#crafting in Alison's craft room

[riverbills]

TASK:The Eulogy

"Say a few words in honor of Richard"

River considered himself a talented writer. He had his name written in enough soap opera end cried crawls to prove it. He had the imagination to think of overdramatic scenarios and the observation skills to know what the most realistic reactions to situations would be, before ditching realism for more engaging character responses instead. But writing a euology for Richard was different to writing scripts. When writing one off episodes of medical dramas River loved writing cliches. The thought of giving a cliche eulogy made his skin crawl. Richard deserved better than a cliche eulogy. Richard deserved a eulogy that was as unique and poignant as he was. River was concerned he didn't have unique and poignant words in him. Especially not where was a massive ache in his chest. He didn't want to be at the funeral. He wanted to be curled up in his childhood bedroom staring at one of the ugly neon green walls and petting Saskia. In normal circumstances River loved giving speeches. As a teenage he used to sit at the vintage typewriter Richard brought him practicing writing his Oscars acceptance speech. Richard was always the first person he thanked. He couldn't channel that enthusiasm for speech writing into his eulogy but maybe he could channel that gratitude towards Richard into it.

River first attempt at writing his euology was on Saturday morning. He wrote it hunched over in his airplane seat. Unsatisfied with the result he he tore out the page from the pocketbook after he was finished and scrunched it into his pocket.This earned him a concerned but sympathetic look from the flight attendant. The eulogy was as stale as the taste of vodka in his mouth. He needed to think of something more touching than what he'd written. His second attempt at writing the eulogy was on Sunday evening. He wrote it on the vintage typewriter Richard gifted him. He was grateful that Saskia kept interrupting his writing process. Unsatisfied with the result he sighed then tucked it into his suit jacket pocket. He wished he thought of something more impactful than what he'd written but it was all he had.

As River walked up to say a few words of respect he kept his eulogy burning a hole in his suit jacket pocket. Maybe if he improvised a few words they would be more sincere. His prepared eulogy wasn't as heartfelt as Mick's or as touching as Alison's. "Hello, I'm River Billngham. Some of you are already aware of who I am."He stopped to gesture towards the towards, still theatrical even at his lowest. "But most of you aren't. Richard had numerous wards but not enough to solely give him the send off he deserves." River paused hoping for nods of agreement or at least one titter.��When my parents died…a part of me died with them.” In hindsight River's parents weren't as present as they should have been but it was true that at the time a part of him died with them. He couldn't pick up at instrument without bursting into tears. But Richard took him in anyway.“I thought I would never be happy again. And obviously I'm not happy right now but I have joyful memories from the past sixteen years and some of those memories are because of Richard." River sucked in a breath."I don't know what I would have done without him. He gave me a home. An unusual disjointed home full of traumatised disfunctional children but a home nonetheless." River looked down at his bracelets for a moment, fiddling with the leather. "You know, I really needed an environment as untraditional as Woodrow House. I don't think I would have survivied anywhere else." Not many other legal guardians would have let an artsy teenage boy fill his room with craft projects and mismatched bright furniture. "The incredible thing about Richard is that he nurtured his wards in the exact way they needed. And he wasn't flawless because..."River stopped as he felt a lump form in his throat ."because nobody is, not even people who seem like they are from the outside. But he was as close to flawless as you can get on this shitty planet. And I'm..." River stopped as the tears welled up."Fuck! I needed more time. I'm sorry, this is too much. "River ran from the funeral.

[nancypullen]

Sunday Afternoon

I woke up in Denton again today. Dang it. I keep hoping for one of those 80's soap opera moments where I wake up and this was all a bad dream. So I did what I always do and made the best of it while silently cussing about everything. If Mickey reads this he'll ask, "Really, silently??" Okay, I may vocalize my discontent on occasion. And by occasion, I mean daily. Anyyywayyyy, there's not much happening around here. After lunch we went over to the auction house and poked around. There was some cute furniture there that I'd love to get my hands on and paint - but nothing we truly needed. I do have my eye on a stack of vintage children's books. I'm a sucker for anything Rupert related and this auction lot has three Rupert books!

Have you ever watched Rupert and the Frog Song? I love it so much I may want it played at my funeral. Well, I doubt I'll have a funeral, so I may tell my family to watch it and just burn me up in the Weber. Is that legal? Anyway, Paul McCartney wrote the music and lyrics (We All Stand Together) and it's pure magic.

The first time I saw it I was in a hotel room in Seattle with my two sweet babies. We'd flown in from the Florida panhandle (long day) and were overnighting before catching a morning flight to Anchorage, Alaska and then on to Barrow/Utqiagvik to our new home at the tiptop of the world. We finally had beachfront property but it came with polar bears and icebergs. Matthew was 5 1/2 so Tyler was 2, we'd had a very long travel day and they were such little troopers. After wrestling our luggage into a van and arriving at the hotel I ordered room service cheeseburgers and found the Disney Channel on tv. Rupert and the Frog Song was just starting so we cuddled up in our jammies with our dinner and giggled ourselves silly over the frogs. We may have been overtired and a little punchy, but I was so happy in that moment with my precious little boys, and this song was cemented on my heart. The three of us survived plenty of adventures and tough times, but we did stand together and my gosh, look at them now. I couldn't be more proud of them. If you have any interest, you can see Rupert and the Frog Song here. It's old, and it starts out a tad slow ,but it's lovely. If you're impatient you can go straight to the 5:30 mark and watch the song.

That's why a dusty stack of books at an auction house in Denton made me put a hand to my heart and say, "Ohhh." It's also the reason that I will probably bid too much. The heart wants what it wants.

After visiting the auction house we made a stop at Aldi and picked up a few things for the coming week. Salmon, pork for carnitas, ingredients for veggie soup, broccoli, zucchini, and some very pricey eggs. A dozen eggs for nearly $5 and they were limiting customers to two dozen. Good grief, sure makes me miss my chicken raising days. We returned home and the mister spent the rest of the afternoon in his office processing photos or making videos for YouTube. I never really know what he's doing up there. I sat at my desk and started worked on a little birdhouse for this spring. I picked up a cheap, unfinished wood birdhouse a couple of months ago at a craft store. I think it was $6. I'm currently gluing some china pieces on it before grouting it.

I'll use white grout, probably paint the roof a brighter red (I used what I had on hand and I don't like it) and give it a home on the front porch. It's a really fun and easy project that keeps my hands busy. Easy to listen to a podcast while fitting the pieces, it's not brain surgery.

I try to keep my mind busy too, and that usually involves writing or reading. Last week I plowed through this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. One of the reviews said, "In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us." Spot on, funny and tender. I loved Phoebe, understood Lila, ached for Juice, and so on. Highly recommend. I also highly recommend Etsy (how's that for a segue?) You know I've been shopping on Etsy since 2008. I love supporting individual artists and creators, and I've rarely been disappointed. Check out this ball cap I recently received - custom embroidery reading, "Mentally in Paris". Always, people, always.

If I were in Paris right now I'd stroll Rue Clare and choose something delicious for dinner from the market stalls, after dinner we'd stroll over to Champ de Mars and watch the Eiffel tower sparkle. I wonder if that would ever get old? Doubt it. But, as I mentioned, I woke up in Denton again so tonight I'll be watching another episode of Land Man with Billy Bob Thornton and talking to my cats. Bonjour, petit chat. Voudrais-tu manger? They always answer. Darling kitties. Molly has claimed the clubhouse, so I feel like I can't toss it out just yet.

She looks miserable because I woke her up when I snapped her picture. Grumpy ol' gal. I suppose I've become a grumpy ol' gal too. I'll try harder not to be. On that note, I'll wish you a beautiful day (or evening, depending on when you read this). I hope that you're finding moments of joy and savoring them - a laugh with a friend, a good cup of coffee, a book you can't put down. Those are the little things that help a soul survive this crazy world. If you've had a tough day, consider yourself hugged. If you've had a great day, spread some of that happiness around.

See ya' soon. Stay safe, stay well. XOXO, Nancy

[jaggedwolf]

pll rewatch 2x04

The Great Gatsby billboard staring at them from above after they get an A text!! Conveniently in this sketchy location for the girls to maybe wonder if there’s a camera in that eye. Okay, maybe they didn’t wonder, but I sure did

Everyone did a solo session with Dr. Sullivan before Hanna does this episode, hmm. Emily might’ve talked about moving to Texas, Aria about her parents cheating or blustering on about something else, but I bet Spencer showed up, brought her homework, and said nothing.

When her mom stops her in school, Aria immediately assumes Ella wants feedback on her teaching. I’m starting to enjoy when Aria is like this to her mom because my opinion of Ella as a parent has sunk compared to my memory of her.

When Caleb makes fun of Lucas’s room being filled with toys, Hanna immediately defends them as collectibles. Hanna probably does get it, given her own 1001 handbags and shoes.

Wren sucks more every time he shows up, he is passing out drugs to his ex-fiance and should lose his medical license.

Sullivan: “I’ve talked with a lot of young people about loss” Maybe Sullivan specializes in teenagers, with a focus on grief. Give the Liars’ parents a half-point for finding a relevant therapist.

Hanna is guarded about saying that a combination of guilt, anger, and fear is what she feels about Ali - so far, the girls haven’t really discussed with each other the experience of being friends with Ali. They gesture to it, like with Spencer pointing out Emily’s easy acquiescence to Ali, but they do not expose their own vulnerability in depth to each other

And I think Hanna would be the least likely to do so with the others

Aria is forced to endure sports and I am forced to endure too many shots of shirtless dudes (in a Philly November? Wear a a shirt!)

At least Aria gets rewarded with getting to ogle Jason. That man’s biceps are gigantic and I did not recall this about Jason

Omg there’s more Emily/Samara scenes at swimming meets. RIP Paige hope you’re oblivious to this

Doubt she is, because Pam Fields is yelling DANBY all over the stands and you know Nick McCullers is going “see if you got anchor you would’ve gotten a guaranteed offer too and not mere interest”.

Nick McCullers exposing the letter lie after doing some digging would’ve been so funny and so bad and both Paige and Emily would have wanted to melt off the face of the planet

Spencer wishes she could sleep over at Aria’s :( Last time she wanted Emily to stay over. Someone be a nice non-threatening sleepover buddy for Spence already :(

Pam is extremely charmed by Samara, who talks about the challenges of glue guns and the delights of crafting (with her mom). Samara gives good parent.

Generally speaking I spent very little time contemplating Samara back in the day, but I appreciate the way she functions in the context of Emily and Pam’s mending relationship 

Samara does all do this before a second date though, which, wild. Wild as well is Emily telling her the letter is fake. The unearned guilt must be eating at her.

So, Hanna in 2x04. It is specifically helping Lucas with his Danielle date and him thanking her that drives her back to Sullivan’s office. With every Liar, there’s the damage that Alison does to the girl and there’s the girl’s complicity in Alison’s cruelty, and somehow it is Lucas saying he no longer sees the latter in Hanna that drives Hanna to fully reject the former. As I said above, I don’t think any of the other liars have gotten as far as Hanna does this episode in extricating Alison from herself. Hanna’s the only liar whose present version we’ve seen interact with Alison so far, and there’s no regression to her flashback behaviour. 

All of the liars felt chosen by Alison, and all of them had an angle Alison was working. The way Alison comes at Emily and Hanna, I think, is that both girls are experiencing adolescence as their bodies betraying them. But where I don’t think Emily’s personality was wildly different pre-Alison, for Hanna I always get stuck on Mona’s anecdote of Hanna as a child bowing after a successful backflip, even when covered in vomit. A kid happy to get attention, fond of some showmanship, in contrast to the more muted one in the flashbacks. That isn’t all Alison - female adolescence in general gets some credit - but it’s hard to separate it from Alison. 

Hanna’s imaginary Alison suggests Hanna is scared of the liars moving on from her. I don’t think this is (as of yet) a fear we’ve seen any of the others express, and it’s a fear that has no basis in the current liar dynamics, so that’s interesting. I do read Hanna as the most guarded in S1 about the gang getting back together. I like that her conclusion here is that this has nothing to do with the liars or Alison (or Ashley, or Caleb, or Mona, or god forbid her dad), that she has herself and always will. Am reminded of a different blonde teenager who replied to “Take all that away...and what's left?” with “Me.”

I thought she was wearing a robe when Lucas came by her house in the morning and I was so thrown that she was wearing the same outfit at Sullivan’s till I realized it was a regular top

Why is Aria so pissy about Mike not playing basketball? The audience knows it’s bad vibes but girl, your parents pay zero attention to what y’all do after school, that’s how you have so many hours to waste in Fitz’s apartment or hang out with your friends you are banned from seeing. Do you want to rock this boat. 

Emily wants to call Garrett when they all shadow Melissa and Wren. I STG Emily it worked out with Toby but not all sketchy-seeming men are worth your trust. Glad Aria is a “No” on calling Garrett

As the four liars approach the abandoned barn (1) Emily would like take a photo, to prove to the cops they are honest kids (2) Hanna would settle for not getting murdered (3) Aria wonders if Ian has a gun, because “he’s a bad guy” (4) Spencer is laser-focused on Melissa

Yeah, that tracks.

Best A message of the episode: NOSY BITCHES DIE, painted in red across the wall in Sullivan's office

[choco-cherry-chunk]

And so it goes…

Modern BBC Ghosts AU a la Cherry (i.e., with mpreg bullshit) - Part 4

Part 4

Humphrey Bone could not identify exactly when he became the stand-in for the therapist Fanny Button so obviously needed. Just that one day, he was in the library, he asked her one question about her morning, and it was all downhill from there. Well, he wouldn’t consider it inherently negative; he didn’t mind talking to the woman, and it did admittedly feel nice to assist her in identifying more appropriate responses to matters than just shouting until they went away. But sometimes he wished he was more than a sounding board for her worries and that perhaps they could continue their conversations beyond how sick she was of the casual indifference of minimum wage employees and why she got so irritated when Alison wanted to modernize certain features of Button House.

Maybe that was why he’d developed his friendship with his closest hall neighbor. He saw a bit of himself in Thomas Thorne. The artistic spirit, the desire to create. Where Humphrey painted, Thomas wrote his poetry, and both were inclined to some manner of careful clothing curation. Sure, it wasn’t necessarily the most financially intelligent decision to fund Thorne’s room and board at Button House, but Humphrey had the money and some part of him wanted to see what the young man could accomplish without being forced to face the modern capitalistic grindstone. They even had something of a salon each week to hone their crafts, and it was clear that Thomas was always writing – regardless of how good that writing was.

But those thoughts weren’t long on Humphrey’s mind when he heard excitable pounding at his door, knocks of such intensity that he knew they couldn’t be from anybody but the lady of the house. Opening the door, he stepped aside, knowing better than to even try greeting her as she stepped into the entryway.

“Have you heard about this—this—” She gasped, struggling to think of an appropriate word to describe her surprise and frustration, “This so-called revelation?”

“Revelation?” With practiced ease, Humphrey closed the door and made his way to his kitchenette, preparing a glass of water for Fanny.

“Revelation, pronouncement, whatever you’d call it.” She huffed, clasping her hands together. Her eyes flitted about the room, taking in the mess of painting supplies strewn about and easel set up with a partially completed canvas. In the past, she would catch herself upon interrupting Humphrey’s life. But after enough instances when he assured her he didn’t mind, she was less inclined to feign worry over coming in the middle of task. She thanked him when he handed her the glass and took a moment to press the cool material to her cheek. Humphrey returned to his work, paintbrush back in hand.

“Dunno if I have. What’re you talking about?”

“Oh, don’t play stupid. It seems he’s told everyone in the house, save for me,” Even as she said it, Fanny knew she was being dramatic, but she didn’t care. She was hurt and she knew Humphrey would be the least likely to judge her for it, “James’ little predicament.”

“Predicament?” Humphrey hadn’t heard any recent gossip about the man. Hell, the two of them didn’t even talk all that much; not out of any disagreement, mind, but just the reality of living on different floors and not having all that much in common. Sure, there’d been that time he was commissioned by his museum to restore a particular general’s portrait—

“Oh, for— his being in family way!” Fanny insisted pointedly, putting the glass down with enough force that the water sloshed over the lip. She made an irritated noise and headed off to find a tea towel, leaving Humphrey frozen, the bristles of his paintbrush just barely tickling the canvas. This was…

When Fanny returned, she found herself encountering a secondary surprise. Her tea towel dropped to the floor, the fabric barely making a sound. She hadn’t been concerned about approaching Humphrey with her frustrations, having figured he would fixate more on helping her discern how she could handle her stung feelings about the man not telling her himself. But she’d had no intention of speaking to anyone else on the subject, especially not the person she saw standing in the hall, having inevitably exited the toilet at some point during their conversation.

While it was hard to believe that James would tell Julian about his pregnancy before he would tell Fanny, she did not believe it entirely impossible. However, she did know with certainty that there was someone he would never tell before her. Thomas Thorne gaped at her and Humphrey, eyes wide and jaw hanging like a loose shelf of bone from his face. Oh, she had certainly stepped in it now—

“The Captain’s expecting?” The young man gasped, stepping further into the sitting room. She should have known he would be there; the poet was always hanging around Humphrey if he wasn’t lazing about his own flat.

“Seems so.” Humphrey said, shaking his head and refocusing on his brushwork. Fanny picked up the abandoned cloth and went to sop up the water.

“That was not for your ears, Thomas—”

“It might as well have been for the whole house’s ears, the way you were carrying on,” He replied, returning to the chaste lounge he’d been residing in for much of the afternoon, “This is engrossing, however. The Captain, of all people, with child.”

Fanny pursed her lips. She knew how James and Thomas didn’t get on. Much as neither would want to admit it, they had rather similar personalities. A bit boastful, inclined to the sounds of their own voices, creative types – though the former would be less inclined to admit it. Those similarities were often the reason for the arguments the two could so easily fall into when interacting, and were exactly why she assumed (correctly) that he’d not told Thomas about the pregnancy. Which she had just done for him. Oh dear—

“This information is not to leave this flat, do you understand?” Fanny’s desire for advice from Humphrey was forgotten. Sure, she was still offended that James hadn’t confided this news in her himself, but if he found out she’d told Thomas without speaking to him first…

“Then how is he supposed to get home?” Humphrey asked with a vague degree of sarcasm. Fanny’s eyes didn’t even leave Thomas. The young man just continued to sip his tea, as if oblivious to her order.

“Thomas, do you understand me?”

“Do you think he would be open to name suggestions?” He asked, picking up a pen and paper, “Because with names like James and Anthony, I have to imagine they may not be as inclined to the eclectic. But I’ve always thought the name Arabella should make a comeback. Or Honor, good gender-neutral name.”

“Oh, he’d like Honor.” Humphrey agreed, gesturing to him with a paintbrush, as Thomas returned it with his own writing utensil. Fanny about threw up her hands.

“Thomas, I’m serious!” She insisted, moving to stand before him. She looked down to find that he really was scribbling names in his notebook. “If you didn’t know before now, you cannot let James know that you know.”

“Ah, is he planning to tell me some specific way?” Thomas asked, pausing to look past her to Humphrey, “Do you think Modesty has a poor connotation these days?”

“May be a problem of irony when it’s older.”

“Best not, then.”

Fanny looked to the ceiling, a silent prayer for an extension of patience, “I don’t know. He didn’t say.”

“Well, how did he tell you?”

“He didn’t.”

The room was quiet once more. Even Thomas paused his writing. He turned to her, eyes narrowed. “He didn’t tell you?”

“…No. He didn’t.” Fanny couldn’t help the disappointment reappearing in her voice, and she moved to sit down in one of Humphrey’s armchairs, turning to the window to avoid looking at the men as she elaborated. “Julian told me.”

Humphrey and Thomas shared a look. When they didn’t speak, Fanny scowled. “What?”

“Well…” Humphrey began cautiously, “You know Julian tends to put on a bit of a show.”

“He may be taking you for a ride, Fanny.” Thomas added, offering her a sympathetic smile. However, in Fanny’s eyes, it was smug. Like she was a silly woman who’d had the wool pulled over her eyes by her own tenant.

“I doubt that very much. You’ve seen James of late, how strange he’s been acting.” The statement was initially just a vague defense, but as she spoke, she found herself reflecting on her interactions with her friend in the recent weeks. The little comments, the changes in his behavior.

“Fanny, I’m afraid you should consider changing perfumes. The lily scent you’re wearing is overpowering.”

“I have to cancel tea tomorrow. I’m still feeling under the weather, and I don’t wish for you to catch anything.”

“Oh, two sugars, please. I suppose I’ve developed something of a sweet tooth of late.”

Maybe that was why she’d been so quick to believe Julian. After all, it did make some amount of sense. As she offered more context, she was surprised to find Humphrey and Thomas providing some of their own.

“He was quite irritable during our last few conversations,” Thomas said, putting on something of a mysterious inflection, “Mood swings, perhaps?”

It was Fanny and Humphrey’s turn to share a look, neither eager to be the one to point out the likelihood that that had simply been a matter of The Captain interacting with Thomas at all.

“Watched him sick himself in your daffodils.” Humphrey shrugged, inclining his head to the window, “Figured best not to pry.” He’d seen any number of the residents do it once or twice coming home from a pub crawl. If anything, he’d privately cheered The Captain on for letting loose.

As more evidence mounted, Fanny was surprised to find that her disappointment was morphing into something more akin to sympathy. She’d never sought to have children herself, nor did she feel the ache of missing out on having a family after her divorce, and a large part of that had to do with her general distaste for things related to explicit domesticity. What if James hadn’t kept this from her because she’d misconstrued what their friendship was, but because he had? Did he think she wouldn’t want to know something like this? Had her comments about the more bothersome components of a baby living in Button House been enough for James to think it would be best to keep this from her? Well, Fanny wasn’t about to let him believe that. She would make that man aware of her approval of his growing family, by hook or by crook.

Standing from her seat and brushing some invisible mess from the front of her dress, the head of the house refocused on the men before her. Humphrey’s attention returned to her, while Thomas continued his ramblings about the resurgence of hyphen names.

“I think it may be best if we just forget having this conversation.”

Thomas stopped speaking. He wasn’t sure what to say in the moment, confused by the decision she’d apparently made for all three of them. However, Humphrey was sporting just the tiniest hint of a smile beneath his facial hair and offered a brief, agreeable nod. And, before Thomas could even offer his own take on the choice, Fanny bade them a good afternoon and disappeared out the door. Humphrey’s apartment was just as it was as when Fanny’d swept in, save for the extra glass. Music still floated out from his record player. Brush bristles gently scraped against the canvas. In Thomas’ notebook, beneath a few stanzas about the creeping change of winter into spring was a list of names.

[scotianostra]

Aberlady Bay’s midget submarines.

I took a trip out to Aberlady last night to catch the low tide where these relics from World War Two are left decaying as the tide comes in and out.

In the spring of 1946, two midget submarines were towed to Aberlady Bay and tethered on either side of an anchor point made of one old concrete anti-tank block set on top of four others. There, over two days of trials in the first week of May, they were fired at by aircraft including Mosquitoes and Seafires (the naval version of the Spitfire) in an experiment to judge the effectiveness of 20 mm cannon shells against the submarines’ steel hulls.

The story of the Aberlady Bay midget submarines was uncovered brilliantly by a researcher named Alison Boutland in a report for the Nautical Archaeology Society. She was able to identify the submarines as XT-craft, a training variant of the X-craft mini submarine.

X-craft were about 16 metres (52 ft) long and powered by a diesel engine when on the surface and an electric motor when underwater. They had a crew of four: a commander, a pilot, an engineer (known as the engine room artificer, or ERA) and a specialist diver. They were used in September 1943 in a daring raid on the German battleship Tirpitz in a fjord in the far north of Norway – a mission that inspired the 1955 film ‘Above us the Waves’, starring John Mills.

The XT submarines, built by Vickers Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness, were used not just for training X-craft crews, but also to stand in for full-size submarines in training exercises in which they were hunted from air and sea. The XT-craft were simpler than X-craft, since they did not need as much equipment. In particular, they did not have a retractable periscope; the periscope was fixed in a fin-like housing on the top of the submarine. The distinctive eye-shaped attachment point for this periscope housing was clearly identified by Boutland on the two Aberlady Bay wrecks.

Six XT-craft were built, named Extant, Sandra, Helen, Excelsior, Extended and Xantho. When the war in Europe drew to a close, they were no longer needed, and in June 1945 all six were sent to the Naval Construction and Research Establishment in Rosyth. Boutland was not able to figure out which of the six were used for the target trials, although she did conclude that the better-preserved wreck is probably not XT-5, Extended, which, as its name suggests, was modified to be a little longer than the others.

The cannon-fire trials took place on May 1, 1946 and, after the subs were patched up and re-floated, May 6, 1946. The website East Lothian at War, which has the dates as May 2 and May 7, says that the first trial involved armour-piercing shells and the second high-explosive shells, and that the latter proved more effective. Surviving documentation includes annotated photos of the subs showing the damage after the attacks.

Aberlady Conservation and History Society was recently given movie footage of the trials, filmed by a naval officer from the deck of a boat from which the operation was observed, and in 2019 the footage was digitised and posted on YouTube, the footage, although in colour, is not great, I will post it below for you to have a wee look at.

An interesting addition to the story of the submarines comes from Coastkid, a local blogger and Surly fat bike enthusiast, who has evidence that the subs continued to be used as targets for live firing practice by aircraft based at Drem. He recalls working as a greenkeeper at Gullane in the 1980s and finding dozens of spent 0.5 inch shell cartridges as well as 20 mm cartridges, and he was told by a retired tractor driver that aircraft used to line themselves up using a marker pole behind the seventh tee on Gullane No 3 course, and fire when over the rows of anti-tank blocks, near the green of the twelfth hole on No 2 course.

[warningsine]

When the first season of GLOW ended, it was on a cliffhanger. Over 10 episodes, Ruth (Alison Brie) and Debbie (Betty Gilpin) had crafted new identities as Zoya the Destroyer and Liberty Belle, two women wrestlers with an intense, Cold War–inspired rivalry. In the final episode, Zoya and Liberty Belle faced off after weeks of training in a thrilling, meticulously choreographed bout. At the end, they took a minute to acknowledge how well it went. They both smiled. Ruth tentatively asked Debbie if she wanted to get a celebratory drink. Debbie’s smile immediately fractured. “No,” she said. “We’re not there.” Ruth’s face fell. The credits rolled.

It was an odd, disconsolate note for the series to end on given the triumphant nature of the final few scenes, as the stars of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling wrapped their first TV shoot. But it was a realistic one. In the pilot for GLOW, viewers met Ruth, an out-of-work actress, and Debbie, a soap star turned stay-at-home mother, only to discover at the end of the episode that Ruth had been sleeping with Debbie’s husband. Debbie, incandescent with rage, confronted Ruth in the warehouse where GLOW was rehearsing, prompting the show’s wily director, Sam Sylvia (Marc Maron), to imagine how sparks might fly between the two women in the ring. Debbie was cast as Ruth’s arch rival. The question underpinning the season was whether wrestling would bring the friends back together, or whether Ruth’s behavior was ultimately unforgivable.

Television has centered female relationships before, often in quartet form (Girls, Sex and the City, The Golden Girls), or in ways that are riven with tension (The Handmaid’s Tale) or codependency (Broad City, Grey’s Anatomy). Insecure thrives on examining the relationship between Issa (Issa Rae) and Molly (Yvonne Orji). But GLOW does something different. It treats the relationship between Ruth and Debbie like a romantic one, elevating it above any other partnership in the series. Their breakup as friends is the core event that precipitates their casting on the show, and it’s conceived as seriously and as thoughtfully as a romantic breakup. Debbie’s final “We’re not there” affirms that they might have made progress as coworkers, but they’re a long way from fixing the damage that Ruth has done—and they might not make it.

The second season of GLOW, which was released in its entirety late last month, continues to foreground Ruth and Debbie’s relationship, culminating in a moment of violence and a furious, ugly fight in a hospital room. One of the questions for the writers in Season 2, GLOW’s co-showrunner Liz Flahive told me, was whether Ruth deserves happiness, and if she does, whether Debbie, who is going through a divorce, should have to watch Ruth be happy. It’s a question that branches out from something the show considered in its first season: Can Ruth, who’s revealed so early on to have betrayed her friend so egregiously, still be sympathetic? As a character, Ruth defies simple likability: She’s ambitious, pretentious, and frequently ridiculous. But in Brie’s hands, she’s also engaging, insecure, neurotic, and brave enough to be rooted for. “Look, people do really mess things up,” Flahive said. “And watching a character try, for better or worse, is so compelling.”

For the first half of Season 2, the dynamic between Ruth and Debbie remains unchanged. Debbie, in addition to channelling some of her anger into her bouts as Liberty Belle, redirects her energy toward her professional ambitions, negotiating a raise and a promotion to producer. Ruth, for the most part, meekly takes whatever Debbie throws at her. At work, they interact politely but struggle to make eye contact. When Ruth is asked out by a cameraman, Russell (Victor Quinaz), she accepts a ride home with Debbie instead, taking whatever crumbs she can get. “Is it going to bother you if, um, I go out on a date? Do you mind if I meet someone?” she asks Debbie. “I don’t care what you do,” Debbie replies quietly, before going on to deride Russell in a way that makes it clear how much she does care.

As the season continues, the tension between the two women comes to a head first when Debbie rails at Ruth for running away from a casting-couch situation that might have saved their show. “Feminism has principles,” Debbie spits. “Life has compromises.” Then, after a furious, despondent Debbie encounters her ex-husband’s new girlfriend, she intentionally fractures Ruth’s ankle in the ring. The event restores a degree of balance to the relationship that enables one of the most excruciatingly realistic TV fights between two friends in recent memory, in which buried resentments are dug up and toxic patterns thrown out. Gilpin, conveying Debbie’s commingled rage and guilt, is hypnotic in the scene, equally furious at Ruth and at herself. Ruth, emboldened by a growing sense of her own victimhood (and by a Valium–Klonopin cocktail), strikes back. Their relationship, she poses, is built on how Debbie savors her success against Ruth’s failure. It doesn’t justify Ruth’s infidelity to her friend, but for the first time in the series it suggests how it could have happened.

The scene is so potent because it’s so familiar. Friendships between women rely, often, on the unsayable—the secret comparisons, the petty jealousies, the familiar patterns of behavior. A fight with a friend can feel as emotionally draining, as unbearably cruel, as a fight with a partner. By putting Ruth and Debbie’s tangled relationship at the center of GLOW, the show comprehends this dynamic, almost to the detriment of the supporting characters (it’s the rare Netflix show that has so many stories to tell that it could stand to be longer). It uses the tension between two former friends as fodder for both character growth and narrative progression. But it also takes a realistic view of female friendship that television often sugarcoats. TV friendships, Emily Reynolds wrote in the New Statesman in 2016, tend to be idolized and cherished in a cutesy Galentine’s Day, yas-queen, matching-bangs kind of way. Ruth and Debbie are different. GLOW never guarantees that their friendship will recover, or that it should. What it does do is assert its significance in the first place, and emphasize how devastating its breakdown is to each of them.

[sokolblosserwinery]

Sokol Blosser Winery

Sokol Blosser Winery

Sokol Blosser Winery is a family-owned and operated vineyard nestled in the heart of Oregon’s renowned Dundee Hills. Since 1971, we’ve been committed to crafting world-class wines that reflect the character of our land and sustainable farming practices. As one of Oregon’s wine pioneers, we blend tradition with innovation, producing exceptional Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and other varietals. Our tasting room offers an inviting space to explore our award-winning wines while enjoying stunning vineyard views. At Sokol Blosser, we honor our legacy by continually evolving, focusing on quality, sustainability, and creating memorable experiences. Visit us to discover the heart and soul of Oregon wine country.

“Our story began in 1971 when our parents, Susan Sokol and Bill Blosser, first planted vines in the now-famous Dundee Hills of Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

Wine Tasting Willamette Valley

As second generation winegrowers, we are passionately committed to our family’s legacy of creating world-class wines. Our wines are made from organic grapes, crafted sustainably with the environment at the forefront of our minds, that express the distinctive flavors of our hillside vineyards.“

-Alex & Alison Sokol Blosser Siblings, Co-Presidents, and Second Generation Winegrowers

From the start, the Sokol Blosser family was aware of the impact that farming and wine production would have on the environment. Before it was popular, the winery did everything it could to give back to the land. The Sokol Blossers knew preserving the land would help the winery remain family-owned for generations to come.

Being good to the earth – farming, buying and building through the lens of sustainability – is really about paying attention to and respecting the details. We believe this is the only way to make the best wines. 

Wineries Near Portland Oregon

contact us

Sokol Blosser Winery https://sokolblosser.com/ ADDRESS:  5000 NE Sokol Blosser Ln Dayton, OR 97114, United States PHONE: (503) 864-2282

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[thaidakar-is-hot]

Alison Wayfarer Back Story

I realized I never talked about Alison on here. I deleted the blog that had all her backstory. So here's a NOT SO SHORT post about her!

Alison was a mage studying in Dalaran at the time Khadgar was! She's around his age, only a year behind him, and so she was 15, he was 16, when they met. They met due to Alison's meddling; she noticed him in a lecture hall, noticed how incredibly beautiful he was, and had to speak to him.

She "accidently" ran into him with all her books, which led to them all toppling and the two meeting eyes as they stooped to catch them. A real hollywood meeting, but it worked. Khadgar was enraptured by her, and she found him beautiful. (I base him off the old Drew Winchester drawings from yore, which I can't post but they are very, very old.)

They quickly started courting, meeting in secret, and then out in the open. Towards the end of Khadgar's stay, they actually moved out of shared dormitories and rent a room in Dalaran proper; a tower room.

Alison is naturally gifted with Arcanogeology, and this was her choice of study. Khadgar was gifted at everything, naturally so. He required very little study, and was always sticking his nose into unwanted places.

Alison's gift with barriers and defenses actually led her to creating her own birth control, but…that's neither here nor there. :)

Khadgar is sent to apprentice. She makes him promise to write, and he does; but he letters never reach her. She writes to him as well, but her letters never reach him. Both of them are worried sick about the other, and eventually, Khadgar returns, a changed man and aged before his time.

But it's him! She recognizes those eyes! She would recognize that face, too, under any amount of line and wear. She calls after him as he pushes his way through the crowded streets. He couldn't believe she still wanted him, and offered her a chance to leave; he was an old man after all.

She wouldn't hear any of it. Khadgar was hers.

The Second War wore on, and afterwards, the pair reunited for some short respite before packing up and moving to Stormwind. Here they marry, and try for a child, but no luck. Khadgar blames it on Medivh's curse, and Alison blames it on herself, but the fact remains: They can't have children, at least not easily.

It was pretty lucky they DIDN'T have a kid, as they were thrown threw the dark portal. Khadgar tells Alison she should stay behind, and she tells him here, snarling, that she will never leave his side again.

She means it.

The pair are assumed lost for decades. Here, after the sundering of Dreanor into Outland, Khadgar falls into a deep depression where the only thing he focuses on is his work. Alison cries nightly, trapped on a doomed planet in a marriage with a man she loves but she feels doens't love her back.

He does, though. He's just…so tired of all the pain. It takes the Dreanei priestess in charge at Aldor Rise to slap some sense into him, and the pay reconcile. They gradually fall into their old ways, a pair of best friends, lovers, and husband and wife, thick as thieves and concealing nothing.

Of course, they move back to Azeroth when able, though it takes many years for them to feel comfortable doing so. Khadgar was…leery of returning. So much responsibility, so much changed. He was worried about the overwhelming reality. He had to learn about the scourge, and it's second rise to power, and Deathwings sundering of the planet once more.

But they manage. They rebuild. They are given fantastic quarters in Dalaran, and Khadgar and Alison have a sizeable fortune in gold. All seems relatively peaceful; the Pandaren conflict is so far away…they can try and raise a family.

NO DREANOR TIME. This time Khadgar WILL NOT let a second invasion happen, and he's ready for it. The pair go through with the rest of the force and settle in that tower we all know. She also learns a lot more of her craft from the local artificers.

It's in Legion, around the time of the uhhh Broken Shore Patch, that Alison finds out she's pregnant. But some…miracle, at her "advanced" age (She's like in her 40s.) she managed to finally get pregnant. Khadgar attempts to say she won't leave the city, but she shoots that down quick, and he smiles, realizing his error in trying to control his wife. They do, however, keep her pregnancy a secret with illusion spells as much as possible.

She gives birth to a baby girl, whom they name Leyla. The war with the Legion was still raging, and during this time Alison was apart from her husband during the critical moments, but not while they were on the Vindicaar. Here, she reunites with old friends. Alleria is very happy to see her baby, and Turalyon is ecstatic.

Then…the Alliance and Horde begin fighting again. And the pair fade away, wishing to retire. Khadgar and her spend some time in Karazhan, but it's no place to raise a baby girl. They rent a house in Stormwind, and Alison grows close to the former Queen Kayleigh, now Lady Kayleigh, and Leyla gets to play with her kids. Her son, Torstan, is several years older then Leyla but he enjoys messing around with her and playing in the castle grounds.

But…life moves on, and Khadgar is asked, or demanded, to rejoin the Council of 6. So he does. He again attempts to get a spot for Alison, but she refuses on grounds that two council members cannot be married. (I also don't want one of my OC's over throwing canon characters <3)

Dragonflight happens. They spend a lot of time exploring the isles, it's a rather peaceful campaign after all. Many years have passed, and Leyla is a teenager now.

And then it happens, and they both die together, leaving Leyla and orphan.

[xprojectrpg]

This Day in X-Project - July 1

Liam Nelson's birthday.

2015: Adrienne posts a plea for help as Garrison has made her go to Toronto to watch the Sox and the Jays play. Megan lets people know that there is an arts and crafts fair in District X. Bobbi comments on how she’s got Carly Rae Jepsen songs stuck in her head. Sooraya goes to Kevin for help on the background of a project. Alison asks if anyone going to the store can get her some laser pointers, Sue agrees to bring some home from work.

2016: Everett bumps into Cecilia on her morning run with Lucky, they get to know one another while discussing powers and their time at the mansion.

2017: Amanda emails the magical people about the meaning of the stones and the existence of the Winding Way. She also alerts the various teams. Cecilia posts about going on vacation.

2018:

2019: Fear in the Dark: X-Force puts their plan to motion; The second part of the heist, getting in, goes off without a hitch; the heist almost goes according to plan, until the ravens interfere; Wanda and Clea are waiting nearby as lookouts when they see two men teleporting out.

2020:

2021: Jubilee posts about a song she identifies with. Emma talks about dealing with renovations and ponders someone buying her an appropriate mug. Marie-Ange thanks Fourteen for a belated Christmas gift.

2022: With Independence Day just around the corner, Jubilee asks the mansion to join her in celebrating. A Danger Room session with Kane has April evaluating her moves. Terry texts Darcy to ask if she'd be willing to pick her and Kyle up Sunday.

2023: Doug makes a journal entry about a funny image he found. Darcy and Haller finally meet in person and have a discussion about the blow-up on the journals, and afterwards she provides a little tech support. Arthur goes to see Wanda about his new powers development and winds up talking it over with Marie-Ange instead.

[alisonadamsartuk]

Embrace Nature with Woodland Wall Art: Transforming Spaces with Alison Adams Art

In today's bustling world, finding solace in nature is more important than ever. Many people seek to bring the tranquility of the outdoors into their homes, and one way to achieve this is through Woodland Wall Art. In the UK, Alison Adams Art stands out as a premier provider of such exquisite pieces.

Alison Adams Art offers a stunning collection of Woodland Wall Art that captures the essence of nature's beauty. Each piece is meticulously crafted, bringing the serenity of the forest into any living space. From majestic trees to delicate flora and fauna, Alison Adams' creations evoke a sense of calm and wonder.

Woodland Wall Art UK enthusiasts are drawn to Alison Adams Art for its exceptional quality and attention to detail. Whether adorning the walls of a cozy cottage or a modern apartment, these artworks add a touch of rustic charm and sophistication to any room.

One of the standout features of Alison Adams Art is the use of vibrant colors and textures. Each piece is carefully painted to convey the depth and richness of the natural world. The artist's keen eye for detail ensures that every leaf, branch, and creature is rendered with precision and lifelike beauty.

But Alison Adams Art is more than just a brand—it's a testament to the enduring allure of nature. By incorporating these artworks into their homes, individuals can create a sanctuary where they can escape the stresses of daily life and reconnect with the earth.

Whether you're a nature lover, an art enthusiast, or simply someone looking to enhance their living space, Woodland Wall Art UK offers something for everyone. With Alison Adams Art, you can transform any room into a tranquil retreat that celebrates the splendor of the natural world.

In conclusion, Woodland Wall Art by Alison Adams Art is not just about decorating walls; it's about bringing the outdoors inside and creating a sense of harmony and balance in our lives. So why wait? Explore the collection today and embark on a journey of discovery and inspiration.

[smallerplaces]

It's Britney, Bitch: Kitchen BEFORE

My 7" Britney Spears doll lives in a gray mansard house built from the Petite Dreams Deluxe kit, a house that looks almost exactly like a Real Good Toys "Alison Jr.," only in reverse. I built the house with my parents as a family project over Labor Day 2017, so it was Mom's choice that the floors are painted brown and the walls off-white. She furnished it in very serious Old West.

When I moved into the family home a couple years after her death, I decided this was the only 1:12 house I was going to keep, since it had meaning to me, it's mostly flat and up so it takes a reasonable amount of space, and it goes with my gray bedroom walls. I refurnished it primarily with my own 1:12 furniture (previously in an IKEA Flisat that I didn't bother moving), plus pieces from Mom's collection that I particularly liked or found especially useful.

I'm now giving myself permission to really work on it.

The overall concept is that the house is the "big fancy house" in one of those little towns in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, in the present day. It's been divided into a main house (four rooms) and an income apartment (two rooms). It's to have been redone to capture or retain historic character while being modernized.

Let's take out the furniture and see what we have.

I'm 90% sure that the stainless steel kitchen set is from Hobby Lobby. While Mom boycotted everything in sight for the most random reasons, she never boycotted Hobby Lobby even though its management promotes appalling bigotry that she was supposedly opposed to. I'm chalking that up to the power of location: it's on the main drag of our city, near stores she shopped regularly. The other big craft stores are or were: (a) out near the highway in a difficult-to-get-to plaza; (b) way out past the highway; or (c) in the next town over. I've been tempted, just because it's so much closer than Michaels, but then I remind myself that its leadership would cheerfully have me killed, and there are limits.

Nonetheless, I'm keeping it, because it wasn't my purchase decision. I'm not tracking down the provenance of every innocent-looking item I've inherited, so there are probably items that are way more ethically gray. Also, I still wince when I recall my efforts to create a stainless steel kitchen using a cheap set from AC Moore.

The table set is a must-have because it was my find at an antique store in Sedona, Arizona, when I took the old AZ Shuttle there to get away from the Phoenix heat one summer. On the way up, I'd been talking with the shuttle driver about her dollhouses, and she talked me into the idea of making a quaint little cabin in a Greenleaf Corona Concepts "Primrose." So of course it was Meant to Be when I found this table set!

I never did order a Primrose kit, but this dining set is important and must be included.

Most of these items are things I bought at the Phoenix Park 'n' Swap or at the little J Chew Mexican Import shop in Scottsdale, or that Mom bought when I took her to those places. So they stay, and get some friends added out of my stash.

So the one thing that isn't making the cut is the paper rug that looks like a quilt. This room still needs a lot of work.

Flooring: I want something that says "Victorian California" but also says "washable."

Is this an occasion for subway tile?

Tin ceiling. Seriously. A must-have.

Shelving: means I can display more accessories.

Art: where the accessories don't fit.

Did I mention accessories?

It is time to get cracking on research.

[watching-crazy-science-fiction]

Guess what?! I made that! @mackenziegracedonaldson reached out back in March and I've been keeping it a secret this whole time!!

[crazybengiefb]

God Jah Will

God Jah is greatest. We give thanks, glory and praises to the Most High God Jah Ras Tafari.

Some people a short while ago now, in their cultural, racist, ignorance, chose more than twenty preists, over a Rastafarian, and lost as a result.

The world heals itself. We are here, not to serve society, business, sat-un, etcetera, but to serve the Most High God Jah, God Jah love. God Jah bless.

Crazy Bengie FB

[theweirdladynextdoor]

Not for Everyone: A grand list of 143 weird books

This is my meticulously curated list of 143 of the weirdest books I’ve ever read.  Weird here can mean subject matter, the way it was written, or just that it’s off the beaten path.  It certainly does not include every weird book out there.  But it is a start if you are interested in reading weird lit yet have no idea where to begin.  I encourage you to dig in... if you dare.

 1.      Dirty Secret: A Daughter Comes Clean About Her Mother's Compulsive Hoarding by Jessie Sholl, (2010)

2.      Ghost Story by Peter Straub, (1989)

3.      My Life Among the Serial Killers: Inside the Minds of the World's Most Notorious Murderers by Helen Morrison and Harold Goldberg, (2004)

4.      The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson, (1977)

5.      Sophie Crumb: Evolution of a Crazy Artist by Sophie Crumb, (2010)

6.      The Farm: Life Inside a Women's Prison by Andi Rierden, (1997)

7.      On the Bus: The Complete Guide to the Legendary Trip of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters and the Birth of Counterculture by Paul Perry, (1997)

8.      The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, (1959)

9.      Nightwork: Sexuality, Pleasure, and Corporate Masculinity in a Tokyo Hostess Club by Anne Allison, (1994)

10.  The A-Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers by Harold Schechter, (1996)

11.  Not Without my Daughter by Betty Mahmoody, (1987)

12.  Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, (1915)

13.  Sybil: The Classic True Story of a Woman Possessed by Sixteen Personalities by Flora Rheta Schreiber, (1973)

14.  Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania by Andy Behrman, (2002)

15.  You Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas by Augusten Burroughs, (2009)

16.  Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk, (2008)

17.  Pimp: The Story of my Life by Iceberg Slim, (1967)

18.  Black Hole by Charles Burns, (2005)

19.  My Lobotomy by Howard Dully and Charles Fleming, (2007)

20.  Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel, (2006)

21.  Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga by Hunter S. Thompson, (1966)

22.  The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe, (1968)

23.  Hardcore Mother by Maxon Crumb, (2001)

24.  In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick,  (2000)

25.  House of Leaves and The Whalestoe Letters by Mark Z. Danielewski, (2000)

26.  Tweak: Growing up on Methamphetamines by Nic Sheff, (2008)

27.  Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream by Hunter S. Thompson, (1971)

28.  I Like You: Hospitality under the Influence by Amy Sedaris, (2006)

29.  Stranger than Fiction by Chuck Palahniuk, (2004)

30.  SantaLand Diaries by David Sedaris, (1998)

31.  Trout Fishing in America/ The Pill vs. The Springhill Mine Disaster/ In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan, (1989)

32.  The Long, Hard Road out of Hell by Marilyn Manson, (1998)

33.  Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs, (1959)

34.  She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb, (1992)

35.  Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People by Amy Sedaris, (2010)

36.  Voluntary Madness: My Year Lost and Found in the Loony Bin by Norah Vincent, (2008)

37.  The Cannibals of Candyland by Carlton Mellick III, (2009)

38.  The Sallie House Haunting by Debra Lyn Pickman, (2010)

39.  The Demonologist by Gerard Brittle, (1980)

40.  Off Season (Dead River #1) by Jack Ketchum, (1980)

41.  Room by Emma Donoghue, (2010)

42.  The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum, (1989)

43.  The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson, (1949)

44.  When Rabbit Howls by Truddi Chase, (1987)

45.  Red Dragon by Thomas Harris, (1981)

46.  Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, (2009)

47.  The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison by Pete Earley, (1992)

48.  Ted Bundy: Conversations with a Killer by Stephen Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth, (1989)

49.  Devil’s Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three by Mara Leveritt, (2002)

50.  The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer by Philip Carlo, (2006)

51.  The Complete Grimm’s Fairytales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, (1812)

52.  Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries by Jon Ronson, (2012)

53.  Them: Adventures with Extremists by Jon Ronson, (2001)

54.  The Psychopath Test: A Journey through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson, (2011)

55.  Life After Death by Damien Echols, (2012)

56.  The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones by Anthony Bourdain, (2005)

57.  Damned by Chuck Palahniuk, (2011)

58.  Party Monster: A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland by James St. James, (1999)

59.  What Cops Know by Connie Fletcher, (1990)

60.  Mommie Dearest by Christina Crawford, (1978)

61.  I’m Down Mishna Wolf, (2009)

62.  Jesus Land: A Memoir by Julia Scheeres, (2005)

63.  Free For All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library by Don Borchert, (2007)

64.  Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood by Julie Gregory, (2003)

65.  Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing by Ted Conover, (1999)

66.  Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players by Stefan Fatsis, (2001)

67.  Napalm & Silly Putty by George Carlin, (2001)

68.  Crimson Stain by Jim Fisher, (2000)

69.  Are you my Mother? A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel, (2012)

70.  The Complete Persepolis by Satrapi Marjane, (2003)

71.  Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, (1962)

72.  Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein, (2015)

73.  Drinking at the Movies by Julia Wertz, (2010)

74.  Calling Dr. Laura by Nicole J. Georges, (2013)

75.  The Devil in the Kitchen: Sex, Pain, Madness, and the Making of a Great Chef by Marco Pierre White, (2006)

76.  Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan, (2014)

77.  American Splendor Presents: Bob and Harv’s Comics by Harvey Pekar and Robert Crumb, (1996)

78.  My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf, (2012)

79.  Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes go Hilariously Wrong

80.  Bedbugs by Ben H. Winters, (2011)

81.  Chicken: Self Portrait of a Young Man for Rent by David Henry Sterry, (2002)

82.  Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh, (2013)

83.  You Got Nothing Coming: Notes from A Prison Fish by Jimmy A. Lerner, (2002)

84.  Over Easy by Mimi Pond, (2014)

85.  Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me by Ellen Forney, (2012)

86.  SCUM Manifesto by Valerie Solanas, (1967)

87.  The Gallery of Regrettable Food: Highlights from Classic American Recipe Books by James Lileks, (2001)

88.  Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix, (2014)

89.  My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix, (2016)

90.  A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay, (2015)

91.  This House is Haunted by Guy Lyon Playfair, (1980)

92.  The Sarah Book by Scott McClanahan, (2015)

93.  Crapalachia: A Biography of a Place by Scott McClanahan, (2013)

94.  The Black Hope Horror: The True Story of a Haunting by Ben and Jean Williams, (1991)

95.  $2.00 A Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America by Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer, (2015)

96.  The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel, (2017)

97.  True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray by James Renner, (2016)

98.  The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and People’s Temple by Jeff Guinn, (2017)

99.  Conversations with Ed and Lorraine Warren by T. Sealyham, (2011)

100.  Educated by Tara Westover, (2018) 

101.  North of Normal: A Memoir of My Wilderness Childhood, My Unusual Family, and How I Survived Both by Cea Sunrise Person, (2014)

102.  I’ll Be Gone In The Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara, (2018)

103.  Son of a Grifter: The Twisted Tale of Sante and Kenny Kimes, the Most Notorious Con Artists in America: A Memoir By The Other Son by Kent Walker and Mark Schone, (2001)

104.  Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud by Elizabeth Greenwood, (2016)

105.  The Contortionist’s Handbook by Craig Clevenger, (2002)

106.  Selp-Helf by Miranda Sings, (2015)

107.  The Art and Science of Dumpster Diving by John Hoffman and Bruce Sterling, (1992)

108.  Strays: A Lost Cat, a Homeless Man, and Their Journey Across America by Britt Collins, (2017)

109.  My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, (2018)

110.   A Father’s Story by Lionel Dahmer, (1994)

111.  The Gates of Janus: Serial Killing and Its Analysis by Ian Brady, (2001)

112.  Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh, (2015)

113.  IT’S ME Edward Wayne Edwards: The Serial Killer You’ve Never Heard of by John A. Cameron, (2014)

114.  We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix, (2018)

115.  The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster by Sarah Krasnostein, (2017)

116.  The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist’s Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain by James Fallon, (2013)

117. Rising out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist by Eli Saslow, (2018)

118.  Weekends at Bellevue: Nine Years on the Night Shift at the Psych E.R. by Julie Holland, (2009)

119.  The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy by Elizabeth Kendall, (1981)

120.  High on Arrival by Mackenzie Phillips, (2009)

121.  Hell’s Gate: Terror at Bobby Mackey’s Music World by Douglas Hensley, (1993)

122.  From Cradle to Grave: The Short Lives and Strange Deaths of Marybeth Tinning’s Nine Children by Joyce Egginton, (1989)

123.  In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, (2019)

124.  Love as Always, Mum xxx by Mae West, (2018)

125.  Solutions and other Problems by Allie Brosh, (2020)

126.  The Serial Killer Cookbook: True Crime Trivia and Disturbingly Delicious Last Meals from Death Row's Most Infamous Killers and Murderers by Ashley Lecker, (2020)

127.  Trixie and Katya's Guide to Modern Womanhood by Trixie Mattel, Katya Zamolodchikova, (2020)

128.  American Animals: A True Crime Memoir by Eric Borsuk, (2018)

129.  The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, (2020)

130.  Couple Found Slain: After a Family Murder by Mikita Brottman, (2021)

131.  Broken (In the Best Possible Way) by Jenny Lawson, (2021)

132. You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism by Amber Ruffin, (2021)

133.  Yearbook by Seth Rogen, (2021)

134.  Today a Woman went Mad in the Supermarket: Stories by Hilma Wolitzer, (2021)

135.  Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder, (2021)

136.  Chasing the Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar, (2021)

137.  A Killer by Design: Murderers, Mindhunters, and My Quest to Decipher the Criminal Mind by Ann Burgess, (2021)

138.  Tiger King: The Official Tell-all Memoir by Joe Exotic, (2021)

139.  The Minds of Billy Milligan by Daniel Keyes, (1981)

140.  Waiting for an Echo: The Madness of American Incarceration by Christine Montross, (2020)

141.  The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison, (2014)

142.  Murder Book: A Graphic Novel of a True Crime Obsession by Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell, (2021)

143.  Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Schlitzie the Pinhead by Bill Griffith, (2019)

[wankerwatch]

Commons Vote

On: Armed Forces Commissioner Bill Report Stage: Amendment 2

Ayes: 76 (81.3% LD, 5.3% Ind, 5.3% PC, 5.3% Green, 1.3% APNI, 1.3% UUP) Noes: 349 (95.7% Lab, 2.6% Ind, 1.4% DUP, 0.3% TUV) Absent: ~225

Day's business papers: 2025-01-21

Likely Referenced Bill: Armed Forces Commissioner Bill

Description: A Bill to establish, and confer functions on, the Armed Forces Commissioner; to abolish the office of Service Complaints Ombudsman; and for connected purposes.

Originating house: Commons Current house: Commons Bill Stage: 3rd reading

Individual Votes:

Ayes

Liberal Democrat (61 votes)

Adam Dance Al Pinkerton Alex Brewer Alison Bennett Alistair Carmichael Angus MacDonald Anna Sabine Ben Maguire Brian Mathew Calum Miller Cameron Thomas Charlotte Cane Chris Coghlan Christine Jardine Claire Young Clive Jones Daisy Cooper Danny Chambers David Chadwick Helen Maguire Helen Morgan Ian Roome Ian Sollom James MacCleary Jamie Stone John Milne Josh Babarinde Joshua Reynolds Lee Dillon Lisa Smart Liz Jarvis Luke Taylor Manuela Perteghella Marie Goldman Martin Wrigley Max Wilkinson Mike Martin Monica Harding Munira Wilson Olly Glover Paul Kohler Rachel Gilmour Richard Foord Roz Savage Sarah Dyke Sarah Gibson Sarah Green Sarah Olney Steff Aquarone Steve Darling Susan Murray Tessa Munt Tim Farron Tom Gordon Tom Morrison Victoria Collins Vikki Slade Wendy Chamberlain Wera Hobhouse Will Forster Zöe Franklin

Independent (4 votes)

Ayoub Khan Iqbal Mohamed Jeremy Corbyn Shockat Adam

Plaid Cymru (4 votes)

Ann Davies Ben Lake Liz Saville Roberts Llinos Medi

Green Party (4 votes)

Adrian Ramsay Carla Denyer Ellie Chowns Siân Berry

Alliance (1 vote)

Sorcha Eastwood

Ulster Unionist Party (1 vote)

Robin Swann

Noes

Labour (331 votes)

Abena Oppong-Asare Abtisam Mohamed Adam Jogee Adam Thompson Afzal Khan Al Carns Alan Campbell Alan Strickland Alex Ballinger Alex Barros-Curtis Alex Mayer Alex McIntyre Alex Sobel Alice Macdonald Alison Hume Alison McGovern Alistair Strathern Allison Gardner Amanda Martin Andrew Cooper Andrew Gwynne Andrew Lewin Andrew Pakes Andrew Ranger Andrew Western Andy MacNae Andy McDonald Andy Slaughter Angela Eagle Anna Dixon Anna Gelderd Anna McMorrin Anna Turley Anneliese Midgley Antonia Bance Ashley Dalton Baggy Shanker Bambos Charalambous Barry Gardiner Bayo Alaba Beccy Cooper Becky Gittins Bell Ribeiro-Addy Ben Coleman Ben Goldsborough Bill Esterson Blair McDougall Brian Leishman Callum Anderson Calvin Bailey Carolyn Harris Cat Smith Catherine Atkinson Catherine Fookes Catherine McKinnell Charlotte Nichols Chi Onwurah Chris Bloore Chris Bryant Chris Curtis Chris Elmore Chris Evans Chris Hinchliff Chris Kane Chris McDonald Chris Murray Chris Vince Chris Webb Christian Wakeford Claire Hazelgrove Claire Hughes Clive Betts Clive Lewis Connor Naismith Dan Aldridge Daniel Francis Daniel Zeichner Danny Beales Darren Paffey Dave Robertson David Baines David Burton-Sampson David Lammy David Pinto-Duschinsky David Smith David Taylor David Williams Debbie Abrahams Deirdre Costigan Derek Twigg Diane Abbott Douglas Alexander Douglas McAllister Elaine Stewart Ellie Reeves Elsie Blundell Emily Darlington Emma Foody Emma Hardy Emma Lewell-Buck Euan Stainbank Feryal Clark Fleur Anderson Florence Eshalomi Frank McNally Fred Thomas Gareth Snell Gareth Thomas Gen Kitchen Gill Furniss Gill German Graeme Downie Graham Stringer Grahame Morris Gregor Poynton Gurinder Singh Josan Harpreet Uppal Heidi Alexander Helen Hayes Helena Dollimore Hilary Benn Ian Lavery Imogen Walker Irene Campbell Jack Abbott Jacob Collier Jade Botterill Jake Richards James Asser James Frith James Naish Jas Athwal Jayne Kirkham Jeevun Sandher Jeff Smith Jen Craft Jenny Riddell-Carpenter Jess Asato Jessica Morden Jessica Toale Jim Dickson Jim McMahon Jo Platt Jo Stevens Jo White Joani Reid Jodie Gosling Joe Morris Joe Powell Johanna Baxter John Grady John Slinger John Whitby Jon Pearce Jon Trickett Jonathan Brash Jonathan Davies Jonathan Hinder Josh Dean Josh MacAlister Josh Newbury Josh Simons Julia Buckley Julie Minns Juliet Campbell Justin Madders Kanishka Narayan Karin Smyth Karl Turner Kate Osamor Kate Osborne Katie White Katrina Murray Keir Mather Kenneth Stevenson Kerry McCarthy Kevin Bonavia Kevin McKenna Kim Leadbeater Kirith Entwistle Kirsteen Sullivan Kirsty McNeill Laura Kyrke-Smith Lauren Edwards Lauren Sullivan Laurence Turner Lee Barron Lee Pitcher Leigh Ingham Lewis Atkinson Liam Byrne Liam Conlon Lillian Jones Linsey Farnsworth Lisa Nandy Liz Kendall Liz Twist Lizzi Collinge Lloyd Hatton Lola McEvoy Lorraine Beavers Louise Haigh Lucy Powell Lucy Rigby Luke Akehurst Luke Charters Luke Murphy Luke Myer Luke Pollard Margaret Mullane Marie Rimmer Marie Tidball Mark Sewards Mark Tami Markus Campbell-Savours Martin McCluskey Martin Rhodes Mary Creagh Mary Glindon Matt Bishop Matt Rodda Matt Turmaine Matt Western Matthew Patrick Matthew Pennycook Maureen Burke Maya Ellis Meg Hillier Melanie Onn Melanie Ward Miatta Fahnbulleh Michael Payne Michael Shanks Michael Wheeler Michelle Scrogham Michelle Welsh Mike Reader Mike Tapp Mohammad Yasin Natalie Fleet Natasha Irons Naushabah Khan Navendu Mishra Naz Shah Neil Duncan-Jordan Nia Griffith Nicholas Dakin Nick Smith Nick Thomas-Symonds Noah Law Olivia Bailey Pam Cox Patricia Ferguson Patrick Hurley Paul Davies Paul Foster Paul Waugh Paula Barker Paulette Hamilton Perran Moon Peter Dowd Peter Lamb Peter Prinsley Peter Swallow Phil Brickell Polly Billington Preet Kaur Gill Rachael Maskell Rachel Blake Rachel Hopkins Rachel Taylor Richard Baker Richard Quigley Rosena Allin-Khan Rosie Wrighting Rupa Huq Ruth Cadbury Ruth Jones Sadik Al-Hassan Sally Jameson Sam Carling Sam Rushworth Samantha Dixon Samantha Niblett Sarah Champion Sarah Coombes Sarah Edwards Sarah Hall Sarah Owen Sarah Russell Sarah Sackman Sarah Smith

Satvir Kaur Scott Arthur Sean Woodcock Sharon Hodgson Shaun Davies Simon Opher Sojan Joseph Sonia Kumar Stella Creasy Stephen Doughty Stephen Kinnock Stephen Morgan Stephen Timms Steve Race Steve Reed Steve Witherden Steve Yemm Sureena Brackenridge Tahir Ali Taiwo Owatemi Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Terry Jermy Toby Perkins Tom Collins Tom Hayes Tom Rutland Tonia Antoniazzi Tony Vaughan Torcuil Crichton Torsten Bell Tracy Gilbert Tristan Osborne Tulip Siddiq Valerie Vaz Vicky Foxcroft Warinder Juss Will Stone Yuan Yang Zubir Ahmed

Independent (9 votes)

Alex Easton Apsana Begum Ian Byrne Imran Hussain John McDonnell Mike Amesbury Rebecca Long Bailey Richard Burgon Zarah Sultana

Democratic Unionist Party (5 votes)

Carla Lockhart Gavin Robinson Gregory Campbell Jim Shannon Sammy Wilson

Traditional Unionist Voice (1 vote)

Jim Allister

[scmediafest]

Happy Monday! We’re dropping some groovy fics today, if we do say so ourselves. We’ve got magic, music, love letters, reluctant superheroes, and more! This bunch definitely strikes all the right chords. 

If you’re following along with the daily releases and want to track your progress,  you can find the latest updates in this Google Sheet!

🎵

The Enchantment Umbrage

[David/Patrick - E - 25,361]

The prompt: David Rose has always believed in fairy tales. So it’s no wonder then that he’s spent his career crafting them on the long-running reality dating show Ever After. When the show casts disgraced tech wunderkind Patrick Brewer as its star.

Patrick doesn’t believe in true love, and only agreed to the show as a last-ditch effort to rehabilitate his image. But they begin to open up to each other, and Patrick realizes he has better chemistry with David than with any of his female co-stars. But even reality TV has a script, and in order to find to happily ever after, they’ll have to reconsider whose love story gets told.

From the book blurb for The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochran, which just has a wonderful David and Patrick vibe to it.

*🎵*

you never shined so brightly

[David/Patrick - T - 23,226]

Large, broad hands with silver-ringed fingers stroke at the keys in a blur. Patrick’s eyes trace up the hunched over curve of his spine, clad in a black suit that blends in with the dark ambiance of the room. The man’s lips are parted slightly as he plays, full body leaning into each chord progression.

Patrick’s heart crescendos in his chest at the same time as the melody.

OR

A La La Land AU in which Patrick is the aspiring actor and David is the struggling musician.

*🎵*

Stab: The Elmsboro Murders

[David/Patrick - M - 7,487]

Someone in Elmsboro is terrorizing teens. Finally, the story that journalist David Rose can use to get his big break. If only deputy sheriff Patrick Brewer would answer his questions instead of blocking him at every turn and distracting him with those big, dumb, earnest eyes of his.

*🎵*

always and forever, twyla sands

[Alexis/Twyla - NR - 4,896]

Twyla hasn’t spoken to Alexis Rose in years. Not since she kissed her during a game of spin the bottle in seventh grade, effectively ruining their friendship.

Since then it’s been passive aggressive comments in the hallway over her blouses and disdainful glances in between classes.

Well, except for now.

Because right now, Alexis is standing in front of her, with a confused wide-eyed expression that reminds Twyla of her seventh grade crush on her former best friend. And in her hands is an envelope —

A soft pink envelope covered in Hello Kitty stickers with Alexis’s name written on it in glitter gel pen.

Oh god.

Twyla’s gonna faint.

--

Or To All the Boys I've Loved Before the Twylexis Remix

*🎵*

canned heat in my heels tonight

[Alexis/Twyla - T - 4,130]

@Karen666: I've been watching #DWTS for decades. It has always been family-friendly entertainment. And just like the Biden Administration has ruined everything else, now they and the liberal media have ruined #DWTS!!

@BootyfulBecca: @DancingABC @LilBitAlexis @TwirlingTwyla WHAT'S THE TEAM HASHTAG OMG??

@DancingABC: @BootyfulBecca #LilBitTwylexis is what you're looking for!

The internet has a lot to say about Alexis Rose and Twyla Sands, the first same-sex dance couple on Dancing With The Stars.

*🎵* 

The Kiss That Kills

[David/Patrick - T - 4,074]

When Patrick asks out his long term crush, his best friend David is there to listen to him talk through the details and, when certain doubts emerge, offer some help of his own. Patrick's reaction to David's assistance leads to some surprising revelations.

Written for the SC Media Fest and inspired by the movie Some Kind of Wonderful.

*🎵*

got a knack for burning bridges down

[Alexis/Stevie - T - 3,794]

Stevie Budd is a private investigator and reluctant superhero. Alexis Rose is her childhood best friend and newly powered. They have their issues, but find themselves working a case together.

Inspired by Marvel's Jessica Jones series

*🎵*

Stardust

[David/Patrick - NR - 3,141]

Patrick had just about finished packing his desk; the movers were coming in a few days to bring the contents of the apartment to the cottage. He picked up the rogue books on the bottom shelf of his nightstand then went over to David’s side to do the same, adding the small stack of personal journals David had to his pile. As he turned to the box sitting on his desk, the top journal slipped, weathered spine opening on impact. Placing the remaining tomes in the box, he reached over to retrieve it when he recognized the poem on a taped piece of paper. His fingers grazed the page, heartstrings pulling.

*🎵*

Into your heart I'll beat again

[David/Patrick - M - 1,695]

Patrick is inspired to add a song to their wedding reception playlist without David's approval.

Patrick wants to tell David all about how it makes him feel.

*🎵*

[Podfic] You Can Still Be Free

[David/Patrick - E - 03h:03m:31:s]

There were certainly prescient hints about David’s obligation to follow all commands given to him. For one, his own irritability over wanting to say no sometimes but seemingly being unable to do so.

A modern-day AU in which David is cursed to follow any command he’s given, and the stark, rippling consequences of such a burden. Inspired by Ella Enchanted.

*🎵* 

CREATORS: If your works were released today, please don't forget to update your posting date!