#Mayor Kevin White

[rabbitcruiser]

Join Hands Day

Help organize or join an event to benefit your community on Join Hands Day, a day dedicated to coming together with others to make things better.

Join Hands Day lights up the first Saturday of May each year, making it a day dedicated to volunteering and bridging the gap between different generations.

In 2024, this celebration falls on May 4th. It’s a special day, initiated in the year 2000 by the American Fraternal Alliance in partnership with the Points of Light Foundation.

This day isn’t just about offering your time for a good cause; it’s about bringing together the energy and wisdom of both younger and older generations to foster understanding and cooperation across age divides.

Why celebrate? It’s simple yet profound: volunteering strengthens communities by providing essential services and support and enriches the lives of volunteers.

Engaging in volunteer work can enhance mental health, boost social skills, and even improve job prospects, especially for young people. Moreover, Join Hands Day emphasizes the power of collective effort across generations, encouraging a blend of experiences and perspectives to achieve common goals.

The spirit of Join Hands Day is all about unity and collaboration. Whether you’re sharing knowledge through a skills exchange, participating in a local clean-up, or simply spreading awareness about the importance of volunteering, every action counts.

It’s a celebration of our shared humanity, highlighting how much stronger we are when we join hands and work together. Join Hands Day reminds us that every day is an opportunity to make a positive impact in the world, one good deed at a time​​​​​​​​.

History of Join Hands Day

Once upon a time, in the year 2000, a bunch of big-hearted people from the American Fraternal Alliance teamed up with the Points of Light Foundation.

Their mission? To spark a day on the first Saturday of May each year when folks of all ages could join forces and spread some kindness. And so, Join Hands Day was born.

This wasn’t just any volunteering day; it had a twist. The idea was to mix things up, get young guns and wise wizards to work together and break down those pesky age barriers.

The first year kicked off with a bang, and the excitement was just getting started. They wanted to make sure everyone got in on the action, so they threw in some cash and shiny awards for some lucky groups, celebrating their awesome projects at a fancy conference. Talk about a party with a purpose!

But wait, there’s more! Imagine fixing bikes for kiddos who needed them or sprucing up graveyards to honor the past. That’s the kind of magic Join Hands Day aimed for, turning simple acts into treasures of togetherness.

Even though it’s all about that first Saturday in May, there was this one time in 2001 when the celebration took a little detour to June. Guess they couldn’t wait to spread more joy!

Today, Join Hands Day keeps the spirit alive, making every first Saturday in May a day to remember. From book readings in nursing homes to planting new life in parks, it’s all about sharing skills, laughter, and a whole lot of love​​​​​​​​.

How to Celebrate Join Hands Day

Treasure Hunt for Good

Team up for Adventure: Gather friends from different generations for a community treasure hunt. Together, seek out hidden volunteer opportunities. It’s fun with a splash of kindness!

Skill Swap Extravaganza

Learning Across Ages: Host a day where everyone shares their skills. Young teach old, old teach young. It’s a learning party for all ages!

Community Garden Gathering

Green Thumbs Unite: Join hands to plant a community garden. It’s a celebration of growth, not just for plants but also for friendships.

The Great Cook-off

Culinary Time Travel: Challenge each other to a cook-off. Create dishes from various eras. Share food, stories, and a hearty laugh over the dinner table.

Time Capsule Creations

Preserve Today for Tomorrow: Craft a time capsule together. Fill it with memories, gadgets, and guesses about the future. Seal it with a promise to revisit it together.

Each paragraph brings to life a unique way to celebrate Join Hands Day, emphasizing fun, learning, and community engagement across generations.

Source

[postcardsfromwanderings]

Big foot vs little foot, Mayor Kevin White statue, Boston

[tomorrowusa]

A century after experiencing one of the worst race riots in US history, Tulsa has elected its first black mayor.

OKLAHOMA CITY — In a district demolished a century ago in the Tulsa Race Massacre and rebuilt from the rubble, state Rep. Monroe Nichols declared victory as the first Black Tulsan elected as the city’s mayor. Black residents say Nichols’ election adds a new, inspiring page to the history books of a city known for its dark past. In 1921, hundreds of African-American Tulsans lost their lives, homes and businesses when a white mob attacked the affluent neighborhood of Greenwood. The Greenwood Cultural Center was alight with music and cheering Tuesday night on Tulsa’s Black Wall Street, as Nichols won the mayoral seat 56% to 44% over Tulsa County Commissioner Karen Keith. Nichols scored a decisive win despite raising about $1 million less than his opponent, campaign finance records show. “Tonight on the grounds of greatness, we proclaim that Tulsa is a city on the move,” Nichols said in his election night remarks. A fellow Democratic lawmaker, Sen. Kevin Matthews, said Wednesday that Nichols’ victory “one of the most historic and significant things that I’ve seen in my lifetime in Tulsa,” where only 15% of the population is Black.

Nichols underspent his opponent and won in a city that's just 15% black.

This will be one of the better inaugurations in coming weeks.

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

July 23rd, 1982 - Queen Story!

Queen perform at the Boston Gardens, Boston, USA, during 'Hot Space' World Tour

👉 On this day the mayor of Boston, Kevin H. White, proclaims the Official 'Queen Day'!

📸 Photo credit Derek Szabo

[broken-heart-raven-queen]

Cody and Cameron don't exist, they are only names in a list.

But FOR ME they also:

•Were known as "The Winter Blizzard" in high school.

•Used to dye a part of their hair white, Cody still does it.

•Had a very united family, people think their parents are separated and that they lived a Parent Trap situation bcs they are so different but their parents love eachother and their children and are just normal nice people that MAYBE work to much.

•Cody is the youngest (even if they are twins, I'm not discarding that posibility) and tried to contact his brother but never received an answer (Tetsuji and the other coaches intercepted the letters and burned them) so he's mad that Cameron didn't ever reply and Cameron thinks that Cody liked his new friends and new life without him better.

•They are not grumpy/sunshine coded, they are goth/jock coded but as they grew up together they share a lot of interests and some little details from their style.

•They smoke pot, Cameron had to quit because in the Nest he had bad trips and they made practices even worse.

•Don't really love exy, it was the only chance they had to go to college and maybe help a little to raise the economics of the family. Cameron only wanted to go pro because of the Ravens, but is one of those things you principally say to blend in and then start believing a little.

•Both are pan but neither of them are persuing relationships at the moment. Cody is on and off with some of his teammates but is mainly a fwb situation and Cameron still thinks about a person from his past (that he knows he has to forget bcs its an outsider and the Master won't approve).

•Cameron tried to stay clear from Riko so he almost never played in the same team as him when the Ravens practiced.

•Cody is one of Jeremy's closest teammates that are not his friends.

•Cameron wanted to study marine biology (whales specifically) but was doing an irrelevant minor bcs they forced him to. Cody studies a lot (he was never as good as his brother in school) and is doing a mayor in law and a minor in art.

•If they are twins they are both in third year, if they are not, maybe Cameron is in 4th year and Cody in second.

•Cameron doesn't necessarily hate Jean or Kevin but he will glare at them if he sees them and maybe be a little rougher than needed in court.

[jo-shmo]

Here is my submission for "Welcome to Night Vale" citizens, should it have been recorded in the 1970s:

Bea Arthur as "Old Woman Josie/The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in your Home"

Betty White as "Mayor Pamela Winchell"

Jamie Lee Curtis as "Intern Dana/Maureen"

Christopher Lloyd as "John Peters (You Know, the Farmer?)"

Dan Akroyd as "Carlos, the Scientist/Steve Carlsburg"

Mark Hamill as "Kevin"

Harrison Ford as "Cecil Palmer"

[mariacallous]

More than a dozen former Trump administration officials on Friday came out in support of former chief of staff John Kelly, who went on the record this week to say the former president fits the definition of a fascist, would govern like a dictator and has no concept of the Constitution.

In a new letter, shared exclusively with POLITICO, the former Trump administration officials — some of the officials have been outspoken Trump critics for years — stated, “this is who Donald Trump is.”

“The revelations General Kelly brought forward are disturbing and shocking. But because we know Trump and have worked for and alongside him, we were sadly not surprised by what General Kelly had to say,” the letter states.

“We applaud General Kelly for highlighting in stark details the danger of a second Trump term. Like General Kelly, we did not take the decision to come forward lightly. We are all lifelong Republicans who served our country. However, there are moments in history where it becomes necessary to put country over party. This is one of those moments” the letter states. “Everyone should heed General Kelly’s warning.”

The letter was signed by Trump administration officials, including Kevin Carroll, former senior counselor to Kelly; former deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews; former assistant secretary of homeland security Elizabeth Neumann; former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci; former chief of staff at the Dept. of Homeland Security Miles Taylor; former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham; former press secretary to the vice president Alyssa Farah Griffin; and former national security adviser to vice president Pence, Olivia Troye.

Taylor was the author of “Anonymous,” a book warning about Trump, and Troye and former press secretary Stephanie Grisham spoke at the Democratic National Convention.

The letter comes as Harris is leaning into her closing argument that Trump is a threat to democracy and poses a distinct threat if he’s reelected. It’s a message she and her campaign believes resonates with independents and Trump-weary Republicans who are concerned about the former president returning to the Oval Office.

On Wednesday night, Harris’ campaign conducted a focus group with undecided voters in a battleground state, where the participants found Kelly to be credible and trustworthy and his criticism of Trump, according to a campaign official, granted anonymity to discuss the findings, made some of them think twice about the former president.

According to a campaign official, the Harris campaign learned that persuadable and undecided voters in recent battleground state polling, their target group, said that the former president’s pursuit of “unchecked power with no one to stop him” is one of their top concerns. They also found that one of the concerning messages for them on this point is that “those who worked closest with Trump while he was President have left and said he should not be President again because of the risk he poses to national security.”

A Wall Street Journal poll released on Wednesday showed that while Trump has the lead on the issues of immigration and the economy, more voters viewed Trump than Harris as “too extreme,” 49 to 39 percent, or a danger to the country, 48 to 43 percent.

The release of the letter also comes as several more Republicans defect from their party and publicly support Harris, including former Michigan Rep. Fred Upton and the GOP mayor of Waukesha, Wisconsin, a city in the largest Republican county in the state.

In a Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump slammed Kelly, a former four star general, as a “lowlife” and “total degenerate” who “made up a story out of pure Trump Derangement Syndrome Hatred.”

“This guy had two qualities, which don’t work well together. He was tough and dumb. The problem is his toughness morphed into weakness, because he became JELLO with time! The story about the Soldiers was A LIE, as are numerous other stories he told,” Trump posted.

Trump’s reference to the story about soldiers is likely about Kelly’s 2023 statement to CNN when he claimed the former president disparaged soldiers in private.

Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement, “This is nothing more than disgruntled, former low-level employees who had remarkably undistinguished careers in government and are now trying to survive as Never Trump pundits fighting over cable news contracts. The fact remains they did not serve their country and President well, and will have to live with that dishonor for the rest of their miserable lives.”

“President Trump has always honored the service and sacrifice of all of our military men and women, whereas Kamala Harris has completely disrespected the families of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, including the Abbey Gate 13,” Cheung said.

The new revelations by Kelly — and data showing concerns about a Trump second term could be effective with independent voters — are propelling a blitz of final week ads and events by the Harris campaign.

During a town hall with CNN on Wednesday night, Harris said the on the record interviews by Kelly were like a “911 call to the American people: Understand what could happen if Donald Trump were back in the White House.”

“I think one has to think about why would someone who served with him, who is not political, a four-star marine general, why is he telling the American people now?” Harris said. “This time, we must take very seriously those folks who knew him best and who were career people are not going to be there to hold him back.”

Her comments to CNN were turned into a new digital ad by her campaign airing in battleground states.

Last week, the Harris campaign produced a TV ad in battleground states making the argument that Trump would “ignore all checks that rein in a president’s power” and on Wednesday launched an ad in English and Spanish highlighting Trump’s response during a Latino town hall that Jan. 6 was a “day of love.”

On Monday, Harris went on tour through the Rust Belt states with former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney to argue that Trump is a threat to the Constitution, and on Wednesday the Harris campaign held a press call with Republican former national security officials.

The ads and events highlighting support from Republican officials and criticisms about Trump’s fitness for office from people who worked for him will culminate with a speech laying out the risks of a second Trump term on Tuesday at the Ellipse on the National Mall, where Trump held a rally before the violent riots on Capitol Hill.

[princess-serenity-now]

kevin defunctland using the fact that he never got to be mayor as a running gag has gotta be the most relatable thing i've ever seen

if i found myself making a deep dive into something tangentially related to my childhood white whale (like holiday ballets), you can bet i'd mention that all the fourth graders at my school would put on the nutcracker and it was my kid self's dream to play clara, but the year i was in fourth grade the principal decided the nutcracker was too "religious" and i got cast as the state of connecticut more than a few times, and probably throw in a "fuck connecticut" joke for good measure

[militantinremission]

It's getting hard 2 keep up w/ all the shenanigans going on:

1st Claudine Gay is forced to resign from Harvard, for blatant Plagiarism.

Then Fani Willis is caught up in Adultery w/ her subordinate.

Now Tasha K is caught Red Handed perjuring herself in her lawsuit against Cardi B.

All of these Women had the Wind @ their backs, but chose to Push the Envelope, for whatever reason. Claudine Gay forgot WHO finances Harvard Univ. A little finesse could've gone a long way to keeping her position. Fani Willis has denied allegations of Adultery w/ one of her 'Rock Star' Special Prosecutors, Nathan Wade; despite Court Papers showing that she was subpoenaed in his Divorce Trial, as a witness for his estranged Wife, Jocelyn. It is insinuated that Nathan Wade used a portion of his paychecks to take DA Willis on lavish vacations... DA Willis then attended a local Black Church, where she tried to Sistah Gurl & Obama Speak her way out of Adultery, while simultaneously making a plea(?) to her Superiors.

Tasha K tried to emulate Wendy Williams, & got the same result. She obviously underestimated Cardi B. Rather than negotiate Settlement Terms w/ Cardi B's Legal Team, Tasha K tried to hide her funds & got caught! I followed 'Sharell's World' down the rabbit hole, as She & Perry went through the Court Transcripts showing that Tasha K had 5 Trust Funds set up to hide her Cash... Maybe Tasha should've used something other than her Middle Name & her Children to name those Trusts? Again, She underestimated Cardi B's Legal Team. According to the Court Transcripts, Tasha has also dragged her husband & her accountant into this mess... Maybe she should Cease & Desist w/ antagonizing Kevin Hart & R. Kelly?... Maybe?

These 3 events got Me asking: Is there an Attack on Black Girl Magic, or is this yet another case of White Supremacists playing w/ their food? All three Women suffer from self inflicted wounds, so they can't point to a Patriarchy. That said, All three Women were given platforms over other able bodied Women, so were they hand picked? Jason Black (aka The Black Authority) pointed out a previous 'Adulterous Affair' in New Orleans, between Mayor LaToya Cantrell & her Executive Protection Officer, Jeffrey Vappie. TBA detailed how these Women seem to be mimicking their White Peers, but I don't think they understand how White Supremacy works. 'Go For Self-erism' really only works for Whitefolk & their 'Model Minorities'. Blackfolk R like those things in 'Wack A Mole' holes; at ANY GIVEN MOMENT, They can be knocked into oblivion... Dolton Mayor, Tiffany Henyard should B paying attention.

-Just My 2 Cents

[marcmarcmomarc]

RWBY Spanish dub

Team RWBY

Ruby Rose: Valentina Souza

Weiss Schnee: Romina Marroquín Payró

Blake Belladonna: Alondra Hidalgo

Yang Xiao Long: Mireya Mendoza

Team JNPR

Jaune Arc: Óscar Flores

Nora Valkyrie: Analiz Sánchez, Regina Carrillo (young)

Pyrrha Nikos: Berenice Vega

Lie Ren: Alan Fernando Velázquez, Zoe Mora (young)

Team STRQ

Summer Rose: Ale Pilar

Taiyang Xiao Long: Arturo Mercado Jr.

Raven Branwen: Fernanda Robles

Qrow Branwen: Germán Fabregat

Beacon Academy

Professor Ozpin: Mario Arvizu

Glynda Goodwitch: Maru Guzmán

Peter Port: Francisco Colmenero

Bartholomew Oobleck: Beto Castillo

Salem’s Inner Circle

Salem: Irasema Terrazas

Cinder Fall: Dulce Guerrero

Roman Torchwick: Sergio Gutiérrez Coto

Emerald Sustrai: Alicia Vélez

Mercury Black: Erick Salinas

Neopolitan: Agustina Cirulnik

Dr. Arthur Watts: Armando Réndiz

Tyrian Callows: Miguel Ángel Ruiz

Hazel Rainart: Octavio Rojas

The Hound: Mario Castañeda

Leonardo Lionheart: Humberto Solórzano

Vernal: Rebeca Patiño

Tock: Simone Brook

Atlas Military

James Ironwood: Dafnis Fernández

Winter Schnee: Xóchitl Ugarte

Penny Polendina: Cristina Hernández

Caroline Cordovin: Magda Giner

Ruby’s Group

Oscar Pine: Luis Leonardo Suárez

Maria Calavera: Ángela Villanueva

Dr. Pietro Polendina: Gerardo Reyero

Team SSSNN

Sun Wukong: Alexis Ortega

Scarlet David: Alberto Bernal

Sage Ayana: Abraham Vega

Neptune Vasilias: Enzo Fortuny

Nolan Porfirio: Pepe Vilchis

Team CFVY

Coco Adel: Liliana Barba

Fox Alistair: Geezuz González

Velvet Scarlatina: Carla Castañeda

Yatsuhashi Daichi: Óscar Garibay

Ace-Ops

Clover Ebi: Raúl Anaya

Vine Zeki: Eduardo Giaccardi

Elm Ederne: Gabriela Guzmán

Harriet Bree: Karla Falcón

Marrow Amin: Ricardo Tejedo

Happy Huntresses

Robyn Hill: Erica Edwards

May Marigold: Ruth Toscano

Joanna Greenleaf: Yvette García

Fiona Thyme: Lupita Leal

The White Fang

Ghira Belladonna: Emilio Guerrero

Kali Belladonna: Rebeca Manríquez

Adam Taurus: Alejandro Orozco

Corsac Albain: Emmanuel Bernal

Fennec Albain: Eduardo Garza

Ilia Amitola: Monserrat Mendoza

Schnee Manor

Jacques Schnee: Arturo Mercado

Whitley Schnee: Moisés Iván Mora

Willow Schnee: Yolanda Vidal

Klein Sieben: Jesse Conde

Ancient Times

Ozma: Roberto Salguero/Ricardo Bautista

God of Light: José Luis Orozco

God of Darkness: Salvador Reyes

Jinn: Danann Huicochea

Ambrosius: Rubén Cerda

Xiong Family

Hei “Junior” Xiong: Eduardo Fonseca

Lil’ Miss Malachite: Leyla Rangel

Miltia and Melanie Malachite: Lourdes Arruti

Team CRDL

Cardin Winchester: Raúl Anaya

Russel Thrush: Yamil Atala

Team FNKI

Flynt Coal: José Ángel Torres

Neon Katt: Meli G

Arc Family

Saphron Cotta-Arc: Erika Ugalde

Terra Cotta-Arc: Carla Medina

The Ever After

Little/Somewhat: Angélica Villa

Curious Cat: Ángel Balam

Blacksmith: Carmen Sarahí

Jabberwalker: Víctor Hugo Aguilar

Jinxy: Jaime López

Red Prince: Pascual Meza

Herbalist: César Bono

Alyx: Julia Bilous

RWBY: Grimm Eclipse

Dr. Merlot: Sebastián Llapur

RWBY: Arrowfell

Amoncio Glass: Alfonso Grau

Hanlon Fifestone: Óscar Gómez

Bram Thornmane: Trujo

Olive Harper: Leslie Gil

Bianca Prisma: Cecilia Gómez

Roane Ashwood: Alicia Barragán

Ivy Thickety: Edurne Keel

Ruda Tilleroot: Jessica Ángeles

Minor characters introduced in Volume 1

Shopkeep: Eduardo Tejedo

Xiong Goons: Ricardo Mendoza “El Coyote, Carlo Vázquez

Cyril Ian: Víctor Ugarte

Lisa Lavender: Alondra Hidalgo

Police Officers: Daniel Lacy, Patricio Lago

Sailors: Marc Winslow, Noé Velázquez

White Fang Goon: David Bueno

Penny’s Driver: José Luis Miranda

Minor characters introduced in Volume 2

Tukson: Octavio Rojas

White Fang Lieutenant: Roberto Gutiérrez

“Deery”: Alicia Barragán

Perry: Arturo Castañeda

Councilman: Kevin Adrián

Minor characters introduced in Volume 3

Bolin Hori: José Antonio Macías

Nadir Shiko: Edson Matus

Brawnz Ni: Abraham Vega

Bartender: Carlos del Campo

Nebula Violette: Karla Falcón

Dew Gayl: Jessica Ángeles

Ciel Soleil: Camila Díaz Fraga

Amber: Ximena de Anda

Atlas Ship Captain: Víctor Hugo Aguilar

Minor characters introduced in Volume 4

Mayor: Alfredo Gabriel Basurto

Blacksmith: Jesús Ochoa

Dying Huntsman: Nando Estevané

Captain: Víctor Trujillo

News Reporters: Eduardo Fonseca, Sonia Casillas, César Costa

First Mate: Paulina García Casillas

Oscar’s Aunt: Kerygma Flores

Higanbana Waitress: Claudia Garzón

Businessman: José Luis Orozco

Businesswoman: Karina Altamirano

Henry Marigold: Emilio Treviño

Angry Businessman: Héctor Estrada

Trophy Wife: Ximena de Anda

Husband: Arturo Cataño

An Ren: Kerygma Flores

Kuroyuri Blacksmith: Alan Bravo

Boys: Luistio Comunica, Regina Blandón, Ana Layevska

Li Ren: Idzi Dutkiewicz

Mistral Pilot: Manuel Campuzano

Atlas Pilot: Hernán Bravo

Minor characters introduced in Volume 5

Mistral Pilot: Irene Jiménez

Menagerie Guards: Tatul Bernodat, Mark Pokora, Andrea Coto

Bartender: Víctor Covarrubias

Shay D. Mann: Esteban Desco

Sienna Khan: Lileana Chacón

Saber Rodentia: Ricardo Brust

Mata’s Mother: Gloria Obregón

Mata: Luis Fernando Orozco

Yuma: Bruno Coronel

Ramen Shop Owner: Ángel Mujica

Small Girl: Ivanna Corona

Trifa: Miriam Aceves

Mistral Police Captain: Rommy Mendoza

Minor characters introduced in Volume 6

Dee: Dan Osorio

Dudley: Alejandro Orozco

Mistral Woman: María Álcazar

Nubuck Guards: Raúl Solo

Red-Haired Woman: Rossy Aguirre

Terminal Soldier: Miguel Ángel Leal

Minor characters introduced in Volume 7

Drunk Mann: Raúl Aldana

Drinking Buddy: Héctor Emmanuel Gómez

Forest: Moisés Palacios

Fria: Isabel Martiñón

Councilman Sleet: Daniel del Roble

Councilwoman Camilla: Graciela Gámez

Minor characters introduced in Volume 8

Atlas Commander: Itatí Cantoral

Shovel Mom: Denisse Aragón

Disgruntled Grandmother: Diana Santos

Fiona’s Uncle: Gabriel Pingarrón

Crimson: José Luis Rivera

Madame: Rona Fletcher

Step-Sisters: Annie Rojas

Rhodes: Idzi Dutkiewicz

CCT Voice: Sonia Casillas

Minor characters introduced in Volume 9

Mouse Leader: Betzabé Jara

Townsperson: Kate del Castillo

Toy Soldiers: Ricardo Mendoza “El Coyote”, José Arenas, Ramón Bazet, Diego Becerril, Óscar Gómez

White Pawns: Cecilia Gómez, David Bueno, Enrique Cervantes, Ramón Bazet

Toy Guard: Roberto Carrillo

Hawker: Erick Selim

Teapot Lady: Maythe Guedes

Paper Pleasers: Iván Bastidas, Luis Carreño, Irwin Daayán, Gaby Cárdenas, Denisse Aragón

[yuki-boshi]

Kai no Kiseki - English Summary - Act 3 Van Route 6

Table of Contents

Act 3 Van 6

The story picks up right after Van 5 with Mirabel, Fan, Gaolang, and Cao leaving Anchorville. Risette hugs Mirabel, wishing her safety. In a flashback, Van tries to stop Agnes from leaving, but she reassures him. The group is against it, and Agnes apologizes for being a bad assistant. Renne steps in, suspicious of Agnes, and says she’ll accompany her. Dominique joins them. Kincaid tells Van that Elaine’s arrival to Anchorville might not happen in time, but asks him not to die. Van vows to expose Kincaid and the President’s dirty secrets.

Judith then offers her help as both Grimcats and a Spriggan Assistant. Hale and Jack are stunned, learning this S-class level information about Judith because it’s not known information. Meanwhile, Jorda and Elaine arrive in Anchorville to assist.

At Zekuu Base, Independent II and Prometheus IV undergo final checks. Giscard readies the team while Esmeray and Cronkite observe.

General Commander Harling oversees from the Control Center, reporting to the President that the Ansala are prepared for deployment. Gramheart thanks Harling for his three years of service and heads to the underground control center beneath the White House. Reflecting on family photos, he recalls a moment when Agnes asked if his actions were right after learning the truth. Gramheart promises to secure her future.

---

At Grim Garten Hub, Crow asks Risette out, frustrating Altina. Risette doesn’t actually say no, though.

 Elaine accepts the title of “Sword Maiden,” promising to aid Van in Agnes’s absence.

Quatre shares his worries with Kevin, who privately apologizes as he plans to kill Hamilton.

At Door 8, the group faces Simeon, who Van is angry at for desecrating Dingo’s name by recreating Zolga, an unnecessary act that Shizuna speculates because she thinks Simeon’s strength rivals McBurn’s.

Even Ulrica thinks that Simeon went too far.

Simeon thinks it’s too far of a joke to say that he and McBurn are equal. After the fight, Swin believes Simeon’s abilities surpass McBurn’s, while Crow suggests he’s nearing McBurn’s true form. Kevin says that Simeon was able to recreate the Kernvitter too.

Simeon concedes, stating that despite his loss and that he underestimated the group, they’re still human, except for Van and the Divine Blade(s) who do qualify to match him at the next stage.

He hands over the key to the Ninth Domain, warning that Novartis is willing to risk everything for its secret and ponders what could it actually be?

---

Back at City Hall in Reality, the effects of the Alter Core seem to have clouded everyone's memory regarding the Crimson Night. Daswani and Alvis attempt to convince the Mayor to increase security, but they fail. However, Elaine steps in and slyly persuades him to allow them to do so. Van finds the situation amusing, especially when Elaine credits her ability to lie to someone's influence, referring to Van himself.

4SPG: A request on the bulletin board asks the group to find the author of Sunshine Agnes. When they inquire, the receptionist explains that the author is unknown, and she’s eager to find out who it is. After asking around, Perdue hints that the author is likely a regular at the café. Speaking with Regard, he brings up an accident involving Ohara, who reveals that Edwin was present at the incident. The novel’s details were so specific that only someone at the scene could have written it, leading them to believe Edwin is the author. Confronting Edwin, he admits to publishing the book but denies being the writer. He reveals he received an orbmail asking him to release the book, and upon reading it, he noticed that the Anchorville described in the novel seemed similar yet different, almost like an alternate version of history.

Edwin hands Van a note from the author along with a medallion, saying the author requested that Van give it to the "other Agnes" when the time comes. Van looks shocked, and Elaine wonders aloud what this "other Agnes" could mean. Curiously, the item’s title translates to “The Witch’s Medallion.”

4SPG: Finding the Missing Director of Anchorville Hospital Nurse Finly contacts Van, asking for help in finding Director Heinnman, who has gone into hiding due to his role in covering up the Underground Facility. After a series of investigations, they deduce that he’s hiding at the Logistics Center. However, they soon realize that Fabio, the Fake Spriggan, is involved. Daswani reveals that a “Spriggan” was responsible for breaking Doctor Grant out of his cell. Under Fabio’s influence, Doctor Grant attempts to kill Heinnman. Van soon discovers that Fabio is too skilled for his age and that Giacomo has been supporting him in order to get revenge on Van. Fabio, now corrupted by the eFactor, summons 8 Octopus Bosses and 4 Bat-type bosses.

After being defeated again, Fabio admits that he can’t compete with Van, the real Spriggan. Van tells him that being a Spriggan is not a grand calling but rather a way for someone like him, who doesn’t fully belong in the light or the dark, to continue existing. The group reassures Van that this is what makes him unique. Van reflects on someone’s growth that impressed him deeply, hinting it’s Agnes, as her confession flashes briefly in his mind.

Jorda asks if he’s referring to Agnes, and Elaine confirms, while thinking to herself that she can’t beat Agnes. (This is a callback to how Agnes says that she can’t win against Elaine at the end of Kuro 2. Oh how the tables have... turned.)

Fabio admits that his connection with Giacomo is one-sided, and he doesn’t know what the Remnants are planning. Van advises Fabio to think carefully about his path and not to cross certain lines. However, he makes it clear that Fabio won’t be getting away with this case and knocks him out. The police arrive, arresting Grant, Fabio, and Heinnman.

---

Connect Event: Shizuna Kaede calls Van about Shizuna’s situation, and he notices she’s logged into Grim Garten. Van logs in, finding a void portal in the Sanctuary and enters. Shizuna, surrounded by a black aura, attacks him, now titled the "Divine Blade of Destruction."

Van transforms into Grendel Shin and fights her. In a brief moment of clarity, Shizuna mentions hearing Akegarasu’s cries before Van disarms her, returning her to normal. Novartis interrupts, warning them their battle nearly affected the real world and his research. Van apologizes, then annoyingly asks Novartis to send them back to their base. Shizuna reveals that her sword, Akegarasu, started leaking its curse after a fight the night before, and she was consumed by it. She says she’s awakened as the Divine Blade of Destruction. Van mentions it's his first time hearing about Akegarasu, its curse, or destruction.

Shizuna explains Akegarasu, also known as Gyoua, is a demon-vanquishing blade passed down with blood and curses attached. A graphic shows Kuuga Ka-Fai bloodied, implying his scars are from Shizuna. Shizuna says she hasn't changed since childhood, still aiming for "0" and finding everything fun.

Van doesn’t deny her way of life but acknowledges she’s grown and become someone he relies on, sharing their pasts. Shizuna notes a different feeling when talking to Van, thinking it’s because he genuinely tries to understand her. She mentions Van's habit of picking up strays, hoping he can lift her up too. Van is taken aback as she ponders if this is a form of love.

He starts coughing and tells her he wants to understand her a little more. Shizuna thanks Van for turning her back into a person and says if she stayed with him longer, then... She later says she'll apologize to Kaede and Kurogane, leaving Van confused. Shizuna logs out to avoid Kaede, who just logged into Grim Garten using an account from Marduk HQ.

This sword of her has like four names now:

Chitose, Nayuta, Akegarasu, Gyoua... Well she did say its true name is lost but wow.

Connect Event: Jorda Jorda fights Bracer Anju, who accuses Bracers of being bloodthirsty after her brother had to retire because of the Garden.

Jorda spares Anju, but when Anju tries to kill her, Van, Alvis, and Gray intervene. Anju wants revenge for her brother, but Jorda, annoyed, points out he isn’t dead. Alvis apologizes and says he'll handle things. Van stops Jorda as she tries to leave, suggesting she instigated the fight to gather information and put Anju on the sidelines, as dealing with Ixs should be her focus. Jorda sighs, annoyed by his lecture. Van tells her she's grown by not being tied to the past and urges her not to give up on doing the right thing. Jorda dismisses him, saying he's like any other adult with empty words. Van yells for her not to run from the past, explaining that losing Ixs helped define her differently. He says she held back against Anju when she could've easily won.

Van then asks what she plans to do when she finds Ixs: return to the Society or choose a new path? Jorda admits she wants something new but doesn’t know how to move forward. Regard and Elaine arrive, with Elaine apologizing for Anju's actions and advising Jorda to move forward without feeling guilty over past injuries. Van urges Jorda to be honest with herself. Jorda smiles, saying she’ll humor Van’s “lies” and “sweet talk” for now. After Elaine and Regard leave, Jorda thanks Van for looking after her and says she’ll stick around as his temporary assistant.

---

Main Story:

Returning to the main story, the group meets up with Jack and Hale, who inform them that most citizens in the city are unaware of the Crimson Night's effects. Shannon calls the group back to the café to receive a letter from Elroy Harwood. Judith asks where Chloe is, and Shannon explains she went to City Hall to assist with food catering for an event. Shannon also mentions she needs to do some work.

The group heads upstairs to read the letter, which states that Harwood wishes to meet them at the Church to exchange information.

If you've completed the Jorda Connect, talking to Anju will lead her to confide in Xiao Lin about her own mistakes and feelings of incompetence for failing to protect the city during Van 5's events. She will spot Van and Jorda and inquire if Jorda is still working as a Spriggan assistant. Jorda confirms she is, and Anju declares that nothing is finished between her and Jorda despite everyone's attempts to intervene. Jorda mentions she wouldn’t mind fighting Anju again, but she feels it's important to inform her that her brother, Regard, spoke to Jorda to apologize for Anju’s actions. Anju, frustrated, retorts that Jorda will never escape the sins of her past and that she won't forget the pain Jorda caused her, nor how it ruined Regard’s chances of advancing in the Bracer Guild. Jorda reflects internally that she never wanted to run away from her past.

Talking to Regard at the Bracer Guild will depend on the Spriggans, including Jorda. Jorda is surprised that he has expectations for her of all people.

At the Church, Harwood's presence is so overwhelming that the Bishop asks everyone to leave. Bergard takes the blunt from Harwood’s hands, asserting that he will not tolerate any disrespect towards the Septian Church. The group is eager for information, and Harwood agrees to share what he knows about the Alter Core and the Remnants. However, he mentions he cannot provide much detail on the Society’s “Third Phase” of their plan, as it involves only Campanella. Instead of smoking, Harwood eats a cinnamon-shaped wafer roll he obtained from neighboring nations. Intrigued by its sweetness, Van holds back his curiosity and steers the conversation back to the main topic. Harwood explains that Enforcer No. V and Enforcer No. XII assisted him with reconnaissance work, and he returned to Calvard for a private reason.

Harwood clarifies that what is known as the Orpheus Final Plan has multiple stages:

The Gospel Plan in Liberl

The Phantasmal Blaze Plan that occurred in Crossbell and Erebonia

Lastly, the Eternal Recurrence Plan.

He notes that there are even more stages, but he is excluded from the larger picture on a need-to-know basis. Harwood elaborates that everything that has transpired—past, present, and future, people, light, and darkness—suggests that the Society and the Septian Church are merely sides of the same coin in relation to something significant about to unfold. He asks Bergard if he understands, but Bergard remains silent. Quatre inquires about Harwood's meaning, while Feri ponders whether they are discussing what is described in Kruga's songs passed down through generations.

Van, wanting to know more about the impending events, asks about the identities of the Masked People, the Alter Core, and its use of impossible technology, as it seems to be distorting the world. Harwood, impressed by Van’s insight, explains that the situation is indeed distorted. Unlike the Simulacrums experienced in Babel, the past, present, and future are intermingled, with the Alter Core serving as the key.

He mentions that the Alter Core likely creates a singularity, using that “impossibility” as a wedge against something, which is the same objective that Gramheart and his Startaker Project are confronting. Speaking in riddles, Harwood questions whether they will disappear as Remnants or be chosen again to be part of history. Bergard claims to understand now. Jorda asks how this relates to Ixs since he isn’t dead, and Harwood points out that Ixs is part of A-D, a lost lamb left behind by society, struggling with a sense of belonging.

Feeling a pain in his stomach, Van wonders if it’s a lingering connection from the Diabolic Core. Suddenly, the entire town is engulfed in a white-like Pandemonium reminiscent of Kuro 1. The group realizes that, unlike the Kuro 1 Pandemonium, this one isn’t caused by him, as people like Xiao Lin on the streets remain frozen. Van senses something drawing him toward City Hall and asks the group, including Harwood, to assist him.

When talking to Regard during the Pandemonium, he reveals that he isn't frozen and expresses shock at Harwood cooperating with the Spriggan group. Van states he would prefer not to work with someone as toxic and dangerous as Harwood, but Harwood tells Regard to let it slide since the Society isn't involved. Regard agrees, and Harwood finds it amusing that Regard is oddly flexible for a Bracer.

At the Black Cat Café, Giordano and Edwin are both unfrozen and holding out inside. They explain that Luis, Shannon’s boyfriend, also went to city hall with Shannon. The group saves Jack and Hale on the streets, where Jack is surprised that Harwood is involved with Van. Harwood sends his greetings to Gambler Jack, mentioning he read the novels. Jack responds that he’s not pleased to hear that. Bracers Gray, Anju, and Shino the Bar Lady struggle against the Demons, but Jorda teleports them away using her shadow. Anju gazes at Jorda as she urges her to retreat, and Van praises Jorda's quick thinking.

The group also rescues Alvis, Regena, and Daswani. Alvis is confused by Jorda and Harwood's involvement but is told to deal with it for now, as they have bigger issues to face. Harwood jokes about how great harmony is, prompting Judith to tell him to be quiet. After the fight, Daswani asks Harwood if he’s involved in all of this. Harwood admits he can’t claim complete innocence, given the person inside City Hall causing the chaos. Everyone wonders what he means by that.

The group discovers that Ixs and one of the Masked People are inside City Hall, but the entrance is blocked by a spiritual barrier. Jorda believes she can use her Shadow Eater to break through, while Harwood applies a poison he’s concocted to weaken it, allowing her to succeed. Upon entering, they find City Hall unaffected by the Pandemonium, but Van’s Alter Core starts to glow with an unfamiliar color, reacting to Risette.

Suddenly, the entire City Hall transforms into ruins. Risette, recognizing the site, experiences PTSD and screams. The group battles monsters, confirming through Risette that they are created by the biological nanomachines. Van praises Risette, who reminds him that as his concierge, this is to be expected.

Deeper in City Hall, the group finds it strange that this is the genuine City Hall, yet it’s in ruins, and all the monsters are biological nanomachines. They find Luis, Shannon, and Chief Bannings, and engage in battle, with Harwood stepping back to wish them luck, which annoys Van. After the fight, Judith asks Shannon about Chloe, and Chief Bannings mentions they’re on the top floor where the banquet was supposed to take place. Suddenly, Shannon, Luis, and Bannings are ambushed by a lingering monster, but Risette activates a shard barrier just in time. Then, Chloe, wearing a Grimcat mask, intervenes to protect them. Harwood expresses his admiration, mentioning he heard about Chloe from Lucrezia. The three are taken aback by the mask, but she reassures them to not worry about it and informs Van and the others that Ixs and the Masked Person are in the Banquet Room.

Talking with Chief Bannings, he reveals he has a nephew in Crossbell who has faced many unusual situations. (LLOYD BANNINGS)

At the top, Ixs mocks Jorda, questioning if she is at the age where she can’t separate from her brother. Accompanying him is the Masked Pink person known as the “Masked Apostle,” who brandishes a dagger that everyone recognizes as Melchior’s. They engage in battle, with Ixs taunting Jorda and Harwood teasing the Apostle, though he asks for leniency if the Apostle is injured enough. After the fight, the remaining Masked People attack the group. FIO, Quatre’s robot assistant, and Harwood devise a plan to temporarily blind the Masked People using a flashbang. Bergard takes out Karn, while Feri and Elaine gain the upper hand on the Green Soldier. Meanwhile, Risette and Van overpower the Pink Apostle, breaking his mask to reveal it’s actually Melchior.

The Green Soldier’s mask is also partially damaged, shocking Feri, who had thought the Green Soldier was Aida. Instead, it is someone with similar skin color to Feri.

(hinting that it could be a future or alternate history version of her as Harwood explained how the Alter Core distorts causality, allowing things from the future to emerge, as seen when Hamilton stole Tharbad's water from 1210 to replenish 1189.)

Van exclaims that things are getting crazier by the second and questions whether Melchior is also masquerading as someone else. Melchior laughs, acknowledging that while Feri's guess was incorrect, she clearly knows who the Green Soldier really is.

Van questions Melchior and the masked people's intentions in this “era.” The other Remnants applaud Van for almost piecing it together. Melchior corrects him, stating it's not “this era" they're after. Touching the Alter core, he switches between the uncollapsed City Hall and the ruined version. The group realizes they are in the future version of City Hall. Van speculates that Melchior and the others aim to create a wedge that will destabilize space-time due to today’s rocket launch. Melchior claps, affirming Van's deduction. He notes that, unlike the Remnants' plan, their experience with Dingo in Kuro 2 was a limited simulation made possible by the Eighth Genesis. What they intend to do will actually alter the fate imposed on this world. Feri asks about the “fate always imposed on the world,” and Judith recalls Harwood mentioning something similar.

Melchior explains that Zemuria is protected in a "way" and that it has a built-in security feature, a "safety" if you will, which he views as both a blessing and a curse. This "safety" has previously saved the world from the Great Collapse and other destructive forces. He refers to the “Treasure,” or the Septerrion, as the most crucial element. However, he claims that Roy Gramheart opposes this safety and wishes to eliminate it for an unknown reason, noting that the Grandmaster of Ouroboros is closely watching to see if his plan succeeds. Melchior warns that if Gramheart's plan becomes irreversible, it could doom the world.

He reveals that he and the Remnants are essentially "failsafes" meant to “deceive” this “safety,” meant to hijack it for a brief moment. (Touched upon in the finale.)

Quatre, offended, argues that Melchior trivializes everyone involved in the Space Project, making it hard for him to accept that Melchior and the Remnants are failsafes or that he would act out of goodwill.

Melchior clarifies they are using the Alter Cores as requested by Professor Hamilton, shocking everyone.

He asks if the Thors group or the Picnic group collaborating with Van informed them in the Grim Garten while the CID and the Presidential Office seek Hamilton, who the Church has ordered to execute Hamilton for her crimes.

This leaves Quatre heartbroken at the revelation.

Aaron demands Melchior stop speaking nonsense, but Melchior turns to Harwood and Bergard, suggesting they ask them. Bergard admits he hasn't directly heard from them since leaving the Septian Church long ago, though he has noticed Kevin's actions. Elaine asks what Melchior intends to do now, and he replies that nothing more is needed because the “wedge” is sufficient.

The Remnants prepare to teleport by extending their Alter Cores. Lagun Karn tells Aaron it might not be his place to say, but Melchior is telling the truth. The Green Soldier (Alt Feri?) advises Feri to abandon her naïveté, as it could cost her everything someday.

Feri asks for a moment to explain who she is. Giacomo admits he doesn't care about the mission but finds the unfolding events interesting. He taunts Van, saying everything is sealed now and cannot be changed. Ixs states it all rests on their final member, the the one who brings “Dawn,” and if luck is on their side, they may reunite.

Melchior expresses pleasure in talking with Van and Harwood, revealing there are more collaborators assisting Hamilton. He notes Dingo Brad was useful when alive, along with the Sword Hermit, the First Generation Grimcats, and finally, the last collaborator in Professor Hamilton’s plan is Agnes Claudel.

Feri wonders about Melchior's meaning, and Van recalls Agnes in her school outfit during their “date,” as well as the time he saw her secretly at Trion Tower while patrolling with Jorda.

Melchior ponders if Van’s group was deceived by Agnes. He expresses his condolences, saying that lies can hurt, but ultimately, it was Van’s fault from the start.

After they leave, they realize that time has stood still the entire time and that it’s 10AM, and Van needs to get back to Edith to stop Gramheart.

[the-indie-owl]

Here's my very own First Shipping Chart of One of My Fandoms (SpongeBob SquarePants).

Please Be Civil in the Comments and Reblogs, These Ships that I rank are just my Personal Opinion. So please be respectful. If you disrespect in the Comments or Reblog, I will either Delete Your Comment or Report your own Reblog if you don't be civil about personal views.

❤️OTP❤️

King Poseidon X Queen Salacia (Polacia)

SpongeBob X Sandy (Spandy)

Patrick X Princess Mindy (Mindrick)

Squidward X Squilvia (Squidvia)

🧡Platonic🧡

SpongeBob & Patrick

King Neptune & King Poseidon

Queen Amphitrite & Queen Salacia

Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy

Gary & Spot

Larry & Patrick

Pearl and Fred Blutang

Perch Perkins and Goldfish

Fred & Nat

Fred & Harold

Harold & Nat

Tom & Harold

Gus, Martin, & Scooter

The Trawler Cabin Squad

Sticky Fins Whiting and Dorsal Dan

💖Crack💖

Queen Amphitrite X Queen Salacia (SalAmp)

SpongeBob X Flying Dutchman (DutchBob)

Nartrick (Patrick X Narlene)

Sandlene (Sandy X Narlene)

Squidward X Squidabeth

Squidabeth X Barry

Sam X Blackjack

Chocoleg (Fred X Tom)

Nazz Mimi X Nancy Suzy

Shelia X Sheldon

Phil X Molly

Sadie X Abigail Marge

Mary X Lonnie

Old Man Walker X Mable

Miss Shell X Norma Edna

🩷Love🩷

King Neptune X Queen Amphitrite (Neptrite)

Squidward X SpongeBob (SquidBob)

Pearl X Squidina (Peardina)

Gary X Snellie (Snary)

Slappy X Slippy

Fred X Nurse Bazooka

Nat X Shubie

Mable Monica X Lenny

Dale X Abigail Marge

Frankie Billy X Nazz Mimi

Tom X Nancy Suzy

Dave X Nancy Suzy

Henry-Bart X Shelia

Vera X Medley

Tina Fran X Evelyn

Jennifer Millie X Jimmy Gus

Tom X Martha

Dennis X Mable

Old Man Walker X Mary

Frank X Debbie

💛Like💛

Mr. Krabs X Mrs. Puff (Kruff)

Sandy X Karen (Karendy)

Larry X Sandy (Landy)

SpongeBob X Kenny

Patrick X Tony (Tonyrick)

SpongeBob X Princess Neptuna (Spongetuna)

Bubble Bass X Kevin C. Cucumber

Squilliam X Perch Perkins (Fancykins)

Man-Ray X Dirty Bubble (Dirty Ray)

Stanley X Harold

Shelia X Don

Slappy X Nosferatu (Slapferatu)

Merlina X Entity Punkfish (Mertity)

💚Neutral💚

Pearl X Chip

Plankton X Karen (Plankaren)

King Poseidon X Madame Kassandra

Patchy The Pirate X Burger Beard

💙Ok💙

Squidward X Sandy (Squandy)

Squidward X Larry (Squarry)

Mrs. Mayor X Mrs. Puff (MayPuff)

Tina Fran X Charlie

💜Meh💜

Plankton X Mr. Krabs (Plabs)

Plankton X SpongeBob (PlankBob)

Plankton X Karen 2.0.

💙Dislike💙

Squidward X Squilliam (Squillward)

Squilliam X SpongeBob (SquilBob)

Princess Mindy X Sam

King Poseidon X King Neptune

💙Hate💙

SpongeBob X Dennis (SpongeDennis)

SpongeBob X Flats

Squilliam X Squilvia

🖤Crash & Burn (NOTOP)🖤

SpongeBob X Bubble Bass

Pearl X Dylan

🩷Ship with OC🩷

Prince Triton

Larry

Charlton Hawkfish

Nosferatu

🟤Stay Single🟤

Nobby

Ouchie

Old Man Jenkins

Chancellor

Tiffany Haddock

Lady Upturn

Bubble Buddy

Rube Goldfish

Gale Doppler

Plankrab

Boat Salesman Shark

Hieronymus Glove

Prawn

Sage

Otto

Lord Poltergeist

DoodleBob

Don Grouper

Richard

Archie

Harry

Francis

John

Mevis

Buddy

Perry

Horace

Halbert

Frank

Clay

Harold (Red Fish)

Lou

Patty

Norma

Nathiel

Thaddeus

Billy

Harv

Lloyd-Rich

Cara

Paco

Sylvester

Sandals

Pilar

Doctorfish

Norton

Frank (Life Guard Guy)

Bubbles

Bitsey

Electric Skates

Those who are interest in doing their own version, here's the Link.

[mediamixs]

Apartment 7A: A Chilling Prequel to Rosemary's Baby

Apartment 7A, an upcoming psychological thriller directed by Natalie Erika James, is set to premiere this fall exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and select international markets. The film serves as a prequel to the classic horror movie Rosemary's Baby, exploring the events that took place in the apartment before Rosemary moved in.

The story is set in 1965 New York City and follows a struggling young dancer, portrayed by Julia Garner (Ozark), who suffers a devastating injury. When a peculiar, well-connected older couple promises her a shot at fame, she finds herself drawn into dark forces. The film also stars Dianne Wiest (Mayor of Kingstown), Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe), and Kevin McNally (Pirates of the Caribbean), along with a talented supporting cast.

Director Natalie Erika James, known for her work on the horror film Relic, has crafted a chilling and clever new entry into the genre[3][5]. The screenplay was written by James, Christian White, and Skylar James, based on the novel Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin.

Jeff Grossman, EVP Programming at Paramount+, expressed his excitement about the film, stating, "Apartment 7A is the perfect way to kick off the Halloween season. Director Natalie Erika James and the prodigious creative team have crafted a chilling and clever new entry into the genre."

With its intriguing premise, talented cast, and experienced director, Apartment 7A promises to be a thrilling and suspenseful addition to the horror genre, while also serving as a unique prequel to the iconic Rosemary's Baby.

Apartment 7A is a prequel to the classic horror film Rosemary's Baby, directed by Natalie Erika James and set to premiere on Paramount+ in 2024. Based on the search results, a few key points about what inspired James to create this film:

Apartment 7A will explore the events that took place in the infamous apartment before Rosemary Woodhouse moved in, providing backstory and expanding the Rosemary's Baby universe .

James, known for her thoughtful horror film Relic, was drawn to the opportunity to tell a chilling and clever new story within the established Rosemary's Baby franchise .

The screenplay was co-written by James, Christian White, and Skylar James, based on the original novel Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin . This allowed the creative team to develop a fresh take on the source material.

James was likely inspired by the enduring popularity and cultural impact of Rosemary's Baby, as well as the recent trend of "scary baby" horror films, to craft a prequel that could continue the legacy while bringing a new perspective .

Paramount+ saw Apartment 7A as the "perfect way to kick off the Halloween season" and were excited about James' vision for a "chilling and clever new entry into the genre" .

In summary, Natalie Erika James was inspired by the rich source material of Rosemary's Baby, her own horror sensibilities, and the opportunity to expand the franchise in a compelling way for modern audiences. Her unique directorial approach and the intriguing premise of Apartment 7A have generated significant anticipation for the film's release.

[riverdale-retread]

Riverdale S7 E13 (Chapter 130) The Crucible

[Weird little translation note from an international viewer: There are apparently some titles that the Netflix Korea translator refuses to translate into Korean for the international release, and some they will translate.  The Crucible is one where the title is sounded out phonetically, which is very funny because the Arthur Miller play actually has a well known Korean title. The other deemed-untranslatable episode titles were Peep Show, Dirty Dancing, Hoop Dreams, Halloween 2, and After the Fall)]

The music is all jazzy film noir-ish at the opening of this episode as we slowly zoom in on Jughead in his very luxurious train car.  The sheer beauty of the innards of this thing take me by surprise every time.  Jughead is in suspenders, with what for him is sort of his Little Black Dress - a white t shirt under a button up shirt with suspenders over it. He looks upset and wan.

How does a fire start? he asks, or rather, types.  

The fire might start with the English teacher, who has thus far paid Jughead’s actual career as a writer zero attention whatsoever (but does Jughead even go to school anymore other than to yell at people about milk or to get yelled at by the principal in the office?) but is cultivating Archie’s gifts as a poet (by letting him come and sit in the classroom to scribble in semi privacy?).  It might begin with Veronica Lodge, looking kewpie doll adorable in her perfect hair (that my very valuable mutual taught me was a wig! I somehow never thought about it being a wig!), startled to find a tall clean shaven man smiling down at her in her elevator at home.  It took me a long time to realize this was GLEN.  

HI GLEN.

Glen without facial hair and in 1950s get up looks disconcertingly like a young Harrison Ford and goddamn you Roberto I refuse to find Glen hot  on principle so fuck off.

The fire may begin with Betty coming home to find that her phone  has been confiscated (by her mother, most likely).  Betty has an ugly little ornamental bear on her bedside table.  Is that meaningful?

Or maybe the fire starts in a classroom, where Betty and Kevin are acting out some scene from Tennessee Williams, the themes of which are “Crisis in the South/ Mendacity/ Nihilism.”

The only play they could be doing is of course Cat On a Hot Tin Roof which … this is the one time a Riverdale reference to a classical literature work is actually spot on and it’s making me feel very sour.  The teacher sings their praises, calling their performance better than what she saw on Broadway.  

(Also scratch what I said earlier about Jughead going to school  - he’s there in class in the back, two rows behind Betty).   Evelyn looks very pissy about this whole situation.  Why am I being made to identify with Evelyn?

Principal Weatherbee bursts in.  As a repressed closeted homosexual in denial about his feelings for his best friend and coworker he is likely to be very triggered by Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.  He just opens the door with “That’s enough.”  He has Sheriff Keller and Clifford Blossom in tow (but not Werthers).  In front of all her students, the teacher is led out like she’s done something terrible.  Wearing an extremely campy red velvet jacket trimmed in black satin, Clifford Blossom steps into the class to stand right in front of a poster of Oscar Wild.  I just now noticed that his hair isn’t red in this. It’s blonde. Why is it blonde?

The mayor takes it upon himself to tell the kids that the English teacher has been fired.  Their new teacher is going to be - of all people - Penelope Blossom.  Atonal demon music plays as Penelope saunters in right on cue - which means she just stood out there in the all while Featherhead did his bursting in and escorting out - wearing a necklace that looks like it’s made of black scarab beetles.  Her outfit is the color inverse of her husband's - black with red color accents.  The Blossom children have no idea what is happening but they know it’s really bad, giving each other “Are you seeing this?” type of looks. Archie was the only student to actually speak up in defense of the teacher, and he continues to do so now that the bad news has been announced. 

Penelope Blossom just has so much presence!  Can’t we have more of her and less of the very boring Clifford Blossom?

Archie continues to be the one to use his privilege for the good (unlike say, Julian Blossom or Kevin Keller, whose fathers are directly involved in this debacle), wanting to know what exactly is going on.

Mrs. Thornton is accused of being a communist!  Dun Dun Dunnn~   Penelope intones that “The Red Menace has come to Riverdale.”  Right on cue, Evelyn turns around to take a look at the known Lavender Menace in the classroom - Cheryl- as Cheryl realizes that this is not going to go away easily and already feels exhausted by life. 

After the class, the core seven (this is um, NO JUGHEAD, but Toni, Cheryl, Clay, Archie, Kevin, Betty and Veronica) convene in the student lounge to try to figure out what is going on.  Betty wants to know if Archie can shed more light, since he’s been getting special tutoring from Mrs. Thornton. Archie is in the closet about his poetry, so he sounds sus as he says that Mrs Thornton just isn’t like that.   Veronica’s chest ribbon is HUGE and makes her look very very tiny.  Cheryl says that there must’ve been some sort of cause, but Veronica says that the Red Scare in Hollywood was terrible.  She starts explaining the McCarthy Era to the people who are still in 1955 which is so weird, because the televised hearings started in 1954, so this is another instance when the “1955” of this show has nothing to do with the real “1955” except for the part where Fred Andrews died in Korea.

Anyway, Kevin (because of course he does) staunchly defends his father (indirectly) by assuming that nobody would do anything bad to anyone in America unless they deserved it.  (Unlike say, when your father hires a prostitute to force you into having het sex and things like that).   Veronica disagrees. 

Jughead does not give a hoot what happened to the English teacher.  Ethel doesn’t either.  They are off looking to celebrate the publication of the comic that Featherstone decided to publish last episode.   The friendzoning continues - Jughead calls it “your” first comic to which Ethel corrects, “our” first comic.  But her brown checked skirt matches his brown checked jacket!   The vendor, who is a crusty old man, says he no longer carries “Pit of the Perverse” at all because it’s “unamerican smut.” All around him are faces of pretty girls smiling invitingly out from covers with titles like “Flash Bulb” and “Women of Today.”  The man even yells at the pair to go away. 

At Thornton House, Cheryl is being interrogated by her parents about her unamerican public kiss with Toni at the Halloween Party.  Red Menace, Lavender Menace (which is a Betty Friedan phrase, the homophobia of which was one the major failings of the initial Second Wave liberal white feminist movement in America) - it’s all the same to Clifford Blossom. He wants it stamped out.  

The thing is, the Blossoms are scary, abusive people but I weirdly admire them (no please, hear me out) for not being hypocrites.  When they say they want to ‘stamp out’ unamerican (™) activities, they start by torturing their own kid.  

Cheryl also has a spine of steel.  Though visibly frightened (and fully aware of her father’s homicidal impulses and callousness about his children) Cheryl says she will not be naming names.  She calls him a jackal. Bravo.

Sadly, they already have a list of names compiled for the targeting.  What they want is for Cheryl to just corroborate.  This will allow her to ‘redeem’ herself.  

The names on this list are:  Cheryl Blossom (as NUMBER 1), Toni, Kevin, Clay, and then a bunch of people we don’t know - Chris Henderson, John Maclean, Jessical Leetola, Connor Rielley, Colin Ellis, and Kathleen Ross.)  Cheryl absolutely refuses, except Clifford has her number - he threatens the only thing she cares about, the Vixens. “Anything but that Daddy!” Cheryl pleads, but she is not granted clemency.

At the same time, Veronica comes home to find Hiram Lodge is in the apartment.  The number of ways and things that Hiram lies about in his conversations with Veronica are truly very toxic. He says he missed her, to which Veronica is unmoved, so then he bribes her with a Faberge egg, to which she wants to know who he fucked around with on her mom.  Infidelity is something he’s very willing to own up to.   This toxic dad also knows his daughter’s main weakness - she is very lonely  So he says that he wants to meet her friends as he offers her a hug.  This, she can’t resist.

The next day, Veronica brings Hiram to school like it’s show and tell.  She’s dressed in the most demure, matronly outfit I’ve seen her in to date, complete with a matching pearl necklace-and-bracelet set.  So these are her group of friends yes, but like, it’s funny how she’s dated, kissed or wooed or was wooed by the majority of her friend circle. (Betty, Clay, Archie, Julian) leaving out only Kevin, Cheryl and Toni. 

Kevin is so horny and shameless.  Ugh.

Cheryl pointedly says that the first season of Oh Mija was the best one (hahaha) because it went downhill after that.  Featherhead has asked Hiram to be a guest lecturer (because I guess even he knows Penelope Blossom may not actually want to teach the kids anything), especially because this is monologue day at English class. 

Julian Blossom is up first!

He does the Hamlet To Be or Not to Be soliloquy.  Apparently neither Kevin nor Archie knew that this was  a speech about contemplating suicide.   Hiram is weirdly macho about it, asking of Julian is a man, because Hamlet was a man.  I mean, Hamlet was a man but his whole problem was being emasculated, I thought?  He doesn’t really achieve any of his goals, has his place in succession stolen from him by his uncle and does literally nothing about it for months and months other than dither, kill the wrong person, and drive poor Ophelia to suicide.  

For some reason, Hiram giving Julian what sound like pretty sound corrections to the way he’s delivering a speech that’s very challenging to sound convincing makes everyone chuckle throughout. Is this supposed to be in reaction to like, Hiram’s star power?  They’re just delighted and nervous that a real life sitcom actor is giving their Julian Blossom an acting lesson?  

After the class, Betty goes to see the principal, who tells her that the Blue and Gold is going to be defunded with the loss of Mrs Thornton, who was the faculty advisor.  Featherhead has already made up his mind, so Betty charges into the newspaper room and liberates the typewriter there.

This is very interesting, that first Archie and now Betty are acquiring the instruments and drive for writing now that they never ever talk to Jughead Jones. 

Cheryl has gathered the three other known homosexuals that were on the list into the music room, to update them and to freak out about potentially losing the Vixens. She doesn’t feel the need to inform anyone she isn’t personally friends with. She needs to know who sold her out.  Who stands to gain the most from getting her off the Vixens?   

Evelyn!

So she confronts Evelyn immediately.  I love Evelyn and how Evil she is.  She’s so calm and reserved and coiled and hateful.   Cheryl is protesting entirely way too much, which gives Evelyn the upper hand. 

In the principal’s office, Featherhead wants to know if Mrs. Thornton was trying to “indoctrinate” Archie, who doesn’t know what that word means.  Werther says that civil disobedience and revolution is happening in Cuba and can’t happen here.  I mean, it wasn’t necessarily due to Mrs. Thornton that Archie started that unionized coup against Clifford Blossom, but I don’t think either man knows about that. 

Veronica is doing a full show and tell of her life, bringing Hiram to the movie theater.  The one he wanted to raze and make into a parking lot.  He tells her it’s tremendous, which is so insincere,but Veronica bless her is just too lonely to see it.   As soon as Hiram is off to see the afternoon movie, in comes Glen, who wants to know what Veronica’s relationship is with Hiram.  I see that even though he looks like Harrison Ford when clean cut, he’s still dumb as a bag of bricks because he did not realize that Veronica Lodge was Hiram Lodge’s daughter.  

At Pep Comics, Ethelhead tell of their recent misadventures to Fieldstone.  He already knows that his comics are being rejected, and that it’s an emergency.  He’s very upset.  They’re getting graphic hatemail.  They’re going to “hunker down and weather this storm.”  I like Fieldstone for how adorable he finds Ethel. Everything she says makes him laugh or call her Freckles or Girl Genius.  Ethel wants a copy of her newly published work.  Then Ethelhead, without having to even say anything, just read each other’s minds and take bundles to sell on their own cognizance.

At home, Betty is soliciting anonymous submissions to her magazine, “The Teenage Mystique.”  …. I mean. Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique in 1963 and I am not ok with a seminal work of feminism being consumed in this way by this piece of pop media.  Betty Cooper uses “The Girl Next Door” as her moniker, shoving her invitation sheet into every single locker. 

Now that he doesn’t have a quiet classroom to write poetry in, Archie has to try to eke out some space, much like Jane Austen or Emily Dickinson, to work on his writing.  He flips out when Uncle Fucking Frank barges in, demanding to know what he is up to.

Uncle Frank and his obsession with Archie is very disturbing. Also does he still live in this house?  Does Mary just lock herself into the master bathroom and sleep in the bathtub at night?   Anyway, when Archie who acted like he’d been jerking it to hardcore gay porn eventually says that he was working on his writing, Uncle Frank says he came in to police Archie’s sexuality again.    But the scary interrogation of the afternoon has definitely taught Archie what “indoctrination” means.  It’s not sufficiently heterosexual of him, as a man, to write poetry for any purpose than to make some girl swoon and “get with” him.  Except given the events of the past season, they don’t really want any girl to “get with” him either.  No peep shows through windows between houses like 5 feet apart  with Betty.  And if he had impregnated Cheryl they were both going to have to get married.  So the repression that is being laid on Archie is just as contradictory and repressive as what is being laid on Betty (except she’s much more abnormal about how horny it seems to make her) . He can’t be insufficiently straight and manly, but being ultra straight and manly (i.e. succeeding in impregnating a girl) would also be a disaster.

Plus.

PLUS.

The very single, very childless, only works with minor teen boys Uncle Fucking Frank trying to control Archie’s outward behavior to keep him on the “straight and narrow” is fully ridiculous.  I hate Frank so much.  Why oh Why is Mary considered too inept to mother Archie, when she goes out of her way to cockblock Beronica’s kiss by essentially haranguing a doorman to let her break into someone else’s apartment??

At the Pembroke, Veronica wants to know why the FBI is following Hiram. Hiram says he’s being investigated as a possible communist, because he went to Cuba the year before to buy cigars.  Another lie comes out before he actually says the truth - the lie was that he came to Riverdale to hide out.  The truth is that he needs Veronica to lie for him to the government.  She balks because lying to the government scares her.  He pretends there’s an out for her - he’s “meeting with a lawyer” but in the end he trusts she’ll throw herself into the fire for him. 

The next day, Glen is waiting for her at school.  Glen says that he’s been assigned to her, and that someone else has followed Hiram to NYC.  Veronica wants to see proof, to which Glen says to get into the car.  She does!  

Archie sees Veronica get into the car, and she sees him as they drive by.  Of course, the place they go to is the diner.   Glen shows Veronica photos of Hiram at the same table in Cuba as “Fidel Mastro.”  The person that Veronica is upset to be seeing in the photo is the blonde lover at Hiram’s side.

Archie has tracked down his English teacher by looking her up in the phone book. She is packing up to leave, moving to Greendale, to be a library there as a volunteer.  Apparently that River makes all the difference - it refused admittance to Julian Blossom, dunking him and making him come out the other end of it as someone who is an ally to Cheryl for one. Mrs Thornton says really contradictory things - that there’s a “job waiting for me” but also that it’s “volunteer.”  OK but ma’am what will you live on? 

No matter. 

When Archie expresses his confusion about the state of the world, his teacher hands him a copy of The Crucible by Arthur Miller.   Archie says he was going to do Biff’s monologue from Death of a Salesman, but now he’s going to pick something out of The Crucible.

OMG is this why Jughead picked the name Biff for Archie when they run away together in Season 3?   The key bit of that monologue is this:  “And I never got anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air I could never stand taking orders from anybody! That’s whose fault it is!”   Biff is saying this to Willy, the salesman.  

The teacher gives him a benediction, that strangely sounds exactly like what Hiram said earlier in the day to Julian: “Words have power.”  She keeps telling him he’s “more than” a Biff type (when Jughead in the OG timeline reduced him exactly to it??).  They give each other a hug of farewell. 

Meanwhile, Ethelhead are running a brisk, literally  under the table business, selling Pep Comic books, sitting back to back.  I love their partnership.  Jughead totally acts like he’s selling contraband weapons or something. He’s so dorky, I love him. he feels like he’s being such a badass, while Ethel just likes this entire exercise.

At the Dark Room, Cheryl is having another panic attack about potentially getting kicked out of the Vixens.  The other gays have come up with a plan, to ape lavender marriages.  Conveniently for them there’s one white and black person in each homosexual pairing, which obviates the need for a race discussion should it ever come up.  Cheryl gravely says that going in the closet like that seems to betray Toni’s principles.   Toni, who as we’ve seen all season doesn’t really have principles, lies again. Instead of saying, I want to hunker down and survive to see another day (like the much more honest Fieldstone), Toni says she’s allowing this charade for “all our sakes.” 

Archie finds The Crucible extremely riveting.

Veronica is sadly mulling things over in her apartment, with liquor.  Hiram comes in late from New York to say that his attempt to buy his way out of his problem did not work out.  He needs her to commit perjury on his behalf.  Veronica confronts him with the fact that his trip to Cuba was in service of an affair with a Kelly (the name of the actors’ IRL wife, which was a very cute reference).  When Veronica sounds unwilling to acquiesce to his demands, Hiram reverts to villainy which is his true form and threatens her, saying that it wouldn’t be a favor for HIM if she commits perjury - it would be self protective for her, because he would lose everything if the story came out that he was in violation of his morality clause.  Veronica shoots back that she already went through the experience of banishment and life in exile.  She’s so lonely, as I’ve said, and she’s genuinely hurt that her initial intuition (Hiram would not show up unannounced and play all nicey nice unless there was a direct personal benefit she could do at her cost for him) was correct.  “What you should be asking me for is mercy!” she cries, before storming off. 

The next day, the Lavender Marriages storm the halls in patented Cheryl SloMo (™) which I don’t remember seeing much this season.  Evelyn, wearing an appropriately lavender cardigan, is very annoyed by this workaround that the four homosexuals have found. Apparently, their queerness was an open secret, which is very very weird to me.  Midge for one seems disappointed with Cheryl, who refuses to look at her.  But everyone else is equally perturbed by these two pairings. 

Archie is very nervous about trying to give his monologue from The Crucible.  Penelope Blossom is teaching the class, sort of, I mean - she’s dressed up for it and in the classroom, standing like a Dior New Deal costume model in a very red dress.  The thing is, she doesn’t seem to know what The Crucible is, which is surprising, and even more surprising, she didn’t insist on cross checking what the students were going to be performing before letting them.

Suddenly Archie is giving the John Proctor speech and uh -

I -

oh help- 

I don’t want to be here.

This is the most grating thing I’ve ever seen on Riverdale and this includes a lot of the hideous singing and dancing and poorly transposed musical numbers and so on.  I get very annoyed when shows do this, having actors “play” people who “play” at “acting.”  It’s so self referential and masturbatory, sort of like how when movie people make movies about making movies they act like all the normal “This is what happens on a job” stuff is the most momentous thing ever and simultaneously they refuse to deal with the actual documented problems of their industry that are unique to just themselves 

Ok so as far as that speech goes, John Proctor at the end of his rope, giving the thesis statement of the play etc, Archie (and KJ Apa’s) delivery is fine.  He is doing all the correct actor-y things with his voice, going from screaming (but not to harsh) to suddenly dropping in volume (but not to the point of being inaudible), trembling with emotion but not enough to obscure diction, and his eyes also fill with tears but not enough to make his sinuses get sloppy.   It’s all… fine. But this level of sincerity completely and high emotionality goes completely against the bouncy surreality of everything that S7 (and all the seasons before) have relied on to be watchable.  

This is how Riverdale loses even by winning.  KJ Apa works everything he knows how to do as an actor (activating tear ducts at will, flexible eyebrows, vocal chord range deployment, breathing techniques, working outside his native accent) so that Archie the character gives a professional-grade burst of emotion for his monologue class at school, and yet, because it just does not fit with anything Riverdale has ever done, it completely shatters the immersion in the narrative for me and all I am left with is 

CRINGE.

But anyway. the power of Arthur Miller’s words supposedly gives Cheryl some sort of realization, because she marches down to the principal’s office to face off against her father, the principal and Werthers.   She tells the three men that she will never cooperate with them, and has a wonderful moment:

“I, Cheryl Blossom, hereby and willingly, end my stewardship of the River Vixens.”  

I really, really needed this palate cleanser after what they made Archie do.  Thank god for Cheryl. 

She also tells them of the Lavender Marriage workaround, before joining the gay kids of Riverdale club. “Clearly, we don’t live in a just world,” she says, bumping shoulders with Kevin.

The thing is, this feels like a course correction to the plotline that lead me to hate Kevin - that is, he was in the closet for real, lying to himself and to Betty and everyone else about what the hell he was up to.  With this lavender marriage situation though, the show seems to be positing that there is such a thing as a ‘good and useful’ closet.  If you construct it and climb into it yourself - and everyone sort of kind of knows you’re lying - then it’s fine. (Is it?)  And I must still ask - WHY IS IT CHERYL THAT HAS TO GIVE ANYTHING UP?  Because think about it - Kevin nor Clay nor Toni have had to give up a single one of their hobbies or group affiliations. It’s just Cheryl that had to give up something she held to a religious level of importance.  

Why is Kevin not expected to confront his father about being a lackey to the mayor? Oh right, because even Betty finds his relationship with Clay ‘dreamy.’  [Vomit]

Cheryl says she’s happy to have even a small amount of space on earth to live her truth.  Toni hopes Evelyn breaks her neck cheerleading.

Veronica approaches Archie to say that it was quite the speech.   She gives him a kiss on the cheek, and then they kiss each other.  Archie is very surprised, but not displeased.  Veronica looks very serious.

Ok.

Ok SHOW?

FUCKING SHOW ME ANOTHER BERONICA KISS PLEASE.

Back at the diner, an Asian boyscout (or whatever they’re called) is asking for  Pit of the Perverse #32 . Jughead has been marking up 10 cent issues all the way up to a quarter for his sales.  The boyscout turns out to be a plant, and this is a raid. Keller is doing this with his time.  The jig is up, so they have to turn over their stash to the cops.  It’s very funny to me that Jughead completely expected to be SHOT for selling the comic books - he was this close to demanding that they not shoot.

Jughead has Ethel  at his home again, and the two of them celebrate with milkshakes and a “god bless America toast” about the money they’ve made. 

At the Pembroke, Hiram and Veronica are having dinner together (Cooked by who I wonder?).  Hiram is trying to ingratiate himself to his clearly not very happy daughter, but all he can offer is his own show (“A new episode of Oh Mija!”).  This is absolutely the wrong thing to say, and Veronica takes off in a huff. 

The next day at school, Archie is taking things out of his locker.  He seems to only have images of male baseball players on the inside - a cover of Batter, and a picture of someone pitching a ball but somehow also called the Bulldogs. Just then, a woman asks him if he’s Archie Andrews.

And it’s Geraldine Grundy, this time as an English teacher.  She’s wearing a white cardigan with gold embroidery that I think is supposed to have some sort of angelic effect but I am too consumed with the question WHY THE FUCK IS SHE HERE to really be persuaded.  She’s taking over for Mrs. Thornton.  Archie looks very smitten immediately.  Grundy claims to have attended Mt. Holyoke together with Mrs. Thornton and in the name of Emily Dickinson, I banish thee!  Shoo! Away with you!   So she seems to appreciate Archie’s poetry from what she’s heard from Mrs. Thornton.  Archie wants to keep things discreet because his uncle hates the idea of his writing poetry. But then Grundy ruins it by whispering “IT CAN BE OUR LITTLE SECRET” like a total creeper, then she dangles her husband, an alleged poet.

In the Principal’s office, the hideous white men are going over their loot of confiscated comic books.  There’s so many of these.  Werther’s is very pissed off.  There’s something about his presence that renders his lover (sorry, I just keep interjecting my headcanon about this but otherwise their relationship makes no sense to me) Featherhead completely mute.  I don’t care about them enough to go all the way back and check, but I feel like at some point Werther’s dominance became such that Featherhead just nods and mimes with his face when Werthers is speaking.  Werthers wants to do something he calls “Full measures.”  Kevin’s dad makes like Kevin and is spineless.

Meanwhile, in English class, Veronica is doing King Lear.  She’s giving Cordelia’s refusal speech.   The person who understands exactly what Veronica is going through, with an overbearing, criminal father, is Cheryl.  Betty is sad because Veronica is clearly sad, but it’s Cheryl that understands her.  While this excellence is going on, Grundy is fucking making eyes at Archie, who reciprocates because he doesn’t ever not.

Later that day, Veronica brings an affidavit with the correct set of lies to her father.  She says she did it for her mother, then starts laying out conditions.  She wants her father to tell her mother that he’s cheating on her. She also wants the title to the Pembroke.  The way this father daughter pair constantly fight over real estate, and the supreme importance of paperwork to their relationship is an odd constant.  I have issues with Cordelia  - The great tragedy of King Lear, to me, isn’t that King Lear has evil daughters.  It’s that King Lear is a deeply stupid man who favored the child who most directly inherited his deep stupidity, the extremely stupid Cordelia.  I am immensely satisfied that Veronica finds a very Goneril/Regan type of solution to her Cordelia problem. Good for her. There’s a reason I love her so much. 

At the post office, Betty collects a literal BAG of mail.  Did post office rules in the US change sometime after the fifties?  Because you can’t actually send things that are addressed to something like “The Girl Next Door.”  The US Postal Service literally will not deliver if you give your addressee a title like that.  Oh but I guess this is Riverdale, not the US of A?  Or did Betty somehow manage to like, actually establish an LLC or something with the name “Girl Next Door”?!

Hermione has come home to the Pembroke literally the afternoon of the morning Hiram left, I guess.   Veronica says as much.   Hermione says that Oh Mija is going to shutter after “seven long seasons” because she is “ready for something new.”   She has extremely nervous hands while she’s announcing this plan to Veronica, fidgeting with her gloves and twitching her fingers. I think she has to let out her feelings in this digital dance because the expressive muscles of her face do not move much at all.    She also adds almost like an afterthought that she will be divorcing Hiram.  Veronica seems not particularly perturbed by this news. She reacts like she’s Hermione’s older sister, rather than her daughter. “What will you do?” as in - how will you cope? But also What will you live on? and so forth.  Hermione manipulates a promise to not have to spend Christmas by herself from Veronica, as though none of the rest of the season have actually happened. 

What absolute assholes both Hiram and Hermione are.  They both abandoned Veronica, banished her, locked her out of the house rendering her homeless on purpose in order to punish her for getting in the way of their parking lot real estate deal, but when the going gets tough, they both come to see her to demand her company, her fidelity and her services.  And she gives it to them, because Veronica is second only to Jughead Jones as the most love-starved character on Riverdale.  Poor baby.

Jughead gets to school the next day to fine that the whole student body is lined up with armfuls of comic books, trying to sell them to Werther.   Dilton doesn’t see what the harm would be, but later we are shown.  There is a cartoon Nazi style book burning which I would bet is taken shot for shot from Indiana Jones.  Cheryl is standing in for the Nazi Elsa (which is so not fair to her but ok) crying tears over the destruction of free speech and art.   The Riverdale Adventure Scouts stand in for the Indiana Jones  Hitler Jugend.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 2.13 (after 1940)

1945 – World War II: The siege of Budapest concludes with the unconditional surrender of German and Hungarian forces to the Red Army. 1945 – World War II: Royal Air Force bombers are dispatched to Dresden, Germany to attack the city with a massive aerial bombardment. 1951 – Korean War: Battle of Chipyong-ni, which represented the "high-water mark" of the Chinese incursion into South Korea, commences. 1954 – Frank Selvy becomes the only NCAA Division I basketball player ever to score 100 points in a single game. 1955 – Israel obtains four of the seven Dead Sea Scrolls. 1955 – Twenty-nine people are killed when Sabena Flight 503 crashes into Monte Terminillo near Rieti, Italy. 1960 – With the success of a nuclear test codenamed "Gerboise Bleue", France becomes the fourth country to possess nuclear weapons. 1960 – Black college students stage the first of the Nashville sit-ins at three lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee. 1961 – An allegedly 500,000-year-old rock is discovered near Olancha, California, US, that appears to anachronistically encase a spark plug. 1967 – American researchers discover the Madrid Codices by Leonardo da Vinci in the National Library of Spain. 1975 – Fire at One World Trade Center (North Tower) of the World Trade Center in New York. 1978 – Hilton bombing: A bomb explodes in a refuse truck outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing two refuse collectors and a policeman. 1979 – An intense windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a 0.5-mile (0.80 km) long section of the Hood Canal Bridge. 1981 – A series of sewer explosions destroys more than two miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky. 1983 – A cinema fire in Turin, Italy, kills 64 people. 1984 – Konstantin Chernenko succeeds the late Yuri Andropov as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. 1990 – German reunification: An agreement is reached on a two-stage plan to reunite Germany. 1991 – Gulf War: Two laser-guided "smart bombs" destroy the Amiriyah shelter in Baghdad. Allied forces said the bunker was being used as a military communications outpost, but over 400 Iraqi civilians inside were killed. 1996 – The Nepalese Civil War is initiated in the Kingdom of Nepal by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist-Centre). 2001 – An earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter magnitude scale hits El Salvador, killing at least 944. 2004 – The Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces the discovery of the universe's largest known diamond, white dwarf star BPM 37093. Astronomers named this star "Lucy" after The Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". 2007 – Taiwan opposition leader Ma Ying-jeou resigns as the chairman of the Kuomintang party after being indicted on charges of embezzlement during his tenure as the mayor of Taipei; Ma also announces his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election. 2008 – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations. 2010 – A bomb explodes in the city of Pune, Maharashtra, India, killing 17 and injuring 60 more. 2011 – For the first time in more than 100 years the Umatilla, an American Indian tribe, are able to hunt and harvest a bison just outside Yellowstone National Park, restoring a centuries-old tradition guaranteed by a treaty signed in 1855. 2012 – The European Space Agency (ESA) conducted the first launch of the European Vega rocket from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. 2017 – Kim Jong-nam, brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, is assassinated at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. 2021 – Former U.S. President Donald Trump is acquitted in his second impeachment trial. 2021 – A major winter storm causes blackouts and kills at least 82 people in Texas and northern Mexico.

[fireopal-tash]

Ok, least fav SU ships?

Mmm 🤔

Well...

-> Pearl and Connie's mum, Lars and Steven, Lapis x Lars, Rose x Jasper, Jasper x Greg, Ronaldo x Peridot, Pink Diamond x Spinel, Steven x any of the Crystal Gems, Steven x Steven, Spinel x Spinel, Mayor Dewey x Pearl... Weird stuff like that.

More on the neutral side:

-> Pink Pearl x Spinel much either, although the art is really cute (it's just that they never really met, I don't think so), Aquamarine x Eyeball, Sadie x Shep (they appeared out of nowhere, I couldn't get attached), Jamie x Kevin (Idk, again, haven't seen them interact), Emerald x Lars (mostly cause I don't feel anything at all when I see them together) Holly Blue x any Amethyst, Peedee x Steven, Connie x Jeff (don't ask) White Diamond x anyone

Same with:

-> (our) Pearl x Spinel, Peridot x Spinel, Amethyst x Spinel, Jasper x Spinel, (our) Pearl x Jasper, Garnet x Peridot, Garnet x Jasper, Garnet x Lapis, Garnet x Spinel