#one of the girls was french and the other Ukrainian

[evansbby]

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[aradiyatoys]

🎉 [NEW PATTERN RELEASE] 🎉 Please welcome Kawaii Lotus 🪷 the first character from my NEW collection called “AradiyaToys Kawaii”! A few words about the “AradiyaToys Kawaii” collection. You may have seen many kawaii characters in my Mini sets. Every time I design a new pattern, I feel incredibly excited 😍 to create these adorable little kawaii toys. However, I’ve always been limited to including only one of them in my patterns, which means I couldn’t make as many kawaii toys as I wanted. That’s why I decided 💭 to start a new collection of easy, fast-to-create, and affordable crochet patterns that would cater to both beginners and skilled crocheters. This collection brings together everything I love about kawaii toys. They are cute, quick to finish, and can be completed in just a few hours, like on a Friday evening, just like today! 🤗 I, like many other girls, have always had a special affinity for flowers, and the Lotus has been one of my favorites since childhood. It has always appeared so magical to me, with its flower delicately resting on a leaf, floating in a tranquil 🧘🏼‍♀️ pond amidst other plants and frogs 🐸 The scene evokes a sense of peace and serenity. I am very happy to have the Lotus as the first character in the “AradiyaToys Kawaii” collection and I also incredibly excited to unveil the next characters I have prepared for you in the coming weeks! 🥰 Oh, yes, you can also use this toy as a keychain by easily attaching a keychain ring to the top of Kawaii Lotus! 😊 The pattern is already available in English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch and Ukrainian here -> https://etsy.me/3Cng1Zm 🤗 This pattern has been tested, proofread and translated by super talented girls: Celine, Isa, MJ, Clarissa, Sabrina, Roberta, Gwendoline, Sarah and Liubov! Thank you very much, dear friends! You all are amazing! 💛💙

[princesssarisa]

The latest series of stories I've read in Cinderella Tales From Around the World are from Eastern and Central Europe: Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.

*In several Eastern European versions, the Virgin Mary is the girl's helper who gives her finery. She appears either from a well or from inside an oak tree or a fir tree.

*In most of these variants, the heroine goes to church. Only a very few have a ball instead.

*Several also have the stepmother give the heroine a task similar to the Grimms' lentils in the ashes – typically poppy or millet seeds to sort either from the ashes or from sand, or bushels of wheat to clean – and birds help her. Also recalling the Grimms' version (and many others, of course), the third time the heroine flees, the prince usually has the church or palace steps smeared with tar or wax, causing her to lose her shoe.

*In the one Ukrainian version, the heroine has a cow who magically finishes the impossible amount of spinning and weaving the stepmother demands she do every day. Of course the stepmother eventually has the cow killed, but in its entrails the girl finds a grain of corn, which she plants, and it grows into a willow tree. From then on, when she wants finery for church, the tree opens and ladies come out to dress her. In this version, she also loses both of her golden shoes rather than just one in the tar on the church steps.

*Two Hungarian versions, The Three Princesses and Popelusa, and one unnamed Polish version are all near-identical to Finette Cendron. Three daughters of a deposed king are abandoned in the forest, they find an ogre couple's castle, the youngest outwits the ogres and slays them, but then her ungrateful sisters treat her like a servant, etc. Since Madame d'Aulnoy's tale is a literary story, could this be a sign of French influence in Eastern and Central European culture?

*Another Polish version, The Princess with the Pigskin Cloak, combines Cinderella with themes from Snow White. A wicked queen has a magic mirror, which tells her that her stepdaughter is more beautiful than she is. So she orders her servants to kill the princess and bring back her heart, but they let her go and bring back a dog's heart instead. The princess dresses herself in pigskin and finds work as a swineherd, but she knows a certain hollow oak tree that's sacred to the Virgin Mary, and when she goes inside it, she finds a room where she receives finery for church. She finally loses a shoe, is found by the prince and marries him, and the queen dies of rage and grief when her magic mirror tells her the news.

*Several of these versions have the heroine run away from her stepfamily, but unlike most others that use this device, they don't have her work as a servant at the prince's palace, but just find farm work somewhere nearby, a la Perrault's Donkeyskin.

*This brings me to an issue that's appeared in many versions so far, but which I didn't bother to discuss until now. I suppose now is as good a time as any, because it's a theme that appears in many of these Eastern and Central European tales. In so many versions of Donkeyskin/All-Kinds-of-Fur, or any Cinderella story where the heroine leaves her home and finds work as a lowly servant at the royal palace or elsewhere, the prince tends to repeatedly meet her in her rags or animal skins, and he mistreats her. In the versions where she works at the palace, when she takes off his boots or brings him bath water, a towel, and a comb, he throws them at her. Or in versions where she works elsewhere, she meets him on the road, he drops things and she hands them back to him, but instead of thanking her, he hits her with them. Then at the ball or at church, when she's in her beautiful gowns and he's smitten with her, he asks her where she came from, and she replies with allusions to his earlier rudeness, which he fails to understand.

**This is obviously uncomfortable by modern standards. I suppose to the original audiences, it was funny, ironic social commentary: the prince pines over the "mystery princess" with no idea that she's really the scraggly kitchen maid he treats like dirt, and he's clueless when she alludes to her identity. But does it bode well for "happily ever after" when she marries a man who treated her badly? I think this goes to show that in traditional oral fairy tales, there tends to be less emphasis on finding "true love" than on simply escaping from bad situations and achieving safety, comfort, and preferably wealth and high status. It doesn't matter that the prince is a bit of a jerk, what matters is that he makes the girl a princess in the end. Still, when you want her to marry a worthy man and believe he'll make her happy, it's uncomfortable. Different adaptations obviously find different ways to handle it. For example, Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics' "The Coat of Many Colors" avoids all this and has the prince always be kind to Aleia, while "Sapsorrow" from Jim Henson's the Storyteller keeps his rudeness but gives him a small redemption arc, first by finally sharing a sympathetic conversation with "the Straggletag," then by agreeing to marry her when the slipper fits her before he learns her identity.

**Maybe this tradition partly explains why the prince in the classic movie Three Wishes for Cinderella is slightly bratty and rude at first. I know that @thealmightyemprex found that choice off-putting when he reviewed the movie, and I have mixed feelings about it too, but maybe it stems from the fact that in Europe's oral Cinderella stories, bratty princes are surprisingly common.

Speaking of which...

*This book includes the two Cinderella stories from the Czech-Austrian writer Božena Němcová's collection that inspired Three Wishes for Cinderella. One is called The Three Sisters, the other O Popelusce ("Of Cinderella").

**They both follow the same formula. The heroine's kind father (whom the movie replaces with a surrogate-father manservant) sets out on a journey, and his daughter asks him to bring her the first thing that knocks against his head. This turns out to be the branch of a nut tree, containing three nuts, which produce beautiful dresses and shoes that she wears to church three times.

*Each version is slightly different, though, and both are slightly different from the 1973 movie. In The Three Sisters, the heroine Anuska is abused by her own mother and sisters, while in O Popelusce she has a stepmother and stepsisters. Meanwhile, the movie uses a stepmother and just one stepsister. In both stories, the (step)mother cuts the sisters' feet to make the slipper fit, with the movie replaces with their stealing Cinderella's clothes to pass Dora off as her. As I said, both stories have the heroine go to church, while the movie draws on the Western European Cinderella tradition and has a ball, and unsurprisingly, neither the movie Cinderella's sassy tomboy personality nor her dressing as a boy to join a royal hunt can be found in Němcová's original tales.

*Still, it's clear that in some ways the movie draws strongly on Němcová's texts. In The Three Sisters, the second sister's name is Dorotka, which must explain why the one stepsister in the movie is named Dora. And Anuska's first church dress is rose colored with silver trim, just like the movie Cinderella's ball dress

**From now on, in Three Wishes for Cinderella, I think I'll imagine "Anuska" as Cinderella's real name, as it is in The Three Sisters. It's a Czech equivalent of "Annie," and she's definitely a spunky Little Orphan Annie type of character in the movie!

*There's also a Hungarian version that's almost identical to Němcová's, with three dress-producing walnuts. But it has a completely different ending. The heroine doesn't lose a shoe. Instead the prince's servant follows her as far as her house, then puts a golden rose on the gatepost to mark it. Meanwhile, her loving father can't bear to let her be abused anymore and takes her to live with a childless widow in the forest – she's still poor and still has to work, but she's better off than with her stepfamily. When the prince comes to the family's house to look for her, only her stepsisters are there, but then the golden rose magically rises up and floats through the air to the forest cottage, and there she is. But then, in a different (and sadly racist) twist on the common "false bride replaces Cinderella" plot line, a Romani woman pushes the heroine into a lake, steals her magic walnuts, and dresses in her clothes to trick the prince. But the heroine survives by turning into a golden duck, then resumes her true form and finds work as a servant near the palace. But one day, the prince brings his new bride out in public and urges her to tell everyone the story of her life. The Romani woman fabricates a story, but then the real Cinderella speaks up and reveals the truth, and the prince instantly recognizes his true bride. He has the Romani woman executed, the stepmother jailed, and the stepsisters' hair cut off, while the father marries the widow from the forest in a double wedding with his daughter and the prince.

@adarkrainbow, @ariel-seagull-wings, @themousefromfantasyland

[thecursivej]

SOTU - 2024

Well, I'm forcing myself to watch the State of the Union while I grade speeches, so I figured I'd record my reactions and thoughts here.

Do I hope for the words "Immediate Ceasefire"? Absolutely. Will we get them? Looking at the track record, probably not. But I remain optimistic because otherwise I'd be six feet under by now; ANYWHO here is a list of my reactions/thoughts/general feelings of the evening's watch.

I do want to give a point of clarity: I technically am identified as a democrat; truly, I'm a socialist, but seeing as how the U.S. is stuck in this godforsaken two-party-system, that is where I am. Though both sides have me feeling very french-revolutionary-esque.

Of course the first thing I see if MTG rifling through her purse on screen. I quite literally despise her.

AP is discussing Ukraine's need for weapons and funding; I would truly rather us align with Ukraine than Isr@el. I will stand unapologetically firm for Palestine and Ukraine.

Who is actually in the cabinet? I know Blinken, Garland, and Buttiegeg. Damn, wish he was running again. Would rather have him than Biden.

How insane is it that the Sec. of Defense didn't even let the White House know that he had to go in for surgery because of cancer. Like, that's just bonkers to me.

Republicans truly look like fucking robots right now. No warm greetings, no hellos, simple nods.

Republicans out here wasting fucking time with that impeachment of Mayorkas. Like how about we house the homeless populations with the money they wasted on this circus.

Oh funky fresh look at the Ultra-Mormon(TM) Mitt Romney.

MTG with that stupid fucking MAGA hat on is just... disgusting. Like this bitch is crazy.

Okay Joe, speed it up down the fucking aisle please. I got papers to grade.

Lowkey Joe looks like he might have had a five-hour energy drink with that big-ole look in his eyes.

I do appreciate that Joe still smiles and is kind to MTG. She truly doesn't deserve it.

Okay this is getting just a wee bit too monarchy for me.

MTG holds up a button saying "Laken Riley..." (couldn't read the rest). Riley was a 14 year old girl murdered by a man who was an illegal immigrant of venezuela, and instead of handling this situation with grace, empathy, and love; MTG and others seem to be capitalizing on her death to push their anti-immigration rhetoric.

Okay, cool selfie skills Joe, but let's get on with it.

ALSO HOW IS JOE BIDEN GONNA BE SO IN DEPTH WITH TECH AND "Savvy" WITH IT WHEN MOTHERFUCKER WANTS TO BAN TIKTOK!? Hello?!

BERNIE AND RAPHAEL! I feel like I haven't seen these guys in 10 million years.

Oh thank god we're starting.

Aww the little hand shake thingy he does with Kamala makes my heart happy.

Did Joe just yell "tony"?!

Wow, even got some republicans clapping for him (probs not a good thing but here we are)

Okay, good bit of humor at the top; and a throwback to the 40s. Funky fresh.

Yeah we ain't living in ordinary times for damn sure.

Interesting point of democracy being attacked here in the U.S. AND Internationally. (Mentions Ukraine and Putin; no word on Gaza yet).

Someone busted out a Ukrainian flag and shook it; rock on.

OH SHIT HE GOT MIKE JOHNSON TO CLAP!

Appreciate the insistance that the U.S. won't send troops to UKR.

Good use of Reagan to connect with the Repubs; and compare to the predecessor (aka Tr*mp).

Mike Johnson nodding instead of clapping about the predecessor comment, trying to save his ass in Orange Man's eyes.

Welcome to NATO, Sweden!

If there is one thing that should connect Democrats and Republicans; it's hatred for Putin. Yet there's a mix of Repubs standing in agreement and sitting to back up the predecessor's comment on Putin doing "whatever the hell he wants"

Talking about Jan 6. What breaks my heart? My parents still believe it wasn't an insurrection. Yikes on Bikes for me.

The line "You can't love your country only when you win" hits hard and even got Mike Johnson to applaud in agreement.

Foreign AND Domestic. Need a hefty focus on that with the right-wing republican group (@ MTG, Gaetz, Cruz, etc.)

Discussing IVF in Alabama; good connection to the overturning of Rowe v. Wade. It sucks that Republicans HAVE THE POWER to protect IVF nationally but shot the damn bill down not even a week ago.

ABORTION IS A HUMAN RIGHT. BODILY AUTONOMY IS A HUMAN. FUCKING. RIGHT. (@ The Missouri Senators who support taking away bodily autonomy).

WOMEN AREN'T WITHOUT ELECTORAL AND POLITICAL POWER; WE ABOUT TO TURN UP IN FORCE MOTHERFUCKERS!!! Bring back the strats from the 1900s; time to use our power and go bonkers.

Someone get Joe a glass of water please. Motherfucker looks a bit parched and keeps coughing. I get that when my throat goes dryyy

Can Biden not restore RvW? Can he not by an executive order make RvW the law of the land already?

Revisiting COVID's start from 2020 (Next week is the four year anniversary since the global pandemic).

PFFT idk who just yelled "LIES" but that was comical AF.

Well, the pandemic still controls a big part of our lives... so...don't agree with that shit.

Man, everyone sitting-and-standing must be getting a HELLA calf work out.

Sure, unemployment is down and new jobs are built; but corporate greed is quite literally killing us. Can Congress or Biden do something, damn it?!

Are we beginning to feel it, though? Are we feeling good economics? I doubt we are.

Good job pointing out how both parties have failed to buy american products, but how this admin has established that.

There's a good two rows of Republicans who stand in applause; but the rest just... sit there. Like robots. It's freaky as fuck.

Joe is actually doing pretty great with the flow of this speech. Only a couple of stumbles, but overall pretty gucci. (He'd get a 9/10 on delivery in my public speaking class).

God these fuckers are really gonna make me run for office at this damn point.

Removing poisonous lead pipes... but there's still a water crisis in Flint, Biden. Like, what the fuckeroni do you mean?

Yes, let's invest in family farms; lets stop selling our farmland (especially in Missouri) to foreign countries (@ China buying up TONS of Missouri Farmland).

I love that the UAW president is here, because he straight up is my kind of people. Dude wears eat-the-rich shirts and calls out the unethical-ness of billionaires.

UAW President pointing to Biden saying "It's you!"; nah dawg, it's you Sean.

MIDDLE CLASS DID BUILD THE COUNTRY AND UNIONS BUILT THE MIDDLE CLASS MOTHER FUCKERS!!!

Yes we get back up but right now...we might be getting more french revolutionary-esque if y'all don't stop PLAYING WITH OUR LIVES.

Oh jesus not the 4-more-years chants.

Oh now we talking about the future

YES PLEASE END TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMIES.

Says he's not anti-corp; but points out how trickle down economics has only helped the wealthy.

Yeah, how the fuck does it hurt the wealthy to pay just a weeee bit more in taxes? Like dawg, what are you gonna do with another million? What's the point?

Ooooh is Biden about to rope the repubs into some bipartisan shit? Please do.

What is Republicans huge issue with capping insulin? Truly? Who does it harm? Billionaires still get billions.

[horror-lady00]

They came back AU.

Six members of St. Cassian choir perished in horrible rollercoaster accident. But Amazing Karnak, a mysterious Doctor extraordinare found a way to bring them all back to life. They came back, but forever changed.

Ocean O'Connell Rosenberg seem to stay the same perky overactive girl, always looking for ways to get involved. If anything, she became even more active, than she was pre-accident.

But deep down, she was awfully disturbed by realization, that she could perish here. That there was no great future or handsome reward waiting for her. And she could end her days in same town her parents would. Now, she takes every opportunity to distract herself from deep existential dread, that claws at her soul.

Constance Blackwood - she became even nicer than she was. Looking to help everyone she could, despite they cold and uncaring attitude. She spent more time for herself, going to partys and forming new relationship.

She still loved her dear choirmates, but seemed to make a conscious choice to distance herself from old acquintaces. Especially Ocean, which seemed to only deepen her old friend's gnawing despair.

At times, it seemed Misha Bachinsky has completely lost himself in virtual world of his phone. Every waking hour the boy spent messaging his faraway love, as if fearing, thatany moment she might be gone.

Equaly much time Misha spent on his rapping career, slowly building his capital, so one day he could afford a trip to his homeland, where he could finally reunite with Talia forever.

Noel Gruber seemed to pick up several new tricks after his death. Be to speak clear French, an art of smoking or new habit to dress up in short French dresses. Another new habit of his was to spend nuch more time with Misha. Besides Talia, he seemed to be the only person of comfort for Ukrainian boy, quite often participating in his music videos.

Ricky Potts appeared to change the least. Not that would anyone cared to ask or notice. That was, until one day she appeared at school, wearing girl's uniform and name tag, asking to call her Savannah. Lots were curious, lots were appalled. But nobody said or asked anything. Well, save for one person, who actually cared.

Penny Lamb... They couldn't find her head. But amazing Karnak wouldn't be amazing, if he didn't made her a pretty mechanical head. She seemed to keep some of her memories. She could speak, she could sing, she could say her name "Jane Doe is what the coroner said".

Jane was the only one to ask Savannah of her change. And she told her, how on other side Potts saw herself as who she is and not the boy she looked like.

Ocean saw another opportunity for another distraction and jumped to help Jane reintegrate into society. But instead, she finds long lost feeling of comfort, in girl that couldn't even remember her name.

[historia-vitae-magistras]

You may have already made a post about this so sorry if so, but what are your headcanons regarding how Matt and Katya met? And how they kept touch over the years?

Love your content btw!!

Thank you! And actually, somehow, no one has asked me that on any of the blogs! I had to think and coalesce some thoughts. This got long so I am going to split it into two parts but their meeting!

The Trans-Canada railway was completed in the 1880s and finally opened up what was called the ‘last best west.’ Between the Canadian Rockies in the far west and the western edge of the woodlands that define eastern Canada in Manitoba, the prairies stretch out in what looks to a child of the eastern woodlands like a vast treeless void. Grasslands and steppes are incredibly ecologically important, but I am ethnically a clinker-built canoe lover, and they scare the shit out of me. Judging by settlement patterns, most French Canadians agreed. As the American West closed, some Americans were willing to join Canadians and take land ripped from indigenous peoples too. Alberta was a result. Concerned about American settlement, in 1896, the Dominion of Canada’s federal government coordinated with the foreign office of the British Empire to look for more settlers. At the same time, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian empire, Galicia was likely the poorest place in continental Europe, with the only other comparable example being famine-era Ireland. The other Ukrainian-speaking areas of the Austro-Hungarian empire (75-80 of that territory was held by the Russian Empire) weren’t much better off. Each government found a solution in the other. Britain, representing Anglo-dominated Canada, and the Austrians shook hands, and the flow began. The US saw the largest share of Eastern European immigration in this period, but the majority who sailed to Canada were Ukrainians. And even before immigration, the region's international ties were based on Canadian financial interests. So, what does this mean for Katya and Matt?

The scene I imagine is that while the powerful wheel and deal, two products of empire crossed paths. One of these meetings may have taken place during a summer folk festival. Girls wove wreaths of flowers into their hair and floated others down the river. Songs were sung, vodka and wine flowed, and dancers joined hands. While the Austrians and the British bargained, a young man not so far removed from his peasant roots and his own saint’s day celebrated with fire and river wandered into the edge of a valley clearing at the end of the longest day of the northern year. As a maple or spruce was decorated, the sun sank, and the last light of day fell like fire light onto a Carpathian river valley. Bonfires were lit. Against a world on fire, a child of the woodlands looked upon the silhouette of his future, crowned with birchwood silver woven into her braids. Katya sensed him, a being like herself from across the world and turned. She looked at him a long moment, with eyes belonging to a world since passed set in the face that would one day be the image that sprang into Matthew’s mind when he needed to summon a memory of home that would not cleave him in two. She bid him to approach and, with one gesture, changed their fates.

Later, he would find out she spoke the court French of his earliest years, but this night, there is only Katya’s outstretched hand and burning blue eyes reflecting fire and Matt’s fingers lacing into hers to spin in the dance of all the other young men and women. There is no discussion of soil and wheat, nor opportunity and affection. There is only alcohol, laughter, music, fire and spinning, his mouth full of her language, unknown but already familiar. There is only a lightening of her eyes as she enjoys herself, her head flung back in laughter as he chokes on pear horilka stronger and sweeter than any whiskey he’s ever made. Her wreath topples out of her hair, and she bursts into laughter as he snatches it up and runs, calling over his shoulder, and she hikes up her skirts and follows, hand outstretched, only to grasp onto him and run, stride long and confident as they leap together to make it over the bonfire.

Still, together, hands clasped, his right her and left and left touching the laurel wreath, the last symbol she indulges from her Varangian roots. Eye contact, a significance, a weight that will one day balance the heaviness of history. She will press his heart into the shape of hers with that weight. He will give it back in every way he can, the ballast of whatever love she’ll let him give. But for now, in the last light of day, there is only a young man and a young woman hand in hand, circling a fire under a night sky. Here, they are under a star-streaked Milky Way that gives way to a mead moon rising over the mountains. Someday, save them; that moon will be the only witness to this night when mortality leaves alive only a man, a woman, and their most human memory.

[elsalouisa]

"The visit of the Czar and Czarina in 1901 gives rise to even more riotous celebrations. It is the peak of the Franco-Russian alliance. The band of the First Regiment of the Imperial Guard—the Preobrazhensky Regiment—is in town giving concerts. Russian uniforms are everywhere; you scarcely ever hear the “Marseillaise” without hearing immediately afterward “Bozhe Tzaria Khrani’; “Vive la France!” is followed by “Vive la Russie!” Beneath the crossed flags—the tricolor and double eagle—on the streets bearded Russians and wiry French tush into each other’s arms and kiss and, to make it more Russian, three times on each cheek. A Cossack almost gives his life for the jubilee celebrating the Franco-Russian accord when he is mobbed by the affection of the crowds as a member of Their Majesties’ retinue. The entente cordiale is constantly more cordial.

Then comes the Ballet Russe of Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev. It is madness. The colors of the costumes of Léon Bakst are bright and strange. Nijinsky’s fantastic leaps draw cheers. The incomparable Anna Pavlova is an ethereal swan. The inspired dancing of Mordkin, Massine and Karsavina to the music of Stravinsky, Debussy and Ravel drives Parisians wild! People start to pick up Russian words, to change ‘their apartments and be delighted if “c’est trés Russe.” Paris is embarked on a Russian craze—women affect la maniére Russe, wearing Caucasian blouses, Cossack boots, Ukrainian hats as stylized by the French modistes. Coats are tcherkeskas, kaftans, poddevkas —broad in the shoulders, wide in the skirt, with braided belts catching up wasp waists. It’s very chic. I must get one, two, three of everything...

I glimpse the Czar of all the Russias and the Czarina for the first time this summer at an immense reception at the Palais de l'Elysée, where a beaming President Faure receives Their Majesties. Nicholas II charms everyone. He is short, broad-shouldered, stands straight and looks at the crowd from patient dark gray-blue eyes. He is earnest, the living image of his mother, and appears as a rule in a simple uniform, often that of a colonel of one of his favorite regiments. The Empress, Her Majesty Alexandra, a little German Princess of Hesse, is taller and holds herself proudly. Her coiffure, just a small tight lump of blond hair, is the despair of Delacroix, the court hairdresser. She is usually in white and wearing jewels, mostly pearls and diamonds, from ears to waist. She wears them without joy. She does not inspire the spontaneous French. “Oh, la la! Elle a une figure d’enterrement!” I hear on the streets. (She has the expression of one who follows a funeral.) When I am first presented to her this sadness is thought to be because she is a mother only of girls. Always she asks when a matron is presented to her, “Have you children?” And looks sadder than ever if the lady, plunging in a deep reverence, answers, “A son, Your Majesty.”

Marguerite Cassini "Never a dull moment"

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Wednesday, June 5

WILLOW: I mean, he said he was gonna wait until I was ready, but I'm ready. Honest. I'm good to go here. BUFFY: Well, I think it's nice that he's not just being an animal. WILLOW: It is nice. He's great. We have a lot of fun. But I want smoochies! BUFFY: Have you dropped any hints? WILLOW: I've dropped anvils. BUFFY: Ah, he'll come around. What guy could resist your wily Willow charms? WILLOW: At last count, all of them. Maybe more. BUFFY: Well, none of them know a thing. They all get an 'F' in Willow. WILLOW: But I want Oz to get an 'A', and, oh, one of those gold stars.

~~BtVS 2x15 “Phases”~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Everything's New (Buffy, PG) by badly_knitted

Poison Blossom (Cordelia/Lilah, M) by MadeInGold

You’re an Angel (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Lilacsandorangeblossoms

What could have been What is (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Lilacsandorangeblossoms

Feed me or feel me (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Desicat

[Chaptered Fiction]

[Ukrainian language] Forward to Time Past//Вперед у час минулий, Chapter 45/67 (Buffy/Spike, E) translation by Uraniya

Hero, Chapter 2/3 (Buffy/Willow, M) by Xyex

Infinitely, Chapter 55/? (Willow/Tara, M) by Laragh

In the Company of Witches and Slayers:, Chapter 57/200 (Willow/Tara, E) by VladimirHarkonnen (TheLightdancer)

[French language] Recommencer, Chapter 15 (Buffy/Faith, M) by Friday Queen

Reunion, Chapter 3 (Willow/Tara, Buffy/Spike, T) by riah alice drake

[French language] Do as Romans do, Chapter 31 (Dawn/Spike, T) by OldGirl-NoraArlani

Spike Has A Girlfriend, Chapter 8 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Spikelover4ever

Morning Stretches, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by CheekyKitten

Early One Morning, Chapter 54 COMPLETE! (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by all choseny

Deliverance From Destiny, Chapter 24 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Ragini

Stomping on butterflies, Chapters 2-3 (Buffy/Spike, 18+) by Blackoberst

Early One Morning, Chapter 54 COMPLETE! (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by all choseny

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork: Well, who do we have here? (Buffy/Spike, worksafe) by lialivingart

Artwork: leanin’ in (Spike, worksafe) by yarboyandy

Crafts: my handmade kiss the librarian mug! (worksafe) by melaniemoth13

[Reviews & Recaps]

ReWatch: Angel - S3, E7 - 8 by kimannebb

PODCAST: HELLMOUTH HOMOS: The Yoko Factor/Primeval by Fear Queers

PODCAST: Episode 59: Fear, Itself (W/ Samantha Marr) by Gym Was Cancelled

PODCAST: Is That My TA or a Bush? (S4E8) by It Stakes Two

[Fandom Discussions]

[About AtS writers making Angel decide to turn back the day he was human] by nicnacsnonsense

Gunn’s whole trajectory with always piss me off by initiumseries

as excited as I am to see Wesley, it is weird that this show got rid of Doyle by nicnacsnonsense

I feel like the scooby gang never took accountability for how Faith turned out by there-are-many-ways-to-smile

It’s really interesting to me that Buffy tells Faith the girls are all potential slayers “just like we were” because she and Faith never knew they were potentials by reality-schmality

It’s actually a little f* up, that they just assume Faith with take over for Buffy so she can live a normal life by there-are-many-ways-to-smile

I never noticed before but it’s weird that Willow thinks she’s being the bigger person by letting Cordelia be upset with her and Xander like she wasn’t apart of the affair by there-are-many-ways-to-smile

What If: Jonathan died in Earshot by nightshade, multiple posters

Okay, what is everyone’s absolute least favorite episode? by queenrosybee

Did Harmony ever have a soul? by Kilomech

Theory: The First manipulated Willow into resurrecting Buffy by LiviaDruzilla

What's your favorite metaphor or symbolism from Restless and why? by jonaskoelker

I think there are only 6 times in the whole series where we see Buffy not wearing earrings, only 4 of which are SMG and all in the first season by diehardnick

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[martinesabroad]

Ryman: First Week at International School

Hello. A couple of days ago, I finished my first week of school. It was okay. I made maybe two friends. I'm not too close with them yet, but we hang out and talk a little bit. One of them is named , Niko for short. He's from Poland and really likes soccer. The other one is named Lewis. He's from Australia and has a really cool, funny accent. He likes to draw and is really chill.

I like school because it's a lot more free than elementary school. It's kind of like every man for themselves. If you're late to class, it's completely your fault. You don't have a teacher that leads you along in a line. You just walk around with your backpack. It's kind of just on you, more freedom, you know?

One thing that's annoying about my school is that it ends really late, like 5 p.m. But, it starts at 9, which is an upgrade from my old school back in Croatia. That one started at 8 and ended at 3:15. This one starts at 9 and ends at 4:50 for my class, and 4:40 for my brother's. It's a little bit annoying, but I'll get through it.

Oh yeah, I also made a friend named Mark. His family moved from Ukraine when the war started in February 2022. He's completely Ukrainian and doesn't speak great English. I'm about to play a game with him in a couple minutes. He's really nice. It's crazy to think about how he just left his home when the war started.

I have about seven periods, all the normal classes. We have a lesson called business this year. It's about marketing and how people sell businesses. It's pretty fun. It's one of the new classes that I've never had before. Then, there's an elective subject where you can choose from a bunch of activities. Every teacher has a subject that you can do on these elective subject days. You just have to select two that you want, your first choice and your second choice. I chose cooking and geography.

The food at the school is okay. My old school back in Croatia had better food, but it's not too bad for school food. A lot of the teachers at my school are from Britain or Ireland because it is a British international school. My class is mostly Spanish kids. I'd say 45% are Spanish, 30% Ukrainian, 10% Russian, and the others are from all around, like American, Asian, Canada. We have a lot of different nationalities in our class which is really cool.

A lot of kids at my school are really into soccer. They all have really good skills. It's a big thing here in Spain, especially since they've got Barcelona and Madrid. Everybody in my class, including all the girls and boys, are really good at soccer. They've all got really good skills. Sometimes we play as a class, a big class game. We have recess on the roof, which sounds weird, but on the roof there's a soccer field, well not a field but a court, futsal court, but outside. There's also a basketball court and some turf where you can hang out. It's really cool up there.

I've got three language classes: German, Spanish, and French. I'm really trying to focus on Spanish right now because my mom is learning Spanish through classes. Our whole family is trying to learn Spanish because we live in Valencia, Spain. I'm progressing a lot. A week ago, I didn't really know much Spanish at all.

Now I'm starting to learn. I know colors, numbers up to 15 or 20. I know how to introduce myself and maybe order at a restaurant. I'm getting there and I think I'm doing really well.

I kind of knew French from last year because I did French all year. In Croatia, you could choose German or French. My mom chose French and I wanted to do French too, just because it's a more fun language to learn. So, I'm doing good at French.

Then there's German, of which I know literally none because I've only had two classes. But it seems pretty cool and I'm excited to learn more.

-Ryman

[dandelionjack]

via this poll you are now being given the once in a lifetime opportunity to wield the ropes of fate for a random tumblr girl and decide what language they will be learning next (not through duolingo or something, but, like, hopefully, through their uni or a real tutor from next year), which could, by butterfly effect, determine the future of their life path. they’re fluent in russian and pretty decent at french, and, being a Humanities Guy they think it’s embarrassing that they don’t know at least one other language. here are the brief benefits and drawbacks of each

yiddish

as an ashkenazi jew growing up in a completely assimilated, secularised post-soviet family needless to say i’m disconnected from my heritage :)) this is all about reconnecting. it’s also about some fucking awesome songs and idioms and expressions and phrases and poems and stories that i want to know and understand so. cultural reasons. plus, it’s an endangered language that is slowly gaining more and more new learners so why not join the revival. afaik my great grandmother back in belarus spoke nothing but yiddish

hebrew

similar enough reasons, but this is specifically about rediscovering the religious side of judaism, which entails doing a lot of reading books and the torah and finding a synagogue to attend and a community to meet and a lot of googling and a lot of gathering information and also this, learning the holy language of the jewish people. my dad understands it quite well, as do my uncle and cousins, who are currently coloniser settlers in palestine. that’s the downside — learning hebrew may convince my zionist parents that it is now acceptable to begin hounding me once more to sign up for the Free Israel Youth Propaganda Trip (it is not acceptable nor welcome. leave me alone for the love of g-d i want no part in this)

spanish

almost (not going to risk upsetting brazilians) an entire continent and a couple of countries around the globe speak spanish — versatile that way and i wanna travel someday and not act like a Shitty British Tourist…it’s similar enough, being a romance language, to french, which i already know…i’m familiar with at least a couple dozen words and understand some of it quite well…there’s a lot of bomb ass literature written in it, and why read in translation when you are able to Not Do That…also some cool fuckin mexican goth bands that i found on a spotify playlist the lyrics of which i would like to Understand… and i am currently listening to the mabel podcast

german

same point with the bomb ass literature and bomb ass music, emphasis on the music this time, again, what if i ever decide i want to get into berghain and come to the entrance dragging my lousy brit accent along…my family emigrated to germany before england and lived there all through the late 90s…older brother is fluent in it because of that, and so is granny…studied it for about a year in year8 as an extra class but have forgotten almost everything by now, however, it would be quicker to pick up having the basics down

ukrainian

self explanatory, quite. almost feels like an obligation, considering nationality, considering having fled political repression from the country of the aggressor. similar enough to my mother tongue that i can understand around 40% when written/spoken by others. could be useful for joining volunteering initiatives, charity work, mutual aid, translation help for refugees. also, beautiful slavic culture, folk music, art and literature, though i haven't yet read much of it.

[aradiyatoys]

🎉 [NEW PATTERN RELEASE] 🎉

Please welcome Kawaii Perfume! 🥰

If you remember the story of the Mini Princesses 👸🏼 you’ll know that the Queen of the Mini Kingdom 👑 has a vast collection of perfumes in her room. Among them, her absolute favorites are the Kawaii Perfumes. These perfumes are not your ordinary ones—they come in vibrant colors, have unique bottle shapes, and even possess a delightful fragrance. What sets them apart is their adorable faces and the ability to talk! 😍 It’s something unexpected from traditional perfumes, but in the magical world of the Mini Kingdom, anything is possible. I hope you’ll adore the Kawaii Perfume just as much as the Queen does! 😊

Similar to the other “AradiyaToys Kawaii” collection toys, this project is small and enjoyable, perfect for completing in just a few hours using your preferred yarn shades. I truly hope you’ll find it as delightful as I do! 🤗

You can also use this crochet toy as a keychain by easily attaching a keychain ring to the top of Kawaii Perfume! 😊

The pattern is already available in English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch and Ukrainian here -> https://etsy.me/44Efazy 🤗

Amigurumi pattern for Kawaii Perfume has been tested, proofread and translated by incredibly amazing and talented girls: Celine, Isa, MJ, Clarissa, Sabrina, Roberta, Sarah, Gwendoline and Lyubov! Once again, thank you very much, dear friends! You all are amazing! 💛💙

[via-l0ve]

🎃

Hey I already sent you one of these (I was the one freaking out at the end being all like EW THIS IS TO MUCH IM SO SORRY THIS IS EMBARRASSING and you shipped me with SAM OMG TYSM) you'll probs know who I am

I was hoping that if it doesn't bother you to much I could request the same thing but for different fandoms? 100% ok if not!

Maybe for The Marauders, breakfast club, The outsiders, Hunger games, marvel, Grease, Stranger things and Twilight (PLEASE DONT DO ALL OF THEM! I don't want to put you through that, I just want to tell you what fandoms I'm apart of and you can pick whoever you ship me with/who you think I'm most compatible with:)

Please don't ship me with Remus or Lily! I have a brother named Remus and an aunt named Lily and it weirds me out 😭

(Here is a few more things about me just in case)

I play the piano, I'm pretty messy but not like gross messy yk, I've cheated on almost every test I've ever had, I know French, Italian, Ukrainian, a bit of Russian and German, I have freckles all around my body, I love physical touch, my love language is physical touch and gift giving, I'm a hufflepuff, I'd probs be a greaser, I relate to Nick Miller from New girl alot, I know how to braid others people's hair but not my own, I have mornings, I'm a night owl, love fall and winter, hate summer, have mixed feelings about spring, love the cold, I like Pepsi more than coke and I take hygiene very seriously

Have a beautiful nice day!!

OMG HIII!!!! I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOURE SO COOL

Okay so i did a few.

i ship you with sirius black!!

you guys would have matching motorcycles (yours is pink and his is black). he also wants to hear you speak in your languages bc he’ll get on his knees and literally worship you like he falls in love even more. he DEFINITELY passes you notes to cheat on tests and class work all the time. he loves it when you play piano and always wants to hear it <3

—

ALSOOOO

i ship you with Sodapop Curtis :)

i just feel like you guys are perfect for eachother. you’re kind of opposites in a way but also he would cuddle you and give you such physical affection it would make you melt. he hates mornings and would stay in bed with you until like 1pm when steve’s calling him bc he’s late for work! he can’t help it he loves being around you!!! he’ll stay up with you all night and have deep convos and watch movies with you. teach him how to play piano and PLEASEEEEE braid his hair he will love it so much

[khodorkovskaya]

09.07.23

so i met up with the ukrainian guy! backstory for those who missed it: his mum gave my mum his number and i texted him "hey let's hang out".

so we met at the trainstation and went to the lake. and honestly...? idk if he was just shy but like he was so uninteresting. just like no flavour. i kept asking him questions like "what do you do in your free time?" "do you do any sports?" "do you have any hobbies" etc etc. and the response to everything was "i don't really do much".

i was a bit weirded out cos like... what does he do in life? he's never had even a little student job (i told him that i used to give lessons, volunteer, catsit, hostessing, etc. when i was a teen), he doesn't have any hobbies (he said he likes to watch football but like that's it), he doesn't have a lot of friends (he follows classes online and only goes to uni if there's a group project or sth like that). idk i was just confused. and he said that he doesn't really study that much and gets average grades, so it's not like his life is taken over by uni. like what does he do?

so yeah, he was just like this dude who likes football and listens to french rap and has no personality. again, maybe he was just shy. but idk. he was just so plain. i have to say, his mother was right, he was tall and handsome. but since he was so uninteresting, i just could not see him as attractive. he gave off virgin vibes idk. not in a way like "looool what a virgin loser", but like idk he just lacked any kind of attractive energy, you know what i mean? like there's a huge difference when you talk to teens/men in their early 20s vs men in their late twenties and older. like there's more of this "sexual tension" feeling, idk how to explain it. like "older" guys are more sort of like at ease with their body language and stuff and the way they talk to women. whereas this guy gave off highschooler vibes. not in a mean way, but he was just like undercooked, you know? like a teenager.

it's weird bc he reminded me a lot of this friend i had in high school. well he was more of my zurich friend's friend. but it was funny bc i set up a date for him. i had these two friends in my class, one serbian girl and one croatian girl. and i wanted to set up the serbian girl with this guy, so we went for a walk the four of us. and then me and the croatian girl just like left the two alone. it didn't work out and was super awkward but it was hilarious. and then, the funny thing is! the guy went to serbia that summer and got an std! and that was the last time id heard of him. he used to post stories from some generic clubs in the balkans on instagram from time to time. but now idk what he's up to. but yeah, the guy i went on a "date" with reminded me a lot of him in like his way of speaking and holding himself.

oh also he knew my zurich friend! it's weird bc it seems like all russian speakers know each other! all of them went to russian school when they were kids. it's weird bc when we came here my mum wanted us to integrate as much as possible, so we never went to any russian speaking events, she never signed me up for russian classes or anything like that. but like there's a whole community of russians/ukrainians/moldovans that hang out together all the time and they're all childhood friends. and i feel like ive missed out a bit bc everyone knows everyone and im just there like 😅

other than that, today father paul was celebrating 50 yrs of being a priest. and guys the liturgy today was so good! the choir really ate!

also bishop irinei of western europe came to visit and idk he gave off weird vibes. ive seen his youtube shorts and idk he's weird.

also there was cake! and it looked really good! so i wanted to take a piece but they said that it hadn't been blessed yet. so i was like okay, i'll wait. and it was 35 degrees today and we were all outside with no shade and no water. so i waited for this cake for like 20 minutes and it felt like hours. and when they finally blessed it, everyone got a piece and there wasn't any left for me!

but there was a lot of other food too like there were these two balkan ladies who made sarma and it was like 10/10. and there were also all different kinds of what i guess was pirozki..? and some other ethnic cuisine i didn't quite understand. probably armenian/georgian? like they had pies and rice and all kinds of good stuff. and there were the usual russian dishes like borsh and russian salad. and someone made avocado toast too so i was like yum. it was all really good!

it was a shame it was so hot tho bc i was like oo finally im gonna try and socialise and maybe make friends. but there was no shade! so i ate as quick as possible and ran to the nearest water fountain bc it was unbearable. i managed to talk to these two ladies who i think were of russian origin but didn't speak russian. their names were alla and ksenia and we talked for a bit about how father paul is really nice. but yeah that's it, it was too hot.

then i got home, lay on the bed and ended up taking a 5 hour nap... it was wild. i woke up at 6pm and felt like i just got run over by a bus. and now im all tired and disoriented. and it's still 30 degrees outside! i can't with this heat!

btw look at what father emilian posted today what a slay

[anewbeginningagain]

The RD scoring made me so angry that watching the women's free felt like a chore. Like, in what world do C/B beat the Italians and the Canadanes technically??? She doesn't get into the ice, like, at all, she's basically drifting. I felt the same as you about G/F, this is the first performance of their RD that I've enjoyed and watching their feet was one of the highlights of the event for me. However, the Canadanes delivered the better overall package (although his free leg is admittedly weak). C/B were so painfully boring to me that the only reason I'd have them in 3rd here (with the above 2 teams being 1st and 2nd) is that the other teams were worse. And I'm sorry, but as much as I like Lilah and Lewis as people and find them entertaining, they have no business being in this conversation and the only thing their overscoring can achieve is put people off. P2 are unwatchable to me, G/Pa were good but his costume and her hair issues were distracting, the poor girl spent half the program brushing her hair away from her eyes. They can deliver wonders with the right coaching team, which is why I'm extremely meh about them this year. The Lithuanians were the best I've seen them do the RD so far, given that the theme doesn't suit their natural movement style. C/P were good, this was kind of a median performance for them from what we've seen this year but there's less of a gap between them and G/Pa than what was scored. I can't with any of the French teams, with L/B her back is so inflexible that they'll be really limited in what they can do elements-wise and their packaging is very Euro-retro. I don't find the Finns too offensive but she just looks so fragile to me, I can't focus on anything else. Taschlers were on fire. Of the rest, I enjoyed the Ukrainians' progress a lot. Do NOT get me started on KanaDai and their scores/calls, though... I need them and Marina to go tf away already, that was hideous. And omg that poor Svinin Zhuk team, the sheer cringe...

Italians won in BV over C/B, Canadanes got slightly less because C/B got level 4 for the midline. But I have to say, while I think the Italians and Canadanes are the two best teams in terms of edge quality and their basic skating skills and I'm for sure not a technical specialist, I did think C/B were strong in the RD and tbh the current rules for levels are so contrite that who even knows at this point. I do not agree that she doesn't get into the ice, she's not the strongest but I think she improved a lot as well (Igor legit did nothing with her).

I 100% agree that G/F had such good footwork today, like again I'm not a techincal specialist but watching it live even before the levels came up I knew it was superb, but I also agree that Canadanes win overall, Nikolaj's free leg is the thing that always bothers me but it also improved a lot this season so kudos to him. I really think that Canadanes deserved at least 3rd.

F/G are for sure the weakest of the top 5 (though today not sure I would even have G/P above them in the RD) but people will hate them no matter what. Once people decided they figured out Lilah's family tree they also decided to hate her in one of teh ugliest ways I've seen in the fs fandon and god knows I've seen a lot of shit in my days. Their overscoring is annoying but again, it's not as bad as people make it be.

G/P were borderline unwatchable to me as well, but as I said I'm very biased because of my strong dislike of their RD since the second I saw it, in a see of bad fake latin programs they somehow managed to have the worse, and we fucking have wicked games latin and Adele latin this season so it says a lot.

Green/Parsons as you said were distracting, his costume is fine to me, her hair not so much, I like the improved speed but they are very sloppy in their footwork and keep losing levels. As @saucylittlesmile said, CPom with 5th highest BV but 10th overall is super frustrating but that's why I believe that if they can get better speed and keep the levels they will make a push. I still think the best outing of the RD for CPom was 4CC, I also hope they can attack the FD because I need them over 112 and over 114, like get a SB/PB.

French as I said suffer from bad packaging this season and Gui's choreography and vision for them. They were edgy and fun last season, this season they are barely noticeable.

FINs are also a bias point for me, between her being so fragile looking, them hopping their twizzles and not getting dinged for it, and her wide open mouth that is somehow considered interpretation, I just can't with their scores, they are a 72 team, not a 76-79 team.

R/A I love, strong outing for them and they are even stronger in the FD id they can skate it calean (which means not falls, not twizzles fuck ups, no choreo lift fuck up like it happened 2-3 times already).

Taschlers were great fun and they have power and speed for days, but they too suffer from sloppy footwork - to be 9th with a pattern level 1 bothers me.

Ukranians are really developing nicely, it was smart to switch the Conga they used at the end of the RD to Hip Hip Chin Chin, it works way better.

Also liked the Estonian, I bow down to Solene for competing and looking better than a lot of teams who didn't almost die at the start of the season.

And I have a soft spot for the Australians, they fucked the twizzles here but I think they have a lot of potential tbh.

Legit don't even know who are the Svinin/Zhuk team but it's ironic how Stepanova/Bukin dumped them this week for Zhuin's politicking (though I'm legit shocked they are thinking about returning given the ban and the fact Stepanova just has a secret baby)

[fantomcomics]

What’s Out This Week? 2/8

Why do we live somewhere where the air hurts our faces??

A Condition Called Love GN Vol 1 -  Megumi Morino

A sweet new shojo romance manga from the creator of Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty! Hotaru is a 16-year-old high school first year who has always been ambivalent about love, preferring instead to have a lively life with her family and friends. So when she sees her schoolmate, Hananoi-kun, sitting in the snow after a messy, public breakup, she thinks nothing of offering to share her umbrella. But when he asks her out in the middle of her classroom the next day, she can't help but feel that her life is about to change in a big way!

A Home Without GN -  Don Gaddis

Growing up in the Bible Belt of the 1980s as a creative, colorful, and sensitive young boy is hard enough, but it's especially hard for River. His hot-tempered father, Mitch Garrison, fights constantly with his wife Rosemary and resents his son's softer side. As River and his sisters come of age, they'll have no choice but to help their mother (and each other) survive a chaotic household. Searing autobiographical fiction drawn heavily from the childhood of Southern artist and writer Don Gaddis.

Akim Aliu Dreamer GN -  Greg Anderson Elysee & Karen De la Vega

Akim Aliu - also known as "Dreamer" - is a Ukrainian-Nigerian-Canadian professional hockey player whose career took him all around the world and who experienced systemic racism at every turn. Dreamer tells Akim's incredible story, from being the only Black child in his Ukrainian community, to his family struggling to make ends meet while living in Toronto, to confronting the racist violence he often experienced both on and off the ice. This is a gut-wrenching and riveting graphic novel memoir that reminds us to never stop dreaming, and is sure to inspire young readers everywhere.

Clock Striker GN Vol 1 -  Issaka Galadima

Cast dreams of being a SMITH, but no one in her small town ever realizes their dreams. Besides, these legendary warrior engineers haven't been seen in years and were never known for having female members. Fortunately, Cast meets one surviving member named Ms. Philomena Clock, who agrees to take her on as her apprentice, or striker.

The Extraordinary Part Book 1 HC -  Jerome Mulot & Florent Ruppert

Renowned for their great conceptual and graphic originality, acclaimed French cartoonists Florent Ruppert and Jérôme Mulot have masterfully contributed an instant comics classic to the annals of science fiction.

This first book in a two-volume graphic novel series is set in a near-dystopian present, where mysterious creatures called "whols" coexist with humans since their sudden appearance a few years earlier. At first, they aroused curiosity and wonder, then their seemingly harmless presence became commonplace. Nineteen-year-old Orsay leads an uneventful life in the French countryside, until the day he gains extraordinary powers in his hands after an atypically aggressive encounter with a whol. On a trip to Paris in search of a cure, he meets and falls for Basma, a passionate activist for whols' rights. But Orsay isn't convinced that whols should be granted the same status as humans. Especially once Melek, another human with similar powers, embarks on a murderous rampage to avenge those she sees as her kin.

Harrower #1 (of 4) - Justin Jordan & Brahm Revel

There's nothing to fear in the quaint town of Harrow, New York-except, that is, for the Harrower. The children wish this boogeyman was just an urban legend, but this purveyor of puritanical vengeance against the unrighteous is very real, and there's no escape, because the Harrower seems unkillable, and spans generations, always returning... What secrets will Alice Young, a teenage girl obsessed with the Harrower, uncover, and will she be able to escape the pull of her morbid fixation? This deconstruction of the slasher genre is the fresh and terrifyingly grounded take is perfect for fans of Bone Orchard and The Closet!

Marry Me A Little GN -  Robert Kirby

Marriage doesn't define a relationship. Unless you want it to. In Marry Me a Little, Rob Kirby recounts his experience of marrying his longtime partner, John, just after gay marriage was legalized in Minnesota in 2013, and two years before the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges made gay marriage the law of the land. This is a personal story-about Rob's ambivalence (if not antipathy) toward the institution of marriage, his loving relationship with John, and the life that they share together-set against the historical and political backdrop of shifting attitudes toward gay rights and the institution of marriage. With humor and candor, Rob relates how he and John navigated this changing landscape, how they planned and celebrated their wedding, and how they and others in the gay community are now facing the very real possibility of setbacks to marriage equality.

Monarch #1 -  Rodney Barnes & Alex Lins A new tale of terror and high-stakes science fiction hits close to home! Growing up in the city of Compton is tough enough as it is, but as Travon has learned all too well, growing up as an orphan in the city of Compton with gang members hunting you down every day is even tougher. But all of that is about to change, because today is the day that aliens make first contact with Earth-and it only spells doom for life as we know it! Death, devastation, and mayhem-can a single teenage boy rise to the challenge and protect his surrogate family and friends...or will he die trying? From RODNEY BARNES, the star comics writer behind the Eisner-nominated series KILLADELPHIA and the writer/executive producer of HBO's Winning Time, and up-and-coming Marvel artist ALEX LINS comes a new tale of love, triumph, disaster, and defeat!

My Special One GN Vol 1 -  Momoko Koda

After a mortifying rejection, Sahoko Wakaume has sworn off beautiful boys. But a chance meeting at her family's restaurant puts her in the sights of gorgeous J-pop star Kouta Kirigaya of the group Like Legend. Sahoko will need all her cynicism to defend herself against Kouta's tenderhearted and affectionate efforts to win her heart!

Open Bar TP -  Eduardo Medeiros

Lenny and Beardo are two childhood friends with a lot of road behind them. When Beardo's deadbeat dad dies and leaves them his old bar, they make a go of it as business partners. Easy enough, right? Maybe not.   Running a business in a low-traffic area of town isn't all it's cracked up to be, but luckily for the boys, the one-two punch of viral media attention when their neighbor gets crushed by a 747 engine that falls from the sky and a sorta suspect (but very potent) beer recipe they stumble into catch the public's imagination at just the right time. Things get even more complicated when Lenny's ex-girlfriend Amanda shows up again, pregnant. Can our two heroes weather the ravages of success any better than they dealt with being losers? Can Lenny level up and be a good dad? Can Beardo forgive his dead, absentee father? Will the general public run them out of town when they find out what was actually in that beer?

The Secret History Of Black Punk TP -  Raeghan Buchanan

The Secret History of Black Punk is an illustrated roll-call for punk, post-punk, hardcore, no wave, and experimental bands from ground zero until now. A starting point for anyone curious, another reference for those who devour all genre-related things, or a cool artifact for them who already know.

Show-Ha Shoten! GN Vol 1 -  Akinari Asakura & Takeshi Obata

Ever since he failed to make his crush laugh, shy Azemichi Shijima has secretly been studying the art of comedy. Meanwhile, his classmate Taiyo Higashikata has big dreams of being funny but no follow-through. When the two team up, they just might be able to create a wave of laughter that reaches to the heavens and propels them to the top of the comedy world!

Space Job #1 (of 4) -  David Goodman & Alvaro Sarraseca

After five long years of soul-crushing servitude as a chef's assistant, Danny Sheridan is getting his dream job in space as First Officer aboard the SS George H.W. Bush. But on his first day he finds himself crashing back to reality. Nothing seems right, the crew is subpar . . . something's going on, and First Officer Danny Sheridan is going to get to the bottom of it or die trying.

Stranger Things: Tales From Hawkins #1 (of 4) -  Jody Houser, Caio Filipe & Marc Aspinall

On the surface, Hawkins seems like the kind of town where nothing bad could ever happen, but in the fall of '83 it is anything but safe. When two friends head out into the woods with their rifles and a six-pack, the would-be hunters find themselves the prey of a nightmarish beast who has claimed the wilderness around town and everything inside it, including them.

Where I’m Coming From GN -  Barbara Brandon-Croft

From diets to day care to debt to dreaded encounters with everyday racism, no issue is off-limits. This remarkable and unapologetically funny career retrospective holds a mirror up to the ways society has changed and all the ways it hasn't. The magic in Where I'm Coming From is its ability to present an honest image of Black life without sacrificing Black joy, bolstered by unexpected one-liners eliciting much-needed laughter.

Whatcha snagging this week, Fantom Fam? 

[monkeyssalad-blog]

Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun - Portrait of Aglaé Angélique Gabrielle (1787-1842) by Pau NG Via Flickr: Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun - Portrait of Aglaé Angélique Gabrielle (1787-1842) In July of 1789, in the wake of the fall of the Bastille, Aglaé Angélique Gabrielle’s mother (the Duchesse de Guiche), grandmother (the Duchesse de Polignac) and some of the most unpopular members of Queen Marie Antoinette’s entourage fled France in the first wave of the Émigration. For almost twenty years, they led a peripatetic existence in European countries that had not been invaded by French troops. Aglaé Angelique followed her mother from country to country in search of a haven, finally ending up in Latvia and Russia. In August of 1804 she was living in Mittau (Jelgava), where the exiled Bourbon King Louis XVIII and members of his court, which included the Duchesse de Guiche, were in residence. There the girl married an officer in the Imperial Russian army, the somewhat older Colonel Aleksandr Lvovich Davydov (1773-1833).1 The groom was one of the sons of Lev Denisovich Davydov (1743-1801) and his wife, the prodigiously wealthy Ekaterina Nicolaievna Samoïlova (1755-1825), a niece of Potemkine and a sister of Count Aleksandr Nikolaevich Samoïlov, whose wife and children sat to Vigée Le Brun for a full-length portrait now in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Davydov’s half-brother was General Nikolaï Nikolaevich Raevski. Aglaé Angélique and her husband had three children: Ekaterina Aleksandrovna (1806-1882), who in 1826 married Ernest de Cadoine, Marquis de Gabriac (1792-1865); Adel Aleksandrovna Davydova (1810-1881), who eventually became a nun in the convent of the Trinità dei Monti in Rome; and Vladimir Aleksandrovich Davydov (1816-1886), who also became an officer in the Russian army. Aleksandr Davydov took part in campaigns against Napoleon’s army and was present at Austerlitz (1805) and on battlefields in Poland and Finland (1807-1809). During the Campaign of 1812 he served at Winkovo, Maloiaroslavets, Viazma and Kraznoi. The following year he lead the troops under his command at the Battles of Lutzen, Bautzen, Dresden and Kulm. When France was invaded in 1814, Aleksandr Lvovich was assigned to Bar-sur-Aube, Troyes, Arcis-sur-Aube, Fère-Champenoise and Paris. He was promoted to the rank of major general in mid-June of 1815. After the Napoleonic wars had come to an end, Aglaé and Aleksandr Davydov spent considerable time with their children and other members of the Davydov-Raevski clan on their vast Ukrainian estate of Kamenka the Caucasus near Kiev, a center of the secret Green Lamp society whose membership was conspiring against some of the worst excesses of the czarist regime in their homeland, among them the system of serfdom, the Turkish domination of Greece and antisemitism. Aglaé Gabrielle de Gramont and her husband formed an odd couple. While she was svelte and physically attractive, he was a giant of a man, tall and monstrously overweight. In the course of her marriage, the flirtatious Aglaia Antonovna Davydova was a notoriously unfaithful wife. Russia’s greatest poet Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (fig. 1) was a friend of the Davydovs and a guest at Kamenka in late 1820. It was at this time that Pushkin was writing A Prisoner in the Caucasus, in which he gave vent to his liberal convictions. The writer, who was stationed as a translator with the army in the nearby Moldavian town of Kishinev, fell under the spell of both Aglaé (Aglaia) and her twelve-year old daughter Adel Aleksandrovna. Henri Troyat, Pushkin’s biographer, wrote of the general’s ravenous appetite for food and drink. He cites Pushkin: “Alexander Lvovich was a second Falstaff : gourmand, cowardly, a braggart but no fool, totally devoid of principles, full of self-pity, and obese. He had one distinctive feature, however, which gave him added charm: He was married. Shakespeare never had time to marry of his bachelor, and Falstaff died without knowing the joys of cuckoldom or fatherhood. In Eugene Onegin Pushkin wrote of A magnificent cuckold [an allusion to A.L. Davydov], Ever content with his person, His dinner, and his wife. (…) Repelled by serious manhood, Pushkin fell back on frivolous femininity. “Much champagne, few women…” True, there were not many women at Kamenka. But Mrs. Davydov, the “magnificent cuckold’s” wife, was as good as a harem. The fair Aglaia was born de Gramont; she was French, and thirty years old. She had a plump face, a pert nose, a soft and velvety mouth, a downy bosom. Her grace, her wantonness, her eternal coquetry turned the head of every general and cornet who came to the Kamenka estate. Aglaia was happy only when she was in the center of a ring of admirers, and there was always someone around to admire her. Pushkin himself fell in with the custom of the house and paid court to the pretty Frenchwoman, out of habit and because he had nothing better to do. But she wanted to play the romantic heroine in the grand manner, and the poet, frightened by her intensity, beat a hasty retreat before obtaining anything more from her than smiles and a brush of the lips. These flutterings with fat Alexander’s wife irritated Pushkin, and he relieved himself by composing epigrams [in “To My Promiscuous Aglaia” he quipped]: Some have had my Aglaia For their mustache and braided coat, Some for money—that I understand; Or because they were French. Leo was no doubt impressive, Daphnis sang so well; But tell me, my Aglaia, what Your busband had you for? Pushkin sent this epigram to his brother with the comment: “For the love of Christ, don’t let it get around. Every word of it is truth.” In another epigram, he preached restraint to the eager Aglaia: Let us leave impassioned fevers… (Our day is drawing to a close) You, my dear, to your oldest girl [sic, meaning Adel Aleksandrovna], And I to my young brother… Pushkin’s allusion to Adèle, Algaia’s eldest daughter, was not fortuitous. “She was a very pretty lass of twelve, and he was not above bestowing some of his attention upon her. Pushkin imagined,” [Ivan Dmitriyevich] Yakushkin wrote, “that he was in love with her, he kept ogling her, coming up to her, clumsily teasing her.” In December of 1834, after her Russian husband’s death and she had returned permanently to France, she wed the Corsican-born infantry general, Horace-François-Bastien Sébastiani della Porta (1772-1851), who in his youth had been so handsome that he was known as the ‘Cupid of the Empire.’ Having served in Italy in the revolutionary wars, he had been a high ranking officer in the Grande Armée of his fellow Corsican, the Emperor Napoleon; moreover, he had served as an officer in the Spanish (1808-1811), Russian (1812), Saxon (1813) and French (1814) Campaigns. In 1815, after Napoleon had returned to France from his exile on the island of Elba only to be defeated at Waterloo, Sébasiani alligned himself with him during the so-called Hundred Days. When Louis-Philippe d’Orléans came to power after the fall of Charles X in 1830, the liberal-minded Sebastiani served his government as Minister of War and then as French ambassador to Naples. By his first wife, Antoinette-Françoise-Jeanne de Franquetot de Coigny (1778-1807), he had a daughter, Françoise-Attarice-Rosalba (Fanny) Sébastiani della Porta (1807-1847). Aglaé Angélique died in Paris on January 21, 1842. Sebastiani della Porta survived her and went on to become Louis-Philippe’s Minister of War and his ambassador to England. Vigée Le Brun’s close relationship with Aglaé Angélique Davydova’s family were considerable. Prior to the revolution she painted several portraits of her grandmother, the Duchesse de Polignac,4 and her mother, the duchesse de Guiche.5 And during the period of the Émigration, she painted a bust-length portrait of Madame de Guiche wearing a blue turban, a red dress and a necklace of coral beads, a work done in Vienna in 1794, as well as pastel likenesses of two of her younger brothers, one of which, the profile portrayal of Jules de Polignac, was recently acquired by the Louvre. Finally, around 1805, Madame Le Brun painted a pastel image of Aglaé Davydova’s older sister, Corisande de Gramont, Countess of Ossultun and future Countess Tankerville (private collection). Vigée Le Brun’s portrait of the blue-eyed and still strikingly beautiful Aglaé Angélique Davydova, despite her thirty-seven years, depicts her subject in the open air against a cloudy sky. She is attired in a short-sleeved velvet gown with a deep neckline over a muslin chemise with gold trim, and around her long neck hangs a gold chain to which is attached a gold pendant. Her dark hair is styled in ringlets, or "anglaises" falling onto her brow, and those strands that are piled high on her head are held in place with a gold and coral diadem. Over this hairdo is draped a muslin veil she clasps to her bosom with the long, tapering fingers of the hands crossed over her breast, and the end of this length of sheer fabric floats in the wind behind her. The portrait was executed by the artist around 1824, the year of Louis XVIII’s death and the accession of his brother, Charles Philippe, Comte d’Artois, to the throne of France as Charles X. The portrait exists in two autograph examples: the present rectangular canvas and an oval version at one time in the Bartholini collection as a portrait of ‘Madame de Talleyrand’ and later with the Paris dealers Nathan Wildenstein and Arnold Seligmann (it is today in a private collection). An anonymous copy of the painting under discussion (oil on rectangular-shaped canvas, 81 x 65 cm.), in which Madame Davydova is shown without the gold chain, was featured in a recent Paris auction. Joseph Baillio www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/the-courts-o...