#St Andrew High School Museum

[scotianostra]

The Scottish archaeologist and scholar Daniel Wilson was born on January 5th 1816 in Edinburgh.

Wilson attended Edinburgh High School before being apprenticed to a steel engraver. Between 1837 and 1842 he worked in London as an engraver and popular writer, but returned to Edinburgh to run an artist’s supplies and print shop.

Although Wilson developed an interest in history and matters antiquarian from a relatively early age, it was not until he was invited to help turn the collections of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland into a modern national museum that he turned from antiquarianism to archaeology. In reorganising the collection he adopted the Danish model of ordering the artefacts according to the Three Age System, it is due to his work we have The National Museum of Scotland, as we know it today.

He wrote Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time in the 1840s, a book I have perused online many times, scouring for information for many posts over the years.

Wilson’s arrangement presented an evolutionary approach to viewing the artefacts, and this also came across in the catalogue that he wrote to go with the exhibition. Later, in 1851, he published an extended version of the catalogue as Archaeology and prehistoric annals of Scotland, his was the first comprehensive treatment of early Scotland based on material culture and the first time that the term ‘prehistoric’ was used in English, so he basically invented the word!!

Although Wilson received an honorary degree from the University of St Andrews, he was unable to get an academic position in Scotland. In 1853, with help from friends in Edinburgh, he was appointed to the Chair of History and English Literature in University College, Toronto, Canada. Wilson enjoyed teaching in Canada and continued his interest in archaeology, but all the while expanded his interest in anthropology and ethnography. Throughout his life he was a talented landscape painter, having worked with J. M. W. Turner studio during his time in London.

In 1888 Wilson was knighted for his services to education in Canada, and in 1891 given the freedom of the city of Edinburgh. He died in Toronto on August 6, 1892. The Sir Daniel J. Wilson Residence at the University College in University of Toronto is named in his honour.

[elainespavlding]

was that [ SARAH GUSTAFSSON ] spotted in the lobby of the infamous arconia hotel? must just be, [ ELAINE SPAULDING ] the [ TWENTY-SIX  ] year old [ CURATORIAL ASSISTANT ]. whenever i hear [ CARRY ME OUT BY MITSKI ] it reminds me of them. [ SHE/HER ] are known for being [ CONTROLLING ] and [ UPTIGHT ] but they make up for that by being [ MODEST ] and [ RELIABLE ]. they have been living at the arconia for [ EIGHT YEARS ON AND OFF ].

full name — elaine freja spaulding nickname(s) — don't even try it age — twenty-six date of birth — september 19th place of birth — new canaan, ct religion — lutheran sexuality — heterosexual education level — elaine's recently completed a master of philosophy in art history at st. andrew's (she also double-majored in art & archaeology and museum studies at princeton university for her bachelors)

residence — the arconia <3 previously: her family's estate in new canaan, and then the family's city residence in gramercy park

family — rupert spaulding (father) and fadela spaulding (mother) and then three older brothers named tristan, ralph, and hugo. finances — quite comfortable, i must say $$$$$$$$$

overview.

elaine’s family absolutely reeks of Old Money™ from all sides. rupert spaulding’s family’s wealth can be tied back to the railroads and westward expansion before eventually delving into various investments and financial services (plus there's relation to the famous wallenberg family through his mother).

her father is the acting ceo of an investment firm in new york city that her great-grandfather founded and rupert keeps a separate apartment in the city away from the family to live in during the work week because sometimes to make a marriage work you gotta put space between the two of you.

her mother fadela is from london but her wealth extends to the beginnings of bmce bank and the bank of africa. fadela is a socialite, philanthropist, and all-around nitpicker with a thousand and one life regrets.

elaine has three older brothers with the youngest of the bunch being five years older than her. elaine was something of a “miracle baby” to her parents. all her life, fadela wanted a little daughter but after three rough pregnancies, she wound up with all sons, so when their little accident happened well after they decided to have no more children, she was absolutely thrilled to find out it was a girl.

elaine was pampered and given everything a little debutante-to-be ought to have, but that lavishness came with a price. elaine was the Miracle Baby, the daughter her parents longed for, and the last thing she wanted to do was mess up the image they had for her. she had to be perfect.

that need, of course, isn't healthy! surprise! elaine experienced an adolescence marked by extreme emotional outbursts and debilitating compulsions. by the end of high school it all came to a head, but that's.... [redacted] information

once she reached adulthood, elaine has had the privilege to focus on nothing but the thing she's passionate about: art (her specialty is european art and the art of the italian renaissance). she's traveled europe and she completed her masters. now, she's back in new york to start her job as a curatorial assistant at the frick collection. her plan is to spend a couple years there before she starts working toward her phd in art history.

since the age of 18, and after The Incident and a series of disagreements with her mother, elaine's parents started to pay for a suite at the arconia for her to stay in when the need arose. whenever she's in the city, that's usually where she is.

personality traits.

positive: sophisticated, conscientious, astute, strong-willed, meticulous, practical, romantic

negative: judgmental, high-strung, standoffish, queen of too high standards, nitpicky, pedantic

misc headcanons.

elaine has taken ballet and piano lessons since she was 4 years old. she has little old russian lady trauma skjdfnskjd.

when not at work, elaine is likely at theaters such as the metrograph, the walter reade, the angelika film center, etc. so when you insult cinephiles who watch black and white european movies told from the point of view of a dog, you're insulting HER 💔

her favorite place at the arconia is the daily grind coffee bar. caffeine addiction vibes.

elaine really, really hates physical touch. it is something that has been destructive to her relationships and how she generally interacts with people.

PINTEREST | PLAYLIST

[topoet]

Sydney Academy 3

When I was in Sydney recently my sister asked what did I do to ‘hang out’? At the Academy I was fairly active in some of the ‘clubs.’ One was the Junior Red Cross that devoted its energy to raising money – I guess the money went to the Red Cross. One year we sold ballpoint pens with, I think, Sydney Academy & the school logo printed on them. I remember this because I the group bought them from a…

[crowdvscritic]

round up // AUGUST 21

Happy 2nd birthday to these Round Ups! For two years I’ve been making monthly pop culture picks, and they’ve included:

More than 200 movies

32 TV shows and specials, plus 8 different Saturday Night Live Round Ups

27 albums, singles, playlists, and more music picks

13 podcasts

12 books

2 concerts

There have also been articles, events, museums, social media bits, trailers, and a service that helps you find movies across streaming platforms. (Find all of them here.) This month I’m adding a few more, like: 

2 podcasts

2 albums

5 vampire movies

A conversation between two GOATs

A very funny dead guy

A terrifying Robert Mitchum performance

Another Dumb Rom-Com I Nevertheless Enjoyed

Here’s to another year!

August Crowd-Pleasers

1. Jungle Cruise (2021)

Indiana Jones meets Pirates of the Caribbean with a dash of The African Queen. I like all those movies, so sue me, I had a nice time! Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10

2. Deep Blue Sea (1999)

Genetically-enhanced sharks try to break free of their cages in an ocean research facility, chaos ensues for the characters, and it’s a delight for us. For no intelligent reason, I love movies that make me guess who’s going to get killed off next, so a big dumb shark movie starring L.L. Cool J and Samuel L. Jackson? It’s a particular brand of joy. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 5.5/10

3. Double Feature — Adam Sandler Comedies: 50 First Dates (2004) + Murder Mystery (2019)

Adam Sandler movies are little like IcyHot for the brain—that is, they’re the relaxing kind of mind-numbing. Thanks to a stressful month at work, I watched six Sandler flicks in August—which I don’t necessarily recommend but also don’t regret—and the Netflix original Murder Mystery (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10) was one of the the best of the bunch. It’s a silly spoof of Agatha Christie’s work, and it’s a scenic two-hour European vacay. I also gave 50 First Dates (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10) another try and was pleasantly surprised. Once you get past some of the gross-out humor at the beginning, you’ll find a sweet story all about how we need to keep showing up for the people we love.

4. Double Feature — SNL Comedies: Wayne’s World (1992) + Hot Rod (2007)

My love for Saturday Night Live is more than well-documented, so exactly zero mes were surprised that I loved these flicks from its alums. Wayne’s World (Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 7/10) follows up with Wayne and Garth in the basement we first saw on late night. Now they have the opportunity to make it big on TV thanks to a sleazy exec (Rob Lowe). Brian Doyle-Murray and Chris Farley show up, and so do Laverne and Shirley? Hot Rod (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 6.5/10) follows Rod (Andy Samberg) as he tries to make it big as a stuntman and impress his stepdad (Ian McShane). Will Arnett, Bill Hader, and Chris Parnell show up, and now I can mostly forgive all those boys in high school who quoted this movie non-stop.

5. Weekend at Bernie’s (1989)

If those SNL comedies weren’t enough silliness for you, how about you add some Bernie to your lineup? Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman are wannabe-yuppies who think they’ve got their  career breaks when an exec named Bernie invites them to his vacation home for the weekend. What they don’t know is that Bernie (Terry Kiser) has been laundering money, is connected to the mob, and, is now, um, dead. The right thing would be to call the police, but then we wouldn’t have a 97-minute high-concept comedy, now would we? Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 7/10

6. Twilight series (2008-12)

I mostly skipped the Twilight phenomenon at its peak, but I’m so glad I hopped on the train years later—this series of vampire vs. werewolf showdowns are ridiculous.  But major kudos to the filmmakers who somehow turned a dump truck of nonsensical gobbledygook and unhealthy teenage relationships into something insanely watchable. Also, major kudos to Billy Burke and his understated, curmudgeonly, sarcastic performance. Bella’s dad is the MVP with the only appropriate responses to all of the nonsense he's forced to participate in and the only tether this franchise has to reality. Be sure to watch with a friend so you have someone else to process this weirdness with. Series Crowd: 8/10 // Series Critic: 5/10

7. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at The Muny

You know what’s great? Live theater! This month I made my first trip back to the stage at America’s oldest and largest outdoor amphitheater, the Muny in St. Louis. Their productions never disappoint, and these performers reminded me of Howard Keel, Jane Powell, and Russ Tamblyn in the best ways. 

8. Wimbledon (2004)

Paul Bettany and Kirsten fall in love at Wimbledon! Frankly, that premise alone should be enough to sell you on this very winning rom-com. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7.5/10

9. Career Opportunities (1991)

This month’s Dumb Rom-Com I Nevertheless Enjoyed! Frank Whaley and Jennifer Connelly fall in love while stuck overnight at a Target—which honestly sounds like a dream scenario—and since it’s a John Hughes script, it’s got some heart beneath its thin premise. John Hughes directing would’ve made it better, but there’s enough Hughes in there to catch my heart. Crowd: 7/10 // Critic: 4.5/10

10. First Blood (1982)

Aka Rambo: Part I. Sylvester Stallone is a tough-as-nails Vietnam vet, and Brian Dennehy is the self-righteous sheriff who ticks him off. It digs a bit into PTSD and how we don’t take care of our veterans, but mostly, it’s just Stallone going ape with a knife and explosives. Oddly, also from the same director as Weekend at Bernie’s! Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10

August Critic Picks

1. TCM’s The Plot Thickens Season 2 (2021)

You know those movies that make you ask, “How on Earth did this get made?” This season of The Plot Thickens, subtitled The Devil’s Candy, is an attempt to answer that question. Pretty much no one thinks 1990’s The Bonfire of the Vanities works as a film—including yours truly—and reporter Julie Salomon documented many of its production troubles leading to the final product. A must-listen for anyone who loves hearing behind-the-scenes stories or just gets a kick out of schadenfreude. 

2. Gene and Roger (2021)

Gene and Roger, the summer series on The Big Picture podcast, is an overview and reflection on the work of Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, starting with the launch of their individual careers in the ‘60s through their partnership that lasted into the ‘90s. Another must-listen for movie lovers, especially those who love digging into the history and criticism.

3. Gold-Diggers Sound by Leon Bridges (2021)

Chill vibes and cool groves to transition you from Summer to Autumn.

4. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

Come for the Clint Eastwood, stay for the Ennio Morricone. Actually you can stay for Eastwood, too, because his humor is at his driest, and for Eli Wallach, whose Tuco is an insanely charming cockroach. It’s almost three hours, but this treasure hunt breezes by like a tumbleweed in the wind. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 9/10

5. AFI’s Master Class - The Art of Collaboration: Steven Spielberg and John Williams (2011)

Two GOATS talking about making some of the GOATs. They share clips and explain their collaborative process (including on projects like Jaws and Schindler’s List), and they take questions from film students at AFI. I’m only wishing it were 10 hours instead of 1!

6. The Night of the Hunter (1955)

Robert Mitchum’s terrifying preacher elevates this classic into more than just a standard crime thriller. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 8.5/10

7. Respect (2021)

While a few scenes indulge in melodrama, Jennifer Hudson’s killer performance—both in vocals and character work—more than makes up for it. This Aretha Franklin biopic hits the familiar beats, but it makes you feel like you’re in the room listening to Franklin sing , which is really all you want from a movie like this. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 8/10

8. Solar Power by Lorde (2021)

At first listen, this minimalist pop record sounds worlds away from the angst of Pure Heroine and the melodrama of Melodrama. At second listen, you realize it’s the Lorde you know and love, just with a Laurel Canyon influence. Carole King even gets a shout!

Also in August…

This month Kyla and I checked out Loveline, a call-in radio show popular during the run of Gilmore Girls.  Should our favorite Yale students give up dating OR call into the syndicated radio show Loveline? Should Dr. Drew Pinsky and Adam Carolla give strangers advice OR make fun of them? Oh, and Germany OR Florida? Listen to ep. 107 of SO IT’S A SHOW?

The '40s are coming! Reviews of 1940s Best Picture winners are on their way, and I kicked it off with an overview of the Academy that decade focusing on how they responded to World War II and their new prestigious reputation.

Photo credits: The Muny, The Plot Thickens, Gene and Roger, Leon Bridges, AFI, Lorde. All others IMDb.com.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 9.1

1145 – The main altar of Lund Cathedral, at the time seat of the archiepiscopal see of all the Nordic countries, is consecrated. 1173 – The widow Stamira sacrifices herself in order to raise the siege of Ancona by the forces of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. 1355 – King Tvrtko I of Bosnia writes In castro nostro Vizoka vocatum from the Old town of Visoki. 1420 – A 9.4 MS-strong earthquake shakes Chile's Atacama Region causing tsunamis in Chile as well as Hawaii and Japan. 1449 – Tumu Crisis: The Mongols capture the Emperor of China. 1529 – The Spanish fort of Sancti Spiritu, the first one built in modern Argentina, is destroyed by natives. 1532 – Lady Anne Boleyn is made Marquess of Pembroke by her fiancé, King Henry VIII of England. 1604 – Adi Granth, now known as Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of Sikhs, was first installed at Harmandir Sahib. 1644 – Battle of Tippermuir: James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose defeats the Earl of Wemyss's Covenanters, reviving the Royalist cause. 1715 – At the age of five, Louis XV becomes king of France in succession to his great-grandfather, King Louis XIV. 1763 – Catherine II of Russia endorses Ivan Betskoy's plans for a Foundling Home in Moscow. 1772 – The Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa is founded in San Luis Obispo, California. 1774 – Massachusetts Bay colonists rise up in the bloodless Powder Alarm. 1804 – Juno, one of the largest asteroids in the Main Belt, is discovered by the German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding. 1831 – The Order of St. Gregory the Great is established by Pope Gregory XVI of the Vatican State to recognize high support for the Vatican or for the Pope, by a man or a woman, and not necessarily a Roman Catholic. 1836 – Narcissa Whitman, one of the first English-speaking white women to settle west of the Rocky Mountains, arrives at Walla Walla, Washington. 1838 – Saint Andrew's Scots School, the oldest school of British origin in South America, is established. 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Chantilly: Confederate Army troops defeat a group of retreating Union Army troops in Chantilly, Virginia. 1864 – American Civil War: The Confederate Army General John Bell Hood orders the evacuation of Atlanta, ending a four-month siege by General William Tecumseh Sherman. 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Sedan is fought, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory. 1873 – Cetshwayo ascends to the throne as king of the Zulu nation following the death of his father Mpande. 1878 – Emma Nutt becomes the world's first female telephone operator when she is recruited by Alexander Graham Bell to the Boston Telephone Dispatch Company. 1880 – The army of Mohammad Ayub Khan is routed by the British at the Battle of Kandahar, ending the Second Anglo-Afghan War. 1894 – Over 400 people die in the Great Hinckley Fire, a forest fire in Hinckley, Minnesota. 1897 – The Tremont Street Subway in Boston opens, becoming the first underground rapid transit system in North America. 1905 – Alberta and Saskatchewan join the Canadian confederation. 1906 – The International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys is established. 1911 – The armored cruiser Georgios Averof is commissioned into the Greek Navy. It now serves as a museum ship. 1914 – St. Petersburg, Russia, changes its name to Petrograd. 1914 – The last known passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, dies in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo. 1920 – The Fountain of Time opens as a tribute to the 100 years of peace between the United States and Great Britain following the Treaty of Ghent. 1923 – The Great Kantō earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama, killing about 105,000 people. 1928 – Ahmet Zogu declares Albania to be a monarchy and proclaims himself king. 1934 – The first Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animated cartoon, The Discontented Canary, is released to movie theatres. 1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany and Slovakia invade Poland, beginning the European phase of World War II. 1939 – General George C. Marshall becomes Chief of Staff of the United States Army. 1939 – The Wound Badge for Wehrmacht, SS, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe soldiers is instituted. The final version of the Iron Cross is also instituted on this date. 1939 – Switzerland mobilizes its forces and the Swiss Parliament elects Henri Guisan to head the Swiss Armed Forces (an event that can happen only during war or mobilization). 1939 – Adolf Hitler signs an order to begin the systematic euthanasia of mentally ill and disabled people. 1941 – The Holocaust: The Nazis execute 2,500 Jews by shooting in Ostroh, Ukraine. 1951 – The United States, Australia and New Zealand sign a mutual defense pact, called the ANZUS Treaty. 1952 – The Old Man and the Sea, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Ernest Hemingway, is first published. 1958 – Iceland expands its fishing zone, putting it into conflict with the United Kingdom, beginning the Cod Wars. 1961 – The Eritrean War of Independence officially begins with the shooting of Ethiopian police by Hamid Idris Awate. 1961 – The first conference of the Non-Aligned Countries is held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. 1967 – The Khmer–Chinese Friendship Association is banned in Cambodia. 1967 – Six-Day War: The Khartoum Resolution is issued at the Arab Summit, and eight countries adopt the "three 'no's against Israel". 1969 – A coup in Libya brings Muammar Gaddafi to power. 1969 – Trần Thiện Khiêm becomes Prime Minister of South Vietnam under President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu. 1970 – Palestinian guerrillas attack the motorcade of King Hussein of Jordan in a failed assassination attempt. 1972 – In Reykjavík, Iceland, American Bobby Fischer beats Russian Boris Spassky to become the world chess champion. 1974 – The SR-71 Blackbird sets (and holds) the record for flying from New York to London in the time of one hour, 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds at a speed of 1,435.587 miles per hour (2,310.353 km/h). 1979 – The American space probe Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi). 1980 – Major General Chun Doo-hwan becomes President of South Korea, following the resignation of Choi Kyu-hah. 1981 – A coup d'état in the Central African Republic overthrows President David Dacko. 1982 – The United States Air Force Space Command is founded. 1983 – Cold War: Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet Union jet fighter when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace, killing all 269 on board, including Congressman Lawrence McDonald. 1985 – A joint American–French expedition locates the wreckage of the RMS Titanic. 1991 – Uzbekistan declares independence from the Soviet Union. 2004 – The Beslan school siege begins when armed terrorists take schoolchildren and school staff hostage in North Ossetia, Russia; by the end of the siege, three days later, more than 385 people are dead (including hostages, other civilians, security personnel and terrorists).

[geologyedinburgh]

Bernard (Hunor Deak) Hunorić-Traian Ochterlonie Deák-Kulcsár

President & Program Coordinator of the Angus & Dundee GeoSciences Society · Digital Champion RYS · Volunteer, Hospitalfield House Art Trust and University of St Andrews GeoBus · BSc Geology, University of Edinburgh

I am a BSc Geology graduate from the University of Edinburgh, School of GeoSciences. I worked for the University of Edinburgh as a Student Ambassador, Receptionist, Social Media Representative and Office Aide. I have extensive experience in university management, marketing, student support and geology. At Salamon Ernő Grammar School with Vaskertes High School: Studied Romanian literature, English, German, French, Hungarian literature & History, Mathematics, Computer Science, Social Sciences, Science and Physical Education (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Physical education). At Arbroath High School: Winner of several school cups and medals. My education focused heavily on science and technology. I helped restart the school's newspaper and ran it for several years. I represented the school at several national and international projects and competitions. At the University of Edinburgh: BSc Geology graduate from the School of GeoSciences. I studied various aspects of geosciences (Oceanography, Microclimates, Mining, etc.) for 5 years. I worked for the University of Edinburgh as a Student Ambassador, Receptionist, Social Media Representative and Office Aide. I volunteered with the School of GeoSciences as a public outreach helper, where I helped to run various geology workshops at science festivals. I wrote geology based blogs (covering the work of the department, interviews with visiting academics and promoting the department to prospective students) to several sites of the School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh. I generated social media and marketing material for Student Recruitment. At Rural Youth Scotland: I helped to build a national website to encourage young people to engage more with their communities and start businesses. I built up a geology focused society covering the county of Angus and the city of Dundee. Volunteering: I am a volunteer with various St Andrews based projects focused on science teaching, community causes and the environment. I volunteer at Hospitalfield House (in Arbroath, Angus), an art and heritage museum. Work: I work for Rural Youth Scotland to help connect the young communities of rural Scotland. I am the President & Program Coordinator of the Angus and Dundee GeoSciences Society, where I help to organise field trips and outreach events. Interests: I am interested in mining geology, geoconservation, museum management, science outreach to the public, student recruitment, relations between universities and marketing.

[silent-era-of-cinema]

Bessie Love (born Juanita Horton; September 10, 1898 – April 26, 1986) was an American-British actress who achieved prominence playing innocent, young girls and wholesome leading ladies in silent and early sound films. Her acting career spanned eight decades—from silent film to sound film, including theatre, radio, and television—and her performance in The Broadway Melody (1929) earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Love was born Juanita Horton in Midland, Texas, to John Cross Horton and Emma Jane Horton ( Savage). Her father was a cowboy and bartender, while her mother worked in and managed restaurants. She attended school in Midland until she was in the eighth grade, when her family moved to Arizona, New Mexico, and then to California, where they settled in Hollywood. When in Hollywood, her father became a chiropractor, and her mother worked at the Jantzen's Knitwear and Bathing Suits factory.

In June 1915, while a student at Los Angeles High School, Horton went to the set of a film to meet with actor Tom Mix, who had recommended that she visit him if she wanted to "get into pictures". However, when Mix was unavailable, she was advised to meet with pioneering film director D. W. Griffith, who put her under personal contract. When it was decided that her given name was too long for theater marquees and too difficult to pronounce, Griffith's associate Frank Woods gave Horton the stage name Bessie Love: "Bessie, because any child can pronounce it. And Love, because we want everyone to love her!" Love dropped out of high school to pursue her film career, but she completed her diploma in 1919.

Griffith gave her a small role in his Intolerance (1916). Although Intolerance was her first performance to be filmed, it was her ninth film to be released. The first films Love made were with Griffith's Fine Arts company, yet Intolerance was the only film that he formally directed.

Her "first role of importance" —in the second of her films to be released—was in The Flying Torpedo (1916). She later appeared opposite William S. Hart in The Aryan and with Douglas Fairbanks in The Good Bad-Man, Reggie Mixes In, and The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (all 1916). This string of appearances and supporting roles led to her first starring role, in A Sister of Six (1916). In her early career, she was likened to Mary Pickford, and was called "Our Mary" by Griffith.

As her roles got larger, her popularity gradually grew. In early 1918, Love left Fine Arts for a better contract with Pathé.[ After the Pathé films were unsuccessful, she signed a nine-film contract with Vitagraph later that year, all of which were directed by David Smith. Her performances often received positive reviews, but her films often were shown at smaller movie theaters, which impacted the growth of her career.

Upon the completion of her Vitagraph contract, Love became a free agent. She took an active role in the management of her career, and was represented by Gerald C. Duffy, the former editor of Picture-Play Magazine.

Love sought roles that were different from the little girls she had portrayed earlier in her career when under contract to studios. She played Asian women in The Vermilion Pencil (1922) and The Purple Dawn (1923); a drug-addicted mother in Human Wreckage (1923); a woman accused of murder in The Woman on the Jury (1924); an underworld flapper in Those Who Dance (1924); and versions of her real-life self in Night Life in Hollywood (1922), Souls for Sale (1923), and Mary of the Movies (1923).

As a film star, she was expected to entertain studio executives at parties, so she learned to sing, dance, and play the ukulele. She gradually honed these skills and later performed them onscreen and on the stage. Because of her performance in The King on Main Street (1925), Love is credited with being the first person to dance the Charleston on film, popularizing it in the United States. Her technique was documented in instructional guides, including a series of photographs by Edward Steichen. She subsequently performed the dance the following year in The Song and Dance Man.

In 1925, she starred in The Lost World, a science fiction adventure based on the novel of the same name by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In 1927, she appeared in the successful Dress Parade, and was so impressed by her experiences on location that she wrote the unpublished novel Military Mary. A year later, she starred in The Matinee Idol, a romantic comedy directed by a young Frank Capra. Despite these successes, Love's career was on the decline. She lived frugally so that she could afford lessons in singing and dancing.

Love toured with a musical revue for sixteen weeks, which was so physically demanding that she broke a rib. The experience she gained on the vaudeville stage singing and dancing in three performances a day prepared her for the introduction of sound films. She appeared in the successful sound musical short film The Swell Head in early 1928, and was signed to MGM later that year.

In 1929, she appeared in her first feature-length sound film, the musical The Broadway Melody. Her performance earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and the success of the film resulted in a five-year contract with MGM and an increase in her weekly salary from US$500 to $3,000 (equivalent to $45,000 in 2019)—$1,000 more than her male co-star Charles King.

She appeared in several other early musicals, including 1929's The Hollywood Revue of 1929 and 1930's Chasing Rainbows, Good News, and They Learned About Women. Her success in these musicals earned her the title "the screen's first musical comedy star."

However, the popularity of musical films waned, again putting her career in decline. Love is quoted as saying of her career: "I guess I'm through. They don't seem to want me any more." She shifted focus to her personal life, marrying in December 1929.

She semi-retired from films, and traveled with a musical revue that included clips from her films The Broadway Melody, The Hollywood Revue, and Chasing Rainbows. While on tour, she learned she was pregnant with her daughter, who was born in 1932. Love stopped her stage work to raise her daughter. In 1935, Love moved to England, briefly returning to the United States in 1936 to obtain a divorce.

During World War II in Britain, when it was difficult to find employment as an actress, Love worked as the script supervisor on the film drama San Demetrio London (1943). She also worked for the American Red Cross.

After the war, Love began acting again, this time primarily in the theater and on BBC Radio as a member of their Drama Repertory Company; she also played small roles in British films, often as an American tourist. Stage work included such productions as Love in Idleness (1944) and Born Yesterday (1947). She wrote and performed in The Homecoming, a semiautobiographical play, which opened in Perth, Scotland in 1958. Film work included The Barefoot Contessa (1954) with Humphrey Bogart, and Ealing Studios' Nowhere to Go (1958), and she had supporting roles in The Greengage Summer (1961) starring Kenneth More, the James Bond thriller On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), and John Schlesinger's Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971). In addition to playing the mother of Vanessa Redgrave's titular character in Isadora (1968), Love also served as dialect coach to the actress.

When television became popular, Love appeared in dozens of episodes of British television shows in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. In October 1963, she became the subject of This Is Your Life when host Eamonn Andrews surprised her at the stage door of Never Too Late after its London opening. Guests included London Scrapbook director Derrick De Marney, her Forget Me Not (1922) co-star Gareth Hughes, actor Percy Marmont, her friend and Those Who Dance (1924) co-star Blanche Sweet, and her daughter Patricia.

Love appeared in John Osborne's play West of Suez (1971), and as "Aunt Pittypat" in a large-scale musical version of Gone with the Wind (1972). She also played Maud Cunard in the TV miniseries Edward & Mrs. Simpson in 1978. Her film work continued in the 1980s with roles in Ragtime (1981), Reds (1981), Lady Chatterley's Lover (1981), and—her final film—The Hunger (1983).

Love married agent William Hawks at St. James' Episcopal Church in South Pasadena, California on December 27, 1929. Mary Astor (Hawks's sister-in-law), Carmel Myers, and Norma Shearer were among her bridesmaids, with Irving Thalberg and Hawks's brother Howard serving as ushers. Following their wedding, the couple lived at the Havenhurst Apartments in Hollywood, and their only child, Patricia, was born in 1932. Four years later, the couple divorced.

Love moved to England with her daughter in 1935, a year before her divorce was final. Her life in England kept her out of the eye of her American fans, which resulted in the American press erroneously reporting her as dead multiple times. Love became a British subject in the late 1960s.

Love was a Christian Scientist.

After several years of declining health, Love died at the Mount Vernon Hospital in Northwood, London from natural causes on April 26, 1986. Her ashes are interred at Breakspear Crematorium in Ruislip, Hillingdon, England.

Cartoonist Alex Gard created a caricature of Love for Sardi's, the famed restaurant in Manhattan's Theater District. It is now part of the Billy Rose Theatre Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Portraits of Love are also in the collections of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. and the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Love periodically was interviewed by film historians, and was featured in the television documentary series The Hollywood Greats (1978) and Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film (1980), both about early filmmaking in Hollywood. She also loaned materials from her personal collection to museums. In 1962, she began contributing articles about her experiences to The Christian Science Monitor. In 1977, she published an autobiography entitled From Hollywood with Love.

For her contributions to the motion picture industry, Love was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 at 6777 Hollywood Boulevard.

[helenaspencer]

intro to helena

Is that HELENA SPENCER-MAY? Wow, they do look a lot like PHOEBE DYNEVOR. I hear SHE is an EIGHTEEN year old FRESHMAN who are studying HISTORY  at Luxor University. Word is they are an ARISTOCRAT student. You should watch out because they can be CHILDISH and SNOBBISH, but on the bright side they can also be GENEROUS and CHARMING. Ultimately, you’ll get to see it all for yourself. [YUNI, 21, GMT, SHE/HER]

lord knows why i did this. im sorry.

01: basic information

Full Name: Lara Helena Spencer-May

Nicknames: Helena - she insists on being referred to only by her middle name.

Date Of Birth: August 12, 2002 (currently aged 18)

Zodiac: Leo sun, Leo ascendant, and Libra moon.

Place Of Birth: New York

Nationality: American and Swiss.

Sexual Orientation: Bisexual

Course: History (Freshman)

02: physical

Faceclaim: Phoebe Dynevor

Ethnicity: White (Swiss, English)

Height: 173cm (5′8)

Weight: 56kg (124lbs)

Eye Colour: Blue

Hair Colour: Blonde

Distinctive Features: a tangible air of disdain for anyone who earns less than 100k a year

Clothing Preference: Helena won’t wear anything which isn’t designer, but even then, she has her preferences. Perhaps stereotypically, she adores Chanel, closely followed by Versace. Her sense of style is fairly feminine, with a lot of dresses and skirts, and she wouldn’t be caught dead in a pair of jeans.

03: personality

Overview

Positive Traits: Generous, charming, loyal, creative

Negative Traits: Childish, snobbish, insincere, judgemental

MBTI: ESTP

Religious Beliefs: Atheist

Description

Helena has pretty much the emotional maturity of Veruca Salt. Which is to say, she cares about one person in the world, and that is herself. She doesn’t make long term plans, instead pursuing short term happiness - which means that whatever she wants in that moment, she will go for. And if you stand between her and whatever she wants, no matter how dumb - whether it’s a bag or a college - she reacts dramatically. She’s not above throwing tantrums, literally stomping her feet and screaming, scratching, you name it, until she gets what she asked for. She once keyed an ex boyfriend’s car because he understandably refused to invite her to his sister’s wedding and Helena had already picked out her (white) outfit. In addition to this, Helena’s sheltered upbringing has made her extremely ignorant to the world as a whole. She fails to comprehend how anyone can not be rich, since it’s all she knows, and so she tends to assume that poor people are always lazy and unambitious. As a result, she refuses to associate herself with anyone who is a scholarship student or comes from a poor family, as she insists that mindset might be contagious and drag her down. Her mood can switch very rapidly - one minute she is being sweet and charming to you, and the next minute she is screaming and crying. She’s also extremely adept at crocodile tears, which she uses on everyone she wants something from, seeing no problem with manipulating others if it gets her what she wants. She generally has a very superior outlook on herself as opposed to others, hence why she just assumes she’s going to inherit the May family’s company, over her cousins.

04: past

Biography:

Lara Helena Spencer-May was born in New York to a Swiss father, Matteo May, and English mother, Margaret Spencer. Her father works for the family’s pharmaceutical company, her mother is from British landed gentry and works as a classicist for the British Museum. Helena spent the first few years of her life in New York, before moving back to Switzerland, although she continued to spend a lot of time in New York over the summer, where she would later meet Zander Driskell.

Although her first name is legally Lara, Helena forced everyone to call her by her middle name from the age of eleven. Firstly, she thought that Lara sounded common, and slightly too similar to her cousin Loren’s name, and secondly, as her classicist mother told her the story of Helen of Troy, who she had been named after - and there was nothing which sounded better in Helena’s shallow mind than being beautiful enough that men started wars over you.

Helena is her parents only child, and she was absolutely spoiled rotten from the moment she was born. Her father gives her anything she asks for, and pretty much dotes on her; her mother also treats her as if she’s the centre of the universe. As a result, Helena has become accustomed to never being told no, and has no idea of a good way to act if she is - hence her tendency to throw tantrums if she doesn’t immediately get what she wants. She’s far too used to being able to manipulate daddy with a few tears into giving her an extra 5k in her bank account.

From the age of six, Helena was sent away to attend Ecole des Roches, a prestigious boarding school in Paris. She would either come back to Switzerland over the summer, or spend summers in New York. One such summer was spent in Saratoga Springs when she was sixteen, where she met Zander Driskell - and who she began dating, with Helena deciding to stay in New York after summer ended to be closer. Despite this, their relationship quickly turned toxic, with Helena’s spoiled and selfish nature making it difficult for her to put up with Zander not giving her everything she wanted - they broke up and got back together multiple times over the course of the next year, before a particularly bad break up caused Helena to up and leave for Paris again, finally finishing her high school education in Paris.

Then came the time for college. To be honest, Helena has no actual interest in gaining a degree. As far as she is concerned, she is just going to get a degree for the sake of having one, as she is convinced she is going to inherit the family business. Still, she had ambitions to attend the  University of St Andrews  in Scotland, primarily because she knew Kate Middleton met Prince William there, and Helena would love to be a Queen one day. However, her grandparents instead gently pushed her to attend Luxor University, suggesting that Helena would benefit from some bonding time with her cousins. She instantly refused - and was thus incredibly shocked when for once, her father put his foot down, insisting that either Helena attend Luxor, or he would cut her allowance. No number of tantrums, screaming, threats to jump out of the window, or run away would work - Helena ended up at Luxor, much to her upset, surrounded by her dreaded scholarship students.

Timeline:

August 12 2002 - Helena is born in New York

2006 - Helena moves back to Switzerland

September 2008 - Helena is sent to Paris to attend boarding school. She returns to either Zurich or New York over the summers following.

Summer 2018 - Helena meets and begins a relationship with Zander Driskell. They have many fights and an on and off relationship.

December 2019 - After a particularly bad argument, Helena throws a tantrum and leaves New York, returning to Paris to finish her high school education.

September 2020- Helena begins attending Luxor University.... fashionably late.

05: other trivia

- Helena speaks fluent Swiss German, Swiss French, and English. In addition to this she is fluent in High French, since she attended school in Paris. Her accent when speaking English is sort of an amalgamation of American, English, and French due to her upbringing and her English mother, and it tends to change depending who she’s speaking to - if she’s speaking to someone English, for instance, it will be more on the English side as she subconsciously matches them, whereas if she’s speaking in English to a French person, it becomes more French.

- Adores the British monarchy. Especially Princess Diana. And yes, Spencer means she’s a distant relation. She won’t let you forget it.

- If you call her Lara, she will spit on you.

-She loves classical paintings, and collects art. Her dorm room walls are covered with paintings and reproductions of Greek tapestries. She dresses as Helen of Troy every. single. Halloween.

- She can play the piano, and the flute. She is constantly in a stage of quitting and rejoining the concert band though, as she joins, can’t take any criticism at all, quits, and then misses it and wants to rejoin.

- Massive fan of Lana Del Rey.

06: notable connections

Within Luxor:

- Friendships: ...

- Former Relationships: Zander Driskell

- Cousins: Loren Velazquez, Zelda Reese

NPCS

- Matteo May and Margaret Spencer May: Her parents, who she has wrapped around her little finger.

07: connection ideas/wcs

Friends

Although Helena is often too childish to hold friendships for long, she can be fun for a party, so I see her having a lot of friends who she just drinks with or parties with every once for a while, without any genuine connection going on or spending too much time together

Enemies

Maybe someone who is annoyed by her antics and has been on the receiving end of one of her tantrums and thus sees the immature side of her personality as an annoyance.

Hookups

As long as she doesn’t perceive you as poor (god forbid), she loves a good hookup or friends with benefits.

08: tl;dr

Helena is highly immature, childish, and spoiled. She is rich to the point of not being able to understand or appreciate anything cheap or anyone poor in life, and looks down on pretty much anyone who isn’t at her level of rich as a result, seeing them as lazy. She truly believes she is superior to her cousins and that she’s going to inherit their family’s company, purely because she wants it that way.

[scotianostra]

The Scottish archaeologist and scholar Daniel Wilson was born on January 5th 1816 in Edinburgh.

Wilson attended Edinburgh High School before being apprenticed to a steel engraver. Between 1837 and 1842 he worked in London as an engraver and popular writer, but returned to Edinburgh to run an artist’s supplies and print shop.

Although Wilson developed an interest in history and matters antiquarian from a relatively early age, it was not until he was invited to help turn the collections of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland into a modern national museum that he turned from antiquarianism to archaeology. In reorganising the collection he adopted the Danish model of ordering the artefacts according to the Three Age System, it is due to his work we have The National Museum of Scotland, as we know it today.

He wrote Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time in the 1840s, a book I have perused online many times, scouring for information for many posts over the years.

Wilson’s arrangement presented an evolutionary approach to viewing the artefacts, and this also came across in the catalogue that he wrote to go with the exhibition. Later, in 1851, he published an extended version of the catalogue as Archaeology and prehistoric annals of Scotland, his was the first comprehensive treatment of early Scotland based on material culture and the first time that the term ‘prehistoric’ was used in English, so he basically invented the word!!

Although Wilson received an honorary degree from the University of St Andrews, he was unable to get an academic position in Scotland. In 1853, with help from friends in Edinburgh, he was appointed to the Chair of History and English Literature in University College, Toronto, Canada. Wilson enjoyed teaching in Canada and continued his interest in archaeology, but all the while expanded his interest in anthropology and ethnography. Throughout his life he was a talented landscape painter, having worked with J. M. W. Turner studio during his time in London.

In 1888 Wilson was knighted for his services to education in Canada, and in 1891 given the freedom of the city of Edinburgh. He died in Toronto on August 6, 1892. The Sir Daniel J. Wilson Residence at the University College in University of Toronto is named in his honour.

You can find Edinburgh in the Olden Time on the link below

http://edinburghbookshelf.org.uk/volume10/

[starryevermore]

sam and colby auditorium

Sam and Colby Videos

25x25 Gifs

Non-Series

The Haunted Mission Inn Hotel - 04/20/20

Truth or Strip 2 - 05/01/20

The Haunted Secrets of Griffith Park - 05/18/20

He Pretty 🥺 - 06/29/20

Exploring World’s Largest Haunted House - 09/27/20

We Took LaurDIY and Manny MUA to Haunted Hells Gate - 11/15/20

Sam and Colby (and Nate) Play with Dinosaurs - 11/29/20

Overnight in a Modern Art Museum - 12/29/20

Exploring Abandoned Beach Hotel - 06/20/21

Locked in a Haunted Prison Cell - 06/27/21

Our Unexplainable Night at Queen Anne Hotel Room - 07/05/2021

Overnight in USA’s Most Haunted Ghost Ship - 07/11/21

Overnight in Axe Murderer’s House (Lizzie Borden Murders) - 07/18/21

We Love Our Friends - 07/20/21

Me Too, Colby, Me Too. - 10/19/21

Excuse Me While I Pretend I’m the Very Nice Kentucky People They’re Talking About - 10/28/21

Biltmore Hotel

The Haunted Biltmore Hotel - 04/19/20

Our Unbelievable Ghost Experience - 05/17/20

Queen Mary

The Final Night at Haunted Queen Mary Ship - 04/21/20

Queen Mary Room B340 - 05/19/20

Overnight at Haunted Queen Mary Ship - 10/26/20

New Reaction Meme Just Dropped - 10/21/21

Enchanted Forest at Cobb Estate

Chased by Cult at Enchanted Forest - 05/20/20

Lost in Ritual Tunnel at Enchanted Forest - 05/21/20

Demonic Ritual in Enchanted Forest (Gone Wrong) - 05/22/20

I Just Wanna Go Exploring with Colby - 05/25/20

Stanley Hotel Series

Psychic Warns Us About Haunted Stanley Hotel - 04/22/20

Staying Overnight in Haunted Stanley Hotel - 04/23/20

A Terrifying Encounter at Haunted Stanley Hotel - 04/24/20

Seance Uncovers Dark Secrets about Haunted Stanley Hotel - 04/25/20

Witches Forest Series

The Haunted Cabin in the Woods - 04/26/20

Witch Warns Us that We’re in Danger - 04/27/20

We Lost Colby in Haunted Witches Forest - 04/28/20

A Mistake that Could End Everything - 04/29/20

Trapped Overnight in Haunted Witches Forest  - 04/30/20

The Origin Series

Ghost Hunting at Haunted Crybaby Bridge - 05/01/20

We Lost a Friend - 05/02/20

The Place Where it All Began - 05/03/20

A Horrifying Encounter at Abandon Warehouse - 05/04/20

The Scary Ritual that Changed Everything - 05/05/20

The Graveyard Series

Our Unbelievable Night at Haunted Langham Hotel - 05/06/20

Langham Hotel Room 333 - 05/07/20

I Love One (1) Dumbass - 05/07/20

The Terrifying Curse of St. Andrews Church - 05/08/20

Our Life Changing Experience in the Graveyard - 05/09/20

The Castle Series

The Haunting of Queen Mary’s Castle - 05/10/20

The Demon of Haunted Queen Mary Castle - 05/11/20

The Final Night at Haunted Queen Mary Castle - 05/12/20

The Return of the Shadow Man Series

Most Haunted Hotel in Florida - 05/13/20

We Never Expected This to Happen - 05/14/20

Haunted Secrets of the Ouija Board - 05/15/20

The Most Horrifying Night We’ve Ever Experienced - 05/16/20

The Treasure of Cerro Gordo Series

XPLR SZN III - 08/02/20

Treasure Hunting in Abandoned Ghost Town - 08/02/20

Terrifying Night in Haunted Ghost Town - 08/09/20

Found Treasure in Haunted Mine at Abandoned Ghost Town - 08/17/20 

We Took Larray and Manny MUA to Haunted Mansion

We Took Larray and Manny MUA to Haunted Mansion - 09/20/20

This Video Had Me Fucking Cackling - 09/20/20

Our Horrifying Experience at Clown Tunnel (ft. Amber & Kat)

Me to Anyone Who Tries to Give Amber Shit - 10/11/20

Our Horrifying Experience at Clown Tunnel - 10/11/20

The Treasure of the Little Big Horn Series

Why is This So Cute 🥺 - 10/18/20

Stranded on Haunted Battle Ground - 10/18/20

We Got Caught Camping Overnight in Haunted Forest - 10/25/20

Exploring an Abandoned High School in a Ghost Town - 11/01/20

Our Unforgettable Haunted Experience (Shanley Hotel)

Our Unforgettable Haunted Experience (Shanley Hotel) - 08/01/21

Colby + Maddie 5ever - 08/01/21

Compilations from the Series

Iconic Mirror Selfies - 04/25/20

Saying Goodbye to Haunted Places - 04/26/20

The Phone Will Ring and There Will Be No One There - 04/30/20

❝ Do the Scary Thing First, and Get Scared Later. ❞ - Lemony Snicket - 10/22/20

❝ We Need Ghost Stories Because We, In Fact, Are the Ghosts. ❞ - Stephen King - 10/31/20

Now Entering...

Gif Series (Jan 2021)

Interviews

Can You Pass the Paranormal Arts Test? - 06/01/20

Sam and Colby Create the Grossest Cocktail Ever - 09/03/20

Knott’s Scary Farm with Sam and Colby - 10/08/20

Yeah, But That’s Not Spooky. That’s Just Dark and Sad. - 12/11/20

♡ Be Mine ♡ - 02/14/21

Miscellaneous

My Aesthetic is SNC Dropping these Figures and then Just... Never Speaking About Them Again - 12/05/20

X • P • L • R  - 01/31/21

Make It Count. - 03/26/21

* the date in italics is the day that the gifset was published, and is not necessarily the day the video the gif is from was made or the gifset itself was made

[purplesurveys]

918

Have a friends survey, because I’m really missing mine.

-- List 8 Friends of Either Gender --

1. Andrew 2. Jo 3. Aya 4. Gabie 5. Hannah 6. Angela 7. Laurice 8. Aliyah

Questions About These Friends

Does number 4 have a driver’s license? Yeah. I’m pretty sure we were part of the first few people in our high school batch who learned how to drive and get our licenses.

Can number 7 speak another language? Well yeah, she can speak Filipino. Everyone on the list can at least speak Filipino.

Does 2 know your parents well? Not so much. She knows the basic stuff about my parents that I tell everyone, like how my dad works abroad.

Have 3 and 5 been in the same room together? Multiple times, until Aya graduated. All three of us were in the same applicant batch in our org so we spent a loooot of time together.

Does 1 have similar music tastes to you? Broadly, yeah. I know we both like R&B and hip-hop but he’s faaaar more passionate about the genre and he’s a lot better at picking out artists and songs.

Has 6 ever stayed at your house? She’s visited a handful of times, but I prefer going to her house instead. I don’t really have a lot to offer here whereas we never run out of things to do at her place.

When did 3 last text you? If we are talking of strictly texts, November 2018. Aya was never a good replier on text lol. But my last notification of her in general was at 4 AM today, when she sent a meme to our friends’ group chat.

Does 5 have any pets? If so, what do they have? Nope. WELP I don’t know actually. She lives all the way in Bacolod so her home life doesn’t get raised much. I know she loves dogs though.

Does 7 live in the same town/city as you? Nah, she’s a south baby through and through.

Have you ever lent something important to 8? I’ve never even met her yet. We keep planning to especially since she works in Metro Manila now, but our schedules just never work out.

Can number 1 sing well? Yes. He’s done a lot of singing gigs and as far as I know he even put out an EP at one point. He has a sick stage name too.

Does 2 have any siblings? Nah, she’s an only child.

If 4 called you at 2 AM, what would your reaction be? Take it and assume she has trouble falling asleep.

Who is 8′s best friend? I’m not sure; I don’t know her all that well. I would assume it’s someone all the way in Mindanao, since that’s where she grew up and went to school and her whole life is there - she really only moved to Metro Manila for work. That’s why I feel for her sometimes and keep offering to meet up, so she can feel less lonely.

Does 6 have a favourite tv show? If so, what is it? She loooves watching TV series but I never knew what her favorite is. Good question, I’ll have to ask her this soon.

Who out of 5 and 7 knows you the best? I say they both know me on the same level but I think Laurice does slightly more. We’ve had deeper conversations, so it’s a safe guess.

Does 4 have a boyfriend/girlfriend? You are reading her answers right now. ;)

Does 2 have a career/knows what they want to be? Yes, she’s always wanted to be a journalist. She’s entering her senior year now and I’m really proud and super impressed with her for being able to keep up such a demanding, brutal passion; I was burned out from journ by freshman year. She even helps run a fact-checking website now :) It had just been a requirement in her class to come up with a fact-checking website but theirs got SO successful, racked up some awards, and now it’s still going.

Have you ever kissed 1? No. He’s like a brother to me and that just sounds like the weirdest scenario.

Does 3 have or want children? Yes. I know she wanted them when she was with Jo, but I’m not sure if she’s changed her mind lately.

Does 6 have any piercings or tattoos? Yep, on her ears.

Do your parents know 8? No. She’s an internet friend, so I never get to raise it in conversations. And I doubt they’ll be happy if they found out I made a friend on the interwebs anyway.

Which Number...

Have you had romantic feelings for? 4.

Have you told a secret to? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,7, 8. I’m pretty open with my secrets, as dumb as that sounds lol

Have you shared a bed with? 2, 3, 4, 6, 7.

Have you watched a movie with? I remember watching The Devil Wears Prada with 2 and 3. I’ve watched several movies with 4.

Have you seen cry? 2, 3, 4, 6.

Have seen you cry? 1, 4, 5. 5 hasn’t seen me cry but she has definitely heard me.

Have cooked you something? 6 and 7 :) They’re also the biggest mom friends on the list, so I’m not surprised.

Have a boyfriend/girlfriend? 1, 4, 6. I’m not sure if 2 and 3 are still together; we never get to update each other anymore. Have met your parents? 2, 3, 7 from a meeting we once held at my house. And 4 and 6, of course - they’re my mom’s favorites.

Have been to the same school/college as you? Everyone except 8.

About Number One What age are they? He turned 22 in June.

Have you met their parents? Never. He can’t give less of a shit about his dad so I don’t care for him, though. I know he’s super protective of his mom.

Have you ever been in a relationship with them? Not at all. He wouldn’t be my type, and like I said he’s a brother to me more than anything else.

Do they like most of your other friends? We mostly have mutual friends, so. I know he likes my best frieinds though - he was even the one who reminded me about putting Angela on my thesis acknowledgments.

How often do you two meet up and/or talk? Back in school we used to see each other around 1-2 days a week. He’s a little busier than I am since he takes side gigs, so he’s not in campus all the time.

When did you last argue? We’ve never fought but the last time I got quite upset with him was last December. We were rushing to get our thesis draft submitted on time and apparently he submitted the file to our professor’s VIBER. He for sure got an earful from me that day.

What is their favourite food? I’m not sure. He does tend to have unpopular food opinions so I wouldn’t be surprised if his favorite is not a common choice.

Where is their favourite place to be? On the basketball court or anywhere with Leigh, I’m guessing.

How many close friends do they have? I know of at least two - JM and Blanch. He is friendly and has an extensive circle though, so I’m sure I’m missing several other close friends of his.

Number Two What colour are their eyes? Dark brown.

Have they known you the longest? Not at all. I’ve only known her for three years.

Where were they born? I’m guessing it would either be Manila or Makati.

Why are they your number 2? She just fell on the second slot. I was trying to randomize my friends’ names and hers just turned out to be the second one I thought of.

Do they like children? I don’t know how she feels about them exactly but one thing I know is that she doesn’t hate kids, and we’ve had numerous conversations on what we’d do in certain scenarios involving kids. 

Would they beat you in a race? I think so. But then again I did track at one point, so I’m walking onto that contest already with an advantage.

When did you last spend time alone together? Ugh c’mon man, this question is just sad. Jo had been hanging out at Skywalk less and less ever since most of the people in our friend group graduated last school year, so our last real hangout was probably that time we slept over at Laurice’s in June 2019. We never hung out a lot after that, and of course the lockdown just killed any chances we had of doing so.

Do they have a pet peeve? What is it? She has a lot of pet peeves but I can’t place any of them at the moment.

Number Three What is their hair colour? Black, as do most Filipinos.

What is their job, if they have one? Last I heard she got a gig with a major broadcasting network. I think she’s a segment producer? Segment researcher? Something of the sort.

Do they have their own place? I don’t think so; not just yet.

How many brothers or sisters do they have? I know she has a sister. I’ve forgotten if she has a brother.

Have you ever done something illegal with them? Yes hahaha illegal in university terms, at least. When we had free time and we saw that no one was using one of the classrooms in the college, our friend group snuck inside and played The Devil Wears Prada on the projector. As the only goody-two-shoes in the group I was super uneasy the whole time, but literally no faculty or staff checked in on us for the entire film. That was the moment I knew I was no longer in private school, where everyone watched you like a hawk lol.

How old were you when you met each other? I was 19, she was 21.

Are they more sporty, arty or academic? ARTSY. She’s one of the best artists I’ve ever seen and she can absolutely fucking slay any editorial cartoon.

Have you ever travelled out of country with this person? Nope. I would love to.

Person Four Do they have a favourite musician? St. Vincent’s been her fave for the longest time.

Have you drank alcohol with this person? Many times. When I drink she’s usually around.

Are their parents together? Yes.

What do you enjoy doing with them? EATING OUT!!! I also love going to new places and museum strolling with her, but yeah nothing works for me better than food with my favorite person.

When is their birthday? June 5th.

Do they have long or short hair? Long.

Have you been to a concert with this person? Yes, when we went to (illegally) see Coldplay from the top of a parking lot. Still felt like we were part of the concert grounds though.

If you asked them to describe you, what do you think they would say? Determined, hates to lose, and annoyingly generous.

Person Five Where did you two meet? I met Hannah on our enrollment day for our sophomore year in college. She and Macy had transferred from UPLB to UPD and since Macy and I were already friends from high school, she introduced me to Hannah. Then we became a lot closer when it turned out we were both applying for the same org.

How long ago did they phone you? We both hate phone calls and we’d hate to call/be called.

Do they have a certain sport they play? I don’t think she’s very athletic herself, but she loves watching UAAP games and she has a particular affinity for volleyball.

What about them annoys you sometimes? I never found her annoying. I did notice that her one weakness as a co-worker is her fear of being assertive, putting her foot down, being confident to come up with her own steps on how to come up with steps towards a situation, that kind of stuff. She often wanted someone who she felt like was more knowledgeable to be by her side and make all the decisions. But I did see her bloom a bit after a few months, so I’m proud of the progress.

Are they ruled by their head or their heart? Heart.

Are they male or female? Female.

In what ways are they the opposite of you? She’s religious and she loves to sing and perform.

How many rooms do they have in their house? No clue; I’ve never been to her house. I’ve never even been to her city.

Person Six Can they play an instrument? I think she knows *a bit* of guitar. But she’s not crazy gifted when it comes to musical instruments, I know that much.

Are they close with their mother? VERY. And she has no reason not to be - her mom is the nicest and most compassionate person I’ve ever met. Always treated me like family.

Do you know any of their siblings well? She’s an only child.

How many times have you visited their house? Countless, especially in high school and in our first few years in college.

When did you last go out to eat together? Feb. It was one of the food stalls at The Palace and we needed to eat away all the alcohol lol.

Do they own a bike? I haven’t seen one in her place so I’m assuming no. Her neighborhood is not very bike-friendly to begin with, so it’s understandable.

Do they have a sweet, sour or salty tooth? She has a...green tooth? Hahahaha she likes eating healthily.

What music genre do they listen to most? Pop, pop rock, indie, indie rock.

Person Seven Would you ever consider dating this person? Probably not. She’s SO stable and happy; I’m still working on it. I wouldn’t want to dump my shit on her vibrant and bubbly outlook on life.

Do they prefer cats or dogs? Dog, I think. I don’t know for sure though. 

Are they or do they plan to go to college? To study what? Yes, she’s in her senior year now. She’s also taking up journalism – it’s how we met.

If they did something illegal, what would it be? I highly doubt that would ever happen lmao, she’s super nice and such a goody-two-shoes. If she got caught doing something illegal it’s 100% only because she was with someone who did the thing.

Have you ever shared a sundae with this person? Maybe once or twice.

is their hair dyed or natural? It’s all black now, but at one point she dyed it light brown.

Is this person sarcastic? She can be, especially with people she’s close to.

Is this person more likely to party or sit in and read a book? SIT IN AND READ A BOOK. Literally the most accurate option.

Person Eight Have you ever lied to this person? I probably have. We’ve only ever talked on social media, where it’s a lot easier to tell a tiny lie and get away with it.

Do you know where this person was born? Somewhere in Davao I’m assuming.

Do you know their middle name and do they know yours? We know each others’ second names because have them put out on Facebook; but not our middle names.

Do they have any special talents? If she does, I don’t know about them. She’s amazing at writing though.

What is their starsign? Whatever star sign falls on the first half of December.

What is the first thing you notice about this person? Ever since the time she tweeted that she doesn’t like smiling with her teeth, her smile has always been the first thing I’m drawn to. 

Have you ever had a big row with this person? Never.

Do you like the same types of movies as this person? Not really. We met because she was friends with my friends who liked the same things she did, but when it comes to us we couldn’t really be any more different.

Random Stuff

Which of these friends would you say you are the closest to? Gabie, of course.

Can you remember all of their birthdays? I’ll give it a shot. June 22, December 31, December 5, June 5, January 16, September 15, May 23...and Aliyah’s is in early December, I’m certain.

Is there anything you regret saying to any of them? I guess only towards Gab, because I’m closest with her and we’ve been through the most together.

Which one of these has been there for you the most? Angela.

Which one have you known the longest and the shortest amount of time? I’ve been aware of Gabie the longest (18 years); been friends with Angela the longest (15 years); and been friends with Andrew the shortest (about a year and a half).

If you needed a laugh, you'd call... I wouldn’t call my friends if I needed help...but if I needed a laugh I’d turn to Anj or Andrew.

If you needed advice, you'd call... Mmm I’d pick among Andrew, Aya, Gabie, Angela, and Laurice.

Which one does your parents like the most? ANGELAAAAAAAA. She’s That friend that I can name-drop when I’m asking for permission to go out, and once my mom hears that she’s going to be with me she usually won’t hesitate to say yes haha.

Is there any of these your parents dislike? They don’t dislike any of them but I have a feeling they’ll disapprove of the fact that I made an online friend in Aliyah, especially my mom.

Do any of them share the same initials? Andrew and Aliyah do.

You can invite one with you for a once in a lifetime trip, which one? Angela.

Something you'd like to say to one of them: I miss you. That applies to everyone.

[xmasqoo-haineke]

Per aspera ad astra (phrase meaning) … Not to be confused with "Per ardua ad astra." … * *  * "Ad astra per aspera" redirects here. For other uses, see Per aspera ad astra (disambiguation). Disclosure: This article may need additional citations for verification.  Find sources: "Per aspera ad astra" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2020)  "Per aspera ad astra", from Finland in the Nineteenth Century, 1894 Per aspera ad astra (or, less commonly, ad astra per aspera) is a popular Latin phrase meaning "through hardships to the stars". The phrase is one of the many Latin sayings that use the expression ad astra, meaning "to the stars". Contents 1 Uses 1.1 Governmental entities 1.2 Military and government 1.3 Literature 1.4 Music 1.5 Anime 1.6 Educational and research institutions 1.6.1 Australia 1.6.2 Austria 1.6.3 Botswana 1.6.4 Ecuador 1.6.5 Estonia 1.6.6 Honduras 1.6.7 India 1.6.8 Jamaica 1.6.9 Japan 1.6.10 Macau 1.6.11 Maldives 1.6.12 New Zealand 1.6.13 Nigeria 1.6.14 Norway 1.6.15 Pakistan 1.6.16 Paraguay 1.6.17 Philippines 1.6.18 Romania 1.6.19 Russia 1.6.20 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1.6.21 Slovakia 1.6.22 Slovenia 1.6.23 South Africa 1.6.24 Sri Lanka 1.6.25 Sweden 1.6.26 Tajikistan 1.6.27 Ukraine 1.6.28 United Kingdom 1.6.29 United States 1.7 Fraternities and sororities 1.8 Popular culture 1.9 Others 2 See also 3 References 4 External link Uses[edit] Various organizations and groups use this expression and its variants. Governmental entities[edit] Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin[1] State of Kansas (Ad astra per aspera)[2] Municipality of Cheribon, Netherlands East Indies[3] City of Gouda, The Netherlands[4] Honored Scientist of Armenia[5] Military and government[edit] Department of Civil Aviation, Thailand[6] Military Technical Academy in Bucharest, Romania[7] National Defence Academy of Latvia[8] South African Air Force[9] Spanish Air Force Hon. Julie Payette, 29th Governor General of Canada[10] Royal Life Guards (Denmark) Literature[edit] In Kenta Shinohara's Astra Lost in Space, it is inscribed on a plaque on the bridge of the ship that the crew subsequently decided to name the Astra.[11] In Kurt Vonnegut's The Sirens of Titan, it was quoted as both the motto of Martian Imperial Commandos, a unit within the larger Martian Army, in addition to being the motto of Kansas, U.S.A., Earth, Solar System, Milky Way. In Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird", it was quoted as the motto of Maycomb, during the school play. In James Joyce's "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man"[12] In Pierce Brown's "Red Rising" book series it is a common phrase used by the Golds of The Society. In M.L.Rio's "If We Were Villains" it is the motto of the Dellecher Academy. Music[edit] The subtitle of Moritz Moszkowski's set of fifteen Études de Virtuosité for piano, op. 72 (published 1903). The subtitle of Charles Villiers Stanford's Piano Trio No. 3, Op. 158 (1918). The title of the fourth album by ambient music duo Stars of the Lid (1998). The subtitle of Sergei Bortkiewicz's 3rd piano concerto (1927). The title of a song by Spiritual Beggars from their album Ad Astra (2000). The title of a song by Haggard (band) from their album "Eppur Si Muove" (2004). Acceptance has an instrumental track on their Phantoms album titled "Ad Astra Per Aspera" (2005). The title of the second album (2011) by Abandon Kansas. Per Aspera Ad Aspera, the name of a best-of album by the band ASP (2014). The title of a march by Ernst Urbach op. 4 (1906). The title of an album of marches by the Royal Norwegian Air Force Band. The title of a composition by Hasaan Ibn Ali from his second Atlantic recording, never released, the master tapes of which were destroyed in the Atlantic warehouse fire of 1978.[13] The subtitle of an instrumental song by the symphonic metal band Nightwish (2020). Anime[edit] Mentioned in anime Astra Lost in Space on the Ark Series Spaceship which is later named as ASTRA. Educational and research institutions[edit] Australia[edit] Queenwood School for Girls, Mosman NSW Woodville High School, Adelaide Albury High School, Albury, New South Wales[14] Girton Grammar School, Bendigo, Victoria Austria[edit] Universität Klagenfurt Botswana[edit] St. Joseph's College, Kgale Ecuador[edit] Instituto Nacional Mejía,Quito, Ecuador Estonia[edit] Keila-Joa Boarding School, Türisalu[15] Jakob Westholm Secondary School, Tallinn[16] Honduras[edit] Escuela Nacional de Música, Tegucigalpa Instituto Salesiano San Miguel, Tegucigalpa India[edit] Clarence High School, Bangalore, Karnataka, India - Motto of Redwood House (Ad Astra) St. Augustine's High School, kalimpong, District:Darjeeling, India Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC), New Delhi, India The Frank Anthony Public School,Kolkata,India The Frank Anthony Public School, Delhi, India - Motto of Ranger House St Joseph's High School, Dharwad, Karnataka, India Antonio D'souza High School, Mumbai, India Technology Research and Incubation Centre, Dimapur, Nagaland Jamaica[edit] Immaculate Conception High School, St. Andrew Mount Alvernia High School, Montego Bay Japan[edit] St. Francis Church, Tokyo, West-Hachioji, Gnosis Essene (HP) Macau[edit] Postgraduate Association of University of Macau, Macau Maldives[edit] MNDF Fire and Rescue Services Training School, K.Viligili New Zealand[edit] Rotorua Boys' High School, Rotorua Nigeria[edit] Ilupeju College, Ilupeju, Lagos Lagos Secondary Commercial Academy, LASCA Kalabari National College, Buguma, Rivers State Oriwu Model College, Igbogbo, Ikorodu Norway[edit] Stavanger Cathedral School, Stavanger Sortland videregående skole, Nordland Lillehammer videregående skole Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Pakistan[edit] St Patrick's High School, Karachi St. Patrick's College, Karachi Paraguay[edit] Universidad Autónoma de Asunción Philippines[edit] Far Eastern University - Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation, Quezon City St. John Paul II College of Davao, Davao City Rosevale School, Cagayan de Oro City Juan R. Liwag Memorial High School, Gapan City Cagayan State University, Tuguegarao City Romania[edit] Mihai Eminescu High School,[17] Suceava Colegiul National "Andrei Saguna" Brasov[18] Colegiul National "Doamna Stanca" Fagaras[19] Alexandru Papiu Ilarian High School,[20] Targu-Mures Andrei Mureşanu High School,[21] Bistrița Márton Áron Főgimnázium [ro], Csíkszereda (Liceul Teoretic "Márton Áron", Miercurea-Ciuc) Ovidius High School,[22] Constanta Military Technical Academy,[23] Bucharest Russia[edit] School no. 1259, Moscow Saint Vincent and the Grenadines[edit] Saint Vincent Grammar School, Kingstown Slovakia[edit] Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies of Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava Slovak Organisation for Space Activities Slovenia[edit] Prva gimnazija Maribor, Maribor Gimnazija Jesenice, Jesenice Gimnazija Škofja Loka, Škofja Loka South Africa[edit] Pietersburg Hoërskool[24] Tembisa Secondary School South African Air Force[25][circular reference] Ribane-Laka Secondary School Chistlehurst Academics and Arts School Sri Lanka[edit] St. Paul's Girls' School, Milagiriya, Colombo District, Western Province Sweden[edit] Västmanland Air Force Wing[26] Tajikistan[edit] Gymnasium #1 after V. Chkalov, Buston, Khujand, Sugd region Ukraine[edit] Space Museum dedicated to Korolyov in Zhytomyr Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Bucha Ukrainian gymnasium United Kingdom[edit] The Royal School, Haslemere, Surrey Colfe's School, Greenwich, London Mayfield Grammar School, Gravesend, Kent Dr. Challoner's Grammar School, Amersham, Buckinghamshire British Lawn Mower Racing Association United States[edit] California State University East Bay, Hayward, California[27] Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina[28] Cornelia Strong College, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, North Carolina Coventry High School, Coventry, Rhode Island East Hampton High School, East Hampton, Connecticut Greenhill School, Dallas, Texas[29] Irvington Union Free School District, Irvington, New York Saint Joseph Academy, Brownsville, Texas Lake View High School, Chicago, Illinois Lyndon Institute, Lyndon Center, Vermont Macopin Middle School, West Milford, New Jersey Miami Central High School, Miami, Florida Midwood High School, Brooklyn, New York Mirman School, Los Angeles, California Morristown-Beard School, Morristown, New Jersey Mount Saint Michael Academy, Bronx, New York Satellite High School, Satellite Beach, Florida Seven Lakes High School, Katy, Texas Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey[30] Trinity Prep, Winter Park, Florida[31] Townsend Harris High School, Queens, New York University High School, Fresno, California University of Tennessee Space Institute, Tullahoma, Tennessee Oak Harbor Academy Private School, Lemoore, California Fraternities and sororities[edit] Beta Sigma Psi National Lutheran Fraternity[32] Sigma Gamma Phi – Arethusa Sorority[33] Korp! Amicitia – Estonian student sorority. Freemasons-Knight's Templar, 32nd Degree K.Ö.St.V. Almgau Salzburg - Austrian Catholic Student Association[34] K.a.V. Danubia Wien-Korneuburg im ÖCV - Austrian Catholic Student Association Popular culture[edit] Appears on the hull of the ship 'Searcher' in the second season of Buck Rogers. Garrison Keillor routinely references the phrase as the only Latin phrase he cared to remember on A Prairie Home Companion.[35][36] Per Aspera Ad Astra is a Soviet Russian science fiction film by Richard Viktorov, written by Kir Bulychov. Rip Torn says this phrase to David Bowie in the film The Man Who Fell to Earth. Tomo Milicevic of the band 30 Seconds to Mars has a tattoo on his right forearm reading 'per aspera et astra', with the band's logo in the background in red. Aspera! Per aspera! Per ardua! Ad astra! is the refrain of the song "Aspera" by Erin McKeown on the album We Will Become Like Birds. American singer, rapper, dancer, actress, and songwriter Kiely Williams has "Per aspera ad astra" tattooed on her right forearm. Title of a play depicting the history of the fictional Maycomb County in To Kill a Mockingbird, in which the translation is given as from the mud to the stars. Title of a song by Haggard, from the album Eppur Si Muove. The name of an album by Abandon Kansas. It is one of many hidden messages in the 2009 video game The Conduit. Motto of the Martian Imperial Commandos in Kurt Vonnegut novel, The Sirens of Titan. Title of a song by Seattle-based band Acceptance. Title of a song by Goasia, appearing on the album From Other Spaces (Suntrip Records, 2007) Appears on right side shoulder patch in Star Trek Enterprise, on the "newer" uniform style shown on the series finale. In Star Trek The Next Generation it is shown to be the motto of Starfleet. The official motto of Solforce in the videogame Sword of the Stars. The phrase is used as the name of the tenth track on the score for the film Underworld: Rise of the Lycans by Paul Haslinger. Title of a song by the band Spiritual Beggars from their album Ad Astra. Title of a song by the band Die Apokalyptischen Reiter from their album Samurai. The final mission (Chapter 15) in the Mafia II video game In a tattoo piece in The Raven The phrase has been spoofed slightly by the band Ghost in the song "Per Aspera Ad Inferi" from their album Infestissumam[37] literally meaning "Through hardships to hell".[38] Title of a background music from the Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire video games which plays during a voyage into space. In the 2015 film The Martian, at the end of the film astronaut Mark Watney is giving his first lecture to the Astronaut Candidate Program and the phrase appears embedded in the central floor area of the lecture hall around a logo In Bioware's Mass Effect 3, this phrase is set in the middle of the wall of names dedicated to the fallen crew members of the main ship, the SSV Normandy SR2. Title of character leveling achievements in Mistwalker's mobile game Terra Battle Found in the Gravity Falls Journal #3, penned on the title page. Appears on the journal both in the show and on the real-life replica.[39] The title of a Pee Wee Gaskins album (2010). The title character in Ottessa Moshfegh's novel Eileen accepts and smokes a Pall Mall and refers to the motto on the package translated as "Through the thorns to the stars." On the ship the students find in Astra Lost in Space, there is a plaque with this saying on it. The motto of the Golds in Pierce Brown's Red Rising Series. Ad Astra is a 2019 American science fiction film by James Gray. Appears in the logo of the Universal Paperclips Advanced AI Research Group. Others[edit] As part of the official team crest of Arendal Football As part of the team crest of the former Collingwood Cricket Club. A plaque honoring the astronauts of Apollo 1 at the launch site where they perished. A tribute exhibit to the Apollo 1 Astronauts "Ad Astra Per Aspera - A Rough Road Leads to the Stars" opened on January 27, 2017, the 50th anniversary of the loss of the crew, at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Inscribed on the crest of Pall Mall cigarettes packages[40] The theme of "POR CC XXI" by Kolese Kanisius Jakarta Part of a custom paint job in World Of Tanks Tradewinds Swiss[41] Space Development Network[42] Part three of the book Jepp who Defied the Stars by Katherine Marsh has the phrase as its title.[43] Appears in Morse code on the track titled "Sounds of Earth" on the Voyager Golden Record that has copies aboard the Voyager 1 & 2 spacecraft that are currently in interstellar space. [44] See also[edit] Per ardua ad astra ("Through adversity to the stars") Per ardua ad astra, additional uses with reference to above article Ad astra per aspera, additional uses Per aspera ad astra, references this article References[edit] ^ "Decorations of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin". Archived from the original on 2008-08-29. ^ "Seal of Kansas". Kansapedia. Kansas Historical Society. March 2014. Archived from the original on 2020-07-06. Retrieved 2020-07-06. ^ "Nederlandsch-Indische Gemeentewapens" (PDF). NV Mij Vorkink. September 1933. Retrieved 2019-07-23. ^ "Gouda in the official Dutch heraldic records". High Council of the Nobility (Hoge Raad van Adel), The Hague. Retrieved 2019-10-28. ^ "Honored Scientist of Armenia" (PDF). Retrieved Sep 24, 2020. ^ Department of Civil Aviation Emblems Archived April 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine ^ "Academia Tehnica Militara". Mta.ro. Archived from the original on 2007-07-03. Retrieved 2013-12-21. ^ http://www.naa.mil.lv/en.aspx ^ "The South African Air Force Emblems". Saairforce.co.za. Retrieved 2013-12-21. ^ "OSGG/BSGG @RideauHall Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved 2017-10-04. ^ Kenta Shinohara (w, a). Astra Lost in Space 2: 24/4 (2016-08-23), Viz Media ^ Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. p. 222. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-07-18. Retrieved 2014-07-18. ^ "Albury High School". Albury-h.schools.nsw.edu.au. Retrieved 2013-12-21. ^ "Keila-Joa Boarding School". Keila-joa.edu.ee. Archived from the original on 2013-12-24. Retrieved 2013-12-21. ^ "Jakob Westholm Secondary School". westholm.ee. Retrieved 2014-11-05. ^ "Colegiul Național Mihai Eminescu". cn-eminescu.ro. Retrieved 2014-02-23. ^ "Colegiul Naţional "Andrei Şaguna", Braşov". Saguna.ro. Retrieved 2013-12-21. ^ "Colegiul Naţional "Doamna Stanca", Braşov". Doamnastanca.ro. Retrieved 2013-12-21. ^ "Colegiul Naţional Alexandru Papiu Ilarian". Papiu.ro. Retrieved 2013-12-21. ^ "Colegiul Național Andrei Mureșanu". Cnam.ro. Retrieved 2013-12-21. ^ "Liceul Teoretic Ovidius". liceulovidius.ro. Retrieved 2014-07-01. ^ "Military Technical Academy Bucharest". www.mta.ro/. Retrieved 2017-11-08. ^ "Pietersburg Hoerskool". Pieties.co.za. Retrieved 2013-12-21. ^ South African Air Force ^ Braunstein, Christian (2005). Svenska flygvapnets förband och skolor under 1900-talet (PDF). Skrift / Statens försvarshistoriska museer, 1101-7023 ; 8 [dvs 9] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Statens försvarshistoriska museer. p. 44. ISBN 9197158488. SELIBR 9845891. ^ "California State University East Bay". Csueastbay.edu. Retrieved 2013-12-21. ^ Campbell University: General Information Archived July 26, 2008, at the Wayback Machine ^ Greenhill School: Statement of Philosophy Archived 2009-01-06 at Archive.today ^ "Stevens Institute of Technology: About Stevens". Stevens.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-10-12. Retrieved 2013-12-21. ^ "Trinity Prep School: myTPS Portal". Trinityprep.org. Archived from the original on 2012-06-07. Retrieved 2013-12-21. ^ "Beta Sigma Psi 2006 National Convention, see page header". Convention.betasigmapsi.org. 2009-12-27. Retrieved 2013-12-21. ^ "Sigma Gamma Phi at SUNY Oneonta". Oneonta.edu. Retrieved 2013-12-21. ^ Almgau, 2014 (7 May 2011). "Startseite - ALMGAU". K.ö.St.V. Almgau Salzburg im MKV. ^ "transcript from the September 17, 2011 episode of A Prairie Home Companion". ^ Rev. Andy Ferguson. "Church Street United Methodist Church: February 20, 2001". churchstreetumc.blogspot.com. ^ "Ghost B.C. Store". Myplaydirect.com. Retrieved 2013-12-21. ^ "A Nameless Ghoul From Ghost B.C. Speaks About 'Infestissumam', the Devil + More". Loudwire. Retrieved 2013-08-04. ^ Noble, Barnes &. "Gravity Falls: Journal 3|Hardcover". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved 2020-02-25. ^ "Pall Mall". History of Cigarette Brands. Archived from the original on 2011-08-17. Retrieved 2013-12-21. ^ "Test Tradewinds Swiss". ^ "(CA) Who owns the phone number? - Identify the Owner of a Phone Number 123". ownerphonenumber.online. Retrieved Sep 24, 2020. ^ Jepp who Defied the Stars, p. 225, at Google Books ^ "Voyager - Sounds on the Golden Record". voyager.jpl.nasa.gov. Retrieved Sep 24, 2020.

Click here to read more ==> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Per_aspera_ad_astra

[livinglikebritishroyalty]

𝒫𝓇𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝒲𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒾𝒶𝓂

♕ 𝐹𝓊𝓁𝓁 𝒩𝒶𝓂𝑒: William Arthur Philip Louis

♕ 𝐹𝓊𝓁𝓁 𝒯𝒾𝓉𝓁𝑒: His Royal Highness William The Duke of Cambridge

♕ 𝐵𝓸𝓇𝓃: Monday, June 21st, 1982 in Lindo Wing at St. Mary’s Hospital in London, England 

♕ 𝒫𝒶𝓇𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓈: His Royal Highness Prince Charles Philip Arthur George Prince of Wales (Father) & Diana Princess of Wales (Mother)

♕ 𝒮𝒾𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈: His Royal Highness Henry The Duke of Sussex (Brother)

♕ 𝒮𝓅𝓸𝓊𝓈𝑒: Her Royal Highness Catherine The Duchess of Cambridge (M. 2011)

♕ 𝒞𝒽𝒾𝓁𝒹𝓇𝑒𝓃: His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge (Son), Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Cambridge (Daughter), & His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge (Son)

♕ 𝐸𝒹𝓊𝒸𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓸𝓃: Jane Mynors' Nursery School, Wetherby School, Ludgrove School, Privately Tutored by Rory Stewart, Eton College (Geography, Biology, and History of Art), University of St Andrews (Took Art History Course & a Geography Course. Master of Arts Degree in Art History with Upper Second Class Honours), & Cambridge University (Vocational Agricultural Management Course)

♕ 𝒫𝒶𝓉𝓇𝑜𝓃𝒶𝑔𝑒𝓈 & 𝐼𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉𝓈: Interests & Passions: Education (Taught children in Southern Chile, Youth-Engaging Programs, Law School, War History), Sports (Football (Known as Soccer), Rugby, Swimming, Basketball, Cricket, Air Sports, Clay Pigeon Shooting, Cross Country, Water Polo, & Recreational Diving), The Arts (Music: He volunteered as a guest disc jockey at a local radio station while in Chile & Theatre), Health (HIV/AIDS, Sick Children, & Mental Health), People In Need (Homeless, Poverty, Rescue Missions, Armed Forces, Children/Children Emergencies, & Elderly), Nature (Elephants, African Wildlife, Conservation, Stopping Illegal Wildlife Trade, Natural Disasters, & Agriculture), & Travel (Auto & Aeronautics). Patronages: Going to AIDS/HIV Clinics with Princess Diana as a Child, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, Fifth President of The British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Visited the UNICEF Supply Division Centre in Denmark, Volunteered at the British Red Cross Aid Distribution Centre, President of The The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, Patron of Centrepoint, Volunteered with the North Wales Mountain Rescue Team, Patron of The Mountain Rescue Council England & Wales, Royal Patron of Tusk Trust, Patron of The 100 Women in Hedge Funds Philanthropic Initiatives, Founder Patron of The The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Supporter of Aston Villa F.C., President of The Football Association, Patron of The Welsh Rugby Union, Vice Royal Patron of The Prince William Cup, Took part in a one-mile (1.6 km) run to support Sport Relief, Patron of The English Schools' Swimming Association, President of Fields in Trust, President of The British Sub-Aqua Club, Honorary Life Member of The Automobile Association, Royal Patron of Child Bereavement UK, Honorary Member of The Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, Joint Patron of The Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Fund, Royal Master Of The Bench of The Honourable Society Of The Middle Temple, Patron of The Imperial War Museum, Patron of London's Air Ambulance, Patron of the Metropolitan & City Police Orphans Fund, Patron of The Royal African Society, Honorary Fellow of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, Honorary Life Member of The Royal Ontario Museum, Royal Patron of Skill Force, Honorary Fellow of St John's College in Cambridge, Patron of Swim England, Vice President of The Foundation of the College of St. George, Membership in The Hurlingham Polo Association, Patron of The Passage, Honorary Member of The Royal Aero Club, President of The Royal Household Football Sports and Social Club, Honorary Fellowship of The Royal Society of Edinburgh, Honorary Fellow of The Royal Society of Medicine, Membership in The Tuvalu Order of Merit, President of United for Wildlife, & Patron of The Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust & Welsh Rugby Union.

[black-is-no-colour]

The Story Behind Hamish Bowles’s Maison Margiela Artisanal by John Galliano Met Gala Look

By Hamish Bowles, published by Vogue on 08 May 2019. Photography by Mehdi Lacoste.

John Galliano was always a star. When I started on my Foundation course in the early 1980s at Saint Martin’s School of Art, as it was then known, he was already a supernova of the fashion department, his exquisite drawings setting him on a sure path to becoming an illustrator. He inspired me to decide on a career in fashion rather than costume design (I had been torn), and after the Foundation course, I stayed on at Saint Martin’s to pursue just that. As John worked on his degree collection the following year, he holed up in the college library, hidden behind stacks of reference books that served a double purpose: They defined his private work space and helped to shield his jealously guarded sketches from prying eyes. As it turned out, John had taken inspiration from the Incroyables—the male and female dandies who emerged in the wake of the French Revolution with their own exaggerated versions of revolutionary style. He even burnt the edges of his drawings and dripped candle wax over them to create the illusion that they had been salvaged from an aristocrat’s ransacked mansion.

The collection was sensational—Joan Burstein, who ran Browns, London’s most fashionable boutique, bought it in its entirety. John couldn’t afford a taxi to transport it, so he wheeled it on a dress rail all the way to South Molton Street, where Mrs. B put it in her window and Barbra Streisand and Diana Ross bought pieces right out of it: They were his very first clients. John turned down a job offer to become an illustrator in New York and instead set up his eponymous brand there and then on a wing and a prayer.

I wore pieces from that first collection—waistcoats made from patches of 18th-century-style upholstery silks and sprigged cottons, jersey long johns, and vast organza shirts tying at the throat with a huge jabot. (John has re-created one of these looks to complete an ensemble built around a coat from this collection that the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s costume department has recently acquired and that is showcased in Andrew Bolton’s brilliant “Camp: Notes on Fashion” exhibition.)

The following season, John didn’t have the money to stage a fashion show, so he did a presentation instead in an old artist’s studio off the King’s Road. This collection was based on a 1920s cartoon in the satirical British weekly Punch titled Afghanistan Repudiates Western Ideals, and it explored a collision of Occidental and Afghan dress in John’s characteristically intriguing way. One of my ensembles from this collection—including a knee-length skirt that caused a sensation in Paris when I wore it to the collections that season—is now in the Boston Museum of Fine Art’s exhibition “Gender Bending Fashion.”

As soon as I heard the theme of this year’s Costume Institute show, I thought it would be the perfect moment to work again with John, who has found expression for his unquenchable creative force once more at the Maison Margiela. John had already made me a bias-cut black satin evening suit that evoked Shalom Harlow’s look from his unforgettable Fall 1994 show in Paris socialite Sao Schlumberger’s empty Louis Seize mansion.

To my great delight, John was soon on board. I sent some inspiration images of my eclectic pantheon of camp icons, including Mrs. Slocombe, the character with the Elnett-hairspray-bottle hair in ever-changing pastel hues, from the British sitcom Are You Being Served?; Quentin Crisp; Barbara Cartland; and Jazz Age aesthete Stephen Tennant. Together with John’s partner, Alexis Roche, we looked at looks from the Martin Margiela Artisanal Men’s Spring 2019 collection and isolated some silhouettes that we thought could work for me.

Source: Maison Margiela

At Saint Martin’s, John and I shared an inspirational mutual friend in the indubitably camp form of David Harrison, who was studying in the Fine Art department, had once improbably been scouted to front a punk band to be called the Sex Pistols (Johnny Rotten got the gig), and worked a Teddy Boy look that he accessorized with white winklepicker shoes, a peroxide quiff, and a pom-pom clipped white poodle dyed shocking pink who often appeared in his artworks. John’s studio had produced a frenetic collage print that was worked not only into the clothes but the runway itself, and that incorporated an Yves Klein blue poodle in everything from jacquard to tufted embroidery. I wondered if the poodle couldn’t go pink in homage to our camp friend?

Meanwhile, John’s studio sourced a jacquard cravat in mauve from Charvet, the storied Parisian men’s outfitter, and a selection of textiles in shades of grape and wisteria. (Charvet also made the shirt, and I found some Pepto-Bismol pink cufflinks in my own closet that the sculptor Andrew Logan had made for the John Waters high-camp superstar Divine in 1987. These would be my talismans for the night.)

When I went to Paris for my first fitting, after an initial visit to take measurements, John wasn’t in town, but Raffaele Ilardo, Margiela’s inspired head fitter, and his associate Jung A. Park were there to attend to all the finer points. There was already an amazing sample of the jacquard with the electric-pink poodles, and of the ostrich trim that John had instructed be embellished with metallic lurex threads to catch the light on the red (pink) carpet. (“Invisible to the naked eye but will pop in pictures, trust me,” he said.) Ilardo apprenticed with the legendary tailor Paquito (who carved Karl Lagerfeld’s most amazing suits at Chanel Haute Couture in the ’80s and ’90s), and he had made the most beautiful toiles, with a jacket that sat perfectly on my shoulders without adjustment and had a beautifully constructed rising roll at the top of the sleeves. The cape was constructed like a Victorian visite, with openings for the arms and subtle shaping in back. It was so perfectly constructed that I could have worn the toile itself.

Raffaele Ilardo working on the toile. Photographed by Alexis Roche.

“I advise that cape is rehearsed up and down steps if you can,” said John after he reviewed the fittings videos from afar. “No angle must be left to chance but still must look spontaneous. Every swish must be ingrained in the subconscious, and always imagine that Avedon is following you. A sudden knock at the door works wonders for that frozen-eyes-to-the-left look. Never forget Avedon is your focal point.”

A little over two weeks later, with the clock ticking before the Gala, I returned to Paris for a final fitting with John in the house. To my amazement, the entire ensemble had now been made, including the wide-toed Mary Jane shoes, shown in patent but specially remade for me in violet satin. There were two options of subtly different lilac, for a sheer sock dotted with a point d’esprit effect that was faintly obfuscated by the crushed hairs on my legs and would definitely be showcased, as the short pants hovered only a little below the knee. John gave my lower calves a long, hard look. “You’ll wax them just before the gala,” he instructed firmly. (“Always better when viewed through sheer, tons of moisturizer 15 mins before socks are put on,” he advised nearer the day.)

“It’s unbelievable,” I said when I saw the cape arranged on a tailor’s dummy in John’s light-flooded Margiela atelier. “It’ll only become unbelievable when you start to wear it,” said John. And, sure enough, when I put on the cloak and began walking up and down the studio and it caught the air in its massy volumes, it lifted up like a cloud, and, despite the thick feather fronding, seemed almost as light as one. “La légèreté!” John proclaimed exultantly, “It looks like a canvas, like you’re coming out of a painting.” I used the Margiela staircase to rehearse maneuvering the cape up and down the pink carpet, and I tried to work it from every angle, thinking by turns of Dietrich and Dovima and Proust’s beloved Comtesse Greffulhe. (“I love that little coyness!” said John. “It’s a Dorian Gray moment!”)

I’d asked John’s longtime collaborator and my great friend Stephen Jones for thoughts on something for the head (he concocted the custom top knots for the “Camp” exhibition mannequins) and he designed a wonderful tiara bandeau made of Swarovski crystals that were custom-produced in the required lilac hue and, like those lurex fronds, would add some pink carpet dazzle. John pronounced it a “very cool touch” and suggested “surfer pink” hair to match.”

On the eve of the gala, I submitted to leg waxing and sundry other beautifications (“Lymphatic drainage on face the night before always refines,” John had counseled, and thank you, Tracie Martyn, skin alchemist). On the morn, I went to the Greenwich Hotel to be ministered to by the brilliant Teddy Charles and his assistant Satoshi Ikeda, alongside Amber Valletta, and then I hied up to the St. Regis in a white Maserati to meet John, Alexis, and Raffaele and practice some more swishing and strutting in the hotel’s ballroom under their watchful eyes. “The Japanese kids are going to go mental for it,” said John of my Savile Row meets School Boy meets Comtesse de Castiglione lewk. Stephen fitted the tiara, which perfectly framed those Teddy-tweaked waves.

“Command your space!” said John as I headed out, “Hamish, it will be a riot!” How right he was.

Hamish Bowles at a fitting for his first custom Margiela look in 2018, photographed by Alexis Roche.

Source: Vogue.com

[songofwizardry]

wolfstar teacher!au, part 2: the other marauders

part 1 of my wolfstar teacher!au that I posted an embarrassingly long time ago (you can find it here) got way, waaay more attention than I was expecting it to, so here y’all go: part 2, the backstory for Sirius, James and Peter, and how they all ended up in and around Hogwarts. Feat. our faves, Fleamont and Euphemia Potter! as always, enjoy and let me know what y’all think! [content warning: parental queerphobia/abuse/implied awfulness in bullet points 3 to 6.] ☆------------------------☆------------------------☆

So let’s talk about where our faves, the rest of the Marauders, are.

Being posh af, both James Potter and Sirius Black attended Hogwarts from the time they started secondary school.

Originally from London, Sirius is the kid of Orion, a Senegalese diplomat who was posted in London right at the start of his career, and Walburga, oldest daughter of a Ghanaian-French high-society couple, who moved from Paris to London when she was a child.

Sirius’ interactions with their family headed straight towards disastrous very quickly—during their initial years at Hogwarts, Sirius’ rebellion got more and more noticeable, all number of increasingly-terse letters and increasingly-angry phone calls were exchanged during term-time, and summers got increasingly-awful every year. This culminated in Sirius being outed, in a horrible, dramatic, and very teen-TV-drama-very-special-queer-episode-esque way at one am one night, the summer between their fifth and sixth years.

The ensuing conversation (‘I will not tolerate anything – anyone – of that sort under my roof!’ / ‘Well that’s fucking fine, isn’t it, because I won’t be under your roof!’ / ‘You’re doing this to yourself, Sirius, remember that—we’re not kicking you out. You’re making this choice.’ / ‘Oh yes, just one in a long string of things I’ve chosen to do, things I’ve chosen to be, isn’t it? Fine, then, I’m choosing to leave.’) meant that Sirius walked out of Grimmauld Place at about two-thirty in the morning, with only their coat, their mobile that was on twenty percent charge, and their ‘emergencies’ bag that they’d had for years now (it didn’t contain much more than several old cereal bars, about a hundred quid in change that a much-younger Sirius had squirrelled away, and a scrap of paper, dating back to first year, with James’ home number and his address scrawled on in messy handwriting that was definitely not Sirius’).

More than slightly out of it, Sirius ended up walking to the end of the road, called a cab to drive them across London in the middle of the night, paid the ludicrous eighty-something pound fare in mostly one- and two-pound coins, and finally, at about four in the morning, stood in front of the Potters’ house and called their landline.

(It was James’ dad who picked up, James’ dad who insisted Just call me Monty, now, none of that, whenever Sirius referred to him as Mr. Potter, James’ dad who’d given Sirius a hug the second time they’d met and whose glasses were somehow, impossibly, even more crooked than James’ own. When he picked up the phone, his voice was thicker, accent broader, with sleep; and Sirius, suddenly horribly unsure, crumpled the ancient note from James in one fist and said, “Hey, uh, Mr. Potter? I’ve—well, I’ve left my house, I’m—outside yours? Can I come in?”)

That was how Sirius, short of everything but legal adoption, ended up a Potter child, had their diet switched to one that suddenly contained far too many rotis, and was introduced by James solely as his sibling, with an associated glare that dared anyone to question it.

After Hogwarts, Sirius’ deep-seated desire to not return to London manifested in them running off to St. Andrews to do a fine art degree. Mrs. Potter, who had been looking forward to having the children not be off in Scotland, was slightly disappointed, but she responded by instead posting Sirius numerous packages of fancy teabags, because Mrs. Potter (rightfully) believed that in the absence of being actually there to fuss over someone, the next best alternative was to provide them with tea.

While Sirius was off being artsy as fuck, James Potter was off… also being pretty artsy. In a move that made Monty raise his eyebrows and quietly wonder how he’d ended up with not one, but two children doing creative arts, James stayed closer to home, went to Reading, and read English and Creative Writing. It took staying on for a Master’s for James to decide he’d had enough of academia, and of the overwhelming whiteness of English departments, for a bit, and to decide that he wanted A Break, and also a source of income that wasn’t a student loan. Enter Sirius.

James had been off being pretty unemployable, while Sirius was being… slightly more employable. A couple years volunteering during their degree had led them to the shocking realisation that holy shit, they liked teaching people about artsy shit. Their only problem was that nobody (short of the Potter parents, but Sirius wasn’t keen on taking more money from them) wanted to fund an art teacher. A year out of uni, with a year of mixed work and volunteering under their belt – leading museum tours, art therapy at kids’ hospitals, one particularly fantastic weekend spent spray-painting with a youth group in Manchester, pretty much anything they could get their hands on that had ‘art’ and ‘young people’ in the description – Sirius heard, through the grapevine, that Trelawney had finally retired.

On a whim, they called up Hogwarts. The conversation with Dumbledore went something like this: ‘I haven’t got a teaching qualification, sir, but I do have a full year of experience–‘ / ‘We’re an independent school, Sirius, we don’t exactly need the qualification. Anyway, an art degree and some experience is more than Sibyl had when she started, so why don’t you send an application along to me, hmm?’

Hogwarts got back to Sirius quickly, which is how, a week later, they called up James, saying, “Hey, you know how you wanted a break from uni and all that shit? How do you feel about moving to Hogsmeade with me?”

It was a completely impractical decision. James, unlike Sirius, didn’t have a job offer there, didn’t have plans, he only had the sudden realisation that he’d kinda missed living with Sirius, and his pretty-unshakeable confidence that things would always turn out the way they were meant to.

He said yes.

Which is how, two years down the road, we find the two of them here—living opposite The Three Broomsticks in a small house, one bedroom on the bottom floor and one on the top, that’s owned by Rosmerta.

Sirius is an established figure at Hogwarts, where they’re a bit of a student favourite and have acquired a reputation for being slightly chaotic (possibly because they once let a stressed year eleven class decorate the wall of the art classroom, spray-painting it with the words No such thing as bad art!).

James, being a bit too posh to have ever done the unemployed-grad thing of waiting tables, is a triple-threat freelancer instead—he writes fortnightly book reviews, which often end up with a bit of a commentary on The Human Condition, for eccentric magazine The Quibbler; he contributes regularly to Parivaar, an online artsy zine/website/collective that started up in Birmingham but has now got contributors across the UK and readers across the world, that describes itself as art, fiction, and opinions by and for desi rebels, misfits and weirdos; and, because Hogsmeade is small, he does the marketing and runs the social media for The Three Broomsticks—which isn’t much work, considering how small it is, but at least he can ensure the fifty-odd people, mostly students, who follow @3BroomsticksPub only see grammatically-perfect tweets.

The Potter parents are… slightly concerned about James’ rather non-traditional sources of income, but Euphemia reads The Quibbler and can’t deny he writes very well, and he says he’s fine and no, the two of them don’t need any help with the rent, thank you very much, so they tut a bit from afar and perhaps still send them too many teabags, and load both James and Sirius up with a frankly ridiculous number of tupperware containers full of curry and roti when they come visit.

This is when James and Sirius meet Peter Pettigrew.

It’s a rainy evening in late March. The two of them have, earlier that day, just come back up from London, where they spent the weekend with James’ parents, who wanted to see him for his birthday. They’re now in the Three Broomsticks, because that’s what they do—Sirius is nursing a pint, hair up in a bun, sketching out an idea for a mural—they’ve convinced Dumbledore that the third-floor corridor that students insist is haunted by the spirit of a giant, three-headed dog is in need of a rebrand before another generation of first-years gets pranked by being trapped in there and is scarred for life. James has lemonade and is watching Sirius, recounting the many tales of the three-headed dog he heard during his time at Hogwarts, including the one story that claims the spirit is called Fluffy. This is when they see Peter.

Anyone new at The Three Broomsticks sticks out when it’s not a student visit weekend, and this short white guy, his hair and coat and rucksack wet from the rain, is no exception. He looks damp and cold and rather lost and lonely, sitting at a corner table with a drink, so James, being Euphemia and Monty’s son and thus, genetically speaking, destined to be the ultimate mother hen, decides to go over to him and offer to buy him some of Rosmerta’s excellent, and very warming, tomato soup. That’s just what James does, and Sirius is used to it at this point, so they only watch, amused, as James drags the sodden stranger over to join their table.

Introductions are made, and they learn that Peter, who was born in Shropshire, trained to be a nurse in Shropshire, and until very recently, worked in Shropshire, had finally left Shropshire – for good – for Hogsmeade, because his Mum had died earlier that year and he couldn’t stay in the same house. Through the NHS friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend grapevine, he’d ended up finding a job at St. Mungo’s Hospital, a few towns over, and was moving in with a woman he’d only spoken to on the phone, a Lily Evans—she was also a friend-of-a-friend found through the same grapevine, lived further down in Hogsmeade, towards the Hog’s Head, and had recently also started work at St. Mungo’s, and needed someone to split the rent with. In short, Peter explains, draining the very last of the admittedly-incredible tomato soup, everything feels like a bit of a mess, and he would really like to take a nap for about a week.

Aforementioned mother hen, James, is appropriately horrified and sympathetic at Peter’s plight, and declares himself and Sirius Peter’s “official guides” to life in Hogsmeade and settling in.

It’s only a few short months after this – a few months during which Peter hangs out with James and Sirius regularly at The Three Broomsticks, they meet his housemate Lily, and Sirius lets the leavers’ class, slightly dead after all their exams, help paint a giant mural on the third-floor corridor that features a surprisingly-cute three-headed ghost dog, with the Hogwarts crest and the word FLUFFY on its collar – that Sirius hears about The New Teacher.

At this point, they’re kinda used to the disaster that is the state of physics teaching at Hogwarts. It’s early in the summer, and they’re vaguely aware that Flitwick is running interviews again, only because it’s the talk of the staff room and the entire science department have looked like they’re on the verge of breakdown since Moody, or as they call it in the staff room, The Iraqi Plane Incident.

That weekend, though, they run into Flitwick in Gladrags, where Flitwick is searching, as always, for trousers that will fit his small frame, and Flitwick takes one look at them, grins, and says, “Sirius! We found someone! He’s called Lupin, he’s got an actual physics degree, and, consider this, he seems decent!”

And that is the first thing Sirius Black hears about Remus Lupin.

[beerandpresentdanger]

Great Scots

Everyone in Edinburgh looks like a solicitor.

Something about the serious grey-black stone of the buildings, the weight of the masonry or the angle of the streets -  whatever it is, it seems to cast everyone in a suit and tie, smart glasses, a briefcase stuffed with case files and legal briefs.

It can’t be true, of course. Edinburgh is a bustling city, full of bus drivers, footballers, street sweepers and accountants - some solicitors, sure, but not nothing but solicitors. The solicitor thing is a mirage, a sense impression, a residual feeling that arises from the seriousness of the city - a city of statues and statutes, museums and monuments, colleges and kirkyards. There’s an elegance to Edinburgh, a certain refinement. Maybe that’s only shown off to tourists like me - Trainspotting would suggest that it’s not all Georgian architecture and Harry Potter tours - but there seems to a be a dignified streak that runs through the capital, as wide as the Royal Mile.

The Stockbridge Tavern

There are still pubs though. Some might have distilled the elegance of the city they inhabit, but lots are just pubs, a place beyond elegance, where what matters is proper patter - and beer of course. I had a couple of days in the city to try and explore some of city’s beer. For most of it I was accompanied by an energetic toddler, which did prove to be something of a spoiler. The first few places I tried to visit - on a sunspolied, taps aff Friday afternoon - didn’t allow children (I’m not writing this to complain - I understand why pubs may want to be child-free) so I had to skip a few spots through my compiled list of best places to drink in town. Thankfully, a place at the top of many lists - The Hanging Bat - was happy to let me stow a pushchair in the corner, and I was glad they did. A few choice lines of local cask ales and a DEYA tap takeover of the keg lines meant this was a fine place to spend some time. It’s cosier than your average modern beer bar, with deep red sofas and lots of wood - a nod to the city’s elegance, but filled with edgier delights.

Trekking back to the hotel, arcing around the city’s central cliffside, thrusting its castle aloft like Simba atop Pride Rock, I impulsively stopped at the Innis & Gunn taproom I passed. It’s been years since I drank their “barrel-aged” ale, though there was a time, pre-craft revolution, when I loved it. At the bar, I got drawn in by the tank-fresh lager, but I should have gone old school - the lager was bland, fizzy, freezing cold. I saw four-packs alongside Tennent’s in every supermarket, and I’d choose the Tennent’s every time (and indeed, I did). Still, they had high chairs, which I appreciated.

Fierce Beer Bar

A bit later, I was able to sample some places sans toddler, which gave me a slightly deeper appreciation for Edinburgh’s pubs. I got the range too, starting in the Stockbridge Tavern, a sunlit corner pub filled with a Friday night post-work crowd, a real mix of ages and genders and beverages crowded around well scrubbed tables and a bustling bar. I’d planned to drink local, but when I saw North’s Transmission on cask, a 6.9% west coast IPA, I couldn’t resist, and I didn’t regret my lack of impulse control. It was a proper “wow” pint, with huge citrus rolled around a subtle cask haze. I almost had a second, when I spotted a Cross Borders Heavy on keg, and knew I had to oblige - it was everything I expect a heavy to be, bristling with toffee apple brittleness.

I finished the evening with a quick visit to the newly opened Fierce Beer Bar in the New Town. A third of Barrel Aged Very Big Moose - 12.5% and wearing it well - was a lovely way to round out an evening, still warm and light enough to sit out past 9pm.

And so to Glasgow. It wasn’t until the train slunk through the city’s grey and rainy edgelands and the carriages began to fill up with men in green and white shirts that I realised it was a match day (Celtic and Hearts - plus a rugby game to boot), but luckily I hadn’t been planning to hit the pubs - or sit atop a traffic light getting cans lowered down to me. As it turned out, we couldn’t have gone out if we wanted - when we tried to walk into Shilling Brewing Co, we were met with another “no kids allowed” (as an aside - is Scotland particularly adverse to letting kids in drinking establishments, or is London the outlier in letting them in?)

The Wellpark Brewery from the Necropolis

For the first evening I sampled some supermarket staples instead, with a couple of Williams Bros beers. Joker, their IPA, was bland and unfocused - perhaps it had lost a little something on a warm shelf, perhaps it never had it. Caesar Augustus, their IPL, was a more intriguing affair, with a brash, grassy nose, and a pleasing floral flavour.

The next day, after wandering the coal-smoke scented galleries of the Kelvingrove museum, I popped into Grunting Growler (again, no kids allowed, except to watch me choose something from the fridge - Tempest Mexicake, a vat of red chilli flakes, powdery chocolate and moist sponge - to take away). In the end, it was BrewDog which was happy to host the whole family, and a pint of Zombie Cake, with it’s neat nutty nose, was a nice way to break the duck.

Scotland’s favourite beer

On the last day, we walked out to St Mungo’s Cathedral and the Necropolis, that glowering townscape of tombs that overpeers the beloved Wellpark Brewery, the source of every golden drop of Tennent’s. It was hard to imagine, on a rainswept day, watching the facility contribute its own clouds to the crowded sky, that the Necropolis didn’t have some strange relationship with the brewery; that the rain water didn’t flow down through the burial mounds and terraces, through the dark, stony earth, and into the deep, unseen spring that gave Wellpark its name, and impart something particular into the water - not just the minerals and nutrients and pH level, but a distinct spirit and character - the very atoms of William Motherwell and Archibald Douglas Monteath, Walter Macfarlane and Andrew McCall, all the authors and lawyers and engineers and explorers that made Glasgow and Scotland the engine of an Empire. They don’t put this stuff on the Tennent’s marketing copy, but maybe they should.

Nightmare of Cake

Escaping down the hill we took shelter in the Drygate Brewery, an offspring of Tennent’s and Williams Bros, focussed on modern beers alongside a good menu and comfortable taproom slash restaurant. It was an impressive set-up, and the beers stood up well for the most part. Crossing the Rubicon, an IPA, was an overly sweet candied mess, but the Seven Peaks session IPA was much better, dry, and with a peach-driven Mosaic character. But the real standout was my third “cake” beer of the weekend, Nightmare of Cake, a gloopy, unctuous mess of a beer, overstuffed with marshmallow and raspberry and milk chocolate and all things nice - “Made from chemicals by sick bastards” as the menu had it, and every ridiculous element from each corner of the periodic table only made it better.

Perhaps it had some dead Scottish solicitors in it too. The quest for pastry stout novelty continues.