#hence the queen anne's revenge

[tresdem]

One thing I'm really having a fascinating time working on in Never Shall We Die is the subject of race and how it interplays with Ed growing up. Because what I love about OFMD is that race is always a part of the show. It plays into it. It effects the characters of color in ways that it doesn't touch the ones that are not. (and more importantly, not always. They are allowed to be defined as more than just a minority and have personalities and such and their race is only a factor once in a while) But for Ed- I think it's very deliberate the background that he was given, Taika's trend toward father issues aside. XD He was born poor. He was told his place was decided by God (and OFMD and religion is another interesting subject). His options in in life are therefore limited whereas Stede's are more or less limitless. (Not that Stede doesn't suffer in his own way, but it's nevertheless true that he is wealthy enough and white enough to get away with a lot. You can even see this in that Chauncey treats him with more respect than the crew is given because they are more or less peers, but that is another story) So Ed has to sort of force his way upward. To push himself into being more, and being better, and becoming rich. He has a legacy, he has wealth, he can make people piss themselves just by coming into a room. And the sad thing is, it's still not enough. On the merchant ship, he's still called a donkey. On the high society ship, he was seen as fun but ultimately a buffoon and there for entertainment, but not much more. Even though he's the greatest pirate the world has ever known, his skin color and his heritage still define a part of him in a way he can't shake. And I think it's interesting, and difficult sometimes, to explore.

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Ann Sothern (A Letter to 3 Wives, The Blue Gardenia)_ Another unsung comedienne of the 30s and 40s, not enough people know about Ann Sothern. She was, along with her bestie Lucille Ball, originally a Goldwyn gal, but was soon a featured star in pictures. She even headlined a series of films, the Maisie movies. And though she was known for her comedies, but I fell in love with her after her dramatic role in A Letter to 3 Wives. I also absolutely love her in the noir murder mystery The Blue Gardenia. She was absolutely stunning, and I am always excited to find a movie of hers to watch. She's high on my list of "Why don't more people talk about her?" actresses

Ingrid Bergman (Gaslight, Casablanca, Notorious)—Where do I even begin with Ingrid Bergman? I fell in love with her with her astounding performance in the 1956 version of Anastasia -- the best Anastasia movie in large part due to her wonderful and touching performance. She's got this amazing, fascinating intensity to her in whatever role she's in. She commits 100%, and she's got this light in whatever she's in that's stunning. She's utterly convincing no matter what she plays, from an amnesiac possible lost princess, from a nun, from a woman taking her revenge on the town that wronged her, to light romantic comedy. She's never missed in any role I've seen her in! Also she became quite the MILF.

This is round 2 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Ann Sothern:

She was so beautiful and had great comedic timing!

Ingrid Bergman:

God, she's fantastic. She's both beautiful and a compelling actor who's more than capable of putting the whole movie on her shoulders if necessary. It's worth noting that while her beauty is conventional, she was seen as refreshingly "natural" with more eyebrows and less makeup than many other leading ladies of the time. She's well known for her role in Casablanca, but in Notorious, Spellbound, (both available on archive.org ) and Gaslight (1944) she shows how immensely capable she is.

I mean...she's Ingrid Bergman. I feel like that should be enough, you know? She's physically beautiful (her eyes!) but watching her is like a transcendent experience. Her voice, her expressions... beautiful woman, beautiful actor.

I'm a gay man but even I understand her appeal. I'll watch any movie she shows up in. Gorgeous woman.

Just try and watch her movies without sighing wistfully, then get back to me!

Choosing 1-3 movies where Bergman was at her hottest was agony because, of course, she was always at her hottest. Not just because she was beautiful but because she was absolutely willing to go up against the bs women in Hollywood were constantly dealing with. When exiled from Hollywood for having an affair with Roberto Rossellini, not only did she refuse to apologize at any point, but she went on to say that Hollywood's films had grown stagnant and boring to her. Though she said she appreciated her time working there, she wanted to try new, different techniques (hence starring in Italian neorealist films, working on stage, and acting under directors like Ingmar Bergman). She was not afraid to chase after her artistic ideals and go outside the box regardless of what society had to say about it. From her first movie to her last she killed it. There's so much more to say about Bergman's career and life, but I've already written five million words so I'll stop at that.

One of the most incredible actors I've ever seen on film. Her facial expressions are so intricate and poignant that I cannot look away. I'm either ace or straight, but damn she made me question that.

SEVEN TIME OSCAR NOMINEE QUEEN. Girl also PULLED, having affairs with famously hot men Gary Cooper and Gregory Peck IN ADDITION to her three marriages...sexy

She has a very natural beauty to her, and she's from Sweden!

She left Hollywood and only became more beautiful. You could drown in her eyes. She can look innocent AND like she's seen it all. She is effortlessly elegant. She's played Joan of Arc (automatically hot) AND was in the movie that coined gaslight as a term. And where would we be without that!

She was known for being a breath of fresh air on the movie scene at the time with her windswept hair, dreamy smile and soulful eyes. I have loved her in every movie I have seen her in - she was just magnetic!

Where do I even start. There's a neighborly quality to this beautiful, talented actress that makes her hotness one of a kind and her looks impossible to forget

With a career spanning five decades, Bergman is often regarded as one of the most influential screen figures in cinematic history. Known for her naturally luminous beauty, Bergman spoke five languages – Swedish, English, German, Italian and French – and acted in each.

She's hot, don't get me wrong, but I've always found her very approachable, like she could easily be a member of my friend group

A lot of the time hotness in a movie is just about words and framing. "You're the most beautiful person here" [vaseline lens] well I sure hope so because that's who you cast. But when, in Casablanca, they call Ingrid Bergman the most beautiful woman in the world... they were not fucking lying. And such a dynamite actor too!! I'd only seen Casablanca up until last year, and there she's confined to love interest. But in Gaslight she was maybe one of the most incredible actors I've ever seen!!!! Goddddd shes so fucking hot and cool.

[aprofessionalprotagonist]

The Adventures of Captain Orange and Geoff the Accountant

This show is so impeccably crafted. My literary analyst brain cannot stop picking it over. So here's a little something inspired by the way Alma is portrayed.

History says Stede Bonnet was killed in a series of freak accidents in 1717.

It also says Blackbeard was executed for piracy in 1718.

Which is all well and good, 

But for the last fifteen years, Alma Bonnet has received letters from Captain Orange.

The first one arrived a few months after her father’s second exit from her life. In it, Captain Orange explained how he’d found Geoff the Accountant quite distraught by Orange's apparent abandonment. Orange had, after extensive groveling and persistent wooing, managed to convince Geoff to forgive him. Geoff then passed his main business onto Grumpy Pants and began a new venture with Orange. They rechristened their ship ‘Adventure’ and sailed forth from the Caribbean to explore the world. 

(Incidentally, Grumpy Pants only went about four months before so thoroughly pissing off the crew of the ‘Queen Anne’s Revenge’ that they turned him over to the British. Hence, the belief that Blackbeard had been executed.)

There were, of course, letters for her brother and mother as well, but these were shorter and lacking in tales. Alma cherished hers, keeping them in a box under her bed and rereading them when she felt frustrated societal expectations — like corsets and manners and courtship.

Alma was fascinated by the way the crew of ‘Adventure’ actively rejected societal expectations. They funded their travels using what Orange called ‘The Art of Fine Theatrics’ to separate the posh and gullible from their excessive wealth — Geoff apparently had a less polite name for the practice. But nonetheless, they agreed they'd both had enough of bloodshed. Chicanery was far more fun.

Orange would often send Alma drawings, done by Leonardo, his secretary, of the amazing things they’d seen. There were black and white birds that swam rather than flew. Graceful whales and lumbering tortoises. Massive icebergs and mountains of fire.

Her favorite drawing, by far, was of a man who looked far too content to be her father reading aloud from a book, his arm wrapped around a man with long grey hair and a short beard, who leaned sleepily into his side.

Apparently, there had been some sort of falling out between Leonardo and Geoff that took quite a while to mend. Orange passed on several stories of his efforts to get the two on speaking terms again. They got through it eventually though as Leonardo permitted Geoff to co-officiate the ceremony with Orange when Leonardo and Patroclus entered matelouge.

Fury was the fiercest of the crew, and could intimidate just about anyone out of anything. Ironically, Fury’s partner, Clement, was the kindest man on the ship, always looking out for the needs of others. A brilliant negotiator, Orange told many stories of the times Clement had gotten the crew out of a ‘pickle’ with people displeased by their theatrics.

There was Frank, who played the lute and rich fools with equal skill. Toggle, who could speak to birds and steer the ship through any sort of water. Bug, who could make a twelve course dinner to impress the poshest of knobs or stretch scarce rations to keep the crew going through long stretches at sea. Atlas, who could sew any costume they needed and managed the more flammable theatrics. And the Skald, who had the voice of an angel.

Nothing lasts forever, of course. 

Eventually, the letters told tales of members of the crew moving on. Frank met a woman on one of the islands with the fire mountains and decided to stay with her. The Skald joined a traveling opera company. Fury and Clement took in an orphaned child in Buenos Aires, and eventually left to raise her in St Augustine. Leonardo found success selling his art, and set up a gallery in Havana with Patroclus managing the sales.

And in the last letter, Orange shared how he and Geoff had decided they’d traveled enough. They’d decided to settle on the Western most of the Cay islands, running a small bar and shop. They couldn’t bear to part with 'Adventure’ though, so she just sat in the dock.

So, after Alma’s brother’s engagement was announced, and her mother sat her down — not unsympathetically, as she’d been in the same position herself — to explain to her that she either needed to marry for money or live off her brother — Alma decided that maybe there was a third option. 

[racefortheironthrone]

thoughts on The Favorite and its ending?

I generally liked it, although it’s a fairly satirical revisionist take on the period. Godolphin and Malborough were hardly political naifs being directed by Sarah Churchill, nor were their rivals in Parliament utterly dependent on Abigail.

The ending is odd. Thematically, I get the idea that Abigail has achieved her ambition, but found herself just as dependent on the queen’s favour and just as subject to demands on her body as she was at the beginning of her story. Hence the imagery of the rabbits.

As a matter of history, it’s kind of an odd choice, because the story doesn’t end with Sarah and John Churchill on the run. (And to be honest, any issue of Sarah’s peculation was pretty secondary to the fact that John Churchill had been skimming from the army accounts, albeit with royal permission, and doing a little outreach to the Jacobites in case he needed to switch sides again.)

See…the movie ends in late 1712. What it doesn’t show is the Churchills having a grand old time on the continent being feted by European royalty in their German principality - making sure to get in good with the Hanoverians while they’re there - while the Tories tear each other to pieces politically now that the war’s over. This means that when Queen Anne dies in 1714 (which puts a swift end to Abigail Masham’s political career), the Churchills are besties with the new administration and come back to England looking for revenge. The Tory leaders who exiled them end up in the Tower of London or in exile in France, and John Churchill gets one last hurrah in defeating the Jacobite Rising of 1715.

Meanwhile, Sarah ends up writing an incredibly influential set of memoirs which depict Queen Anne as weak, stupid, etc. And it’s those memoirs which become incredibly influential in how history remembers Queen Anne. So in a lot of ways, Sarah Churchill gets the last laugh.  

[hitchell-mope]

Dark curse season three episode titles

The Cult of Alice. Now that she’s got control of the Vorpal sword, Dizzy is the figurehead of a cult dedicated to Alice Liddell. Alice herself (Catherine Zeta-Jones) teaches her the history of the cult. Needless to say Devie doesn’t take to kindly to it. But dizzy shoots them down asking how different or more dangerous could it be than being the queen of witches (Evie) or the saviour (Doug). The flashbacks take place five months ago when Hadie lands in Arendelle and seeks out the help of queen Eloise, Elsa’s niece, (Liz Gillies) in taking his father and brother down

The Lord of Hell. Harry ends up in the fields of Asphodel after his demise. He wills himself to Persephone’s palace and demands his spot on the throne. Hadie’s immortality was stripped by hades and given to Harry making the first mate his mother’s heir. Therefore. Harry is the rightful lot of hell (hence the title). Persephone can do nothing but reluctantly let him sit on the throne. Flashback. Rene (Stefanie Scott) faces her mother Rosemary (Jennifer Morrison) for the first time in years

The tinkers. Tinker bell centered. She (Leven Rambin) finally meets Terence (Lucas Till) for the first time since the curse happened. Both present day Auradon and the flashbacks cover their story. At the end of the episode just before the smoke engulfs him Terence tells her to “keep the boy safe”. The boy in question is Peter Pan. Who is currently in care because of Uma’s old revenge plan

The Lost Boys. This episode recounts Peter Pan’s history before the curse. No Wendy here though. It’s mostly his run ins with hook and his adventures with Harriet Harry and Cj (who here take the place of Wendy John and Michael) each time he and the Captain fight one more of the Hook siblings join their fathers side until only Harry is left. And eventually even he leaves Neverland with Uma

Hellfire. Harry’s return to Auradon. With his sister stepmother and Charon in tow. He’s pleasantly surprised to find that Hadie is nowhere to be found. But he’s heartbroken to see that Uma is now friends with Mal

The return. Hadie comes back to Auradon with Eloise (Liz Gillies) who offers her help in taking out Wilhelmina (Victoria Justice) and Rosemary (Jennifer Morrison). The ice queen and the white tyrant immediately dislike each other. Wilhelmina sees her as weak and ineffectual. Eloise sees her as needlessly bitchy and cranky. Rosemary tries to diffuse the tension (read: tries to kill Eloise) but the ice queen escapes. Meanwhile Hadie and Harry duke it out to the tune of this is Halloween by Marilyn Manson

The nanny. Uma makes Mal and Ben reprimand Hadie. So now he’s the nanny for all children in Auradon. Dizzy Squeaky Squirmy and Nimue (Millie Bobby Brown). In flashbacks Hadie first meets Harry and Mal. By discovering the reason hades left him and his mother Danae (Anne Hathaway)

The dwarven vanguard. Doug and his cousins are the focus of this episode. Auradon parts have Sadie’s wedding to CJ Hook. The flashbacks focus on Doug’s attempt to plan his own wedding to Evie over a decade ago in la bete.

Poor sweet child. Peter Pan (Jacob Tremblay) is still in care. He can feel himself aging with every passing day and he hates it. The flashbacks follow how James lost his hand.

Cousins. This episode follows the childhood of Rene (Stefanie Scott) and Wilhelmina (Victoria Justice). Their mothers are constantly at odds with Rosemary (Jennifer Morrison) threatening to expose Willow’s (Lana Parrilla) affair with the mad hatter. Which resulted in Taran Hightopp (Charlie Rowe)

Celia. Uma’s half sister (via Facillier) arrives having used a hatters hat to dimension hop into our world. This reveal sends Jane off on a tirade demanding to know if anyone else has secret siblings who could cause trouble. Celia has a way to defeat Wilhelmina. But it’ll take the combined powers of Hadie Harry and Mal to do so. Mid season finale

Tarot. This mostly focuses on Celia bonding with Dizzy the twins and Nimue. When she’s not sending the adults into a panic with her voodoo fortune telling

Arachne. A “what do they fear” episode for Harry. Turns out one of the undead he releases for his underworld army was Arachne the spider goddess. And she’s pissed off at being disturbed from her eternity of boredom. In flashback it’s shown why Harry’s scared of spiders. The boo box, how James punished him, was filled with spiders (non venomous) but the enclosed space and the sheer number of them scarred him for life

Nottingham. This focuses on Silas of Nottingham (David Mazouz). In Auradon he’s interrogated for information by Ben Evie and Carlos. In flashback his father (David Harbour) teaches him that only the gentry are worth his time. If they’re poor. Make sure they know they don’t matter. Then the sheriff loses his life in a duel to Robin Hood (Ben Barnes). And Silas vows revenge

Family. Celia trains Mal Hadie and Harry to work together to defeat Wilhelmina. Hadie’s necromancy. Harry’s pyromania. Mal’s chlorokinesis. Celia notes that if all else fails Mal can always send Wilhelmina into a death sleep. In flashback Celia learns voodoo at her fathers knee. He promised her that when the time came she would be the new dark one. Keep it in the family so to speak.

Wilhelmina. Death in the limelight for the white tyrant. Flashbacks show her drawn to her aunts vileness. Her death sees her wrapped in thorny vines (Mal) dunked in Lethe and Cocytus water (Harry) and finally dragged down to hell my zombies (Hadie).

Blood for blood. Rosemary vows revenge on the children of hades for doing away with Wilhelmina. By targeting the two things they all care about. The Smee twins. Flashbacks show how gilumarry adopted the twins

Safe house. Evie’s on babysitting duty. Squeaky and Squirmy just want to know why their mother is crying all the time. And why their papa is angry at uncle Hadie and aunt Mal. Meanwhile Ben tries to play mediator between his wife and her brothers. Rosemary has gone full on child catcher in her attempts to get the twins. The episode ends with Hadie yet again crossing the line where Harry’s concerned. And he wakes up in his fathers palace with his teeth kicked in

Imprisoned. Two hander this time. No flashbacks. Just Harry torturing his older brother they also get in a good talk. That goes absolutely nowhere because they’re both stubborn mules. It ends with Harry getting a panicked call from Uma saying the twins beds are empty

Showdown. Carlos has had enough of being on the sidelines. He knows his pack was brought over in the curse cause he can hear the midnight bark. So he assembles them. And assures Uma they’ll get the twins back. He personally carries them out of the warehouse on his back before his subjects tear Rosemary limb from limb. When asked why he saved them by Uma he replies that they’re his nephews as well. Flashbacks take place just after Smee’s death and just before Harry’s decision to take the twins in

Break the slumber. Hades reveals that one of Mal’s longest running spells is coming to an end. Adam is awake in la bete. And he’s pissed. The flashbacks show how belle and Adam reacted to Ben becoming the dark one. It’s not pretty

Home again. Bal leave Auradon to face Adam (Guy Pearce). He’s still in his castle. Obsessing over plans to as he puts it “make the worlds safe for mortals all over”. He plans to round up every single magical creature good and bad. And place them on an island of his own creation. Cut off from food. From magic. From basic human decency. Until only regular humans are left. Ben points out the absurdity of this plan of course. But his father is too far gone. In th morning Ben finds the dagger gone and Mal wrapped in iron chains with her wings slashed. Adam’s gone to Auradon. And he’s putting his plan into affect

[krinsbez]

Book Recommendations: Da Big List, Fiction Edition

Well, I said I’d do more book recs, so here we go...

(note that some of the series recs are out of date, with additional installments written since I previously updated the list) 

-Devil's Cape by Rob Rogers is the single best work of superhero prose I have ever read. -The Six-Gun Tarot by R. S. Belcher, in which the unusual inhabitants of a Wild West town (a sheriff who can't die, a deputy who's the son of Coyote, a housewife who used to be an assassin, and more) fight an Eldritch Abomination. Has two sequels, The Shotgun Arcana and The Queen of Swords -"Craft Sequence" series (six books and counting, starting with either Three Parts Dead or Last First Snow, depending on whether you want to read 'em in publication or chronological order, respectively), by Max Gladstone. Set in a modern-esque fantasy world that runs on corporate necromancy and "applied theocracy", the first (in publication order) involves a junior associate in a necromancy firm having to investigate the murder of the god who powers a steampunk city. -The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, in which the half-goblin Unfavorite son of the Elven Emperor is unexpectedly raised to the throne after his father and half-brothers die in a zeppelin crash. -Daughter of the Sword by Steve Bein, in which a Tokyo policewoman catches a case that involves a Yakuza power struggle and a trio of magic swords, with extensive flashbacks (as in, they ultimately take up about half of the book) to the history of said swords. Has a sequel, Year of the Demon, in which the heroine goes up against a cult revolving around a mask tied to the swords. Also, more flashbacks. Now has a third sequel, Disciple of the Wind; there are also a couple of eNovellas, which I haven't read. -Eifelheim by Michael Flynn, in which a Renaissance-era village in Germany interact with a group of aliens whose ship crashed nearby. -Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, in which the last remnant of a space warship's AI seeks revenge on the ones who blew up the rest of her and...find out why they did it. Has two sequels, Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Mercy. -The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont, in which the creators of Doc Savage and The Shadow team-up with each other (and L. Ron Hubbard and someone else who is a minor spoiler) on an actual pulp adventure involving Nazi spies, a Chinese warlord, and something which is actually a BIG spoiler. Has a sequel, The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown, in which Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and L. Sprague De Camp investigate Tesla's final invention. -Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart, in which Master Li, a sage "with a slight flaw in his character", is hired by an immensely strong peasant named Number Ten Ox to investigate a mysterious plague afflicting his village in a "China that never was". Has two sequels, The Story of the Stone and Eight Skilled Gentlemen that are greatly inferior but still enjoyable. -The Kitty Norville books by Carrie Vaughn (15 books starting with Kitty and the Midnight Hour; the count includes a short-story collection and a side-novel starring a secondary character), about the host of a midnight radio show in Denver, who is also a newly turned werewolf. One night, instead of playing random music, she starts talking about the supernatural. Then vampires and other werewolves start calling in... -The Inspector Chen novels by Liz Williams (6 books starting with Snake Agent), about a police detective in a near future Singapore who investigates mysteries that require him to liaise with the Chinese versions of Hell and Heaven. -"Barsoom" series by Edgar Rice Burroughs (11 books, starting with A Princess of Mars): The ur-text of the Planetary Romance sub-genre, one of the definitional texts of soft SF. Rollicking adventures with epic characters in a marvelously imagined world. Long story short; a Civil War vet on the verge of death is astrally projected to not-yet-dead Mars, befriends a group of warlike natives, falls in love with the Princess of another, and turns the whole planet upside down in the name of love. Then he has kids... -"Lensman" series by E. E. "Doc" Smith (6 books; starting with either Triplanetary or Galactic Patrol, depending on your preferences): The granddaddy of all Space Operas, a triumphant example of power creep. The forces of Order and Chaos war for the fate of the universe, using the ultimate police force and an army of space pirates as proxies. -Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon: An exploration of the future evolution of mankind. Starting in the '30s with the then-current state of the "First Men" (that is to say, Homo sapiens sapiens) until the extinction of the "Last Men" millions of years hence. Redefines epic scope. -Star-Maker by Olaf Stapledon: A companion of sorts to Last and First Men, except with with the scope turned up to eleven, covering billions of years and the entire universe. -Slan by A. E. Van Vogt: Jommy Cross is a Slan, an evolved human possessed of superior physical and mental abilities. Years ago, the Slans took over the world, but their regime was overthrown and now the Slans are hunted. When Jommy's parents are killed, he must learn to survive in a world that hates and fears him...or does it? Jampacked with twists and turns, not to mention being the archetypical "mutant hunt" novel. -Voyage of the Space Beagle by A. E. Van Vogt: The best and brightest of man's scientific minds have been sent into space to explore strange new worlds, and then figure out how to keep the life-forms they encounter from killing them. A rip-roaring tale of of space exploration, alien monsters, and an omnicompetent protagonist. Not only was it a major influence on Star Trek, one episode is the basis for Alien. -"Demon Princes" series by Jack Vance (5 books starting with The Star King): Years ago, the five most dangerous criminals in the known universe joined together to murder or enslave the inhabitants of a small colony. Now the sole survivor is hunting them down one-by-one across the galaxy... The narrative is a great combination of action and mystery, and the setting is full of all manner of interesting worlds and civilizations. -"Planet of Adventure" series by Jack Vance (4 books, starting with City of the Chasch): An Earthman crash-lands on a planet inhabited by four alien species, and the humans they've enslaved, travels the world to find a way home. A marvelous exploration of the concept of Blue-And-Orange Morality. -"Sector General" series by James White (12 books, starting with Hospital Station): Life aboard a massive, multi-species hospital space station in a deeply idealistic 'verse with one of the most diverse bunch of aliens ever devised. The first six books are mostly collections of short stories featuring medical mysteries solved by Dr. Conway (the primary exception is the second book, which is mostly a novella set against the backdrop of an interstellar war and brilliantly inverts the "Hard Man Making Hard Decisions" trope), as he goes from being a trainee to one of the hospital's elite, while the latter six are novels featuring an assortment of characters. -"Cobra" series by Timothy Zahn (9 books and counting, starting with Cobra): A multi-generational tale of super-soldiers in war and peace, with a healthy helping of interstellar diplomacy. A really interesting take on MilSF, where out-of-the-box thinking takes center stage. -"Quadrail" series by Timothy Zahn (5 books, starting with Night Train To Rigel): Frank Compton, former agent of the human government, finds himself working for the mysterious aliens who run the local 'verse's sole form of interstellar travel; a train in space called the Quadrail. Intrigue, action, and plot twists abound, including one of the best Heel Face Turns I have ever encountered. -"Stainless Steel Rat" series by Harry Harrison (11 books, starting with The Stainless Steel Rat, and one short story, which can be found in the collection Stainless Steel Visions). In a far future where mankind has spread across the stars, crime has been eliminated. Well, that's what the authorities would like you to believe; in truth there are still a small handful of individuals maladjusted enough to commit crimes and smart enough to get away with them. James Bolivar "Slippery Jim" Digriz, the Stainless Steel Rat, may be the smartest of them all, a white collar thief and con artist who's almost pathological disregard for law and authority is balanced by a surprisingly strong moral code. Which is why when he is finally caught, the authorities put him to work catching criminals who lack those morals. This is classic SF comedy, with a surprising amount of pathos at points. -"The Parasol Protectorate" series by Gail Carriger (five books, starting with Soulless). A humorous and exciting tale of love, intrigue, mad scientists, and fashion in an alternate Victorian era where the British Empire's power derives from steampunk technology, werewolf soldiers, and vampire politicians. Has a sequel series, "The Custard Protocol" (3 books and counting, starting with Prudence) revolving around the daughter of the original protagonist. Has a YA prequel spinoff, "Finishing School" (4 books, starting with Ettiquette and Espionage) revolving around a teenager who is recruited by a boarding school that trains spies. There are, in addition, a manga adaptation of the first couple books. -Ports of Call by Jack Vance. Myron Tany has always dreamed of traveling the Gaean Reach. When his eccentric aunt acquires a spaceship, it seems his dream has come true...until she ends up marooning him on random planet. Fortunately, Myron is able to obtain a position as supercargo aboard the merchant ship Glicca. The story does not really have a plot per se, consisting primarily of a series of marvelous picaresque vignettes as Myron and his crew-mates travel to different worlds delivering cargo, trying to acquire additional cargo, and periodically running afoul of bizarre local customs. The book just kinda stops at one point, and resumes in a second book, entitled Lurulu. I'm not really describing this well, but they're both very fun, beautifully written books. -The Green and the Gray by Timothy Zahn. A night on the town for a young New York couple takes a turn for the weird when they are forced, at gunpoint, to take custody of a 12-year old girl. They soon find themselves enmeshed in a secret Cold War between two alien races that have secretly been living in the city for generations...a Cold War that is threatening to turn hot. -The Rook by Daniel O'Malley. A young woman awakens surrounded by corpses with no memory of who she is. In her pocket is a letter from her pre-amnesia self, one Myfanwy Thomas. It seems that Myfanwy was a senior bureaucrat for the covert organization in charge of controlling magic and other such weirdness in Britain, and that her amnesiac state is something that was done to her. Myfanwy must therefore investigate the mystery of precisely who that is, while simultaneously do a job about which she knows nothing, without letting anyone realize what's happened to her. Ha a sequel, Stiletto, though I cannot explain the plot without spoiling the previous book. -Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed. A tale in which an elderly demon-hunting cleric and his paladin assistant team-up with a shape-shifting barbarian girl and husband and wife alchemists to prevent an undead villain unleash an ancient evil, while trying not get involved between the conflict between the tyrannical ruler of their city and a gentleman thief-turned-revolutionary. Did I mention that the cleric's spells invoke the name of Allah, the paladin is a dervish, the barbarian is a Bedouin, and the whole setting draws it's cues not from Tolkien but the Arabian Nights? -"White Trash Zombie" by Diana Rowland (6 books and counting, starting with My Life As a White Trash Zombie). Angel Crawford is an unemployed high school dropout in rural Louisiana with a deadbeat dad, an asshole boyfriend, a drug habit, and no future. After one particularly wild night of drinking and drugging, she gets into a devastating car accident...and wakes up in the hospital without a scratch on her to find that an unknown benefactor has arranged for her to have a job at the Coroner's Office. Which is good because she now has a hankering for brains... -Under the Moons of Mars: New Adventures on Barsoom edited by John Joseph Adams. Exactly what is says on the tin, a collection of original stories set on Barsoom by an assortment of writers. As with any anthology, quality is a bit uneven; some of the stories are excellent Original Flavor pastiches, some are deconstructions or parodies, one or two are just bad. But all in all a great collection. -Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs edited by Mike Resnick and Robert T. Garcia. Same basic idea, but for the entire Burroughs oevure, including some of his non-SFnal work. -"Winter of the World" series by Michael Scott Rohan (two trilogies, the first starting with The Anvil of Ice, the second place taking place before the first and in another part of the world, and which I haven't been able to get my hands on ), an epic fantasy taking place against the backdrop of an Ice Age, in which a young man rises from slavery to become the most powerful smith-cum-magician the world has ever known, and together with some companions fights to defeat the sinister primal forces that wish to cover the world in glaciers forever. Much less generic than it sounds, even without going into the appendixes which reveal the real(ish) science behind quite a bit of the magic. -"Spiral Arm" series by Michael Flynn (4 books, starting with The January Dancer). Moderately Irish-flavored space opera, the first book tells the tale of of how a random space captain found a pre-human artifact, of the various hands said artifact passed into, and the conflicts that sprung up in it's wake. The second book turns the first's framing sequence into an epic of it's own, as a young bard hunts down the truth of her parentage. The series notably involves massive retcons with each volume, revealing that what we thought was going on was actually something else, but does so in a way that's compelling rather than irritating. -Dr. Jay Hosler is an entomologist who has written four edutational graphic novels for children (Clan Apis, The Sandwalk Adventures, Optical Allusions, and Last of the Sandwalkers). I've read three and they are amazing. In Clan Apis, a young honeybee desperately searches for her place in the hive, and ultimately finds an unorthodox solution. In The Sandwalk Adventures, an elderly Charles Darwin tries to convince a follicle mite living in his eyebrow that he's not God, by teaching him about evolution. In Last of the Sandwalkers (no relation)...honestly, the story contains so much epic awesomeness, I just want to list it, but it's all spoilers; suffice to say that the title character is A: a beetle, B: could give Sam Carter and Agatha Heterodyne a run for their money in the mad science department, and C: leads an expedition to explore the unknown and along the way discovers truths about her family and the nature of her people's civilization that some people really don't want her to (also you learn stuff about beetles). -Nightwise by R. S. Belcher. Years ago, Laytham Ballard was the Golden Boy of the occult underworld sub-culture. That was a LONG time ago, and no one would ever mistake Laytham for golden. But he's not so much of a bastard that he'll refuse the last request of one of his few remaining friends. What was supposed to be a simple revenge killing, however, turns out to be a lot more complicated and a lot more dangerous than Laytham ever imagined. Has a sequel, The Night Dahlia, which I have yet to read. -Brotherhood of the Wheel by R. S. Belcher. Jimmy Aussapile is an independent trucker, hauling cargo cross-country to support his pregnant wife and teenage daughter; he is also a member of a secret order descended from the Knights Templar that protects the highways of America from monsters both human and not. An encounter with a hitchhiking ghost finds him heading off on a quest, in which he joins forces with the heir apparent of monster-fighting outlaw biker gang who's military service unleashed some serious inner demons, and a State Trooper who's determination to solve a series of child abductions leads her to go rogue. Together, they must battle an ancient evil involving serial killers, human sacrifice, and Black-Eyed Kids. Note that it's loosely tied to Nightwise, in which Jimmy shows up in one scene as a minor side character; meanwhile, an off-hand reference to Laytham is made at one point in Brotherhood, and a minor plot thread in the later novel relates to a major plot thread in the earlier. They aren't even the same genre, with Nightwise being urban fantasy noir instead of horror. All in all, one doesn't have to have read one to enjoy the other,

[anneboleynresearch]

Anne in Faction

“’[The great lords of the council] knew right well that it was difficult for them to do anything directly of themselves, wherefore they perceiving the great affection the king bare lovingly unto Mistress Anne Boleyn, fantasying in their heads that she should be for them a sufficient and apt instrument to bring their malicious purpose to pass; with whom they often consulted in this matter. And she having both a very good wit, and also an inward desire to be revenged of the cardinal, was agreeable to their requests...’

“Faction in Tudor England...was crucial in Tudor politics and vital to an understanding of the career of Anne Boleyn...faction is the form politics habitually takes when its focus is the will of one man...Direct opposition to that individual will is impossible...The loyal way to compete for benefit and for authority over policy is to seek gain the ruler’s goodwill...royal favour. That opens the way to advance particular policies which...the ruler will make his own and give the authority to execute...only a very few people reach a position to compete directly for royal favour, but because...a monarch’s decision was so relevant to so much, that minority was pressed to solicit favour for third parties, which they were willing to do, partly in return for material rewards and partly for status and prestige...the test of sufficiency being the ability to persuade the king. 

“Henry was always in authority; he was nobody’s fool; at times he did lead and he could not be taken for granted. But he was also significantly dependent on those around him, for reassurance and...for ideas as well. He was also vulnerable to pressure...His will remained dominant; when he decided, that was final. But the crucial question was, ‘Who had he been listening to?’...on the right issues and in the right emotional circumstances he was vulnerable and men calculated accordingly. So did Anne Boleyn. 

“The ties in Tudor faction were organic...emerged from the realities of family relationships..., friendship and antagonism, locality, sponsorship, and upbringing...factional alignments intersected like sets in mathematics, and with an individual having principal loyalties to one group and ancillary...links elsewhere...links could exist in three dimensions, with superiors, with inferiors, and with equals. Factions also varied in durability. Some groupings, some antagonisms, lasted for years, yet because the ultimate concern was to promote objectives in and through individuals, calculations could alter as circumstances changed...Anne Boleyn’s fall was a consequence of precisely such a recalculation among some of her supporters. 

“Issues of principle and policy...were not, as in modern party, expressed in open political alignment and debate. Rather, they were personalized...as Henry’s pursuit of a divorce produced increasing tension between the Church and State in England and between England and Rome, support for traditional religion came to be expressed as support for Katherine and Mary and again vise versa. Likewise, acceptance of Anne meant hostility to Rome and...acceptance of royal supremacy over the church. 

“In 1527 Katherine of Aragon enjoyed support of one of the most enduring factions of the time. Its origins went back to the reign of Henry VIII, and...it is...described as ‘the Stafford-Neville’, later ‘the Neville-Courtenay’ connection, after the principal families involved. In the early years of Henry VIII’s reign, its members were among the most prominent courtiers, with Edward Stafford, duke of Buckingham, Henry Stafford, his brother (later earl of Wiltshire), George Neville, Lord Burgavenny, and his brother Sir Edward Neville, always around the king and his young wife. Toward the second decade of the century, George Neville married Buckingham’s daughter Mary, a former lady-in-waiting to the queen, and at some time both families contracted alliances with another important group, the Pole family. The matriarch of that family, Margaret Pole, countess of Salisbury, was a close friend to Katherine of Aragon; her second son, Reginald, was being groomed at the king’s expense for high office in the English Church; her cousin, Henry Courtenay, earl of Devon, was one of the king’s intimates...and his second wife, Gertrude (also one of Katherine’s ladies), was daughter to William Blount, Lord Mountjoy, chamberlain to the queen, by his wife Inez, one of the attendants who had come with her from Spain. The faction had lost ground to Wolsey after 1514 and in 1521 had suffered a massive blow when Buckingham was executed and Burgavenny, Edward Neville, the countess of Salisbury and her eldest son, Henry, Lord Montagu, all fell into disfavor. But the faction survived and recovered somewhat as the 1520s progressed; the countess became governess to Princess Mary while Henry Courtneay was raised to the rank of marquis of Exeter and appointed as one of the two noblemen serving in the privy chamber. As Queen Katherine came under threat, the Neville-Courtenay connection was in a position to give her very powerful support, and Exeter and Montagu would live to be among the peers who condemned Anne to death. 

“Anne...[had] less than she would have had two years earlier. In June 1525 Sir Thomas Boleyn had at least achieved his peerage, but this had meant giving up the vital court post of treasurer of the household. Seven months later, George lost his formal position in the privy chamber as a result of the Eltham reorganization. Both men...remained part of the king’s intimate circle, and...former admirer, Wyatt, had returned from Italy and was in high favour with the king. Yet three men...were not enough and Anne set out to gain more. She did everything she could to secure the support of her brother-in-law William Carey -- hence the business of the appointment to Wilton. Another of the gentlemen of the privy chamber was Sir Thomas Cheney, whom Anne may already have encountered as a fellow resident in Kent. She first intervened on his behalf in March 1528, when he was in disgrace to Wolsey. 

“A more serious problem over Cheney arose some months later, when the sweat carried off the stepson of another privy chamber gentleman, Sir John Russell. The young man, John Broughton, had been in service to Wolsey and had left 700 pounds in chattels and substantial lands in Bedfordshire, so that his two sisters were considerable heiresses. The younger, Katherine, was under age, but Russell’s wife was frantic to keep her daughter, and Sir John went to work at once to get Wolsey to sell the wardship to the family. He had good hopes...but Cheney and another gentleman of the privy chamber, Sir John Wallop, were pressing the king and Anne Boleyn for support in securing both girls. Russell, therefore, mobilized Wolsey’s contact man in the privy chamber, Thomas Heneage, and Thomas Arundel...to intercede on his behalf and so secure from the cardinal the wardship of Katherine Broughton, as well as confirmation that her elder sister Anne was now of age. Cheney and Wallop...carried the day...and Henry promised Anne Broughton to Sir Thomas and Katherine to Sir John. This put Wolsey in great difficulty -- he was already in the king’s bad books over the Wilton affair -- but fortunately for him a blazing row broke out between Cheney and Russell and the king decided that his candidate had gone too far...

“What part Anne played in all this is not known, but she was active on Cheney’s behalf when the matter erupted again in January 1529 in a confrontation between him and Wolsey...insisting that the king’s promise of Anne Broughton should be honoured, Cheney offended the minister and was rusticated, only to be brought to court by Anne and with many harsh words against the cardinal. In May Wolsey gave up his effort to direct Anne Broughton’s marriage and she apparently passed into Cheney’s control, eventually becoming his wife. The cardinal did retain wardship of the younger sister, Katherine, and the king paid Wallop 400 pounds in compensation. Yet...the compromise...did not last long. On Wolsey’s fall, Katherine’s wardship was granted to Anne Boleyn’s grandmother, and not long afterwards the girl was married to Anne’s uncle, Lord William Howard. 

“Anne was beginning to collect allies among existing members of the king’s immediate entourage, and...she also had some influence on admission to the privy chamber...June 1527, when a post as gentleman of the privy chamber was given to Richard Page, who was later to be one of her loyal supporters...In January 1528 Nicholas Carewe was recruited...he would be one of Anne’s bitterest enemies...Wallop was appointed at the same time...Thomas Heneage, whom Wolsey had insinuated into the department some weeks after Carewe and Wallp, was certainly persona grata with Anne...Then there is the case of Francis Bryan, whom the king ‘took into his privy chamber’ on 25 June...Bryan had ever credential for court office already, and Anne was away from court when he was appointed. Yet one must note that Bryan was a replacement for Anne’s brother-in-law, William Carey, who had died of the sweat, and he was soon on the way to France to escort...the impatiently awaited Campeggio...These reveal a strong supporter of Anne, confidently presuming on his family relationship with her. Bryan may not have needed Anne’s help to become a gentleman of the privy chamber again, but there is at least good reason to suspect that Henry knew that Anne would be pleased at the appointment...

“There is no other similar insight into Anne’s Boleyn’s relations int he 1520s with other powerful groups and individuals at court...The possible exception is her uncle, now duke of Norfolk. He had...wanted to exploit Anne in 1520-1 to extricate himself from his job in Ireland, and it would have been obvious for a man like Thomas Howard to see what he could gain from the king’s interest in her. He was already finding it less easy to accept Wolsey’s frustrating dominance than had his father...and in 1525 when royal taxation had provoked unrest in Suffolk, he and Brandon had made joint...attempts to bypass the cardinal and get their instructions directly from Henry...

“...in the summer of 1527, when the international situation made it important to send an embassy to France...

“...During the cardinal’s absence...Anne did agree to marry Henry...

“...when Wolsey returned to court on 30 September he had a worse shock. The long-standing custom had been to warn the king that he had arrived, and to ask for a private appointment in the privy chamber to report on his mission. When the cardinal’s man arrived, it was to find...that ‘the king had with him in his chamber a certain lady called Anna de Bolaine who appears to have little good will toward the cardinal, and before the king could respond to a message she said “where else should he come, except where the king is?”‘ Henry indulgently agreed, and Wolsey found himself playing gooseberry to a courting couple and trying to talk diplomacy at the same time. He also realized how wrong he had been. He had gone to France ignoring Anne as a flirtation, and confident that a divorce would free Henry to marry a French princess; he now knew things were serious for him...”

[studyhelianthus]

A Pirate Story: Boca Raton Legends.

La Boca del Ratón and/or “Thieves’ Inlet”!?

If Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue and ‘discovered’ America in 1492, then Florida was ‘saved’ by Latin American culture, since the English saw the land as temporarily reserved. 

My analogy of  Queen Nur ‘s re-telling of a latino folktale, sometimes called The Barking Mouse:  Boca Raton got it’s name ‘La Boca del Ratón’ or ‘The Mouse’s Mouth’, because when there were pirates smuggling things passed the rugged rocks within the lagoon and into Spanish American colonies it was essential to know at least two languages. For the Contraband (Colonial Spanish America) smuggling, fraud, illicit commerce, and illegal trade were vital elements for the economic success, the growth of the contraband’s income and it’s total market value of goods and services. 

ROWF!! GGROOWFF! ROWF!! WARF! Heh. Para- language is based on pairing the sound/tone, speed, quality/intensity, and onomatopoeia (or creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests sounds that are not real words, like “oooh”) with one’s spoken language and physical features, such as facial expressions, like a smirk, or gestures, like pointing. Other methods of communication beyond spoken languages are written language, kinesics or  body movements and gestures, and proxemics or personal space. So, when the mouse barks in the book by Antonio Sacre called, The Barking Mouse, think of how different forms of communication can drive out the darkness with the light of understanding.

Lingua Franca is a pidgin, a simplified version of one language that combines the vocabulary of a number of different languages. A trade language is a third language used by numerous communities around the Mediterranean, to communicate with diverse groups of people in different countries. Creole languages, such as Portuguese, become the primary language of an area when a pidgin is used frequently over the period. Cape Verdean Creole is the most widely-spoken Portuguese-based creole languages. Understanding is at the roots of love; those who don’t attempt to overcome language barriers to power through ‘effective communication’, burn their country’s soil, so that no one ever grows. 

Pirates began raiding the Florida’s coast when the Spanish, the first Europeans, settled here in the 1500′s. When pirates were given permission to raid and pillage Florida towns on behalf of a government, they were called privateers; therefore, Christopher Columbus was a privateer, a legal private! The English established their first colony at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, and the Pilgrims - founders of the New Plymouth Colony (meaning "mouth of the River Plym") - arrived to Massachusetts in 1620; in consequence, the Native Americans began to perish. By 1650, England had formed a dominant presence on the Atlantic coast. 

More than 50 years before the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, the first true Thanksgiving took place in St. Augustine, Florida.  According to the National Park Service, La Florida was first influenced by Spanish traditions from the Iberian peninsula. The culture that emerged in the colonial New World was a mixture of European, African, and local Native customs. "Latinized" America at the time became a diverse, capable, and complex society. As stated in the proceedings of the Annual International Native American Language Issues (NALI), Effective Language Education Practices and Native Language Survival, the United States has been the home of more bilinguals than any other nation in world history. We have been living in the home of more bilinguals than any other country in the world, way before the 1988 Florida Official English Amendment: the passing of English-only laws.

The Spanish were open to having interracial marriages between the natives (Timucua) and the colonists, because it was a way of survival, and without it the colonies may have not lasted long; therefore, it was essential to know at least two languages. The genocide of the Taíno (Arawaks) - the native people of the northern Caribbean (present-day Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, etc.) - took place between 1492-1518, when the Spanish were led by Christopher Columbus. They killed men, women, children, and even babies; genocide and disease wiped out approximately 3 million of the 3.5 million inhabitants of Hispaniola. In the event of the Spanish missions in Florida, the souls of the Timucua were saved. The native people were transformed into loyal Catholic subjects of the Spanish crown, and mixed-race people were placed below the pure Spanish and above the pure natives. 

In 1566, Martín de Argüelles was the first child born of European ancestry recorded in the Spanish settlement of Saint Augustine, Spanish Florida. His parents were Martín de Argüelles (Sr.) and Leonor Morales.  His father, Martín Argüelles Sr., was one of the privateers who came to ‘New Spain’ or  ‘La Florida’ in the New World with Captain General Pedro Menéndez de Avilés in 1565. During the development of the ‘New World’, money really seemed to be the root of all evil, but before the global possession of the Leprechaun, we were always enchanted by the ‘Demon of Fear’. Fear incites the rejection of diversity and a belief in scarcity. For this reason, ancient wars were fought for commodities and land or territory. Now, the monetary system controls us and plays on our fears by triggering a real sense of scarcity and hierarchical power, which sets the stage for competition and warfare. 

Nevertheless, the Spanish colonized American because they were in search for gold and silver, but they didn’t find anything. In spite of that, the Spanish accumulated their riches when they conquered the Aztec in Central America during the Spanish–Aztec War (1519–21), and Inca Empires in South America. They were able to colonize the south after ambushing and seizing the Inca’s ruler,  Atahualpa, in the 1532 Battle of Cajamarca, and engrossing themselves in 40 years of war which ended in 1572. Spanish was the official language of New Spain, and those who did not know it sought Nahuatl-speaking priests to communicate with Spanish rulers. Nahuatl, a native American language spoken by the Aztec, was the ‘Lingua Franca’ throughout Spanish North America, as it was used in trade and the courts. As stated by  Legends and Chronicles - a site dedicated to ancient history and mythology - King Philip II of Spain decreed in 1570 that Nahuatl become the official language of the colonies of New Spain, in order to facilitate communication between the natives of the colonies. 

Florida Memory, the state archives of Florida, documents the first arrival of African slaves to St. Augustine in 1581. Not too long after, the first permanent English settlement in North America, Jamestown Colony, would be established on May 14, 1607.  The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), writes that fugitive slaves were escaping from enslavement in the Carolinas and Georgia to Florida for sanctuary and freedom. Sometime between March and November of 1738, the Spanish settlers in Florida formed a town named Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, two miles to the north of St. Augustine. Spanish Florida was now the African-American slaves’ first Promised Land. Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose was a free black settlement that came to be known as Fort Mose. 

BLACKBEARD

Well... As the legend goes, approximately three years after an English pirate named Blackbeard, Edward Teach or Edward Thatch, fought in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), he wrecked havoc in the Gulf of Mexico amongst Spanish merchant’s ships; thereafter, he became known at the ‘El Gran Diablo’ (Spanish for ‘The Great Devil’). El Gran Diablo’s low-spirited crew were still dissatisfied; they wanted gold, so they sailed to the Florida coast to retrieve the treasures from the Spanish fleet that was previously wrecked in 1715.

The 1715 Treasure Fleet or Spanish Treasure Convoy was use to transport European goods annually from metropolitan Spain (’the mother country’) to the Spanish colonies in the Americas, such as, gold and silver. This fleet was seen as the holy grail and an irresistible target for ruthless pirates. Nevertheless, on July 31, 1715, seven days after departing from Havana, Cuba, eleven out of twelve ships were lost in a hurricane near present-day Vero Beach, Florida.

Now, ‘El Gran Diablo’ and his crew wanted to take possession of the remainder, but scavengers had already taken what was visible to the naked eye. Eventually, he moved north and when we reached the Topsail Inlet, on June, 3, 1718, his flagship - the Queen Anne’s Revenge - ran aground and sank. Four months later, Judge Nicholas Trott sentenced Bonnet to death, and he was said to be hung in Charleston, South Carolina, but he didn’t die yet. He was said to have died in a bloody battle, where he was beheaded to ensure his death. His head was displayed on his enemy’s ship, and his body was thrown into the sea.

CAPTAIN GENERAL PEDRO MENÈDEZ

The British attacked St. Augustine, and destroyed Fort Mose. The Spanish reconstructed Fort Mose in 1752; the settlement had a church and 22 huts housing nearly 100 people. As for Menendez, he was captured and sold as a slave, but by 1759 he was free and once again in command. At this time, Fort Mose consisted of 37 men, 15 women, seven boys and eight girls. The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) continues to note that in 1763, under the terms of the Treaty of Paris, the Spanish were forced to abandon Florida but gained Cuba in return. In August, Menendez led 48 men, women and children on the schooner ‘Nuestra Senora de los Dolores’ (spanish for ‘Our Lady of Sorrows’) and sailed to Cuba, where they settled in Regla, a town near the city of Havana. 

Hence, Fort Mose is now memorialized as a national historic landmark, and Florida was saved by Latin American culture! Think about it. If Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue and ‘discovered’ America in 1492, then Florida was indeed ‘saved’ by Latin American culture, since the English saw the land as temporarily reserved.

[shopdealman-blog]

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Did Princess Diana anticipate becoming a #styleicon?

By all accounts, she would have hated the negative feedback loops of Instagram and Twitter. But she certainly knew the power of clothing for personal branding, long before the Kardashians made a fortune from it.

Her meticulous utilization of fashion as messaging, in part, explains the enduring fascination with her style 20 years after her death.

“I suspect there are many aspects to Diana’s continuing iconic status, but a central issue has to be her apparent ability to communicate in personal terms across mass media,” says Jude Davies, a professor of American literature and culture at the University of Winchester, and author of Diana, A Cultural History.

The intensely personal messages coded in her clothing, particularly in tandem with her charitable work, set her apart from the modern-day Angelina Jolies and Madonnas of the world.

“Crucial to this was a sense of not only her own feelings but her own vulnerability,” he says, referencing her well-known insecurities and search for positive reinforcement. “Hence she didn’t come across as patronizing – rather as seeking a genuine positive contact with other human beings.”

Princess Diana’s fashion will be showcased in an exhibit at Kensington Palace. USA TODAY

While still Her Royal Highness, she famously ditched the customary gloves still favored by Queen Elizabeth II — a strategic move that, gasp, allowed skin-on-skin contact with the masses she met at hospitals and homeless shelters. That included people with AIDS during a time when many were treated as lepers.

“That a very fascinating young royal person would do this made, I would say, much more of a difference than a lot of well-intentioned propagandists,” says British author and management consultant Peter York.

Her work advocating for landmine removal further let her ditch the stuffy princess personae, and literally and symbolically roll up her sleeves.

“My favorite image of her, apart from the Mario Testino portraits, is her walking through a minefield in jeans in a white tee shirt. That was so brave, she was a brave person,” says Meredith Etherington-Smith, former creative director of Christie’s International who worked with Diana on the 1997 sale of her dresses at the auction house.

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Princess Diana: Style icon

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Princess Diana used clothing as a powerful communication tool, and 20 years after her death, she’s become an icon as much for her style as her charitable work. Here’s a look at some of her top fashion moments.  JOHN STILLWELL, Associated Press

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Princess Diana: Style icon

But, as Etherington-Smith notes, Diana wasn’t always so keenly dressed. In the early ’80s, she became the poster-child for Sloane Rangers – a portmanteau coined by York and his editor at Harpers & Queen magazine Ann Barr of Sloane Square in the posh Chelsea neighborhood of London and The Lone Ranger. It became short-hand for old money, well-connected types with an affinity for country life, mustard corduroys, lacy collars and general shabby-without-the-chic aesthetic.

“We got her wrong, self-servingly, we got her wrong,” York confesses, noting that he and Barr chose a photo of the princess for the cover of their book The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook. “We had taken it for granted that she would be a nice upper middle Sloane girl in her behavior and of course what she was was a wacky aristocrat with a very firm idea of her own value.”

As she grew into her public roll, and more evidently after her divorce, she was not the wilting English rose.

“She was clearly a lot of times happier with self-made gay entertainers than doing field sports and riding and going to the country,” York says. “And she became this international type.”

John Travolta dances with Princess Diana at a White House dinner in Washington. Her velvet, navy dress was later known as the Travolta Dress. (Photo: AP)

The most famous display of her international glamour came in the form of a blue velvet gown by Victor Edelstein which she wore when dancing with John Travolta at the White House. It sold for $222,500 in the 1997 Christie’s auction, breaking a previous record of $145,000 for a garment, ironically, that Travolta wore in Saturday Night Fever.

“It was like something that might have been made for Queen Alexandra, she just looked beautiful in it,” says Etherington-Smith.

But that personal messaging in her clothing could be calculated, with occasional digs at her ex-husband or the press. The originator of the “Revenge Dress” — Diana showed up to the annual Serpentine Gallery summer party in a short, figure-hugging Christina Stambolian frock on the day Prince Charles was to confess in an interview to having an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, now the Duchess of Cornwall.

The “Revenge Dress,” by Christina Stambolian, which Princess Diana wore the day Prince Charles was to give an interview about his affair. (Photo: Princess Diana Archive, Getty Images)

“It was quite deliberate,” says Etherington-Smith. “She was very good at obliterating the press, Princess Diana, she was out for the hero shot.”

And the tactic played well to her audience, who loved the perceived slap back against Charles and the confines of the monarchy.

But Diana’s greatest fashion contribution was taking the industry and style seriously in an environment that treated it as frivolous. Though impeccably put together at all times, the royal family had been anti-fashion, implicitly putting it down as air-headed and for the nouveau riche — which Diana changed.

“She was saying this stuff matters, it’s interesting and it matters,” York says. “And that is more important than any single dress she wore.”

PRINCESS DIANA: HER LIFE, DEATH AND LEGACY5 of Princess Diana’s most inspiring quotes | 1:02

Twenty years after Princess Diana’s death, her words, like her legacy, have withstood the test of time. USA TODAY

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PRINCESS DIANA: HER LIFE, DEATH AND LEGACYPrincess Diana’s life behind palace doors | 2:09

Ahead of the broadcast of documentary “Diana: In Her Own Words,” Princess Diana’s former bodyguard Ken Wharfe gives insights into the late princess’ private life, recalling a confrontation with Camilla Parker Bowles. AP

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PRINCESS DIANA: HER LIFE, DEATH AND LEGACYPrincess Diana: A fashion icon for the people | 1:22

Among her many unforgettable qualities, Diana was known for her fabulous style. From ditching her gloves to speaking to the people through her clothing, Diana’s flawless style lives on. USA TODAY

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PRINCESS DIANA: HER LIFE, DEATH AND LEGACYNew Princess Diana photos posted on Twitter | 0:27

Prince Harry and Prince William posted pictures of them with their mother on the Kensington Palace Twitter page.

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PRINCESS DIANA: HER LIFE, DEATH AND LEGACYEarl Spencer says William and Harry didn’t want to walk behind coffin | 1:16

Earl Spencer, Princess Diana’s brother, says in a new Radio 4 interview, that Prince William and Harry did not want to walk behind their mom’s coffin. Buzz60

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PRINCESS DIANA: HER LIFE, DEATH AND LEGACYRoyal family to rededicate Princess Diana’s grave on her birthday | 0:28

Prince William, Prince Harry and Kate Middleton are honoring the late Princess Diana almost 20 years after her death. USA TODAY

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PRINCESS DIANA: HER LIFE, DEATH AND LEGACYHarry and Wills remember their mother, Princess Diana | 1:18

The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry spoke about Princess Diana as they presented awards at a ceremony set up in her honor. (May 19) AP

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PRINCESS DIANA: HER LIFE, DEATH AND LEGACYNew exhibition of Princess Diana’s dresses | 1:22

A new exhibition celebrating the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, will open at Kensington Palace in London on Friday, 20 years after her death in a Paris car crash at the age of 36. (Feb. 22) AP

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PRINCESS DIANA: HER LIFE, DEATH AND LEGACYPrincess Diana fashion exhibit | 0:28

Princess Diana’s fashion will be showcased in an exhibit at Kensington Palace. USA TODAY

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PRINCESS DIANA: HER LIFE, DEATH AND LEGACYPrince Harry follows in footsteps of Princess Diana | 1:28

Prince Harry takes up campaign against landmines championed by his late mother, Princess Diana. (April 5) AP

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PRINCESS DIANA: HER LIFE, DEATH AND LEGACY5 things to know about Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ relationship | 1:38

Princess Diana and Prince Charles marriage breakdown has made headlines for decades, but a new book claims that the two were at odds long before they publicly announced their separation. Time

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Next Video

5 of Princess Diana’s most inspiring quotes

Princess Diana’s life behind palace doors

Princess Diana: A fashion icon for the people

New Princess Diana photos posted on Twitter

Earl Spencer says William and Harry didn’t want to walk behind coffin

Royal family to rededicate Princess Diana’s grave on her birthday

Harry and Wills remember their mother, Princess Diana

New exhibition of Princess Diana’s dresses

Princess Diana fashion exhibit

Prince Harry follows in footsteps of Princess Diana

5 things to know about Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ relationship

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20 years later, Princess Diana’s fashion still transmits messages Did Princess Diana anticipate becoming a #styleicon? By all accounts, she would have hated the negative feedback loops of Instagram and Twitter.