from within the country is expected to be a point of tension between President Biden and Russia’s Vladimir Putin at their planned summit in Geneva on Wednesday. The United States has accused Russia of acting as a haven for hackers by tolerating their activities—as long as they are directed outside the country.

Pandemic relapse spells trouble for India’s middle class (AP) India’s economy was on the cusp of recovery from the first pandemic shock when a new wave of infections swept the country, infecting millions, killing hundreds of thousands and forcing many people to stay home. Cases are now tapering off, but prospects for many Indians are drastically worse as salaried jobs vanish, incomes shrink and inequality is rising. Decades of progress in alleviating poverty are imperiled, experts say, and getting growth back on track hinges on the fate of the country’s sprawling middle class. It’s a powerful and diverse group ranging from salaried employees to small business owners: many millions of people struggling to hold onto their hard-earned gains. The outbreak of the pandemic triggered the worst downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s and as it gradually ebbs, many economies are bouncing back. India’s economy contracted 7.3% in the fiscal year that ended in March, worsening from a slump that slashed growth to 4% from 8% in the two years before the pandemic hit. Economists fear there will be no rebound similar to the ones seen in the U.S. and other major economies.

‘Xi Jinping is my spiritual leader’: China’s education drive in Tibet (Reuters) Under clear blue skies, rugged peaks and the spectacular Potala Palace, one image is ubiquitous in Tibet’s capital city Lhasa: portraits of Chinese President Xi Jinping and fellow leaders. China is broadening a political education campaign as it celebrates the 70th anniversary of its control over Tibet. Civilians and religious figures who the government arranged to be interviewed on the five-day trip pledged loyalty to the Communist Party and Xi. Asked who his spiritual leader was, a monk at Lhasa’s historic Jokhang temple named Xi. “I’m not drunk ... I speak freely to you,” said the monk named Lhakpa, speaking from a courtyard overlooked by security cameras and government observers. “The posters [of Xi] coincide with a massive political education programme which is called ‘feeling gratitude to the party’ education,” said Robert Barnett, a Tibetan studies veteran scholar at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies.

Long overlooked, Israel’s Arab citizens are increasingly asserting their Palestinian identity (Washington Post) Growing up in an Arab village in northern Israel in the 1990s, Mahmoud Abo Arisheh was sure of at least two things: He was Israeli, and he was not allowed to talk politics. “Be careful, or the Shin Bet will get you,” his parents told him, referring to Israel’s domestic security service. Decades later, much has changed: Abo Arisheh is a lawyer, a poet and a theater director in Jaffa. He attends protests and talks politics freely—in Arabic, Hebrew and English. And while his citizenship may remain Israeli, the identity most dear to him is that of a Palestinian. “I didn’t know anything about being Palestinian,” said the 32-year-old, “but then I opened my eyes.” And now, it seems, so are many others. In just the past month, Palestinian citizens of Israel—also known as Israeli Arabs—have risen up in mass, nationwide demonstrations to protest Israeli evictions and police raids. They have been arrested by the hundreds following some of the worst communal violence between Arabs and Jews in Israel’s post-independence history. For a community that is often overlooked despite numbering nearly 2 million people—or about 20 percent of the Israeli population—these are momentous days indeed.

Nigerian police fire tear gas to break up protests over rising insecurity (Reuters) Police fired tear gas and detained several demonstrators in the Nigerian cities of Lagos and Abuja on Saturday during protests over the country’s worsening security situation, Reuters witnesses said. Anger over mass kidnappings-for-ransom, a decade-long Islamist insurgency and a crackdown on protesters in Lagos last October has fueled demands for the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to do more to tackle violence and insecurity. Reuters witnesses in Lagos and Abuja saw police shooting their guns into the air and firing tear gas into the crowds to disperse the demonstrators, who held placards and chanted “Buhari must go”. Officers were also seen smashing mobile phones confiscated from protesters, who also denounced the country’s 33.3% unemployment rate.

[architectnews]

Chicago Architecture Center: CAC

Chicago Architecture Center Building, CAC Illinois, Drake Family Skyscraper Gallery, USA Architectural News

Chicago Architecture Center

May 25, 2021

Chicago Architecture Center Building

Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA

Chicago Architecture Center Opens with New Exhibits and Tours in Time for Memorial Day Weekend Summer Kick-off

New tours downtown, in neighborhoods and more departures on the Chicago River;

New exhibits spotlight changing Chicago neighborhoods and cutting-edge home designs that are affordable, accessible, and flexible for every stage of our lives

CHICAGO – With the Memorial Day Weekend summer kick-off just days away, the Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) has re-opened with all-new and updated exhibits in its 10,000 square feet of galleries full of scale models of new building designs from Chicago and around the world. The Chicago Gallery, home to the Chicago City Model Experience, is completely overhauled and all-new exhibits on Current Chicago Projects, Chicago Chicago’s neighborhoods and the new home design exhibit, Housing for a Changing Nation.

The “Building Tall” exhibition in the Chicago Architecture Center’s Drake Family Skyscraper Gallery features scale models of high-rise towers around the world—as well as picture-perfect views of Chicago’s own iconic skyline: photo : James Steinkamp

These new exhibits cap CAC’s spring 2021 reopening that began with the April launch of new CAC Walking Tours and the Chicago Architecture Foundation Center (CAFC) River Cruise aboard Chicago’s First Lady. Both walking tours and the cruise have been popular options for Chicagoans and visitors eager to rediscover the beauty and inspiration of Chicago architecture.

“All CAC exhibits have been updated with new scale models of exciting architectural designs and we’ve created an all-new exhibit on cutting-edge, affordable, flexible home designs,” said Lynn Osmond, President and CEO of the CAC. “The new exhibit in the Chicago Gallery, Housing for a Changing Nation, highlights innovative architects who are creating homes for a diverse range of needs from live/work spaces to multigenerational families to cohousing.”

CAC EXHIBIT GALLERIES open May 22; Hours: 10m to 5pm, Thursday through Monday

The “Building Tall” exhibition in the Chicago Architecture Center’s Drake Family Skyscraper Gallery features scale models of high-rise towers around the world—as well as picture-perfect views of Chicago’s own iconic skyline: photo : James Steinkamp

THE CHICAGO GALLERY returns with new exhibits throughout.

• BRAND NEW FOR MAY 2021: Housing for a Changing Nation Exhibit is an entirely new installation, sponsored by AARP Illinois and the AARP Foundation, that explores how architects are replacing outdated 19th and 20th century housing with homes designed for fast-changing, diverse, multigenerational communities that need flexible, accessible and affordable housing:

o 100 YEAR LOT – a multi-generational home in Mexican and European influenced Pilsen by Canopy neighborhood splicing together a Chicago two-flat with a new two-story structure;

o MAKERS SPACE – a five-lot, live/work, micro-housing complex with shared community kitchen by Landon Bone Baker and retail marketplace and cottage-industry scaled workspace for South Chicago’s “maker” community;

o FLIP THE STRIP – strip malls and vacant storefronts transformed into flexible live/workspaces by UrbanLab—a contemporary update on the old concept of “living above the store”—for a new generation of small business entrepreneurs

o A NEW COURTYARD – a compact, pedestrian-orientated, affordable apartment building in Los Angeles that updates a familiar, sprawl-fighting California style by Brooks + Scarpa— a design that shares elements familiar to Chicagoans whose Chicago courtyard apartment buildings provided affordable housing to residents in the early 20th century.

• BRAND NEW FOR MAY 2021: The City in Change: Chicago Neighborhoods Exhibit introduces visitors to Chicagoans from some of the city’s 77 diverse, architecturally distinct and constantly changing communities.

• Chicago City Model Experience, featuring more than 4,250 buildings, returns with thirty new models of buildings under construction in 2020 and 2021—including St. Regis (Vista) Tower and Bank of America Building (110 North Wacker). Features a newly updated seven-minute video summarizing the city’s dynamic history, fascinating present and promising future.

• Current Chicago Projects Exhibit opens with new, cutting-edge Chicago projects and all new scale models.

The Chicago Architecture Center’s Drake Family Skyscraper Gallery features a line of scale models along the windows, each of which was at one time the world’s tallest building: photo : James Steinkamp

Projects include:

o 75th Street Boardwalk, The Nest, PopCourts! by ARC Community Design Initiative; o Cabrini-Green Redevelopment by Gensler, JGMA and Studio Dwell; o Steppenwolf Theatre Expansion by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture; o Auburn Gresham Healthy Lifestyle Hub by MKB Architects; o The Obama Presidential Center by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects Partners, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Interactive Design Architects; o Chicago Park District Headquarters and Park 596 by John Ronan Architects and site design group; o Fulton East by Lamar Johnson Collaborative and Clayco; o Tribune Tower Residences by Solomon Cordwell Buenz (renovation architect) and John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood (original architects); o SURGE Esports Stadium & VR Arenas by KOO; o KLEO Art Residences by JGMA; o 800 Fulton by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM).

THE DRAKE FAMILY SKYSCRAPER GALLERY featuring “Building Tall” reopens with seven new scale models of towers from Bangkok, Chicago, New York, Taipei and Tianjin and other skyscrapers from around the world and “Race to the Top” featuring oversized scale models of skyscrapers that were each tallest in the world when built.

New scale models in the Skyscraper Gallery include:

o 1000M, Chicago, JAHN, est. 2022 o CTF Finance Centre, Tianjin, SOM, 2019 o King Power MahaNakhon, Bangkok, Büro Ole Scheeren, 2016 o NEMA Chicago, Rafael Viñoly Architects, 2019 o Sendero Verde, New York, Handel Architects, est. 2022 o Solstice on the Park, Chicago, Studio Gang, 2019 o Taipei 101, C.Y. Lee & Partners Architects / Planners, 2004

In April, the CAC rolled out its downtown and neighborhood CAC Walking Tours for Chicagoans eager to rediscover their city’s classic architecture and diverse neighborhoods. The popular, always changing walking tours and CAFC River Cruise are led by a corps of 400 expert CAC docents, who in June 2021 celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1971 first CAC docent class.

CAFC RIVER CRUISES departures Thursday through Monday starting May 22

On April 17, the #1 boat tour in Chicago based on TripAdvisor user reviews and the only Chicago finalist for Best Boat Tour for USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Award, Chicago Architecture Foundation Center (CAFC) River Cruise aboard Chicago’s First Lady (CFL) launched its 2021 cruise season along Chicago River’s canyon of architecture. Led by CAC docents, guests will hear stories of the visionaries who have designed more than 50 architecturally significant buildings along the Chicago River as well as the Chicago Riverwalk and the 13 bascule bridges on the cruise route.

The 90-minute CAFC River Cruise is the most in-depth, authentic architecture river cruise available and is lauded as a “must-do” activity when visiting Chicago. Exciting new buildings with cutting edge design elements continue to rise along the river including the recently completed St. Regis (Vista) Tower, the city’s third tallest structure, and the refurbished riverfront Old Post Office. Tour guests will leave the cruise inspired by the city’s wide variety of architectural styles—– which glide by as you travel up and down all three branches of the Chicago River—including art deco, neoclassicism, mid-century modernism, and postmodernism.

Chicago’s First Lady’s luxury fleet is the finest on the Chicago River and now includes the new, brass and mahogany trimmed Chicago’s Emerald Lady. Full-service bars on board each vessel. Cruises will initially limit capacities following the guidelines from federal public health officials. As passenger vessels under federal jurisdiction, cruises follow the current federal face covering mandate. Reservations are recommended and tickets are available at cruisechicago.com.

CAC WALKING TOURS departing from the CAC, Thursday through Monday starting May 22

Favorite Downtown CAC Walking Tours returned April 17 include:

– Art Deco Skyscrapers: The Loop Art Deco masterpieces built in Chicago’s financial district during the Roaring ’20s – Chicago Architecture: A Walk Through Time Chicago’s early skyscrapers to supertall high rises – Must See Chicago Chicago’s most famous buildings and more: Wrigley Building, Tribune Tower, Art Institute, Willis Tower – Historic Treasures of Chicago’s Golden Age architectural landmarks of Michigan Avenue and State Street 1890 to 1930 – Chicago Icons: Connecting Past and Present see how architectural styes from the 1890s connect to today’s skyline – Mid-Century Modern Skyscrapers Chicago’s modernist masters, Mies, Goldberg and Graham, set the stage for the modern city center – Lights, Camera, Architecture! see architecture that starred in Ferris Bueller, Batman, the Blues Brothers and other films

Neighborhood CAC Walking Tours returned April 17 include:

– Fulton-Randolph Market 150-year evolution from food wholesaling and meatpacking to gourmet restaurants, technology hubs and boutique hotels – Northwestern University Campus a stunning, wooded campus on Lake Michigan with 19th Century Collegiate Gothic to cutting-edge designs – Kenwood the stately neighborhood, home to early industrialists, modern-day innovators and President Barack Obama – Hyde Park home to the 1893 World’s Fair, the University of Chicago and Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece, Robie House, pre-Chicago Fire houses and the famous Midway. – Evanston Along the Lake one of Chicago’s most desirable suburbs, with many homes and churches with notable designs, where Daniel Burnham established his “country retreat”

Drake Family Skyscraper Gallery, Chicago Architecture Center, Illinois – Building Information

Drake Family Skyscraper Gallery images:

The Chicago Architecture Center’s spacious Drake Family Skyscraper Gallery reopens with seven new models on display, on loan from acclaimed design firms worldwide including

Chicago’s forthcoming 1000M by JAHN: rendering courtesy of JAHN

King Power MahaNakhon in Bangkok, Thailand by Büro Ole Scheeren: photo by Wison Tungthunya

NEMA Chicago by Rafael Viñoly Architects: photo courtesy of Rafael Viñoly Architects

Taipei 101 by C.Y. Lee & Partners Architects / Planners: photo courtesy of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago

Sendero Verde in East Harlem, New York City: rendering by Volley, courtesy of Handel Architects

Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) images / information received 250521

Location: Chicago, IL, United States

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Chicago Architecture Designs – chronological list

Chicago Architectural Walking Tours by e-architect

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150 North Riverside Office Building, West Loop Design: Goettsch Partners (GP) photograph © Nick Ulivieri 150 North Riverside Office Development

Wintrust Arena, 200 E Cermak Road Design: Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects photographer : Jeff Goldberg/ESTO Wintrust Arena Chicago Building

747 North Clark Design: Ranquist Development Group photograph : Marty Peters 747 North Clark

Zurich North America Headquarters in Schaumburg photo © Steinkamp Photography Zurich North America Headquarters Building by Goettsch Partners

Willis Tower Renovations 233 S. Wacker Drive – Willis Tower Building

Obama Presidential Center Building Obama Presidential Center Building

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Major Chicago Buildings

Aqua Tower Chicago

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Comments / photos for the Chicago Architecture Center: CAC page welcome

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[tabloidtoc]

TV Guide, May 25-June 7

Cover: Space Force stars John Malkovich and Steve Carell and Lisa Kudrow 

Page 1: Contents, Ask Matt -- Penny Dreadful: City of Angels starring Natalie Dormer, Batwoman 

Page 2: The Roush Review -- Love Life 

Page 3: Barkskins, Ramy, Homecoming 

Page 4: Get Moving -- Brooke Ence on Ultimate Tag, exercise while watching TV 

Page 6: Cover Story -- Summer Preview -- Space Force

Page 7: Josh Holloway on Yellowstone 

Page 8: Amanda Peet and Christian Slater on Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story, Grantchester, Beecham House, Matthew Rhys on Perry Mason 

Page 9: The Alienist: Angel of Darkness, Greenleaf, The Twilight Zone starring Christopher Meloni and Jenna Elfman and Joel McHale and Tony Hale and Billy Porter, Hanna, Brave New World 

Page 10: Family Fun -- Game On!, Celebrity Family Feud, Press Your Luck, Match Game, Don’t, Cannonball, Tough as Nails, Sofia Vergara on America’s Got Talent 

Page 12: Matthew Macfadyen on Quiz, Ethan Hawke on The Good Lord Bird, Lovecraft Country, The Politician 

Page 13: Summer Preview Calendar 

Page 14: What’s Worth Watching -- Week 1 -- Grant 

Page 15: Monday, May 25 -- I Was Lorena Bobbitt, The Titan Games, Jeffrey Dahmer: Mind of a Monster, To Catch a Beautician, Memorial Day Marathons -- Beverly Hills 90210, Chicago P.D., The Pacific, The Office, Live PD Presents: PD Cam, Home Improvement, Tuesday, May 26 -- World of Dance, If Loving You Is Wrong 

Page 16: Wednesday, May 27 -- Clark Gregg on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Married at First Sight: Australia, American Soul, What We Do in the Shadows, NASCAR 

Page 17: Thursday, May 28 -- Council of Dads, Celebrity Watch Party -- the Osbournes and Tyra Banks, Restaurant: Impossible, Blindspot, Friday, May 29 -- Friday Night In With the Morgans -- Sophia Bush, The Graham Norton Show -- Steve Carell and Dakota Johnson and John Legend and Katy Perry 

Page 18: Saturday, May 30 -- Death of a Cheerleader, Heartland Docs DVM, Sunday, May 31 -- Laurel Canyon, Groomzilla, I Know This Much True, Natalee Holloway: Her Friends Speak 

Page 34: Stream It! Your Guide to the Best Streaming Available -- Netflix -- Uncut Gems, Kumail Nanjiani on The Lovebirds, Into the Night, Sweet Magnolias 

Page 35: Prime Video: Poldark, The Vast of Night, All About HBO Max 

Page 36: New Movie Releases 

Page 37: Series, Specials and Documentaries 

Page 38: What’s Worth Watching -- Week 2 -- Cheryl Ladd on Charlie’s Angels 

Page 39: Monday, June 1 -- Perry Mason, Below Deck Mediterranean, Almost Paradise, The Walking Dead, Tuesday, June 2 -- DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Kingdom of the Mummies 

Page 40: Wednesday, June 2 -- Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley on CMT Celebrates Our Heroes: An Artists of the Year Special, At Home With Amy Sedaris, NBA Basketball -- Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics in the 2012 East finals 

Page 41: Thursday, June 4 -- Burden of the Truth, Man With a Plan series finale, Fix My Fail, Friday, June 5 -- A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Bering Sea Gold, RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, Trackers 

Page 42: Saturday, June 6 -- Ad Astra, Love American Style, Psycho Yoga Instructor, Country at Heart, Sunday, June 7 -- Batman, Good Witch, Snowpiercer

Page 60: Horoscope 

Page 64: Cheers & Jeers -- Cheers to Parks and Recreation, SEAL Team, The CW, American Idol, Jeers to a Leverage revival, MTV, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist 

[thegeekerynj]

Short Reviews, when the Big Mouth doesn’t have much to say… Or is trying to get caught up from COVID / Election Overload

An Occasional Attempt to Read, Discuss and Review the Wonders of Comics

By: John Rafferty, cranky old man, and Fan of All Things Comics

Short Takes 

Short Reviews, when the Big Mouth doesn’t have much to say… Or is trying to get caught up from COVID / Election Overload

Legion of Super Heroes 6-10  (DC Comics)

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis    Pencils: Ryan Sook (#6 - 7, 10) Various (8 - 9)   Inker: Wade Von Grawbadger (#6 - 7, 10) Various (8 - 9)

‘You want to be called Bouncing Boy?

Looking at the Memexes, we were considering “The Bullet”.

Bullet?

It’s a projectile that——

No, with me, it’s all about the BOUNCE.

———————————————————————————————————

Can Brian Bendis write everything?

Between story, and downright FUN, this is a great book.  Team books are hard to do well, if for no other reason, because of the characterizations. 

Multiple characters mean multiple personalities, and some of those will always get underdeveloped in relationship to the team, as the writer invariably has favorites  Unless…

What we are seeing with LSH is development of characters from across the spectrum. Every book has development of some of the characters, even if they’re not directly involved in the story. This is a far cry from what you see in other books.

Add to this Ryan Sook’s breakdowns, and Wade von Grawbadger’s inks, and you get a pretty package, all tied up in a big bow. More importantly, this is a story with a legacy reaching back 60 years, and is being truly refreshed for a new audience.

This isn’t the Legion I read in 1967, but it’s damned good! 

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶.5

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Suicide Squad #9 - 10  (DC Comics)

Writer: Tom Taylor  Artist: Bruno Redondo

I have Kord’s location.

Okay. Do you also have the Senator?

Oh, did you want him back for some reason? That spineless mouth-breather championed a law to dump more waste into the sea. Delusional, greedy @#$% thinks he owns the world.

I have some friends reminding him he does not.

———————————————————————————————————

Floyd Lawton, first appearance, Batman #59, June 1950, as the man who never misses.

Floyd Lawton, a man who feels no rereason to continue living, but has no wish to die: who puts his life on the line to save his teammates time and time again, to save his daughter and her mother, all with the wish of dying in a truly spectacular fashion.

Floyd Lawton, who finally finds a reason to live, in the eyes of his daughter, Zoe.

Floyd Lawton. Deadshot. Perennial member of Task Force X, finally earned his pardon.

Game Over.

By all that’s Unholy, Tom Taylor is a hateful SOB! But the man writes a great story!

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶

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Marvel Zombies Resurrection # 1 - 4  (Marvel Comics)

Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson   Artist: Leonard Kirk

‘Fine. I guess we came all this way. 

Might as well do something really stupid.

———————————————————————————————————

This sums up exploring the World, any world, during a Zombie Apocalypse. Especially when those with Super Powers have been turned into Super Zombies.

So, we pick up with Peter Parker, Forge, Karla Sofen (Moonstone), Valeria and Franklin Richards, a Flerkin named Chewie, and the reprogrammed Sentinel lovingly called ‘Nana’, moving from defendable place to defensible area, seeking a ‘safe place’. Somewhere they can rest for more than one night… if that is possible.

Always realizing the next tree could be hiding a zombified Avenger, or Defender, or Loved one…

Johnson’s Miniseries is another version of the Marvel Zombiepocalypse, which begs the question, what happens when Zombie Galactus infects your world? Or, more importantly, when it CARRIES the infection to your world?

Leonard Kirk’s art style is perfect for this story, a very dark, visceral style which is a little hard on the eyes, making the reader work for every panel. Yes, it hurts to read, but IT SHOULD! It’s Zombies!

This is worth the read if you can get all 4 issues (the first issue came out in July).

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶

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Rorschach #1  (DC Black Label)

Writer: Tom King   Artist: Jorge Fornes

‘They won’t talk to me. Treating me like I’m a  damn Kindergarten kid. I got twins in Kindergarten. Duane and Dwight. I’m not a Kindergarten kid. 

Jesus Christ. What’d they say to you?

That you’re dying.

Shit.

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In 1985, Walter Kovacs died. 

It went unnoticed, but for the few in attendance, for Kovacs died following the Alien Invasion of New York, which, in effect saved the world.

Yet, unnoticed, but for the few, Walter Kovacs became a red splash on the Antarctic permafrost.

And Rorschach, the Crime Hunter, died with him.

Or. did he?

In a world existing somewhere between Watchmen 1985 and Current Multiverses, Tom King and begun a noir-ish tale… Did Rorschsch come back, to foil an assassination attempt, and die in the process?

Did he come back, and fail at an attempt at assassination?

Or, Gentle Readers, is there a whole slew of balls in the air we just haven’t seen yet, that we are going to be expected to juggle deftly, as they drop just into sight?

I can’t wait for the answer!

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶.5

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Justice League #54 - 57  (Death Metal Tie-In) (DC Comics)

Writer: Joshua Williamson    Artists: Xermanico (54, 57), Pencils: Robson Rocha (55 - 56), Inks: Daniel Henriquez (55 - 56)

“Don’t you get it Cyborg? We’re not the Justice League!

We’re the Suicide Squad!

———————————————————————————————————

I have said before I am not a fan of Joshua Williamson’s writing.

Maybe I just don’t like him on the Flash. 

Four issues, each of them a very good story, each building, with some action and humor, to a smash mouth endpoint, that brings us to Death Metal #5.

I have to say, I’m enjoying this run of Justice League, even with the switch of artist teams mid - tale Xermanico’s work os beautiful, right into the valley of the Starros (that gave me giggle fits!) Rocha and Henriquez’s work is very pretty, and a little darker than Xermanico’s, giving a more atmospheric touch to the Antenna of LOD.

I have to admit, they do a mean Kori, as well! Really FIERCE, with a Full Length mohawk!

Well worth the cost of admission, and a strong addition to the Metal storyline.

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶.5

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Nightwing #75 - 76 (DC Comics)

Writer: Dan Jurgens   Artists: Travis Moore and Ronan Cliquet (75), Ronan Cliquet (76)

‘We have to talk.’

———————————————————————————————————

Four words. 

Four words that have ended more relationships than violence.

Dan Jurgens has done a masterful job of tying up the Ric Grayson / Amnesias storyline that seems to have run for nigh on ever… by bringing it full circle to Anatoli Knyazev, the KGBeast.

The artwork in these two issues was pretty, with obvious switches between that of Travis Moore (the Titans / Batgirl pages) and Ronan Cliquet’s Batman / KGBeast pages.

Nicely tied up, completing multiple storylines in two issues. Ready to move forward/

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶.5

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Young Justice  #19 - 20 (DC Comics)

Writers: Brian Michael Bendis and David  Walker   Artist: Scott Godlewski

Red Tomato?

I think he said Tornado, and you know it.

Honestly, he talks so fast, I can’t understand him most of the time.

———————————————————————————————————

Damian Wayne, Robin.  Cassie Sandmark, Wonder Girl. Bart Allen, Impulse. Conner Kent, Superboy. Stephanie Brown, Spoiler. Keli Quintela, Teen Lantern. Zan and Jayna. the Wonder Twins. Jinny Hex, Naomi, Amethyst,

Twenty issues in, and the book is cancelled… or is planned to end. Either way, this is a suck way to do things, DC.

This is a great group of characters. Much better than the roster in the Young Justice cartoon, simply for the diversity. Some heroes just coming into their own, some who have existed for years,  (the Wonder Twins have been around in MULTIPLE iterations since the 1970’s), all helping each other… This was a great jumping in book for pre-teens who weren’t up for all the violence / hyperkinetic action / storytelling of a true adult book.

And, it was FUN!

Bendis, Walker and Godlewski produced a fantastic product every month.

One which is ending too soon. Unless, of course, it is going to come back in a new package… 

Hint, hint, hint…

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶.5

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Amazing Spider-Man 50 - 53  ‘Last Remains’  (Marvel Comics (duh!))

Writer: Nick Spencer   Artist: Patrick Gleason

‘You’re going to love it, Pete. There’s no better feeling in this life — Than being surrounded by those you love.

———————————————————————————————————

So, what are the rules around DEAD Characters returning?

Do they have to be relevant after so many years? Shouldn’t they be, well, driven to do something? Not take more than 50 issues to finally get around to saying…”Bazinga!’, or it’s equivalent?

I must admit, issue 50 is the first issue of a Spider-Man book I picked up, and started to enjoy, until I realized I needed to pick up the LR issues also in order to get the whole story. Didn’t’t we get enough of this in the Shooter Years? 

What about a year and a half ago, when Marvel vowed they would never pull this crap again?? 

I guess they forgot… (Insert comparison to jackass in office here).

Too much work, don’t really care.

Especially when the reveal of who Kindred is happens in issue 50, and Peter finds out in #53… Puh-Leez!

At least it’s not Professor Warren and his Gwen Stacy clone. **BRRRRR** Freakin’ Creepy Old Perv!

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶

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Batman 101 - 102 (DC Comics (bigger DUH!))

Writer: James Tynion IV   Artist: Guillen March (101)  Pencils: Carlo Pagulayan   Inks: Danny Miki   Artist: Carlos D’Anda (Pages 13 - 16)

‘DOUBLE RENT! And you don’t talk to the other tenants! They are good people.

Little Santa Prisca is a community. We live through BANE. We live through JOKER. Don’t blow it up with all your nonsense!

You got it Charlie, No Nonsense. Not Here.

Hey! What’s your policy on Hyenas?

———————————————————————————————————

So, Lucius Fox is one of the richest men in the world. 

Selina Kyle has put the Bat on a One Year Clock to get his stuff together, or she walks.

Clownkiller might be the Bernard Goetz of Superhero Vigilantism (look up the reference, I can’t do everything!), but he goes about proving you can’t keep a good vigilante killer down if he has Google.

Ghost Maker is more than we thought, and knows who Bruce Wayne keeps in the closet (or cave).

Is there anyone in Gotham who doesn’t know who Bruce Wayne is?

Tynion continues to pump out some great product, the stories and characters do not disappoint. Including Grifter as Fox’s ‘bodyguard’ was a nice touch, having him get the drop on Batman, a nicer one.

The art in both books, while vastly different, is simply gorgeous. I want to see more od the team of Pagulayan and Miki, I’m hoping to see their work grow with the storylines.

Next issue, BATTLE Sequences! Should be fun, not that it hasn’t been so far.

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶.5

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Shang Chi  #1 - 2 (Marvel Comics)

‘I have to save my Little Sister!

I have to kill my Big Brother!’

———————————————————————————————————

Only meetings should have agendas.

-Me, just now

Once upon a time, Sax Rohmer wrote stories about the machinations of one Fu Manchu, and his oft overturned attempts to take over the world.

In 1973, Steve Engelhart and Jim Starlin brought Shang Chi, son of Fu Manchu into the Marvel Universe, where he and his MI-6 partners Clive Reston and Black Jack Tarr were responsible for being the monkey wrenches in the machinery of Fu Manchu’s Plans.

It seems that Shang Chi is back, without his prior father. He is still proficient in all forms of martial arts, but now, he is ‘Champion of House of the Deadly Hand’ (like that name isn’t going to come to but him in the butt like a Karmic werewolf), and since the passing of his ‘Father”, now the Commander of the Five Weapons Society.

The artwork is pretty, and the story, steeped in Asian Mysticism, is a little draggy so far. Is the story good? Yeah, it’s a nice reminder of a character I exjyed a long tome ago.

Will it get better? Time will tell.

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶.5

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The Rise of Ultraman #1 - 3 (Marvel Comics, by way of Tsuburaya Productions)

Writers: Kyle Higgins and Matt Groom    Artist: Francesco Manna

Oh. You’re here to fight because you think we’re one of the species that can’t evolve.

No. I know you cannot evolve.

Fifty-Four of your years ago, my brother came to assist you. And you killed him.

———————————————————————————————————

In the late 60’s, on certain New York television stations, the Saturday Afternoon hours were filled with Japanese imports, Kaiju - United Science Patrol, and of course the story of the death of Moroboshi, and the coming of Ultraman.

Ultraman, a human - alien symbiosis, who fought the Kaiju menace coming to take over the Earth.

Forward to 2020, a new Ultraman, with a new team of USP helpers / friends, and what looks at this point to be a corrupt system surrounding them.

This creative team has done a marvelous job with the material thus far, reviving this character for a modern reader.

It’s just a shame it’s only 5 issues…

It is definitely worth the read.

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶

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American Vampire 1976 #1 - 2 (DC Comics)

Writer: Scott Snyder   Artist: Artist: Rafael Albuquerque

‘DAMMIT! Before what happened with Gus, you were the best vampire tracker and killer around. I’m asking you to help me take down whoever this PEELING MAN is.

But if this shitty music and LASERS is your life now, then just say so, and I’ll leave you to it.

It’s not a laser, you goddamned idiot.

It’s a SOLAR LAMP. **klik**

———————————————————————————————————

Ten years ago, Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque and Stephen King started a journey which has spanned 10 Years in real time, but 200 years, and 12 separate cycles in series time.

The current iteration has our favorite group of vamps and exterminators running around 1976, wrecking discos, trains, and graveyards, all in the name of bringing back Stoker’s primary villain.

Snyder proves again he is up to the task of creating a world of whimsy and horror, providing mayhem, madness, and the occasional snorting giggle. His droll wit, and ability to write a phenomenal action piece makes this cycle of the American Vampire story a must read.

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶