#c: emily b.

[jbkrasinski]

@xoemilyblunt Would you and Bee judge me if I said I was still thinking about that white and brown puppy from my Buzzfeed interview? Because I think about her all the time. All that chaos from all the other pups and she only wanted me... anyway, I did my research and it turns out all of the puppies were adopted from that shoot. Please un-depress me as soon as you get a chance. And don't tell Bee.

[stefgagaxo]

@xoemilyblunt, do my eyes deceive me? Three babies? I remember being thrilled for you when your eldest was announced and I'm just as thrilled to hear that there's another on the way. You can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be at that shower of yours, by the way, I can't wait to celebrate you and the little girl soon to make her big debut on the world. Think we can make a singer of her like her mama?

[stefgagaxo]

You think I'd survive prison? That might mean more than any award nomination. You're the best. Dwayne Johnson and Matt Damon at the same party? Am I allowed to geek out? That sounds like a hell of a fun place to be, and I'm honored to be an invitee (even if I really only snuck in because of Jess.) Unlimited supply? Now you're talking my kind of language, I live for a good, frozen treat. Post-natal cravings, though? Are they a thing? It's fucking cold in New York, surely you're not enjoying flavored ice that much, babe. I'll reserve my judgement because it's been a while since I've had one. I'm always, always for a singing showdown especially with John Krasinski – I looked up his performance and it was really something, think he'd go on tour as one of my backups? Yes flowers, thank you very much! I might like them more than the awards themselves. A double date sounds absolutely delightful, I can't wait. Pick somewhere good for us.

Well, neither could I, but if we had to place bets on anyone here, it would be you. We're the hot and nice clique, wait until we get you meeting Dwayne Johnson and Matt Damon at one of our infamous dinner parties, then you'll really be in with the crowd. Thank God for that, in exchange for all the treats you can have unlimited supply to my Slurpee machine. Believe it or not, I'm still having at least one of those a day, not sick of it yet. He has been. I think you've scared him into being ready for some sort of singing showdown...which I think is ridiculous, because he already went on that Lip Sync Battle show and killed it. I'm going to record it so you can have it on your phone forever. It's catchy as ever, Stef, I hope you get your flowers for it! You are a seasoned pro when it comes to the Grammys, so I expect nothing less than a stellar outfit and hopefully a gramophone in hand. Next time you're back in New York, I'm forcing you into a double date, just so you're forewarned.

[valzhangism]

sometimes i wonder what exactly the zhang family business is... the only information about it (as far as i know) is that it's an "import/export business" but it's never specified what exactly they are importing and exporting. food? clothing? firearms? the idea of frank's family being this giant shady criminal company while he himself has no idea about it is kind of hilarious.

[lysteriaposts]

While there is physical pleasure, there is also a lot of sadness. Both of them know it's wrong and despise themselves for it, but keep doing it.

- on Alicent and Criston's love affair in season 2.

[disposal-blueeee]

VARGASTOBER - day 2 : johnny c.

[stranger-rants]

I thought about a Metalsandwich AU based on Metal Lords recently…

Eddie is a D&D metalhead who is tired of being the outcast. When he’s not finding new ways to mess with uptight jock Jason, he’s training his best and only friend Steve on all things metal so they can enter the school’s Battle of the Bands. Their competition is the mediocre but popular shoe-gazer band Surfer Boy which includes members Jonathan and Argyle who are actually the nicest guys. The problem is that Eddie and Steve need a drummer who doesn’t suck. Enter Billy who just moved from California. Steve catches him practicing in the music room after school, and he’s good. Really good. The problem is that Billy has anger issues a mile wide and he’s the wrong kind of metalhead for metal snob Eddie who won’t accept Billy into the band - not that Billy wants to be part of their shitty band to begin with. Still, Steve is determined to get them to work together. Steve bonds with Billy through secret jam sessions. Eventually, they start hooking up on the side. Meanwhile, Eddie’s causing chaos and mayhem in his effort to boost his band’s popularity. Steve and Billy have to find a way to rein him in before he lands himself in the psych ward for loving metal way too much.

[papipcdro]

@xoemilyblunt * / do my eyes decieve me or is that the star of the moment ? i’m nowhere near to making it to the cool hollywood table where you’re seated but i’ve been stalking the halls and let me just say, it’s one big hit after the other. my mind’s still stuck in last year’s award season and how you sweeped everything with oppenheimer - and now, the fall guy ? you’re kidding. are you dashing us all by being the designated skipper during the trip or am i gonna have to bribe you with another award ?

[spaciebabie]

I think you should tell me about your ocs

ooouuu okay okay i put my ocs in a random generator and the oc it picked was General Emily Mentie (so that i dont talk abt the same ones over and over XD)

shes quite an uptight sort of lady. i mean being the general of a military will do that ta you. obsessed with order and having everything be just so. she wasnt always like that though! a long long time ago she had someone in her life that reminded her ta let loose every once in awhile. someone who brought her so much joy day in and day out. someone who she thinks about daily now even though they've been gone for years.

she's been in a state of "hope" for years now. constantly chasing clues, coming up empty but never faltering never wavering. everyone around her keeps telling her ta, "move on" and "be more in the present" but she is in the present. and in the present she isnt here. things wont be complete until she is. someone like her could not have gone silently into the night like a whisper. she was too radiant. too bright ta be stamped out so young.

and yet she doesnt even know the half of it. she's chasing the ghosts of people who don't even exist anymore, and leaving the people who are still here in her wake.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Soo Emily's music video "B or C for effort" was released today and I got some Beth vibes from the video, especially when she wakes up under the tree and stuff. Maybe there's also something else I missed. Didn't really look much into the lyrics either yet.

Anyway, she literally just posted this on her IG stories and oh my!

I was initially like "wait what is NDE", so I googled it and I was like ohh, but then I was like OHHHHH. Definitely feels like she's hinting at something, who knows what that might be😂

Yeah this definitely made me 😱😱😱.

If you watch the video, it most definitely implies that the whole thing is a dream sequence. Like, she literally falls asleep at the beginning and wakes up at the end. (The TDer in me wants to compare that to her waking up at Grady, but I won't.)

So, for Emily to claim that it's a near death experience is super random.

As for the lyrics, it's mostly about a romantic relationship that didn't pan out. She basically says she hopes they both come back stronger from the heartache and that a "lesson is learned for the next one." To use one of the TWD writer's words, it sounds to me like this relationship had some sort of "underlying toxicity." That's what they said about Daryl and Leah. My point is that everything Emily says in this song could be applied to Daryl and Leah.

And I don't mean at all that she wrote it about them. Rather, I think it may be a hint that, like Daryl, when we see Beth again, she will have grown and have had relationships that turned really toxic. They both have, because obviously those weren't soulmate relationships. But now, the "next one" WILL be the soulmate relationship, because they'll find each other again.

At least that's how I've got it worked out in my TD-obsessed head and I'm sticking to it. 😉Thanks Nonny. Can't wait for tomorrow's episode of DD to drop. Xoxo! 🍁🍂💝

[jbkrasinski]

Private. Hey, baby. I just wanted to reach out and let you know that, you know, we got this. There's a million and one things that will come our way and make things difficult, even divisive, for the two of us, but there's also the two of us, and together we can do pretty much anything. Maybe everything. After all, take a look at our three perfect children, we made them, we can make the best of whatever Friday throws at us. Does any of that make sense? I'm doubtful, but I love you and I think you love me enough to forgive my nonsense. @xoemilyblunt

[scpdrholmes]

a folder is a great weapon in the lab

junior researchers holed up together almost always ends up with a casualty, even Foundation researchers.

"There's nothing in my head," Morpheus groaned while partially melting into the chair. "I will now evolve into an amoeba."

"You mean devolve," Emily answered flatly. Spending twelve hours in the lab was nothing to her, but spending ten of them with Morpheus would bring even the seasoned researchers to their wit's end. "You literally did nothing for," she squinted at the analog clock, "three hours."

"Because there's nothing to do!" He tossed his arms up as if that could relieve some boredom. "It's not we're trying to whack 682's brain chemicals. Why was I assigned here anyways?"

Good question, Emily wanted to know the answer as well. Why were two senior researchers working on the same problem? No junior researchers were assigned, or any interns. Actually, what was the objective?

"You didn't think about that."

At the 'are-you-stupid' tone, Emily broke three lab rules in one go. Taking the very thick folder, she proceeded to hurl their instructions and resources at Morpheus' face before breaking five equipments in the process. "Shut up."

"Jesus," Morpheus drawled as his nose dripped blood. "You should try out for the site baseball team. I think you broke my nose."

His nonchalant attitude irked her again, but her flare of anger subsided. His bloody nose was enough proof that she wasn't complacent. Also, it got rid of the need to go to a rage room. This was great. "Women have softball."

"That's still segregated?" The other researcher scoffed before dabbing at his nose with a tissue. "Okay, not broken, so I don't have to go to Medical. But that's going to hurt like a bitch—" he trailed off as the door opened.

"Trial was concluded," Smith called as Dr. Holmes stepped into the room. "Impressive aim, Em."

"What?" Emily and Morpheus glanced at their boss. "Trial—did you experiment on us? With what?"

"It works quite well," Holmes commented before glancing at the broken equipment. "See if we can get reimbursed for our equipment from Amnestics, since we gave them subjects. I quite like this brand of tubes."

"Dr. Holmes—did you volunteer us like lab rats?" Emily pieced it together. "You were trying to test for amnestic effects on higher intelligent subjects?"

"Why us?" Morpheus muttered, coming to the same conclusion.

"Not higher intelligence," she answered, inclining her head. "Subjects who merely have better access to information, or subjects who aren't constantly subjected to miscommunication by the Foundation."

"She just called us dumb."

"You're the one who threw something like a monkey."

Another shriek sounded from the room as Morpheus actually broke his nose that day.

[jbkrasinski]

None of it is a blur for me. I remember it all, in vivid sound and color. I'm glad that you get so much out of scaring me out of my pants – I'll take that as a point of pride that you still want me out of my pants. Hi. Oh, don't let your heart hurt, baby, I'll do anything to salve whatever wounds I may have caused with my kindness. They have great names, we're like... the example couple you see on a wedding invitation website – John and Emily, Emily and John (although, really, I think Em is a gem of a name. Like my rhyming?) Love you, Halloween should be fun, even if Goldie might be too tiny for any real costume. I'm positive I'll be fine. We're all going to camp out in the living room and watch movies and eat things we shouldn't (except for the baby, promise), it's going to be a great time for all. Go have fun.

I don't think I screamed at you too badly this time, did I? Everything before the epidural is kind of a blur. Oh, you're the funniest target. Tall and easy to spook. Hiya. I loved the necklace, it's perfect, you're perfect. I don't know how much more thoughtful you can get, because it's really starting to make my heart hurt in the best way. I'm glad they all have better names than you and me, that's all I'm gonna say. I love you, you big teddy bear. I'm glad I get to spend at least a little bit of Halloween with you and the girls before I have to fly to Scotland. You sure you're going to be alright?

[unproduciblesmackdown]

summer stock cast group pic plus/from kira troilo

[yeoldenews]

A Guide to Historically Accurate Regency-Era Names

I recently received a message from a historical romance writer asking if I knew any good resources for finding historically accurate Regency-era names for their characters.

Not knowing any off the top of my head, I dug around online a bit and found there really isn’t much out there. The vast majority of search results were Buzzfeed-style listicles which range from accurate-adjacent to really, really, really bad.

I did find a few blog posts with fairly decent name lists, but noticed that even these have very little indication as to each name’s relative popularity as those statistical breakdowns really don't exist.

I began writing up a response with this information, but then I (being a research addict who was currently snowed in after a blizzard) thought hey - if there aren’t any good resources out there why not make one myself?

As I lacked any compiled data to work from, I had to do my own data wrangling on this project. Due to this fact, I limited the scope to what I thought would be the most useful for writers who focus on this era, namely - people of a marriageable age living in the wealthiest areas of London.

So with this in mind - I went through period records and compiled the names of 25,000 couples who were married in the City of Westminster (which includes Mayfair, St. James and Hyde Park) between 1804 to 1821.

So let’s see what all that data tells us…

To begin - I think it’s hard for us in the modern world with our wide and varied abundance of first names to conceive of just how POPULAR popular names of the past were.

If you were to take a modern sample of 25-year-old (born in 1998) American women, the most common name would be Emily with 1.35% of the total population. If you were to add the next four most popular names (Hannah, Samantha, Sarah and Ashley) these top five names would bring you to 5.5% of the total population. (source: Social Security Administration)

If you were to do the same survey in Regency London - the most common name would be Mary with 19.2% of the population. Add the next four most popular names (Elizabeth, Ann, Sarah and Jane) and with just 5 names you would have covered 62% of all women.

To hit 62% of the population in the modern survey it would take the top 400 names.

The top five Regency men’s names (John, William, Thomas, James and George) have nearly identical statistics as the women’s names.

I struggled for the better part of a week with how to present my findings, as a big list in alphabetical order really fails to get across the popularity factor and also isn’t the most tumblr-compatible format. And then my YouTube homepage recommended a random video of someone ranking all the books they’d read last year - and so I present…

The Regency Name Popularity Tier List

The Tiers

S+ - 10% of the population or greater. There is no modern equivalent to this level of popularity. 52% of the population had one of these 7 names.

S - 2-10%. There is still no modern equivalent to this level of popularity. Names in this percentage range in the past have included Mary and William in the 1880s and Jennifer in the late 1970s (topped out at 4%).

A - 1-2%. The top five modern names usually fall in this range. Kids with these names would probably include their last initial in class to avoid confusion. (1998 examples: Emily, Sarah, Ashley, Michael, Christopher, Brandon.)

B - .3-1%. Very common names. Would fall in the top 50 modern names. You would most likely know at least 1 person with these names. (1998 examples: Jessica, Megan, Allison, Justin, Ryan, Eric)

C - .17-.3%. Common names. Would fall in the modern top 100. You would probably know someone with these names, or at least know of them. (1998 examples: Chloe, Grace, Vanessa, Sean, Spencer, Seth)

D - .06-.17%. Less common names. In the modern top 250. You may not personally know someone with these names, but you’re aware of them. (1998 examples: Faith, Cassidy, Summer, Griffin, Dustin, Colby)

E - .02-.06%. Uncommon names. You’re aware these are names, but they are not common. Unusual enough they may be remarked upon. (1998 examples: Calista, Skye, Precious, Fabian, Justice, Lorenzo)

F - .01-.02%. Rare names. You may have heard of these names, but you probably don’t know anyone with one. Extremely unusual, and would likely be remarked upon. (1998 examples: Emerald, Lourdes, Serenity, Dario, Tavian, Adonis)

G - Very rare names. There are only a handful of people with these names in the entire country. You’ve never met anyone with this name.

H - Virtually non-existent. Names that theoretically could have existed in the Regency period (their original source pre-dates the early 19th century) but I found fewer than five (and often no) period examples of them being used in Regency England. (Example names taken from romance novels and online Regency name lists.)

Just to once again reinforce how POPULAR popular names were before we get to the tier lists - statistically, in a ballroom of 100 people in Regency London: 80 would have names from tiers S+/S. An additional 15 people would have names from tiers A/B and C. 4 of the remaining 5 would have names from D/E. Only one would have a name from below tier E.

Women's Names

S+ Mary, Elizabeth, Ann, Sarah      

S - Jane, Mary Ann+, Hannah, Susannah, Margaret, Catherine, Martha, Charlotte, Maria

A - Frances, Harriet, Sophia, Eleanor, Rebecca

B - Alice, Amelia, Bridget~, Caroline, Eliza, Esther, Isabella, Louisa, Lucy, Lydia, Phoebe, Rachel, Susan

C - Ellen, Fanny*, Grace, Henrietta, Hester, Jemima, Matilda, Priscilla

D - Abigail, Agnes, Amy, Augusta, Barbara, Betsy*, Betty*, Cecilia, Christiana, Clarissa, Deborah, Diana, Dinah, Dorothy, Emily, Emma, Georgiana, Helen, Janet^, Joanna, Johanna, Judith, Julia, Kezia, Kitty*, Letitia, Nancy*, Ruth, Winifred>

E - Arabella, Celia, Charity, Clara, Cordelia, Dorcas, Eve, Georgina, Honor, Honora, Jennet^, Jessie*^, Joan, Joyce, Juliana, Juliet, Lavinia, Leah, Margery, Marian, Marianne, Marie, Mercy, Miriam, Naomi, Patience, Penelope, Philadelphia, Phillis, Prudence, Rhoda, Rosanna, Rose, Rosetta, Rosina, Sabina, Selina, Sylvia, Theodosia, Theresa

F - (selected) Alicia, Bethia, Euphemia, Frederica, Helena, Leonora, Mariana, Millicent, Mirah, Olivia, Philippa, Rosamund, Sybella, Tabitha, Temperance, Theophila, Thomasin, Tryphena, Ursula, Virtue, Wilhelmina

G - (selected) Adelaide, Alethia, Angelina, Cassandra, Cherry, Constance, Delilah, Dorinda, Drusilla, Eva, Happy, Jessica, Josephine, Laura, Minerva, Octavia, Parthenia, Theodora, Violet, Zipporah

H - Alberta, Alexandra, Amber, Ashley, Calliope, Calpurnia, Chloe, Cressida, Cynthia, Daisy, Daphne, Elaine, Eloise, Estella, Lilian, Lilias, Francesca, Gabriella, Genevieve, Gwendoline, Hermione, Hyacinth, Inez, Iris, Kathleen, Madeline, Maude, Melody, Portia, Seabright, Seraphina, Sienna, Verity

Men's Names

S+ John, William, Thomas

S - James, George, Joseph, Richard, Robert, Charles, Henry, Edward, Samuel

A - Benjamin, (Mother’s/Grandmother’s maiden name used as first name)#

B - Alexander^, Andrew, Daniel, David>, Edmund, Francis, Frederick, Isaac, Matthew, Michael, Patrick~, Peter, Philip, Stephen, Timothy

C - Abraham, Anthony, Christopher, Hugh>, Jeremiah, Jonathan, Nathaniel, Walter

D - Adam, Arthur, Bartholomew, Cornelius, Dennis, Evan>, Jacob, Job, Josiah, Joshua, Lawrence, Lewis, Luke, Mark, Martin, Moses, Nicholas, Owen>, Paul, Ralph, Simon

E - Aaron, Alfred, Allen, Ambrose, Amos, Archibald, Augustin, Augustus, Barnard, Barney, Bernard, Bryan, Caleb, Christian, Clement, Colin, Duncan^, Ebenezer, Edwin, Emanuel, Felix, Gabriel, Gerard, Gilbert, Giles, Griffith, Harry*, Herbert, Humphrey, Israel, Jabez, Jesse, Joel, Jonas, Lancelot, Matthias, Maurice, Miles, Oliver, Rees, Reuben, Roger, Rowland, Solomon, Theophilus, Valentine, Zachariah

F - (selected) Abel, Barnabus, Benedict, Connor, Elijah, Ernest, Gideon, Godfrey, Gregory, Hector, Horace, Horatio, Isaiah, Jasper, Levi, Marmaduke, Noah, Percival, Shadrach, Vincent

G - (selected) Albion, Darius, Christmas, Cleophas, Enoch, Ethelbert, Gavin, Griffin, Hercules, Hugo, Innocent, Justin, Maximilian, Methuselah, Peregrine, Phineas, Roland, Sebastian, Sylvester, Theodore, Titus, Zephaniah

H - Albinus, Americus, Cassian, Dominic, Eric, Milo, Rollo, Trevor, Tristan, Waldo, Xavier

# Men were sometimes given a family surname (most often their mother's or grandmother's maiden name) as their first name - the most famous example of this being Fitzwilliam Darcy. If you were to combine all surname-based first names as a single 'name' this is where the practice would rank.

*Rank as a given name, not a nickname

+If you count Mary Ann as a separate name from Mary - Mary would remain in S+ even without the Mary Anns included

~Primarily used by people of Irish descent

^Primarily used by people of Scottish descent

>Primarily used by people of Welsh descent

I was going to continue on and write about why Regency-era first names were so uniform, discuss historically accurate surnames, nicknames, and include a little guide to finding 'unique' names that are still historically accurate - but this post is already very, very long, so that will have to wait for a later date.

If anyone has any questions/comments/clarifications in the meantime feel free to message me.

Methodology notes: All data is from marriage records covering six parishes in the City of Westminster between 1804 and 1821. The total sample size was 50,950 individuals.

I chose marriage records rather than births/baptisms as I wanted to focus on individuals who were adults during the Regency era rather than newborns. I think many people make the mistake when researching historical names by using baby name data for the year their story takes place rather than 20 to 30 years prior, and I wanted to avoid that. If you are writing a story that takes place in 1930 you don’t want to research the top names for 1930, you need to be looking at 1910 or earlier if you are naming adult characters.

I combined (for my own sanity) names that are pronounced identically but have minor spelling differences: i.e. the data for Catherine also includes Catharines and Katherines, Susannah includes Susannas, Phoebe includes Phebes, etc.

The compound 'Mother's/Grandmother's maiden name used as first name' designation is an educated guesstimate based on what I recognized as known surnames, as I do not hate myself enough to go through 25,000+ individuals and confirm their mother's maiden names. So if the tally includes any individuals who just happened to be named Fitzroy/Hastings/Townsend/etc. because their parents liked the sound of it and not due to any familial relations - my bad.

I did a small comparative survey of 5,000 individuals in several rural communities in Rutland and Staffordshire (chosen because they had the cleanest data I could find and I was lazy) to see if there were any significant differences between urban and rural naming practices and found the results to be very similar. The most noticeable difference I observed was that the S+ tier names were even MORE popular in rural areas than in London. In Rutland between 1810 and 1820 Elizabeths comprised 21.4% of all brides vs. 15.3% in the London survey. All other S+ names also saw increases of between 1% and 6%. I also observed that the rural communities I surveyed saw a small, but noticeable and fairly consistent, increase in the use of names with Biblical origins.

Sources of the records I used for my survey: 

Ancestry.com. England & Wales Marriages, 1538-1988 [database on-line].

Ancestry.com. Westminster, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935 [database on-line].

[edc-blog]

Songs You May Have Missed #738

Emily Kinney: “B or C for Effort” (2023) Emily Kinney nicely captures the arc of hope turning to resignation in a relationship with someone who “kinda sorta maybe tried his best”. From 2023’s Swimteam album.