#as if millions of people don't get married in english every day

[vieraslaji]

status: suuria määriä homeisen leivän keräämässä

[naughtystiel]

DEANCAS AU FIC REC MASTERPOST

Although I loved all of these fics, the ones with stars next to them are my absolute favourites! Happy reading! ♡

One million fires burning ☆

Dean Winchester teaches three classes a day, tutors after school, and chairs the English Department for Lawrence High School. He does enough.

Unfortunately, his boss doesn't feel the same and informs him that he has a new job: co-coaching the school's trivia team. His co-coach? None other than the school's golden boy, Castiel Milton. Who Dean can't stand, for various reasons, all of which are valid, thank you very much. And the fact that Dean can't stop talking about the stick up Cas's, sorry, Milton's ass?

Completely irrelevant.

Should have just asked ☆

Despite their age gap and differing social circles, Castiel has struck up a warm friendship with Mary Winchester, a wealthy widowed socialite. When Castiel needs a place to stay, Mary invites him into her house, where there’s loads of spare room. Castiel’s aware that they make an odd pair, but he doesn’t fully realize how things look to outsiders, especially to Mary’s eldest son. All Dean Winchester sees is that his mom has apparently hooked up with a hot young guy (who is totally Dean’s type) and that makes things… weird.

Living in agony ☆

Dean Winchester's life is... well, it's not great. He's a gym teacher, he's in his thirties, and he can't seem to keep any part of his life straight. When the aftermath of a one-night stand goes awry, Dean is dragged kicking and screaming out of his cozy little closet and into the harsh light of reality.

Enter: Castiel Novak, the new history teacher, who knows full well that life gets crappy when you don't allow yourself to live it in the way it needs to be lived.

The last great race

There is a race that takes place every year in Alaska called the Iditarod, a thousand mile journey across the Alaskan wilderness by dog sled team that has come to be known as "The Last Great Race on Earth”. It is a test of endurance, of the relationship between dogs and their people, traversing mountain ranges, frozen rivers, forest and tundra.

When writer Castiel Milton is forced to spend two and a half months in Alaska at Winchester Kennels to cover the race preparations and the Iditarod itself, the only person more dismayed than he is Dean Winchester, one of his hosts. Castiel views his assignment as a punishment and is less than impressed by his surly host, and Dean distrusts the sheltered city-born writer who has invaded their home and their lives. But soon, as the Winchesters prepare for their race and Castiel learns about sled dogs and what a musher’s lifestyle is all about, they forget to hate each other and their relationship evolves into something neither of them expected.

Starstruck ☆

From the outside Castiel Novak looks like a regular guy: a good job, two teenage kids, a nice house and a crappy car he’s way too attached to.

But there’s one thing no one knows about him: that, over twenty years ago, he used to live next to none other than Dean Winchester – back then a brash and loud-mouthed boy and nowadays a huge movie star and Hollywood’s sweetheart.

Castiel never bothered to tell anyone about his childhood friend because frankly, who would believe him? Probably even Dean himself already forgot about his former awkward and weird neighbor, so Castiel seriously doesn’t see any point in mentioning the whole thing ever.

But then an interview on national TV happens where Dean reveals way more about his past than ever before … and Castiel - as well as the rest of the world - suddenly realizes that he left a much bigger impact on Dean’s life than he originally thought.

Russian to the altar ☆

“I need you to marry Castiel.”

They weren’t the words Dean expected to hear from his business partner’s mouth before their bakery-slash-chocolate shop opened for the day. He’d been quite happy being single—and who the fuck was Castiel, anyway?

It turned out that Castiel was a Russian erotic novelist in need of a ticket to America, and Dean… well, Dean was a last resort.

I wanna get outside (of me) ☆

Dean is a novice in the dom/sub world asked by his employer as a desperate last resort to be a sub for his recluse of a brother, Castiel. Castiel is a diagnosed OCD suffering from PTSD and agoraphobia, mysophobia, and dystychiphobia. Needless to say—he’s a mess who hasn’t stepped out of his home in literally seven years. The only times Gabriel can see traces of the way his brother used to be is when he feels in control—specifically when he has control over a sub. However, due to his idiosyncrasies and paranoia, keeping a sub around has been impossible. Enter Dean, who’s not a very traditional submissive, to try his hand at subbing for the hermit.

Painted angels ☆

Author Castiel Novak has finally hit the big time, with a book based on his failed college relationship with a brilliant painter. He's put all his pain behind him, but at a book signing, he comes face to face with Dean Winchester for the first time in twelve years, and the reunion doesn't go like Cas hoped. Dean's a broken man, with a lot of scars and secrets, shoulders weighed down by his demons and self loathing.

Cas sees a second chance with the man he's never stopped loving, but Dean's moved on, and is about to get married. Sam launches a "brilliant" plan to reunite his brother and his best friend, but Cas is worried it will all blow up in their faces, and he'll go through the agony of losing Dean a second time.

Texas state of mind

Dean Winchester was once an award winning country music star, but fame came too early. Now, he’s fifteen years sober and owns a ranch in western Texas. He’s happy with his life. He has horses, a nice herd of cattle and so what, if he’s alone. He tells his friends that he’s happily single. Back when he was touring, men and women threw themselves at him – but he knew they only wanted him for his fame.

Cas Novak just won his fifth CMA award. He loves singing, but the touring was getting old. Living in a bus nine months out of the year was slowly destroying his creativity. He hasn’t written anything new in over a year. Then he hears an old song on the radio. He vaguely remembers the handsome singer and wondered whatever happened to him. Before he knew it, he'd written a new song. The only problem was…it was a duet. A duet that could only be sung with a voice like Winchester’s.

After locating the man’s ranch, Cas makes a surprise visit. Will he be able to talk Dean into joining him on stage after all these years? Will the two men find what they’ve been looking for all their lives – someone to share a future with?

If angels were men

Castiel Novak was raised by a hunting father, but he left that life behind for college and a flower shop. When his father is killed by a demon, Cas jumps back in the game and finds himself constantly running in the presence of the Winchester brothers, who are searching for their own father. They seem to be everywhere he turns, and at some point they become friends, then a team, then, maybe, in the case of Dean Winchester, something more.

Vagabonds ☆

Dean is a sheriff in a tiny town in Colorado, restless and unsatisfied with his life. It's not like what he's read about in the dime novels since he was little, capturing dangerous outlaws and being the last word of the law. More like tossing the town drunk in a cell to sober up when they get a little too rowdy.

But Dean's chance comes when a thief rolls through their town. He pursues the thief, which puts him right into the path of Emmanuel, a notorious outlaw. When he is captured by the outlaw and his gang to be held for ransom, Dean starts off on a journey he could have never envisioned, and learns that perhaps there's more to Emmanuel than meets the eye.

Four letter word for intercourse ☆

As a grease monkey turned college freshman, Dean's constantly three seconds away from being stressed out of his mind. It hardly helps that he's finally figuring out his sexuality in his thirties.

What might help with that stress is a little phone number (and a big credit card bill). If he can't figure out how to be bisexual in person, he can at least give it a go over the phone, right?

(It's probably a bad idea, but he really can't help himself.)

Any little heartbreak ☆

Dean Winchester knows everything there is to know about the human heart.

Well.

Anatomically speaking.

Get some

Very slowly, Dean turns. 'How'd you know I was here about a room?'

'Power of deduction,' says Castiel, leaning against the doorway. 'I mean, you're not after pot, and I'm pretty sure we haven't slept together.' He grins wolfishly, gaze sliding over Dean's body. 'You, I'd remember.'

Dean's been hit on by guys before, but never so blatantly, let alone by a semi-naked dude in a kimono. A hot blush warms his cheeks, and he covers his shock with cockiness, tilting his head and grinning. 'Sorry to disappoint you, Cas, but I don't swing that way.'

Castiel throws back his head and laughs. 'And you want to live here? What, did your friends put you up to this?'

'Actually, yeah.' Dean raises an eyebrow. 'Is that a problem for you?'

What i need

A joking phrase commonly heard between a surgeon and his tech is "Give me what I need, not what I ask for." Dr. Novak and his tech Dean will soon learn the impact this phrase has on life outside the operating room.

Mad at your dad? ☆

Dean wasn’t sure why he was even scrolling through Craigslist. Especially not the casual encounters section. It was four days before Thanksgiving. Not like he was gonna try and hook up with someone before that shitstorm. After, sure, but not before.

He kept scrolling, though, not clicking anything until a title caught his eye.

Alone on Thanksgiving? Mad at your dad? I am a 28 year old male felon who has no degree, but has studied enough theologies of the world, behavioral psychology, and philosophy to set your whole family’s teeth on edge—no matter which way they lean, politically, religiously or in terms of neuroses. I drive a van the same age as me that’s got a mural on the side of an angel holding an orgy. I can play between the ages of 20-30 depending on whether I shave. I live off an inheritance, and sell weed on the side. If you’d like to have me as your strictly platonic date for Thanksgiving, but have me pretend to be in a very long or serious relationship (monogamous or polyamorous, whichever sounds most like it would freak out su familia) with you (and/or others), to torment your family, I’m game...

(dis)affection ☆

When Dean and Castiel are tricked to go on a date, neither is happy about this. To get back at their deceitful friends, they hatch the perfect plan: pretend to be dating, and gross out their friends with their over-the-top, disgustingly cute romantic relationship – and then break up in the most despicable manner imaginable. As it turns out, you can learn a lot from someone just by pretending affection.

Ninety one whiskey ☆

In the spring of 1944, the 104th Medical Battalion of the United States Army is disbanded, and its men reassigned to various infantry companies in preparation for their invasion of occupied France. For First Lieutenant Novak, this is less than helpful, as he has so far met his platoon’s designated medic a grand total of twice, and has both times found Sergeant Winchester to be the optimum combination of reckless, arrogant, and downright insufferable so as to make cohesive platoon function near impossible. When the time comes to move out, however, Castiel has to reconcile himself to the fact that men are going to go down and trust that Dean Winchester may well be the only person who can put them back together again. WW2 ETO infantry AU.

The breath of all things

Dean Winchester was twenty-six years old when a car accident killed his father and left him paralysed from the waist down. A year and a half later, Dean is in a wheelchair and lives in a care home in Kansas, where he spends his days waiting to die. It's only when Castiel Novak starts volunteering at the care home that Dean starts to wonder if a changed life always equals a ruined one.

If you'd have been the one

A boy sits on the front steps, his dark hair a wild mess. A gingerbread boy, Dean thinks. Dressed in pressed slacks and a sweater-vest to match his father’s. He looks about Dean’s age; maybe they’ll be in the same class. That wouldn’t be too bad, unless he’s mean. He could be mean; a lot of kids are mean to him, so he has to be mean back.

He hopes this one is nice.

...

In the year 1986, at seven years old, Dean Winchester meets Castiel Novak.

Eleven years go by, then eight, then three.

Somewhere along the way, things start to change.

Spirit of the west ☆

Dean grew up on a horse farm and can't imagine any other life. There are drawbacks to working for his father, but they're worth it if it means remaining with his beloved horses. Besides, between his broken arm and his lack of prospects, he hasn't got much else.

Something of an outsider, Dean always feels like there's something he's missing. But this tense summer brings back a figure from his past: years ago, a teenaged Cas worked for a season at the Winchester ranch. His return could change everything.

If you ever wanted a 90s horse girl book, but starring a young Dean Winchester, this is your fic.

Guns and wings

Dean Winchester is the sheriff in the small town of Sioux Falls, along with his deputy (and brother) Sam. Life there is calm and normal, easy to manage with the occasional problems. That is until the Garrison gang sends an assassin to kill one of their beloved citizens. Dean is ready to hang the man for his crimes, when the outlaw gives him a deal he can't pass up. The whole Garrison gang. Dean and the criminal, Castiel, set off to find the gang; enemies working towards a common goal. Dean is determined to hate Castiel, but the longer they journey together and the more he finds out about the outlaw the harder it becomes to deny the feelings he begins to have for the man. But he's the sheriff and he has a job to do, he can't fall in love with a criminal... Right?

Life was a willow

When Dean’s favorite author becomes a regular at his bar, Dean knows he’s done for. He never could have anticipated the intense feelings that blossomed for the talented Castiel. There’s just one thing standing in his way of being with Castiel the way he truly wants: Castiel is waiting for his soulmate.

Dean has spent his entire life hating the concept of soulmates. He just wants to live his life without the universe intervening. If the only way he can keep Castiel in his life is by swallowing his feelings, then that’s what he’ll do.

300cc ☆

300 Complementary Characters: a forum on Kansas City University’s student website. You can write whatever you want, but it has to be 300 characters or less.

Dean is crushing hard on Sam’s TA, but it feels different than it has before; it feels like he needs to do it properly, to have a grand declaration and to prove that romance isn’t dead. What better way to profess his feelings than posting a poem on 300cc?

Castiel is torn. There’s no mistaking the poem is for him, but who could be posting them? Despite being very tempted by the very attractive new light and sound engineer that will be working on the play he has written, Castiel can’t ignore the feeling that he and the anonymous Poet are meant to be together.

A comedy of errors, mutual pining, and erotic poetry.

Satin and sawdust ☆

When Castiel moves out of Jimmy's house and into his own place for the first time, he saves money on buying a home by investing in a Fixer-Upper. He knows nothing about how to fix the many problems the house has, but he figures he's smart enough to figure it out. Unfortunately it's not too long before he learns that he's way in over his head.

Thankfully his new neighbor Dean is a handyman, and agrees to help him out. He knows Dean has a bit of a crush on him, but he's not taking advantage of it, really. Dean's a great guy, and quickly becomes a good friend.

But a flash of satin under Dean's toolbelt changes everything.

Stay with me, sweetheart ☆

“Alright Cas, here comes the hard part. We’re gonna get you out of here, but we’ve gotta take the roof off and while we do that, we’re gonna have to cover you with a sheet to protect you from the glass. I’ll be right here though. I’m not going anywhere.”

As he starts to drift away, he suddenly feels the press of Dean’s forehead against his own through the rough fabric and hears that warm, sunlit voice murmer quietly in his ear, too low to be overheard by the firefighters currently working to remove the SUV’s roof, “Stay with me, Sweetheart.”

A single moment's distraction ends with a serious car accident that leaves Castiel trapped in his vehicle. Fortunately for him, fire fighter Dean Winchester is there, never leaving Castiel's side as the rest of his company work to free him from the mangled remains of his SUV.

When the two meet again in the ICU, Castiel finds himself just as drawn to and comforted by the handsome fireman as he was during his accident. Dean is certainly attractive, but single father Castiel doesn't have time or space in his life for a romantic relationship.

Then again, there's no harm in making a new friend, is there?

And this, your living kiss

Only a very few people in the world know that the celebrated and reclusive poet Jack Allen is just Kansas mechanic Dean Winchester, a high school dropout with a few bucks to his name. Not that it matters anymore; life has left him so wrung out he never wants to pick up another pen.

Until, that is, a string of coincidences leads Dean to auditing a poetry course with one Dr. Castiel Novak. The professor is wildly intelligent, devastatingly handsome...and just so happens to be academia's foremost expert on the poetry of Jack Allen.

Sometimes you'll find that i'm out of my mind ☆

Castiel returns from the Empty, and Dean worries obsessively. Dean also sleeps on the floor in Cas' room, which he admits is weird, but at least he's sleeping.

[mythicalwomansblog]

There was a video on Instagram that said reading problematic fiction content affects your "subconscious" without you knowing.

A person replies, "Then you are taking away the concept of accountability from humans and saying we are not responsible for our behaviours. It's like saying serial killers like Ted Bundy did not kill women because he was a bad human being but he watched some 80's misogynistic movies, which alludes that he was not solely responsible for his own behaviour which is not true because millions of people watched those movies and they did not turn like him. It also waters down mental health and the psychology of human behaviour which is not plausible at all."

Another person replies, "I don't care about bad people at all! I care about the victims that would come out of this! Kids will read this and think this is normal and accept abuse from people! Have your kinks and such but stop writing it and making it accessible to teenage girls!!"

This is where we lost the plot.

Because why it's the author's responsibility to check if some teenagers are reading their stuff or not. Doesn't make an ounce of sense because authors cannot be present in every distribution of their book or media, do you want them to be present in every bookstore or library with an age scanner or something?

Also, what do you mean by "accessible"? Adult books have always been written as 18+ on the cover and the shelves of the books stores. Minors in most places cannot have a library card without the sign of their parents or school principal. Most sites are 18+ and whatnot. It's written in glowing words "You are a minor the themes here are not written for you please read something else." They can see it, yet they still come to those sites, mingling with grown adults and get surprised when the adults are talking about things that clearly only adults should talk about.

Also, I cannot believe people expect authors to act as their parents or something? Because it's the parent's job to monitor what kind of stuff their kid is reading or watching or what kind of people their kid is mingling with on the internet. Why do others have to make their content "kid friendly" because some random kid will download a pdf from Google of some obviously problematic books and get affected by it? It's their parent's job to make sure of that.

"Teenage girls read these things and will think abuse Is okay." That is not true at all because women have been brainwashed into thinking abuse is okay when they couldn't even read. They were barred from reading specifically because if they could read they would think the world is fucking unfair to them and form their own voices.

In Bengal (now India and Bangladesh) back in the 16th century, women were told that if they learnt English they would turn them into widows to stop them from reading. Being a widow in the Hindu religion used to be worse than death itself. Not only burning together with your husband was a ritual for some women but also having to fast twice a week without water, not being able to eat anything nutritious because well you were a widow. Tell me which book "normalised" it? Which book did these women read that "affected" their "subconscious" that made them endure this torture for 5 fucking centuries? Even now in the 21st century, widowed women in India wouldn't get married, the society wouldn't allow them. Which fucking book or movie is making them do that?

You have to understand that misogyny is not the cause of patriarchy, patriarchy is the cause of misogyny. Men did not turn violent overnight by some misogynistic movies or books, violence against women by men was the cause of those movies being made. You saying that teenage girls will "learn" to endure abuse through some Colleen Hoover book takes away the systematic oppression women have been enduring from the dawn of time for generations after generations.

These days I cannot watch any book reviews on YouTube because halfway through they would start preaching censorship. Which is absolutely horrifying. Censorship has been the weapon of fascism for years and years combined with deadly religious cults and puritans. If you are rejoicing that they censored "problematic" books, next they will censor your "unproblematic" media, then your voice, your eyes and ears and your humanity all because you let them censor something.

Instead of censoring media, censor the damn society. Beating the shit out of your brothers, fathers and male friends when they make rape jokes would solve a lot of problems than preaching censorship actually. Many of you never tried that.

[headfullofpresley]

A quickie book review!

Colonel Parker - Hero or Heel by Todd Slaughter.

Hi, hello! Sooo.. I just finished this book and I said I'd do a review on it, so here we go. It'll probably be shorter than my previous one because I'm a lazy biiish but I wanted to put it out there nonetheless.

If you're set on Baz' movie and believe the movie to be facts, this book might not be for you. If you want to learn more about The Colonel and what he was all about, this book is a good buy. I'm not here to change anyone's opinion about the man (y'all do you) but it's simply not what Hollywood and the media have made it out to be throughout the years.

(!!!) Trigger warnings for S/A and r*pe.

Todd Slaughter is a writer and Elvis fan from England. But not just any Elvis fan; he ran the official British Elvis Presley fanclub pretty much all throughout Elvis' career and there after.

To The Colonel, he was quickly turned from a fan into a friend and Todd traveled back and forth from the UK to the States with and without the fanclub. Todd became a pretty well known name in the Elvis world and even among big names in the industry.

He has been to Parker's house several times, they went out to lunch, Todd was part of meetings and whatnot. He met Elvis on a few occasions too, presenting him with fanclub trophies and stuff like that as The Colonel would let a few members of the fan club backstage.

Todd and The Colonel kept in touch all throughout The Colonel's life- writing and calling. The Colonel phoned Todd every month.

First things first: was Parker an illegal citizen?

He wasn't. It's most likely he entered the States without papers, but at the time he did, this wasn't something unusual. He served in the U.S. Army for four years (1929-1933), this alone led him to no longer being an 'illegal alien'. Later on, he got married to a U.S. citizen (Marie Ross) which also provided him with a legal right to live in the States.

He had a social security number, he worked for a politician and for the City of Tampa. He founded several companies, paid millions in taxes and lived a very public life. I don't think anyone who resides in a country illegally would be this reckless and careless. He also had access to (and became friends with- work!) six presidents throughout his life.

We can also wipe the assumptions that Elvis didn't know The Colonel was Dutch off the table. Elvis knew. He met The Colonel's brother (who didn't speak any English) in the early '60s, The Colonel told Elvis he had family left in the Netherlands and Elvis' response was: "Maybe we can visit them someday."

Elvis has been to Breda to drop off a package in Parker's name during his years in the army, buuut that's a whole 'nother story.

The rumors about The Colonel committing a murder are also just that: rumors. There aren't any recognisable connections between the victim and Parker (other than them being from the same city) nor a motive. His migration to the States had been planned for a long time. He didn't flee. The murder story is nothing more than a publicity ploy to help promote another book on Colonel Parker. (Ahem- Nash Trash).

Trigger warning here!!

Before The Colonel's first trip to the States (which is not a lot known of other than the fact he stayed with a Dutch family in Jersey), his maternal grandfather told him: "When you can, run away, boy. There's a whole world out there into which you can disappear."

The reason for this being that Parker sought sanctuary with his grandfather when he'd disappear for days on end because he was frequently sexually assaulted and r*ped by a family member. The book also mentions something about gang r*pe, so I believe more people were involved at some point.

When he returned to the Netherlands, he was faced with the same abuse. He didn't get help or comfort from his parents and when he left for the States this time, he told his mother he would never be returning to Europe when he crossed the Atlantic for the second time- she was unmoved by his statement. The Colonel sent his mother money until the day she died but she never acknowledged it or contacted her son again. When hearing about his mothers' death from Ad (his brother), he was broken.

The Colonel never liked talking about his family back home or WW2 and the German occupation in the Netherlands (despite him not being in the country himself, he was still Dutch). Loanne, Parker's last wife, told Todd that his sister had been r*ped by a German soldier, hence why he never visited Elvis in the army- besides, he was too busy making sure Elvis still received the same attention as before he got enlisted.

End of trigger warning!!!

The reason for not wanting to visit Germany sounds accurate to me. My grandmother was a young girl in German occupied Holland and she disliked Germans for the rest of her life. Not saying here that The Colonel felt like that until the end of his life, but a lot of Dutch people felt like that toward the Germans, even many years after the war.

Now about him not wanting Elvis to go overseas- from what I gather in this book, he did want it. It just never happened due to several factors. And even if The Colonel didn't have a "passport", getting one would have been a piece of cake for a taxpayer like him and being the manager of Elvis Presley. He wouldn't've let something as big as a world tour fail because of something so minor and easily resolvable.

People seem to forget that he escorted Elvis to Canada in 1957 and accompanied him to Hawaii in the same year. Hawaii didn't become the 50th state of the US until August, 1959.

The Colonel also did not steal anyone's name. It was usual for a carny to take on a different name and he did so because Andreas van Kuijk was too difficult to pronounce for English speakers. He got the title "Colonel" by Jimmie Davies, Governor of Louisiana, in 1949 to thank him for his support during a campaign. Before Elvis, The Colonel was already a highly successful artist manager and tour organizer for country music top acts like Eddy Arnold and Hank Snow.

There also have been rumors going around how The Colonel supposedly made chickens dance on hotplates and all kinds of shit that would indicate he abused animals. But would an animal abuser direct a municipal animal home where he took care of abandoned and abused animals and install a pet cemetery? I don't think so. Sure, he made good money with it, but it doesn't make him an animal abuser. I think he loved animals (it's said more than he liked people sometimes) and we all know how fascinated he was with elephants.

The 50-50 deal...

is a bust? jk lol.

Honestly, I have trouble putting my opinion in a proper sentence on this, lol. English is not my native language and there was a lot of numbers and business talk in this book. My brain needs a rest.

But the 50-50 thing was only for Special Projects. And hey, I might get shit for this, but fuck it; it's a business deal. It wasn't like Elvis was eating dry bread every day. He still got 75% for everything else while The Colonel got his 25% share. Even in the 1950s, Elvis was the highest paid entertainer in the music industry.

It had been The Colonel's intention that the comeback special should become an annual thing (like Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, etc. did) but according to Charlie Hodge, Elvis didn't agree with it because he was nervous about the format and didn't want to perform the movie recreation segments.

Parker didn't force Elvis on stage when he wasn't doing well- sure, contracts were signed and both men had obligations to fullfil, but he actually made Elvis cancel Vegas shows at times when he saw Elvis wasn't doing too well.

Elvis wasn't a dancing monkey trapped in a golden cage as some people make it seem like. He was a grown man and he wasn't always easy to deal with, everyone knows this. Do I think The Colonel was a saint? Ofcourse not, but he was a human being and a businessman through and through. His only job was to get the highest amount of money possible out of whatever Elvis did artistically, because that's what managers do.

Elvis complained at times, yes. Elvis felt trapped in Hollywood from 1963 and after, yes. But he wasn't the type of person to argue with the man who was still bringing in millions of dollars, no matter how "superficial" or whatever that might sound.

Saying The Colonel is the one who killed Elvis Presley is absurd.

Anyways, I said this was a quick one, but it's already getting too damn long, lol. My opinion is that The Colonel genuinely cared for Elvis and wanted him to be as successful as possible. I believe them to have a friendly relationship with each other, but that they could butt heads as well. Unlike other managers, The Colonel only had Elvis and focused all his attention on Elvis alone rather than managing several artists at once, and he managed to do a good job.

We will never know what truly happened and what words were truly spoken between Elvis and anyone in his life. But if you're holding on to the thought that The Colonel was some kind of monster and the downfall of Elvis, you need to look further than your nose. It's easy to point fingers, but it's unfair.

Even after Elvis' death, The Colonel kept in touch with the fans. He talks about how it's important to keep Elvis' legacy alive, so that newer generations can experience the magic of him. I don't think he ever said a bad word about Elvis, ever.

When Bobby Mann, Elvis' cousin, was paid by a magazine to snap a picture of Elvis in his coffin (and succeeded in it. The magazine put the picture on the cover and sold 6.5 million copies), The Colonel said:

"Elvis was a private individual off stage, and he would not have wanted his fans to see his corpse. It wasn't right for me to interfere in Vernon's wishes, but Elvis would have hated that publicity and all the after-death rumours." His wife Loanne, as well as Joe Esposito and Charlie Hodge agreed to this on different occasions.

The Colonel also said in an interview in later years that Elvis was such a talent, that anyone could've made him a star. Maybe, maybe not- but I think The Colonel is a big and important part of Elvis' legacy and he shouldn't be sweeped under the rug, or be painted as some kind of money grabbing monster. In my opinion, the world simply isn't that black and white.

On January 20, 1997, The Colonel suffered a stroke and died the following morning from complications in a Las Vegas hospital at the age of 87. His funeral was held at the Las Vegas Hilton, which was attended by a handful of friends and associates, including Eddy Arnold, Sam Philips and Priscilla Presley.

Priscilla spoke at the funeral, saying: "Elvis and the Colonel made history together, and the world is richer, better and far more interesting because of their collaboration. And now I need to locate my wallet, because I noticed there was no ticket booth on the way in here, but I'm sure that the Colonel must have arranged for some toll on the way out!"

According to Tom Hanks, who had thought Elvis' manager was nothing but a cheap crook, both Jerry and Priscilla said he was a nice man.

Loanne Parker asked that donations be sent to the SUN Youth Camp Fund in lieu of flowers. Her late husband had given thousands of dollars to the camp fund over the years, just like he made many donations to different charities with Elvis in past years.

The Colonel was cremated and put to rest at Palm Cemetery.

(The Colonel at Elvis' grave at the Meditation Garden.)

[lindsaywesker]

Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting at my desk, in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day. Welcome to Too Much Information Tuesday!

Cats and killer whales both kill for fun.

People with schizophrenia can tickle themselves.

About one million Japanese people refuse to ever leave their homes.

Once you start loving someone, it's hard to stop.

The Catholic saint against procrastination is St. Expeditus.

The national bird of Peru is the Andean cock of the rock.

One third of US divorce filings in 2011 contained the word ‘Facebook’.

The town motto of Gas, Kansas is, "Don't pass Gas, stop and enjoy it."

98.4% of Twitter users who announced they were moving to Mastodon are still on Twitter.

In Utrecht, for George Orwell's birthday, local artists put party hats on the city's CCTV cameras.

When Kylie Jenner said she no longer used Snapchat, its market value dropped by roughly $1.5 billion.

You are eight times more likely to be killed walking drunk than driving drunk.

Everyone has a song in their playlist which they always skip but never delete.

Bill Murray was once pulled over by the Swedish police for driving a golf cart under the influence of alcohol.

People who stay busy (even with pointless tasks) tend to be happier than those who don't.

The man who voices Spongebob Squarepants is married to the woman who voices Plankton's computer wife Karen.

Bob Marley was buried with his Les Paul guitar, a bible and some weed.

Tip: If you think somebody is giving you a fake number, read it back to them incorrectly, see if they correct you.

The script for "Back to the Future" was rejected over 40 times by every major studio and by some more than once.

One day, you’ll just be a memory to some people. Do your best to be a good one.

At any given time, 0.7% of the world population is drunk. Meaning at least 50 million people are drunk right now.

Research suggests women make more jokes when they’re not being interrupted by men.

While you're busy looking for the perfect person, you'll probably miss the imperfect person who could make you perfectly happy.

Lava lamps were invented by an accountant whose hobby was making underwater nudist films.

William Morton, the father of anaesthesia, first experimented on himself but kept falling asleep before he could describe the results.

Sometimes you never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory that you wish you could experience again.

During World War I, French soldiers were issued a daily ration of Camembert and red wine.

In gay slang, a "friend of Dorothy" is a gay man. During the 1980s, the US military conducted a massive investigation to find out who Dorothy was.

Due to a computer error in 1989, 41,000 Parisians received letters charging them with murder, extortion and prostitution instead of traffic offences.

In 2016, Yukon Territory, Canada rolled out a campaign to remind residents that they should make sure to get enough vitamin D. The campaign's tagline was, "We all need the D".

For four years, the US state of Nebraska was last on a list of states that tourists are interested in visiting. The Nebraska Tourism Commission then adopted the slogan “Nebraska: honestly, it’s not for everyone.”

An old English alternative to divorcing was to auction off your wife, or husband in one case, in the town square. While there was never a legal basis for this, it continued for centuries and was reported as recently as 1901.

Examples of graffiti from Pompeii include, “Aufidius was here”, “Apollinaris, the doctor of the emperor Titus, defecated well here”, and “Apelles the chamberlain with Dexter, a slave of Caesar, ate here most agreeably and had a screw at the same time.”

Okay, that’s enough information for one day. Have a tremendous and tumultuous Tuesday! I love you all.

[ur-fave-is-yandere]

hiii! I got a request. Yandere jungkook. Wedding night. Arranged marriage. 👀 Virgin oc/reader

Red Ties

"You know that everywhere I go I got a million people tryna kick it but I'm still alone, in my mind.." - Halsey

400 people...400 people gathered all in one place to watch your wedding. Junkook's wedding. if it were really yours you would be marrying the person you loved willingly, marrying them with hope for the future. A house, kids, growing old together...But those are thoughts of the past, thoughts from a life where you hadn't been trafficked, where you hadn't been bought by Jungkook and forced into an arranged marriage. A prison sentence really, any hope you had of ever returning to your own life, even just your own country, had long died out. You belonged here now, belonged to him. Why someone like Jungkook would even want you is beyond your thought or reasoning, the two of you could barely speak the same language let alone actually get along. Your korean was less than a two year olds, and he liked it that way. Of course he let you learn his native tongue, after all how would you teach his children if you yourself could barely talk right? But it was slow, and only what he wanted you to know, the less you know the better. Better for Junkook that is, not even being able to ask for help correctly meant that you had to rely on him for everything. Ordering your food, taking you to the doctor's, picking up your medication, even just finding pads in the store was a struggle. So he did it all, leaving you more and more dependent on him as the days go on. It's how he managed to get you where you are now, dressed in traditional wedding hanbok waiting to walk the aisle with him. Your whole life you had imagined this moment, dreamed of the day where you would be conjoined to another for all of eternity. You thought of all the tears of pure joy you would cry, yet as you stand here all you can feel is a gut full of rocks, so heavy part of you wonders if you could lay down in the extravagant water fountain behind you and drown. Maybe that could be the escape you've been looking for all this time, after all it only takes a few seconds to lose all your breath...maybe- "Y/n-ah!" Your soon to be snaps his fingers in front of your face, shaking his head as he fixes a few loose strands of hair shaping your face. "Don't frown, you'll cause wrinkles." he warns, a soft yet firm hand lightly brushing its way across your furred browns. You can't really tell what he's saying, you can pick out your name, negative, and frown. You hadn't even realized you'd been doing it, then again your emotions have always been so easy for others to guess...Eyes taking in every small detail of you wear Jungkook slowly slides one of your sleeves back up your shoulder, you frame having lessened by at least two sizes since you'd been taken and auctioned off. It wasn't that Junkook didn't feed you, you just couldn't trust the food or drink he gave you. The only time you were mostly positive he hadn't slipped some mysterious med or sedative in it was when he took you out, which wasn't often. Tracing a finger much larger than your own from your collar bone up your neck and around to your lips Junkook smiles slightly, his own emotions much more controlled than your own. "On wedding nights...After tonight, you are mine." he begins in korean, slowly switching to english for you. Struggling slightly he looks you in the eye, noticeably closing in and backing you against one of the wedding hall walls. "Mine, and only mine..It'll be okay jagiya? All will be lovely." Bringing you into his chest Junkook buries his face into your hair, inhaling deeply. Acutely aware of just how close the two of you are heat pin pricks at your face as you feel a firm and large point pushing against your inner thighs. Lifting up your face your forced fiance slowly rubs at your bottom lip, hungrily licking his own. "I know you've scared, it's okay...I like that" he whispers lowly in english, slowly grinding himself into your clothes. Whimpering in fear you clothes your eyes tight, willing your soul to flee your body as you feel Jungkook clumsily push the two of you into a near broom closet. "Just breathe, I'll be quick I promise. I know you've never done it before, I'll teach you. You'll learn soon.."

[lalunanymph]

Okayy you asked and they shall be delivered 💞✨

Jdrama recs :

1. Alice in Borderland : It's based on a manga so it's already fucking amazing but the cast is justttt ... PERFECT 😩🙈. It literally has the prince of live action , Kento Yamazaki in the main role and my queen Tsuchiya Tao ✨. The story is about people trying to survive in this different world that mirrors our own , by playing and winning games . The plot , the characters, the twists just 🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻 .

2. High and Low : As a Tokyo revengers fan , i have no doubt you would love this 🙈. It's about gang wars and friendships and past trauma ... basically everything that Tokyo revengers falls indery. And It's criminally underrated 🥲. It has drama series , movies , games .. basically an entire fucking franchise . ( Also kinda hope you would love it sm you might wanna write some ff on it 😅. No pressure ofc .. just the fandom is very small 🥲 )

3 . 3 Nen A Gumi: Ima kara Mina-san wa, Hitojichi Desu : This hit me in all the right ways . It's basically a story about a teacher who takes his class hostage to try and solve the mystery of the death of one of their classmates . The storyline is very profound and the issues shown in it are very much prevalent these days . I cried way to much during this 😭. Also the actor who plays the teacher is just 😳😳😳😳.

4. Watashitachi wa Douka Shiteiru : Did someone say arranged marriage angst ? 🥲. It's about this girl who marries this guy all the while hiding her real identity . In reality, her mom was years ago accused of murdering the guy's dad , and passed away while being a suspect. So now she marries him in order to find answers to what happened in the past . Genre is dark psychological and it has a manga as well that falls under josei . The drama of this is .. *chefs kiss*🤌🏻✨. ( Also me thinks what if you get inspired and we get another angsty marriage au ff 🙈)

5.100-manen no Onna-tachi : It's about five women who get a mysterious invite to look together with an unpopular novelist . These 5 women pay the novelist a million yen every month for rent and living expenses, about 30x higher than normal. They have rules in the house and questions about the women are banned. I just cannot explain the plot of this well without spoiling it but it has a very unique vibe overall . I personally really liked the way the mystery in this unravels .

6. Good doctor : You might've heard or seen the korean and English version of this . But personally my fav will always be tha japanese one . I really loved Kento Yamazaki in it , and the other actors act so well as well . If you want a crisper plot , korean is the best . But i felt so much more moved and attached to this version .

7 . Ju On : Origins :

TRIGGER WARNINGS ⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️

I hope you love horror 🙈

You know the Grudge series ?( If you don't , please watch them , Jdrama horror at its finest) , Well basically this a prequel to that series . Easily the best to come out of Jdrama horror in years . The story is so interesting and the way everything ties up in the end is so freaking amazing 😭✨. Aa a horror genre connoisseur , I was literally so happy cuz the market has been dry for a while 🥲 .

Also regarding the trigger warnings please CHECK OUT THE PARENTS GUIDE . It deals with a lot of heavy and dark themes

Hope you find these intresting. I tried to include a variety of genre 💞💞💞 .

Honestly I was having way to much fun writing this . Hope you don't have a hard time going through my rants 🙈😂

adding this all to my watch list ASAP!! i love the fact that you catered this to stuff i would most likely watch ilysm bby 😭 also! high and low sounds??? amazing??? and the arranged marriage one too has me rubbing my hands together in glee sjdjfjfj this just hit all the spots if i start having brainrot its bc of this post right here 😩

[kingdoms-and-empires]

Hey, this ask it's like an informative one if you can call it that, so there is no need to post this if you don't feel comfortable, so what I'm getting into is that you are right about being YOUR story and all of your arguments are ok, but as a gay person myself I wanted to say that when you replied to that ask that was asking about artificial insemination and said that "in honor and respect to the ace/gay that had to do that" that specific argument really bothered me and after thinking a while I think I would let you know that and that if you think about it, that argument is basically saying this: "People in the past were damaged, in respect for them I will make it so your character will be damaged too".

I'm not asking for you to make it so we can pass on the sex, but I do want you to understand why some of us are so defensive and offended by this topic.

I will play your game either way because I really enjoy your writing and I don't think that you are putting that restriction with the intention of targeting us, so sorry if this sounded rude that was never my intention, actually the contrary.

If you weren't capable of understanding my writing (my english is not very good) I´m so sorry and for rambling too.

This is actually something I wanted to hear. Thank you for telling me you felt bothered by what I stated. Allow me to clarify what I said, and my intentions that may have been badly communicated. I am an avid learner of history, so much so that I preferred reading literal school textbooks over normal fictional novels.

In those days I was reading, I realized something quite shocking. While the Greeks, Romans, and Middle Eastern Empires were okay with homosexuality (Asexuality is a new term historically speaking) the latter centuries were most fatally not.

Christianity and it's church is what drove homosexuality to the literal torch. In the centuries, even millennia following this direction, to be anything other than straight, a follower of an Abrahamic faith, or hell even a woman was dangerous. So they had to marry. Have children. Act "normal". Or else it was death.

That was for survival. What is required for my story is responsibility. The MC is nobility, and the leader of a nation home to millions. They live in feudal era, where the nobility is upheld by LITERAL DIVINE RIGHT. But that right, that mandate of heaven, is banked on the bloodline. Your dynasty. Something you must ensure you continue. Every idea except one has been in the end, a deus ex machina plot device. Here is the literal definition: Deus ex machina is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence.

MILD SPOILERS BELOW! READ AT OWN RISK!

The only one that was close to potentially solving the issue is to wait for your brother to have a child, while you "pretended" to have children. This wouldve taken years, and once a child was born to your brother, you could step down, just as your grandfather did, and abdicate in favor of your brother who has an heir ready to go.

Except there is no way in hell that could happen in the story I am creating. You wont have time. You wont have that luxury. You will know what I mean as the book goes on.

Now, you said sorry for possibly being rude. HELL NO, you were respectful, and wanted to communicate something that bothered you, as is YOUR RIGHT AS MY READER. Just please understand, The people in the past suffered and sacrificed for survival, the MC will have to do the same for it is their duty, and it is required by the inheritance laws of the time. As I have already stated that there would be mild spoilers, understand your MC will not have a good time. Their position and ideal of a hero will be tested. You will be in every sense of the phrase, a tragic hero.

[raschuuuu]

Let’s try. // J.HS imagine (J-Hope) angst/fluff

Summary: You were put into an arranged marriage with Jung Hoseok yet he has no feelings for you and neither do you. How will you deal with each other when you both know well that you cannot divorce or develop feelings for each other.

Word count: 4100

Genre: angst/fluff

warnings: swearing / mentioning of Namjoon and his wife / no idol J-Hope / businessman J-Hope

Pairing: J-Hope!businessman x Female!reader

A/N: Hello!!!! this was requested and first off all I want to say: thank you so much I’m really happy and shoutout to the creative person who requested this. I hope you’ll like and enjoy it <3 keep in mind that English is not my first language so if you spot any mistakes I would love you guys to tell me. If you like it please leave a like and if you have any preferences or wishes please let me knoooow! Have fun everyone and keep in mind REQUESTS ARE OPEN!! hihi bye.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

"You look beautiful! Wow I'm fascinated!" wow thank you. Does that mean I looked like shit every day? Why does everyone keep telling me that? If today wasn't my wedding no one would tell me I looked good everyday... well maybe because I don't either.

Today is my wedding to the one and only Jung Hoseok. The Jung family made a very big name for themselves in South Korea, years ago. Jung Hoseok's father is the founder and CEO of a famous restaurant chain. His mother is a famous doctor of surgical aesthetics and his older sister Jung Jiwoo is a famous youtuber and fashion designer in South Korea. So you could say that the Jung family is more famous than the president of South Korea and freaking rich. And I have the "privilege" of marrying him today. NOT! Neither he nor I agreed to this wedding, but what do children have to say when their parents have already decided behind our backs.

Jung Hoseok's father is my father's boss. You wonder why your father's boss wants an employee's daughter for his son? It's very simple, I'll explain it to you: My father lost his job back then because he was ill and had to get surgery on his leg, since then he really has trouble walking. And in South Korea almost no employer feels sorry for you. When you are healthy and you can work, you go to work. If you are ill and unable to work, it's your fault and you get fired and lose everything you have. And so my father lost his job back then and desperately looked for a job in a metropolis with millions of inhabitants that was fair to him and not physically demanding. Where did he end up? With Mr. Jung, who surprisingly had understanding and compassion for my father and took him on in one of his companies in Seoul.

Flashback

"Appa where are you?" I asked as my father when he answered his phone. "I am on the 12th floor my child! Did you come?" - "Yes Appa, I promised you that we would have lunch together today!" I said as I stood in front of the giant building of the Jung's company. "Yes, okay, that's right my child! Wait for your father, I'll be right there and we can go to the restaurant next door!" so I waited downstairs in front of the entrance. I don't want to wait inside, there are so many men at the entrance.... They're pretty serious about security here. "Y/N!!" I heard someone shout from behind. I turned around and saw my father coming towards me... or rather sneaking. Unfortunately he still can't walk since he had the surgery on his leg.

I went to him and offered him my arm so that he could support himself. I am really happy that he was accepted here. He doesn't earn much but enough to support my mother and me. We've always had money problems, ever since I was little. I was always one of the last to get the new shoes that were already in fashion last year. Or I was one of the people who got an iPhone 5 when the iPhone X was already on the market. That's why I tried to go to work at a young age to help my parents financially. My mother has been cleaning restaurants or schools or sometimes houses of rich families for years. But still I am glad that my father wanted to work after his surgery and found a simple office job.

"Appa, are you very hungry?" I ask him as we slowly walk down the stairs in front of the big building. "Yes my child I really-" - "Hello Mr. Y/L/N!" we heard someone shout interrupting my father. My father and I both looked up and standing in front of us was an older man, wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. He looked very smart and around him were 3 men also wearing suits. "Oh, oh hello Mr. Jung!" my father exclaimed and bowed. I quickly bowed in response as well. That's Mr. Jung! The man who gave my father his job. The rich famous Mr. Jung CEO of his restaurant chain.

"Who is your pretty companion?" he asks and comes towards us. My father grins "My daughter Mr. Jung! Isn't she pretty?" oh no dad what are you saying. I notice my cheeks turning red and warm. Mr. Jung looks at me and smiles. "Yes your daughter is very pretty." wow I feel flattered. "I didn't know you had a daughter Mr. Y/L/N" he added. "Yes Mr. Jung I have a daughter and she is my pride and joy. I am honestly happy to have her in my life" my father said and I blurted I am as red as a tomato. "I would be too if I were you. She must even be my son's age! What a coincidence" says Mr. Jung and then we say goodbye to him and my father and I go to eat in the restaurant. Wow did that really just happen?

Few days later - still flashback

I can't wait to get home. Work is so exhausting, I'm so tired and exhausted I'm looking forward to my shower and my bed. Just as I walked in the front door I saw my parents sitting in the living room with a worried look on their faces like something had happened, like they were waiting for me.

"Hello Eomma and Appa." I say, about to go to my room. "Y/N wait!" I hear my mother call and I go back. She points to the couch to indicate that I should sit down. "What's wrong?" I say, looking at my parents. My father is looking at the floor all the time he doesn't dare look up don't  I don't know him that way. My mother looks at my father and waits. "Hello?" i ask. "Your father has something to tell you but please don't freak out." I am worried. What is going on? "Appa what's wrong you are scaring me is anything wrong? Are you not well?" finally he looks up. "Y/N, you know I love you." - "Yes I love you too" - "And you forgive me everything? Even if I trade selfishly?" - "Yes Appa I forgive you but please tell me what you did."

He finally looks at me and sits up straight. "The other day when we had lunch in my lunch break when we met Mr. Jung.... That same evening he came to me and asked me for something" he says with tears in his eyes. "What did he ask you, Appa?" I ask curiously.

"He asked me if you would like to marry his son."

He did what? 

Is he fucking serious? Who does he think he is? Just because he is rich and famous and who knows what he can take the right to go to other men to ask if the daughter can marry his son?

"Please tell me you said no Appa please tell me you said no" I scream and fall to the floor on my knees. The only thing he says is "I'm sorry" I can't take it anymore I start crying. Why is he doing this? Why does he agree? Why does he agree to such a thing! Why doesn't he ask me why doesn't he talk to me about it first instead of deciding for me! I am not an object or a toy that you can just give away. I am a human being, I decide for my own life and I tell him that.

"Please understand me, my daughter. I love you more than anything and you know that I only want the best for you. He wants to retire soon because he is also not the youngest anymore and he wants his son to follow in his footsteps but he needs a wife he wants that when it is made official that his son is CEO the media will report that he is married and when he saw you you immediately caught his eye!"

"Still no one gives you the right to say YES Appa! I don't want to marry his son! I don't know his son and I think his son has better things to do than marry a girl he doesn't even know!" I shout and stand up I can't believe what he is saying.

"Y/N don't you understand? They will be able to give you a better life. They will be able to give you everything I couldn't give you. You'll never have to go back to work you'll never have to get up early every morning to torture yourself you can quit your two jobs! You will be able to live a normal life of wealth and happiness! Please think of your mother and me too. I can't go to work anymore I have pain I can't walk properly and this office work is also stressing me out now I sit all the time I have back pain! Your mother has 3 jobs to take care of. We can't do it anymore and with the financial help of this family we will all be better Y/N please. Do it for us do it for you" he shouted.

I hope he knows that you don't need wealth to live a happy life. I say nothing more and rush into my room, throw myself on the bed and let my tears run. I can't believe it why do these things always happen to me? Just when I think my life can't get any shittier, it gets worse.

Back to present

"Thank you." I say to my work colleague whom I invited to my wedding. I haven't invited many people simply because I don't know anyone. Or let's put it this way, I just don't have any friends. I was never the most popular one at school. My work colleague and I took a photo, she thanked me, bowed to me and walked out of the beautifully decorated photo room. Just as I was about to get up there is a knock on the door and I see Mr. Jung and his wife and daughter come in.

"Wow Y/N! You look fantastic!" he says and hugs me. His wife and daughter agree and I smile at them. I'm not in the mood to talk to you rich brats. You're ruining my life.

"Hoseok is in his dressing room with his friends. He's pretty annoyed and irritable so don't be surprised if he gets a bit of a scowl at the altar," his sister says, grabbing my shoulder. Yes, because he doesn't want to either, don't you see?

I met Hoseok once when his parents invited me and our parents to their rich villa for dinner. Before that, of course, Mr. Jung transferred a lot of money to my father, a sum I have never seen in my life, and of course my father was allowed to quit his job. How can I put it? If you think Hoseok and I exchanged even a single word then I have to disappoint you. He didn't even look at me. He didn't speak a word, didn't laugh or smile once and didn't eat a thing. I have never felt so uncomfortable or ashamed in my life. That evening, our parents were just talking about what to do after the wedding. They have decided that my parents will move to a bigger house with employees so my parents will never have to move or work again. Mr. Jung will retire and tell the press that his son will be the new CEO and Hoseok and I will move into a villa in Seoul after the wedding.

Of course, he asked us if we would like to go on a honeymoon right after the wedding to get to know each other better, but neither of us agreed. He didn't make a sound anyway, so I had to have the stupid conversation with his father.

The only person I got along with well was his sister. She could completely understand how me and her brother felt. She told me after dinner that she is also married and her husband was also forced to marry her by her father. Her husband was of course also the son of a friend of his. He was of the opinion that she, as a famous fashion designer, needed a man by her side and she said to me that I shouldn't hold it against him because he still thinks in such an old-fashioned way. Meanwhile she and her husband are happily married, I am happy for her that she could at least learn to love him.

When it was finally time to walk down the aisle with my father, I felt tears welling up in my eyes. I didn't care about my make-up, I just wanted to go back to my old life because I know I'll never have that again. My father and I walked down the long aisle with eyes fixed on me. I could hear everyone amazed and saying how pretty I was and how lucky I was to be able to marry him. No, neither of us can consider ourselves lucky because we both don't want that. The aisle seemed so long and it just wouldn't stop. Arriving at the altar, my father presented my hand to my future husband and they bowed to each other. He didn't look me in the eye once, his eyes were empty and directed to the floor.

The ceremony went okay I could hear a few tears flowing from our mothers. To be honest, I had imagined my wedding quite differently. I could have married on a farm, but at least the love of my life would be with me.

The wedding went well, how can I say it was okay. We both sat next to each other while the guests danced and had fun and drank alcohol. We, or rather he, talked to many of the businessmen his father had invited to the wedding. It felt more like I was wearing a wedding dress to a business meeting. We didn't exchange a word, not even glances, he treated me like I was air. Too bad we'll be living together Mr. Jung Hoseok.

1 month after the wedding

"Y/L/N Good morning. Would you like coffee or tea? Pancakes or rice? Or do you have any other requests please let me know so I can pass it on to the cook!" the housekeeper Soyoung asks me as I'm walking down the stairs - I've only just woken up. I'm still overwhelmed with this new lifestyle never had someone running after me just after I get up but she was very nice and sweet.

"A coffee please Soyoung. I don't want anything to eat thanks I can't eat well in the morning, I usually eat when I'm hungry!" she looks at me surprised. "That's why you sometimes leave your food.... well then please let me know right away if you get hungry Y/L/N I will tell the cook right away!" she says smiling and walks to the kitchen.

I look out the big window facing the exit and I can see that Hoseok's car is not here. It's never here. He always gets up early every morning and comes home very late since he is the new CEO. We don't see each other at all or never.

In the evening when I was sitting alone at the dining table I hear a car parked in the driveway. I look out of the window and see that Hoseok has just come home - quite early by his standards, it's only 8pm. I quickly sit back down and pretend I was never at the window. He walks in the front door and all the staff bow to him. He looks at me and then quickly goes up to his office. Hello to you too Hoseok.

1 month later

This month is my mum's birthday and I have to be honest that I haven't seen her since my wedding. I don't have the best relationship with my parents anymore because I still can't forgive what they did to me and that they gave me away to another family for their happiness. But of course they don't know that I am so resentful because please, they are still parents. Parents usually don't see that when the children are angry or not happy.

I stand in my wardrobe and look at the clothes Soyoung put out for me. A beautiful Chanel skirt with a matching blazer, nice shoes with a little heel and a bag that looks more expensive than some cars. I change and Soyoung calls a woman in to do my hair. I'm not used to all this, I've never had my hair done before, I'm just going to visit my parents.

"Y/L/N, when you're done, you can go down to the car. Mr. Hoseok is waiting for you downstairs," she says and smiles at me. Mr. who? "What, why is he waiting downstairs?" I ask her in surprise. "He will accompany you, of course! Wouldn't it be bad if he didn't congratulate his mother-in-law! So I'd be mad at my husband if he didn't come!" she says, smiling at me.

Oh Soyoung you are so sweet and naive. I walk out the front door and get into the car with Hoseok waiting for me. I have to say he looks really good today, he's dressed up more than usual. And the fact that he took the day off to come with me to my mother's, even though he must have a lot to do, makes me very happy too. But what am I saying? He's the CEO, he can take the day off whenever he wants.

The car ride is very quiet and the only thing you can hear is the voice of the radio presenter saying what the weather is today and in the next few days. I'm honest I'm quiet for a really long time I'm always quiet when someone isn't talking to me and feels uncomfortable next to me then I feel exactly the same. I could win first place in a quiet competition and I would even be proud of it but this silence between me and Hoseok is eating me up inside so I muster up all my courage and say to him "Thank you for coming with me today. I know it's not a matter of course" I say and look at him. I can tell by the look on his face that he is surprised that I am talking to him. He hesitates a little before he says, "No problem," curtly.

Arriving at my parents' new house, we stand in front of the door and wait for someone to open it. "Y/N and oh! Hoseok! You came!" my mother says in surprise when she sees Hoseok standing behind of me. Hoseok bows to her and wishes her a happy birthday. "Come on in quickly," she says and takes us to the living room.

"I'm so glad you came, what a surprise to see you here Hoseok!" my father says as he walks into the living room. Hoseok smiles at him and says "I'd love to. I mean, my mother-in-law doesn't have a birthday every day." I am surprised! Did he honestly just say that? He's never shown any interest in my parents before, let alone me. So why does he suddenly care about my mother's birthday? We were served coffee and cake by my parents' housekeepers while there was an uncomfortable silence.

The young housekeeper serves me my coffee and a piece of cake and goes over to Hoseok. I notice how he doesn't look at her but she tries to get all his attention. She keeps asking him how he wants his coffee and how big his piece should be. Hello, why didn't she ask me that? I mean, is she really trying to get his attention next to his wife?

My father interrupts the awkward silence by asking "How are you two doing? I know this might not be the perfect time to talk about it, but are you getting along better? Have you been able to get to know each other better?" I notice how tense Hoseok becomes and wants to avoid answering but just as I am about to answer I hear him say, "Yes, we understand each other better. We have a relatively normal marriage now. Don't worry about it Y/D/N" and smiles at him. I don't think I'm hearing right? Is he serious? For two months he hasn't exchanged a single word with me and now he wants to tell my parents that we are happily, well almost happily, married?

Back in the car we don't exchange a word with each other. Happy marriage, my ass. Don't make me laugh. At home, Soyoung serves us our dinner and we sit alone in the living room, eating in quiet silence. But suddenly, "Would you like to go with me to - to my friend's house tonight? He and his wife invited us, I said it might not work out but it's still early so do you want to?" I don't think I'm hearing right. To his friend's? He's introducing me to his friend? AND his wife? I stammer "Y-y-yes so if that's ok with you" and he nods.

After dinner we drive to his friend's house. We are standing in front of the door of a penthouse his friend must have quite a lot of money too. "Hello Hoseok!" his friend says as he opens the door for us. "Hello Namjoon," says Hoseok and we both go inside. Once in the living room, his friend calls his wife Naeun and they both introduce themselves. "Hello I am Namjoon and this is my wife Naeun we are very happy to finally meet you. Unfortunately we couldn't talk to each other at your wedding," Namjoon says and smiles at me. "The pleasure is all mine," I say and sit down on the couch. "And how is the newly in love couple? I think it's a shame we couldn't meet you earlier Y/N but Hoseok said you were busy every time" Naeun says and Hoseok doesn't look at me. "Y-yes I was busy I'm sorry. I wish I could have met you guys earlier too," I am overwhelmed I don't know what to say.

"Come on tell me how you two met already! Every time I ask Hoseok he avoids me, maybe I can get it out of you!" Namjoon says.

“I-I uh we-" - "It doesn't matter Namjoon! Our fathers knew each other and that's how we met and fell in love," Hoseok interrupts me.

I think I'm in a bad movie. He tells lies about our marriage just to make himself look good, but I don't understand, he is his friend, why doesn't he tell him the truth? Time went by more and more and we understood each other better and better. I also saw Hoseok laughing so much today, I didn't even know he could laugh properly, otherwise I always got to see his angry and cold looks and he also talked to me a lot more today.

When we got home we were greeted by Soyoung at the door late at night. "Soyoung you can go to sleep it's very late" Hoseok says and Soyoung looks at him in surprise. When Soyoung went to her room and I said goodnight to Hoseok he grabs me by my wrist. "Shall we sleep in my room tonight Y/N?" - "W-what why? Are you sure?" I ask him. 

"Yeah I think we should sleep together tonight.... I mean we are married. Neither me nor you wanted that but it happened now and we should make the best of it." he says and looks at me curiously. I agree with him. He is right. We are married whether we like it or not we are husband and wife. "If you want we can start with little dates.... We can go to the movies and restaurants... We can travel. We can do all that and maybe get to know each other better." he suggests. I smile at him and thus began a somewhat strange but ultimately beautiful marriage.

[leerose09]

Paying attention to Shin Hye-sun as the Mr Queen

i miss a lot of opportunities to discover this #actress. Magtaglish na lang me neh? I want to write a normal conversation with #filipino #fans like we are at home (nasa bahay lang tayu). Im writing in English because if some foreigner will read my blog (umaasa), they will understand it although I don't have a proper education or I don't have any knowledge about English language. All I know is verb is an action word #lol

question #1 : may #filipino community ba dito? if meron please like and share haha...

anyway so here's what happen

2016 my coworkers are watching she was pretty and oh my ghost during lunch. I ignore them

In this year Legend of the Blue Sea was also famous in the Philippines because of Jun Ji-hyun and Lee Min-ho. I didn't know that hye sun was also part of the show. I ignored it.

2018 a closed friend told me she was watching My golden Life in GMA channel 7 Tagalog dub. I ignored it.

2019 I resign then I watch tons of Korean drama in 3 months starring # jangnara and #goara

Jang Nara

-hello monster with Seo In-guk (leading man in high school king savy where hye sun has a supporting role, i ignored it.)

-school 2013 - jang nara as a teacher (hye sun was one of the students with few lines) I ignored it.

Go Ara

-Miss Hammurabi with Kim Myung-soo ( or Infinites L, 2019 he was the leading man of Hye sun in Angels last Mission. I ignored it)

I also know Angel Eyes 2014 but I ignored it.

Hirap mag english. Nosebleed.

2020 March lock down for almost 2 months so I go back to what I love the most watching Korean dramas

this time its actress Kim hyun joo #marathon and guess what? KHJ and Hye sun have the same agency YNK. #surprised and #shocked me.

Then Crash landing on you came, I know the main lead Hyun Bin, Son Ye-jin, but who is this guy? Kim Jung-hyun. He looks so good in this drama. He was so stylish, cute, funny and charismatic.

to make the long story short hye sun and me almost met... joke.

her Korean dramas are famous but I'm very picky? is that the right term? when it comes to #kdramas I always choose the best or the highest rated or the number 1 or the leading actress are my #favorites like Kim Sun-a, Go Hyun-Jung, Lee Young-ae, Lee Bo-young, Kim Hee-ae and of course Kim Hyun-joo

so... she's my new favorite.

2021 January. I was just curious about the NO 1 Korean drama and it was Mr Queen. The ratings was consistently getting higher. So I search about it... I know Alberto Gu but who is this woman? The Korean drama where I first heard and read the name "Shin Hye-sun"

I read the synopsis. Comedy is my favorite genre so I was intrigued by this new actress. I told my sister and she was done watching eps 1 to 14 in just 1 day on January 24. MQ was live every sat-sun.

I was hooked by the show and by her acting ability. Feb 14 was the happy ending day .

Its been 10 years since I felt so crazy for a kdrama and that was Queen Seondeok 2009

i love deokman

i love mishil

i love his son bidam

and history repeat itself...

QSD and MQ have issues with their writers and I'm like WHAT????!!!

After the show it became a depressing month. I don't want to tell all the details. I had enough. All I care right now is to spread the word that Mr queen destiny is greatness. It already made a TV history and I wish It will reach more millions of people. Its a fiction. Its goal was to make everyone laugh. To lessen the pain of dealing with Covid19.

Anyway I hope for the best. I pray that we can survive this pandemic. Please choose to see positivity. Please lets stop hate. Our different opinion against each other will not save us.

sorry hindi ako nagtagalog haha... this is how i practice english even if im lacking... tama ba? hahhahahha

pahabol... i wish shin hye sun will have a Hollywood movie or a Oscar or be married to a foreign actor like Leonardo DiCaprio

[silent-era-of-cinema]

Clara Gordon Bow (July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom in silent film during the 1920s and successfully made the transition to "talkies" in 1929. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the film It brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl". Bow came to personify the Roaring Twenties and is described as its leading sex symbol.

Bow appeared in 46 silent films and 11 talkies, including hits such as Mantrap (1926), It (1927), and Wings (1927). She was named first box-office draw in 1928 and 1929 and second box-office draw in 1927 and 1930. Her presence in a motion picture was said to have ensured investors, by odds of almost two-to-one, a "safe return". At the apex of her stardom, she received more than 45,000 fan letters in a single month (January 1929).

Two years after marrying actor Rex Bell in 1931, Bow retired from acting and became a rancher in Nevada. Her final film, Hoop-La, was released in 1933. In September 1965, Bow died of a heart attack at the age of 60.

Bow was born in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn at 697 Bergen Street,[9] in a "bleak, sparsely furnished room above [a] dilapidated Baptist Church". Her birth year, according to the US Censuses of 1910 and 1920, was 1905. The 1930 census indicates 1906 and on her gravestone of 1965, the inscription says 1907, but 1905 is the accepted year by a majority of sources.

Bow was her parents' third child, but her two older sisters, born in 1903 and 1904, had died in infancy. Her mother, Sarah Frances Bow (née Gordon, 1880–1923), was told by a doctor not to become pregnant again, for fear the next baby might die as well. Despite the warning, Sarah became pregnant with Clara in late 1904. In addition to the risky pregnancy, a heat wave besieged New York in July 1905, and temperatures peaked around 100 °F (38 °C). Years later, Clara said: "I don't suppose two people ever looked death in the face more clearly than my mother and I the morning I was born. We were both given up, but somehow we struggled back to life."

Bow's parents were descended from English, Irish and Scottish immigrants who had come to America the generation before. Bow said that her father, Robert Walter Bow (1874–1959), "had a quick, keen mind ... all the natural qualifications to make something of himself, but didn't...everything seemed to go wrong for him, poor darling". By the time Clara was four and a half, her father was out of work, and between 1905 and 1923, the family lived at 14 different addresses, but seldom outside Prospect Heights, with Clara's father often absent. "I do not think my mother ever loved my father", she said. "He knew it. And it made him very unhappy, for he worshiped her, always."

When Bow's mother, Sarah, was 16, she fell from a second-story window and suffered a severe head injury. She was later diagnosed with "psychosis due to epilepsy". From her earliest years, Bow had learned how to care for her mother during the seizures, as well as how to deal with her psychotic and hostile episodes. She said her mother could be "mean" to her, but "didn't mean to ... she couldn't help it". Still, Bow felt deprived of her childhood; "As a kid I took care of my mother, she didn't take care of me". Sarah worsened gradually, and when she realized her daughter was set for a movie career, Bow's mother told her she "would be much better off dead". One night in February 1922, Bow awoke to a butcher knife held against her throat by her mother. Clara was able to fend off the attack, and locked her mother up. In the morning, Bow's mother had no recollection of the episode, and later she was committed to a sanatorium by Robert Bow.

Clara spoke about the incident later:

It was snowing. My mother and I were cold and hungry. We had been cold and hungry for days. We lay in each other's arms and cried and tried to keep warm. It grew worse and worse. So that night my mother—but I can't tell you about it. Only when I remember it, it seems to me I can't live.

According to Bow's biographer, David Stenn, Bow was raped by her father at age sixteen while her mother was institutionalized. On January 5, 1923, Sarah died at the age of 43 from her epilepsy. When relatives gathered for the funeral, Bow accused them of being "hypocrites", and became so angry that she even tried to jump into the grave.

Bow attended P.S. 111, P.S. 9, and P.S. 98.[13] As she grew up, she felt shy among other girls, who teased her for her worn-out clothes and "carrot-top" hair. She said about her childhood, "I never had any clothes. ... And lots of time didn't have anything to eat. We just lived, that's about all. Girls shunned me because I was so poorly dressed."

From first grade, Bow preferred the company of boys, stating, "I could lick any boy my size. My right arm was quite famous. My right arm was developed from pitching so much ... Once I hopped a ride on behind a big fire engine. I got a lot of credit from the gang for that."[15] A close friend, a younger boy who lived in her building, burned to death in her presence after an accident. In 1919, Bow enrolled in Bay Ridge High School for Girls. "I wore sweaters and old skirts...didn't want to be treated like a girl...there was one boy who had always been my pal... he kissed me... I wasn't sore. I didn't get indignant. I was horrified and hurt."

Bow's interest in sports and her physical abilities led her to plan for a career as an athletics instructor. She won five medals "at the cinder tracks" and credited her cousin Homer Baker – the national half-mile (c.800 m) champion (1913 and 1914) and 660-yard (c. 600 m) world-record holder – for being her trainer. The Bows and Bakers shared a house – still standing – at 33 Prospect Place in 1920.

In the early 1920s, roughly 50 million Americans—half the population at that time—attended the movies every week. As Bow grew into womanhood, her stature as a "boy" in her old gang became "impossible". She did not have any girlfriends, and school was a "heartache" and her home was "miserable." On the silver screen, however, she found consolation; "For the first time in my life I knew there was beauty in the world. For the first time I saw distant lands, serene, lovely homes, romance, nobility, glamor". And further; "I always had a queer feeling about actors and actresses on the screen ... I knew I would have done it differently. I couldn't analyze it, but I could always feel it.". "I'd go home and be a one girl circus, taking the parts of everyone I'd seen, living them before the glass." At 16, Bow says she "knew" she wanted to be a motion pictures actress, even if she was a "square, awkward, funny-faced kid."

Against her mother's wishes but with her father's support, Bow competed in Brewster publications' magazine's annual nationwide acting contest, "Fame and Fortune", in fall 1921. In previous years, other contest winners had found work in the movies. In the contest's final screen test, Bow was up against an already scene-experienced woman who did "a beautiful piece of acting". A set member later stated that when Bow did the scene, she actually became her character and "lived it". In the January issues 1922 of Motion Picture Classics, the contest jury, Howard Chandler Christy, Neysa McMein, and Harrison Fisher, concluded:

She is very young, only 16. But she is full of confidence, determination and ambition. She is endowed with a mentality far beyond her years. She has a genuine spark of divine fire. The five different screen tests she had, showed this very plainly, her emotional range of expression provoking a fine enthusiasm from every contest judge who saw the tests. She screens perfectly. Her personal appearance is almost enough to carry her to success without the aid of the brains she indubitably possesses.

Bow won an evening gown and a silver trophy, and the publisher committed to help her "gain a role in films", but nothing happened. Bow's father told her to "haunt" Brewster's office (located in Brooklyn) until they came up with something. "To get rid of me, or maybe they really meant to (give me) all the time and were just busy", Bow was introduced to director Christy Cabanne, who cast her in Beyond the Rainbow, produced late 1921 in New York City and released February 19, 1922. Bow did five scenes and impressed Cabanne with true theatrical tears, but was cut from the final print. "I was sick to my stomach," she recalled and thought her mother was right about the movie business.

Bow, who dropped out of school (senior year) after she was notified about winning the contest, possibly in October 1921, got an ordinary office job. However, movie ads and newspaper editorial comments from 1922 to 1923 suggest that Bow was not cut from Beyond the Rainbow. Her name is on the cast list among the other stars, usually tagged "Brewster magazine beauty contest winner" and sometimes even with a picture.

Encouraged by her father, Bow continued to visit studio agencies asking for parts. "But there was always something. I was too young, or too little, or too fat. Usually I was too fat." Eventually, director Elmer Clifton needed a tomboy for his movie Down to the Sea in Ships, saw Bow in Motion Picture Classic magazine, and sent for her. In an attempt to overcome her youthful looks, Bow put her hair up and arrived in a dress she "sneaked" from her mother. Clifton said she was too old, but broke into laughter as the stammering Bow made him believe she was the girl in the magazine. Clifton decided to bring Bow with him and offered her $35 a week. Bow held out for $50 and Clifton agreed, but he could not say whether she would "fit the part". Bow later learned that one of Brewsters' subeditors had urged Clifton to give her a chance.

Down to the Sea in Ships, shot on location in New Bedford, Massachusetts and produced by independent "The Whaling Film Corporation", documented life, love, and work in the whale-hunter community. The production relied on a few less-known actors and local talents. It premiered at the Olympia Theater in New Bedford, on September 25, and went on general distribution on March 4, 1923. Bow was billed 10th in the film, but shone through:

"Miss Bow will undoubtedly gain fame as a screen comedienne".

"She scored a tremendous hit in Down to the Sea in Ships..(and).. has reached the front rank of motion picture principal players".

"With her beauty, her brains, her personality and her genuine acting ability it should not be many moons before she enjoys stardom in the fullest sense of the word. You must see 'Down to the Sea in Ships'".

"In movie parlance, she 'stole' the picture ... ".

By mid-December 1923, primarily due to her merits in Down to the Sea in Ships, Bow was chosen the most successful of the 1924 WAMPAS Baby Stars. Three months before Down to the Sea in Ships was released, Bow danced half nude, on a table, uncredited in Enemies of Women (1923). In spring she got a part in The Daring Years (1923), where she befriended actress Mary Carr, who taught her how to use make-up.

In the summer, she got a "tomboy" part in Grit, a story that dealt with juvenile crime and was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Bow met her first boyfriend, cameraman Arthur Jacobson, and she got to know director Frank Tuttle, with whom she worked in five later productions. Tuttle remembered:

Her emotions were close to the surface. She could cry on demand, opening the floodgate of tears almost as soon as I asked her to weep. She was dynamite, full of nervous energy and vitality and pitifully eager to please everyone.

Grit was released on January 7, 1924. The Variety review said "... Clara Bow lingers in the eye, long after the picture has gone."

While shooting Grit at Pyramid Studios, in Astoria, New York, Bow was approached by Jack Bachman of independent Hollywood studio Preferred Pictures. He wanted to contract her for a three-month trial, fare paid, and $50 a week. "It can't do any harm,"[15] he tried. "Why can't I stay in New York and make movies?" Bow asked her father, but he told her not to worry.

On July 21, 1923, she befriended Louella Parsons, who interviewed her for The New York Morning Telegraph. In 1931, when Bow came under tabloid scrutiny, Parsons defended her and stuck to her first opinion on Bow:

She is as refreshingly unaffected as if she had never faced a means to pretend. She hasn't any secrets from the world, she trusts everyone ... she is almost too good to be true ... (I) only wish some reformer who believes the screen contaminates all who associate with it could meet this child. Still, on second thought it might not be safe: Clara uses a dangerous pair of eyes.

The interview also revealed that Bow already was cast in Maytime and in great favor of Chinese cuisine.

On July 22, 1923, Bow left New York, her father, and her boyfriend behind for Hollywood. As chaperone for the journey and her subsequent southern California stay, the studio appointed writer/agent Maxine Alton, whom Bow later branded a liar. In late July, Bow entered studio chief B. P. Schulberg's office wearing a simple high-school uniform in which she "had won several gold medals on the cinder track". She was tested and a press release from early August says Bow had become a member of Preferred Picture's "permanent stock". Alton and she rented an apartment at The Hillview near Hollywood Boulevard. Preferred Pictures was run by Schulberg, who had started as a publicity manager at Famous Players-Lasky, but in the aftermath of the power struggle around the formation of United Artists, ended up on the losing side and lost his job. As a result, he founded Preferred in 1919, at the age of 27.

Maytime was Bow's first Hollywood picture, an adaptation of the popular operetta Maytime in which she essayed "Alice Tremaine". Before Maytime was finished, Schulberg announced that Bow was given the lead in the studio's biggest seasonal assessment, Poisoned Paradise,[51] but first she was lent to First National Pictures to co-star in the adaptation of Gertrude Atherton's 1923 best seller Black Oxen, shot in October, and to co-star with Colleen Moore in Painted People, shot in November.

Director Frank Lloyd was casting for the part of high-society flapper Janet Oglethorpe, and more than 50 women, most with previous screen experience, auditioned. Bow reminisced: "He had not found exactly what he wanted and finally somebody suggested me to him. When I came into his office a big smile came over his face and he looked just tickled to death." Lloyd told the press, "Bow is the personification of the ideal aristocratic flapper, mischievous, pretty, aggressive, quick-tempered and deeply sentimental." It was released on January 4, 1924.

The New York Times said, "The flapper, impersonated by a young actress, Clara Bow, had five speaking titles, and every one of them was so entirely in accord with the character and the mood of the scene that it drew a laugh from what, in film circles, is termed a "hard-boiled" audience", while the Los Angeles Times commented that "Clara Bow, the prize vulgarian of the lot ... was amusing and spirited ... but didn't belong in the picture", and Variety said that "... the horrid little flapper is adorably played ..."

Colleen Moore made her flapper debut in a successful adaptation of the daring novel Flaming Youth, released November 12, 1923, six weeks before Black Oxen. Both films were produced by First National Pictures, and while Black Oxen was still being edited and Flaming Youth not yet released, Bow was requested to co-star with Moore as her kid sister in Painted People (The Swamp Angel). Moore essayed the baseball-playing tomboy and Bow, according to Moore, said "I don't like my part, I wanna play yours." Moore, a well-established star earning $1200 a week—Bow got $200—took offense and blocked the director from shooting close-ups of Bow. Moore was married to the film's producer and Bow's protests were futile. "I'll get that bitch", she told her boyfriend Jacobson, who had arrived from New York. Bow had sinus problems and decided to have them attended to that very evening. With Bow's face now in bandages, the studio had no choice but to recast her part.

During 1924, Bow's "horrid" flapper raced against Moore's "whimsical". In May, Moore renewed her efforts in The Perfect Flapper, produced by her husband. However, despite good reviews, she suddenly withdrew. "No more flappers ... they have served their purpose ... people are tired of soda-pop love affairs", she told the Los Angeles Times, which had commented a month earlier, "Clara Bow is the one outstanding type. She has almost immediately been elected for all the recent flapper parts". In November 1933, looking back to this period of her career, Bow described the atmosphere in Hollywood as like a scene from a movie about the French Revolution, where "women are hollering and waving pitchforks twice as violently as any of the guys ... the only ladies in sight are the ones getting their heads cut off."

By New Year 1924, Bow defied the possessive Maxine Alton and brought her father to Hollywood. Bow remembered their reunion: "I didn't care a rap, for (Maxine Alton), or B. P. Schulberg, or my motion picture career, or Clara Bow, I just threw myself into his arms and kissed and kissed him, and we both cried like a couple of fool kids. Oh, it was wonderful." Bow felt Alton had misused her trust: "She wanted to keep a hold on me so she made me think I wasn't getting over and that nothing but her clever management kept me going." Bow and her father moved in at 1714 North Kingsley Drive in Hollywood, together with Jacobson, who by then also worked for Preferred. When Schulberg learned of this arrangement, he fired Jacobson for potentially getting "his big star" into a scandal. When Bow found out, "She tore up her contract and threw it in his face and told him he couldn't run her private life." Jacobson concluded, "[Clara] was the sweetest girl in the world, but you didn't cross her and you didn't do her wrong." On September 7, 1924, The Los Angeles Times, in a significant article "A dangerous little devil is Clara, impish, appealing, but oh, how she can act!", her father is titled "business manager" and Jacobson referred to as her brother.

Bow appeared in eight releases in 1924.

In Poisoned Paradise, released on February 29, 1924, Bow got her first lead. "... the clever little newcomer whose work wins fresh recommendations with every new picture in which she appears". In a scene described as "original", Bow adds "devices" to "the modern flapper": she fights a villain using her fists, and significantly, does not "shrink back in fear".

In Daughters of Pleasure, also released on February 29, 1924, Bow and Marie Prevost "flapped unhampered as flappers De luxe ... I wish somebody could star Clara Bow. I'm sure her 'infinite variety' would keep her from wearying us no matter how many scenes she was in."

Loaned out to Universal, Bow top-starred, for the first time, in the prohibition, bootleg drama/comedy Wine, released on August 20, 1924. The picture exposes the widespread liquor traffic in the upper classes, and Bow portrays an innocent girl who develops into a wild "red-hot mama".

"If not taken as information, it is cracking good entertainment," Carl Sandburg reviewed September 29.

"Don't miss Wine. It's a thoroughly refreshing draught ... there are only about five actresses who give me a real thrill on the screen—and Clara is nearly five of them".

Alma Whitaker of The Los Angeles Times observed on September 7, 1924:

She radiates sex appeal tempered with an impish sense of humor ... She hennas her blond hair so that it will photograph dark in the pictures ... Her social decorum is of that natural, good-natured, pleasantly informal kind ... She can act on or off the screen—takes a joyous delight in accepting a challenge to vamp any selected male—the more unpromising specimen the better. When the hapless victim is scared into speechlessness, she gurgles with naughty delight and tries another.

Bow remembered: "All this time I was 'running wild', I guess, in the sense of trying to have a good time ... maybe this was a good thing, because I suppose a lot of that excitement, that joy of life, got onto the screen."

In 1925, Bow appeared in 14 productions: six for her contract owner, Preferred Pictures, and eight as an "out-loan".

"Clara Bow ... shows alarming symptoms of becoming the sensation of the year ... ", Motion Picture Classic Magazine wrote in June, and featured her on the cover.

I'm almost never satisfied with myself or my work or anything...by the time I'm ready to be a great star I'll have been on the screen such a long time that everybody will be tired of seeing me...(Tears filled her big round eyes and threatened to fall).

I worked in two and even three pictures at once. I played all sorts of parts in all sorts of pictures ... It was very hard at the time and I used to be worn out and cry myself to sleep from sheer fatigue after 18 hours a day on different sets, but now [late 1927] I am glad of it.

Preferred Pictures loaned Bow to producers "for sums ranging from $1500 to $2000 a week" while paying Bow a salary of $200 to $750 a week. The studio, like any other independent studio or theater at that time, was under attack from "The Big Three", MPAA, which had formed a trust to block out Independents and enforce the monopolistic studio system. On October 21, 1925, Schulberg filed Preferred Pictures for bankruptcy, with debts at $820,774 and assets $1,420. Three days later, it was announced that Schulberg would join with Adolph Zukor to become associate producer of Paramount Pictures, "catapulted into this position because he had Clara Bow under personal contract".

Adolph Zukor, Paramount Picture CEO, wrote in his memoirs: "All the skill of directors and all the booming of press-agent drums will not make a star. Only the audiences can do it. We study audience reactions with great care." Adela Rogers St. Johns had a different take: in 1950, she wrote, "If ever a star was made by public demand, it was Clara Bow." And Louise Brooks (from 1980): "(Bow) became a star without nobody's help ..."

The Plastic Age was Bow's final effort for Preferred Pictures and her biggest hit up to that time. Bow starred as the good-bad college girl, Cynthia Day, against Donald Keith. It was shot on location at Pomona College in the summer of 1925, and released on December 15, but due to block booking, it was not shown in New York until July 21, 1926.

Photoplay was displeased: "The college atmosphere is implausible and Clara Bow is not our idea of a college girl."

Theater owners, however, were happy: "The picture is the biggest sensation we ever had in our theater ... It is 100 per cent at the box-office."

Some critics felt Bow had conquered new territory: "(Bow) presents a whimsical touch to her work that adds greater laurels to her fast ascending star of screen popularity."

Time singled out Bow: "Only the amusing and facile acting of Clara Bow rescues the picture from the limbo of the impossible."

Bow began to date her co-star Gilbert Roland, who became her first fiancé. In June 1925, Bow was credited for being the first to wear hand-painted legs in public, and was reported to have many followers at the Californian beaches.

Throughout the 1920s, Bow played with gender conventions and sexuality in her public image. Along with her tomboy and flapper roles, she starred in boxing films and posed for promotional photographs as a boxer. By appropriating traditionally androgynous or masculine traits, Bow presented herself as a confident, modern woman.

"Rehearsals sap my pep," Bow explained in November 1929, and from the beginning of her career, she relied on immediate direction: "Tell me what I have to do and I'll do it." Bow was keen on poetry and music, but according to Rogers St. Johns, her attention span did not allow her to appreciate novels. Bow's focal point was the scene, and her creativity made directors call in extra cameras to cover her spontaneous actions, rather than holding her down.

Years after Bow left Hollywood, director Victor Fleming compared Bow to a Stradivarius violin: "Touch her, and she responded with genius." Director William Wellman was less poetic: "Movie stardom isn't acting ability—it's personality and temperament ... I once directed Clara Bow (Wings). She was mad and crazy, but WHAT a personality!". And in 1981, Budd Schulberg described Bow as "an easy winner of the dumbbell award" who "couldn't act," and compared her to a puppy that his father B. P. Schulberg "trained to become Lassie."

In 1926, Bow appeared in eight releases: five for Paramount, including the film version of the musical Kid Boots with Eddie Cantor, and three loan-outs that had been filmed in 1925.

In late 1925, Bow returned to New York to co-star in the Ibsenesque drama Dancing Mothers, as the good/bad "flapperish" upper-class daughter Kittens. Alice Joyce starred as her dancing mother, with Conway Tearle as "bad-boy" Naughton. The picture was released on March 1, 1926.

"Clara Bow, known as the screen's perfect flapper, does her stuff as the child, and does it well."

"... her remarkable performance in Dancing Mothers ... ".

Louise Brooks remembered: "She was absolutely sensational in the United States ... in Dancing Mothers ... she just swept the country ... I know I saw her ... and I thought ... wonderful."

On April 12, 1926, Bow signed her first contract with Paramount: "...to retain your services as an actress for the period of six months from June 6, 1926 to December 6, 1926, at a salary of $750.00 per week...".

In Victor Fleming's comedy-triangle, Mantrap, Bow, as Alverna the manicurist, cures lonely hearts Joe Easter (Ernest Torrence), of the great northern, as well as pill-popping New York divorce attorney runaway Ralph Prescott (Percy Marmont). Bow commented: "(Alverna)...was bad in the book, but—darn it!—of course, they couldn't make her that way in the picture. So I played her as a flirt." The film was released on July 24, 1926.

Variety: "Clara Bow just walks away with the picture from the moment she walks into camera range."

Photoplay: "When she is on the screen nothing else matters. When she is off, the same is true."

Carl Sandburg: "The smartest and swiftest work as yet seen from Miss Clara Bow."

The Reel Journal: "Clara Bow is taking the place of Gloria Swanson...(and)...filling a long need for a popular taste movie actress."

On August 16, 1926, Bow's agreement with Paramount was renewed into a five-year deal: "Her salary will start at $1700 a week and advance yearly to $4000 a week for the last year."[78] Bow added that she intended to leave the motion picture business at the expiration of the contract, i.e., in 1931.

In 1927, Bow appeared in six Paramount releases: It, Children of Divorce, Rough House Rosie, Wings, Hula and Get Your Man. In the Cinderella story It, the poor shop-girl Betty Lou Spence (Bow) conquers the heart of her employer Cyrus Waltham (Antonio Moreno). The personal quality —"It"— provides the magic to make it happen. The film gave Bow her nickname, "The 'It' Girl."

The New York Times: "(Bow)...is vivacious and, as Betty Lou, saucy, which perhaps is one of the ingredients of It."

The Film Daily: "Clara Bow gets a real chance and carries it off with honors...(and)...she is really the whole show."

Carl Sandburg: "'It' is smart, funny and real. It makes a full-sized star of Clara Bow."

Variety: "You can't get away from this Clara Bow girl. She certainly has that certain 'It'...and she just runs away with the film."

Dorothy Parker is often said to have referred to Bow when she wrote, "It, hell; she had Those."[109] Parker in actuality was not referring to Bow or to Bow's character in the film It, but to a different character, Ava Cleveland, in the novel of the same name.

In 1927, Bow starred in Wings, a war picture rewritten to accommodate her, as she was Paramount's biggest star, but was not happy about her part: "[Wings is]...a man's picture and I'm just the whipped cream on top of the pie." The film went on to win the first Academy Award for Best Picture. In 1928, Bow appeared in four Paramount releases: Red Hair, Ladies of the Mob, The Fleet's In, and Three Weekends, all of which are lost.

Adela Rogers St. Johns, a noted screenwriter who had done a number of pictures with Bow, wrote about her:

There seems to be no pattern, no purpose to her life. She swings from one emotion to another, but she gains nothing, stores up nothing for the future. She lives entirely in the present, not even for today, but in the moment. Clara is the total nonconformist. What she wants she gets, if she can. What she desires to do she does. She has a big heart, a remarkable brain, and the most utter contempt for the world in general. Time doesn't exist for her, except that she thinks it will stop tomorrow. She has real courage, because she lives boldly. Who are we, after all, to say she is wrong?

Bow's bohemian lifestyle and "dreadful" manners were considered reminders of the Hollywood elite's uneasy position in high society. Bow fumed: "They yell at me to be dignified. But what are the dignified people like? The people who are held up as examples for me? They are snobs. Frightful snobs ... I'm a curiosity in Hollywood. I'm a big freak, because I'm myself!"

MGM executive Paul Bern said Bow was "the greatest emotional actress on the screen", "sentimental, simple, childish and sweet," and considered her "hard-boiled attitude" a "defense mechanism".

With "talkies" The Wild Party, Dangerous Curves, and The Saturday Night Kid, all released in 1929, Bow kept her position as the top box-office draw and queen of Hollywood.

Neither the quality of Bow's voice nor her Brooklyn accent was an issue to Bow, her fans, or Paramount. However, Bow, like Charlie Chaplin, Louise Brooks, and most other silent film stars, did not embrace the novelty: "I hate talkies ... they're stiff and limiting. You lose a lot of your cuteness, because there's no chance for action, and action is the most important thing to me." A visibly nervous Bow had to do a number of retakes in The Wild Party because her eyes kept wandering up to the microphone overhead. "I can't buck progress .. I have to do the best I can," she said. In October 1929, Bow described her nerves as "all shot", saying that she had reached "the breaking point", and Photoplay cited reports of "rows of bottles of sedatives" by her bed.

According to the 1930 census, Bow lived at 512 Bedford Drive, together with her secretary and hairdresser, Daisy DeBoe (later DeVoe), in a house valued $25,000 with neighbors titled "Horse-keeper", "Physician", "Builder". Bow stated she was 23 years old, i.e., born 1906, contradicting the censuses of 1910 and 1920.

"Now they're having me sing. I sort of half-sing, half-talk, with hips-and-eye stuff. You know what I mean—like Maurice Chevalier. I used to sing at home and people would say, 'Pipe down! You're terrible!' But the studio thinks my voice is great."

With Paramount on Parade, True to the Navy, Love Among the Millionaires, and Her Wedding Night, Bow was second at the box-office only to Joan Crawford in 1930. With No Limit and Kick In, Bow held the position as fifth at box-office in 1931, but the pressures of fame, public scandals, overwork, and a damaging court trial charging her secretary Daisy DeVoe with financial mismanagement, took their toll on Bow's fragile emotional health. As she slipped closer to a major breakdown, her manager, B.P. Schulberg, began referring to her as "Crisis-a-day-Clara". In April, Bow was brought to a sanatorium, and at her request, Paramount released her from her final undertaking: City Streets (1931). At 25, her career was essentially over.

B.P. Schulberg tried to replace Bow with his girlfriend Sylvia Sidney, but Paramount went into receivership, lost its position as the biggest studio (to MGM), and fired Schulberg. David Selznick explained:

...[when] Bow was at her height in pictures we could make a story with her in it and gross a million and a half, where another actress would gross half a million in the same picture and with the same cast.

Bow left Hollywood for Rex Bell's ranch in Nevada, her "desert paradise", in June[120] and married him in then small-town Las Vegas in December. In an interview on December 17, Bow detailed her way back to health: sleep, exercise, and food, and the day after[122] she returned to Hollywood "for the sole purpose of making enough money to be able to stay out of it."

Soon, every studio in Hollywood (except Paramount) and even overseas wanted her services. Mary Pickford stated that Bow "was a very great actress" and wanted her to play her sister in Secrets (1933), Howard Hughes offered her a three-picture deal, and MGM wanted her to star in Red-Headed Woman (1932). Bow agreed to the script, but eventually rejected the offer since Irving Thalberg required her to sign a long-term contract.

On April 28, 1932, Bow signed a two-picture deal with Fox Film Corporation, for Call Her Savage (1932) and Hoop-La (1933). Both were successful; Variety favored the latter. The October 1934, Family Circle Film Guide rated the film as "pretty good entertainment", and of Miss Bow said: "This is the most acceptable bit of talkie acting Miss Bow has done." However, they noted, "Miss Bow is presented in her dancing duds as often as possible, and her dancing duds wouldn't weigh two pounds soaking wet." Bow commented on her revealing costume in Hoop-La: "Rex accused me of enjoying showing myself off. Then I got a little sore. He knew darn well I was doing it because we could use a little money these days. Who can't?"

Bow reflected on her career:

My life in Hollywood contained plenty of uproar. I'm sorry for a lot of it but not awfully sorry. I never did anything to hurt anyone else. I made a place for myself on the screen and you can't do that by being Mrs. Alcott's idea of a Little Woman.

Bow and actor Rex Bell (later a lieutenant governor of Nevada) had two sons, Tony Beldam (born 1934, changed name to Rex Anthony Bell, Jr., died July 8, 2011) and George Beldam, Jr. (born 1938). Bow retired from acting in 1933. In September 1937, she and Bell opened The 'It' Cafe in the Hollywood Plaza Hotel at 1637 N Vine Street near Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. It closed in 1943. Her last public performance, albeit fleeting, came in 1947 on the radio show Truth or Consequences. Bow was the mystery voice in the show's "Mrs. Hush" contest.

Bow eventually began showing symptoms of psychiatric illness. She became socially withdrawn, and although she refused to socialize with her husband, she also refused to let him leave the house alone. In 1944, while Bell was running for the U.S. House of Representatives, Bow tried to commit suicide. A note was found in which Bow stated she preferred death to a public life.

In 1949, she checked into the Institute of Living to be treated for her chronic insomnia and diffuse abdominal pains. Shock treatment was tried and numerous psychological tests performed. Bow's IQ was measured "bright normal", while others claimed she was unable to reason, had poor judgment and displayed inappropriate or even bizarre behavior. Her pains were considered delusional and she was diagnosed with schizophrenia; however, she experienced neither auditory nor visual hallucinations. Analysts tied the onset of the illness, as well as her insomnia, to the "butcher knife episode" back in 1922, but Bow rejected psychological explanations and left the Institute. She did not return to her family. After leaving the institution, Bow lived alone in a bungalow, which she rarely left, until her death.

Bow spent her last years in Culver City, under the constant care of a nurse, Estalla Smith, living off an estate worth about $500,000 at the time of her death. In 1965, at age 60, she died of a heart attack, which was attributed to atherosclerosis discovered in an autopsy. She was interred in the Freedom Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Heritage at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Her pallbearers were Harry Richman, Richard Arlen, Jack Oakie, Maxie Rosenbloom, Jack Dempsey, and Buddy Rogers.

[shawnpetermuffins]

No Prior Engagement

(The outfits in the photo are not what's described in the story, but I liked the picture.)

A/n: To make this easier to write, I'm just going to use places that pertain to me - make it less confusing when I'm writing and while you're reading. You can find the "next part" in my March Mendes Madness Masterlist under 03.25

Summary: this is what happened before Shawn's minor slip up at an awards show.

***

My phone buzzes on my desk and I sigh, looking up from my study guide. 2:32 a.m. my phone read.

Bubba 💞

"Shawn, it's late. Are you okay?"

"Let's get married," he says out of the blue.

"What? Are you drunk?"

"No," he answers seriously. "I just don't want to wait anymore. Why should we have to? We're in love, right?"

"Well, yes. But-"

"I want to marry you. Right now. I want a house with you. I want kids with you. I want us to make grocery lists together. And I was just laying here in bed and I realized how much it fucking sucks falling asleep without you. And I know that I can't be anymore in love with you than I am right now. I want to marry you," he says and takes in a deep breath.

I didn't know what to think. We've talked about this, sure, but it always for when I got out of school.

"What do you say, pumpkin?"

"I want all of that, too," I start. "But I'm still in school. We can't let our first year and a half basically be long distance - even more so than usual, it would seem."

He sighs, "I thought you'd say that. Which is why I should tell you... I bought us a house in San Angelo. It's on the lake, like you've always told me you wanted. I'm ready to move down there with yoh if you tell me that you'll marry me."

My eyes burn with tears, maybe because it was so late and I was running on a total of three hours of sleep, or maybe it was because of the craziness of his request. "You're sure about this?" I take in a sputtery breath. "Like you really want to marry me? You want to spend the rest of your life with me of all people?"

"I do. And I already asked your dad. He wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of us doing this so young, but I promised it wouldn't interfere with your studies and that we'd stay here until you've graduated. He said that as long as you said yes, then so did he. So? What do you say, y/n? Will you marry me?"

I giggle - this time I know, for a fact, it's because of the absurdity of the situation. I'm talking to my boyfriend of three years at 2:30 in the morning, and he's asking me to marry him. I have an exam in two days that I should be studying for, but my guide sits abandoned on my desk while I pace the room back and forth. "This is absolutely insane. You know that right?"

"Is this your way of saying yes?" He asks, his voice hopeful.

I bite back the smile that transforms my face, "yes," I whisper.

His laugh is so soft and happy, and I blush because I made that laugh happen. "I'll make all the arrangements. Come Saturday afternoon, you will be my wife."

"Whoa. That fast?"

"Yes," I know he nodded on the other side. "I told you I didn't want to wait anymore. Now go get some sleep, you can study in the morning. Right now, though, I want my fiancé to be well rested."

I shake my head, "I love you," I say in pure bliss.

"Good night, future wife. I love you more."

"Good night, future husband. I love you most."

---

"You're sure you're okay with not having a huge wedding?" Shawn asked outside the courthouse.

I look down at my outfit, black shirt, cream skater like skirt - the bottom hem littered with flowers - And black stilettos that I was already ready to slip out of. I'd always imagined a big flowy white gown, but when I look over at Shawn - dressed in a white button up, a few buttons naturally undone, and signature black jeans and Chelsea boots. He looked perfectly content just like that and I couldn't ask for more. I didn't need the big fancy wedding as long as I had the man of my dreams standing next to me.

"I'm okay," I say finally, taking his hand in mine. "I just want to marry you already. I don't care how."

He caresses my knuckles and leans in to press a sweet kiss to my lips. I hum in acknowledgement and kiss back, placing my free hand behind his neck. "Then let's go do this."

---

Everyone we want it here. Our parents, siblings, Andrew, the band, my aunt and uncle, my two best friends, Josiah, and Brian. This is all I needed.

"Shawn, if you would..."

My beautiful boy clears his throat, "y/f/n y/m/n, I may not have known you my whole life, but it definitely feels as if I have. In these three years we've been together, I've watched you grow into this beautiful, confident young woman who I am so lucky to have by my side through my crazy, fast paced life." He clears his throat, shaking his head with a soft smile. "I never thought the day would come when I met someone who's soul matched mind. You're my other half, pumpkin. I know a million little things about you and I can't wait to learn a million more. I love you more than should be humanly possible. The way you do your nails every Sunday afternoon, like clockwork. How you scrunch up your face when you're annoyed. The way your laugh, when it's completely real, fills up a room with nothing but brightness."

I giggle through the threatening tears. Shawn wipes away the one straggler tear. "The way you'd probably rather do anything but watch Harry Potter for the hundredth time, but you sit through it anyway because you know it's my favorite. I'm just... I'm so in love with you and I want to spend the rest of my life proving that I am. You are my forever person and I wouldn't have it any other way."

He catches a couple more of my fallen tears and I melt at the soft gesture.

"Y/n?"

I take in a shuddery breath, "I don't know entirely what to say. I tried writing down how I felt about you a billion times. I tried writing these vows the second we got off the phone the other night. There are not enough words in the English language to tell you how I feel. But I know that my entire being is on fire with just the brush of your hand against mine. Shawn, I fell in love with you when all you were to me was an international pop star, who had no idea u even existed. I was about sixteen then. And then god put you in my path when I was seventeen and I haven't turned back since. When we met, I didn't meet Shawn Mendes: superstar. I just met Shawn: a regular guy just living his life. There was never this moment of celebrity to fan; it was instantly friend to friend."

He pushes a strand of hair behind my ear and I can't help but smile. "You make it entirely too easy to love you. And I do. More than anyone else in the world. I can't believe how lucky I was to find my other half at only seventeen, and to be standing here, three years later, completely giving myself to you. I love you more than you will ever know, bubba, and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you."

---

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

"Finally," Shawn mumbles, pulling me against his hard chest. His large hands rest on my cheeks and kisses me with so much love and passion. I laugh into the kiss and pull away. "You're my world, Mrs. Mendes," he whispers into my hair, holding me tight.

I bury my head into his chest, "I have never loved my name more than I do in this moment."

He hums, "I love you so much."

---

Shawn stands up, holding his wine glass. "I would like to propose a toast to my beautiful wife," he stops and smiles for a second. "Guys, I get to say that for the rest of my life. That's- wow, that's the greatest gift I could ever receive." The whole table awes, the women, of course placing their hands over their heart. "I just want to say that I am so lucky to have found you when I did. And even more lucky that you agreed to marry me. I fall more and more in love with you every day. Y/n, baby you are my biggest blessing, and I could not be more grateful for our time together. Now, let's go change your name to Mendes on everything."

We all laugh, but he I know he's serious. Bevause I've been thinking the same thing since I said 'I do.'

He leans down and pecks my lips gently. I hum and pull away as he sits back down. "You're the perfect human being," I whisper, taking his hand in mine. I bring it to my lips and smile at the single silver band that now decorates his left ring finger.

Brian stands next. "Well, I too would like to say a few kind words about the happy couple."

"Oh no," Shawn and I say in unison.

"Y/n, when you guys first met, I knew that Shawn had met his soul mate. It was undeniable, the chemistry between you two. Everyone thought you were moving too fast, and I hate to admit that for a second there, I thought so too. But then I realized, there was no other pace for you guys to go. And you couldn't be moving that fast, when it took six months for you guys to say 'I love you.'" I laugh at that. "Your relationship began at such an awkward time for the both of you. But you shoved any doubt that anyone had away and you powered through. And now here you are, three years down the road, married. I'm so proud to be able to call you both my best friends."

Everyone takes turns toasting us, and it's all beautiful, but I just really wanted to be alone with my husband.

A couple more hours pass before we're back in my car, Shawn takes my hand and just stares at it for a while.

"What are you doing, bubba?"

He looks up at my through cloudy eyes, "You're my wife," he says, barely above a whisper. "God, I'm so lucky."

"Shawn, are you crying?" I reach for his face with my free hand. His eyes are red as he stares at me. "Why are you crying, hon?"

"Because we're married. I'm married to the love of my life. I don't- I don't think I could ever be any happier than I am today. Today was better than any show I've ever played, any award I've ever won, and place I've ever been. Today is the absolute greatest day of my life."

***

I hope you enjoyed this fluff. Next and final part will be up on Wednesday!

Like, reblog, and leave feedback!!

[sadmadbunny]

I'm doing this too cus I need to distract ✨

01: The relationship got bitter for a few years, it still isn't perfect but I guess it's improving slightly

02: My sister, I keep saying I love you to her all the time it's a problem

03: several things but we'd take a lifetime to get through those

04: Idk, does Earth revolve around the sun?

05: Complicated af. We like each other but he can't commit due to his ex and I'm pretty sure I'm not fully over mine

06: By my own volition.

07: I'm doing this to distract so I will not answer this

08: I used to hate sports as a kid cus I was fat but now I thoroughly enjoy badminton it gives me life

09: I do not bite my nails but my best friend does and he got so worked up due to his work he bit it off completely and then had to go to the hospital and stuff

10: Probably when my ex and I were fighting and she pushed me into the bath tub and I almost hit my head on the tap when we were on a trip. Not a full blown fight but yea the closest I can get to it

11: Very much so.

12: Never but I'd love to try to stay up 48 hours!

13: Hate is such a strong word, I don't hate I just actively dislike lmao

14: Several people in my life

15: Nope I just had a goldfish when I was younger and she died when the tank fell due to an earthquake :(

16: Extremely sad.

17: Countless times

18: I love spiders!

19: I would go back in time, back to when I felt safe

20: at a friend's place

21: none

22: I want to have three kids, a set of twins (girls) and an older boy

23: Only four but really really want to get more once it's safe to do so

24: I enjoy math, history, English and econ and I am relatively good at math

25: I miss my ex every minute of every day

26: Someone to zap these memories out of my brain so I can be a little more sane

27: Yes, a few

28: Never but is being emotionally cheated on counted? Cus I think that happened

29: What's a relationship without the drama

30: How time is going slow and fast right now and I have a million things to do but I'm in bed crying cus I'm sad

31: All of my close friends love me but in a romantic way, maybe one but I'm not sure

32: it used to be black during my emo phase but now it keeps switching and right now I'm really like orange

33: Tons because people change what they say and how they feel and it sucks because you're being lied to

34: My ex LMAO

35: my best friend

36: Yes and maybe I shouldn't

37: Easier to forget it doesn't weigh on you anymore

38: My 9 year cycle ended in 2019 and this is the first year so it's been extremely tumultuous, emotionally draining and physically challenging

39: When I was 17

40: no you can't do such things where I come from

Skipped like 10 questions

51: I love anything mexican

52: Everything is connected and the bigger picture is hard to see until it starts piecing together, but you can't ever see it fully obv

53: Spoke to the guy I like

54: Cheating is never okay. Don't be a dick

55: I'm unintentionally mean sometimes

56: no one

57: surprisingly I do believe in true love but I also believe you can fully love someone only once

58: Winter!!!!!!

59: I've never seen snow

60: I would like to get married someday

61: I'm a sucker for cute things so yes baby is adorable

62: Being around my sister. Drawing. Restricting. Drinking black coffee. Smoking.

63: yeah but it would be Lame to do that so no

64: No, the last person I kissed was the guy I like and I can't wait to see him again

65: Call them a simp and laugh at them

66: yes my best friends

67: The guy I like and another close friend of mine

68: Okay a lot of these are turning out to be the guy I like

69: Yes, soulmates don't necessarily have to be romantic

70: I would die for my sister

70 horrible questions ... Fuck it

01: Do you have a good relationship with your parents? 02: Who did you last say “I love you” to? 03: Do you regret anything? 04: Are you insecure? 05: What is your relationship status? 06: How do you want to die? 07: What did you last eat? 08: Played any sports? 09: Do you bite your nails? 10: When was your last physical fight? 11: Do you like someone? 12: Have you ever stayed up 48 hours? 13: Do you hate anyone at the moment? 14: Do you miss someone? 15: Have any pets? 16: How exactly are you feeling at the moment? 17: Ever made out in the bathroom? 18: Are you scared of spiders? 19: Would you go back in time if you were given the chance? 20: Where was the last place you snogged someone? 21: What are your plans for this weekend? 22: Do you want to have kids? How many? 23: Do you have piercings? How many? 24: What is/are/were your best subject(s)? 25: Do you miss anyone from your past? 26: What are you craving right now? 27: Have you ever broken someone’s heart? 28: Have you ever been cheated on? 29: Have you made a boyfriend/girlfriend cry? 30: What’s irritating you right now? 31: Does somebody love you? 32: What is your favourite color? 33: Do you have trust issues? 34: Who/what was your last dream about? 35: Who was the last person you cried in front of? 36: Do you give out second chances too easily? 37: Is it easier to forgive or forget? 38: Is this year the best year of your life? 39: How old were you when you had your first kiss? 40: Have you ever walked outside completely naked? 51: Favourite food? 52: Do you believe everything happens for a reason? 53: What is the last thing you did before you went to bed last night? 54: Is cheating ever okay? 55: Are you mean? 56: How many people have you fist fought? 57: Do you believe in true love? 58: Favourite weather? 59: Do you like the snow? 60: Do you wanna get married? 61: Is it cute when a boy/girl calls you baby? 62: What makes you happy? 63: Would you change your name? 64: Would it be hard to kiss the last person you kissed? 65: Your best friend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do? 66: Do you have a friend of the opposite sex who you can act your complete self around? 67: Who was the last person of the opposite sex you talked to? 68: Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with? 69: Do you believe in soulmates? 70: Is there anyone you would die for?

[murad9288]

-The reality of life money is not everything

আ��াকরি সবারই কাজে আসতে পারে! তাই একটু সময় নিয়ে পোস্টটি পড়ার অনুরোধ করা হলোঃ 🔰🔰 আমরা সচরাচর প্রায় সবাই বলে থাকি টাকায় সব কিছু। কিন্তু আমি মনে করি, টাকা ব্যতীত যে সকল কিছু পাওয়া যায়! এর থেকে মূল্যবান জিনিস টাকা দিয়ে পাওয়া যায় না। তাহলে চলুন আজকে একটু প্রমাণ করে আসি-:🙄 লক্ষ্য লক্ষ্য মানুষের কাছ থেকে লক্ষ্য কোটি টাকা পাওয়া যাবে। কিন্তু সত্যিটা কয়জন মানুষের কাছ থেকে পাওয়া যায়। যে বস্তুটা সত্যি দিয়ে পাওয়া যায়, সেইটা টাকা দিয়ে কেনা যায় না। ন্যায়-দণ্ডের সাথে যদি মাপা যায়, তাহলে সত্যির ওজন টাকার থেকে অনেক বেশি-যেইটা কখনোও পরিমাপ করার মতো না। 😶😶 আপনারা টাকা দিয়ে ঘড়ি কিনতে পারবেন। কিন্তু টাকা দিয়ে কখনোও সময়টাকে কিনতে পারবেন না। আপনারা টাকা দিয়ে লক্ষ্য কোটি টাকার বিছানা কিনতে পারবেন। কিন্তু টাকা দিয়ে ১ সেকেন্ডের ঘুম কিনতে পারবেন না। আপনারা টাকা দিয়ে অনেক দামি ডাক্তারের কাছে ট্রিটমেন্ট করতে পারবেন। কিন্তু টাকা দিয়ে স্বাস্থ কিনতে পারবেন না। আপনারা টাকা দিয়ে খাবার কিনতে পারবেন। কিন্তু টাকা দিয়ে ক্ষুধা কিনতে পারবেন না। আসলে টাকায় যদি সব কিছু করে থাকে! তাহলে, টাকা দিয়ে মৃত মানুষকে জীবিত করাও যেতো!! 🤔 আর এইদিকে আবার,আজকাল সমাজে একটা নতুন সমাজের আবির্ভাব হয়েছে। যেই সমাজের মধ্যে বিয়ে করা একটা সাধারণ ছেলের জন্য অনেক কঠিন হয়ে পড়েছে। যে ছেলের কাছে টাকা আছে ,সেই ছেলের সাথে সবাই বিয়ে দিতে চায়। কিন্তু তারা একটা বারের জন্য চিন্তা করে দেখতেছেনা যে - টাকা দিয়ে একটা ছেলের আচরণ কেনা যায় না। আসলে প্রতিটি মেয়ের বাবা গুলো এইটা ভাবে না যে - আমার মেয়েটা খাওয়া বা কাপড় এর অভাবে মরে না। মেয়ের ঘরে অশান্তির প্রধান কারণ হলো - আমাদের মতো ছেলে হয়ে থাকা অমানুষ ছেলেদের আচরণের কারণে। 🤔😶😥🙄 টাকা দিয়ে যদি সবই কেনা যেতো তাহলে হারিয়ে যাওয়া মা-বাবার ভালোবাসাসহ 💔 সকল ভালোবাসায় আজীবনের জন্য কেনা যেতো। আমি আরো প্রমাণ দেখাইলে দেখাইতে পারতাম। কিন্তু, যেইগুলো প্রমাণ দেখানো হয়েছে। আমি মনে করি এইগুলোই যথেষ্ট। কিন্তু সর্বশেষ কথা হলো: আমি যে সব কথা বলেছি। এইসব কথা আমাদের ইসলামের কথার যুক্তির মাধ্যমে প্রমাণ করলে এই সবগুলো কথায় সঠিকভাবে প্রমাণ করা যাবে। ✅✅ সুতরাং; আমরা একটু বিবেক দিয়ে বুঝলেই সবকিছু পরিস্কারভাবে বোঝা যাবে। ✅ তাই এখন বলা যায়: টাকা দিয়ে সব কিছু পাওয়া বা কেনা অসম্ভব। 😶

আর যারা ধৈর্য্য-সহকারে আমার পোস্টটি পড়েছেন। তাদেরকে অসংখ্য ধন্যবাদ। 🥰❤️ বিঃদ্রঃ কথাগুলো ভালো লাগলে শেয়ার করতে পারেন! 😌

English: Hope everybody on this site also had a great day! So I was requested to read the post for a while: 🔰🔰 We almost all say money is everything. But I think that everything is available except money! More valuable things are not available with money. So let's prove a little today-: Millions of rupees can be obtained from millions of people. But really how many people are available. The thing that is truly available cannot be bought with money. If measured with justice. Then the real weight is much more than money - which is never measurable. You can buy watches with money. But money can never buy time. You can buy a bed worth millions of rupees with money. But you can't buy 1 second of sleep with money. You can get treatment from a very expensive doctor with money. But you can't buy health with money. You can buy food with money. But money cannot buy hunger. In fact, if everything is done with money! Then, money could bring dead people back to life !! 😶 And again, this would mean that you have to spend on these processes. In a society where getting married has become very difficult for an ordinary boy. Everyone wants to marry the boy who has the money. But they don't think for a second that money can't buy a boy's behavior. In fact, not every father's daughter thinks that my daughter does not die for lack of food or clothes. The main reason for the unrest in the girl's house is - because the behavior of inhuman boys who have become boys like us. If money could buy everything, then all the love, including the love of lost parents, could be bought for life. I could have shown more evidence. But, the evidence that has been shown. I think these are enough. But last but not least, the headline made you read this article. If we prove these things through the logic of the words of Islam, then all these words can be proved correct. ✅✅ So; Everything can be understood clearly if we understand with a little conscience. ✅✅ So now it can be said: it is impossible to get or buy everything with money.😶

And those who have patiently read my post. Many thanks to them. 🥰❤️ Special Note: If you like the words, you can share! 😌

[salicedaze]

What the last Nuremberg prosecutor alive wants the world to know At 97, Ben Ferencz is the last Nuremberg prosecutor alive and he has a far-reaching message for today’s world

2017May 07

CORRESPONDENTLesley Stahl

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Twenty-two SS officers responsible for the deaths of 1M+ people would never have been brought to justice were it not for Ben Ferencz.

The officers were part of units called Einsatzgruppen, or action groups. Their job was to follow the German army as it invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 and kill Communists, Gypsies and Jews.

Ferencz believes "war makes murderers out of otherwise decent people" and has spent his life working to deter war and war crimes.  

Ben Ferencz

It is not often you get the chance to meet a man who holds a place in history like Ben Ferencz.  He's 97 years old, barely 5 feet tall, and he served as prosecutor of what's been called the biggest murder trial ever. The courtroom was Nuremberg; the crime, genocide; the defendants, a group of German SS officers accused of committing the largest number of Nazi killings outside the concentration camps -- more than a million men, women, and children shot down in their own towns and villages in cold blood.

Ferencz is the last Nuremberg prosecutor alive today. But he isn't content just to be part of 20th century history -- he believes he has something important to offer the world right now.

"If it's naive to want peace instead of war, let 'em make sure they say I'm naive. Because I want peace instead of war."

Lesley Stahl: You know, you-- have seen the ugliest side of humanity.

Benjamin Ferencz: Yes.

Lesley Stahl: You've really seen evil. And look at you. You're the sunniest man I've ever met. The most optimistic.

27-year-old Ben Ferencz became the chief prosecutor of 22 Einsatzgruppen commanders at Nuremberg.

Benjamin Ferencz: You oughta get some more friends.

Watching Ben Ferencz during his daily swim, his gym workout and his morning push-up regimen is to realize he isn't just the sunniest man we've ever met -- he may also be the fittest. And that's just the beginning.

This is Ferencz making his opening statement in the Nuremberg courtroom 70 years ago.

Ben Ferencz in court: The charges we have brought accuse the defendants of having committed crimes against humanity.

The Nuremberg trials after World War II were historic -- the first international war crimes tribunals ever held. Hitler's top lieutenants were prosecuted first. Then a series of subsequent trials were mounted against other Nazi leaders, including 22 SS officers responsible for killing more than a million people -- not in concentration camps -- but in towns and villages across Eastern Europe. They would never have been brought to justice were it not for Ben Ferencz.

Lesley Stahl: You look so young.

Benjamin Ferencz: I was so young.  I was 27 years old.

Lesley Stahl: Had you prosecuted trials before?

Benjamin Ferencz: Never in my life. I don't—

Lesley Stahl: Come on.

Benjamin Ferencz: --recall if I'd ever been in a courtroom actually.

Ferencz had immigrated to the U.S. as a baby, the son of poor Jewish parents from a small town in Romania. He grew up in a tough New York City neighborhood where his father found work as a janitor.

Ben Ferencz, 1946.

Benjamin Ferencz: When I was taken to school at the age of seven, I couldn't speak English-- spoke Yiddish at home. And I was very small. And so they wouldn't let me in.

Lesley Stahl: So you didn't speak English 'til you were eight?

Benjamin Ferencz: That's correct.

Lesley Stahl: Could you read?

Benjamin Ferencz: No, on the contrary. The silent movies always had writing on it. And I would ask my father, "Wazukas," in Yiddish, "What does it say? What does it say?" He couldn't read it, either.

But Ferencz learned quickly. He became the first in his family to go to college, then got a scholarship to Harvard Law School. But during his first semester, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and he, like many classmates, raced to enlist. He wanted to be a pilot, but the Army Air Corps wouldn't take him.

Benjamin Ferencz:  They said, "No, you're too short. Your legs won't reach the pedals." The Marines, they just looked at me and said, "Forget it, kid."

So he finished at Harvard then enlisted as a private in the Army. Part of an artillery battalion, he landed on the beach at Normandy and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Toward the end of the war, because of his legal training, he was transferred to a brand new unit in General Patton's Third Army, created to investigate war crimes.  As U.S. forces liberated concentration camps, his job was to rush in and gather evidence. Ferencz told us he is still haunted by the things he saw. And the stories he heard in those camps.

Benjamin Ferencz: A father who, his son told me the story. The father had died just as we were entering the camp. And the father had routinely saved a piece of his bread for his son, and he kept it under his arm at… He kept it under his arm at night so the other inmates wouldn't steal it, you know.  So you see these human stories which are not -- they're not real.  They're not real.  But they were real.

Ferencz came home, married his childhood sweetheart and vowed never to set foot in Germany again.  But that didn't last long. General Telford Taylor, in charge of the Nuremberg trials, asked him to direct a team of researchers in Berlin, one of whom found a cache of top-secret documents in the ruins of the German foreign ministry.

Benjamin Ferencz: He gave me a bunch of binders, four binders. And these were daily reports from the Eastern Front-- which unit entered which town, how many people they killed. It was classified, so many Jews, so many gypsies, so many others--

Ferencz had stumbled upon reports sent back to headquarters by secret SS units called Einsatzgruppen, or action groups. Their job had been to follow the German army as it invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, and kill Communists, Gypsies and especially Jews.

Screenshot from film showing the Einsatzgruppen at work.

Benjamin Ferencz: They were 3,000 SS officers trained for the purpose, and directed to kill without pity or remorse, every single Jewish man, woman, and child they could lay their hands on.

Lesley Stahl: So they went right in after the troops?

Benjamin Ferencz: That was their assignment, come in behind the troop, round up the Jews, kill 'em all.

Only one piece of film is known to exist of the Einsatzgruppen at work.  It isn't easy viewing…

Benjamin Ferencz: Well, this is typical operation.  Well, see here, this-- they rounded 'em up. They all have already tags on 'em. And they're chasing them.

Lesley Stahl: They're making them run to their own death?

Benjamin Ferencz: Yes. Yes. There's the rabbi coming along there. Just put 'em in the ditch. Shoot 'em there. You know, kick 'em in.

Lesley Stahl: Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

This footage came to light years later. At the time, Ferencz just had the documents, and he started adding up the numbers.

Benjamin Ferencz: When I reached over a million people murdered that way, over a million people, that's more people than you've ever seen in your life, I took a sample. I got on the next plane, flew from Berlin down to Nuremberg, and I said to Taylor, "General, we've gotta put on a new trial."

Ben Ferencz entered into evidence the defendants' own reports of what they'd done.  

But the trials were already underway, and prosecution staff was stretched thin. Taylor told Ferencz adding another trial was impossible.

Benjamin Ferencz: And I start screaming. I said, "Look. I've got here mass murder, mass murder on an unparalleled scale."  And he said, "Can you do this in addition to your other work?" And I said, "Sure." He said, "OK. So you do it."

And that's how 27-year-old Ben Ferencz became the chief prosecutor of 22 Einsatzgruppen commanders at trial number 9 at Nuremberg.

Judge: How do you plead to this indictment, guilty or not guilty?

Defendant: Nicht schuldig.

Benjamin Ferencz: Standard routine, nicht schuldig.  Not guilty.

Judge: Guilty or not guilty?

Defendant: Nicht schuldig.

Lesley Stahl: They all say not guilty.

Benjamin Ferencz: Same thing, not guilty.

Otto Ohlendorf

But Ferencz knew they were guilty and could prove it. Without calling a single witness, he entered into evidence the defendants' own reports of what they'd done. Exhibit 111: "In the last 10 weeks, we have liquidated around 55,000 Jews."  Exhibit 179, from Kiev in 1941: "The city's Jews were ordered to present themselves… about 34,000 reported, including women and children. After they had been made to give up their clothing and valuables, all of them were killed, which took several days." Exhibit 84, from Einsatzgruppen D in March of 1942: Total number executed so far: 91,678. Einsatzgruppen D was the unit of Ferencz's lead defendant Otto Ohlendorf. He didn't deny the killings -- he had the gall to claim they were done in self-defense.

Benjamin Ferencz: He was not ashamed of that. He was proud of that. He was carrying out his government's instructions.

Lesley Stahl: How did you not hit him?

Benjamin Ferencz: There was only one time I wanted to-- really. One of these-- my defendants said-- He gets up, and he says, "[GERMAN]," which is, "What? The Jews were shot? I hear it here for the first time."  Boy, I felt if I'd had a bayonet I woulda jumped over the thing, and put a bayonet right through one ear, and let it come out the other. You know? You know?

Lesley Stahl: Yeah.

Benjamin Ferencz: That son of a bitch.

Lesley Stahl: And you had his name down on a piece of—

Benjamin Ferencz: And I've got-- I've got his reports of how many he killed. You know? Innocent lamb.

Lesley Stahl: Did you look at the defendants' faces?

60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl and Nuremberg prosecutor Ben Ferencz

Benjamin Ferencz: Defendants' face were blank, all the time. Defendants-- absolutely blank. They could-- like, they're waiting for a bus.

Lesley Stahl: What was going on inside of you?

Benjamin Ferencz: Of me?

Lesley Stahl: Yeah.

Benjamin Ferencz: I'm still churning.

Lesley Stahl: To this minute?

Benjamin Ferencz: I'm still churning.

All 22 defendants were found guilty, and four of them, including Ohlendorf, were hanged. Ferencz says his goal from the beginning was to affirm the rule of law and deter similar crimes from ever being committed again.

Lesley Stahl: Did you meet a lot of people who perpetrated war crimes who would otherwise in your opinion have been just a normal, upstanding citizen?

"War makes murderers out of otherwise decent people. All wars, and all decent people."

Benjamin Ferencz: Of course, is my answer. These men would never have been murderers had it not been for the war. These were people who could quote Goethe, who loved Wagner, who were polite--

Lesley Stahl: What turns a man into a savage beast like that?

Benjamin Ferencz: He's not a savage. He's an intelligent, patriotic human being.

Lesley Stahl: He's a savage when he does the murder though.

Benjamin Ferencz: No. He's a patriotic human being acting in the interest of his country, in his mind.

Lesley Stahl: You don't think they turn into savages even for the act?

Benjamin Ferencz: Do you think the man who dropped the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima was a savage? Now I will tell you something very profound, which I have learned after many years. War makes murderers out of otherwise decent people. All wars, and all decent people.

So Ferencz has spent the rest of his life trying to deter war and war crimes by establishing an international court – like Nuremburg. He scored a victory when the international criminal court in The Hague was created in 1998.  He delivered the closing argument in the court's first case.

"If they tell me they want war instead of peace, I don't say they're naive, I say they're stupid."  

Lesley Stahl: Now, you've been at this for 50 years, if not more. We've had genocide since then.

Benjamin Ferencz: Yes.

Lesley Stahl: In Cambodia—

Benjamin Ferencz: Going on right this minute, yes.

Lesley Stahl: Going on right this minute in Sudan.

Benjamin Ferencz: Yes.

Lesley Stahl: We've had Rwanda, we've had Bosnia. You're not getting very far.

Benjamin Ferencz: Well, don't say that. People get discouraged. They should remember, from me, it takes courage not to be discouraged.

Lesley Stahl: Did anybody ever say that you're naive?

Benjamin Ferencz: Of course. Some people say I'm crazy.

Lesley Stahl: Are you naive here?

Benjamin Ferencz: Well, if it's naive to want peace instead of war, let 'em make sure they say I'm naive. Because I want peace instead of war. If they tell me they want war instead of peace, I don't say they're naive, I say they're stupid. Stupid to an incredible degree to send young people out to kill other young people they don't even know, who never did anybody any harm, never harmed them. That is the current system. I am naive? That's insane.

Ferencz is legendary in the world of international law, and he's still at it. He never stops pushing his message and he's donating his life savings to a Genocide Prevention Initiative at the Holocaust Museum. He says he's grateful for the life he's lived in this country, and it's his turn to give back.

Lesley Stahl: You are such an idealist.

Benjamin Ferencz: I don't think I'm an idealist.  I'm a realist. And I see the progress.  The progress has been remarkable. Look at the emancipation of woman in my lifetime. You're sitting here as a female. Look what's happened to the same-sex marriages. To tell somebody a man can become a woman, a woman can become a man, and a man can marry a man, they would have said, "You're crazy." But it's a reality today. So the world is changing. And you shouldn't-- you know-- be despairing because it's never happened before. Nothing new ever happened before.

Lesley Stahl: Ben—

Benjamin Ferencz: We're on a roll.

Lesley Stahl: I can't—

Benjamin Ferencz: We're marching forward.

Lesley Stahl: Ben? I'm sitting here listening to you. And you're very wise. And you're full of energy and passion.  And I can't believe you're 97 years old.

Benjamin Ferencz: Well, I'm still a young man.

Lesley Stahl: Clearly, clearly.

Benjamin Ferencz: And I'm still in there fighting.  And you know what keeps me going? I know I'm right.

Produced by Shari Finkelstein and Nieves Zuberbühler.

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

[lindsaywesker]

Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting at my desk, in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day. Welcome to Too Much Information Tuesday.

Ironically, the word ‘verb’ is a noun.

In Dubai, you can Uber a helicopter!

Music helps keep your memories alive.

We forget 80% of what we learn every day.

Obesity is now a bigger killer than malnutrition.

Masturbation dates back at least 40 million years.

23% of men and 17% of women never get married.

The scent that lingers after heavy rain is called petrichor.

When a cockroach touches a human it runs to safety to clean itself.

White-Stemmed Bramble has the Latin name ‘Rubus Cockburnianus’.

In 1847, a woman was sent to Aberdeen lunatic asylum for "abuse of tea."

The ideal time to make a joke about something horrible is 36 days later.

More than 1000 different languages are spoken on the continent of Africa.

People who enjoy dark humour tend to be more intelligent. Need I say more?

In his autobiography. Andre Agassi admitted that he has always hated tennis.

More than one in five Americans believes that the world will end in their lifetime.

If someone truly loves you, they tend to hug you for at least five seconds or more.

Viagra has been shown to revive drooping flowers and make them stand up straight.

The man who voiced Tigger in ‘Winnie The Pooh’ also invented the first artificial heart.

The ‘Wolf Of Wall Street’ uses the word ‘fuck’ 569 times, a rate of 3.16 times per minute.

The best person in your life is the one that first comes to mind after reading this sentence.

People with imposter syndrome are actually better at their jobs than people without imposter syndrome.

Left-handed people tend to have more emotional and behavioural problems than right-handed people.

The rate of sexually transmitted disease in London is more than double that of any other English region.

On his deathbed, surgeon Joseph Henry Green was checking his pulse and his last word was “Stopped!”

According to a study from the University of Vienna, you not only look like your dog, you look like your car!

The first bus in Britain to be powered by human excrement ran from Bristol to Bath on the Number 2 route.

In 2007, a married couple divorced after realizing they were cheating on each other in an online chatroom with each other.

People think about you more than you think they do and they also like you more than you think they do. Awww, thanks!

Brazilian footballer Argélico Fuchs spent much of his life spelling his name Argélico Fucks, resulting in headlines such as "Fucks Off To Benfica."

In Japan, napping at work won't get you fired. In fact, taking time out for a snooze is seen as honourable and a sign of diligence by employers.

In Japan, people commonly practice the act of pretending not to be home when an unwanted visitor knocks at the door. So much so they even have a word for it: Irusu.

Male koalas don't chase females. Instead, usually between 12-3, they lay back, make themselves comfortable, and bellow loudly at any females in the area to come and join them.

“I'm sick and tired of people saying that we put out 11 albums that sound exactly the same. In fact, we've put out 12 albums that sound exactly the same.” (Angus Young, guitarist of AC/DC)

Real bees were used during the filming of cult horror classic ‘Candyman’. Before accepting the role, actor Tony Todd negotiated a $1,000 bonus every time he was stung. He said he was stung 23 times.

Guinness has a world record for the ‘Most Successful Chimpanzee On Wall Street’. The chimp chose stocks by throwing darts at a list of companies. In 1999, she was briefly the 22nd most successful banker in the USA.

Lee Child’s character Jack Reacher got his name from a shopping trip. When Child retrieved a can from a high shelf his wife said, “Hey, if this writing thing doesn't pan out, you could always be a reacher in a supermarket.”

After the two hurdlers Belgium brought to the European Team Championships were injured, the team desperately needed someone to run the 100-meter race. Jolien Boumkwo, a shot-putter, stepped onto the track to save her team from disqualification.

At around age 23, the average person falls off what the researcher Jennifer Aaker calls ‘the humour cliff’: we start to laugh and smile less and less. The average four-year-old laughs and smiles 300 times a day, the average 40-year-old: 300 times every 75 days.

Okay, that’s enough information for one day. Have a tremendous and tumultuous Tuesday! I love you all.