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book--brackets · 2 years ago

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Second Competition Masterpost

Links to all the polls in the second competition

Preliminary Round

Poll 1: 7,000,000-1,100,000 ratings (here)

Poll 2: 1,090,000-480,000 ratings (here)

Poll 3: 450,000-320,000 ratings (here)

Poll 4: 310,000-250,000 ratings (here)

Poll 5: 240,000-190,300 ratings (here)

Poll 6: 190,000-137,000 ratings (here)

Poll 7: 130,000-103,500 ratings (here)

Poll 8: 103,000-91,900 ratings (here)

Poll 9: 91,400-75,900 ratings (here)

Poll 10: 75,100-59,600 ratings (here)

Poll 11: 59,300-47,900 ratings (here)

Poll 12: 47,600-42,200 ratings (here)

Poll 13: 42,000-35,000 ratings (here)

Poll 14: 34,000-26,000 ratings (here)

Poll 15: 25,700-23,000 ratings (here)

Poll 16: 22,300-20,680 ratings (here)

Poll 17: 20,600-18,390 ratings (here)

Poll 18: 18,300-15,490 ratings (here)

Poll 19: 15,480-12,800 ratings (here)

Poll 20: 12,400-10,400 ratings (here)

Poll 21: 10,090-9,070 ratings (here)

Poll 22: 9,020-8,564 ratings (here)

Poll 23: 8,560-7,200 ratings (here)

Poll 24: 7,040-6,100 ratings (here)

Poll 25: 6,095-5,000 ratings (here)

Poll 26: 4,960-4,000 ratings (here)

Poll 27: 3,960-2,740 ratings (here)

Poll 28: 2,710-2,170 ratings (here)

Poll 29: 2,160-1,500 ratings (here)

Poll 30: 1,390-810 ratings (here)

Poll 31: 800-350 ratings (here)

Poll 32: 340-8 ratings (here)

Round One

Poll 1: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins vs Ferngully (Movie Tie-In) by Diana Young (here)

Poll 2: Magnus Chase by Rick Riordan vs The Ogre Downstairs by Diana Wynne Jones (here)

Poll 3: Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene vs Rainbow Magic by Daisy Meadows (here)

Poll 4: Magic Treehouse by Carolyn Keene vs Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson (here)

Poll 5: Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler vs Animorphs by K. A. Applegate (here)

Poll 6: Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey vs A to Z Mysteries by Ron Roy (here)

Poll 7: The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler vs The Last Dragon by Silvana de Mari (here)

Poll 8: Inkworld by Cornelia Funke vs My Secret Unicorn by Linda Chapman (here)

Poll 9: Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne vs Pony Pals by Jeanne Betancourt (here)

Poll 10: Wayside School by Louis Sachar vs Gunnerkrigg Court by Thomas Siddell (here)

Poll 11: How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell vs The Royal Diaries by Various Authors (here)

Poll 12: Worst Witch by Jill Murphy vs Unicorn Chronicles by Bruce Coville (here)

Poll 13: Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park vs Geronimo Stilton by Geronimo Stilton (here)

Poll 14: Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy vs Catwings by Ursula K. Le Guin (here)

Poll 15: The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo vs The Ever Afters by Shelby Bach (here)

Poll 16: A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket vs The Giants and the Joneses by Julie Donaldson (here)

Round Two

Poll 1: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins vs Magnus Chase by Rick Riordan (here)

Poll 2: Rainbow Magic by Daisy Meadows vs Magic Treehouse by Mary Pope Osborne (here)

Poll 3: Animorphs by K. A. Applegate vs Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey (here)

Poll 4: The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandeler vs Inkworld by Cornelia Funke (here)

Poll 5: Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne vs Wayside School by Louis Sachar (here)

Poll 6: Worst Witch by Jill Murphy vs How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell (here)

Poll 7: Geronimo Stilton by Geronimo Stilton vs Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy (here)

Poll 8: The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo vs A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (here)

Round Three

Poll 1: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins vs Magic Treehouse by Mary Pope Osborne (here)

Poll 2: Animorphs by K. A. Applegate vs Inkworld by Cornelia Funke (here)

Poll 3: Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne vs How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell (here)

Poll 4: Geronimo Stilton by Geronimo Stilton vs A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (here)

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bekah-reading · 1 year ago

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2023 Mid-Year Book Tag

Best book you’ve read so far

Haunting Adeline by HD Carlton

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Manicalco

Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far

Twisted by Emily McIntire

Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco

Vein Pursuits by Rhett C. Bruno

Best New Release You’ve Read So Far

Immortality by Dana Schwartz

How to Sell A Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie

New Release you haven’t read but want to

Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

Most Anticipated Release for the 2nd half of the year

Crossed by Emily McIntire

The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah

Heartstopper Vol 5 by Alice Oseman

Biggest Book Disappointment

Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker

Most Surprising Book of the Year

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

Most Beautiful Book You’ve bought this year

What books do you need to read before the end of the year?

Being really hopeful- but I’d love to end the year with no physical TBR other than my November bday and Christmas gifts.

But barring that- Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, The Hacienda, Area X, Jurassic Park, and Love, Theoretically.

How many books have you read this year so far?

65 books.

What have you been reading?

Horror, Gothic, Romance, Dark Romance, Short Story Collections, Sci-fi, YA Fantasy, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Extreme Horror, Splatterpunk, Western.

Out of Comfort Zone

None-I have yet to step out of my comfort zone this year.

Books that made you happy

The Stardust Thief, Twisted, Illuminae series, Stalkign Jack the Ripper series.

New Favourite Author

Kerri Maniscalco

Chelsea Abdullah

H.D. Carlton

New Favourite Crush

Zade Meadows (I had no hesitation to put his name down)

Thomas Cresswell

Crowley from The Black Badge Series

Shadow and Venom

Qadir

Julius

Newest Favourite Character

Audrey Rose and Thomas Cresswell

Sibby

Noemí and Francis

Tarquin

Duddits

Books that made you cry

Dreamcatcher- not ashamed to admit it.

The Stardust Thief

#booklr #booktok #reading #reading challenge #2023 reading #2023 reading challenge #horrorbooks #scifibooks #romance books #thrillerbooks #dark romance books #motorcycle romance book #dark romance #ya fantasy books #fantasy books #2023 mid year tag #mid year book tag

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whimsicaldragonette · 1 year ago

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Audio ARC Review: Every Duke Has His Day by Suzanne Enoch

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Publication Date: September 19, 2023

Synopsis:

Michael Blumley, Duke of Loriton (age 28), is viewed as an eccentric by his peers in the ton. He does his duty, of course, but his interest—and talent—lies in the science of electricity. He has no interest in what the frivolities of Society. When his favorite aunt, Mary, Lady Harris, leaves her precious, well-behaved black poodle, Lancelot in his care while she travels his life takes an interesting turn. Elizabeth “Bitsy” Dockering (age 19), third daughter of a viscount, is enjoying her second Season in London. She is a Diamond of the Season and is adored by all—and especially by her precious black poodle, Galahad. To everyone else, however, Galahad is a demon dog. So much so that Peter Cordray, one of Bitsy’s most insistent beaux and a particular victim of Galahad’s bad manners and sharp teeth, has hired a petty thief (Jimmy Bly) to steal the dog, clearing the way for his suit. When the two dogs and their “people” meet in the park, chaos ensues and unknowingly results in a dog swap. Which means Lancelot is kidnapped instead of Galahad! But when both dogs go missing in an ever thickening dognapping plot, Michael and Elizabeth end up coming together to scour London, recover Lancelot and Galahad all while falling in love.

My Rating: ★★★★★

*My Review below the cut.

My Review:

This was utterly adorable. I really liked the way the POV switched between our upper-class main couple and the lower-class secondary couple. I haven't run across that in a romance novel and it was a lot of fun. I love that it's a lighthearted romp that doesn't take itself too seriously, too. And all of the characters were really wonderful and fun to get to know.

I'm not usually a dog person, but the dogs in this book were super cute and really added to the story. I also really liked how much the characters cared for the dogs. It was a good way to show who was a kind person and who was not.

I also liked getting to see all sides of the dognapping. We have Michael's side of the story, and Elizabeth's, and most authors would stop there, but Suzanne Enoch gives us both the villain's side and the unwilling henchman Jimmy's side, and his sweetheart's side as well. It gave a much broader and more complete picture of the world the characters are inhabiting.

The investigations Michael and Elizabeth undertook were great fun, especially when it gave them an excuse to banter. I love a competent hero and heroine, and we definitely get that here. I love how each is competent in their own way and both are useful to investigation - and both of them appreciate the other's competence. Michael is a brilliant scientist and great with details, and Elizabeth is clever and outgoing and great with people. They make a wonderful team.

I did find the ending to be a bit saccharine for my taste, and the declarations of love did drag on rather too long, but that's a minor quibble and I think I'm in the minority in liking books to end with only a suggestion of a happy-ever after. Restrained. Think Mr. Darcy. Not effusive drawn-out declarations like this. They're not bad exactly, they just aren't my preference. But the rest of the book more than made up for it.

The audiobook was performed beautifully and I really enjoyed listening to it. The character voices were excellent and the narrator really brought all of the characters to life.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for providing an early audio copy for review.

#suzanne enoch #every duke has his day #romance #historical romance #regency romance #netgalley #shiloreads #arc review #audio arc review

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tilbageidanmark · 2 years ago

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Movies I watched this Week #118 (Year 3/Week 14):

My 3rd re-watch of Lawrence of Arabia, David Lean’s magnificent, all-male epic and the movie that Steven Spielberg had seen more than any other film. It’s so grand that the nearly 4 hours spectacle opens with 4+ minutes of orchestral music prelude on a dark screen and includes an ‘intermission’.

It got me to realize that most all movies (maybe because of the economics of movie-financing) always show deference to authority; The influences they represent, whether government, military, religion, civil powers, or simply ‘the big man’, the rulers are always accepted as masters.

🍿

The Garden of Words, my second anime ever, and coincidentally also my second by Makoto Shinkai (After ‘Your name’). A melancholy and poetic story about a 15-year-old aspiring shoe-maker student who keeps meeting a woman skipping work on a park bench at the beautiful Shinjuku Gyo-en gardens during the raining season. Gorgeous visuals of nature and rain.

The Wikipedia page for this film is nearly as long as the one for Obama!

🍿

3 more terrific debut films by young female directors:

🍿 For some unclear reasons, I’ve seen a large number of Parisian high school dramas recently. Spring blossom is one of the best. A gentle drama of a shy 16 year old girl who falls in love with a 35 man she sees outside a local theater.

And like Quinn Shephard’s ‘Blame’, it’s twice as impressive, because it was written by the talented Suzanne Lindon when she was only 15, and she directed it and starred in it before she was 20. Je l'adore! 8/10.

🍿 The Hive, my first film from Kosovo. Another on my growing list of “Debut films directed by female filmmakers”. The “first film in Sundance Festival history to win all three main awards – the Grand Jury Prize, the Audience Award and the Directing Award – in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition”. Based on a true story, it tells simply but touchingly about a war widow who started a small business, making homemade Ajvar and empowering the women in her village. Highly recommended. 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. And of course, reminiscent of the Macedonian documentary ‘Honeyland’. 8/10.

🍿 Rye Lane, a cute new rom-com about two young black South London strangers who meet at random and spend the day getting to know each other. Fresh and original.

🍿

My 7th by Finnish master Aki Kaurismäki. Every time I watch another of his movies, I get elated. There is nobody who make movies like him, he’s one of a kind. The man without a past, the second of his “Losers” trilogy, opens with a cinematic gut pinch and doesn’t let go until the end. My favorite of all his films so far?...

The trailer. 9/10.

🍿

The Hollywood Reporter Critics put out a new list of their ‘50 best films of the first 21 years of the 21st century’, and I decided to go through the ones I haven’t seen yet.

First was Far from Heaven, my 4th tragedy by Todd Haynes. A precursor to his masterful ‘Carol’, this is another Douglas Sirk-inspired melodrama of oppression and unrequited desire in middle class America of the mid 50′s. Drenched in luminous colors over all (except of the scenes of illicit dangers, in the gay bar and black cafe), and accompanied by another expansive score, it’s a devastating tale of the price of conformity. The husband who can’t control his homosexual urges, and the wife who falls for a black gardener are doomed, and their lives will be shattered. The poor players had simply nowhere to go. 8/10.

🍿

‘Today I learned’ about ‘Elite Panic’ describing the ��behavior of members of the elite during disaster events, typically characterized by a fear of civil disorder” and the shifting of focus away from disaster relief towards implementing measures of "command and control".

New order, my third memorable film by Mexican auteur Michel Franco (after the terrific ‘Sundown’ and the disturbing ‘April’s daughter’) describes a society collapsing, the exact moment when the shit finally hits the fan, when the riots on the TV screen cross over and knock on your door. It’s a brutal and unforgiving story, ugly, violent and without any sentimental sympathy. Shocking anarchy escalates quickly when the pressure gets too much.

When the revolution comes down, it will bring some serious bloodshed. No wonder the greatest boogieman the ruling class warns us all about is “Class Warfare”. The most distressing film of the week - 9/10!

🍿

To catch a thief, Hitchock’s romantic thriller. The Good: Grace Kelly on the French Riviera, the ultimate glamour of the lifestyles of the rich and famous at Cannes and Nice, Hitchcock’s first (?) use of helicopter shots and modern car chases. The Bad: The genre roles & sexual politics of the husband-seeking unmarried young woman would not fly today.

I watched it solely because of this clip.

🍿

2 with Brigitte Fossey (of ‘Jeux interdits’):

🍿 “...The square is mine!...”

I forgot that she played the grown-up Elena in Cinema Paradiso, one of Ennio Morricone’s most popular movies. And yes, without his magnificent score, the 3-hour long nostalgic trip to the heart of cinema, would not be half as enjoyable.

The question that was not well-answered was: Why did he not bother to visit his mother for 30 year? (Re-watch).

🍿 The happy road, a mediocre 1957 children comedy about 10 year old American boy and French girl, who escape from a Swiss boarding school, and hitchhike to Paris. Directed by and starring Gene Kelly, falling for the girl’s mother. 3/10.

🍿

Inside, the new Willem Defoe survival thriller. He’s an art thief who breaks into a hi-end NYC penthouse of a wealthy art collector, intending to steal 3 paintings by Egon Schiele. But the security system traps him inside, and he’s unable to escape for many months. Captivating hi-concept and one-trick film, but a bit too long. 6/10.

🍿

...”Never forget how much he loved you, Kubo”...

After being seriously obsessed with everything ‘Coraline’ all of last year, Adora moved on to Laika Studio’s next stop-motion animated story Kubo and the two strings. A Japanese-inspired action story about a one-eyed Samurai son who creates magical origami figures from his 3-stringed shamisen. But it was as if all the pretty parts were combined by an AI-engine. 4/10.

I will introduce her next to ‘The Iron Giant’, and ‘Isle of dogs’.

🍿

First watch: The green room, one of the last few François Truffaut films I haven’t seen yet. In it, he plays a somber 1920′s journalist obsessed with death who builds a shrine to everybody he had lost. I love his human directing style, but this was a confusing mess. 2/10

🍿

RIP, Ryuichi Sakamoto X 2:

🍿 In remembrance of his passing I started re-watching Bertolucci’s ‘The Last Emperor’, but to be honest, I got bored after 30 minutes; I blame the less than HD version of my pirated copy. So maybe I’ll try it another time.

Instead, I went back to my of favorite ‘Black Mirror' episodes, and the only one he composed the score for, Smithereens. It was directed by the same man who did my other cherished story ‘Hated in the nation’, and was also about online media frenzy that spirals out of control. This ‘Tyranny of the Screens’ parable received mixed reviews, because it wasn’t futuristic enough, but for my money it is a tense thriller on par with the best of them. 10/10.

Sakamoto’s dark score is subtle and minimal. You have to strain to notice it. Perfect!

...”This is my last day!”...

🍿 Psychedelic Afternoon, a 2013 animated short, featuring David Byrne, and released to raise money for children who survived the 2011 tsunami.

🍿

‘Mad men’ is one of the few TV-shows I've seen, and I’ve seen it 3 or 4 times (including once last year). “Hazel” of YouTube ‘Dream Dimension Productions’ analyzes one “Perfect Scene” from Season 3 finale “Shut the door, have a seat”.

A terrific breakdown, which got me to watch it again, together with a few more.

Extra: Her ‘Netflix has a content problem’, which I also agree with, as I was attempting to avoid 90% of all their content.

🍿 Talk to her, my 3rd unsatisfying film by Pedro Almodóvar (after ‘All about my mother’ and ‘The human voice’). A twisted story about two unappealing men who befriend each other at a clinic where they both care for comatose women. His editing choices and scattered direction, constantly focusing on unrelated detail in every scene turned me off. Some artistic perversions (like a silent film clip of a tiny man entering a giant vagina) notwithstanding. I guess I’m not a fan. 4/10.

🍿 2 more by Noah Baumbach (both with Adam Driver):

🍿 The last film I saw this week was also the best one:

I started watching the new Adam Driver dinosaur fantasy ‘65′. but it felt so stupid the moment Adam Driver opened his mouth, that I had to switch it off within 5 minutes. Instead, I turn to Marriage Story again. An absolute masterpiece, so painful and so true, for all divorced couples and parents of children of divorce. (That 10 minutes long scene at the apartment was raw! - Screenshot Above). 10/10 deservedly and without any reservations.

(And now I must see ‘Two for the road’!)

🍿 (Actually, I ended up with his uneven While we’re young, which didn’t measure up to that. The milieu of hipster millennial poseurs and Brooklyn wannabe documentary filmmakers was uninteresting, and I also can’t stand Ben Stiller.)

Still I will look for the rest of his movies I had missed.

🍿

(My complete movie list is here)

#movies

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melinda-reads · 2 years ago

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Twenty Books

Hypothetically, you are only able to keep 20 of your books. only one book per author/series. so what books are you keeping?

Thanks for tagging me @lakonike ! My twenty books are below- tagging whoever wants to! 😄

1. Project Hail Mary-Andy Weir

2. The Help-Kathryn Stockett

3. Illuminae-Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

4. The Book Thief-Markus Zusak

5. Uncle Tom’s Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe

6. Distant Waves-Suzanne Weyn

7. Inkheart-Cornelia Funke

8. Found-Margaret Peterson Haddix

9. The Lighting Thief-Rick Riordan

10. Brooklyn-Colm Toibin

11. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy- Douglas Adams

12. Mansfield Park-Jane Austen

13. The Rest of Us Just Live Here-Patrick Ness

14. Little Women-Louisa May Alcott

15. The Girls of Atomic City-Denise Kieran

16. Fangirl-Rainbow Rowell

17. The White Giraffe- Lauren St. John

18. Gone with the Wind-Margaret Mitchell

19. Me Talk Pretty One Day-David Sedalia

20. Ella Enchanted-Gail Carson Levine

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battyaboutbooksreviews · 7 months ago

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#books #book quote #book quotes #contemporary romance #quotes #book: one last word #author: suzanne park #batty about books #battyaboutbooks

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viscountessevie · 2 years ago

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Tagged by the lovely @mermaidsirennikita thanks for the tag! SO SORRY this is months late shxkdjks.

Also to note; I wrote 90% of this post about 4 months ago?? On a call with the brilliant @sophiamariabeckett and @hptriviachamp so that's why they get mentioned alot, anyway let's get to it!

Nickname: S, [Redacted - IYKYK], Sahara,Vi, Evie [I think I’m mostly used to S and Sahara, the latter two are derived from my username lol]

I used to go by Sky when I was younger because people butchered my name but it was also given to me by an ex-friend who tried to whitewash me so I have YEETED that name (will never ever go by it again) and fully embraced my Indian name and culture. Anyways I digress, Sky also earned me the nicknames Sunny, Cloudy, Sunshine.

Sign: A Fire Sign that fits me

Height: 5′0/155cm

Last thing I Googled:

youtube

[Yall thank Trivia for this search and it’s so fitting for me!]

Song stuck in my head: Would’ve, Should’ve, Could’ve by Taylor Swift (also at this moment: Lavender Haze Acoustic version)

Number of Followers: Over 3k (but 80% are abandoned accounts or probably bots - also you gotta remember I've had this account for 8 years over 3 major fandoms so it's accumulation of that)

Amount of Sleep: 3 to 6 Hours - a lot of afternoon naps

Lucky number: 8, 19

Dream Job: Novelist and Screenwriter

The List of People I Wanna Work Woth (ranking in order of how much I wanna to work with them): Simone Ashley, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Zawe Ashton, Frieda Pinto & Dev Patel (tied), Zendaya

Creatives: Wanna write with Mindy Kaling and Trevor Noah, write for Margot Robbie (as executive producer), Cathy Yun, and Jordan Peele

Special mention to Tom Hiddleston, Rahul Kohli and Chloe Zhao for being icons I admire but my writing style/stories and their resumes are in direct conflict 😂

Wearing: A sheer black shirt, it’s giving Simone's Shirt-Dress at Paris Fashion Week

Actually at this very moment (3rd April) though I am wearing this:

The shirt ties in the front and I have cream shorts on. Someone once told me I look like a hot baseball player in this fit lol

Movies/Books That Summarize Me:

Books:

- A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (very first book I ever read on my own)

- The Hunger Games series & TBoSaS by Suzanne Collins

- Every single Cecelia Ahern book

(save for her YA series and The Year I Met You)

- Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi

- To All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

- The Celebrity Quartet series by Taylor Jenkins Reid

[Hugo, Daisy Jones, Malibu Rising, gotta read Carrie Soto soon]

- A Lady For A Duke by Alexis Hall

- What I Did For A Duke by Julie Ann Long

Movies:

90s/00s Rom Coms - that entire genre and era changed me as a person.

10 Things I Hate About You

Legally Blonde

Confession of Shopaholic

Adding A Barbie Section at the request of Belle & Trivia:

Mermaid’s Tale, An Island Princess and of course Princess & The Pauper changed everyone's lives

Contemporaries:

Mr. Malcolm’s List

The Batman

Do Revenge

Look Both Ways

Emily

Shows (Added this in cos Shows have shaped me more than movies):

Wizards of Waverly Place

Gossip Girl

The Royals

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

The Mindy Project

All Michael Schur shows except Parks & Rec (it was fine but not my vibe)

Jane The Virgin (BUT I do not claim S5)

Favorite song: Changes depending on the day but I will always go back to Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen

Special Mention: Right Where You Left Me and Nothing New by TS

Favorite instrument: Guitar to play because I played it when I was 8; piano and violin to listen to - I really am a strings bitch huh

Aesthetic: I love dressing up in different styles and aesthetics tbh and I would say I dress how I feel. I dress up more when I'm happier and have a lot of statement pieces, more casual when I'm feeling lazy or depressed. But with the statement pieces, I'd say I'm giving theatre kid and I like to dress up like a Hollywood starlet sometimes lmao.

Favorite Author: I have no idea tbh. There's not one single author I've read all their books and liked. Hmm maybe Lemony Snicket but I haven't read Asking All The Right Questions yet. But all the books and authors listed above are a good range.

Ohmygod Cecelia Ahern - I've read and loved all her books!! Shoutout to my mom for getting me into her books during my teen years

Favorite Animal Noise: Rattlesnakes, Elephant’s Trumpet with the whole show of their trunks, Seal clapping and Hyena giggles

Random: So this section is the reason I didn't finish this post when Caro tagged me in it months ago lmao sorry C but now I have a fun random fact to share!

I'm currently on vacation in a tropical country rn and the villa I'm staying in feels so much like Donna's Villa in Mamma Mia - I love it so much! (I might reblog and share pictures of this place in the future but rn I'd like not to doxx myself lol) It's hella homey and I LOVE all the animals here; they have 4 dogs and 2 cats who are all my besties now. (I've never been a big pet person and now I want one)

#Tag Games #Caro tag #Belle tag #Triv tag #Get To Know Me #The Viscountess Rambles

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bookclub4m · 2 years ago

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Episode 168 - Holiday Romance

It's Valentine's Day, so this episode we’re talking about Holiday Romance! We discuss what counts as a holiday, Christmas, nostalgia, 1st vs. 3rd person narration, and how all the stories we read are “fine.” Plus: There’s only one bed!

You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or your favourite podcast delivery system.

In this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Jam Edwards

Things We Read (or tried to…)

Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

Someone to Trust by Mary Balogh

Yule Planet by Angel Martinez

Alaskan Holiday by Debbie Macomber

Other Media We Mentioned

The Red Satin Collection by Giselle Renarde

The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer (the Hanukkah one Jam mentioned)

Casper Gets His Wish by R. Cooper (the elf one Jam mentioned) (from Episode 063: Cheap eBooks)

The Frontier Romance: Environment, Culture, and Alaska Identity by Judith Kleinfeld

Links, Articles, and Things

Hark! Episode 328: Brand Synergy

When Is ‘Cuffing Season?’

New Christmas Movies You Can Stream This Season (2022)

How to watch all 172 new Christmas movies in December

Quiz: What Queer Holiday Romance Should You Read?

Escape from the Holidays

24-hour comic (Wikipedia)

20 Holiday Romance books by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour) Authors

Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.

The Holly Dates by Brittainy C. Cherry

Whiteout by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon

Sweet on You: A Filipino Romance by Carla de Guzman

Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory

Kwanzaa Angel by Shirley Hailstock

Mangos and Mistletoe by Adriana Herrera

Amor Actually: A Holiday Romance Anthology by Adriana Herrera, Alexis Daria, Diana Muñoz Stewart, Mia Sosa, Priscilla Oliveras, Sabrina Sol, and Zoey Castile

Merry Inkmas by Talia Hibbert

Tempted at Midnight by Cheris Hodges

One Christmas Wish by Brenda Jackson

Grand Theft N.Y.E. by Katrina Jackson

Gettin' Merry: A Holiday Anthology by Beverly Jenkins, Francis Ray, Geri Guillaume, and Monica Jackson

A Holly Jolly Diwali by Sonya Lalli

Holidays with the Wongs by Jackie Lau

Ready When You Are by Gary Lonesborough

Also published under the title The Boy From the Mish

The Holiday Switch by Tif Marcelo

Right Beside You by Mary Monroe

Love Me This Christmas by Jasmine Nicole

The Christmas Clash by Suzanne Park

All I Want Is You by Kayla Perrin and Deborah Fletcher Mello

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#episodes #fiction #romance #holidays

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gurutrends · 20 days ago

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A San Antonio mom of 4 fought with her husband on Oct. 6. She hasn't been seen since.

A Texas mother of four children has been missing for nearly three weeks following a fight with her husband, whom investigators are calling uncooperative. Authorities in the San Antonio region have been looking for Suzanne Clark Simpson, a real estate agent who police say was last seen outside her home in the suburb of Olmos Park on Oct. 6 and was reported missing the next day. “We’re very…

#4 fought with her husband on Oct. 6 #San Antonio #San Antonio mom

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anumberofhobbies · 3 months ago

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Timed writing from writers group yesterday.

Oh, I'm in the mood to share what I got for our fun thing of 25 minute timed writing to provided prompts at creative writers group yesterday, Saturday.

Prompts can be from websites, lists of words we create, pictures, or other. Where these prompts came from I didn't note.

Did a little minor editing to correct mistakes made in the rush of writing to that 25 minute time limit.

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Each morning for 25 years, you and one other person waited at the same bus stop for work. This was the first time they weren't there.

A double agent is assigned by both of the countries they work for to capture their alias.

You're trying to act casual in a very precarious situation.

Write a story about an author who has just started writing again for the first time in a couple of years.

A character wakes up one morning and realizes that their every move and thought is being narrated.

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“Hey Mac, you're here longer than usual.”

“Oh, hi Randy. You know that saying old habits die hard, decided to bring one up from its coma.”

“Well, the waitresses are changing shifts, anything you need while I'm out and about?”

“Nah, I'm good.”

“Are you sure you're good? We got key lime pies in for the season today, I was going to add them to the menu tonight.”

“Mmmm, that's a bunch of sugar, how does sugar interact with trying to focus?”

“Well, the pie is carbs, carbs are quick energy. Focusing takes energy. Therefore carbs equals better focus.”

I squinted at Randy. “Is that documentable?”

“I dunno, you're the one with the computer open. And then there's the honor that you could have the first slice of the new season. Think of the prestige!”

“Nah, even though key lime is my big weakness, I'm good.”

“Have it on me, then you can honestly claim you didn't spend money on your weakness.”

“Stop it, Randy, stop it!”

“Miracles sometimes drop from the sky, you know,” Randy smiled then headed toward the other side of the restaurant.

Soon enough later that I swear they were tag teaming, I heard Suzanne from the library, “Hey Mac, what's this one going to be?”

Suzanne, Kendra, and the gal whose name I never seem to remember, were known to pop in to Perkins after hours on Thursday nights.

Two of my titles from a decade ago were in the stacks at the library and the gals had been after me for at least the last half a decade to increase that number. Granted, it was a much enjoyed thing that my two books did actually circulate. They had neither the highest rate nor the lowest rate. It was enough that anyone wanted to read them at all.

Suzanne eased in to the booth's opposite seat.

Before she got settled Kendra called from the doorway, “Hey y'all!” and before I could engage the proper mental gears to settle on what words to employ in polite protest slid in next to Suzanne.

“Hey Kendra.” Well, seeing my cause was lost for the moment I decided to be at least somewhat personable, “What grand and glorious news was there in the library world today?”

Kendra laughed then smiled. “The most grand and glorious happening possible.”

Suzanne smiled but said nothing.

“Oh?”

“Yep,” Kendra said still smiling, “the absolutely most glorious happening possible, peaceful normality!”

I'll have to admit, she had a point. In recent weeks there had been a city water main break under the parking lot; a car go out of control and hit the building, breaking a pipe in the bathrooms; squirrels in the attic; the motor failed in the air conditioner thing outside; and who knows what else that didn't make the local paper.

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dankusner · 3 months ago

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To Die For — Joyce Maynard

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Jan ’92

Local weather reporter Suzanne Maretto craves nothing more than to transcend life at her suburban cable television news station and follow in the footsteps of her idol: Barbara Walters. When she concludes that her unglamorous husband is getting in the way of her dream of stardom, the solution seems obvious: Get rid of him. She seduces a fifteen-year-old admirer, Jimmy, and persuades him to do her dirty work. Mission accomplished, Suzanne takes to the airwaves in her new role as grieving widow, in search of a TV deal. If that means selling Jimmy down the river, she’s ready.

MOVIE ADAPTATION

Maynard’s brilliant, funny, and groundbreaking novel—adapted by Gus Van Sant into the cult classic movie of the same name, starring Nicole Kidman—was first published in 1992 before the era of manufactured stardom and the phenomenon of televised murder trials as entertainment. The book still stands as a razor-sharp satire of celebrity-fixated culture and the American obsession with TV—a novel that imagined the phenomenon of reality television before its creation, with alternately bone-chilling and hilarious accuracy.

Look for Joyce’s cameo appearance in the role of Nicole Kidman’s lawyer in Gus van Sant’s film adaptation of her novel.

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Joyce Maynard's Immersion in Real-Estate Therapy

The author buys a tiny cabin in New Hampshire after learning that real estate is no replacement for happiness.

In Treatment:

Joyce Maynard's 500-square-foot New Hampshire cabin.

Years ago—when I was in my early 30s with three small children and a marriage rapidly coming undone—I created for myself a secret ritual:

I'd drive the streets of some unfamiliar New Hampshire town, alone, studying the properties for sale.

Once or twice, I contacted a real-estate agent and got a tour of a place—just to pretend for that one hour that I might actually be able to change my circumstances as easily as a person can change her address.

I didn't call it this at the time, but looking back later I would speak of these solitary, fantasy property searches as Real-Estate Therapy.

I wasn't in the market for a new house, really.

I was trying to imagine some other life—one that might work, as mine with my husband no longer did.

A Beacon on the Water

Joyce Maynard’s New Hampshire Lakeside Cottage

From 3,000 miles away, a humble New Hampshire lakeside cottage spoke to author Joyce Maynard in the midst of sorrow.

By Joyce Maynard

When I left my native New Hampshire for northern California at the age of 42, I traded in my down jacket and my Sorel boots and embarked on a love affair with the state.

Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge to my new home in Marin County, I never failed to register a little shiver of amazement.

I was a small-town girl who skated on ponds, not rinks, and skinny-dipped in swimming holes.

What was I doing sitting on the grass in Golden Gate Park taking in a concert?

Standing on a beach in Point Reyes and watching the sun come down over the ocean, instead of rising there?

Hiking in my T-shirt and shorts in December?

Then I fell in love with Jim, a Midwesterner by birth who’d lived in California since age 4.

He’d visited Boston one time, but that was the sum total of his knowledge of the place I still called home.

(A place I missed pretty sorely, I had begun to realize. Particularly the part about the seasons. And the part about swimming in natural bodies of water. And the part about roots, and history.)

The boathouse at author Joyce Maynard’s New Hampshire home. It looks out on Whittemore Lake, where she begins most summer days with a swim.

One of the things I loved about Jim was his openness to learning about the parts of my life that had come before this one.

During our first summer together, he took the only major vacation of his adult life—for the purpose of letting me show him where I came from. W

e shipped his motorcycle back east, rented a cabin on a lake, and spent the next two months riding the back roads of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

By the end of the summer, Jim had come to love those places the way I did.

When we got married the next summer, we held the ceremony on a New Hampshire hillside in one of my favorite towns: Harrisville, a few miles down the road from Mount Monadnock, which I’d climbed at least once every year of my adult life.

For our honeymoon we hiked the Presidential Range of the White Mountains.

Joyce and Jim at their wedding in Harrisville, New Hampshire.

It was a Fourth of July weekend, and right after they were pronounced husband and wife, fireworks displays in three nearby towns got under way.

The following summer we returned to New Hampshire, and once again we rented the little lake house where the two of us had enjoyed so many of our happiest times the year before—me in the water, Jim on the dock with his feet up, smoking a cigar.

A fishing line in the water, maybe.

Not long after our return home to California—15 months after the wedding—Jim suffered an attack of back pain so bad it sent him to the hospital.

The scans he got that day revealed a tumor in his pancreas.

The doctor who delivered the news offered little hope.

By the next year, Jim had undergone seven rounds of chemotherapy and a 14-hour surgery, but within months it seemed pretty clear the cancer had come back.

By the fall, my husband’s weight was down to 100 pounds and dropping daily.

By winter, I knew he was unlikely to make it to another summer.

We tried hard to locate moments of joy—and we did—but the knowledge of what lay ahead was sometimes almost too much to bear.

Late that fall, a year into our struggle, I did an odd thing. I created a Google search on my laptop.

I typed in the words “lake house New Hampshire.”

It was a fantasy, my search for a lake house. I didn’t say this out loud, but I know where it came from: I was trying to summon an image of beauty, tranquility, and comfort, and the idea of a little cottage on the shore of some body of water I could dive into on a hot summer day.

A place, 3,000 miles away, that whispered to me of what I loved, that would endure, and reminded me of the days when Jim was well and our time seemed endless.

A lake house is about as far removed from a hospital waiting room, or an infusion center, as a person can get.

When I launched my quest for a lake property, our days were filled with doctor visits and frantic middle-of-the-night trips to the emergency room, and sometimes-weeklong hospital stays. In between there were surgeries and CT scans. I wasn’t going anywhere, but I could dream.

And my dreams always featured a lake.

Within minutes of registering my search, I saw real estate listings begin to show up in my email.

Every day a new one appeared—sometimes several.

Because I had given no parameters of price to my search (who names the cost of her fantasy, anyway?), the listings I received included multimillion-dollar estates on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee (I could have been Mitt Romney’s neighbor!) and 4,000-square-foot mansions up north.

Those places were so far beyond anything we could afford that even clicking on the listings seemed ridiculous, but there was something comforting in looking at the pictures.

Maybe there was even something vaguely reassuring in knowing—when I did this—that I wouldn’t have wanted to spend my summer in any of those places, anyway.

The lake house of my dreams wouldn’t feature granite counter tops or air conditioning.

Just an old kitchen table and a screened-in porch, with the breeze passing through.

Then one day a very different listing showed up in my queue.

This house was a lot older than most of the others I’d seen, and the lake on which it sat was a very small one I’d never heard of.

Built in 1900, with a wraparound porch—part of it open, part screened in—the house overlooked water that didn’t allow motorboats or Jet Skis (welcome news to a swimmer).

The house sat on 2½ acres on a dirt road with only a few other houses, none close enough to make skinny-dipping a problem. Inside: a living room with a bay window and fireplace, a big old-fashioned kitchen, a downstairs bedroom and another upstairs, with high ceilings and exposed beams. The bathroom had old maple paneling.

The shower was just where a shower should be, for an unwinterized summer cottage: outside.

At the very top of the house, looking out over the lake, was a little tower with a widow’s walk. Inside was a window seat, and a pantry, and a propane cook stove, and old pine paneling I could almost smell.

And one more thing:

Though the main house sat on a rise a few hundred yards from the lake, there was a boathouse right on the water, with a deck in front. In the pictures online, it appeared that the boathouse was filled with old hardware and junk, but I knew what I’d do with that structure if the place were mine.

I’d clear it out, put in a bed and a writing desk, and throw the windows and doors open.

I’d sleep there summer nights, and when I woke up at dawn I’d dive straight into the lake.

The kitchen’s vintage stove, whose propane heater is most welcome on chilly mornings.

At the time the house was listed for sale, the same family had owned it for over 40 years—the first letter of their last name (“F”) attached to the front in an enormous plywood cutout, painted white against the red of the clapboards.

The photographs on the real estate listing (which made clear this house had definitely not been staged) featured exactly the kinds of mismatched couches and chairs you’d expect in an old family camp, along with linoleum and curtains that appeared to have been new sometime in the 1950s—right around the time I was born, probably.

Two more things about this house.

Though it was hands-down my favorite of any lake house I’d seen, it was also the cheapest by far.

And the town where it sat—population roughly 1,400—was just down the road from the very farm stand where I used to buy my corn, back when I lived in New Hampshire, and only a 15-minute drive from where my daughter lived.

Three summers earlier—that glorious summer Jim and I rode his motorcycle all around New England—we had stopped at the farm stand just when the Silver Queen corn came ripe, and because we had no saddlebags I’d stuffed my motorcycle jacket with a baker’s dozen to throw into the pot back at our little rented cabin.

Now the Triumph gathered dust, and its driver was fading.

Still, when I showed Jim the pictures of my dream New Hampshire lake house, he smiled and said it looked like just our kind of spot, and if we got it, he’d light up a cigar on that porch, and drop his line into the water off the boathouse dock.

Our days grew darker.

We didn’t leave home much anymore, except to fill prescriptions, and mostly I stayed close to my husband’s side.

But once a day, I’d make my way, alone, up to the desk where I no longer did any writing, and click on that real estate listing.

I’d memorized every picture by now.

I had studied every mismatched dish on the kitchen shelves.

Looking at that lake house calmed me down, in my grief.

On New Year’s Eve—5 p.m. California time, 8 p.m. on the East Coast—a thought came to me.

What if one day, when I clicked on the real estate listing, my lake house (that’s how I thought of it now) had been sold to someone else?

I didn’t even think more than a minute, just dialed the real estate agent.

“I’d like to make an offer on the red lake house with the tower on top and the little boathouse,” I said.

Then I quoted a price so far below the asking price (but still so far above what was in my bank account) that I should have blushed.

He got back to me 10 minutes later with the news that his clients had accepted my offer.

I made my way downstairs to tell my husband.

“Jimmy,” I said, “I just bought a house on a lake in New Hampshire, just down the road from where we bought the corn.”

My husband’s response was so like him. “That’s great, baby,” he said.

The living room, with artwork by Maynard’s friend Daniel Thibeault, a Peterborough artist. Photo Credit : Photographs by Mark Fleming | Styling by Heather Marcus Over the months that followed, spending more days at the hospital, caring for Jim, as I scrambled to come up with the down payment, and talked a bank into giving a loan to a woman who’d barely earned a dime in a year, I spoke less and less about the lake house. Jim and I talked once or twice about going there the next summer, but after a while we didn’t mention trout fishing or dinners on the screen porch anymore. We both knew the truth.

I had still not even seen the house in real life—just those pictures on my computer screen—but my friend Danny hiked in through the snow and assured me (though I already knew this) that there was not one thing about this place I wouldn’t love.

Jim died that June. Ten days later, I closed up our house in California and flew back to New Hampshire. Danny picked me up. We headed straight for my lake house.

A view of the house showing its wraparound porch and the widow’s-walk tower (“I’m still working on figuring out a way to get my chair and a little writing table up there,” Maynard says.) Photo Credit : Photographs by Mark Fleming | Styling by Heather Marcus The sun was just going down when we turned off the two-lane blacktop onto the bumpy dirt road where the lake house awaited me. For almost half a mile, no houses, only towering pine trees and a few falling-down old camps.

Then we rounded the last bend, and I saw it. There was the big plywood “F” (later I’d take it down and return it to the previous owners) and the red tower—the smallest widow’s walk you’ve ever seen, but big enough for one medium-size woman to set down one small chair. There was the porch, and around the side, the screen porch, with a row of lilacs, though their bloom was past. There was the clothesline, with a couple of wooden clothespins still clipped on, and a rocking chair, and a tree just right for a hammock.

Down by the water I caught sight of the boathouse, and beyond it, the water dappled in the way it does when trout are feeding. Then came the long, low, mournful call of a single loon.

I set my bags on the grass and looked out at the water. Then headed up the steps to the front door. I put my key in the latch. I was home again.

Read Joyce Maynard’s memoir about falling in love in her late 50s and losing her husband four years later, The Best of Us.

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To Die For Script - Dialogue Transcript

Voila! Finally, the To Die For script is here for all you quotes spouting fans of the Nicole Kidman movie.

#Youtube

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masterofd1saster · 7 months ago

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CJ current events 2may24

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Big Brother don't care

Police love surveillance cameras, but not the cost. Setting up a high-definition system at a single site can cost thousands of dollars. So officials came up with a workaround in Richmond Heights, Ohio, east of Cleveland. The city will soon make all banks, restaurants, hotels, and retail outlets within its jurisdiction install and maintain surveillance systems at the businesses’ own expense. A previous ordinance, passed in December 2021, does the same thing at apartment complexes. Cameras must be government-approved and cover every entrance and parking lot 24/7. Property owners must also store the digital files for 30 days at their own expense. If anything breaks, they must pay for repairs or risk $500 daily fines. The city makes no exceptions for vandalism, power outages, or technical glitches.*** https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/2979641/cities-are-forcing-businesses-to-spy-on-themselves-and-pay-for-it/

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Should they not have stolen a car? Are you telling me they shouldn't lead police on a high speed chase?

Four teenagers including high school football star aged 14 to 16 are killed in horror crash after cop cruiser used PIT maneuver to stop them speeding at 111mph - as horrifying photos show their mangled wreckage ***The four, who were between the ages of 14 and 16, attended Newberry High School in Bradford County, northeast of Gainesville. Two of the teens in the car died at the Waldo area scene, while the other two passed away from their injuries days later at UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville.*** The vehicle appeared to be slowing down but then the driver hit the gas and sped away with the car reaching speeds of 111mph.*** Authorities later added two of the teens that were killed in SUV were wearing ankle monitors, while three had active warrants, reports WLBT. Some of the occupants also appeared to be wearing ski masks.*** https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13360151/Four-teenagers-including-high-school-football-star-aged-14-17-killed-horror-crash-cop-cruiser-used-PIT-maneuver-stop-speeding-111mph-horrifying-photos-mangled-wreckage.html

If only there were some way to prevent high speed chases in stolen cars....

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Eh, she's cute so she'll get straight probation

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (BP) — A former volunteer for Immanuel Baptist Church turned herself into police April 17 on charges of sexual assault, first degree. Reagan Gray, 26, was a volunteer in the church’s music ministry and a teacher at Little Rock Christian Academy, reported the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. She had been on leave from her job as a teacher at Sylvan Hills Middle School since Feb. 7. A criminal court hearing has been set for June 17 at 10 a.m., according to court documents. The Democrat Gazette cited a March 12 affidavit that authorities charged Gray with assaulting a teen from Sept. 1, 2020, through May 31, 2021. While the victim’s age is redacted, in various reports he is stated as being 15 or 16. In addition to physical interactions, the volunteer and teen also swapped nude photographs.***

If anyone tells you American criminal justice is sexist, tell her "no poop, Sherlock."

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Wait - they're safer where people shoot?

SELMA, Ala. (WSFA) - Due to multiple weekend shootings involving juveniles, some Selma City School District schools are transitioning to virtual learning this week. A Facebook post by Selma City Schools announced on Sunday that, in light of recent events affecting the community and at the recommendation of local law enforcement, Selma High School and Saints Virtual Academy/Alternative School will transition to virtual learning Monday.*** https://www.wsfa.com/2024/04/29/multiple-weekend-shootings-cause-some-selma-city-schools-go-virtual/

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Drugged her?

DENVER (KDVR) — After Suzanne Morphew’s remains were found in 2023, an autopsy determined Morphew died by homicide with several drugs in her system. Morphew never returned home after she went on a bike ride in Chaffee County in 2020. Five days later, a personal item of Morphew’s was found, but it took three more years for her remains to be found in Saguache County in September.*** Morphew died by “undetermined means in the setting of butorphanol, azaperone, and medetomidine intoxication.” According to the autopsy, “These drugs are marketed as a compounded injectable chemical immobilizer for wildlife providing pharmacologically reversible analgesia, sedation and immobilization.”*** https://kdvr.com/news/local/suzanne-morphews-autopsy-finds-animal-tranquilizer-other-drugs-in-system/

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Let's see how his corpse balances the scales.

DENVER — An ex-National Security Agency employee out of Colorado Springs was sentenced to more than 21 years in prison on Monday for attempted espionage. Jareh Sebastian Dalke, a 32-year-old Army veteran who lived in Colorado Springs, was sentenced on Monday morning. He faced charges in connection with his effort to transmit classified National Defense Information (NDI) to an agent of the Russian Federation, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Dalke, who has degrees related to cybersecurity, worked as an information systems security designer at the National Security Agency (NSA) between June 6 and July 1, 2022. Between August and September, he used an encrypted email account to transmit excerpts of three classified documents to a person he believed was a Russian agent but was actually a FBI online convert employee, the DOJ said. The department said Dalke communicated with the undercover agent thinking he was demonstrating his "legitimate access and willingness to share." In late August, he requested $85,000 in return for the information.*** On Sept. 28, 2022, Dalke arranged for more classified information to be passed along to who he thought was a Russian agent. He transferred five files, four of which contained top secret information. The other file was a letter that read "My friends! ... I am very happy to finally provide this information to you… I look forward to our friendship and shared benefit. Please let me know if there are desired documents to find and I will try when I return to my main office.”*** According to his arrest affidavit, Dalke told the undercover agent that he had $237,000 in debts, according to the Associated Press. In 2017, he filed for bankruptcy because of student loan and credit card debts, it said. He allegedly told the undercover agent that providing the classified information for payment was “an opportunity to help balance scales of the world while also tending to my own needs," the AP reported.***

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So the women in the house shot all those officers?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) — Three U.S. Marshal task force officers and a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer were killed, and four other officers, three of whom were with CMPD, were hurt during an east Charlotte shootout that stemmed from a fugitive warrant operation on Monday afternoon. Residents, along with anyone in the area of the neighborhood, were asked to avoid the area as active gunfire was ongoing for hours. At 4:56 p.m., CMPD said the area was safe. The situation began around 1:50 p.m. along Galway Drive near Denson Place. CMPD announced that Officer Joshua Eyer was shot in the line of duty Monday afternoon after assisting other officers with the apprehension of a suspect. Eyer was a six-year veteran and a member of the 178th Recruit Class. The North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections stated that two of the U.S. Marshals Task Force members were N.C. Department of Adult Correction veterans. They were identified as Sam Poloche and Alden Elliott. Poloche leaves behind a wife and two children, while Elliott and his wife are parents to one child. Police say as the task force tried to serve a warrant for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, they were met with gunfire, and officers returned fire. During that shootout, authorities struck the suspect, identified as 39-year-old Terry Clark Hughes, and he was pronounced deceased in the front yard. Hughes was wanted for possession of a firearm by a felon and two counts of felony to elude out of Lincoln County. As officers approached Hughes, they said they were met by more gunfire from inside the home. After a long standoff, officers cleared the house and found two females inside, who were both brought to the police station as persons of interest.***

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What is it w/ the Porter family?

The younger brother of Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. was arrested early Sunday morning in Missouri on investigation of driving while intoxicated. Jevon Porter, 20, was arrested at 1:31 a.m. in Boone County, Missouri, State Highway Patrol records show. Porter, who was released, also was accused of speeding. The 6-foot-11 Columbia, Missouri, native is a sophomore on the Loyola Marymount University basketball team. *** The incident represents the latest in a string of arrests and other alleged misdeeds for the Porter family. Coban Porter, another brother of the NBA star, was sentenced to six years in prison last month for killing a woman in a drunk-driving crash in Denver last year. Jontay Porter, another sibling who played for the Toronto Raptors, was banned from the NBA last month after a league investigation found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors about his health. https://www.denverpost.com/2024/05/01/jevon-porter-arrested-driving-intoxicated-missouri/

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amusing

Mark Pomerantz was a deputy DA in Manhattan who investigated a variety of allegations against Donald Trump. He testified in Congress and a video was released on 1may24. He repeatedly invokes his 5th Amendment right to silence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXnRgPW5D1g.

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Speaking of ethical lapses by Trump prosecutors....

***Judge Juan Merchan expressly ruled that prosecutors are not permitted to use Cohen’s guilty pleas for two campaign finance violations in 2018 as evidence that Trump committed a crime, but the judge did provide leeway on the matter, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has used it.*** Matthew Colangelo, one of Bragg’s leading prosecutors, outright said in his opening statement that he expects Cohen, Bragg’s star witness in the trial, to testify about how Cohen pleaded guilty for his role in arranging hush money payments to former Playboy model Karen McDougal and porn star Stormy Daniels. Both women alleged they had affairs with Trump. “Cohen will also testify in this trial that he ultimately pled guilty and went to jail for causing an unlawful corporate contribution in connection with the Karen McDougal payments and for making an excessive campaign contribution in connection with the Stormy Daniels payoff,” Colangelo told the jury. Conservative legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy called the remarks “breathtakingly mendacious.” “Colangelo was not properly admonishing the jury that Cohen is a witness of dubious credibility. He was signaling to them that the NDA payments to McDougal and Daniels — for which he had just blamed Trump in an extensive narrative — were crimes for which Cohen ‘went to jail,'” McCarthy said in an op-ed. “In reality, Cohen was sentenced to prison because of his lucrative fraud crimes, not the [Federal Election Campaign Act] charges. The SDNY never charged Trump, and it almost certainly wouldn’t have charged Cohen if he hadn’t agreed to plead guilty.”*** https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice/2987906/prosecutors-test-limits-admissible-evidence-trump-hush-money-trial/

***

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