#i love how supportive mathys is of the girls

[everybodylovesmusiala]

mathys tel and sacha boey at the bayern frauen women's champions league game against arsenal

[ultrahpfan5blog]

Retrospective Review: Casino Royale (2006)

So after thinking about it, I figured that with No Time to Die coming out soon, the Craig Bond era Bond movies deserve a post per film. Casino Royale is the film that got me into Bond. I had seen some of the Brosnan films by then, but they didn't really stick to me much. Perhaps also because I was reasonably young when the Brosnan films came out. But Casino Royale came out during my teen years, where I was starting to get into more dark and gritty movies. To me, this movie and Batman Begins, are cut from the same cloth. Both rebooting characters that had gotten too campy in previous iterations, both brilliant origin stories, and both grounded in reality and gritty. Its no wonder that both version of these characters ended up being my favorite versions. Casino Royale is still easily my favorite Bond film to date.

Truthfully, to me this film is near perfection as an action-thriller. For classic Bond fans who have grown up with the franchise and want specific things like Moneypenny and Q and various gadgets, this film may not be as endearing because it very specifically goes away from being gadget heavy and doesn't give Bond a support staff other than Mathis. I think the most high tech thing in the movie was a portable defibrillator. But this film had me from the very beginning in the black and white sequence and how it showed Bond's two kills to become 007 and how it reimagined the classic opening shot of Bond shooting and the blood red soaking over the screen. I just new we were in for something special from the very beginning. What's amazing is the pacing of this film. This was the longest Bond film since OHMSS at the time. I have watched all prior Bond films and I have felt restless at times while watching them, but not when watching Casino Royale. There is constantly something happening and it keeps you engaged. Not once was I bored in the movie.

The action in the film is absolutely high class. I think its the best Bond action that I have seen. The most classic scene of course is the incredible Parkour chase. Its incredibly exhilarating and major kudos to the guy who did the stunts for the bomb maker. You also get a real understanding of what a brute force this Bond is. While the Bomb maker chooses to jump through the window, Bond will burst through the wall. The Bomb maker will climb construction rods, Bond will just drive a bulldozer and destroy the construction and climb up. When the bomb maker throws the gun at him, Bond just catches it and throws it right back. Little things like that give Bond a personality that is different. But this is only the first great action sequence. There is the Miami airport truck sequence that is also brilliant. You have to love the smug smile on Bond's face when the bomber accidentally blows himself up. There is the staircase fight which is brutal and visceral. Then there is final fight scene in Venice which is emotional and tragic and is the true making of Bond. In between it all, there is the Poker game which is surprisingly entertaining given it takes up quite a chunk of time. There are also some incredibly tense sequences which are laced with humor, like the Bond poisoning scene where Bond almost gets killed and then returns with a classic one liner to leave Le Chiffre dumbfounded. There is the torture scene which is hilarious because of how Bond reacts to the torture and eggs him on in a way. The film never lets up in the action and the thrills.

An enormous part of the success of the film is the casting of Mads Mikkelson as Le Chiffre. I had not known Mads from anywhere before this, but he is immediately compelling and enigmatic. More importantly, rather than just being an all powerful villain to foil, he feels like a human. The tearing blood is a great, sinister gimmick, but you feel like he is on the edge when he loses money in the stock market due to Bond. You feel his desperation in some of the Poker scenes, as well as when the african fighters find him at the hotel, and then when he is torturing Bond to find the location of the money. I am not sure whether I like him more than Bardem's Silva or not, but its telling that the best Bond movies of Craig's era have the best villains. This film put him on the map for me and I loved him as Hannibal, saw him Dr. Strange, and I want see how he does as Grindelwald in the next Fantastic Beasts movie.

However, what elevates this film beyond any prior Bond movie is the casting of Eva Green as Vesper Lynd. She is the best Bond girl ever put to film and the romance between her and Bond is one of the most heartfelt and tragic romances that I have seen. The chemistry between the two actors/characters is electric from their very first scene in the train. The film gives them everything. There are deeply intimate scenes between the two which are not remotely sexual such as the tender shower scene where Bond comforts Vesper after the stairwell fight, many instances of witty repartee, scenes of romance, and then the bitter tragedy of her betrayal and her death. Even her death scene is picturized in a way where you really feel the connection as you can tell that Vesper can't bear to live with what she's done. The film doesn't flinch when showing her drown so it engulfs the audience in the same horror and sadness that Bond is feeling. In general, you experience the same emotions as Bond does as you can't help but fall in love with Vesper and just at the point of happily ever after, it all turns to ash. Its a phenomenal character arc and it also does a great job of establishing how Bond became so cold. Its a fantastic performance from Eva Green, and yet another instance of an actor who put herself on the map in my eyes.

And then there is the man himself. Yet another actor who I knew very little about. At that point everyone thought Craig wasn't good looking enough, not tall enough, not charismatic enough etc... to play Bond. But boy did he just blow expectations away. He is my Bond for sure because his performance is just exceptional in every way. He is built like a tank and is a force of nature, but Craig brings a tender vulnerability, perfectly suited for a young Bond. He looks dapper, is charismatic, is great in the fight scenes, and you genuinely feel he could beat the crap out of people. As I have already mentioned, there are so many touches to his performance that is unique to him. The brutality he brings in the fight scenes, the smirk at the end of the Miami scene, the heartfelt tenderness in the shower scene, the twinkly eyes humor, the rage when he is betrayed, the devastation at Vesper's death, and then the coldness that comes after that. He gets to show a full range, and he delivers every aspect with perfection.

One of the major carryovers from Brosnan era, was Jud Dench as M. And she gets a lot more to do during the Craig era. She is phenomenal as she always is. The dynamic between her and Bond is slightly more stern maternal in the Craig era compared to Brosnan and their interactions are great. Jeffrey Wright brings Felix Leiter back into the fold for the first time since License to Kill and he's a welcome presence as always. Giancarlo Giannini is also pretty great as Mathis and I'm glad he came back in QoS. Jesper Christensen has a quiet presence as Mr. White, who makes recurring appearances in the future.

I feel not enough people give Martin Cambell credit for what he has done. Twice he has launched Bonds successfully. GoldenEye was really good and Casino Royale is just outstanding. I have never paid much attention to the Bond song but the song for Casino Royale is pretty great. Again its telling that the two songs that I remember from Bond movies are from Casino Royale and Skyfall. Anyways, Casino Royale is a near perfect movie, especially for someone who is new to Bond. It really launched Bond into the modern world and got him away from the cold war era type plots. If I had to quibble about something, I would say some of the scenes in the Bahamas are a little slower and maybe 5-10 minutes can be edited down but even those scenes are great character scenes and we get a new origin of the DB5. A 9.5/10 for me.

[anotherangstypoet]

That’s what you like in a girl: cute and sad, with enough disorders that you could count them to fall asleep. The kind you can show off at parties as the latest broken thing you fixed. Where will you hang your awards for loving someone who can’t walk in a straight line without being supported? Is there room next to your collection of glasses you shattered by holding them too tightly? The blood on your hands does not make you a martyr. Do not curse when your hammers do nothing but scar her. Do not use your words to remind her that everybody else would have left by now. If she could speak, she would tell you: you think it’s beautiful to love somebody as light as me but you don’t know how heavy I had to be to become this empty.

Lora Mathis

[teentitanimals]

im working on a BIG Batfamily project, and WOW have i realized how much harder this is gonna be than i first thought it was... for now, have an excerpt- or, rather, Selina Kyle’s information card of the project :) im pretty proud of this! information and story subject to change

Selina Kyle-Wayne

birth name: Selina Calabrese

Main Alias: Catwoman

Other Aliases: Catbird (in Gothtopia), The Cat, The Cat Burglar, Irena Dubrovna

Current Age: ~46 (When first CW; 21. When had HK; 36. Retires CW; ~55. At death; ~70.)

Birthdate: March 14th (Alternatively; March 31st)

Hair Color: Black

Hair Length: Short

Eye Color: Green

Race/Ethnic/Skin Color: Half-Cuban; Possibly Italian, Scottish, and/or Latina descendant (White)

Sexuality: Bisexual

Gender: Female (She/her)

Height: ~5’11” (Tall)

Weight: ~146lbs (Sorta Heavy)

Build: Slender, Curvy

Biological Parents: Maria Kyle, Rex Calabrese

Step-Father: Brian Kyle

Alleged Father: Carmine Falcone

Biological Sister: Magdalene “Maggie” Kyle-Burton

Biological Half-Brother: Aiden Mason

Brother-in-Law: Simon Burton

Biological Cousins: Nick Calabrese, Antonia Calabrese

Alleged Siblings: Sofia Falcone, Alberto Falcone, Mario Falcone

Surrogative Sister: Holly Robinson

Ex-Lovers: Sam Bradley Jr., Eiko Hasigawa, Moreland McShane

Husband: Bruce Wayne

Parents-in-Law: Thomas Wayne, Martha Wayne

Siblings-in-Law: Thomas Wayne Jr. (On Earth-3), Rochelle Wayne (in Elseworlds: Reign of Terror)

Surrogative Father-in-Law: Alfred Pennyworth

Surrogative Sister-in-Law: Julia Pennyworth

Cousins-in-Law: Kate Kane, Beth Kane, Bette Kane

Surrogate Daughter: Arizona

Biological Children: Helena Kyle, Helena Wayne (from Earth-2)*, “Aion” Wayne (In Batman in Bethlehem)

*(HC; Helena is legally her adopted daughter on Earth-1.)

Step-Children: Damian Wayne, Athanasia al Ghul, The Heretic (clone of DW), Tallant Wayne (clone of DW), Alina Wayne (maybe), Bruce Wayne Jr. (On Earth-3839), Dick Grayson, Lance Bruner, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Cass Cain, Duke Thomas (maybe), Terry McGinnis, Matt McGinnis

Daughters-in-Law: Koriand’r, Dana Tan

Step-Grandchildren: Mar'i Grayson, Jake Grayson, John Grayson II (On Earth-2), Sasha Todd, Clark Wayne (On Earth-3839)

Step-Great-Granddaughters: Lois Wayne (On Earth-3839), Lara Wayne (On Earth-3839)

Catwoman Run: ~34 years

Succeeded By: Eiko Hasigawa, Holly Robinson, (First Name N/A) Black

Wikipedia. Batman Wiki. DC Database. DCAMU. Animated Series. Comic Vine.

(tw; self-harm, suicide, child abuse, illegal prostitution, drug addiction, sexual abuse, death)

Selina Calabrese was born to Rex Calabrese and Maria Calabrese with a sister two years older than her named Magdalene Calabrese. When Selina was very young, her mother escaped from Rex, also known as The Lion, leader of the Calabrese Crime Family, and became the husband to Brian Kyle, legally changing all their names to Maria Kyle, Maggie Kyle, and Selina Kyle. Maria had a son with him, Aiden Kyle. Their relationship was not healthy, with Maria being very suicidal and Brian being drunk and abusive. He would often yell at and harm Maria and her kids, and Maria, although she loved her kids, was distant, more often spending time with her cats. One day, Selina came home from school to find her mother dead in the tub, having cut her wrists until she bled out. A year later, Brian died from alcohol poisoning, and Selina called the police, packed her bags and ran away. Maggie and Aiden were taken to the orphanage, and Aiden, being fairly young, was almost immediately adopted by a family, where his name was changed to Aiden Mason. His contact with his half-sisters was cut off, although he would eventually seek them out as an older teen and young adult. Maggie was adopted after a few months, and was raised very religiously. She kept in contact with Selina best she could.

On the streets, Selina would steal food, clothing and other material from grocery stores. She was eventually caught and put in the orphanage. She acted out a lot, causing her to be sent to Juvenile Hall. When she turned age 13, she was sent back to the orphanage. There, she realized the place was embezzling money. To make sure she never told anyone, they put her in a bag and dropped her in a river. Selina managed to escape, and then stole documentary proof of their embezzlement to give to the police, some money for herself, and her own files in hopes of reuniting with her brother or sister. Instead, she found out that Brian was not her birth father, and that her father was an unknown mobster man. Selina continued living on the streets, stealing food and jewelry to meet her own, as the money she stole would not last forever. She would be taken in by an old thief gang leader named Mama Fortuna, who treated the kids under her care like slaves. Eventually, Selina would run away with a friend from the gang named Sylvia. They could not survive on their own and always had a shortage of money, and Sylvia took up prostitution to support them both, and grew to hate Selina for it. They parted ways.

When Selina was 17, she began illegally working as a prostitute under an abusive pimp named Stan. She stumbled upon a 13-year-old Holly Robinson who was being sexually abused by a cop. Selina beat the cop up, inspiring Holly who said that was the first time anybody had shown her she could fight back. The two became roommates. To pay for living expenses and food, Selina continued stealing, and Holly eventually became an illegal prostitute too when she was 16, despite Selina being against it. Her underage status resulted in Stan getting into a fight with a drifter, who, unbeknownst to them, was Bruce Wayne in disguise. A few weeks later, Holly would wake Selina up to show her Batman, still new and fresh, beating up corrupt police officer and former Commissioner Branden. Selina, inspired by how someone can don a costume and have everyone either be happy or terrified to see him that she can do the same too, would confront and fight Stan about his abuse, officially having her and Holly quit prostitution. She spent money to buy an expensive costume- her first Catwoman costume. She robbed a local store, and one of the security guards called her “Catwoman”, which she liked and chose to be her name. Stan, wanting revenge on Selina and Holly for quitting, kidnaps Maggie. After a few days, Selina locates him, saves her sister, and beats him to death in a rage as Catwoman. Selina informs Maggie of her new persona, who disagrees heavily, especially seeing as she killed a man, but promises to keep quiet.

The police investigate Selina and Holly, and one police officer sexually harasses Holly. Enraged, Selina went out as Catwoman with intent to kill him, but Batman intervened and made her see how her anger blinded her. Terrified she was a danger to Holly, she sent Holly to live in a convent with Maggie, who was a nun (although she would later give up her nunage to marry her husband, Simon Burton). Catwoman would begin her crime life properly, crossing paths with the likes of the Joker, the Riddler, Poison Ivy, and others, and flirting with Batman, of course. While Selina continued on to be a thief as Catwoman for the next few years, Holly felt she did not fit in the convent, and eventually found herself back on the streets. She got addicted to drugs and went back into prostitution.

While Holly was away, Selina temporarily got a new roommate, a young blonde girl nicknamed Arizona who reminded Selina a lot of Holly. She took her under her wing, and Arizona acted like her sidekick for a while, before she eventually found her own feeting and started a life on her own. She still kept close contact with Selina, though.

After five years, a gang leader named Bone killed a close friend of Selina’s named Lola MacIntire, who knew Selina was Catwoman and let her crash at her place after her apartment was destroyed. Bone wanted revenge after Catwoman had stolen from him. This devastated Selina, who viewed it as completely her fault. At Lola’s funeral, Selina encountered her old friend, Gwen Altamont, and the two began working together. Catwoman stole cars for Gwen, and encountered a metahuman thief named Spark while on the job. Catwoman convinces Gwen to let her work with Spark, and the two plan to rob Penguin of the fifth dagger they need to complete a set of valuable knives. Catwoman stakes out at the restaurant Penguin likes to eat at a day before he would be there, which Spark questions why they are doing so a day before. Catwoman notices a young hooker getting tranquilized and dragged into a van. Catwoman leaps into action, Spark soon following. They save the girl, and, after questioning local prostitutes, find out there have been multiple kidnappings and murders like this. Catwoman investigates and plans to defeat the kidnappers. After failing to stop a kidnapper in the act, Catwoman contacts Detective Carlos Alvarez, a detective who has been chasing her tail but that she knows is a genuinely good cop, for help. They track the kidnapper, Matilda Mathis aka Dollhouse, the daughter of Dollmaker, to a mansion. Catwoman fights Dollhouse, but Batman interrupts their fight, allowing both to escape. Catwoman questions her ability to be a vigilante, knowing she’s a better thief.

After those series of murders to other prostitutes, Holly quits being a prostitute and heads to her and Selina’s old apartment. She is pleasantly surprised to find Selina lived there after the destruction of her other apartment, and the two reunited. Holly began working as a spy of sorts for Catwoman, gathering information of what was happening on the streets of East End. Although she eventually stopped taking drugs after living with Selina for a few months, she felt concerned that she was still looking at the world through the eyes of a junkie to gather intel. During this time period, the Scarecrow releases a gas that makes everyone believe they are in a utopia- Gothtopia. There, Selina believed she was Catbird, partner to Batman. Where Batman could see glimpses of reality, Catbird just thought him delusional. While people who could see through the illusion questioned their sanity and committed suicide, Catbird began investigating a criminal named Steeljacket, who was also convinced their reality was an illusion. Steeljacket explained that the suit he was wearing kept him alive and he needed her thievery skills to get him the money to repair it. Catbird helped him, and the familiar adrenaline rush of a robbery made her remember her real identity of Catwoman. After Batman freed the city from Scarecrow’s toxin, Catwoman reminded him of how they shared both a partnership and a true romantic relationship in Gothtopia. Batman denied the extent of his romantic feelings, even though the toxin showed them both what they wanted to see.

A few years later, Black Mask, who held a vendetta against Catwoman, kidnapped her sister Maggie and Simon, killed Simon, and then forced Maggie to eat her husband’s eyes, driving her insane. Black Mask also kidnapped and beat Holly with the help of an old childhood friend of Catwoman, Sylvia. Catwoman kills Black Mask, Holly kills Sylvia, and they save Maggie, who is put in a psychiatric institute. Holly isolated herself and nearly fell back onto old habits. Selina decided Holly needed time to heal outside of Gotham City and needed proper training, so she sent Holly to a rural safehouse where she trained in hand-to-hand combat with Ted Grant. Selina and Slam Bradley, a detective friend of Selina’s, located Holly’s long lost brother Davey, and the two reunited.

Eventually, Black Mask was revived by a Black Lantern, and immediately sought out Maggie, threatening to kill her and anyone else Catwoman cared about. Catwoman, with the help of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, defeated Black Mask again. Maggie escaped, and no longer wanted anything to do with Selina, blaming her for her insane condition and Simon’s death, and believing Selina was possessed by a cat demon. Maggie sought out Sister Agatha to exorcise her sister, but when Maggie saw Agatha’s cat, she snapped and killed Agatha’s cat and then Agatha because she believed Agatha was in league with Selina’s cat demon. Maggie then searched through Agatha’s relics and tools, stumbling upon a supernatural substance in a container that warped Maggie’s sense of reality further. To Maggie, an angel was released and claimed it would help her destroy Selina’s cat demon. Maggie finds Selina and Harley Quinn and attacks them with heightened abilities. Harley refers to Maggie as “Sister Zero”, and then becomes possessed by the “angel”’s influence. Catwoman manages to get through to Harley, confusing her enough to escape Maggie’s control. Selina forces Maggie to escape, who starts to formulate a new plan to save her sister’s soul. The angel told her to team up with Azrael and Crusader during Gotham’s Judgement Day, which she does. Maggie believes she is her sister’s test of faith, which means either Selina will get cleansed of her cat demon, or Maggie will die. But in the end, when Maggie has a chance to end Selina’s life, she can’t bring herself to do it. Maggie ends up back in a psychiatric institute and starts to slowly heal, although sometimes Sister Zero breaks out.

Holly begins a relationship with a girl named Karon, who she moves into the apartment of. She also becomes the supervisor of a group of street kids known as the Alleytown Gang, training them to act like the spies and informants of Catwoman’s network. Unbeknownst to Holly, Selina had grown tired of seeing her role as Catwoman ruin her life over and over. Selina burned her suit, but would be forced to don it again after a woman named Roulette contacted her about a competition between thieves that threatened the lives of children. Catwoman got a new suit and raced to save the lives of the children. After competing in several rounds, she realized that there never were any real children in danger. Roulette had actually been hired by a man named Hunt Stone who wanted any evidence that connected his ancestors to a famous murder stolen and erased. Selina began sabotaging every aspect of her strictly regimented and planned out days, until Roulette was forced to declare her the winner of the Race of Thieves to make her stop. During this time where Selina went missing, Holly acted as Catwoman to keep other criminals at bay.

With Catwoman I back in action, Oracle asks Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn to keep an eye on Vicki Vale, who has evidence on the members of the Batfamily that need to be destroyed. Selina notices an artifact in Vicki’s possession that she had once stolen. It reminds her of the days when Batman used to chase her, and she reminisces on them. Her flashback is interrupted as Harley breaks into the room they were monitoring, wanting to get her hyenas back because they had stolen them from her. Vicki bolts out of the room, and they lose her trail, but Selina managed to get her phone number. She planted a fake call to lead Vicki out of her apartment, allowing Selina to break in and take pictures of her Batwall, which Batman and Oracle needed. Selina reminisces about her crime life.

When a mysterious malefactor came to Gotham with a yearlong plan to ruin Batman’s life, Catwoman began investigating into the turf war between the Penguin and newly returned mobster Carmine Falcone. She was captured by Falcone for causing him grief years ago and he nearly killed her, but Professor Pyg attacked Falcone, having a vendetta against him. Catwoman plans to kill Falcone, who she suspects might be her biological father, but before she can, Batman intervenes. She leaves Falcone and his mob to Batman, but sometime later while trying and failing to stop a deal to sell a baby snow leopard for its fur, a young girl locates Selina. She tells Selina that her father wanted her to attend a meeting in Blackgate Penitentiary. Her real father was Rex Calabrese, the crime boss from whom Falcone had taken power. Selina declined the request at first, but a street kid named Jade came to find her next, informing her the girl before her was killed by gang violence. Selina asked Rex for his guidance in becoming a mob boss herself to keep the mobsters in check from killing any other kids. The leadership of the Calabrese Family and the ownership of the Egyptian Nightclub were passed onto her as the legal heir. Catwoman, wanting to make sure Batman knew she was still on the side of good despite becoming the head of a crime family, told Batman everything she knew about the group of Arkham escapees still on the loose. After she got invited to a secret weapons sale that were actually weapons stolen from Batman’s own supply, Catwoman began to research high bounties in Gotham, and was tipped onto Stephanie Brown. Catwoman kidnapped her without realizing she was the current Batgirl. She was rescued by Batman and the situation was resolved. Soon Batman got captured by Lincoln March, and rioting broke out across the city. Selina forced her people to help prevent the riots while also secretly making strategic thefts to further her causes. During this time, Selina gave up her Catwoman mantle to Eiko Hasigawa, a heir to the rival Hasigawa crime family, and a love interest of Selina’s.

Eiko’s time as Catwoman was short-lived, though, as Eiko and Selina merged the Hasigawa and Calabrese families, leaving Eiko as their leader while Selina went back to her normal life… Sort of. She realized she was pregnant from a one-night stand with Sam Bradley Jr., and Holly Robinson took on the mantle of Catwoman at Selina’s request. Selina made up a fake identity, Irena Dubrovna, to peacefully give birth to her daughter, legally known as Helena Dubrovna. Sam Jr. had died by the time Selina realized she was pregnant, but his father, Slam Bradley, wanted to provide for his new granddaughter. Selina could not resist the thrill of Catwoman, and donned the suit alongside Holly a few times. Unfortunately, Film Freak and Angle Man had deduced where Selina lived after catching the two Catwomen on film, and kidnapped Helena. Selina easily rescued her daughter, and then had Zatanna Zatarra mindwipe the two villains of Selina’s identities. With Batman’s help, she faked “Irena” and Helena’s deaths, putting Helena up for adoption. She asked Zatanna to wipe her mind of knowledge about Helena so she wouldn’t put her in danger again, but Zatanna refused.

After returning to her solo role as Catwoman for nearly a year, Selina allowed herself to be arrested and sent to death row at Arkham Asylum for the murders of over two hundred terrorists. It was her friend, Holly, who had really committed the crime, but she trusted Batman would prove her innocence, therefore saving her and Holly’s lives. Nearly a year later, Helena Wayne, biological daughter of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, from Earth Never-Two passes into Earth Never-One and gets trapped. Helena meets this world’s Selina Kyle. The two become close, with Helena still mourning the death of her mother in her universe and Selina missing her daughter. Selina was worried that being too close to her alternate universe daughter might lead her to the same fate as her Helena Kyle, but this Helena was an experienced adult who had lived through an Apokoliptian war. She was a capable vigilante who could hold her own perhaps even better than Selina herself, and Selina felt her concerns fade away. After another year passes, Selina asks if she can adopt Helena Wayne, despite Helena being 21-years-old. Helena, surprised, agrees. Almost a year after that, Bruce proposes to Selina and she accepts, becoming his wife.

Selina Kyle is, in general, highly flirtatious, seductive, and willing to use her looks and her charms to get what she wants- in fact she’s even proud of it. She’s also, much like her namesake, graceful, sly and light-footed, known as one of the greatest thieves out there. Despite her past of being an abused victim, she stands with her head high since she first donned the Catwoman suit (it can be quite enconfidating, that anonymity). She was never one to sit back and let herself or others get abused, and she sympathizes heavily with abused children, young women and sex workers especially. While her career as Catwoman started out to support herself and her friends, it eventually became an addictive adrenaline rush she couldn’t give up. Even though she’s ‘reformed’, she still has sticky fingers and loves the thrill of getting away with small robberies, especially when her husband is the Batman. She enjoys getting under his skin. She isn’t too big on black and white morality, instead choosing to do whatever is necessary for the situation. She’s not ‘above’ killing, but she’s no homicidal murderer, and it’s never her first option, although attacking her loved ones is a sure way to push her closer to the edge. Although admittedly in her earlier days, the empowerment of being Catwoman got to her head, and she let rage cloud her judgement, leading to her being more willing to brutally harm and kill. She’s very willing to take risks, enjoying the danger even, and she’s incredibly stubborn and persistent. She never had much of a villainous ego, nor does she have a superhero complex. She walks the line between the both with confidence, never worrying about being in the gray. Sometimes it ticks her off when Bruce and others think she should commit completely to one or the other, when she’s perfectly fine where she is.

Reblogs appreciated! Stay tuned for the finished project, which is this... but for every Batfam member ever

[brittanyjeannn]

That’s what you like in a girl: cute and sad, with enough disorders that you could count them to fall asleep. The kind you can show off at parties as the latest broken thing you fixed. Where will you hang your awards for loving someone who can’t walk in a straight line without being supported? Is there room next to your collection of glasses you shattered by holding them too tightly? The blood on your hands does not make you a martyr. Do not curse when your hammers do nothing but scar her. Do not use your words to remind her that everybody else would have left by now. If she could speak, she would tell you: you think it’s beautiful to love somebody as light as me but you don’t know how heavy I had to be to become this empty.

Lora Mathis

[nievefergie]

A Research Paper on ABC’s ‘General Hospital’

I have been watching soap operas since I was nine years old. Soap operas made me who I am today — they laid the foundation of my love for stories and real television beyond cartoons. Soap Operas are a foundational television genre in defining the television industry. Soap operas began on United States radio networks in the 1930 as the radio was being introduced to homes across the United States (Soukup). The early soap operas were fifteen minute daytime radio serials used to market products such as soap and other mainly feminine products, earning the name “soap opera”. The commercial sponsorship of soap operas is what formed the structure of advertiser-supported programming that we currently have on television today (Meyers). With the World War II over and television on the rise, broadcasting networks adapted their radio shows for television to meet the demands of the developing world (Soukup). The familiarity of soap operas from the radio is arguably said to have been one of the reasons audiences across the country were so easily able to change mediums from radio to television. By 1951, all three networks had their own soap operas. Into the 1960s and 1970s, more than 10 hours of network programming per day was dedicated to soaps and brought audience members over the 20 million mark. Once the 1980s arrived, soap opera ratings began to decline and more than ten soap operas have been cancelled since the 1990s, including iconic ABC soap operas like One Life to Live and All My Children in 2011. As of 2017, there are only four soap operas currently on broadcast television (Meyers). This is a shame. We don't value soap operas like we use to which is a loss to the culture of The United States because daytime soap operas focus on taboo social issues such as AIDS and abortion more than any other genre of television. Many people remember the iconic episode of Degrassi where a young girl gets an abortion. In fact, it was not aired in American during the early days of its airing in 2004. The N (a subsidiary channel of Viacom’s Nickelodeon now known as TeenNick) refused to air the controversial two-part episode until two and a half years later in August of 2006, when the actress ranked it her favorite episode and so the network had to air it (McDermott). But this wasn’t the first time abortion had been a featured storyline in United States television. The first abortion storyline on television took place on the soap opera Another World (Lane). This begs the question - If we talked about it all the way back then on daytime television, why can we still not talk about it today on primetime? Another World aired from 1964 to 1999 on NBC for 35 years. Pat Matthews’s boyfriend, Tom Baxter convinced Pat to have an illegal abortion in New York. Pat had the abortion and then developed an infection which left her able to have any children. Tom then revealed he never loved Pat, and she shot him. While on trial for murder, she fell in love with her attorney, John Randolph. In the 1970s, the writers of Another World had Pat have correctional surgery and she had twins (Newcomb). In 1973, Erica Kane (played by the iconic Susan Lucci) on All My Children had the first legal abortion on Daytime television before Roe vs. Wade was decided on. Erica had her abortion because she was a model and did not want to end her career. The storyline made headlines over its controversy of the reasoning to have an abortions — to maintain a career rather than due to health concerns. The storyline was perceived well by feminists and ratings rose from 8.2 to 9.1. These groundbreaking moments in women’s history proved daytime television dealt with complex social issues that were relevant to the mainly female audience and their sophistication (Jr., Kevin Mulcahy). In the 1990s, AIDS was still very underrepresented and stigmatized. Children were warned to stay away from people with HIV and AIDs and treated it like the common cold. Most people still didn’t even know all the facts about it or its symptoms — they just knew to be afraid. One of the first shows to ever feature a character with AIDS was Stone Cates in 1993. Stone was living with the iconic mobster, Sonny Corinthos, along with his brother, Jagger Cates. He then began dating Robin Scorpio. Their love story was called “epic” and “tragic”. Stone became sick with the flu and Robin took care of him. Robin, a volunteer at the hospital, asked Stone to get tested for HIV. Stone got tested a year prior and was HIV negative, so he did not take another test. Unfortunately, the test was only negative because he took it to close to exposure for the antibodies to come up. Robin and Stone then had unprotected sex. When Stone’s flu did not let up, he got tested and was diagnosed HIV positive. Once Stone was shot and got his blood on Robin’s hands, he confessed to her that he was HIV positive and his previous girlfriend had been a drug addict and could have possibly contracted HIV. Robin and Stone were tested again, where Robin tested negative and Stone was revealed to have AIDS. Later, Robin contracted the flu and tested HIV positive as well. When Stone died, he had gone blind, but asked Robin to stand by the window and the light. As Stone looked towards the light, he saw Robin one last time before he died. The actor, Michael Sutton, was nominated for an Daytime Emmy for his performance. Stone, although a very prominent character in General Hospital’s past, was only on the show for roughly two years from 1993-1995. Dr. Robin Scorpio-Drake, however, remains a very prominent recurring character on General Hospital to this very day since 1985. Robin’s storyline has been a wonderful example to those living with HIV that they can live healthy, fulfilling lives. Robin ends up getting married to Patrick Drake, having a healthy daughter named Emma and a son named Noah, and becoming a renowned doctor. Robin still often brings up Stone Cates, which is a rare occurrence for such a short lived character arc. Robin refers to Stone as her first love and the reason she became to pursue her career as a doctor. Robin’s story influenced thousands around America because thousands of people watched Robin grow up from a child into a teenager for almost ten years. The storyline of Robin becoming HIV positive was so important to viewers because she was a character no one wanted to see go — and uninformed people assumed HIV positive was a death sentence. Robin Scorpio-Drake’s legacy still lives on, giving hope to many others living with the disease. An after school special called Positive: A Journey Into AIDS aired December 7th, 1995 on ABC after General Hospital hosted by Kimberly McCullough and Michael Sutton, who played Robin and Stone respectively. The after school special was done as a documentary as the actors talked to real people living with HIV and AIDS to prepare them to do the part justice. The special also showed a press conference where a reporter asked Michael Sutton if he was nervous about being stereotyped as gay due to the abundance of gay and bisexual men affected by the disease. Sutton responded that he was heterosexual and comfortable with his sexual preferences, but remained challenged by the interviewer’s question. He spoke about how “pigeon-holed” AIDS and HIV are and that people want to stereotype it as a gay disease in order to downplay it (Harrington & Watkin). The after school special won two Emmys in 1996 (""ABC Afterschool Specials" Positive: A Journey Into AIDS (TV Episode 1995)"). This special was so important because it was a fictional weekly story talking about the making of the storyline and talking to people who truly had HIV and were living with it in order to better the fictional weekly material. The Nurses’ Ball was founded in 1994 as an event for the citizens of Port Charles to fundraise for HIV and AIDS awareness and research. The event stands as a catalyst for various different storylines because all the characters are put together in one place. The actors who portray citizens of Port Charles, New York perform song and dances. In 1996, once Robin was diagnosed with HIV, The Nurses Ball became personal for many characters, each donating money for the cause. Even beyond the characters in the show, the show itself has donated more than $109,000 to the nonprofit organization Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation since 1998. The Nurses Ball became a day to mark the nationwide Day of Compassion. In 1997, AIDS-infected actor Lee Mathis, who played a recurring lawyer on General Hospital, passed away weeks before the annual ball he helped stage. General Hospital then donated the royalties from Robin’s Diary, a book to go along with the storyline, and Nurse’s Ball t-shirts (Bidwell). In 2013 when the Nurses Ball was brought back on as a plot device, the soundtrack to each performance was released on iTunes. And I could not find any sources for this, but I’m sure that some of the royalties to toward the same AIDS foundations. Not only has General Hospital and other daytime serials spent their money and time from their small budget to portray complex social issues, but they also donate money to the outside real people who’s real life stories they are portraying. Celebrity Health Narratives and The Public Health notes, “Interracial romance, homosexuality, divorce, alcoholism, mental illness, unwanted pregnancy, abortion, impotence, addiction, incest, down syndrome, suicide, anorexia, HIV/AIDS, rape, adultery … you name it. Daytime has dealt with it. NO other form of entertainment as so effectively addressed social issues” (Christina S. Beck,, Stellina M.A. Chapman, Nathaniel Simmons, 135). Because soap operas air every weekday, they are able to tell their stories from a unique place of creating suspense everyday. Everyday there has to be a reason for you to turn in tomorrow. And every Friday there has to be a reason to turn in next week. They constantly have to create drama to fulfill the quota of airing almost 250 days out of the year. And to create drama, the writers of soap operas take real issues in society and bring them to the beloved characters we already know and love and grew up with. They use things like abortions and AIDS and HIV to create a lasting impact on characters who have a long history. For example, when Starr Manning from General Hospital lost her baby in a car crash, it was more painful because we as an audience had grown up watching Starr and the actress Kristen Alderson — she had become family. We watched her day in and day out 250 days out of the year. That’s more than I see my own family. So instead, soap opera families become family. That can’t happen on primetime television. Primetime shows are based around the formula of there being a problem that is solved for the most part within thirteen to twenty-one episodes. Soap operas, on the other hand, can have baby switches that last more than half the year. Soap operas air so often that storylines can be given proper timing — pregnant characters can be pregnant for nine whole months. Primetime television simply doesn’t have the time to create such a product based on interpersonal relationships rather than the actual drama itself. These issues have to be personalized and how do you personalize someone when their time on the air is so short? Soap operas, however, can get into the heart of personal-social problems. Personal- social problems “consist of extraordinary circumstances that affect individuals or individual units of society - usually, crises in relationships or health” (Thoman). These problems are about people, and only then become a societal problem after people begin to be affected. The AIDS epidemic being a prime example — people were not interested until it began to effect the people in their community that they cared about. Soap operas talk about the people and the people who are affected and are able to give their time and effort in portraying stories about people and their personal-social problems that audiences can relate to. In conclusion, it is a shame that we as an American society value primetime television more than daytime soap operas because the latter gets to talk about social injustice and real life issues such as AIDS and abortion to educate their viewers. I think that is is truly tragic that audiences are being aged out of daytime when back in their prime, the 1960s-1990s, people of all ages watched. College students were a main part of the age group — both males and females spend their time between classes glued to a television screen (Lemish). And it probably meant a lot more for young impressionable kids living with their parents stigmas about HIV to see teenagers living with the disease. When I started watching One Life to Live in fourth grade, it was because I fell in love with pregnant sixteen year old Starr Manning and her high school friends. I fell in love with the character Shane Morasco and the question of who his father was. I fell in love with the missing baby Sam storyline. It was the storylines about children and teens that attracted a young Nieve to tune in tomorrow. I truly believe that if soap operas put their time and effort into teenage characters again, they will see a resurgence of young fans, especially if the storylines have to do with the social climate of Trump’s United States. Society is begging for a progressive genre on television, and I hope that they soon learn that it has been here all along, waiting, during the day rather than at night.

[sneakywitch-thief]

Words:  4,577 || One-Shot Robert Joseph MacCready/Lucy MacCready

An unlabeled holotape found in a Third Rail trash can.

( A short look into MacCready's past set in the world of my fic "It Had To Be You", but can be read independently.)

Now for all you Johnny Mathis fans out there in the Capital Wasteland, playing ‘til forever, it’s The Twelfth of Never.

Even now, Three Dog’s still running Galaxy News Radio.  

Him and his damn— dang Brotherhood goons.  They’ve got DC in a chokehold and its even got most of the mercs spooked.  The ones that have a shred of a soul, anyway.  After the clean water started flowing it was good for a while, but now.  Now that the Brotherhood’s got its shit— crap together, they took back everything they promised, and then some.  It was all some ploy, I guess, to get us wastelanders in line.

Even Little Lamplight hadn’t been entirely immune to that.

That funny mungo who passed through Little Lamplight never came back, now that I think about it.  Said I looked like her butt and insulted my mom, even with my rifle pointed right between her eyes.  Balls of brass.  Last I heard of her, though, she got herself killed to get the Brotherhood’s little project up and running.  Used her all up too.  She was our friend, she had saved some of the kids.  Hearing she helped the Brotherhood, that mungo, our mungo, well.  We were a bit friendlier to mungos in steel after that.  We didn’t just outright shoot them like we damn right— like we definitely should have.  Lucy even gave them some of our fungus for their drugs and medicines.  It was good for a while.  Life was good, if you can believe it.

Then Lucy and I got big.  Didn’t matter that I had made Little Lamplight what it was.  Rules were rules, even for the mayor.

Big Town was a mess when we got there.  Our kids who got big, well, they had been easy pickings for raiders and slavers and muties.  Our mungo helped them out a bit, so they survived, at least.  We were far enough from DC that we didn’t feel what happened right away.  It was good for a while.  I found work to support me and Lucy guarding caravans.  Got good caps to buy food and Brotherhood Aqua Pura.  Better guns for our big kids in Big Town.  Funny, how I still think of them as kids.  Most were older than me and Lucy, but still.  I had been their Mayor and I had done well by them.  They were good kids, and they were mine.  So I did my all to keep doing that.

I took different jobs, a bit shadier and some a bit less moral, but hey.  I had a wife to feed and my own stomach to fill, don’t judge me.  Lucy kept doctoring for Big Town, even helped travelers and merchants with their brahmin even though she didn’t know a thing about them.  Didn’t stop her from learning.  She wanted to help.  All the time, mothering anyone and everyone and just being so damn— dang— so dang kind.  And the world ain’t kind to kind people.

And true to fashion, the world went and made her an actual mother.  

You ask me how much I need you, must I explain? I need you, oh my darling, like roses need rain

I didn’t know quite what to think when she told me.  I still hadn’t even told her what I was actually doing on all those long jobs in the Capital Wasteland.  I told her I was a soldier.  I couldn’t tell her that I was a hired gun for half a dozen merc groups, taking and stealing and killing to put bread on the table.   I don’t know why, I had done worse to protect Little Lamplight when I was mayor and she hadn’t batted an eye then.  But now, married to a girl I didn’t deserve and now to be the father of her child— a father!  The words would just catch in my throat and choke the courage straight out of me.  So I’d slink off to another job or some other thing.  Anything to distract me from the thought of actually being a father, I guess.  The thought of it all terrified me.

When Duncan was finally born, happy and healthy, well.  I was more scared than ever.  He was this tiny and delicate thing, beautiful and perfect, a miracle, and me.  Me, his merc daddy and his mother who knew fuck-all, er, nothing about it all, I wondered what on earth I had done to deserve him.  At first, I felt like I didn’t.  I didn’t spend a lot of time in Big Town, or at the homestead we built together some years later.  There were always more jobs to take and more caps to make.  Looking back I have no clue why Lucy decided to stay with me, but for some reason she stayed.  She stayed and raised our son, built our home, and loved me.

And I was there for almost none of it.

I didn’t see my son’s first steps or hear his first words, and at the time I told myself I didn’t care.  I was making sure we survived and I was providing for them, that was enough.  Jeez, I remember now Lucy playing with him, he was two, I think.  He was smashing together some blocks she had whittled him, she sneaking glances at me as she picked up another of his messes.  And during it all I was pouring over some new rifle or loading pistols.  I don’t remember that anymore, but I thought it was important at the time, I think.  A soldier, I told her I was, gunning for the Brotherhood.  They were the good guys, I would lie to her, we’re making the Wasteland a better place.  And at that she would smile and tell me she was proud of me.  I hated hearing it every time but, hey, if it kept up the lie it was good enough for me.  I remember the guns, Lucy walking up to me and wrapping her arms around my neck, settling her head next to mine.

She told me that she’d be having another.

And I remember being, of all things, mad at her.  Wasn’t one kid enough for her, I had wondered, as if it had been in her control or something.  I was having enough trouble even being able to look at Duncan, being what I was and how I was, I was a pretty shit— no, I think I’ll say it.  I was a pretty shit father and husband, then.  Having two kids with a shit father seemed a bit much, and to me then, well.  Might as well have been the end of the world for me.

So I did what I was best at, lied about having to do a job or something and split.  I think that was my first time to the Commonwealth, after she told me.  Place was almost sh— crappier than the Capital Wasteland, if you could believe it.  Good bar in Goodneighbor to drink away my sorrows.  Spent all the caps I would have earned that job drinking at that bar.

When I came back Lucy was bigger then, and Duncan was too.  They were both so beautiful, waving at me from behind the rows of razorgrain, Duncan running to catch me around my knees.  Daddy, daddy, he was nearly screaming his joy.  That smile, that f— that freaking smile on his face, every time he saw me.  Breaks my heart even thinking about it, now.  Especially now.

Lucy pulled me aside that night and told me she was getting lonely.  Didn’t we have enough to get by now?  Couldn’t we settle down now, raise our children?

God, I loved them so much, but at the time, hell if I knew it.  All I could think about was all the danger around the corner and the caps we needed to stay alive.  I ran on that, I had to.  I couldn’t handle being a husband, a father.  Shooting, stealing, killing — that was what I knew.  What I know.  So I kept doing that.  I brushed her off, telling her raiders and slavers didn’t just stop and settle down.  I had to keep working, getting caps, soldiering as I told her.  Doing my part and fighting the goddamn Good Fight.  More lies to keep her happy, to keep her from knowing who I really was.  And it worked for a while.

You ask how long I'll love you, I'll tell you true Until the Twelfth of Never, I'll still be loving you

She was pretty well along with our second when the Aqua Pura stopped flowing.

Of course, it still was here and there, say through my merc contacts — but the merchants weren’t carrying it anymore.  They couldn’t, they would tell me, the Brotherhood wasn’t giving it freely anymore, and what remained of the purified Potomac was swarming with the horrors of the Wasteland.  They had quit their patrols outside of DC.  Merchants couldn’t even buy the stuff, they had to brave muties and ants and ferals for it at the river.  And of course none of them did.  I had nearly blown one of their heads off, the a fu— freaking coward.  I needed the stuff for Lucy.  She had told me children weren’t easy to have here in the Wasteland, what with all the radiation and the disease and the fighting.  So I only ever got the best for her.  For our kid.  She almost lost Duncan once when I couldn’t get any of the good stuff.  Got so sick she couldn’t even stand, and then the bleeding...  

Ever since, only Aqua Pura would do.

So I went to DC, through all the muties and all the whatever else decided to ‘eff me up that day, and went straight to the Brotherhood.  Cut through all the dang middlemen, get straight to the source, you know?  Well DC was a warzone again, what with the Brotherhood infighting.  It had stopped though, suddenly and without warning, and the streets of DC were quiet.  I remember feeling uneasy about it.  I finally found them holed up in the Citadel, even the red ones.  Something was off, but I didn’t give a damn.  Getting water for Lucy, that was something I could do.

They offered me water in exchange for hired muscle.  Like an idiot, I agreed.  I was part of a team of mercs, some of them I had done less savory work with before, some looked more like raiders than anything.  We were all men and led by one of the reds’ officers, some Paladin.  They called the job a supply run.  Didn’t know why they needed mercs for that, but hey, they were giving me good water so who cared.  We went to some settlement built out of a fallen building.  Not many people there, and it looked like it had seen better days.  Like the rest of us, they were hurting bad for the pure water we had become accustomed to.  Being in the worst of the Wasteland, they were getting the worst of the water.  Many were dead or dying from it.  

That, that was even we could see just looking at them as the red Paladin spoke to some scruffy looking scavver.  The conversation between them wasn’t long, and after it a few bottles of precious Aqua Pura switched hands.  I remember being taken aback by it at first, as I was working for the jerks and I wasn’t getting any until the job was done.  But then the scavver went into his tent and brought out what must’ve been his wife.  She was just as scruffy looking as he was, if not more.   She was quiet.  A little girl clung to her ankles, giggling at being dragged about.  Another child, an older boy, looked somberly on from the door.  I thought of Lucy and Duncan at the sight.  I wanted to see them for some reason, then, so much so my heart ached with it.  But I brushed it off and focused on the job.  We left the settlement, undoubtedly to move to the next one.  I wondered, absently, what kind of supplies we were trying to get.  Or were we just giving them away?  But no, the merchants weren’t getting any.  What gives, I thought to myself, and soldiered on.

The woman and her girl followed us.  When we got far enough from their settlement, the girl got scared and started crying.  Wailing.  Made me think of Lucy back home, across the Potomac and far away from all this.  Was she crying for me, about having to raise Duncan and the next kid all on her own, run the farm, while I was trying to run from it all?  That little girl crying reminded me of all of this and I needed it to stop, immediately.  The annoyed Paladin shouting back another order to quit it just made it more official.

So I bent down to the girl, remembering Lucy’s tricks to make Duncan calm from his frequent toddler rages.  Puffing out my cheeks, funny faces, the whole thing.  Probably made myself look like an a— like an idiot to the other mercs, but who cares?  I needed that girl to stop crying before I did too.  She thankfully got to laughing then at me, and it was better then.  When I stood and went to move back to spot in formation, the mother spat at me.  She called me cruel.  

Hold me close, never let me go Hold me close, melt my heart like April snow

I shrugged it off, thinking it was just her being naggy or crabby or something, and went back to my position.  When we stopped for the night, and the woman and her child were still following us, I asked why she was there.  The merc I asked, a really shady guy called Neil I had run a heist with a few years back, had instead of answering me, given me a cigarette.  He asked me about how my wife was doing, if she had had her kid or not.  For what I later learned to be good reason, something in my gut told me I shouldn’t answer him.  Something was off.  But I wanted to know, so I told him.  Duncan was as healthy as can be, and a second was on the way.  Lucy couldn’t have literal sh— crap water, so here I was.  Neil just nodded over his cigarette and never answered me.  But at that point, I had got to thinking about her and him and nothing else really mattered anymore.

Suddenly I just wanted the job to be over so I could go home.  I thought seriously about just doing what Lucy told me.  Settle down.  For good, stop doing godda— gosh-dang merc work, farm the earth and be a father, a husband.

The next morning we were off to the next settlement and the Paladin talked to two more men.  The first was a filthy old man, so old I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had dropped dead from a fart right then and there.  The red Paladin gave him three bottles of water and the old man brought out a woman with only one arm. One of many of his women, if what I saw through the open door was right, and most were in similar condition.  She was despondent and wouldn’t answer our questions, but sidled over to our woman and her girl.   We left the old man and his women, despite the pleading looks they gave us.  The Paladin did nothing and neither did we.  As we walked I looked back to the women that followed us.  They must have been good friends or something, I had thought, because they held their hands so hard their knuckles were white.

The next house was more of a tent than anything, and the Paladin talked to this guy who looked like a literal greaseball.  Balding and fat, covered in grime, chewing on some sort of leaf as he listened to the Paladin.  He accepted ten bottles of Aqua Pura with a toothless smile and parted the flap of his tent.  Inside was a teenage girl, so young she wouldn’t even be a mungo by Little Lamplight standards, if she had had the luck to be with us.  She screamed at the sight of the Paladin.

He dragged her out kicking and screaming by the hair.

I really wanted out of the job after that, after I realized what it was.  When we were ordered to shackle her to the other women, the little girl.  When we herded them into the gates of the Citadel.  For my work, I was given five bottles of Aqua Pura, half of what we had bought a teenage girl for, and a sack fat and heavy with caps.  I remember clearly walking home the weight of those caps, that water that felt so tainted with the mark of Brotherhood upon it, the stain of what I had witnessed.  Of what I had done.  What I had stupidly told that, that fucker Neil!  I remember then throwing them all in a dumpster and breaking into a sprint.

Lucy and Duncan were sleeping when I burst through the door, nearly out of breath and muscles screaming from running for miles without rest.  We have to leave, I remember saying, packing up what little we had in a suitcase in a frenzy, we have to go.  Lucy, after she had woken and seen the look on my face, the terror, she didn’t question.  She gathered up Duncan, carried him in her thin arms above her massive belly, and followed me as we ran from the place that had been our home.  A light appeared in the sky in the distance, growing bigger.  I knew immediately what it was and told Lucy and Duncan to stay quiet and hide in the far end of our razorgrain fields.  

I watched with a sinking heart as the vertibird landed outside our homestead, armored men in red and silver milling about.  They kicked open the door when no one answered, began searching when they couldn’t find us.  Their headlamps were approaching.  I don’t know how, I can’t remember from the adrenaline and panic in that moment, but we got past them, only shot at once or twice, and away.  Though I’d like to say far away.  The Wasteland was too empty to evade sight by their Vertibirds, ironically our only safe haven was among the ruins of DC.  I hated the idea of having to go closer to them to get away from them, but there weren’t too many options.

We took the metro system to evade notice, and maybe, flee the Wasteland.  To what lengths would the Brotherhood search for us?

I'll love you 'til the bluebells forget to bloom I'll love you 'til the clover has lost its perfume

Well, we never found out.  The Metros were something both taken and avoided by many.  In the days before the Brotherhood change in leadership, well.  There had been patrols to clear out feral nests and mutant hives.  Not anymore.

All the routes I had learned over the years through my merc jobs, none panned out.  We got lost in the dark twists and turns, we got blocked by locked gates or train cars scattered or busted to hell by explosions or who knows what horrors that walked these tunnels.  Sometimes tunnels carried the echoes of the laughter of drugged-up raider gangs, others the freaky shouting of super mutants.  Hours passed, or minutes that felt like it, I don’t know.  But we were lost in the metro and we were at our wit’s end.

It got dark again, and Duncan was hungry.  When he began to cry, it carried loud and long through the tunnels.  It was shrill and it near made my heart stop.  Lucy did her best to make him stop, but he was inconsolable.  He wouldn’t stop fucking crying, and when I heard the scrambling and the shuffling of feet I knew soon we’d all be.  I yelled at them to hide and we do, in a subway car.  This horde of ferals, more than I’ve seen in my entire goddamn life, come running down the tunnel searching for us.  There’s like, thirty.  Fifty.  I don’t even know how many, but all I’ve got is this stupid fucking hunting rifle from my Little Lamplight days on me.  My arsenal’s back at the house, which is swarming with Brotherhood sons of bitches and now there’s a bunch of ferals between me and them, so I’m fucked.  The thing’s a rusty bolt-action and I’d maybe manage to gun down two or three before we’re torn apart.  They’re slowing now, following the echo, but they don’t know where we’ve gone.  Fucking miracle, that.

I tell Lucy to sneak down the car, past the ghouls and down the tunnel.  I’d stall them here and follow them.  I knew I could outrun them, and I’d distract them from Lucy and Duncan, who were slow.  It’s a fucking dumb-ass plan, but it’s the only one I’ve got, okay?  I tell her to run, I push her when she tries to say no.  She has to, for our kids.  A ghoul hears us, starts walking towards us through the darkness.  It’s face, it’s face freaks out Duncan and he starts screaming again.  Lucy clamps a hand on his mouth but it’s not enough.  She runs off at a sprint, but she’s so pregnant she’s waddling and straining with the effort of it.

Fuck, fuck, fuck it all!

I slam a leg bone from a nearby skeleton into the handles of the subway door and smash open a window with my elbow.  I start firing at the ghouls trying to get in at me, one by one, I fire at their fucking heads.  They explode, bloody and wet and they fall to the ground.  For every one I shoot there’s two more and the bone won’t hold forever.  I hear Duncan still fucking screaming and it’s so much louder here in the tunnels, I can hear it it’s so fucking loud in my ears it hurts, but I keep firing.  As fast as I can I keep firing, and the bone creaks with a sickening snap.  God, they’re breaking through and—

They scramble over each other for me, for flesh, and I keep firing as I run, I have to.  They can’t reach Lucy, they can’t reach Duncan.  I need to fucking stop them or I have to distract them from the screaming from my wailing little boy or something, anything, but god damn it I can’t! One runs past me, then two.  I turn and sprint past them, punching them or kicking them in the back of their melted legs to trip them.  But it’s not enough, it’s not enough!

I catch up to Lucy, and thankfully I’m still ahead of the ghouls.  But her hair’s sticking to her face from the sweat, her face strained from the exertion of the running, from carrying Duncan.  She looks about ready to collapse, but still when she sees me she gives me one of her smiles.  It’s tired and weary from the pain from the running, from fear of the ghouls, but still.  It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen and the sight of it is burned like a brand into my fucking brain.

I'll love you 'til the poets run out of rhyme Until the Twelfth of Never and that's a long, long time

She trips then, a ghoul has her.  She yelps at it bites at her.  Duncan falls out of her hands and to the ground, hitting his head on the concrete.  Immediately, he’s quiet.  So quiet I can feel, I can hear, my heart drop.  I scream, everything’s falling apart.  My body burns with adrenaline, with fear, with everything as I scoop up Duncan and kick the ghoul in the face.  But there are five more behind them running faster than I can shoot them and their mouths slobbering with hunger, and who knows how many behind them.  I can’t see for shit anymore anyway, there are too many tears.

She sees them too, looking back, and she tells me to run.

Lucy, I can’t just leave you!  I can’t leave you to die!  Lucy!  I’m screaming at her, crying freely now, I can’t stop it.  Thinking about it now, looking back, I feel it again.  God dammit.

She tells me to save Duncan.

I don’t know how I managed to escape the Metro with Duncan, unconscious in my arms, or how I found myself at a farm north of the Capital.  Lucy wasn’t there.  She still hasn’t come back, in these years, though part of me still wants her to come back to me.  I never told her that I loved her, not even as she left herself for the ghouls.  More than anything, I want to tell her that.

I… I want to tell you that.

Duncan’s four now, and I’ve sworn to be better for him, but shit, it’s so fucking hard without you.  He needs a father to be there for him and he keeps asking where his mother is, fuck, he can’t remember your face anymore, Lucy!  He doesn’t remember the Metro, thank god, but he can’t forget you.  Fuck, I can’t forget you.

And now he’s coming down with something real weird and I don’t know what to do.  He’s, he’s sick.  He’s coughing and he’s covered in these blue boils and it’s scaring me to death, the doctors I’ve talked to and wasted all my fucking caps on don’t know anything.  Lucy!  Lucy, I can’t… I don’t know what to do.  Where ever you are, just, just help me.  Please.  I can’t lose him, too, not after losing you.  

I’ve heard about all the tech in the Commonwealth, I’ve seen it.  Before the war that’s where all the egg-heads went, right?  There might be something there, some medicine or something, that might be able to help him.  I’m thinking of leaving him here in the care of this family I’ve been a farmhand for the past year or so.  Don’t worry, they’re good people and I think I can trust them.  If not, I’ve given them a fuckton of caps to keep him safe until I can find a cure for him.

Until the Twelfth of Never and that's a long, long time

But anyway, the caravan I’m leaving with is calling for me.  They’ll leave if I don’t go— well, and I’m sick of hearing that fuck— freaking Brotherhood sellout Three Dog anyway.  Why didn’t I turn off that damn radio before I started recording… and what’s with this song anyway?  So terrible, making my eyes water.

Shit, I said all that while I was recording?  I meant to make something for Duncan for when he was old enough, if I didn’t come back, to remember his old man— but, f-freakin’ heck, this stuff is utter shit.  Said too much.  You’d be better at this, Lucy, I think.  I’ll have to delete this later…

Anyway, I’m headed out so I guess this is goodbye, huh?  I already told Duncan but I guess I should tell you too.  Leaving you two and the Wasteland behind…

Good-bye, Lucy.  I… I love you.

[static.]

[rapturerecords]

This has been a rather quiet year. There’s been a couple of revisits with the release of the BioShock Collection, as well as Virtual Reality support for Fallout 4 and L.A. Noire. Not to mention that Cuphead delves into the genre as well.

As always, we’ll take this time to remember Patti Page, singer of “Doggie in the Window” who also passed away on New Year’s Day.

Whether it’s Happy Tenth Anniversary of BioShock or Happy Eclipse, I’ll still be here to kick off a tune.

See if your favorite record (or wax cylinder) was featured this year:

BioShock

"Bei Mir Bist du Schön" - Andrews Sisters - Decca Records 1562

"Bei Mir Bist du Schön" - Andrews Sisters - Decca Records 23605 (reissue)

"It's Bad for Me" - Rosemary Clooney and Benny Goodman - Columbia Records 40616

"Papa Loves Mambo" - Perry Como - RCA Victor Records 20-5857

"20th Century Blues" - Noël Coward - Columbia Records ML 5163

"The Party's Over Now" (1959) - Noël Coward - Columbia Records ML 5163

"Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams" - Bing Crosby - Victor Records 22701

"Beyond the Sea" - Bobby Darin - ATCO Records 45-6158

"Night and Day" - Billie Holiday - Columbia Records 3044 (reissue)

“The Best Things in Life are Free” - Ink Spots - Decca Records 24327

"If I Didn't Care" - Ink Spots - Decca Records 2286

"Danny Boy" - Mario Lanza - The Magic of Mario Lanza - Heartland Music HL 1046/50

“Danny Boy” anniversary revisit

“Danny Boy” anniversary revisit

“(How Much is That) Doggie in the Window” (1966) - Patti Page - Columbia Records CS 9326 (in-game version)

"The Doggie in the Window" (1953) - Patti Page - Mercury Records 70070 (original version)

"You're the Top" (1934) - Cole Porter - Victor Records 24766 (original version)

"La Mer" - Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli - Djangology RCA RGP-1186 (reissue)

Cohen’s Quadtych: “Academy Award” vs. “The Ballroom Waltz”

"Academy Award" - Stanley Black - Music De Wolfe DW/LP 2977

“Too Young” - Nat King Cole - Capitol Records 1449

"Just Walking in the Rain" - Johnnie Ray - Columbia Records 40729

"Waltz of the Flowers"

Looking for BioShock’s Django Reinhardt

BioShock 2

"Ten Cents a Dance" - Ruth Etting - Columbia Records 2146D

"Dawn of a New Day" - Horace Heidt and his Musical Knights - Brunswick Records 8313

"It's Only a Paper Moon" - Ella Fitzgerald - Decca Records 23425

BioShock 10th Anniversary Revisit and Eclipse

"Someone's Rocking My Dream Boat" - Ink Spots - Decca Records 4045

"We Three (My Echo, My Shadow and Me)" - Ink Spots - Decca Records 3379

"I'm Making Believe" - Ink Spots with Ella Fitzgerald - Decca Records 23356

"Bei Mir Bist du Schon" - Benny Goodman with Martha Tilton - The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert Columbia Records ML 4359

“Hush, Hush, Hush, Here Comes the Bogey Man“ - Henry Hall and his Orchestra with Val Rosing - Columbia Records FB 2816

"Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" - Kay Kyser - Columbia Records 36640

“You Always Hurt the One You Love” - Mills Brothers - Decca Records 18599

"Paper Doll" - Mills Brothers - Decca Records 18318

"Dream" - The Pied Pipers - Capitol Records 185

"Chasing Shadows" - Quintette du Hot Club de France - Royale Records 1798

"Nightmare" (1938) - Artie Shaw - Bluebird Records B-7875 (in-game version)

“Nightmare” (1937) - Art Shaw and his New Music - Vocalion Records 4306 (re-recording)

"Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" - Bessie Smith - Parlophone Records R2481

Father’s Day in Rapture

"Daddy Won't You Please Come Home" - Annette Hanshaw - Velvet Tone Records 1940V

"My Heart Belongs to Daddy" - Mary Martin - Brunswick Records 8282

"Daddy's Little Girl" (1976) - Mills Brothers - Ranwood Records R-8152 (in-game version)

"Daddy's Little Girl" (1950) - Mills Brothers - Decca Records 24872 (original version)

BioShock Infinite

"Ain't She Sweet" - Ben Bernie - Brunswick Records 3444

"Button Up Your Overcoat" - Helen Kane - Victor Records 21863

"(What Do We Do on a) Dew-Dew-Dewey Day" - Charles Kaley - Columbia Records 1055D

"Indian Love Call" - Sigmund Krumgold - Okeh Records 40904

"Me and My Shadow" - Sam Lanin - Lincoln Records 2628

"Black Gal" - Ed Lewis with unidentified prisoners (recorded by Alan Lomax)

"I'm Wild About That Thing" - Bessie Smith - Columbia Records 14427D

"Makin' Whoopee!" - Rudy Vallée - Harmony Records 825-H

The Cylinders of BioShock Infinite

"Shine On, Harvest Moon" - Ada Jones and Billy Murray - Edison Standard Record 10134

"The Bonnie Blue Flag" - Polk Miller - Edison Blue Amberol Record 2175

"After You've Gone"

"The Easy Winners"

"Solace - A Mexican Serenade"

“Just a Closer Walk with Thee” - Elizabeth’s version

“Just a Closer Walk with Thee” - Selah Jubilee Singers - Decca Records 7872

“The Grand Old Rag” - Billy Murray - Victor Records 4634

Albert Fink's Magical Melodies Presents: "God Only Knows"

“Ah! La femme il n’y que ça“ - Mon. A. Fertinel - Improved Berliner Gramophone Record 1148

“God Only Knows” - The Beach Boys - Capitol Records 5706

"Fortunate Son" - Creedence Clearwater Revival - Fantasy Records 634

Burial at Sea

Episode 1

The Complete Records Behind the Music

"Midnight, The Stars and You" - Al Bowlly - Victor Records 24700

"She's Got You" - Patsy Cline - Decca Records 31354

"Wonderful! Wonderful!" - Johnny Mathis - Columbia Records 40784

"The Lady is a Tramp" - Mel Tormé - London American Recordings HL N.8305

"Tonight for Sure!" - Ruth Wallis - Wallis Original Record Corp. 2001

"Stranger in Paradise"

Episode 2

The Complete Records Behind the Music

"Back in Baby's Arms" - Patsy Cline - Decca Records 31483

"Easy to Love" - Sammy Davis Jr. - Starring Sammy Davis Jr. Decca Records DL 8118

"Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" - Glenn Miller - Bluebird Records B-11474

"La Vie en Rose" - Édith Piaf - Columbia Records 4004-F

“La Vie en Rose” (English version) - Édith Piaf - Columbia Records 38948

“La Vie en Rose” in 2007′s BioShock

"The Great Pretender" - The Platters - Mercury Records 70753

"You Belong to Me"

Fallout 2

"A Kiss to Build a Dream On" - Louis Armstrong - Decca Records 27720

Fallout 3 (Galaxy News Radio)

"Civilization" - Andrews Sisters and Danny Kaye - Decca Records 23940

“Butcher Pete (Part 1)” - Roy Brown - De-Luxe Records 3301

“Crazy He Calls Me” - Billie Holiday - Decca Records 24796

"I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" - Ink Spots - Decca Records 3987

"Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall" - Ink Spots and Ella Fitzgerald - Decca Records 23356

Fallout: New Vegas (Radio New Vegas, Mojave Music Radio, Black Mountain Radio)

"It's a Sin" - Eddy Arnold - RCA Victor Records 10-2241

“Why Don’t You Do Right” (1950) - Peggy Lee with the Dave Barbour Quartet- Peggy Lee’s Greatest - Camay Records CA 3003 (in-game version)

“Why Don’t You Do Right (Get Me Some Money Too)” (1947) - Peggy Lee - Rendezvous with Peggy Lee - Capitol Records 10118 (re-recording)

“Why Don’t You Do Right” (1942) - Peggy Lee with Benny Goodman and his Orchestra - Columbia Records 36652 (re-recording)

"Jingle Jangle Jingle" - Kay Kyser - Columbia Records 36604

"Big Iron" - Marty Robbins -  Columbia Records 4-41589

“Blue Moon” - Frank Sinatra - Sinatra’s Swingin’ Session!  - Capitol Records W1491

“Orange Colored Sky” - Nat King Cole - Capitol Records 1184

Fallout 4 (Diamond City Radio)

“Butcher Pete (Part 2)” - Roy Brown - De-Luxe Records 3301

“Orange Colored Sky” - Nat King Cole - Capitol Records 1184

“Pistol-Packin’ Mama - Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters - Decca Records 23277

“The Wanderer” - Dion - Laurie Records 3115

“Sixty-Minute Man - The Dominoes - Federal Records 12022

“Atom Bomb Baby” - The Five Stars - Kernel Records A002

“It’s All Over But the Crying” - Ink Spots - Decca Records 24286

“Grandma Plays the Numbers” - Wynonie Harris - King Records 4276

“Personality” - Johnny Mercer - Capitol Records 230

"The End of the World” - Patti Page - Say Wonderful Things - Columbia Records CS 8849

Guardians of the Galaxy

"I'm Not in Love" - 10cc - Mercury Records (Phonogram) 73678 (abridged)

"Fooled Around and Fell in Love" - Elvin Bishop - Capricorn Records CPS 0252 (abridged)

“Spirit in the Sky” - Norman Greenbaum - Reprise Records 0885

“Escape (The Piña Colada Song) - Rupert Holmes - Infinity Records INF 50.035

"Hooked on a Feeling" - Blue Swede - EMI Records 3627

"I Want You Back" - The Jackson 5 - Motown Records M 1157

"Go All the Way" - Raspberries - Capitol Records 3348

"Come and Get Your Love" - Redbone - Epic Records 5-11035

L.A. Noire (KTI Radio)

“Pistol-Packin’ Mama” - Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters - Decca Records 23277

“Stone Cold Dead in the Market” - Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan - Decca Records 23546

"Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall" - Ink Spots and Ella Fitzgerald - Decca Records 23356

"Manteca" - Dizzy Gillespie - RCA Victor Records 20-3023

"Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" - Louis Jordan - Decca Records 23741

"Red Silk Stockings and Green Perfume" - Sammy Kaye - RCA Victor Records 20-2251

“Black and Blue” - Frankie Laine - Mercury Records A-1026

"'Murder', He Says" - Dinah Shore - RCA Victor Records 20-1525

"Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) - Tex Williams - Capitol Records Americana Series 40001

“Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop” - Lionel Hampton - Decca Records 18754

Mafia II (Empire Central Radio, Delta Radio)

“Why Don’t You Do Right” (1950) - Peggy Lee with the Dave Barbour Quartet- Peggy Lee’s Greatest - Camay Records CA 3003 (re-recording)

“Why Don’t You Do Right” (1942) - Peggy Lee with Benny Goodman and his Orchestra - Columbia Records 36652 (re-recording)

"A Guy is a Guy” - Doris Day - Columbia Records 39673

XCOM The Bureau Declassified (KNOV Radio)

“Runaway” - Del Shannon - Big Top Records 45-3067

“Who’s Sorry Now” - Connie Francis - MGM Records 975 (57-S-622)

"Smack Dab in the Middle" - Mills Brothers - Decca Records 29511

“Riders in the Sky” - Vaughn Monroe - RCA Victor 20-3411

"Man of Mystery" - The Shadows - Columbia Records 45-DB 4530

“I’ll Never Get Out of this World Alive” - Hank Williams - MGM Records 11366

See the previous years’ lists here:

2014

2015

2016

[dailyaudiobible]

05/08/2021 DAB Transcript

1 Samuel 2:22-4:22, John 5:24-47, Psalm 106:1-12, Proverbs 14:30-31 

Today is the 8th day of May welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I'm Brian it is great to be here with you today as we bring to the close another one of our weeks together, this being the first full week of the month of May. So, well done. We moved through quite a bit of territory in this past week landing ourselves where we are in the book of 1 Samuel. We began 1 Samuel yesterday we talked about it then and were just getting to know Sammy. He is just a little boy. His mother, Hannah, prayed for him at Shiloh which is where the permanent tabernacle was for...for hundreds of years before the temple was constructed. And, so, Samuel has been given back to God and he lives there in Shiloh under the priest Eli's supervision. And he's got this little robe, this little priestly robe that his mother…she makes him a new one each year when she comes to worship. It’s a beautiful story because we all know how we like to dress up our toddlers in grown up looking clothes and they just look so sharp and handsome or beautiful. And, so, you can just imagine Samuel with this little priestly robe and ephod on. It’s just a little junior version and he walks around the temple and he's learning the ways of the Lord from the high priest Eli. So, that's basically where we are. We’re reading from the New International Version this week, which is today. 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 22 through 4 verse 22. 

Prayer: 

Father, we thank You for another week in Your word, this first full week of this fifth month were taken note of it. You have been faithful. We are here. You have carried us this far and we are learning and You are shaping and we open ourselves and invite You to continue this work of sanctification within us that we might be set apart as holy to You and we might be living sacrifices, living the light in this world. Come Jesus we pray. In Your precious name, we ask. Amen. 

Announcements: 

dailyaudiobible.com is home base. That is…well…home base. It’s home base, it's the homepage, it’s where you find out what's going on around here. So, check it out. 

Check out the different sections of the website, specifically the Community section and the Shop. And, of course, if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app…and if you're not using the Daily Audio Bible go download the Daily Audio Bible app. It's free, just search for Daily Audio Bible in your store…in your app store, download the Daily Audio Bible app and off you go to find the Community section, the Prayer Wall, the Shop, all that by pushing the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner of the app screen. 

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that on the web or in the app as well. On the web there is a link on the homepage. If you're using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner. And I thank you with all of my heart for your partnership. We wouldn't be here, these servers wouldn't be spinning, the word of God wouldn’t be spoken out across the world on a continual basis every day, all day, if we weren't in this together. And, so, thank you for your partnership. So, there's a link on the web. There is the Give button in the app, or if you prefer the mail, the mailing address, it’s PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174. And as always if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, the little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253. 

And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow. 

Community Prayer and Praise: 

Hello Daily Audio Bible family my name is E, I'm from Texas and this is my first time calling in asking for prayer. I'm sure I've needed to plenty of other times but I just I don't know why I haven't. But thank you to this entire community for constantly praying for being committed. For Brian for you and your entire family for pouring into people daily and touching people and just being obedient to God to help people in a way that many people have probably shied away from, so thank you. I'm calling today because I'm actually not too far off and I'm trying to stay ahead of the curve and in prayer. I've had a lot on my plate in so many ways. I'm interested in writing a book about it. It's just so much. I'm coming off of it's been about a year since I've kind of my husband of 14 years has been having an almost yearlong affair with his assistant in my face and the girls at my house been around my kids. It's just absolutely overwhelming and unbelievable but I'm still I feel like God actually told me to stay in the marriage. He prepared me that this would happen years before it happened, and it happened and so now I'm just dealing with the aftermath of it but it impacts my life. I've been on anxiety drugs I've taken I've gotten off all of that and I'm just trying to trust God and but it is overwhelming. I'm in a support group but it's still a lot to deal with daily paired with just regular life where I have a family member an aunt who I've actually had to take care of and become a carrier and power of attorney and everything. Plus, I have my own 3 little kids and other businesses that I'm running and new ventures for career paths and I manage artists. I'm deeply embedded in the music community and just trying to function as a normal person when your life isn't normal it's very hard it's overwhelming. So, I’m asking everybody for prayer today that I can stay balanced and… 

Hi DAB Emmy from Illinois here just calling in to say hi and just continued prayer for my husband and I that we can find a way to work through our marriage. My husband is still pretty much adamant that nothing can be fixed. He's actually contemplated moving across the country and working at a job that he would only be home a couple of weeks every few months and I haven't he's not really communicating much with me so I don't know if he got the job or not. But if that happens it would be in June in that would leave me through the bulk of my pregnancy to be home alone. I have support systems but both of them are an hour plus away. I kind of live in the middle of nowhere. So, it would just be a really hard transition of living life by myself. I can do it, I did it for 37 years before we got married but I wasn't pregnant then. So, I'm hoping and praying that God will use my pregnancy and I don't know maybe my husband going across the country to open his eyes to the realities that running from God is what's making him unhappy, and our marriage is just taking the is the scapegoat for his struggles. So, if you could just continue to pray. I am trying to stay happy and positive and stay as healthy as possible for this baby. So, thank you. Bye. 

Hi everyone this is Mary. I don't really have a nickname but I guess it could be white or something. I don't know. But I just wanted to come on here and just ask for prayer for my mom. She recently lost her job and it's just been really scary. But I'm trusting in God and, you know, I say that but it's hard to do, you know, and so he's first. So, I just ask that you pray that she gets to find another job. She's actually going on an interview today. So, I hope it goes well. I know God blessed her with the interview. So, I know that he will bring her through it. But yeah, if you could just keep us in your prayers. And yeah, I'm keeping you all in my prayers. Thank you for inspiring me and reminding me that God's in control and just all the inspiration, all the positivity that you guys say. It just really, really encourages me. So, I thank you. God is so, so good even in, you know, the worst moments. And, yeah, thank you Brian for this community. I pray blessings over your new granddaughter. And yeah, I was so excited for that new chapter that you guys are experiencing. My sisters also having a baby in July. So, I'm really excited. She'll be having a baby boy. So, yeah, I just pray blessings over you guys and peace and yeah, I love you guys. Have a good one. Bye. 

Hey family this is Lazarus calling. I'll let you know through the prayer request since I was baptized, reborn I went deeper and deeper into Christ father and his Holy Spirit has just been amazing transformation and powerful. I, so, I want you to know that I pray for you all and I care about you all deeply and here for you. Just know about that was out there praying for you in response to your prayer request. So, I have an ask. And come along way. Some of you know my story. It's been pretty brutal. But right now, I'm about to finish up here on a project that will at least dig me out of the ditch for the moment and it's been a deep and long ditch as many know. So, I just ask for your prayers. The other party has been this more complicated and has put me at risk even more risk than I am and this will make a huge difference for what I can do for the community. It's not about me. That job is dead this is the new Lazarus talking and this is about God. This is about doing the right thing getting in a posture of heart and position to be able to work out his plan the father's plan support his plan. And again, he's first, I’m last and that's just the agreement that we have. So, we go out together every day to fight evil and darkness and he's with me and it's made all the difference. So, I ask your prayers that I get through this one last step and get on my new track completely. I pray in Jesus’ name. God bless you all. 

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Carla Mathis from Orlando FL. I'm calling to pray from my husband and my family. My husband is in a federal facility in __ County Texas so I'm here with my daughters. I just wanna say a quick prayer for him. Oh Lord I pray that you will protect __ from any accidents, diseases, dangers or evil influences ___ especially where he is, hide him from violence __ evil people wherever he walks secure his steps keep him on your path so that his feet don't slip. If his foot does slip, hold him up by your mercy. Give him the wisdom and the discretion that will help him walk away safely and not fall into danger. Be his fortress, his strength, his shield, and his stronghold. Make him to dwell in the shadow of your wings. I pray that__ that we might __ what will happen around him will not come near us and not hurt him. Save him from anything that the enemy __ against him or to destroy him. Lord God I just __ continue in the faith and let him come home. __ When I come back __ . __ I love him so much and I love daddy and he's going to come home sooner but we have to wait until __. Amen. Amen. 

Hi family this is Biola from Maryland I hope you're all doing well. Well, congratulations China and Ben on the birth of Reagan the Brave. What a beautiful name. Beautiful baby, I saw her on Facebook. Congratulations to you Brian and Jill. Brian I must say that I am really impressed. I mean I've always been impressed by the I am doubly impressed by your dedication to this beautiful ministry you know even after your first grandbaby girl. I know you have other grandkids who are who are boys. Came into the world you still came to read to us. May God bless you brother. May God answer you before your call you and Jill in the name of Jesus and I pray for Reagan Brave. I pray that as her name indicates she will be brave for the Lord. This little girl will be on fire may God give her parents wisdom to know how to raise her in the way of the Lord in the name of Jesus. May they never lack for any good thing in Jesus’ name. And I pray the same for you Brian and I want to encourage everyone who listens to Daily Audio Bible, as you listen and put your log in the fire, please give to Daily Audio Bible. This is really important. Honey Bee I am praying for you my sister that God will touch your eyes and heal you, that God will work a miracle in your life in the name of Jesus. Cammy, I want to give you kudos for such a beautiful, beautiful encouragement that you give to the sister who wanted to know what to do while she's in an unequally yoked relationship. What a beautiful advice that you gave to her. And Lastly, Tony the Truck Driver I'm so sorry for your loss. I pray for the Ramirez family that God will touch them, that God will wrap his arms around them, that God would comfort them, and God would provide for them. It's a name of Jesus…

[belyndaocha-blog1]

Tagged by @hakkenryu​ !! /Wooo thank you for the tags ! XD /it’s fun to answer something like this >w<

rules: choose any three fandoms (in random order) and answer the questions, then tag 10 people you want to know better

This is a long thread so i will keep it short to here !

i choose:

-IDOLiSH7

-Danganronpa 

-Tales of (I’m not really digging too much in it but i still following the series- =v=)

the first character you loved:

- Kujou Tenn

He looks so perfectionist and i like his double side personalities where he’s looks so kind at the outside in the stage but actually quite cold when he’s on outside works schedule (・・ ) ?. (Which’s surprising but he looks so cool >///<)

- Kirigiri Kyouko

Aaa i like detective tropes so much and it’s mostly boys detective but kirigiri  looks like a cool detective but also a strong woman ! /Sometimes her cold gaze’re kinda hurt o(〒﹏〒)o but i like how smart she is >w<

-Milla Maxwell

My friend introduced this series to me and she’s the first one who catched my attention!   (≧◡≦) ♡ So powerfull, so wise but still have innocent side like girls. ♡＼(￣▽￣)／♡ Although i haven’t finished xillia, i planned to finish it someday!! 

the character you never expected to love so much:

-Riku Nanase

The main center and also the other twin from Kujou tenn ! He tried so hard and even his health problem’s not gonna stop him. (kinda reckless and so selfish sometimes  ＼(º □ º l|l)/;; ). Watching how he’s really trying so hard make me want to keep support him and just keep him happy (⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄<⁄ ⁄)  /Though i7 will make sure to hit more drama and feels to us again- :’D.

^ALSO HIS CHIBIS AND PUPPY EYES’RE SO ADORABLE. I CAN’T HOLD IT AAAA- O////O-

-Saihara Shuuichi

I really like his development and growth and probably one of the most relatable characters in DR.   (; ω ; )ヾ(´∀`* ) /Pursuing the truth as a detective’s not an easy task afterall since there’s more things and conflict inside ;v;. But he keep growing stronger and learn a lot from that experiences =v=. Even if he experienced a lot of downfall. He still trying his best ! 

/Also he doesn’t have too much good gif;; why- QAQ;;

-Luke fon fabre

Got hated and despised by a lot of people because his selfish action and when you wanna change into more better person’s hard isn’t it ? He learned it in the worst way ack-;; QAQ;; . I don’t really like how he’s so arrogant at first but looking at how he’s tries his best to live and become more better’s just so painfull for me to hate him now ;v;. Become better to live more better ! 

Why most of them are red hair people tho- :’DD

the character you relate to the most:

/THIS IS THE SAME AS BEFORE- /so let me short it quick- XD

-Riku nanase 

-Saihara Shuuichi

-probably luke’s the closest- :’Dthe character you’d slap:

-Tsukumo ryou

Everyone who finished part 3 already knews that we really want to slap, wait no, wanna arrest him so much.  (ノ°益°)ノ

-Honestly ouma and Miu- :’D

WHEN HIS LIES GOES TOO FAR-  凸(`△´＃), /also i can’t keep up with miu’s jokes- :’D

-Nova

Please stop intruding for asking a debt payment like EVERYTIME- :’DD. she looks so cute but don’t remind me over the debt-

three favorite characters (in order of preference):

-Riku Nanase,Tenn Kujou and Nagi Rokuya ! 

-Saihara shuuichi, kaede akamatsu, and ouma kokichi

-MHMM Luke fon fabre, mikleo and then jude mathis-

a character you liked at first but don’t anymore:

-Probably minami. He looks so kind at first but his cold side’s so hurts ><. still curious over his details tho

-Mikan tsumiki. Ahh sorry that most people like her but i can’t keep up with her too much clumsiness ><;;

-i don’t think i have one for atm o.o

three otps:

-GakuTsumu !! I kinda like RikuTsumu and platonic ship would be Ioriku !

-I still into saimatsu a lot rn- TvT, Others would be kaimaki and platonic ship oumasai

-Duo MillaJude ! i don’t really have too much otps instead i have some platonic ship for Soreymikleo and LudgerElle

Tagging @anevoice @maumiie @jwisdomhheartmmoon ! (Sorry i just able to tag a few ;;. pls feel free to do it or not!. 

Also i got too excited writing this o.o;; 

[sentofighta]

The Muses page short description: 

This is for everyone to read to know about them. It will be updated if I added more muses.

The Fina.l Fantasy Muses

Name: Einar Vilho

Age: 24

He is the captain of division 6 of the Milites army. He is a stoic guy, rarely show emotions because he focuses on what is in front of him, especially in battle. Pride might be his sin since it cost his right arm and now it was replaced with a magetik arm though NO ONE knows about it except who serves under him and the higher ups because it is hidden beneath his long sleeve coat. Einar does not favor any country in this war, he simply fights because he wants to protect the place his uncle, Gustav lives in nothing more. The reason why he lives with his uncle because his parents died due to the poor environment and economic situation in Milites/Byakko. They had to send him away to his uncle when he was just a baby to survive. Thanks to the crystal, he does not remember them thus why he is very protective of his uncle. He does not wish to forget him either. He is very weak in front of children though he can still be stern with them so they won't grow up to be lazy and spoiled children. His childhood friend being Sora/ @/crownofsmiles and love interest and soon to be his wife. 

Name: Hotaru Takumi

Age: 17

Hotaru suffered when her father died in the war because all the memories of him were wiped causing her mother to have a mental break down. Izumi, the mother, loved Ryuichi and it pained her to not lose memories of someone who seemed to close to her. Hotaru was forced to leave her sweet life and with the help of her uncle, she was assigned to be a subordinate to one of the classes back in the Magic Academy. Being just 12  years old, she had to wait four years until she was able to join a class but in this time, she learned a lot. Thus, she was chosen to join class 9, infamous class of being class of the lazy bunch, however, they are actually the class responsible for Intel and black operations. Hotaru is a spy. She will do anything to complete her job eve stoop low to take down a comrade because of her pragmatic self. On campus, she is very jubilant, only a facade in order to collect information from the cadets. Despite how she seems, she cares for her comrades, mostly her classmates because she knows they don’t have a chance unlike the other classes to bond and create memories since to each their own mission.

Name: Lian Shiro

Age: 16

The happy-go-lucky girl. Lian is the youngest child of her family, being two siblings, older sister and brother who are as well in Suzuku’s army. She is shy and keeps her distance from people. Thanks to her wild imagination, she is often seen writing stories and her daily activity. Lian holds Class Zero on a high pedestal because to her they are the very heroic symbol. They seem like the heroes she read a lot of stories about, selfless and strong. She is a cadet at class 6. Lian likes to write down everything that happened, is happening and what will happen to be a sort of reference to people in the future once this war ends; to know that there are people suffering and fighting in case the crystal erased everything as always. 

Name: Eight

Age: 16

Class Zero monk. Eight is one of Arecia’s adopted children and a member of class zero. He is the youngest and shortest male zeroes wise. Eight uses martial art as fighting style because he is repulsed by how weapons take life easily. His logic is to feel the same pain as his enemy so he won’t forget he had to kill them. Eight is the calmest individual in the zeroes making him a good reference for quick decision making in tough situations. Being energetic, he is always training or doing anything to pass his time instead of being idle. Eight has a sensitive spot due to his height which made him a very competitive person. 

Name: Machina Kunagiri

Age: 17

Cadet of class 2 the vanguard, he was moved to class zero with his childhood friend Rem Tokimiya to keep an eye on the vermilion cadets. Machina lost his rother, Izana in the Liberation Operation which made him forget him thanks to the crystal erasing his memories of the dead. The cadet was later notified of how his brother was killed because of Class Zero thus he became the only spy on class zero instead of weighing this mission on Rem as well. He is kind and straightforward young man who likes chocobos. Because of what he went through, he became fearful of death and losing his close friends and loved one. Currently, he is figuring his emotions to Deuce @/oursongofhealing. 

Tales. of muses

Name: Naomi Jalal

Stage name: Aiden

Age: 20

One of the 459 orphan that Noir and the gang picked to be part of their family, living in the Nam Cobanda Isle, the Dark Wing. Aiden is from the Isle of Feres the same isle that was destroyed in the Hod war. She does not know anything of her old life because she was just two years old when it happened thus Noir picked a new name for her ‘Aiden’ and she started working with the Dark Wings as a thief and in the Black Dream as a performer. Being around different people, Aiden picked up different skills. She is quite the narcissistic lady something that she developed because of the many roles she did. 

Name: Balan

Age: 31

Elympion spyrix engineer that switched to work on a better way to use mana without killing the spirits through the spyrites technology. He is the cousin of Alvin (Alfred Vint Svent). He is a cheerful guy who likes science and teasing his cousin. Realistic and optimistic who has a habit of betting (gambling.) He is the person you go to if you want any little secret on Alvin. Balan knows a couple good stories on Alfey. He is very proud of what he makes and the people who work for him including Jude Mathis who without his help and the other the spyrites project would have died before it could start. (also he is the actual tox hero because A.K.A the one who saved their butts.)

Fire. Emble.m Muses

Name: Saleh Errol

Age: 19

Half Plegian half Ylissean, the child of a plegian scientist and a ylissean lady who survived the war. Saleh was a student under the avatar during the time they were staying in his village. He learned a lot from them and made him more eager to explore the world and himself as a person and learn what interests him since everyone had pretty much interests and he had none. He gets affected by the sudden disappearance of the avatar but it only made him more resolved to go out and discover his new passion--Alchemy. He is currently traveling with Duncan group of merchant and when he is not, he is traveling with other groups or on his own. He seeks the knowledge of anything related to Alchemy to hone his skills and further his study.

Harvest Moo.n Muses

Name: Feiruz

Age: 20

The cheerful and optimistic farmer. She has a trouble of staying organised so a friend suggested that she try a job that can help her fix this problem and she grew fond of taking care of animals and tending to the land. She is not an expert but she likes to learn everything about how to become a good farmer and animal caretaker. Feiruz has a small farm that she made on her family land and works her way to make it bigger. She got the support of her family and friends. Feiruz is the loudest person when she wakes up. You can practically hear her ‘GOOD MORNING.’ Often people get annoyed at how loud and overly cheerful she can be but she learned by experience to tone herself down (though at times she fails because she gets very excited about something.) 

Resonance Of. Fate Muses

Name: Leanne /Renabell (jp)

Age: 22

The Huntress that works in Vahyron group. She is a good natured person with a big heart tends to forgive who wronged her. Her skills are not too shabby in shooting especially with her trusty frying pan. She likes fashion and often when she is not on a job, she is walking around the streets, visiting the local boutique shop to look at the new clothes or join Vashyron to level 7 in Le Chit-Chat Noir for a drink.

Name: Zephyr

Age: 17

Coming out of a traumatic and life-changing experience, he started to work with vashyron who took him in after that. Zephyr is a softie and funny guy only to who are very close to him but otherwise, he is a quiet and reserved character, speaking only when he sees fit. his cool side often disappears when the situation is about the safety and well-being of his teammates, Vashyron and Leanne.  

[faniyit]

  Perception and Deception: A Spy Series Kindle EditionThis book is a definite page-turner. It has suspense, romance, intrigue, action. I was amazed by the research the author has done in describing how a secret organization with authorization to protect innocent civilians may possibly exist. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a fiction-based-on-fact type of novel." -David Lucero, Author

"The synopsis immediately grasped my attention because there aren’t many good YA spy novels, except the obvious and legendary Anthony Horowitz, Alex Rider series. I had zero expectations going into this and I can honestly say that I am incredibly impressed. This book was action packed yet mysterious." -Katerina, Reader

Note From the Author: Thank you Jesus for bringing me an incredible group of readers who have supported this series from the very beginning! I never thought I’d have such loyal, kind, and supportive people reading my work. I will keep this series going for as long as possible, just for you! I love you and may God bless you in all of your endeavors! -Andrea Hintz

Ashton Mathis lives in a rural yet cliquey town in Vermont. As the owner of the town's only grocery store, his life is successfully simple. But life begins to teeter towards something unusual after a strange yet beautiful woman named Felix moves into town. Swearing he will marry this girl someday, his pursuit of her proves to be successful...until she suddenly dumps him and he gets attacked in an alley. His rescuer is surprisingly Felix herself, revealing that she's really a special agent for a top secret division of the FBI and has blown her cover. Ashton suddenly finds himself thrown into a mission involving destructive weapons blueprints that could lead to worldwide catastrophe, running from the bad guys who are now after Felix and himself, and try to win back the heart of this dangerous woman.

Join the fandom and buy now!

KINDLY CLICK HERE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT OUR SITES: https://amzn.to/3jZ0bud

[theewrites-tf2]

(Naw, thanks anon! Love getting asks from my mystery friends! Now!*pulls up dozens of Google docs, grinning* Lets begin.) Scout: A girl and a boy, Susanna and Jacques. They're half-siblings and not as close as Scout hopes that would be, himself coming from a big sibling family, but their working on it. Susanna has her mothers beauty and her father's huge ego, and she shows that to pursue vocal arts, hoping to one day become a ‘star.’ Jacques is like Scout in almost every way, he's exceptionally fast, talks big, and of course, grew up with baseball. He may be a little smartass at times, but he knows exactly the right time it is to pull back, and give his enemy a moment to recover, before striking again… (Makes Grandpa proud, also yes. Grandpa totally wrote the name on the birth certificate before Scout could ;)) Sniper: A daughter, Lillian. She can be introverted like her father, and, when it's time to get to work, very serious and professional, proving to be a capable leader. Growing up through the 80’s/90, rock music has and always will be her weakness. (I can see her being a lover of the band, Kings of Leon) At an older age, Lily lets loose at bars in the city, letting her stress melt away before heading to work again (police officer?)I also like the idea of her being a beautiful singer, but only when she's had a few shots ;P also, totally a daddy's girl, she'll ride with him on jobs. Soldier: He found this kid one day, who happened to like Eagles and Rockets, so he claimed the boy, Ricky, as his own! Ricardo is a bit of a smartalec, Soldier let scout babysit him one time, and it was all over. He's very into fighting though, thinks it's a great part-time and a way to impress the ladies ;) Definitely a smooth talker, until Soldier yells that there are some asses in need of kicking, then it's back to sassy one-liners and creative killing! Demoman: One son, who, much to his dismay, is timid and a utter klutz around explosives. Tyrris, the poor kid, really doesn't have the classic Degroot spirit, and would rather focus on becoming a teacher one day, start a family and live a normal life in the suburbs one day. Boring, says Demo. Demo tries hard to get him involved, but the only explosion that even mildly excites the kid is fireworks! He's a bit let-down, but he loves his kid anyways… he'll just have to work on it! Heavy: Heavys 'little’ girl, Hela, very open and friendly to get friends and family, ready to knock you senseless and break your neck if your an enemy. Definitely the ‘mom’ friend of the group, keeping track of everyone and generally keeping the piece. Besties with the Pyro’s daughter, and totally a daddy's girl. Pyro: A sharp, quick witted girl adopted from the Middle East, Kia is definitely the quiet leader of the group, keeping the kids from getting killed, or from eating all the ice cream. She keeps the big-egos in check, and she often keeps the group from making a stupid decision. Of course, she has a weakness for fire, but she's not as destructive as one might think, just quietly fascinated with the flames. (I based her personality loosely off of Riza Hawkeye from FMA, if that helps.) Engineer: His daughter is independent and slightly insane, she makes both Medic and Soldier look like sweet old ladies. She's also child-genius, her IQ falling just short of Engies, and that totally would terrify everyone… if she wasn't such a loudmouth, and hot-headed. Emma is very, uh, vocal towards her enemies, and will frequently screech at them from halfway across the battlefield. Due to her short temper, people often forget how smart she actually is, until she's grinning at them darkly with a huge sentry behind her. Also, she will fight you, always. Medic: Two sons, about five years apart, but you can't tell because they both look like twins, and they both look just like Medic (there's a ongoing bet that their clones) Erik, the eldest, is into becoming a mortician, finding much less nerve wracking then working on live patients. He's actually very friendly and totally a ladies man, and he's very big on going to school! Mathis is his father's son, a bit quieter and tamer then his father, but his eyes light up when he steps into the medical room. A very curious child, always eager to learn more, and very helpful in his father's ‘adventurous studies’... Also, did I mention he's adorkable when it comes to romances… including with a certain blonde French girl… Spy: Reginè is from France, she looks like her father, and she knows how to cloak. That's all everyone knows of her past. Reginè is a cool, calculating girl, always had this silent smirk on her face. She's a true politician, always ready with a plan and another one in case things go awry, and she's truly a force to be reckoned with… except, she also has her father (and Scouts) smartass behaviour, as well as her father's high maintenance attitude. She's not ditching her heels even in battle, she just got her hair done, so don't mess it up, and also, don't try to insult her sense of fashion, or she will ruin your life. The only exception to her worse side, happens to be Mathis… the Medics son and Spys daughter seem almost inseparable whenever there's no battles to be fought, and when there is a fight, you can bet he is right at her side, her support as much as she is his, because #supportteam4life

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hi Steph! I have an itty bitty problem.. I'm very bi and I like a girl- specifically, my best friend. Please advise. I told her how I feel and I think she feels the same but neither of us are really out. I dont want her relationship w her parents to be damaged, and idek how to begin w mine. Esp my dad. Ik he loves me and we get on fairly well, but hes disgusted by anything gay, and whenever I try to defend it he always brings religion up and I can't win. Idk if I even want to tell him. What do?

Hi Nonny! *hugs*

Well, because I’m neither a professional nor have ever been in a serious relationship NOR have confessed and have it be reciprocal (which is AWK-warddddd), I’m probably not the best person to ask, but I can give you my thoughts:

I’m not the one who can make that choice for you that can possibly be life changing, sadly. It’s a tough call, especially where religion is involved, because bigots will cherry pick the parts they want without context and use it as an argument, when really they seem to forget that Jesus and God loved all their people. I’m not religious myself (I have strong views against it, and think we would be a much happier society without it), so I can’t say what’s right nor wrong, nor do I want to start a religious debate here, because bleh, I’m too old and frankly don’t care because bigots rarely change their minds and I don’t have the patience for that.

But I digress. 

The ultimate decision is up to you and her, Lovely, and it’s always a 50-50 chance that a parent will either accept or disown you. It’s definitely something you both need to have a very serious discussion about, and one you both have to decide if the gains outweigh the cons. I think, if you do decide to tell them, you will need to have a support system pre-determined beforehand in case something bad happens.

I’m assuming you’re in your late teens, so this one is tough for me to give you a good answer for, so I don’t know how useful my personal anecdote will be here. I first confessed my asexuality/panromanticism to my sister and closest friends when I was 34, and a close aunt at 36, and all the times I started with, “I’ve spent a few years trying to figure out who I am. I’ve been feeling lost, and I think I’m asexual, and can honestly see myself with anyone, as long as we’re both happy.” Now, all of these people also have liberal views of the world, so really it was just like “okay” and life moved on.

Again, I’m not the best person for this :( 

I don’t know if it would help, but I’ve a post about John’s bisexuality, that if you scroll down a bit contains some very interesting and candid stories from other people growing up bi. It’s a great thread, and maybe it will help you feel a bit better.

I saw a video recently about a man who was very anti-gay (his name is Nathan Mathis, if you want to google before clicking this link), until his daughter came out to him… he didn’t understand it, but he just wanted his daughter happy. Unfortunately, she killed herself because of LGBT hate, and he now goes around to political rallies showing them pictures of his girl. It made me cry. So people can change Lovely, so I wouldn’t totally dismiss your family completely. I just fear about you and her having a stable support system in place before you both tell your families. Just don’t date behind their backs, because that can end terribly for both of you.

As I said, you both need to have a very serious conversation and decide if you two want to date, or wait until after schooling to do so, and figure out if it was just a fleeting thing. Sadly, a lot of people change by the time they’re ready for college, and unless you both are planning on going to the same college, it’s unlikely you will stay in close touch unless you guys are extremely close. 

I wish I could help you out a lot more than this. I know whatever you do decide, it will be the right one for you in your heart.

That said, I welcome others who came out young to please offer their advice or stories. Thank you

[siva3155]

300+ TOP School Counselor Interview Questions and Answers

School Counselor Interview Questions for freshers experienced :-

1. How many years have you been a professional school counselor? I have been a school counselor for 7 years, prior to my work as a counselor I was a 2nd grade teacher for 3 years and a 1st grade teacher for 8 years. My experience working as a teacher helped me make the transition to a counselor. I also changed schools when I became a counselor. It was a new experience across the board: new area of education, new school, and new faculty and teachers to learn about. 2. Describe your specific role(s) as a professional school counselor. Currently I work as one of two school counselors at Coulson Tough Elementary. I am in charge of working with Kindergarten to 3rd grade, the other counselors handles 4th to 6th grade. I counsel students individually, visit classrooms once a month to deliver counseling based lessons to students. I also have smaller administration like duties: lunch monitoring, before and after school pick up, etc. We have several programs to encourage student health and wellness: say no to drug campaigns, healthy choices, etc. I work with my co counselor to create and deliver these programs. I work with teachers and attend parent teacher conferences to identify specific student needs. 3. Describe your specific role(s) as a professional school counselor as they relate to consultation. Consultation at the elementary level is a bit different than the high school level. We work closely with our students, teachers, and parents to identify problems as they arise. Typically, in our district and especially in this school, families are very active in their children’s education. They attend meetings, assemblies, and conferences regularly. We are very fortunate to have so much family support, which was not always the case at my previous school. I believe that it makes a difference in student performance. 4. Describe your specific role(s) as a professional school counselor as they relate to collaboration. We collaborate with teachers and outside resources. But honestly, typically we don’t encounter extreme problematic cases that other districts may have. At my former school we had several cases – cases that I reported myself – to CPS. Students of mine would come to class and would show signs of severe neglect at times. I would consult and collaborate with administration about what to do. Eventually CPS would be called in. Here, at this school, typically cases for collaboration deal much more with typical benign elementary behavioral problems or learning disorders. We meet together as a group – principal, counselors, grade level teachers – and discuss issues at hand with students and family. 5. Describe your specific role(s) as a professional school counselor as they relate to referral. (You may ask if a referral list exists). We have a large list of outside agencies and tutors that can be referred to in relative cases. We (counselors) are careful to include the parents in on any issues that come up and also make sure that our principal and faculty are included. We refer out for grief counseling, in addition to the counseling we offer. We also refer out to agencies like Sylvan learning for additional tutoring needs for students. We also refer to educational testing to identify specific learning disabilities, etc when necessary. 6. What type of services does this school counseling program provide? Describe the clientele in terms of demographics (SES, race, age, gender, etc.). Typically the majority of our students are Caucasian but we also have a large population of students who have started to come to the school from Mexico City. Currently we offer several programs like our “girls group” that meets weekly during lunch periods. We have a rotating group of young girls to meet with the counselor to discuss issues related to making friends, “cliques” , school, and home life. We (Ms Mathis and the other counselor) offer individual counseling to students with parental approval. Since the school is Kindergarten to 6th grade, there is not as much academic counseling as the high school level. 7. What amount of time is spent delivering guidance lessons, providing individual student planning, delivering responsive services and managing system support? I would say, no two days are ever the same! We try very hard to stick to a rigid schedule but you just never know when an issue will come up that demands immediate attention. Just this morning I had drop off duty (supervision of drop off kids before school) and a child had fallen off their bike, broken their arm. This isn’t exactly in the realm of counseling but you get the idea of what we have a hand in helping with! I would say responsive services and student planning play a large part of our job, maybe 15 hours a day? But again that varies week to week. Of course we have guidelines and goals we must make but we also have some freedom. Delivering guidance lessons in the classroom is a huge part of my week! I enjoy it because the students recognize me and feel more comfortable in trusting me and making a connection. 8. How are you compensated for work beyond contract hours? (laughs – for awhile….) Oh, well if that would be the case I would be driving a much nicer car! But, I love my job and even though I don’t receive any extra compensation for after hours work I wouldn’t trade it for any other profession – even teaching again. I love this school and the supportive faculty and administration and parents. It makes my job so much easier and makes student progress possible. 9. What budget is available to purchase the necessary materials and supplies to implement the program? What are the funding sources for the program? Well we are lucky. I will tell you. I’m not sure there has been many times I couldn’t find exactly the materials I needed at any given time. We do have funding from the PTO and School Counselor Interview 4 several parents who work as ‘boosters’ and give additional money towards supplies for the students. 10. What do you do for your own professional development? That’s a great question, I am constantly going to conferences here in the area and we are lucky that our principal encourages us also. I just got back from a conference in Dallas for elementary school counselors.

School Counselor Interview Questions 11. Why Do You Feel You Are Ready to Be a Guidance Counselor? Many people would answer a question like this with some information about their education and credentials, and while this is acceptable, it should be followed up with a bit of more personal information. You should take some time before your interview to reflect upon this so that you can provide your interviewer with an answer that is meaningful. For instance, you can provide some information about a particularly difficult case, whether you actively participated in the case or observed as part of your training. Similarly, you could provide information about a personal experience, particularly if you or one of your own children was helped by a guidance counselor in the past. 12. What Would You Do if a Student Reported He Was Abused by a Teacher? Part of your role as a guidance counselor is ensuring proper relationships between students and teachers. As such, at some point during your career, you may be faced with a particularly difficult and personal issue. Be sure to take your time when answering such a question; a quick response indicates that you will not take the time to think the situation through. “I would first review the school’s policy for handling such issues” followed by your methods for implementing the policy is always the best answer. School Counselor Questions and Answers Pdf Download :- Read the full article

[malte1mj-blog]

2005/2006 TV Awards

Best Drama Series: Battlestar Galactica Grey's Anatomy Lost The Sopranos 24 HONORABLE MENTION: Big Love, Everwood, House, Law & Order, Medium, Rescue Me, Rome, The Shield, Six Feet Under, Veronica Mars, The West Wing, Without a Trace Best Actor - Drama Series: Matthew Fox, Lost - "Man of Science, Man of Faith" James Gandolfini, The Sopranos - "Mr. & Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request..." Hugh Laurie, House - "No Reason" Denis Leary, Rescue Me - "Justice" Edward James Olmos, Battlestar Galactica - "Resurrection Ship, Parts 1 & 2" Kiefer Sutherland, 24 - "Day 5: 7:00 A.M. - 8:00 A.M." HONORABLE MENTION: Michael Chiklis, The Shield; Vincent D’Onofrio, Law & Order: Criminal Intent; Michael C. Hall, Six Feet Under; Peter Krause, Six Feet Under; Anthony LaPaglia, Without a Trace; Kevin McKidd, Rome; Christopher Meloni, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; Bill Paxton, Big Love; Gregory Smith, Everwood; Jimmy Smits, The West Wing; James Spader, Boston Legal; Ray Stevenson, Rome; Sam Waterston, Law & Order; Bradley Whitford, The West Wing; Treat Williams, Everwood Best Actress - Drama Series: Patricia Arquette, Medium - "Sweet Child O' Mine" Kristen Bell, Veronica Mars - "Normal Is the Watchword" Frances Conroy, Six Feet Under - "Everyone's Waiting" Edie Falco, The Sopranos - "Join the Club" Mary McDonnell, Battlestar Galactica - "Epiphanies" Polly Walker, Rome - "An Owl in a Thornbush" HONORABLE MENTION: Geena Davis, Commander in Chief; Jennifer Garner, Alias; Ginnifer Goodwin, Big Love; Rachel Griffiths, Six Feet Under; Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; Allison Janney, The West Wing; Evangeline Lilly, Lost; Ellen Pompeo, Grey’s Anatomy; Kim Raver, 24; Chloe Sevigny, Big Love; Jeanne Tripplehorn, Big Love Best Supporting Actor - Drama Series: Alan Alda, The West Wing - "Two Weeks Out" Tom Amandes, Everwood - "Pieces of Me" Joseph Gannascoli, The Sopranos - "Johnny Cakes" Gregory Itzin, 24 - "Day 5: 6:00 A.M. - 7:00 A.M." T.R. Knight, Grey's Anatomy - "The Name of the Game" Forest Whitaker, The Shield - "Kavanaugh" HONORABLE MENTION: Adewale Akkinnuoye-Agbaje, Lost; James Callis, Battlestar Galactica; Omar Epps, House; Walton Goggins, The Shield; Ciaran Hinds, Rome; Robert Iler, The Sopranos; Michael Imperioli, The Sopranos; Kenneth Johnson, The Shield; Daniel Dae Kim, Lost; Jack McGee, Rescue Me; Tobias Menzies, Rome; Terry O’Quinn, Lost; Chris Pratt, Everwood; James Purefoy, Rome; Freddy Rodriguez, Six Feet Under; Richard Schiff, The West Wing; Tony Sirico, The Sopranos; Jake Weber, Medium Best Supporting Actress - Drama Series: Lauren Ambrose, Six Feet Under - "Everyone's Waiting" Katherine Heigl, Grey's Anatomy - "Deterioration of the Fight or Flight Response"/"Losing My Religion" Tricia Helfer, Battlestar Galactica - "Downloaded" Katee Sackhoff, Battlestar Galactica - "Lay Down Your Burdens, Parts 1 & 2" Jean Smart, 24 - "Day 5: 6:00 A.M. - 7:00 A.M." Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy - "It's the End of the World"/"As We Know It" HONORABLE MENTION: Candice Bergen, Boston Legal; Blythe Danner, Huff; Lindsay Duncan, Rome; Lisa Edelstein, House; Diane Farr, Rescue Me; Merrilyn Gann, Everwood; Sharon Gless, Queer as Folk; Yunjin Kim, Lost; Justina Machado, Six Feet Under; S. Epatha Merkerson, Law & Order; Debra Mooney, Everwood; Diane Neal, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; Sandra Oh, Grey’s Anatomy; Grace Park, Battlestar Galactica; CCH Pounder, The Shield; Mary Lynn Rajskub, 24; Michelle Rodriguez, Lost; Emily Van Camp, Everwood Best Writing - Drama Series: Battlestar Galactica - "Downloaded" - Bradley Thompson & David Weddle Lost - "The Whole Truth" - Christina M. Kim & Elizabeth Sarnoff Rescue Me - "Happy" - Denis Leary, Evan Reilly & Peter Tolan Rome - "Kalends of February" - Bruno Heller Six Feet Under - "Everyone's Waiting" - Alan Ball The Sopranos - "Join the Club" - David Chase HONORABLE MENTION: Battlestar Galactica - “Epiphanies”; Battlestar Galactica - “Lay Down Your Burdens”; Battlestar Galactica - “Scattered”; Big Love - “Affair”; Everwood - “Pieces of Me; Grey’s Anatomy - “Deterioration of the Fight or Flight Response”; Grey’s Anatomy - “Into You Like a Train”; House - “The Mistake”; Law & Order - “Acid”; Law & Order: Criminal Intent - “In the Wee Small Hours”; Lost - “The Other 48 Days”; Medium - “Judge, Jury and Executioner”; Rome - “Triumph”; Rome - “Utica”; The Shield - “Postpartum”; Six Feet Under - “All Alone”; Six Feet Under - “Ecotone”; The Sopranos - “Mayham”; The Sopranos - “Members Only”; 24 - “Day 5: 7:00 A.M. - 8:00 A.M.”; 24 - “Day 5: 6:00 A.M. - 7:00 A.M.”; Veronica Mars - “Donut Run”; Veronica Mars - “Happy Go Lucky”; The West Wing - “Institutional Memory”; Without a Trace - “A Day in the Life” Best Directing - Drama Series: Battlestar Galactica - "Lay Down Your Burdens, Parts 1 & 2" - Michael Rymer Grey's Anatomy - "It's the End of the World"/"As We Know It" - Peter Horton The Shield - "Post Partum" - Stephen Kay The Sopranos - "Members Only" - Tim Van Patten 24 - "Day 5: 6:00 A.M. - 7:00 A.M." - Jon Cassar Veronica Mars - "Donut Run" - Rob Thomas HONORABLE MENTION: Battlestar Galactica - “Downloaded”; Battlestar Galactica - “Epiphanies”; Everwood - “An Ounce of Prevention”; Grey’s Anatomy - “Into You Like a Train”; Grey’s Anatomy - “Losing My Religion”; House - “Euphoria”; Law & Order - “Heart of Darkness”; Law & Order: Criminal Intent - “In the Wee Small Hours”; Lost - “Live Together, Die Alone”; Lost - “The Other 48 Days”; Lost - “The Whole Truth”; Rescue Me - “Happy”; Rome - “Kalends of February”; Rome - “The Spoils”; The Shield - “Extraction”; Six Feet Under - “Ecotone”; Six Feet Under - “Everyone’s Waiting”; The Sopranos - “Join the Club”; The Sopranos - “Mr. and Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request”; 24 - “Day 5: 2:00 P.M. - 3:00 P.M.”; 24 - “Day 5: 1:00 A.M. - 2:00 A.M.”; Veronica Mars - “Not Pictured”; Without a Trace - “A Day in the Life” Best Guest Actor - Drama Series: Christian Clemenson, Boston Legal - “Ivan the Incorrigible” Matt Craven, Without a Trace - "A Day in the Life" Henry Ian Cusick, Lost - "Live Together, Die Alone, Parts 1 & 2" Michael Emerson, Lost - "One of Them" Hal Holbrook, The Sopranos - "The Fleshy Part of the Thigh" Colm Meaney, Law & Order: Criminal Intent - "In the Wee Small Hours, Parts 1 & 2" HONORABLE MENTION: Shelley Berman, Boston Legal; Kyle Chandler, Grey’s Anatomy; Gordon Clapp, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; Vincent Curatola, The Sopranos; Thomas Dekker, House; William Devane, 24; Charles S. Dutton, House; Michael J. Fox, Boston Legal; Kelsey Grammer, Medium; Richard Jenkins, Six Feet Under; Justin Kirk, Without a Trace; Ron Livingston, House; Rob Lowe, The West Wing; Matt O’Leary, Law & Order: Criminal Intent; Jeff Perry, Grey’s Anatomy; Oliver Platt, The West Wing; Julian Sands, Law & Order: Criminal Intent; Tom Selleck, Boston Legal; James Patrick Stuart, Medium; Lee Tergesen, Rescue Me; James Woods, ER Best Guest Actress - Drama Series: Patricia Clarkson, Six Feet Under - "The Rainbow of Her Reasons" Michelle Forbes, Battlestar Galactica - "Resurrection Ship, Parts 1 & 2" Kristen Johnston, ER - "All About Christmas Eve" Lucy Lawless, Battlestar Galactica - "Downloaded" Laurie Metcalf, Without a Trace - "A Day in the Life" Katey Sagal, Lost - "Lockdown" HONORABLE MENTION: Kathy Baker, Nip/Tuck; Kate Burton, Grey’s Anatomy; L. Scott Caldwell, Lost; Jessica Hecht, ER; Christina Hendricks, Without a Trace; Anjelica Huston, Huff; Monica Keena, Grey’s Anatomy; Swoosie Kurtz, Huff; Kathy Lamkin, Nip/Tuck; Mary Stuart Masterson, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; Samantha Mathis, Law & Order: Criminal Intent; Laurie Metcalf, Grey’s Anatomy; Cynthia Nixon, House; Lena Olin, Alias; Tatum O’Neal, Rescue Me; Alison Pill, Law & Order: Criminal Intent; Nicole Sullivan, Boston Legal; Sela Ward, House; Betty White, Boston Legal Best Ensemble - Drama Series: Battlestar Galactica Grey's Anatomy Lost Rome Six Feet Under The Sopranos HONORABLE MENTION: Big Love, Boston Legal, ER, Everwood, House, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The O.C., Prison Break, Queer as Folk, Rescue Me, The Shield, 24, Veronica Mars, The West Wing Best New Drama Series: Big Love Close to Home The Inside Prison Break Rome HONORABLE MENTION: The Bedford Diaries, Commander in Chief, What About Brian Best Comedy Series: Arrested Development Everybody Hates Chris Extras The Office Scrubs HONORABLE MENTION: The Comeback, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Desperate Housewives, Entourage, Gilmore Girls, How I Met Your Mother, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, My Name Is Earl Best Actor - Comedy Series: Jason Bateman, Arrested Development - "The Ocean Walker" Zach Braff, Scrubs - "My Five Stages" Steve Carell, The Office - "The Injury" Ricky Gervais, Extras - "Kate Winslet" Jason Lee, My Name Is Earl - "Pilot" Tony Shalhoub, Monk - "Mr. Monk Bumps His Head" HONORABLE MENTION: Kevin Connolly, Entourage; Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm; Bernie Mac, The Bernie Mac Show; Josh Radnor, How I Met Your Mother; Tyler James Williams, Everybody Hates Chris Best Actress - Comedy Series: Tichina Arnold, Everybody Hates Chris - "Everybody Hates Jail" Lauren Graham, Gilmore Girls - "Friday Night's All Right for Fighting" Ashley Jensen, Extras - "Samuel L. Jackson" Jane Kaczmarek, Malcolm in the Middle - "Lois Strikes Back" Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback - "Valerie Relaxes in Palm Springs" Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds - "You Can't Miss the Bear" HONORABLE MENTION: Alexis Bledel, Gilmore Girls; Marcia Cross, Desperate Housewives; Teri Hatcher, Desperate Housewives; Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives; Eva Longoria, Desperate Housewives; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine; Debra Messing, Will & Grace Best Supporting Actor - Comedy Series: Will Arnett, Arrested Development - "Making a Stand" Michael Cera, Arrested Development - "S.O.B.s" Terry Crews, Everybody Hates Chris - "Everybody Hates a Part Time Job" Charlie Day, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - "Charlie Wants an Abortion" John Krasinski, The Office - "The Secret" Jeremy Piven, Entourage - "Exodus" HONORABLE MENTION: Bryan Cranston, Malcolm in the Middle; Kevin Dillon, Entourage; Donald Faison, Scrubs; Tony Hale, Arrested Development; Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother; Glenn Howerton, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia; Justin Kirk, Weeds; Rob McElhenney, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia; John C. McGinley, Scrubs; Scott Patterson, Gilmore Girls; Jason Segel, How I Met Your Mother; Rainn Wilson, The Office Best Supporting Actress - Comedy Series: Jenna Fischer, The Office - "Booze Cruise" Kaitlin Olson, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - "Underage Drinking: A National Concern" Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds - "Higher Education" Jaime Pressly, My Name Is Earl - "Joy's Wedding" Judy Reyes, Scrubs - "Her Story II" Jessica Walter, Arrested Development - "Development Arrested" HONORABLE MENTION: Kelly Bishop, Gilmore Girls; Sarah Chalke, Scrubs; Portia de Rossi, Arrested Development; Alyson Hannigan, How I Met Your Mother; Melora Hardin, The Office; Megan Mullally, Will & Grace; Alia Shawkat, Arrested Development; Nicollette Sheridan, Desperate Housewives; Cobie Smulders, How I Met Your Mother Best Writing - Comedy Series: Arrested Development - "Development Arrested" - Richard Day, Mitchell Hurwitz, Chuck Tatham & Jim Vallely Everybody Hates Chris - "Everybody Hates the Pilot" - Ali LeRoi & Chris Rock Extras - "Samuel L. Jackson" - Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant It's Always Sunny in Phildelphia - "Charlie Wants an Abortion" - Charlie Day & Rob McElhenney The Office - "Christmas Party" - Michael Schur The Office - "The Injury" - Mindy Kaling HONORABLE MENTION: Arrested Development - “Forget Me Now”; Arrested Development - “The Ocean Walker”; Arrested Development - “S.O.B.s”; The Comeback - “Valerie Relaxes in Palm Springs”; Entourage - “Exodus”; Everybody Hates Chris - “Everybody Hates a Part Time Job”; Extras - “Kate Winslet”; Extras - “Patrick Stewart”; Gilmore Girls - “Friday Night’s All Right for Fighting”; Gilmore Girls - “We’ve Got Magic to Do”; How I Met Your Mother - “Game Night”; It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia - “Charlie Got Molested”; My Name Is Earl - “Joy’s Wedding”; My Name Is Earl - “Quit Smoking”; The Office - “Booze Cruise”; The Office - “Casino Night”; The Office - “The Fire”; Scrubs - “My Five Stages”; Scrubs - “My Way Home” Best Directing - Comedy Series: Arrested Development - "Development Arrested" - John Fortenberry Arrested Development - "S.O.B.'s" - Bob Berlinger Curb Your Enthusiasm - "The Ski Lift" - Larry Charles Extras - "Kate Winslet" - Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant The Office - "Booze Cruise" - Ken Kwapis The Office - "Christmas Party" - Charles McDougall HONORABLE MENTION: Arrested Development - “Fakin’ It”; Arrested Development - “Mr. F” Arrested Development - “The Ocean Walker”; The Comeback - “Valerie Does Another Classic Leno”; Curb Your Enthusiasm - “The End”; Curb Your Enthusiasm - “The Smoking Jacket”; Entourage - “Exodus”; Everybody Hates Chris - “Everybody Hates the Pilot”; Extras - “Samuel L. Jackson”; Gilmore Girls - “Friday Night’s All Right for Fighting”; It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia - “Charlie Got Molested”; It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia - “Charlie Wants an Abortion”; My Name Is Earl - “Joy’s Wedding”; The Office - “Casino Night”; The Office - “The Fire”; The Office - “The Injury”; Scrubs - “My Five Stages”; Scrubs - “My Lunch”; Scrubs - “My Way Home” Best Guest Actor - Comedy Series: Scott Baio, Arrested Development - "Forget Me Now" Beau Bridges, My Name Is Earl - "Cost Dad the Election" Malcolm McDowell, Entourage - "Exodus" Sydney Pollack, Will & Grace - "Blanket Apology" Grant Rosenmeyer, Monk - "Mr. Monk and Little Monk" Patrick Stewart, Extras - "Patrick Stewart" HONORABLE MENTION: Jason Alexander, Monk; Anthony Anderson, The Bernie Mac Show; Bobby Cannavale, Will & Grace; Rhys Coiro, Entourage; Bob Einstein, Arrested Development; Dave Foley, Scrubs; Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Weeds; Giovanni Ribisi, My Name Is Earl; Michael Rosenbaum, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia; David Sutcliffe, Gilmore Girls; John Turturro, Monk Best Guest Actress - Comedy Series: Justine Bateman, Arrested Development - "Family Ties" Kathryn Joosten, My Name Is Earl - "Quit Smoking" Shirley Knight, Desperate Housewives - "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" Laurie Metcalf, Monk - "Mr. Monk Bumps His Head" Charlize Theron, Arrested Development - "The Ocean Walker" Kate Winslet, Extras - "Kate Winslet" HONORABLE MENTION: Elizabeth Banks, Scrubs; Brett Butler, My Name Is Earl; Blythe Danner, Will & Grace; Loretta Devine, Everybody Hates Chris; Cheryl Hines, Scrubs; Allison Janney, Weeds; Kathryn Joosten, Desperate Housewives; Cloris Leachman, Malcolm in the Middle; Michael Learned, Scrubs; Marion Ross, Out of Practice; Nicole Sullivan, Scrubs; Ashley Williams, How I Met Your Mother; Constance Zimmer, Entourage Best Ensemble - Comedy Series: Arrested Development Desperate Housewives Everybody Hates Chris Gilmore Girls The Office Scrubs HONORABLE MENTION: Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage, How I Met Your Mother, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Malcolm in the Middle, Weeds, Will & Grace Best New Comedy Series: The Comeback Everybody Hates Chris Extras How I Met Your Mother It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia My Name Is Earl HONORABLE MENTION: Kitchen Confidential, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Out of Practice, Weeds Best TV Movie/Miniseries: Bleak House Elizabeth I Gideon's Daughter Sleeper Cell Thief HONORABLE MENTION: Flight 93, The Girl in the Cafe, High School Musical, Human Trafficking, Speak, Walkout Best Actor - TV Movie/Miniseries: Andre Braugher, Thief Charles Dance, Bleak House Hugh Dancy, Elizabeth I Michael Ealy, Sleeper Cell Bill Nighy, The Girl in the Cafe HONORABLE MENTION: Zac Efron, High School Musical; Oded Fehr, Sleeper Cell; Bill Nighy, Gideon’s Daughter; Michael Pena, Walkout Best Actress - TV Movie/Miniseries: Gillian Anderson, Bleak House Kelly Macdonald, The Girl in the Cafe Anna Maxwell Martin, Bleak House Helen Mirren, Elizabeth I Kristen Stewart, Speak HONORABLE MENTION: Kathy Bates, Ambulance Girl; Annette Bening, Mrs. Harris; Miranda Richardson, Gideon’s Daughter; Mira Sorvino, Human Trafficking; Alexa Vega, Walkout Best Supporting Actor - TV Movie/Miniseries: Jeremy Irons, Elizabeth I Toby Jones, Elizabeth I Patrick Kennedy, Bleak House Ben Kingsley, Mrs. Harris Denis Lawson, Bleak House HONORABLE MENTION: Clifton Collins Jr., Thief; Phil Davis, Bleak House; Burn Gorman, Bleak House; Tom Hardy, Gideon’s Daughter; Alex Nesic, Sleeper Cell; Jeffrey Nordling, Flight 93; Efren Ramirez, Walkout; Donald Sutherland, Human Trafficking Best Supporting Actress - TV Movie/Miniseries: Emily Blunt, Gideon's Daughter Pauline Collins, Bleak House Laura Harring, Walkout Carey Mulligan, Bleak House Mae Whitman, Thief HONORABLE MENTION: Cloris Leachman, Mrs. Harris; Elizabeth Perkins, Speak; Ashley Tisdale, High School Musical; Sonya Walger, Sleeper Cell Best Variety Series: The Colbert Report The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Late Night with Conan O'Brien Late Show with David Letterman Saturday Night Live HONORABLE MENTION: Real Time with Bill Maher Best Variety Special: Bill Maher: I'm Swiss The 63rd Annual Golden Globe Awards Kathy Griffin: Strong Black Woman South Pacific in Concert From Carnegie Hall (Great Performances) The 59th Annual Tony Awards HONORABLE MENTION: The 78th Annual Academy Awards, AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movie Quotes, Kathy Griffin Is…Not Nicole Kidman, The 2005 MTV Movie Awards Best Male Performer - Variety Series/Special: Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report Hugh Jackman, The 59th Annual Tony Awards David Letterman, Late Show with David Letterman Brian Stokes Mitchell, South Pacific in Concert From Carnegie Hall (Great Performances) Jon Stewart, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart HONORABLE MENTION: Fred Armisen, Saturday Night Live; Jason Daniely, South Pacific in Concert From Carnegie Hall (Great Performances); Will Forte, Saturday Night Live; Bill Hader, Saturday Night Live; Steve Martin, Saturday Night Live; Conan O’Brien, Late Night with Conan O’Brien; Andy Samberg, Saturday Night Live; Jason Sudeikis, Saturday Night Live Best Female Performer - Variety Series/Special: Rachel Dratch, Saturday Night Live Kathy Griffin, Kathy Griffin: Strong Black Woman Reba McEntire, South Pacific in Concert From Carnegie Hall (Great Performances) Amy Poehler, Saturday Night Live Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live HONORABLE MENTION: Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live; Kathy Griffin, Kathy Griffin Is…Not Nicole Kidman; Scarlett Johansson, Saturday Night Live; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Saturday Night Live; Sara Ramirez, The 59th Annual Tony Awards; Maya Rudolph, Saturday Night Live; Lillias White, South Pacific in Concert From Carnegie Hall (Great Performances) Best Animated Series: Family Guy King of the Hill South Park HONORABLE MENTION: The Simpsons Best Voice-Over Performer - Animated Series: Alex Borstein, Family Guy - "Breaking Out Is Hard to Do" Dan Castellaneta, The Simpsons - "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife" Mike Judge, King of the Hill - "Hank's on Board" Seth MacFarlane, Family Guy - "Pretarded" Trey Parker, South Park - "Cartoon Wars, Parts 1 & 2" Matt Stone, South Park - "Marjorine" HONORABLE MENTION: Pamela Adlon, King of the Hill; Seth Green, Family Guy; Mike Henry, Family Guy; Julie Kavner, The Simpsons; Kathy Najimy, King of the Hill; Yeardley Smith, The Simpsons Best Reality Series - Competition: The Amazing Race American Idol America's Next Top Model Big Brother Project Runway Survivor HONORABLE MENTION: The Apprentice, The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, Beauty and the Geek, Hell’s Kitchen, Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Gauntlet II, Top Chef Best Reality Series - Non-Competition: Hogan Knows Best Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List The Real World 30 Days Wife Swap HONORABLE MENTION: Being Bobby Brown, The Simple Life, The Surreal Life, Three Wishes Breakthrough Male Performance: Charlie Day, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Steven R. McQueen, Everwood Josh Radnor, How I Met Your Mother Andy Samberg, Saturday Night Live Tyler James Williams, Everybody Hates Chris HONORABLE MENTION: Bill Hader, Saturday Night Live; Rob McElhenney, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia; Robert Michael Morris, The Comeback; Hunter Parrish, Weeds; Tequan Richmond, Everybody Hates Chris Breakthrough Female Performance: Malin Akerman, The Comeback Kerry Condon, Rome Kaitlin Olson, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Tessa Thompson, Veronica Mars Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live HONORABLE MENTION: Corri English, The Bedford Diaries; Allie Grant, Weeds; Imani Hakim, Everybody Hates Chris; Autumn Reeser, The O.C.; Nadine Velazquez, My Name Is Earl