#alfred franklin jones

[gremlins-hotel]

hope youre having a good time out of town!!! i had a quick question but do you know why/where the nicknames vanya and fedya come from for ivan and alred, respectively? i always see them used in fanfics but im not sure of the reasoning behind them

so, to the best of my understanding, they are diminutives of their normal names. many languages use diminutives, including english and russian, and they are often employed to make a word or concept seem smaller (or 'cuter'), and they are almost always informal in my experience. you would most likely not be using this in a business setting. think of nicknames. my username may be gremlin, but many here call me grem. this is an example of a diminutive.

in the case of vanya for ivan & fedya for alfred, these would be informal, endeared nicknames for either character. just imagine how you may call friends or relatives by nicknames or a significant other by a pet name.

[forsoobado137]

I bet people call nations by their full official name when they're in trouble. like calling America "America" is just his name. Saying Alfred Franklin Jones won't do much either. It's just an alias. but say "United States of America"? Oh shit, he's fucked up to the highest degree. That gets his attention, and there's no conceivable way he can cover his star-spangled ass.

[wickedwanchii]

Happy late birthday to the world's favorite Lieutenant Colonel, Alfred F. Jones ✨️

Here he is sporting his brand new P-47d, the Darin' Dallas, ready to take to the skies and show the world what all an Ace can really do! You can find him flying with the rest of them boys in the 317th, so be sure to give him a kiss when you see him next, for extra good luck!

Extra nerd stuffs below the cut

Alfred can be seen here standing atop a P-47d, AKA a Razorback. This is a sturdy escort fighter and a low-level bomber, notorious for being able to sustain some serious damage and remain flying. Alfred flew two P-47s during his piloting career, with this being the second known as the Darin' Dallas (fictional ID 42-25824). While this plane met a kinder fate than it's predecessor, the Desert Dandy, it saw a small but distinguished portion of its time in service under the capable hands of LTC Jones as he flew with the 317th Fighter Squadron.

Jones flew the Darin' Dallas from December 42-September 43, where it was withdrawn from service as the Squadron transitioned from using mostly P-47s to P-51s, which was when he went on to fly his finest set of wings yet- The Franklin Express. The Darin' Dallas continued in service after leaving the 317th, where it saw continued action in the Pacific Theatre until 1945, and then remained in service with Air National Guard until it was fully retired in 1948.

The Darin' Dallas is a P-47D-23-RA, a variation of the 22-RE from the Evansville Plant, and was one of 889 planes of that variant type built at that location. This is one of the last production blocks before the plants began producing the Bubbletop D-variants, which was a switch done to improve rearward visibility. One of the most common complaints from pilots flying the Razelorbacks was limited visibility towards the aft of the plane, as the design restricted the view since the entire back portion of the cockpit was constructed of metal with glass panels inlaid. When the switch to the bubbletop was made, this replaced the metal with a full glass "bubble," effectively increasing cockpit visibility to cover the entirety of the plane.

[floralcrematorium]

Alfred F. Jones...

These are some options I've seen over the years. I think all of 'em are possible depending on the circumstance (cough Francis in a FACE family AU cough)

If you choose "None of these," tell me what you think it stands for!

Additionally, tell me if you think Arthur named him or if Alfred named himself!

[justforbooks]

James Earl Jones

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[grem-archive]

Alfred Franklin Jones

theme | playlist

physical age: 21-25 | actual age: ~460 || height: 6'2" (188 cm) || weight: ~225 lb (102.06 kg)

alfred is the resident gym rat. looks soft until he flexes, then one remembers ah, yes, there are abs there.

[ tattoos ]

other stuff:

same height as george washington (op is not slick)

rather skinny after his sir lord father until the second world war - then he started bulking

nose is slightly aquiline

a lopsided smile that favors the left & dimples on both sides

slight cleft chin - more apparent in certain light conditions

nearsighted - will run into walls without his glasses (free entertainment)

scars:

irregularly shaped burn scar (left pectoral) - a remnant of the burning of washington, d.c. in 1814

lacerations/former stitches (left upper arm, left side of abdomen) - a series of gashes that nightmarishly opened up during the civil war - one of which preceded any shots fired as tensions rose. in anatomical position, this scar appears to line up near perfectly with south carolina's place on the map of the united states. south carolina was the first entity to secede from the union.

shrapnel scars (across shoulders and back) - injuries from two flak hits sustained by his b-17f "dear davie" mid-world war two after being separated from the bomber command and chased by bandits.

((the last one may be a headcanon i elaborate on someday))

[hetacupid]

Hetalia Human Names

NOTE: This is my personal interpretation and the names may diverge from canon and established fanon. Also I might update this every so often to make it more accurate, depending on the information I find.

Table of Contents

The Main Characters

Western Europe

Northern Europe

Eastern Europe

Southern Europe

Western Asia

South Asia

East Asia

Southeast Asia

Oceania

Micronations

Former nations

The Main Characters

Italy Veneziano: Feliciano Vergano

I chose the name Vergano instead as it keeps the essense of the original surname, but is actually Italian.

Italy Romano: Lovino Vergano

Germany: Ludwig Beilschmidt

Japan: Kiku Honda

Prussia: Gilbert Beilschmidt

America: Alfred Franklin Jones

I like the headcanon of his middle name being "Freedom", but Franklin is my personal favourite.

England: Arthur James Kirkland

I came across this in a fic a while back and never looked back. This man needs a middle name.

France: Francis Bonnefoy

Russia: Ivan Braginsky

China: Yao Wang

Canada: Matthew Williams

Western Europe

Austria: Roderich Edelstein

Belgium: Laura Janssens

Liechtenstein: Erika Vogel

Luxembourg: Henri Janssens

I've also used the name Gabriel before, but it doesn't seem to be used much in Luxembourg, so Henri would be more fitting.

Monaco: Louise Bonnefoy

The name Louise and it's masculine variant, Louis, appear a few times in the Monaguesque royal family.

Netherlands: Willem Janssens

Willem appears a few times in the Dutch royal family, and it sounds a bit older than other suggested names, which reflects his age and general vibes imo. I really like this name.

Switzerland: Sebastian Zwingli

Personally I see his name "Basch" as a nickname for Sebastian. It's also easy to adapt to his official languages: Sebastian/Sébastién/Sebastiano. The Romansh variant would be Bistgaun, but the archaic version seems to be Bastgaun, which is more similar to Basch. I headcanon that he goes by the name "Basch" in all languages to make it more cohesive.

Northern Europe

Denmark: Mathias Rasmussen

I'm from Scandinavia myself and I don't know if it's widespread, but I've heard people say "all Danish people are named Rasmus" more than once, so I like to incorporate that into his surname.

Estonia: Eduard Kaasik

Around 50% of Estonia is covered in forest, and one of the most common tree types is birch. Kaasik is a common surname and means "birch forest".

Finland: Timo Väinämöinen

Iceland: Eiríkur Steinsson

Steinsson means "son of Stein (given name meaning stone)",. Also Emil isn't traditionally Icelandic, but it's widely used. Personally though, I prefer the name Eiríkur.

Latvia: Raivis Bērziņš

The surname Galante corresponds with the modern Latvian opera singer Inese Galante, but I couldn't find anything to suggest it's commonly used or that it's Latvian at all. Bērziņš is one of the most used Latvian surnames and means "birch tree", like Estonia's surname. Personally, I don't see the Baltics as siblings, but I think this would be a cute reference.

Also, based on what I read, surnames became common in Latvia around the 19th century, with Bērziņš being one of them. Latvia could have picked up whatever the people around him (Estonia) was using and made it his own.

Lithuania: Tolys Laurinaitis

Norway: Sigurd Bondevik

Sweden: Berwald Oxenstierna

Eastern Europe

Belarus: Natalya Arlovskaya

Bulgaria: Mihail Petrov Isporov

Isporov is the family name and is derived from an alternative name of Asparukh, the first king of the First Bulgarian Empire.

Czech: Tereza Novakova

Hungary: Erzsébet Héderváry

Moldova: Marcel Popescu

Poland: Feliks Łukasiewicz

Romania: Vladislav Popescu

Slovakia: Jozef Novak

Ukraine: Iryna Chernenko

Southern Europe

Greece: Herakles Karpusi

Portugal: João Silva Ferreira

Spain: Antonio Fernandez Carriedo

Western Asia

Cyprus: Stasinos Karpusi

Stasinos was one of the first European poets who wrote the epic poem Cypria.

Turkey: Sadiq Adnan

TRNC: Tarkan Adnan

South Asia

India: Rajesh Thakur

East Asia

Hong Kong: Leon Wang / Wong Kulung

Macau: Chen Wang

South Korea: Im Yong-soo

Taiwan: Mei Lin

Southeast Asia

Thailand: Prasert Chakri

Vietnam: Lien Nguyen

Africa

Cameroon: Emmanuel Mawdo Ahidjo

Many of the most commonly used forenames in Cameroon are of French or English origins, such as Emmanuel.

Mawdo means ‘elder’ in Fulfulde.

Ahidjo refers to the first president of Cameroon.

Egypt: Gupta Muhammad Hassan

Seychelles: Michelle Mancham

Americas

Cuba: Carlos Machado Rodríguez

Oceania

Australia: Daniel Kirkland

New Zealand: Zachary Kirkland

Micronations

Hutt River: Christopher Kirkland

Kugelmugel: Leopold Edelstein

Ladonia: Erland Oxenstierna

Molossia: Jacob Jones

"JJ" :)

Sealand: Peter Kirkland

Seborga: Romeo Vergano

Okay listen. I have no explaination, I just really like this name. Also, if the names of the trio is Peter, Wendy, and Romeo, they're all named after characters from literature. I think that's fun.

Wy: Wendy Kirkland

Former Nations

Ancient Egypt: Neferure

References the only biological child of Hatshepsut.

Ancient Greece: Helene

Ancient Rome: Marcus Valerius Maximus

Marcus is the praenomina (given name) and refers to how Romulus and Remus were said to have been twins of Mars, the god.

Valerius is the nomen gentilicium (hereditary name) and means “to be strong”.

Maximus is the cognomen and means “the greatest”.

Germania: Alaric

Holy Roman Empire: Otto Beilschmidt

Personally I like the idea that HRE and Germany aren't the same person, but share the same body.

[bitchapalooza]

I love Alfred Fucking Jones and all but Alfred Fitzgerald Jones also has a nice ring to it and feels more like a name where a rebelling kid who’s actually a big dork trying to be taken seriously by a literal army of adults picked it out

Other options I’d accept:

Alfred Freedom Jones

Alfred Freakazoid Jones

Alfred Frederick Jones

Alfred Flynn Jones

Alfred Franklin Jones

[thecoollogo]

My First Fanfic and Introduction To @dylanshetaplanesandhcs’s HC of Alfred!!!

__________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________

You went to Strange Office everyone Was talking about, Something Called “Personification’s Official, You were Curious About What Is happening in here and why It was classified. You went To The Office Only to find out There Is no one In Here. You were Confused like Where did everyone go?

You went To other Room like The Break Room and You see no one here too, Where Did they Go? You Asked, You decided to Come Back to Same Until You bumped into Someone’s belly, Who Is this Person? You looked up At Tall Man Until You Realized Who he Is.

“Huh? How Did You get here? I thought my Office were secured!” He Is The manager of This Office and His Voice Is Weirdly Sweet, Almost Like He Is concerned About Why you Are Here.

You were hugged by Him, Not knowing why He does this, Maybe He cared about you? Eh whatever.

This “Supposed to be Personification” Was concerned about You entering his office without no explanation for your actions And Take you to His Private Room.

“Sweetie, This Is supposed to be hidden from Us… You are not supposed to see This.” *He sighed softly, As He was Tired From His Own work. “May I Introduce Myself to You? So you won’t get lost in my Place.”

He set up his introduction to You, His Face Is Kinda Fatherly “My Name Is Alfred F. Jones, Franklin. And I’m Here To keep you safe From Anti Freedom!” Alfred Poses proudly In His New mission, You get Annoyed by It at All since You’ve seen Every patriotic thing in Your country.

-

Sorry for it being short! This Is my first time writing a fanfic!!

__________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________

[mappingthemoon]

Books Read 2023

Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations / Mira Jacob

A Grief Observed / C. S. Lewis

Grit Lit: A Rough South Reader / ed. Brian Carpenter & Tom Franklin

Two or Three Things I Know for Sure / Dorothy Allison

Weather: Air Masses, Clouds, Rainfall, Storms, Weather Maps, Climate (A Golden Nature Guide) / Paul E. Lehr, R. Will Burnett, Herbert S. Zim ; Harry McNaught (ill.)

Improbable Memories / Sarah Moon

Endless Endless: A Lo-Fi History of the Elephant 6 Mystery / Adam Clair

The Difference Between / Billy McCall

The Submissive (The Submissive #1) / Tara Sue Me

Last Night at the Casino [v. 1] / Billy McCall

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing / Marie Kondo ; Cathy Hirano (tr.)

Pnin / Vladimir Nabokov

My Heart Is a Chainsaw / Stephen Graham Jones

"Waltz of the Body Snatchers" / Alfred Bester, in Andromeda I: An original SF anthology / ed. Peter Weston

Blue Highways: A Journey Into America / William Least Heat-Moon

The Stars My Destination (The Gregg Press Science Fiction Series) / Alfred Bester

Laughter in the Dark / Vladimir Nabokov

Man and His Symbols / Carl G. Jung

Mysteries of the Unexplained / ed. Carroll C. Calkins

The Westing Game / Ellen Raskin

The Seven Ages / Louise Glück

The Wild Iris / Louise Glück

Vita Nova / Louise Glück

Doctor Who: Impossible Worlds: A 50-Year Treasury of Art and Design / Stephen Nicholas & Mike Tucker

Where's Waldo? (Where's Waldo #1) / Martin Handford

Where's Waldo? The Fantastic Journey (Where's Waldo #3) / Martin Handford

Doctor Who 50 Years #3: The Doctors / ed. Marcus Hearn

Rabbit, Run / John Updike

Mother Night / Kurt Vonnegut

Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Books) / Bibliographic Standards Committee, Rare Books and Manuscripts Section, Association of College and Research Libraries, in collaboration with The Policy Standards Office of the Library of Congress

"Descriptive Bibliography" / Terry Belanger, in Book Collecting: A Modern Guide / ed. Jean Peters

The Essential Doctor Who #2: The TARDIS / ed. Marcus Hearn

Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited / Vladimir Nabokov

Chicago: City on the Make / Nelson Algren

Gustav Klimt, 1862-1918 / Gilles Néret

American Gods: A Novel / Neil Gaiman

Marcel Duchamp, 1887-1968: Art as Anti-Art / Janis Mink

The Empathy Exams: Essays / Leslie Jamison

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: Three Tenant Families / James Agee & Walker Evans

Hallucination Orbit: Psychology in Science Fiction / ed. Isaac Asimov, Charles G. Waugh, Martin H. Greenberg

Dream Street: W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh Project / W. Eugene Smith ; ed. Sam Stephenson

Twilight / Gregory Crewdson ; Rick Moody

Magic Eye: A New Way of Looking at the World / N.E. Thing Enterprises

Bowie: Stardust, Rayguns & Moonage Daydreams / Steve Horton & Michael Allred ; Laura Allred (ill.)

After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path / Jack Kornfield

The Gin Closet: A Novel / Leslie Jamison

The New Kid on the Block / Jack Prelutsky ; James Stevenson (ill.)

A Book of Common Prayer / Joan Didion

Mariette in Ecstasy / Ron Hansen

Camp Damascus / Chuck Tingle

The Mass Production of Memory: Travel and Personal Archiving in the Age of the Kodak (Public History in Historical Perspective) / Tammy S. Gordon

Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas / Rebecca Solnit & Rebecca Snedeker

Other Voices, Other Rooms / Truman Capote

Fabulous New Orleans / Lyle Saxon ; E.H. Suydam (ill.)

Weird Pennsylvania: Your Travel Guide to Pennsylvania's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets / Matt Lake

Griffin & Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence (Griffin & Sabine #1) / Nick Bantock

Sabine's Notebook: In Which The Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Continues (Griffin & Sabine #2) / Nick Bantock

The Golden Mean: In Which The Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Concludes (Griffin & Sabine #3) / Nick Bantock

Breath, Eyes, Memory / Edwidge Danticat

Last Night at the Casino, v. 2 / Billy McCall

What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions / Randall Munroe

Collection-Level Cataloging: Bound-with Books (Third Millennium Cataloging) / Jain Fletcher

Speaking Pittsburghese: The Story of a Dialect (Oxford Studies in Sociolinguistics) / Barbara Johnstone

My Misspent Youth: Essays / Meghan Daum

Slender Intuition: Essays on Artist's Block / Brian Hitselberger

The Mister / E L James

Crapalachia: A Biography of a Place / Scott McClanahan

The Transcriptionist: A Novel / Amy Rowland

Explanations/Opinions below the cut:

Ok so I have several reading lists/stacks that I rotate through: my to-read spreadsheet (which has almost 300 titles listed in chronological order by date added, with the oldest being from 8/22/2014), my to-read bookcase/nightstand (which holds ~50 books I’ve acquired over the past few years but haven’t yet read), a stack of oversized unreads that don’t fit on the nightstand shelves (this gets its own list bc I need to read them and find a permanent home for them before the stack gets too tall), and “interruptions” (books that override the list order bc I didn’t want to wait to read them, for whatever reason).

Maybe it’s weird that I’m so attached to reading things “in order”? Idk. I’ve always been like this. It’s only a mild compulsion – obviously, I am perfectly capable of ignoring what’s supposed to be next on the list, in favor of reading something that catches my interest more strongly in the moment, but in general, I like to read things either in the order I added them to the list, or the order I personally acquired a physical copy (if I went by the list only, I’d be drowning in unread books [yay, college town thrift stores], so I gotta stay on top of that pile pretty regularly). So that is why I am often reading things that I first became aware of/added to my list nearly 10 years ago. Sometimes this practice results in feelings like, “Dang, I wish I would’ve actually read this 10 years ago,” but also sometimes, “WOW, I’m so glad I’m reading this RIGHT NOW, as opposed to 10 years ago when I first heard about it!”

I think my favorites this year were Mariette in Ecstasy; Other Voices, Other Rooms; Crapalachia; and Speak, Memory.

Mild disappointments were the essay collections by Leslie Jamison and Meghan Daum, two authors I’m pretty sure I discovered via popular and relateable quotes reblogged on tumblr ca. 2014, but the collections taken as a whole just had too many moments of cringe – casual classism, arrogant self-absorption, and other annoying and unrelateable qualities typical of privileged 20-something writers (this tone definitely appealed to me when I was a naïve and melodramatic snotty 20-something, so there’s that).

As a kind of memorial, Rachael and I read David’s three favorite books: The Stars My Destination, Mother Night, and American Gods. In all the time I knew him, including all the times we used to sit on the porch together, reading quietly while he drank whiskey, I never thought to ask him his favorites. I kept looking for pieces of him in the stories, wondering what lines stood out, what made a book memorable, what did it say about him that these were his favorites.

Being an elder Millennial, I’m in the stage of nostalgically re-acquiring important artifacts from my childhood, so that’s why there are some children’s books on my list. Where’s Waldo? was one of the most coveted books in my grade-school library! There was always a list of people waiting to check it out, but usually, whoever actually had the book that week would let the other kids gather around and look together.

My Heart Is a Chainsaw was a recommendation from my goth teenaged birthdaughter <3 which I probably read too much personal symbolism into but maybe not!

I thought John Updike was overrated, lol.

Favorite photography book: W. Eugene Smith’s Dream Street. His pictures made me so homesick, and it was wild because he took them from 1955-1957 but they still really, REALLY, to me, looked like the Pittsburgh of my ‘80s/’90s memories (bc Pittsburgh doesn’t change, and also the “idea” or “brand” of Pittsburgh in the ‘80s/’90s was ofc consciously referencing its industrial working-class past). He took over 10,000 photos but was never able to “finish” the project to his intense, obsessive standards of perfection (I KNOW THAT FEEL) and felt it failed to capture the multifaceted essence of the city. WELL, not in my opinion at least!

PS I'm moonmoth on LibraryThing.

[fandom-friday]

Good Afternoon, Mister Adams by Gemini Star01 (https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5293852/1/Good-Afternoon-Mister-Adams) Hetalia. Based on the musical 1776. Alfred Jones observes and interacts with his founding fathers in the weeks leading to the inevitable drafting of the Declaration of Independence. I really like the way Alfred interacts with each of the founding fathers that he meets. From Thomas Jefferson playing a tune on his violin, to John Adams agreeing with his Nation’s feelings  for Independence, I really enjoyed reading this! I also love the fact that it didn’t take Benjamin Franklin long to figure out Alfred’s secret. It’s mainly due to his time in France and meeting it’s personification, but I still found that amusing!

OOOOOH I do love a good musical, and this musical and Hetalia just seem to go hand in hand! I think this time period is a perfect one for Hetalia in general. This seems absolutely intriguing! Thanks for sending it in!

Participate in Fandom Friday to show your favorite creators from this week some love! :)

[tangleweave]

10 Fandoms / 10 Characters / 10 Tags

Tagged By: @kylo-wrecked

I have to admit I needed a few minutes to assemble ten fandoms, and a few minutes more for each one to think of ten characters for a couple of them! Fortunately, having an RP blog means I already interact with a few...

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Marvel Universe Eddie Brock / Venom Beta Ray Bill Peter Parker / Spider-Man Phil Coulson Groot Stephen Strange Vision {Seriously, did anybody expect the first seven to be any different?} Curt Connors / The Lizard Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler Henry McCoy / The Beast

DC Universe Clark Kent / Superman Barry Allen / The Flash James Gordon Alfred Pennyworth Dick Grayson / Nightwing Tim Drake / Red Robin Kyle Rayner / Green Lantern Jimmy Olsen J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter Victor Stone / Cyborg

Star Trek Universe Data Julian Bashir Saru Wesley Crusher Spock Miles O'Brien The Doctor Nog Worf Jadzia Dax

Star Wars Universe (yes, I count Legends, come at me) Corran Horn The Dark Woman Plo Koon Luke Skywalker Han Solo Anakin Skywalker Chewbacca Leia Organa Wedge Antilles Din Grogu

Trigun Nicholas D. Wolfwood Vash the Stampede Hoppered the Gauntlet Milly Thompson B.D.N. Rem Saverem Midvalley the Hornfreak Meryl Strife Dominique the Cyclops Legato Bluesummers

Yu-Gi-Oh! Joey Wheeler Tristan Taylor Yugi Muto Yami / Pharaoh Atem Rafael Mai Valentine Duke Devlin Mahad Odion Mako Tsunami

Power Rangers Universe Billy Cranston Zack Taylor Kimberly Hart Trini Kwan Jason Lee Scott Adam Park Robert James Anubis Cruger Lord Zedd Tommy Oliver

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Donatello Leonardo Michelangelo Splinter Raphael Casey Jones Bebop Rocksteady Mondo Gecko Muckman

Babylon 5 Stephen Franklin Zack Allan Vir Cotto Lennier G'Kar Lorien Marcus Cole Michael Garibaldi Jeffrey Sinclair John Sheridan

The West Wing Josiah Bartlet Charlie Young Toby Ziegler Sam Seaborn Dolores Landingham C.J. Cregg Margaret Hooper Leo McGarry Debbie Fiderer Josh Lyman

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Tagging: @brooklynislandgirl @nightmarefuele @illbringthechaosmagic @itmeanspeace @morgansmornings @sokovianfortune @defectivexfragmented @yggdrasilushxrt @tabbyrp @corinnebaileyrp

[fr1day-incredible]

MY NAME HEADCANON FOR ALFRED F JONES WITH LORE

Did I get your attention? Good. Now sit down and listen

After a really productive conversation with my friend @okialy last night we came to the conclusion that Unity Freeman Jones is a much better and fitting name for America than Alfred F Jones!

And before you attack us for it let me explain the lore :]

-Since America was adopted by Arthur, Arthur was also the one to name him. And the name he got was Alfred F Kirkland. Being named after Alfred the Great and having Arthur's last name (imagine whatever for the middle name, personally I imagine it was Franklin).

-Then the battle for independence came around. And after it was won by the Americans, Alfred wanted to distance himself from Arthur even more and just piss Arthur off in general. To be even more independent.

-And an obvious way to do it was to get a new legal name. Have a fresh start. But to really rub it in to Arthur Alfred wanted to chose a patriotic name.

-And since Alfred was pretty young then (by nation standards) he didn't do to much research about the names.

-So in the end he legally changed his name to Unity Freeman Jones. Unity for United States, Freeman for his independence, and Jones cus it's common American last name.

-No body stopped him from doing it for if that boy sets his mind on something he is not backing down (basically he just nagged his government into letting him change it, and they didn't fight him much on it for 1)he is the literal United States 2)his reasoning with wanting his own name and not one given him by Arthur was understandable 3)they didn't know specifically what name he wanted to change it to).

-After the legal change Unity "I will break your arm if you call me Alfred" Freeman Jones sent a letter to Arthur telling him about it (Ha!! In your face old man! Sincerely your ex-son Unity Freedom Jones.

-The day Arthur read that letter he had the best laugh he have had in a century. And then sent Unity a letter politely explaining that Unity is a girls name with English origin you damn wanker.

-Unity, being the stubborn fuck that he is did not let himself be swayed by this new information (especially since the old man could be lying, he is totally lying) and didn't change his new name to something else.

-So to this day whenever Arthur is bored/pissed off (on Unity or in general) he will go and tease Unity about his name choice.

That's the end of the "how he got this name" lore. So here is the rest

-81% off people and nations he interacts with only call him Jones or America

-Matthew absolutely Refuses to call Unity by his name because it's absolutely ridiculous and stupid and "no way I'm contributing to your patriotism". So it's only America or if they are in places where there are humans it's Jones. So Unity who is delighted in this uprotunity to be a menace. Introduces himself with his full name to everyone willing and unwilling to listen every time he is with Matthew and there are people around (for these reasons Matthew have thought about strangling him more than once).

-Gilbert & Francis unironicaly like Unity's name

[sporadiceagleheart]

Here's my Tribute edit called your tears for Ava Jordan Wood, Saffie-Rose Brenda Roussos and Skylar Annette “Sky” Neese, Cal Franklin Blackerby, James Michael “JJ” Brown Jr., Christian Lee Chandler, Ethan Zane Frensley, Jesse McCord Lewis, Aadon Blu Olmsted, Chase Alexander Wethington Padgett, Ryan Wrigley Parmeter, Autumn Elayne “Auttie” Rust-Kukuk, Teagin Nathanial “Bubby” Rust-Kukuk, Kirsten Mariah Rust-Reynolds, Tiffany Lynn “Tiffy” Searle, Gage Michael Stevens, Jacob Frank Williams, Lincoln Grace Sutton, Rachael Marie Tisdale, Alyssa Kay Logue, Eric Jefferson Jones, Zoe Savannah Garcia, Evynn Chandler Michelle Garas, Veralee Marie Craft, Bella Jane Blackiston, Leontine Juliette Susan Amsterdam, 1 June 1931 – Auschwitz, 19 November 1943Reached the age of 12 years, Kaylie Kristin “KK” Russell, Jerris Rhea Pelts Beacham, Gerald Alfred Gaddy, Saffie-Rose Brenda Roussos, Lucia Isabella “Lucy” Jackson, Rosemary May “Rosie” Pazin Williams, Joyce Louise Tacadena Graham, Roberta Mae “Butch” Tacadena Bohannon, Kathryne Louise “Mo” Daley Tacadena, Dennis J. Delia, Nevada A. “Vada” Duncan, Theresa Eleanor Burns Perrine, Stella Frederick Camp, Nancy Elizabeth “Dollie” Haun Burns, Lydia Mary Bussing Buchanan, Frances Ann Cranston Bussing, Sophia Ruth Bussing Henry, Ruth Jones Graves Wakefield, Tyler Benton Bales, Barbara Minnich Bierly, Milton H. Bierly, Herbert Johnson “Herbie” Bierly, Uriah Lee Maguire, Christina-Taylor Green, James A Hellems, Fannie Koontz Roach, Lance Solomon Reddick, Richard Jay Belzer, Jimmy Dean, Johnny Paycheck, Lucy Craft Laney, Danielle Van Dam, Alicia Lynn Clark, Sarah Evelyn Isobel Payne, Murder of Sharon Lee Gallegos, Anna Celeste Lowe, Judith Barsi, Heather O'Rourke, Rachel Scott, MOA LEONTINE BJÖRK, Katelyn Nicole “Dolly” Davis, Amanda Michelle “Manda” Todd, Semina Mary Halliwell, Avery Jean Lane, Avery Lana Linda Brown, Sadako Sasaki, Dale Earnhardt American race car driver, Colonel Harland David Sanders, Bray Wyatt, Davey Allison, Chuck Connors, Young Dolph, Sir Michael John Gambon, and more as we honor those Colonel Sanders, Bray Wyatt, Davey Allison, Chuck Connors, Young Dolph, Sir Michael John Gambon, more names to remember

[exastriis]

biography : alfred f. jones

COUNTRY INFORMATION

Official Name: United States of America

Capital: Washington D. C.

Largest City: New York City, New York

Official Language/s: English (de facto)

Government: Federal presidential constitutional republic

Demonym: American

Continent: North America

Area: 3,796,742 sq mi / 9,833,520 km2

Population: 333,287,557 (2022 estimate)

GDP: $26.855 trillion ($80,035 per capita) (2023)

Currency: US Dollar

Internet TLD: .us

Leader: President

HUMAN INFORMATION

Human Name: Alfred F. Jones

Meanings:

Alfred – "Elf counsel", Old English origin. Derived from "Alfred the Great", the first King of England. F. – Initially a very Puritan "Fly-Fornication". But he gives a different meaning every time when asked. From "Franklin", to "Francis", to "Fitzarthur"– and even joke-y ones like "Fuck-Off" and "Freedom". However, "Frederick" was the first one he ever picked himself, right after the American Revolution. Jones – "son of Jonathan", Welsh origin. Derived from John Paul Jones.

Nickname[s]: Al, Freddie, various aliases

Age Appearance: mid-20s

Sex: AMAB

Gender: Cis Male

Orientation: Pansexual

Birthday: July 4th

ABOUT

Personality:

Positive Traits: Gregarious, optimistic, cheerful, outgoing, sociable, generous, determined, passionate, open-minded, eager to learn, protective, resourceful, adaptable Negative Traits: Domineering, obsessive, impulsive (or at least seems to be), "doing/talking without thinking", traditional in the oddest sense of the word/in a way that only makes sense to him, stubborn, dishonest

MBTI: ESFP (Se Fi Te Ni)

Enneagram: 8w7

Tritype: 829 (2w3, 9w1)

Instinctual Variant: sp/sx

Socionics: ENTj / LIE

Attitudinal Psyche: EFLV

Temperament: Choleric-Sanguine

Jungian Archetype: The Hero

Hobbies: The real question is "what hobbies does Alfred NOT have?"– Watching and making movies, assembling models of planes and tanks and what have you, archaeology, sports (baseball, football, basketball, etc.), dancing, cooking, carpentry, husbandry, "quick-draw", coding, playing instruments (guitar, harmonica, trumpet, percussion)

Languages Spoken: English, French, Latin, Spanish, Dutch, Filipino, German, Russian, Chinese (Mandarin), Various indigenous

Education: Various undergraduate degrees in the sciences and a few graduate degrees

Extras:

voice claim : talking / singing

Physical Description:

Alfred is young, tall and handsome— a Rockwell-esque, Hollywood-glam poster child for the most powerful Nation in history. He stands at around six foot and four inches, or roughly 193 centimeters. He has sandy blond hair cropped short, wide blue eyes ringed gold around the pupils, freckled tan skin, a powerful, muscular build, and a signature megawatt smile. Usually dressed casually, he’s most often seen in blues, reds, oranges or browns, or with some type of jacket on.

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[faintvibes]

Oh, it's been another four hours, huh? Hm.

Well, I've fucking finished it. After way too long (12 hours?? I've been AWAKE that long today??) I can no longer think of anything more to add to the google earth project. Now I just need to. Design the characters. And plan out the story beyond the starting point. I'm sure I will be normal about these things as well.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Fuck it I put literally half a day into this.

If you're interested in the au, here's the link to the project. The different locations have info about parts of the story and the history of related characters. The link lets you view the project, but not edit. It may be halfway incomprehensible, but that's because I am SO fucking tired rn. No proof-checking, sleep is seconds from claiming me. Also I don't live in 100% of these places so if something sounds off, tell me and I'll adjust it to fit. Same with timeline inconsistencies. General questions are also welcome. Expect no answers soon though I am crashing immediately after posting this.

Names:

England: Arthur Kirkland-Bonnefoy France: Francis Kirkland-Bonnefoy USA: Alfred F Jones (the F initially stood for Franklin, but he changed it to Fuck- a relic from the rebellious phase) Canada: Madeline Williams (fake name. Actual legal name is Madeline Bonnefoy) Seychelles: Michelle Esparon Australia: Koa Kirkland-Bonnefoy NZ: Aria Kirkland-Bonnefoy Japan: Kiku Honda Prussia: Gilbert Beilschmidt Germania: Almaric Edelstein Germany: Ludwig Beilschmidt Austria: Roderich Edelstein Switzerland: Basch Zwingli Lichtenstein: Lili Zwingli Scotland: Alistair Kirkland Rep. of Ireland: Patrick Kirkland Wales: Dylan Kirkland Nth. Ireland: Amy Brick (née Kirkland) Ancient Britain: Brighid Kirkland

I think that's all of them- other named characters aren't meant to represent any nations, they're just characters. Welcome to name suggestions, since very few of these are solid in my mind. Also, because this is a human au, the characters are at least partially from the country they represent, but usually not fully. E.g. NZ is partially Māori, but because she spent the majority of her life in the U.S, foster system, you can bet that she's got some heritage in the good ol' states as well.