#Katherine Mckay

[wildereader]

April Wrap-Up!

This may not seem like a lot, but I REALLY focused on finishing up One Piece this month, which you will see. For right now, I’ll focus on these three books!

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden is my FAVORITE book I’ve read so far this year, which I was NOT expecting from a historical fantasy set during WWI!!! I loved Arden’s Winternight Trilogy, which I read last year, so I was so excited to read her new release. Her writing is so atmospheric and enthralling, and this story about war, grief, folklore, memory, and love was absolutely everything I love in fiction. ALSO I was not expecting a beautiful queer romance from this book at ALL, but Ms. Arden surprised me in the best way with it 🥹 When this book comes out in paperback, I will definitely be getting myself a copy!

The Curious Compendium of Wonderful Words was something I found at my library and picked up on a whim and have been slowly making my way through for a couple months now, even though it’s very short. It was funny and fascinating, and my only critique is that it didn’t go into much detail about anything—just a collection of interesting facts about certain words and phrases, which was fun enough to keep me entertained while I read it. This book isn’t something you’d pick up if you want in-depth info about etymology, but it is an easy read if you just want to learn a bunch of fun facts!

And after I finished One Piece, I went back to my manga roots—volume 1 of Ouran High School Host Club 🌸💞🌹 I rewatched the anime for the first time in YEARS earlier in April, and I absolutely fell back in love with this series. I’m excited to do my first reread of the manga, especially considering it has even more story that wasn’t adapted into the anime.

Speaking of manga, though… It’s Time To Talk About One Piece

I’ve been putting my OP volume roundups under cuts in my previous wrap-up posts, but I’m FUCKING PROUD OF MYSELF for catching up, so it’s going in the main post!!!! I always reserve most thoughts on a series until I’ve finished it, so I’ve been holding back my OP-inions (haha) for FIVE MONTHS….. but they’re nothing groundbreaking. I love this series. I totally understand why it makes people go so nuts, and I’m fully one of those people now. I have such withdrawal from this series since finishing it a couple weeks ago ;-; It is so wild to me how LONG this series is, how culturally impactful it’s been since its release twenty-five years ago, and how strong and unique and interesting it’s remained since it started. No, it’s not Perfect™️™️ by any means, but….. Damn. It’s good. It’s so good. And it definitely deserves all the hype it has.

Also, since it’s May 5th when I’m posting this… Happy Birthday to my Most Favorite Boy EVER MONKEY D. LUFFY!!!! ❤️❤️❤️

SOOOO I’ve definitely been putting some books off as I was focusing on finishing OP, but I’ll ease back into them as I feel like it (and as my library book due dates creep up on me). Here’s hoping May is another good reading month for me!!!

[carbonbasedmatter]

ykw im just gonna start re-reading books I read as a kid I found my old library record book thingy and im so sad there's so many good books that I barely remember now😭

[venusbyline]

Hey guys, I'm Vênus (she/her). This is my new ff blog and requests are already open!

I really like writing dark, smut and/or angst contents for s/o x female readers.

Almost all the characters and artists I'll write for are tagged. Feel free to send me your writing requests on my ask. (ps¹: practically i'll write for all Jacob Elordi and Ryan Gosling's characters, there just wasn't enough space in the tags).

So don't be shy... I'm a member of the "toxic characters stan" too <3

ps²: some characters besides the other characters of Ryan Gosling and Jacob Elordi that I didn't put in the tags but that I can also write for:

Scream: Ethan Landry, Billy Loomis, Stu Macher.

Euphoria: Rue Bennet, Jules Vaughn, Ethan Lewis, Lexi Howard, Chris McKay, Fezco.

Hunger Games: Lucy Gray Baird, Katniss Everdeen, Sejanus Plinth, Johanna Mason, Treech, Clemensia Dovecote, Tigris Snow, Haymitch Abernathy.

MCU: Tom Holland!Peter Parker & Andrew Garfield!Peter Parker, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Wanda Maximoff.

Daisy Jones & The Six: Eddie Roundtree, Daisy Jones, Camila Dunne.

The Vampire Diaries: Stefan Salvatore, Damon Salvatore, Silas, Rebekah Mikaelson, Katherine Pierce.

Margot Robbie: Barbie, Harley Quinn.

Gossip Girl: Chuck Bass, Nate Archibald, Carter Baizen, Blair Waldorf.

YOU: Love Quinn, Joe Goldberg.

Harry Potter: Cedric Diggory, Hermione Granger, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Draco Malfoy, Sirius Black.

Grey's Anatomy: Jackson Avery, Derek Shepherd, Mark Sloan, Alex Karev.

Outer Banks: Rafe Cameron, JJ Maybank.

Anyway, more characters can be added here over time!

[read-alert]

Figured that now that I've got a bookblr, I should make a post about the Read the World Challenge I'm doing! I'm reading a book primarily set in every country, doing my best to focus on authors from said country, though I will read diaspora authors if that's not feasible. Also some of the books from early on were from diaspora authors because I was pulling from books I had already read; I'll likely read more books from those countries in the future if I can. I've got 52 countries so far, and I'll list the titles and countries under the cut

USA- Kindred by Octavia Butler- 5⭐️

Canada- The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline- 5⭐️

Trinidad and Tobago- The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull- 3⭐️

Brazil- Where We Go From Here by Lucas Rocha trans by Larissa Helena- 5⭐️

Argentina- Tender is the Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica trans by Sarah Moses- 5⭐️

South Africa- The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden- 3⭐️

Nigeria- Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor- 4⭐️

Liberia- Dream Country by Shannon Gibney 5⭐️

France- Romance in Marseilles by Claude McKay- 2⭐️

UK- Watership Down by Richard Adams- 5⭐️

Ireland- Big Girl, Small Town by Michelle Gallen- 4⭐️

Qatar- Love from A to Z by SK Ali- 4⭐️

Iran- Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram- 4⭐️

China- The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu trans by Ken Liu- 5⭐️

Taiwan- Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen- 4⭐️

Japan- Confessions by Kanae Minato trans by Stephen Snyder- 3.5⭐️

Norway- Survival Kit by AH Haga- 4.5⭐️

Germany- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak- 4.5⭐️

India- The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi- 4⭐️

South Korea- The Mermaid from Jeju by Sumi Hahn- 4⭐️

Columbia- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez trans by Gregory Rabassa- 4⭐️

Ghana- Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey- 4⭐️

Turkey- 10 Minutes and 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak- 4⭐️

Russia- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy trans by Louise Maude- 4⭐️

Sierra Leone- The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna- 4⭐️

Austria- The Wall by Marlen Haushofer trans by Shaun Whiteside- 5⭐️

Zimbabwe- Nervous Conditions by Tsiti Dangarembga- 5⭐️

Venezuela- It Would Be Night in Caracas by Karina Sainz Borgo trans by Elizabeth Bryer- 4⭐️

Chile- The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende trans by Magda Bogin- 5⭐️

Sri Lanka- Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai- 4⭐️

Singapore- How We Dissappeared by Jing-Jing Lee- 4.5⭐️

Malaysia- Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf- 3.5⭐️

Egypt- A Master of Djinn by P Djèlí Clark- 4.5⭐️

Sudan- Ghost Season by Fatin Abbas- 4.5⭐️

Antigua and Barbuda- At the Bottom of the River by Jamaica Kincaid- 4⭐️

Ukraine- The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh- 5⭐️

Bahamas- Learning to Breathe by Janice Lynn Mather- 4⭐️

Cuba- The Black Cathedral by Marcial Gala trans by Anna Kushner- 4⭐️

Dominica- The Autobiography of My Mother by Jamaica Kincaid- 3⭐️

Bangladesh- Djinn City by Saad Z Hossain- 4⭐️

Mexico- Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia- 4⭐️

Jamaica- Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn- 4⭐️

Vietnam- Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai- 4.5⭐️

Australia- Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko- 4⭐️

Israel- Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa- 4.5⭐️

Palestine- Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa- 5⭐️

Costa Rica- Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias- 4.5⭐️

Uruguay- Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis- 5⭐️

Dominican Republic- Tentacle by Rita Indiana trans by Achy Obejas- 2.5⭐️

Republic of the Congo- Broken Glass by Alain Mabanckou trans by Helen Stevenson- 2⭐️

Czech Republic- The Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař- 2.5⭐️

Honduras- Turtles of the Midnight Moon by María José Fitzgerald- 4.5⭐️

[mysymmetry]

2023 Reading List updated Jan 8 March 13 April 10 May 29 July 5 July 31 August 22 Dec 14

Read So Far: Play It As It Lays, Joan Didion All of This Could Be Different, Sarah Thankham Matthews Readme.txt, Chelsea Manning The Book of Grief and Hamburgers, Stuart Ross Burntcoat, Sarah Hall The Best American Essays 2022, ed. Alexander Chee Easy Beauty, Chloe Cooper Jones Very Cold People, Sarah Manguso Son of Elsewhere, Elamin Abdelmahmoud Happy Place, Emily Henry Couplets, Maggie Millner Strange Loops, Elizabeth Harmer Milk Fed, Melissa Broder Tides, Sara Freeman Biography of X, Catherine Lacey The Guest, Emma Cline No One is Talking About This, Patricia Lockwood Ripe, Sarah Rose Etter How to Do Nothing, Jenny Odell Homebodies, Tembe Denton-Hurst Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin Trust, Hernan Diaz The Fake, Zoe Whittall Anon Plz, Deuxmoi Utopia, Heidi Sopinka Death Valley, Melissa Broder

Currently Reading: A Little Life, Hanya Yanigahara The Best American Essays 2023, ed. Vivian Gornick Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone, Benjamin Stevenson

Want to Read: Love and Other Puzzles, Kimberley Allsopp (on hold @ city) Land of Milk and Honey, C Pam Zhang (on hold @ city) Lioness, Emily Perkins (on hold @ city) Monsters, Claire Dederer (on hold @ city) Body Friend, Katherine Brabon (avail @ SA Lib) A Real Piece of Work, Erin RIley (not avail @ SA Lib) Priestdaddy, Patricia Lockwood The Light Room, Kate Zambreno Lurch, Don McKay Started but Haven't Finished

Saving Time, Jenny Odell Really Good Actually, Monica Heisey My Autobiography of Carson McCullers, Jenn Shaplan Bliss Montage, Ling Ma Death in Her Hands, Ottessa Moshfegh The Hurting Kind, Ada Limon A Single Rose, Muriel Barbery We Have Always Been Here, Samra Habib Pathological, Sarah Fay The Marrow Thieves, Cherie Dimaline Animal Person, Alexander MacLeod My Face in The Light, Martha Schabas Pure Colour, Sheila Heti Satched, Megan Gail Coles A Lover's Discourse, Roland Barthes The Country of Marriage, Wendell Berry

[thefastestaround]

So I guess this is just a general PSA about my verses (that I should work on). In any Interaction/thread/etc. that has Krakoa as a plot point, Pietro will either be in a secret relationship with Katherine Pryde (@gctbusydying) or with a more public but more 'casual' relationship with Tess McKay (@themckaytriarchy). This helps me gather my thoughts and plots and I am a sucker for cross blog shenanigans.

[ccthewriter]

CC's New Watch Ranking - June 2023

Every month on Letterboxd, I make a list of the 10 best films I’ve seen for the first time. It’s a fun way to compare movies separated in time, genre, and country of origin, and helps me keep track of what I’m watching! This is a breakdown of those films.

June! An exhausting month. We wrapped on the movie after a number of 12+ hour days. That, on top of two new jobs that picked up this month, turned June into a stressed mess for me. I spent a lot of time in bed and in the garden, trying to quiet an overstrained brain. For the first time in three years, I have seen only the 10 films on this list this month! That’s why Zaslav felt safe firing all the TCM folks, he knew I was away. But this gives me a chance to discuss some movies I wasn’t crazy about and explore why. There’s something to be learned from every film, even those that don’t please. (I am going to yadda-yadda through some entries, though.)

Click below to read the breakdown! Click HERE to view the list on Letterboxd!

10. Night Moves 

1975- Arthur Penn

Was kind of disappointed that this didn’t move for me as it does for others! It reminded me too much of this schlocky film I watched earlier this year Stick. Stick had Burt Reynolds going to Miami to be a double-agent chauffeur for the mob. Or something. Night Moves had the exact same thing happen? Or something? Maybe that’s on me for not paying better attention. 

I promised myself I would explore why this didn’t capture me. The best I got is that it’s a slow moving mystery centered on a rather boring figure. Next!

9. Bringing Up Baby 

1938 - Howard Hawks

See, I heard about this movie a long time ago. Never in my life did I think the ‘Baby’ in the title was a leopard! This is a fun slapstick comedy about a man who fumbles his hot paleontologist wife for a pathologically lying Katherine Hepburn. I get it, who wouldn’t do the same in that situation, but I was surprised there wasn’t more back and forth between Hepburn and Grant’s fiance. Not quite as charming as another slapstick comedy on this list, but still immensely satisfying. 

Cary Grant in a fluffy nightie? 👀 Reeks of gender.

8. Bend of the River 

1952 - Anthony Mann

The river! It bends! I find myself watching a lot of pre-1955 movies while I’m doing other tasks. Cowboy flicks and noirs make great background noise. Their rhythms and plots can be so predictable that you can fall right back in if you lose attention for a few minutes. This one gripped me, though. My cinematic nemesis James Stewart plays a black hatted cowboy trying to reinvent himself, escorting a group of settlers to their new home in Oregon. The supplies they ordered don’t arrive in time, so before winter sets in he rides to find what happened to them, visiting the den of villainy and sin known as… Portland. It’s very funny to see the city depicted as a town full of drunken gold miners and thieves, when in a century it will be home to queer witches and their burlesques. (Hi Caity <3) Fun plot, a few interesting reversals, and more colonial assumptions than I can typically stand. It’s no McCabe and Mrs. Miller, but if you’re in the mood for a PNW Western, look no further. 

7. Step Brothers 

2008 -  Adam McKay

A movie so culturally dominant that I knew a huge amount of lines without ever having to see it. It was fun! Will Ferrell and John C. Riley have perfect comedic chemistry, and embody this strange energy of 15 year olds trapped in 40 year old bodies perfectly. The entire film works off of their performance. Just like last month’s Face/Off, two actors giving singular, unique performances is all you need to make a memorable picture. 

6. Battling Butler 

1926 - Buster Keaton

It’s Buster Keaton! It was fine. I don’t have any more interesting thoughts on him in this movie than I would have in the next one.

5. The Cameraman

 1928 - Buster Keaton, Edward Sedgwick

Extremely fun. Buster doing a bit of metacommentary on how artists are valued, and the systems they have to engage with in order to find work. Extra satisfying to view amidst the writer’s strike. These studio heads would have nothing without the footage that the people on the ground capture. The Tong War battle at the end is particularly engaging. It’s the sort of Looney Tunes/Roger Rabbit comic energy that I adore, able to float through a conflict without any worry or care. Satisfying, destiny-bound ending. 

4. Once Upon a Time in America 

1984 - Sergio Leone

Now we get to the good stuff. Sergio Leone is synonymous with the Wild West - why is it so surprising that he would take on another classic tale of Americana? A gangster drama, an immigrant story, a distinctly East Coast experience of the twentieth century and the superpower that defined it. Where his cowboy movies focus on the mythic qualities of its protagonists - framed among giant landscapes, attention drawn to their weapons and horses - the protagonists of this film are framed within a series of relationships. It is their association with the people around them, the space between their bodies, that Leone captures so well. It is a promise of genius from a filmmaker whose career ended too early. This is a freewheeling biopic of a Lower East Side urchin who rises up towards the top, intersecting with high levels of power and upheavals in his closest bonds. Framed by an opium dream, not afraid to break free from logic, this is a masterful exploration of a cinematic space from one of our best directors.  

3. Asteroid City

 2023 - Wes Anderson

I feel so lucky to be alive at a time when I can see Wes Anderson movies in theaters. The sheer thrill of this opening sequence…. A black and white TV format exploding into a wide frame, desert-chic phantasmagoria, a MINIATURE TRAIN MODEL title sequence… god. Irreplaceable cinematic moments. It needs a gigantic screen to be really understood. 

I think a lot of the theatre-going experience, of the crowd itself, as I remember this film. It was a great sample audience. A group of teen boys who must have just started their summer break. Several pairs of old women enjoying long-scheduled friend dates. A nuclear family. Me, alone, having made use of the Value Tuesday discounts. ($1 off hot dogs!) The whole crowd laughed throughout the thing - has Anderson ever been this funny? It made me feel a lot of hope, that an audience would take such pleasure in little background beats and quiet humor. Much of movie rhetoric paints The Audience writ-large as a bunch of mindless Marvel fans who need jokes telegraphed from a mile away. How hard the subtle humor hit really made me happy. 

The story itself is something I’m going to have to meditate on. Anderson is working some meta-commentary that can be hard to grasp with only one viewing. I get the sense he’s looking at his own work and his style of directing. He’s famous for his ensembles - it’s a movie about a cast making a play. He’s famous for his invented worlds - we walk backstage and meet a writer-director who literally lives in a set after the performances are done. He’s a director beset by nostalgia for times he never lived - Jeffrey Wright says to a bunch of young geniuses, “Should have picked a better time to be born.” This is why I feel such a thrill, such satisfaction, in being alive while his movies are airing. I get to witness the years, hopefully decades, of discussion that this movie inspires. I think this is already ripe for a ��Underappreciated in its time despite being his masterpiece” sort of thing.

2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse 

2023 - Joaquim Dos Santos, Justin K. Thompson, Kemp Powers

God, what a lovely film to watch. My gushing excitement for this is cut by the recent revelations about its production. I spit on the names of Lord and the names of Miller, I wish them to suffer as they have made others suffer. I think of how beautiful this film is - how every frame is a gorgeous vortex, how you could hit pause at any moment and drink in one billion details that all add up to an incredible whole. I think of the well-crafted story, the nail-biting cliff hanger, the desire I had walking out of the theatre for simply MORE. And I think of how much better this could be if the artists making it were paid more fairly and given more breaks. Look at how beautiful this movie is - IT COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH MORE BEAUTIFUL IF THE WORKPLACE WAS LESS TOXIC. I reject any narrative about this film that says that, somehow, all the blood sweat and tears made it what it is. No. Absolutely not. This move is what it is because of hundreds of people toiling *despite* the invented hardships. It is so symptomatic of what is wrong in Hollywood, why so many people are striking now. They are being hampered from making their work excel because of these greedy people at the top who project their insecurity  and petty rage all the way down. 

Anyway. I love Miles. I love Gwen. I love all my Spiderfriends. Hope to see them again some day under less toxic circumstances. 

1. What’s Up, Doc? 

1972 - Peter Bogdanovich

I’ve been studying the screwball comedy this year. It’s an oft-used term without a great definition. It’s got romance and laugh, it has some odd personalities… but what else? Does it need an aggressive woman? A reluctant man? Do they need to be thrust together by fate? Do you *have* to have an outstanding ensemble, or does that just happen by coincidence? As I try to pick apart these elements I watch this on a whim one day and see that Peter Bogdanovich has already done all that research and found his answer. Screwball comedy? It looks like this. It’s What’s Up, Doc? 

From the old-Hollywood opening credits that’s a hand turning a book, to the delightful absurdity that is its central premise - what if a spy, a jewel thief, and some dude all had the same luggage? - everything about this is finely tuned to make you laugh. Barbara Streisand is more or less literally playing Bugs Bunny. How amazing is that? There are so many things that will make you well up laughter that I hesitate to try and explain them more. Just watch this incredibly funny, charming movie. I have a private litmus test for how good a movie is. Often I’ll watch stuff with my wife sitting next to me as she plays video games. If a movie drags her attention away from the game and keeps her locked in the whole time, that is a great film. It was that way with this. Highly recommended. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for reading! If you liked any of these thoughts feel free to follow me on Letterboxd, where I post reviews and keep meticulous track of every movie I watch. Look forward to more posts like these next month! 

[ao3feed-mcshep]

Happiness, and, I Guess.......

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/LMveX51

by Grey_Trousers

A classic movie proves formative for both Sheppard and McKay.

My inspiration was the named work, which starts with some delightful bickering that made me realize that even though Rodney looks like Spencer Tracy he is, in fact, Katherine Hepburn.

Words: 582, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Stargate Atlantis

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Rodney McKay, John Sheppard, Carson Beckett, Elizabeth Weir, Jack O'Neill

Relationships: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard

Additional Tags: Hepburn and Grant, Old Hollywood - Freeform

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/LMveX51

[patchworkgargoyle]

Tag game!

Tagged by @atlantablack! Thanks for tagging me c:

nickname: Sav, Vannah (but only one person calls me that)

height: 5'5"

last thing googled: how to tell if leather is rotting (I have a leather bag that's doing something funky)

song stuck in my head: Joey by Concrete Blonde

followers: 125

amount of sleep: Uhhh... from like 3am-ish to 12pmish 😅

wearing: A ""FULL THROTTLE" Axolotl" shirt, which is from the Columbus Zoo, and my red plaid pants

movie/book that summarises you: If you mixed Practical Magic, all three Lord of the Rings movies, and Ginger Snaps

fav song currently: Figure You Out by Djo

aesthetic: Dark misty evergreen forests, knights in scuffed armour, tea and a book on a rainy day, muddy doc martens

fav authors (fandom): qqueenofhades and avelera (Sandman); laundrybiscuits, inarbinand, nancywheeeler, BonitaBreezy, BoudicaMuse (Stranger Things); plumcoloredyarn and GrisailleDreams (Resident Evil Village).

These are a mix of tumblr and ao3 usernames but I don't wanna tag and be annoying. :P

fav authors (non-fandom): K Arsenault Rivera, Neil Gaiman, Eden Robinson, Amy McKay, Katherine Arden.

random fact: Apparently humans are the only animals with a chin! Many have jaws of course, but chins - the bony protrusion from our jaw - is unique to us.

Tagging: @ladygrisailledreams, @crowtrobotx, @hell-on-training-wheels, @patriciavetinari, and anyone who's even so much as TEMPTED to do this! I promise, i fyou wanna do it, I've tagged you, go do it, this is your excuse. c:

[storiesofsvu]

For book recs:

okay well if you didnt like stta (something to talk about) then you probably wont like lee winters books .. which are my fav. Its more slow burn , ice queen, age gap but like written rlly well. this is random but i can only read good books, so if a book is written badly i just cant . including fics and your fics are so good,,, yea literally better than most books ive read that are published.. 😭

roslyn sinclair is another rlly good author.

The am show by T.B markinson , Miranda macleod reminds me of the way you write so i think you’d lovee it. (anything by them honestly)

harper bliss too ! reminds me of your vibe .

Milena mckay is another popular one but again, mostly age gap & ice queen. her stories are rlly well thought out like your fics so i thought of her.

ok the first lesbian book ive ever LOVED was curious wine by katherine v forrest its so sweet & warm i love a gentle love kind of book .

and whatever you do … don’t fall for the erotic lesbian books w good covers. they’re so bad and unrealistic. like why are you falling in love on the first date 😭

I dont mind those tropes at all i just thought STTA was written badly LOL. Unfortunately my city’s library has nothing by that author so i may head to a book store & read a few pages before buying LOL. We’ll see.

😭😭🥹🥹🥺🥺🥺staaaaahhppp. And thank you!! I hope that one day i’ll be published 🤞🏻🤞🏻✨✨

Ive heard of roslyn, i think i have a few on hold!

Same with harper bliss!

HAHAHAH i will try my best!! I was mainly going off reccomendations from instagram friends/reviews on insta & then looking up others by the same authors & now people’s goodreads.

I DO really want to get my hands on some heavier smut books though, even if that means diving into some not so greatly written stuff LOL. I just want to see what people think is raunchy/kinky. Cause rn its not much 😂😂

Pls feel free to always send more recs!

[palmviewfm]

mw counterparts?

we've got quite a few options for you ! here's  some  counterparts  that  we'd  love  to  see  being  used  for  inspo  ! 

monica  geller,  ross  geller,  chandler  bing,  joey  tribbiani,  susan  bunch,  carol  willick,  janice  litman  goralnik,  mike  hannigan,  jim  halpert,  pam  beesly,  ted  mosby,  jackie  burkhart,  donna  pinciotti,  eric  forman,  laurie  forman,  jade  west,  cat  valentine,  andre  harris,  beck  oliver,  shaggy  rogers,  daphne  blake,  velma  dinkley,  kim  possible,  aria  montgomery,  alison  dilaurentis,  mona  vanderwaal,  emily  fields,  spencer  hastings,  noel  kahn,  caleb  rivers,  toby  cavanaugh,  elena  gilbert,  katherine  pierce,  caroline  forbes,  bonnie  bennett,  tyler  lockwood,  hayley  marshall,  rebekah  mikaelson,  stefan  salvatore,  elijah  mikaelson,  edward  cullen,  rosalie  hale,  esme  cullen,  carlisle  cullen,  alice  cullen,  jacob  black,  jessica  stanley,  beca  mitchell,  chloe  beale,  audrey  posen,  sarah  cameron,  kiara  carerra,  jj  maybank,  john  b  routledge,  pope  heyward,  cleo  anderson,  frances  'baby'  houseman,  brenda  walsh,  kelly  taylor,  donna  martin,  andrea  zuckerman,  valerie  malone,  brandon  walsh,  dylan  mckay,  david  silver,  steve  saunders,  dixon  wilson,  annie  wilson,  naomi  clark,  erin  silver,  brooke  davis,  peyton  sawyer,  haley  james  scott,  lucas  scott,  rachel  gatina,  quinn  james,  clay  evans,  mouth  mcfadden,  skills  taylor,  alex  dupre,  millie huxtable, julian baker, marissa  cooper,  summer  roberts,  anna stern, seth  cohen, zach stevens,  taylor  townsend,  ryan  atwood,  luke  ward,  lexi  grey,  arizona  robbins,  cristina  yang,  atticus  lincoln,  derek  shepherd,  jackson  avery,  cher  horowitz,  regina  george,  gretchen  weiners,  cady  heron,  karen  smith,  janis  ian,  damian  haynes,  heather  chandler,  heather  duke,  heather  mcnamara,  veronica  sawyer,  lorelai  gilmore,  luke  danes,  logna  huntzberger,  jess  mariano,  derek  forester,  lane  kim,  dave  rygalski,  sookie  st  james,  daphne  bridgerton,  simon  basset,  claire  standish,  allison  reynolds,  brian  johnson,  samantha  baker,  austin  ames,  samantha  montgomery,  joey  potter,  jen  lindley,  dawson  leery,  pacey  witter,  peter  parker,  mary  jane  watson,  fiona  gallagher,  lip  gallagher,  faith  lehane,  cordelia  chase,  willow  rosenberg,  prue  halliwell,  paige  matthews,  piper  halliwell,  leo  wyatt,  cole  turner, theo raeken, malia tate, liam dunbar, cora hale, isaac lahey, allison argent, scott mccall, hayden romero, jordan baker, olivia baker, layla keating, spencer james, stiles stilinski, lyla garrity, and tim riggins !

[ulkaralakbarova]

When Queen Elizabeth’s reign is threatened by ruthless familial betrayal and Spain’s invading army, she and her shrewd adviser must act to safeguard the lives of her people. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Elizabeth I, Queen of England: Cate Blanchett Sir Walter Raleigh: Clive Owen Sir Francis Walsingham: Geoffrey Rush Sir Christopher Hatton: Laurence Fox Amyas Paulet: Tom Hollander Elizabeth Throckmorton: Abbie Cornish Robert Reston: Rhys Ifans King Philip II of Spain: Jordi Mollà Mary, Queen of Scots: Samantha Morton Anthony Babington: Eddie Redmayne Calley: Adrian Scarborough William Walsingham: Adam Godley Archduke Charles: Christian Brassington Count Georg von Helfenstein: Robert Cambrinus Dr. John Dee: David Threlfall Spanish Minister: Vidal Sancho Ursula Walsingham: Kelly Hunter Lord Howard: John Shrapnel Torturer: Sam Spruell Cellarman: David Sterne Admiral Sir William Winter: David Robb Courtier: Jonathan Bailey Walsingham’s Servant: Steve Lately Woman with Baby: Kate Fleetwood Infanta Isabel of Spain: Aimee King Annette: Susan Lynch Mary Walsingham: Kristin Coulter Smith Queen Elizabeth’s Waiting Lady #1: Hayley Burroughs Queen Elizabeth’s Waiting Lady #2: Kirsty McKay Queen Elizabeth’s Waiting Lady #3: Lucia Ruck Keene Queen Elizabeth’s Waiting Lady #4: Lucienne Venisse-Back Laundry Woman: Elise McCave Margaret: Penelope McGhie First Court Lady: Coral Beed Second Court Lady: Rosalind Halstead Manteo: Steven Loton Wanchese: Martin Baron Walsingham’s Agent: David Armand Sir Francis Throckmorton: Steven Robertson Ramsey: Jeremy Barker Burton: George Innes Mary Walsingham: Kirstin Smith Old Throckmorton: Tim Preece Dance Master: Benjamin May Royal Servant: Glenn Doherty Dean of Peterborough: Chris Brailsford Executioner: Dave Legeno Spanish Archbishop: Antony Carrick Marriage Priest: John Atterbury First Spanish Officer: Alex Giannini Second Spanish Officer: Joe Ferrara Courtier: Alexander Barnes Courtier: Charles Bruce Courtier: Jeremy Cracknell Courtier: Benedict Green Courtier: Adam Smith Courtier: Simon Stratton Courtier: Crispin Swayne Mary Stuart’s Lady in Waiting: Kitty Fox Mary Stuart’s Lady in Waiting: Kate Lindesay Mary Stuart’s Lady in Waiting: Katherine Templar Courtier (uncredited): Morne Botes Young Boy (uncredited): Finn Morrell Tyger Salior (uncredited): Shane Nolan Film Crew: Screenplay: William Nicholson Director of Photography: Remi Adefarasin Editor: Jill Bilcock Original Music Composer: A.R. Rahman Original Music Composer: Craig Armstrong Set Decoration: Richard Roberts Stunts: Peter Pedrero Stunt Coordinator: Greg Powell Casting: Fiona Weir Stunts: Rob Inch Stunts: Andy Smart Additional Camera: David Worley Costume Design: Alexandra Byrne Supervising Sound Editor: Mark Auguste Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas Supervising Art Director: Frank Walsh Director: Shekhar Kapur Screenplay: Michael Hirst Editor: Andrew Haddock Art Direction: David Allday Set Costumer: Martin Chitty Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Steve Single Scenic Artist: Rohan Harris Stunts: Ray Nicholas Art Direction: Andy Thomson Art Direction: Jason Knox-Johnston Production Manager: Mark Mostyn Stunts: George Cottle Stunts: David Anders Stunts: Peter Miles Visual Effects Supervisor: John Lockwood Stunts: John Kearney Stunts: Paul Kennington Stunts: Nick Chopping Costume Supervisor: Suzi Turnbull Hairstylist: Morag Ross Art Direction: Phil Sims Music Editor: Tony Lewis ADR Recordist: Robert Edwards Stunt Double: Abbi Collins Script Supervisor: Angela Wharton ADR Editor: Tim Hands Art Direction: Christian Huband Visual Effects Supervisor: Richard Stammers Stunts: Rowley Irlam Assistant Art Director: Helen Xenopoulos Foley Artist: Mario Vaccaro Visual Effects Supervisor: Steve Street Property Master: David Balfour Greensman: Ian Whiteford Foley Editor: Andrew Neil Stunts: Gordon Seed Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Tim Cavagin Dialogue Editor: Sam Auguste Scenic Artist: James Gemmill Unit Publicist: Stacy Mann Camera Operator: Ben Wilson Visual Effects Editor: Aled Robinson Stunts: Paul Herbert Hairstylist: Do...

[andrewrobertsoncreativeenquiry]

I find all of documentary film maker Adam Curtis's work fascinating.

This 3 part documentary series released in 2004 looks at in detail the geopolitical situation, proceeding and after the attack on the world trade centre in New York on September 11th 2001.

It explores the role of politicians and governments in a post 911 world.

Curtis suggests, that it was once the politicians roll to sell dreams of a better life to the citizens of their nation as way to gain power, however there was a shift in this political roll post 911. Political figures took on a new roll no longer as the seller of dreams but the the protector from nightmares. This was perhaps seen most prominently within the actions of the Governments of the USA and indeed of the UK post 911.

The film 2018 "Vice" directed by Adam Mckay, is a biopic of the life of Ex Vice President (USA) Dick Cheney, with a focus on his time in Government. It details the use of of these nightmares mentioned by Curtis in the power of nightmares, and how they were used to force the attack of Iraq in 2003, It is now widely known, the reasons for the USA and UK's invasion were not about Iraq having weapons of mass distraction and was very much about the greed of western nations, in regard to the control of oil. Much of the evidence used to make this invasion happen was in-fact anecdotal and many other pieces of hard evidence to the contrary where disregarded, not by the intelligence originations but by the people at the top of government tailoring the evidence, to fit with the perceived nightmare scenario of Iraq using these (made up) weapons against western nations.

The company Cheney is now Chairman of and was CEO for before his time as Vice President is believed to have made over 8 billion US dollars out of its operations in Iraq post 2003, most of this money has come from securing of Oil Fields in cooperation with the US government and western oil companies.

[mediaevalmusereads]

2023 Reading Wrap-Up: the Good, the Bad, and the Meh

Below is a list of books that I read in 2023. I’ve sorted them into 3 categories: the good (books I loved), the bad (books I didn’t like), and the meh (books I thought were just ok). Other than these categories, the books aren’t listed in any special order or ranking.

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

The Good

The Beautifu Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Civilizations by Laurent Binet

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

Baking Yesteryear by B. Dylan Hollis

Powers of Darkness by Valdimar Asmundsson

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Say Yes to the Marquess by Tessa Dare

Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare

A Night to Surrender by Tessa Dare

The Square of Sevens by Laura Robinson-Shepherd

Japanese Ghost Stories by Lafcadio Hearn

Unlocked by Courtney Milan

Writing Fiction by Janet Burroway

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

If We Were Villains by ML Rio

Under the Eye of Power by Colin Dickey

Proof By Seduction by Courtney Milan

Our Hideous Progeny by CE McGill

Bea Wulf by Zach Weinersmith

Hen Fever by Olivia Waite

The Ruin of Gabriel Ashleigh by KJ Charles

Lord Dashwood Missed Out by Tessa Dare

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe

Any Duchess Will Do by Tessa Dare

A Lady by Midnight by Tessa Dare

A Rogue's Rules for Seduction by Eva Leigh

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

Perfume by Patrick Suskind

Affective Medievalism by Thomas Prendergast and Stephanie Trigg

A Week to Be Wicked by Tessa Dare

The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin

Kent State by Derf Backderf

Anti-Christ by Mernard McGinn

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

The Meh

The Nothing Man by Katherine Ryan Howard

A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

A Christmas Bride by Mary Balogh

A True Account by Katherine Howe

The Disenchantment by Celia Bell

Hazardous Spirits by Anbara Salam

The Wallflower Wager by Tessa Dare

Penguin's Poems for Love by Laura Barber

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron

Marry Me By Midnight by Felicia Grossman

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

Trial By Desire by Courtney Milan

The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu by Tom Lin

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

Beauty and the Blacksmith by Tessa Dare

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

Weyward by Emilia Hart

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall

The Twenty Days of Turin by Giorgio de Maria

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sara MacLean

How the Wallflower Was Won by Eva Leigh

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

Erotic Medievalisms by Elan Justice Pavlinich

Hit Me With Your Best Scot by Suzanne Enoch

Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins

Prize for the Fire by Rilla Askew

Bisclavret by KL Noone

The Witches of New York by Ami McKay

A Natural History of the Romance Novel by Pamela Regis

The Bad

A Love By Design by Elizabeth Everett

Mr. Malcolm's List by Suzanne Allain

A Dangerous Business by Jane Smiley

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Finding Meaning by David Kessler

Do You Want to Start a Scandal by Tessa Dare

The Prince of Prohibition by Marilyn Marks

The Heiress Hunt by Joanna Shupe

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley

[witchinghourwords]

Libraries really are magic. Every morning when I go into my son's school library to tidy up and put the books back on the shelf I find something that tugs at my interest. A quiet temptation that reminds me of who I used to be.

It's time to end the reading drought.

To celebrate World Book Day, I'm reading my way through that school library, starting with the stories below,

The House With Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson

The Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell

Scarlet and Ivy by Sophie Cleverly

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

Tin by Pádraig Kenny

Indigo’s Star by Hilary McKay

Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

The Nowhere Emporium by Ross Mackenzie

For starters, at least.

Have you read any books on the list? Or what do you want to read this year?

[theskyeandsea]

Phone Call || Skylar & Katherine McKay

[Dial Tone]

[Dial Tone]

[Dial Tone]

Katherine: Katherine McKay.

Skylar: ...It's me, Mom.

Katherine: [Silence]

Skylar: I, I know I haven't called you since I left. And I know Dad and Bri have been calling and texting and everything. But I needed to call you now.

Katherine: [Silence]

Skylar: Mom, please. Talk to me. I need-- I really need you to talk to me.

Katherine: [Silence]

Skylar: Mom, I can't, I can't do this. I need help, I need to understand. I need answers and YOU NEVER GAVE ME ANSWERS

Katherine: [Silence]

Skylar: You and Dad knew, you knew what I was! You knew what I needed. And for years and years, you dragged me to all of those doctors. What did you think they were going to do? Make me not a seal?!

Katherine: Do not shout at me.

Skylar: SO YOU'RE FINALLY SAYING SOMETHING? MOM. WHEN I LEFT, YOU DIDNT TELL ME ANYTHING. WHY DIDNT YOU AND DAD SAY SOMETHING? I COULD HAVE DIED. I ALMOST DIED SO MANY TIMES AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME

Katherine: [Silence]

Skylar: Did you even love me? Did you ever even [Skylar's voice cracks] care?

Katherine: [Silence]

Skylar: [Sobbing]

Katherine: Don't call this number ever again.

[Dial Tone]