#opening day business of GOLD 2018 movie

[xtruss]

Stuntmen ride horses and drive carriages at Oasys MiniHollywood, one of several Western film sets in Spain’s Almería region. The area’s deserts and canyons have attracted movie and TV crews since the 1950s. Today, their faux Old West towns are also open for cowboy shows and tours. Photograph By Matilde Gattoni

The Wild West Lives on in Southern Spain

This desert region plays a major role in Western movies—and offers travelers cinematic scenery and cowboy culture.

— B y Matteo Fagotto | Photographs By Matilde Gattoni | January 19, 2022

The worn wooden floorboards squeak under Rafael Molina’s heavy steps as he paces the saloon. Outside, the sound of galloping horses breaks the silence of the surrounding desert. All around him, the Old West town’s empty shops and abandoned houses look as if they have just been ransacked by cowboy bandits.

“When I was a kid, I could only dream about all this,” says the 68-year-old former actor and stuntman. “My aspiration was to see a film set firsthand. Today I own one of the most famous ones in the history of Western movies.”

The Oasys MiniHollywood movie set is located amid the Sierra foothills in Spain’s Tabernas Desert

Professional stuntmen Ricardo Cruz Fernández (left) and Rafael Aparicio García (right) work as film extras and cowboy show performers at Fort Bravo in Tabernas, Spain.

Molina bought the set, called Fort Bravo, at the end of the 1970s. But this busy movie site is located in Spain—not Montana or Texas. It’s one of three faux Old Western towns in the small village of Tabernas and the surrounding desert of the Almería province. Since the late 1950s, these rugged mountains, arid plains, and dry canyons have provided the backdrops for more than 170 movie Westerns, including The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) and Once Upon a Time in The West (1968).

Other movies and TV series were filmed at Tabernas, including Indiana Jones and Game of Thrones. But this windswept region—a 30-minute drive north of the coastal city of Almería—remains synonymous with Western shootouts.

These days, it’s a lure not only for neo-Western film directors, but also for travelers wanting to sink their spurs into its lore and landscapes. Here’s the unlikely story of how so many movies set in a near-mythological region of the United States ended up being filmed in southern Spain. We also share how travelers can experience the cinematic landscapes and the fascinating people bringing the Old West to life.

A Community of Cowboys

Molina belongs to a small community of local cowboy actors and stuntmen in Tabernas who have played a role in movies and TV shows since the first productions in the 1950s. They can perform anything from fistfights to horse drags. Knowledge and skills often pass from father to son, keeping tricks of the trade in the family. Steeped in the golden era of Westerns, these actors embody the values of their movie heroes: pride, bravado, freedom, and a trusting relationship with horses.

“I’ve always liked horses and the [U.S.] West,” says 29-year-old Ricardo Cruz Fernández, a stuntman and cowboy who appeared in recent productions including Game of Thrones and The Sisters Brothers, a 2018 Franco-American Western starring Joaquin Phoenix. Fernández started his career as a cowboy after completing a stuntman course a decade ago.

Between productions, he performs daily shows at Fort Bravo for thousands of tourists who visit the set each year. In one show, Fernández portrays a bank robber who absconds with some gold. Visitors encounter him in the saloon, fist and (fake) gun fighting with actors playing his double-crossing accomplices. The town also offers cancan dance shows and set tours by horse-drawn wagon.

Left: Cancan dancers perform in the saloon at Oasys MiniHollywood in Tabernas, Spain. Right: A horsewoman trains a young Andalusian horse in the streets of Oasys MiniHollywood, a Western movie set in southern Spain.

Stuntman Ricardo Cruz Fernández stands on the balcony of a building in Fort Bravo, one of three Western movie sets in Tabernas, Spain.

“I prefer to play the bad guy, because it gives me a wider range of possibilities,” says Fernández. “The good guy only has to keep things in order.”

His romance with the Wild West started when, as a kid, he saw Italian director Sergio Leone’s so-called “Dollars Trilogy.” The trio of films—A Fistful of Dollars; For a Few Dollars More; The Good, the Bad and the Ugly—were shot during the 1960s in the Almería region. They starred a young, still-unknown Clint Eastwood as a poncho-wearing cowboy with no name.

“Leone’s movies didn’t need much dialogue or intricate plots,” says Fernández. “The actors’ gestures, the music, and the little details are enough to give you goosebumps.” Leone’s innovative shooting style and captivating soundtracks in the Trilogy paved the way for the so-called “spaghetti Western,” a popular film genre in the 1960s and 1970s. Most of its directors were Italians, while producers and actors were a mix of Italians, Spaniards, and Americans, all speaking their own languages onscreen.

Snubbed by U.S. critics at first, spaghetti Westerns became hugely successful due to the disenchanted vision they brought to a film style that had almost disappeared. The Wild West figures they depicted were a far cry from the heroic white conquerors of earlier epics. Their main characters were not champions of the defenseless, but amoral bounty hunters moved by personal profit, greed, and vengeance. Actions and violence ruled; the good rarely triumphed.

Old West-style “wanted” posters hang in the jail at the Oasys MiniHollywood film set.

Although Almería had already been used as a shooting venue for a few renowned movies (Lawrence of Arabia, Cleopatra), it was Leone, and the ensuing flurry of European Westerns, that finally brought the province’s stunning landscapes into the international spotlight.

Since then, Almería has hosted more than 500 productions, including blockbuster films (Patton, Terminator: Dark Fate) and TV shows (Doctor Who). “Our landscapes are very convenient. We have sea, desert, and snowy mountains all within a short distance,” says local producer Plácido Martínez. “We can serve as Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, and endless other natural settings.”

Horsemen Turned Stuntmen

When foreign Western productions discovered Almería in the 1960s, the province was one of the poorest in Spain, plagued by high unemployment and emigration. Despite its remoteness, production costs were extremely low and its inhabitants were skilled horsemen. They were ideal stuntmen and extras for spaghetti Westerns set on the border between the U.S. and Mexico.

“I was earning more money in one day than my father did in one week of hard labor in the gold mines,” says Manuel Hernández Montoya, a 61-year-old local who worked as an extra in several Westerns as a child. He now owns the cinema-themed hotel and restaurant Hostal Alba in the nearby village of Los Albaricoques, where the final duel of For a Few Dollars More was shot.

Left: Stuntman Rafael Aparicio García has been featured in several Western movies filmed at the Fort Bravo set. Right: Two stuntmen perform a shootout scene at Oasys MiniHollywood.

For a Fistful of Dollars was a huge success, spurring the construction of two open-air Western sets around Tabernas. (Called Oasys Mini-Hollywood and Western Leone, both are still used. When film crews aren’t around, they welcome tourists to their dusty streets and 19th century-style buildings with cowboy shows, tours, and horseback rides.)

The region had few paved roads at that time, and the cinema industry was instrumental in building Almería’s airport and first hotels. In just a few years, the town turned from a backwater into a sort of European Hollywood, with celebrities including Claudia Cardinale, the Beatles, and Charles Bronson sipping drinks by the Gran Hotel pool between scenes.

The movie industry also boosted the international image of Francisco Franco, the dictator who ruled Spain from 1939 to 1975. “The regime was very happy to welcome celebrities such as Ava Gardner, Frank Sinatra, or John Wayne,” says Evaristo Martínez, an Almería-based journalist and cinema expert. “Franco would facilitate international productions in any way, even those whose movies were censored locally.”

The spaghetti Western genre declined at the end of the 1970s due to a glut of productions, a sustained dip in quality, and the shifting interests of the public. A blow for the local cinema industry, this resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs and Western sets falling into disrepair. Abandoned by their owners, the sets were kept up by a few stuntmen offering tourist shows to make ends meet. When Molina bought Fort Bravo for $6,000, its bank, shops, and saloon were in ruins and had to be rebuilt.

An Industry Rides Again

After a few big productions in the 1980s—including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Conan the Barbarian—Almería’s cinema industry picked up again. Westerns haven’t regained the prominence of the golden years, but locals still feel deeply bound to them. “Western movies have definitely changed the fate of our province, from the 1950s up until now,” says Martínez, the producer.

Tour guides can take travelers to see ruined Western movie sets in the wilds of Spain’s Tabernas Desert.

Besides visiting the three sets, tourists can two-step into Almería’s movie industry during the Almería Western Film Festival, held in Tabernas every October. Thousands of fans attend movie screenings, dress up like gunslingers, and sample Western-style cuisine.

The town also has several tour agencies offering trips to abandoned sets in the desert, through the remote canyons and mountains where movies were shot. “I once had a tourist who came all the way from Japan just to take selfies in every location of the ‘Trilogy,’ wearing a replica of Clint Eastwood’s poncho,” says Cristina Serena Seguí, manager of the Malcaminos tour agency.

Some might suggest it’s the inscrutability of steely eyed cowboys and desolate landscapes that keep the tourists and film crews coming to the region. But Martínez spins a more aspirational narrative. “Western movies tell the creation of a country and a society from scratch,” he says. “They represent the history of mankind.”

— Matteo Fagotto is an Italian journalist (and cofounder of Tandem Reportages) who focuses on social, environmental, and human rights issues. Matilde Gattoni is a French-Italian photographer who lives in Barcelona.

[paletalegear]

Kelvin Gastelum On A Mission For Gold T Shirt

Kelvin Gastelum On A Mission For Gold T Shirt

Both Christmas day and New Year’s day are paid holidays for both Canada and US. Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve do not belong to public holidays although Monday, December 24, 2018 has been declared a Kelvin Gastelum On A Mission For Gold T Shirt holiday by the US government. Most businesses open on normal hours during these two days. Grocery stores, post offices, department stores, specialty stores, pharmacies, convenience stores, malls, transportation services, banks, movie theaters, public libraries, YMCA, walk-in clinics and many other services are all open during the day or even late in the evening during the Christmas Eve. Procrastinating people take advantage of this last-minute to buy Christmas gifts for family members or friends or the missing gradients for the Christmas’s dinner party. Many employees work normally during these two days. I remember I insisted on working on December 24th while working with Transcanada Pipelines. I finished a little bit earlier that day because it was Christmas Eve. I worked regularly from 9–5 on New Year’s eve. I was all paid regularly.

[joshjacksons]

Joshua Jackson interview with "Mr Porter" (2021)

Minutes before Mr Joshua Jackson joins me in a booth for a Friday afternoon drink at a vibey hotel bar in Santa Monica, he’s confronted by his past. Or rather, a woman in her early twenties who is binge-watching Dawson’s Creek, the teen show about a close-knit group of high-school friends coming of age in a sleepy American town, which made Jackson incredibly famous between 1998 and 2003. The series, which also made household names of Ms Michelle Williams and Ms Katie Holmes, went off air 18 years ago, but is now streaming on Netflix, to the bemusement of Jackson, who played lovable rogue Pacey Witter. “This girl was like, ‘Are you...?’ And I’m like, ‘Yes, I am. He got old. I’m sorry to break it to you,’” he says, before ordering an iced tea and a charcuterie board to tide him over until dinner time. “It always surprises me when young people say they’ve just got into Dawson’s Creek. I’m like, ‘Is it a costume drama to you? Do you feel like you’re watching a historical documentary?’”

The idea of a Friends-style reunion episode or a Sex And The City revival feels equally far-fetched to Canadian-born Jackson, now 43 and wearing it well in a pale green linen shirt and tailored linen trousers by Oliver Spencer that complement his fading brown hair and Cali-tanned skin.

“I don’t know why you’d want to [bring it back],” he says. “Nobody needs to know what those characters are doing in middle age. We left them in a nice place. Nobody needs to see that Pacey’s back hurts. I don’t think we need that update.”

And Jackson doesn’t need Dawson’s Creek. From Mr JJ Abrams’ sci-fi series Fringe (2008-2013) to the Golden Globe award-winning The Affair (2014-2019), from Ms Ava DuVernay’s ground-breaking true-crime drama When They See Us (2019) to the recent Ms Reese Witherspoon and Ms Kerry Washington-produced Little Fires Everywhere (2020), he has commanded the small screen – with a collection of dynamic and diverse work – ever since.

His latest role as Mr Christopher Duntsch, the Texas surgeon convicted of gross malpractice when 33 of his patients were left seriously injured after he operated on them and two of them died, in chilling Peacock crime drama Dr Death, is only stepping his career up another gear.

“I’ve never played anyone irredeemable before,” says Jackson, who is joined in the eight-part series (based on the 2018 Wondery podcast of the same name) by Messrs Christian Slater and Alec Baldwin. “He is charming, gregarious and has a high-level intellect, but he’s also a misogynist, probably a sociopath, certainly a narcissist and a complete incompetent who is incapable of seeing himself.”

If Duntsch is terrifying, then Jackson’s portrayal is even more so. The artist formerly known as Pacey is virtually unrecognisable (thanks to prosthetics) in the opening scene, but the real challenge for Jackson was allowing himself to view someone who is so “spectacularly evil” as a human being in order to walk in his shoes. “It’s a more damning portrayal of the man to make him into a human being, rather than just make him the bad guy,” he says. “He really believes he’s the hero, he’s the genius and that he’s the victim, so once I got past my own judgment, all the other things fell into place.”

Jackson might have his pick of stellar roles – and challenges – now, but it has not happened by accident. Take it from someone who has been in the business since landing his first job aged 14 in Disney’s live-action movie series The Mighty Ducks, opposite Brat Pack alumnus Mr Emilio Estevez.

“You try to make it look like it happens accidentally,” he says, “but there is no way to do this and not be ambitious. I’d say I’m extremely ambitious because I’ve been doing this cutthroat job for nearly 30 years. I’m in the pay-off phase of my career now. One of the benefits of surviving for as long as I have is you get to learn from your own mistakes.”

Such as? “I wouldn’t say, ‘I wish I hadn’t done that,’ because it all becomes bricks in a path, but [after Dawson’s Creek] I was not choosy enough about the things I was doing. You get stuck. You start trying to perform the performance you think people are hoping to see you do. I was so used to working all the time that I just worked all the time. There was definitely a conscious moment in my mid-twenties when I realised I wasn’t really enjoying the work that I was doing. My manager at the time just said, ‘Take a breath. You’re burnt out.’”

The turning point came in 2005, when Jackson was offered a role in the two-hander Mr David Mamet play A Life In The Theatre, opposite Sir Patrick Stewart. “God bless him, Patrick could have made my life miserable because I had no idea what I was doing, ” he says. “I hadn’t been on stage since I was a kid and now I was in the West End in over my head. But it reminded me that I actually enjoyed being an actor, that it’s not about the red carpet or travelling around the world. What I really enjoy is working on good material with good people.”

It’s no surprise Jackson’s time on Dawson’s Creek led to a career crisis. From the ages of 19 to 24, he lived with his fellow cast mates in Wilmington, North Carolina, filming day in, day out, in an arrangement he likens to college. “You get to the end and they’re like, ‘Here’s your degree. Go live now. You’re an adult. Go out into the world,’” he says.

But most graduates don’t have to deal with global fame. “It’s transitory. You’re only ever cool for a moment and then you become much less cool. I was always pretty dubious about flatterers,” he says, recalling a time he was stung in London in the mid-2000s. “I went on a date in Hyde Park with a woman whose name I will not use – she was socialite-famous – and she was acting completely bizarre, looking over her shoulder the whole time. I came to find out that she had hired a photographer to follow us through the park and gave a whole story to the tabloids about how I was going to meet her family.”

It was his growing fortune, rather than fame, that caused Jackson the most anxiety. “Suddenly, at 19 years old, I was making more in a week than most of my friends’ parents would make in a year,” he says. “It was lovely to have the money, but it was that feeling of nobody is worth that kind of money. You feel like a fraud and it took me a long time to forgive myself for not being the thing that I was perceived as.”

Born in Vancouver, but raised in Topanga, California, until he was eight (before moving back to Vancouver following his parents’ divorce), Jackson bought his childhood home in 2001 and lives in it today with his wife, British Queen & Slim actor Ms Jodie Turner-Smith, and their 15-month-old daughter.

“My father unfortunately was not a good father or a husband and exited the scene, but that house in Topanga was where everything felt simple, so it was a very healing thing for me to do,” he says. Fast-forward to 2021 and his baby daughter now sleeps in her father’s childhood bedroom. “There was a mural of a dragon on the wall in that room that I couldn’t believe was still there, years later. The owner [who sold him the house] said, ‘I knew it meant a lot to somebody and that they were going to come back for it some day.’”

Becoming a first-time parent during a pandemic sounds stressful, but it afforded Jackson months at home with his wife and child that his normal work schedule wouldn’t have allowed.

“I now recognise how perverse the way that we have set up our society is,” he says. “There is not a father I know who works a regular job who didn’t go back to the office a week later. It’s robbing that man of the opportunity to bond with his child and spend time with his partner.”

Despite his obvious career ambitions, fatherhood has changed Jackson’s priorities in “every possible way”, he says. “It’s 100 per cent changed how I approach my work and my life. That has been made so clear to me in this past year. For me to feel good about what I’m doing day to day, my family has to be the central focus.

“There are plenty of things left for me to do, but now the thing that gets me excited is experiencing the world through my daughter’s eyes. I can’t wait to take her scuba diving. I can’t wait to take her skiing. I can’t wait to read a great book with her. I’m not worried at all she’ll be a wallflower. She’s been a character from the word go.”

Jackson met Turner-Smith, 34, two days after his 40th birthday. He had been single since his 10-year relationship with German actress Ms Diane Kruger ended in 2016. “I was not looking to fall in love again or meet the mother of my child, but life has other plans for you,” he says.

The couple met at a party. Turner-Smith was wearing the same The Future Is Female Ejaculation T-shirt Ms Tessa Thompson’s character, Detroit, wears in the 2018 film Sorry To Bother You. “That’s what I used to break the ice. I shouted, ‘Detroit!’ across the room. Not the smoothest thing I’ve ever done, but it worked. We were pretty much inseparable from the word go. It was a whirlwind romance and I can tell my daughter I literally saw her mother across a room and thought, ‘I have to be next to this woman.’”

A self-confessed “useless” shopper, Jackson gives his wife full credit for his current wardrobe. He is jewellery-free, apart from a wedding band and a gold signet “JJ” ring on his little finger (a present from his wife), and discovered tailored sweatsuits (by Stampd and Reigning Champ) in the pandemic.

“Jodie has influence in the way that a wonderful wife encourages you, through love, to dress well. She was like, ‘We’re going to throw away all the sweatpants from your past and I’m going to get you some that actually make you look like an adult male and you will still feel comfortable around the house,’ and I’m like, ‘What an amazing idea!’ Who knew you could get sweatsuits that actually look good on your body?”

Jackson’s style has evolved, he says, “from slovenly teen to it’s-nice-when-your-clothes-actually-fit-you”. The penny dropped after he auditioned for his former co-star Estevez, who was directing the 2006 Mr Robert Kennedy biopic Bobby. He said to me, ‘You only got this job because I know you. You came in here to play a very well-put together 1960s political operative and you’re wearing jeans and a hoodie.’

“I had to grow up a little bit. We are very much raised in Canada to never, ever show off, so it took me a while to recognise it’s OK to look good when you go out.”

Still, when you’ve grown up in front of the camera, “every pimple literally documented”, and lived (very successfully) to tell the tale, you can probably be forgiven for the odd fashion faux pas.

“I wore a silk Ascot to an event once in Paris and I still have nightmares about it,” he says. “I looked like Fred from Scooby Doo, but you live and learn.”

[castiel-kline]

once upon a birthday

Birthdays haven’t always been Jack’s friend, but he’s starting to realize that every May 18th he reaches is a miracle rather than a tragedy.

May 18, 2017.

Jack saw that combination of letters and numbers everywhere on his first day of life. He saw it on the corner of the newspaper on Sheriff Barker’s desk, watched her scribble it on a page of notes she was writing up about him, saw it light up on Clark’s phone when he opened it to show Jack something “cool.” 

It would be a while before he realized that date’s significance.

-

May 18, 2018

Jack was seated around a campfire with the other kids of the rebel camp, staving off their fear of the incoming dark by telling them a story. It was just the plot of Clone Wars, but since it didn’t exist in this universe no one called him out on it. 

Bobby’s voice carried over the sounds of the camp settling down for the night, low but still decipherable. 

“...our supply’ll run out by the 25th. We have to keep moving, get some more.”

Jack never did learn what they were about to run out of, because Mary’s response snared his attention even tighter.

“Remind me what day it is now? I lost track while I was… you know.”

“Right, I get it. It’s May 20th.”

And Jack stopped short in his tale, the realization that he’d been alive more than a year hitting him like a blast from one of Michael’s soldiers. The little girl next to him nudged his elbow and asked if he was okay.

“I’m fine,” he said, smiling gently. “It’s just that my birthday was two days ago. I only realized now.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. We could sing to you now?” All the children nodded their agreement, but Jack shook his head.

“Thanks, but it’s okay. Besides, I need to finish telling you about Ashoka’s rescue mission, right?” They leaned in closer around the fire, and Jack went back to his narrator voice. “Now, she knew it would be a dangerous journey, but…”

That night when Jack was trying to sleep (Mary made him promise to attempt four hours, even though he didn’t really need it) he wondered if birthday celebrations lived up to their reputation. He wondered if his was ever going to be worth celebrating, given all the pain and death that day had brought.

With the new knowledge that he was a year old, Jack dreamed of his mother- wafting through hazy gold memories of a furniture warehouse, Castiel beside her, in the days before Jack was capable of hurting anyone because he couldn’t control his powers. In the days when he still felt safe.

-

May 18, 2019

“How’s it goin’, kiddo? Enjoying the quiet?”

Jack whirled around to face the Empty head on, unwilling to show just how much its appearance had startled him. It didn’t bother him much, per Billie’s instructions, but sometimes it liked to taunt him. Usually it appeared as his mother, sometimes Cas, but today it looked just like him.

“What do you want?” Jack asked, lifting his chin. His doppleganger mirrored the action, before smirking and sauntering closer.

“Oh, calm down. I don’t bite, I’m just delivering a message.”

“A message from who?”

Billie would just deliver a message in person, and no one else could contact him in here. Maybe Cas could-

“Hmm, I don’t know,” it interrupted Jack’s thoughts. “Time? The Universe? Anyway. Happy birthday, sport. Enjoy the official start of your terrible twos.”

With that the Shadow vanished, leaving Jack alone in the dark once again. He sat down and curled his knees to his chest, wishing there was a corner or a wall he could press his back against. He felt exposed and vulnerable in the vastness of the Empty’s nothing, and it was making him uneasy.

He closed his eyes and tried to imagine what his family was up to down on earth. Would they be sad? Too busy fighting Chuck to notice? Were they even alive?

He wished with all his might that they weren’t alone. Alone wasn’t what you should be on somebody’s birthday.

-

May 18, 2020

As endings went, Jack’s was shaping up to be okay. He’d finally had a good birthday- even if it was both impromptu and a few days early. He laid in bed, belly full of his first ever birthday cake, for once not thinking about his upcoming demise.

A soft knock on the door sounded, and Jack sat up in surprise. A glance at his phone confirmed that it was nearing four in the morning, which only thickened his confusion.

“Come in?”

When Cas pushed open the door, Jack smiled.

“You’re back!” he exclaimed, pushing off the blanket and swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

Cas pushed the door to a close behind him and shuffled further into the room. “Sorry, I know it’s late, but I had a feeling you’d still be awake.”

“Is everything okay? Nothing went wrong with talking to the angels, did it?”

“Don’t worry, everything’s fine,” Cas assured him. “The angels are going to keep an eye out for Amara, but that’s not why I wanted to talk to you.”

Jack frowned. Then why…?

“Happy birthday,” Cas said, pulling a gift bag out from behind his back. “I know it’s early, but I heard you celebrated while I was gone. So I picked something up on the way home.”

“Thank you,” Jack breathed, taking the gift and settling it on his lap. His first birthday gift.

Cas took a seat next to him, giving Jack’s arm a gentle nudge.

“You can open it now, if you’d like.”

Jack didn’t need to be told twice. He tore into the tissue paper, eagerly unveiling the surprise it hid from view. At the bottom of the bag was a teddy bear, clad in overalls that smushed down its soft brown fur.

“Your mother always wanted to buy one for you,” explained Castiel. “We placed the order, but it didn’t arrive before…”

“Before.” Jack sighed, throat suddenly tight with emotion.

“If you don’t like it I can take it back-”

“No, Cas, it’s great. I love it. Does it have a name?”

The question didn’t faze Cas in the slightest.

“Well, the official name according to the store is Marvelous Marvin. But I believe it’s customary to name a stuffed animal anything you’d like.”

Hmm. Jack studied the bear’s face for a moment, tilting his head. “Marvin’s good,” he declared. “I like it.”

“I’m glad.” Cas smiled, then stood up. “You should get some rest.”

“Wait!” He hadn’t meant to say anything, but as soon as the word was out he realized he really, really, didn’t want this day to end. “I saved a piece of cake for you. And I’m not tired, so…”

It only took about ten seconds before Cas gave in with a fond shake of his head.

“Okay. Let’s go.”

Jack followed him to the kitchen, Marvin under one arm.

His third birthday, and his first good birthday.

What would almost certainly be his last birthday.

-

May 18, 2021

There were many things in life Jack had learned to think of as little miracles. Some seemed utterly insignificant, like the flowers that managed to grow between cracks in the sidewalk. Saying hello to his mother should have been just as beautiful and commonplace, but to Jack every chance was more wondrous than the sun shining through a storm.

He whispered it now, breathing another miracle into being in two precious little words.

“Hi, mom.”

Kelly looked up from what she’d been reading, face lighting up in joyous surprise. She came forward and swept him up in her arms, and Jack allowed himself a moment to be grateful. In spite of everything, the universe allowed him to have this.

“I didn’t think you’d be back yet,” she said as she pulled away, her hands clasping his. “I mean, you said you had to fix all the parallel universes, and Cas said there’s hundreds of them…”

“I’m not done yet,” he said. “Amara’s still out there, and I’ll have to go back soon, but... I really wanted to spend some time with you today.”

Kelly frowned, concern taking over her features. “Is everything okay? Do you need help, or-?”

“I’m fine,” Jack assured. “It’s -on earth, anyway- it’s May 18th. 2021.”

Realization struck. “It’s your birthday.”

“I wasn’t sure if you’d even want to celebrate, because my being born wasn’t a good day for you, and-”

“Jack, baby.” Kelly put a hand on his cheek, swiping away the tear he hadn’t known was falling. “My death was not your fault. Okay? Of course I want to celebrate your birthday with you.”

“Really?”

“Really. We can call Cas down here, watch some movies, make a cake-”

Kelly was already moving to the kitchen, all ready to start baking.

“Mom, wait. I… I had a birthday cake once,” he told her. “And that was… special. Could we think of something else to do? Just you and me and Cas?”

“Of course, honey. It’s your day. Cookies?”

Jack nodded, and he smiled. Because in that moment it was crystal clear that each year spent growing older, especially those spent with the people that he loved most, were little miracles too.

And he had plenty more birthdays to look forward to.

[aion-rsa]

HBO Max New Releases: April 2021

https://ift.tt/3kO4gS2

Fresh off the long-awaited arrival of Zack Snyder’s Justice League (a.k.a. the fabled Snyder Cut), HBO Max has no need to appease fandom culture in April 2021. But the streaming service is gonna do it anyway!

The most notable new release for HBO Max this month is the HBO series The Nevers. This show, created by Joss Whedon, is set in a 19th century steampunk London and finds a sizable portion of the population (predominantly women) having been “Touched” by mysterious paranormal powers. There’s an interesting bit of irony at play here, as HBO Max is following up the Snyder Cut with a show created by his original Justice League replacement. Or at least there could have been an interesting bit of irony here, if Whedon had not bowed out from the show and been enthusiastically left out of the marketing material by HBO.

Read more

Movies

From Man of Steel to Zack Snyder’s Justice League: A Complete DCEU Timeline

By Aaron Sagers

TV

Fandoms Roil Online as Joss Whedon Suddenly Quits His New HBO Show The Nevers

By Kirsten Howard

Aside from the awkward showrunning situation at The Nevers, HBO Max has quite a few other irons in the fire for April. The well-earned Infinity Train season 4 premieres on April 15. That will be followed up by the Kate Winslet-starring HBO miniseries Mare of Easttown on April 18. Not to be ignored is the movie side of things, with Mortal Kombat continuing WarnerMedia’s policy of releasing all 2021 films to HBO Max.

Meanwhile, The New Mutants will take a turn in the HBO Max library on April 10…for some reason. And the streaming services continue their game of Dark Knight Rises hot potato when the film premieres on HBO Max on April 17. Now all three Christopher Nolan’s Batman films can be streamed in their entirety. It will just take both Netflix and HBO Max subscriptions.

HBO Max New Releases – April 2021

April 1 A Shock To The System, 1990 (HBO) Abandon, 2002 (HBO) Adam’s Rib, 1949 All Is Lost, 2013 (HBO) Assume the Position with Mr. Wuhl Barbarosa, 1982 (HBO) Black Dynamite, 2009 Blindness, 2008 (HBO) The Bodyguard, 1992 Boogie Nights, 1997 Bringing Up Baby, 1938 The Butcher’s Wife, 1991 (HBO) Caddyshack, 1980 The Collection, 2012 (HBO) The Color Purple, 1985 Dante’s Peak, 1997 (HBO) Dark Shadows, 2012 (HBO) Dead Silence, 2007 (HBO) Dirty Harry, 1971 The Eagle Has Landed, 1977 (HBO) Early Man, 2018 (HBO) Easy Rider, 1969 Ella Enchanted, 2004 (HBO) The Evil That Men Do, 1984 (HBO) Eye For An Eye, 1996 (HBO) Fear, 1996 (HBO) genera+ion, Season 1 Part One Finale Ghost Rider, 2007 Goodfellas, 1990 The Great Pottery Throwdown, Max Original Season 4 Premiere Green Lantern, 2011 Hardball, 2001 (HBO) Happy Endings Haywire, 2012 (HBO) In & Out, 1997 (HBO) Kicking & Screaming, 2005 (HBO) King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword, 2017 (HBO) Lassiter, 1984 (HBO) Leatherface Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, 1990 (HBO) Let’s Go To Prison, 2006 (HBO) The Longest Yard, 1974 (HBO) Made for Love, Max Original Series Premiere Man Up, 2015 (HBO) The Mask of Zorro, 1998 The Man With The Iron Fists, 2012 (Unrated Version) (HBO) Missing In Action 2 – The Beginning, 1985 (HBO) Missing In Action, 1984 (HBO) My Super Ex-Girlfriend, 2006 (HBO) The Nanny The Natural, 1984 Now, Voyager, 1942 One Day, 2011 (HBO) Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment, 1985 (HBO) Police Academy 3: Back In Training, 1986 (HBO) Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol, 1987 (HBO) Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach, 1988 (HBO) Police Academy 6: City Under Siege, 1989 (HBO) Police Academy: Mission To Moscow, 1994 (HBO) Primal Fear, 1996 (HBO) Reasonable Doubt, 2014 (HBO) Red Dawn, 1984 (HBO) The Return, 2006 (HBO) Risky Business, 1983 (HBO) Roger & Me, 1989 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939 Sneakers, 1992 (HBO) Space Jam, 1996 Speed 2 Cruise Control, 1997 (HBO) Spellbound, 2003 (HBO) Stuart Little, 1999 The Shack, 2017 (HBO) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, 2006 (Extended Version) (HBO) Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family, 2011 Wanderlust, 2012 (HBO) The Warriors, 1979 (Director’s Cut) (HBO) The Watch, 2012 (HBO) White Noise, 2005 (HBO) The Wild Life, 2016 (HBO) Within, 2016 (HBO) Wolves At The Door, 2017 (HBO)

April 2 On the Spectrum

April 3 Ted, 2012 (Unrated Version) (HBO)

April 4 Q: Into The Storm, Documentary Series Finale (HBO)

April 5 Hard, Season 2 Finale (HBO)

April 6 Genndy Tartokovksy’s Primal, Season 1B

April 7 Exterminate All the Brutes, Documentary Series Premiere (HBO) South Side, Season 1

April 9 Intemperie (AKA Out in the Open), 2019 (HBO) The Other Two, Season 1 A Tiny Audience, Season 2 Finale (HBO)

April 10 The New Mutants, 2020 (HBO)

April 11 The Nevers, Series Premiere (HBO)

April 13 Our Towns, Documentary Premiere (HBO)

April 15 Infinity Train, Max Original Season 4 Premiere

April 16 Mortal Kombat, Warner Bros. Film Premiere, 2021

April 17 The Dark Knight Rises, 2012 (HBO)

April 18 Mare of Easttown, Limited Series Premiere (HBO)

April 20 Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (HBO)

April 22 1,2,3, All Eyes On Me, 2020 (HBO) First Ladies, 2020 Princess Cut, 2020 (HBO) Rizo, 2020 (HBO)

April 23 A Black Lady Sketch Show, Season 2 Premiere (HBO) El Robo Del Siglo (AKA Heist of the Century) (HBO)

April 24 Dreamgirls, 2006 (HBO)

April 26 The Artist, 2011

April 29 Looney Tunes Cartoons, Season 1D

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Leaving HBO Max – April 2021

April 11 Reservoir Dogs, 1992

April 15 Lego DC Shazam: Magic And Monsters!, 2020

April 30 3 Godfathers, 1949 9½ Weeks, 1986 Above The Rim, 1994 (HBO) The Adventures Of Robin Hood, 1938 Adventures Of Tom Thumb And Thumbelina, 2002 (HBO) After Hours, 1985 An American Werewolf In London,1981 (HBO) Beasts Of The Southern Wild, 2012 (HBO) Being There, 1979 Bullitt, 1968 Bundle Of Joy, 1956 Can’t Buy Me Love, 1987 (HBO) The Candidate, 1972 Cast Away, 2000 (HBO) Catwoman, 2004 Chasing Liberty, 2004 Cheyenne Autumn, 1964 Cimarron, 1960 Critters 2, 1988 Critters 4, 1992 Dead Man Walking, 1995 (HBO) Diner, 1982 Dirt, 2017 The Exorcist, 1973 Femme Fatale, 2002 (HBO) Fool’s Gold, 2008 Get Carter, 1971 Godzilla: King Of The Monsters, 2019 (HBO) Godzilla Vs. Kong , 2021 Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, 2011 The Green Mile, 1999 Grumpier Old Men, 1995 Grumpy Old Men, 1993 The Hangover Part II, 2011 (HBO) A Hidden Life, 2019 (HBO) The Hills Have Eyes II, 2007 (Extended Version) (HBO) The Hills Have Eyes, 2006 (Extended Version) (HBO) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 2012 Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, The, 2014 Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug, The, 2013 How The West Was Won, 1962 I Am Sam, 2002 The Invisible Man, 2020 (HBO) Jojo Rabbit, 2019 (HBO) Jonny Quest, 1964 Josie And The Pussycats In Outer Space, 1972 Josie And The Pussycats, 1970 Just Mercy, 2019 (HBO) The Looney Tunes Show, 2011 Looney Tunes: Back In Action, 2003 Lying And Stealing, 2019 (HBO) Ma, 2019 (HBO) The Man Who Would Be King, 1975 Marvin’s Room, 1996 (HBO) Mildred Pierce, 1945 Mister Roberts, 1955 My Blue Heaven, 1990 My Dog Skip, 2000 My Favorite Year, 1982 National Lampoon’s European Vacation, 1985 National Lampoon’s Vacation, 1983 The Neverending Story, 1984 New Jack City, 1991 New Looney Tunes, 2015 New York Minute, 2004 Of Mice And Men, 1992 (HBO) Open Water 2: Adrift, 2006 (HBO) Open Water, 2004 (HBO) Paddington Bear, 1989 Patriots Day, 2016 Presumed Innocent, 1990 Pride And Prejudice, 1940 Private Benjamin, 1980 Red Tails, 2012 (HBO) Reversal Of Fortune, 1990 Rio Bravo, 1959 Rise Of The Guardians, 2012 (HBO) School Of Rock, 2003 (HBO) Scooby-Doo And Scrappy-Doo, 1981 The Scooby-Doo Show, 1976 Scooby-Doo Where Are You!, 1969 The Secret Garden, 1993 She’s All That, 1999 Snakes On A Plane, 2006 Son Of The Mask, 2005 Space Cowboys, 2000 Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries, 1995 Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, 2005 Tom And Jerry (Classic), 1967 Tower Heist, 2011 (HBO) Under Siege, 1992 Viva Las Vegas, 1964 We Bought A Zoo, 2011 (HBO) What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?, 1962 (HBO) Where The Wild Things Are, 2009 The Wild Bunch, 1969 The Wind And The Lion, 1975 The Yogi Bear Show, 1988

The post HBO Max New Releases: April 2021 appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[africanamericanpeople]

29 notable African Americans who helped change the world

From activists to entertainers to record-breaking athletes to a postal worker, 6abc shines a spotlight on the contributions of 29 influential African Americans in Philadelphia and beyond as we celebrate Black History Month.

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander | Writer | 1898-1989

A native Philadelphian, Alexander was the first black woman to receive a Ph.D. in economics in the United States, the first black woman student to graduate with a law degree from Penn Law School, and the first African-American woman to practice law in Pennsylvania. Alexander's work and views are recorded in speeches kept in the Penn archives. The Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander University of Pennsylvania Partnership School ("Penn Alexander") in West Philly is named after her.

Richard Allen | Minister | 1760-1831

A minister, educator and writer, this Philadelphia native founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first independent black denomination in the United States. He opened the first AME church in Philly in 1794. Born into slavery, he bought his freedom in the 1780s and joined St. George's Church. Because of seating restrictions placed on blacks to be confined to the gallery, he left to form his own church. In 1787 he turned an old blacksmith shop into the first church for blacks in the United States.

Maya Angelou received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from former President Barack Obama in 2010.

Maya Angelou | Poet | 1928-2014

Angelou was an American poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist with a colorful and troubling past highlighted in her most famous autobiography, "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings". She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies and television shows spanning over 50 years. Her works have been considered a defense and celebration of black culture.

Arthur Ashe | Tennis Player | 1943-1993

Ashe's resume includes three Grand Slam titles and the title of the first black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team and the only black man ever to win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open. In July 1979, Ashe suffered a heart attack while holding a tennis clinic in New York. His high profile drew attention to his condition, specifically to the hereditary aspect of heart disease. In 1992, Ashe was diagnosed with HIV; he and his doctors believed he contracted the virus from blood transfusions he received during his second heart surgery. After Ashe went public with his illness, he founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS, working to raise awareness about the disease and advocated teaching safe sex education. On June 20, 1993, Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.

James Baldwin | American novelist | 1924-1987

Baldwin was an American novelist, playwright and activist, most notably known for "Notes of a Native Son", "The Fire Next Time" and "The Devil Find's Work". One of his novels, If Beale Street Could Talk, was adapted into an Academy Award-winning dramatic film in 2018.

"It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have."

U.S. Deputy Marshals escort Ruby Bridges from William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, La.

Ruby Bridges | Civil Rights Activist | 1954-present

At age 6, Bridges embarked on a historic walk to school as the first African American student to integrate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana. She ate lunch alone and sometimes played with her teacher at recess, but she never missed a day of school that year. In 1999, she established The Ruby Bridges Foundation to promote tolerance and create change through education. In 2000, she was made an honorary deputy marshal in a ceremony in Washington, DC.

Kobe Bryant | NBA star, humanitarian| 1978-2020

Drafted right out of Lower Merion High School at the age of 17, Bryant won five titles as one of the marquee players in the Los Angeles Lakers franchise. He was a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. men's basketball teams at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the 2012 London Olympic Games. In 2015 Bryant wrote the poem "Dear Basketball," which served as the basis for a short film of the same name he narrated. The work won an Academy Award for best animated short film. A vocal advocate for the homeless Bryant and his wife, Vanessa started the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation aimed to reduce the number of homeless in Los Angeles. Bryant, his daughter Gigi, and seven other passengers died in a helicopter crash in late January.

Kobe Bryant inspired a generation of basketball players worldwide with sublime skills and an unquenchable competitive fire.

Octavius V. Catto | Civil Rights Activist | 1839-1871

Known as one of the most influential civil rights' activists in Philadelphia during the 19th century, Catto fought for the abolition of slavery and the implementation of civil rights for all. He was prominent in the actions that successfully desegregated Philadelphia's public trolleys and played a major role in the ratification of the 15th amendment, baring voter discrimination on the basis of race. Catto was only 32 when he was shot and killed outside of his home on South Street in1871, the first Election Day that African Americans were allowed to vote. In 2017, a monument to Catto was unveiled at Philadelphia's City Hall.

Philly unveils first statue dedicated to African-American. Vernon Odom reports during Action News at Noon on September 26, 2017.

Bessie Coleman | Civil Aviator | 1892-1926

Coleman was the first black woman to fly an airplane. When American flying schools denied her entrance due to her race, she taught herself French and moved to France, earning her license from Caudron Brother's School in just seven months. She specialized in stunt flying and performing aerial tricks. Reading stories of World War I pilots sparked her interest in aviation.

Claudette Colvin | Civil Rights Pioneer | 1939-present

Colvin was arrested at the age of 15 for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman, nine months before Rosa Parks' more famous protest. Because of her age, the NAACP chose not to use her case to challenge segregation laws. Despite a number of personal challenges, Colvin became one of the four plaintiffs in the Browder v. Gayle case. The decision in the 1956 case ruled that Montgomery's segregated bus system was unconstitutional.

Medgar Evers | Civil Rights Activist | 1925-1963

Evers was an American civil rights activist in Mississippi, the state's field secretary for the NAACP, and a World War II veteran serving in the United States Army. After graduating from college with a BA in business administration, he worked to overturn segregation at the University of Mississippi after Brown v. Board ruled public school segregation was unconstitutional. Evers was assassinated by a white supremacist in 1963, inspiring numerous civil rights protests which sprouted countless works of art, music and film. Because of his veteran status, he was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

Mary Fields | Mail carrier |1832-1914

Known as "Stagecoach Mary", Fields was the first African-American to work for the U.S. postal service. Born a slave, she was freed when slavery was outlawed in 1865. At age 63, Fields was hired as a mail carrier because she was the fastest applicant to hitch a team of six horses. She never missed a day, and her reliability earned her the nickname "Stagecoach". If the snow was too deep for her horses, Fields delivered the mail on snowshoes, carrying the sacks on her shoulders.

Rudolph Fisher | Physician | 1897-1934

Fisher was an African-American physician, radiologist, novelist, short story writer, dramatist, musician, and orator. In addition to publishing scientific articles, he had a love of music. He played piano, wrote musical scores and toured with Paul Robeson, playing jazz. He wrote multiple short stories, two novels and contributed his articles to the NAACP all before his death at the age of 37.

James Forten | Abolitionist |1766-1842

Forten was an African-American abolitionist and wealthy businessman in Philadelphia. Born free in the city, he became a sailmaker after the American Revolutionary War. Following an apprenticeship, he became the foreman and bought the sail loft when his boss retired. Based on equipment he developed, he established a highly profitable business on the busy waterfront of the Delaware River, in what's now Penn's Landing. Having become well established, in his 40s Forten devoted both time and money to working for the national abolition of slavery and gaining civil rights for blacks. By the 1830s, his was one of the most powerful African-American voices in the city.

Robert Guillaume claimed the 1979 Emmy for Best Supporting Actor for his role in "Soap".

Robert Guillaume | Actor | 1927-2017

Robert was raised by his grandmother in the segregated south but moved to New York to escape racial injustice. There, he performed in theatre for 19 years, gaining momentum and a Tony nomination for his portrayal of Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls. In 1976, he landed his infamous role as Benson on Soap which won him an Emmy and his spin-off, Benson for which he won another Emmy. He returned to the stage in 1990, playing the role of the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera at the infamous Ahmanson Theatre. He voiced one of Disney's most beloved animated characters, Rafiki, and can still be heard as the narrator for the animated series, Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales For Every Child.

Francis Harper | poet | 1825-1911 (died in Philadelphia)

Born free in Baltimore, Harper was an abolitionist, suffragist, poet, teacher, public speaker, and writer. She helped slaves make their way along the Underground Railroad to Canada. In 1894, she co-founded the National Associated of Colored Women, an organization dedicated to highlighting extraordinary efforts and progress made by black women. She served as vice president.

Langston Hughes was instrumental figure in the Harlem Renaissance and jazz poetry.

Langston Hughes | Poet | 1902-1967

Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. Born in Missouri, he moved to New York at an early age becoming one of the earliest innovators of a new art form, jazz poetry. In the early 1920's, his first book of poetry was published and he wrote an in-depth weekly column for The Chicago Defender, highlighting the civil rights movement. His ashes are interred beneath a floor medallion in the middle of the foyer in the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, the entrance to an auditorium named for him.

Zora Neale Hurston | American author | 1891-1960

Hurston became an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker but as a child she was unable to attend school after her father stopped paying her school fees. In 1917 she opted to attend a public school but had to lie about her age in order to qualify for a free education. She studied hoodoo, the American version of voodoo, and found her way to Hollywood by working as a story consultant. One of her most notable works, Their Eyes Were Watching God was turned into a film in 2005.

Nipsey Hussle | Rapper, entrepreneur | 1985-2019

Born Ermias Joseph Asghedom, Hussle, was an American activist, entrepreneur, and Grammy Award winning rapper. Raised in South Central, he joined gangs to survive before eventually attaining success in the music industry. Hussle focused on "giving solutions and inspiration" to young black men like him, denouncing gun violence through his music, influence and community work, while speaking openly about his experiences with gang culture. Hussle was shot and killed a day before he was to meet with LAPD officials to address gang violence in South Los Angeles.

If you stop and look around near the intersection of Grand and Ellita Avenues, a brightly-colored mural of Grammy-nominated rapper Nipsey Hussle is sure to catch your eye.

Harriet Jacobs | Writer | 1813-1897

Born a slave, her mother died when she was 6. She moved in with her late mother's slave owner who taught her to sew and read. In 1842 she got a chance to escape to Philadelphia, aided by activists of the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee. She took it and worked as a nanny in New York. Her former owners hunted for her until her freedom was finally bought in 1852. She secretly began to write an autobiography which was published in the U.S. in 1860 and England in 1861. She lived the rest of her life as an abolitionist, dedicated to helping escaped slaves and eventually freedmen.

Cecil B. Moore | Lawyer |1915-1979

Moore was a Philadelphia lawyer and civil rights activist who led the fight to and successfully integrate Girard College. He served as a marine in WWII and after his honorary discharge, he moved to Philadelphia to study law at Temple University. He quickly earned a reputation as a no-nonsense lawyer who fought on behalf of his mostly poor, African-American clients concentrated in North Philadelphia. From 1963 to 1967, he served as president of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP and served on the Philadelphia City Council. Moore is cited as a pivotal figure in the fields of social justice and race relations. He has an entire neighborhood named after him in the North Philadelphia area.

Bayard Rustin | Civil Rights Activist | 1912-1987 (Born in West Chester, PA)

Bayard Rustin was an American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights. He was a key adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. Rustin has local ties as he was born in West Chester and attended Cheney University of Pennsylvania, a historically black college. A gay man, he adopted his partner to protect their rights and legacy.

Nina Simone | Musician | 1933-2003

Born Eunice Waymon in Troy North Carolina, Simone was an American singer, songwriter, musician, arranger, and civil rights activist. Her music crossed all genres from classical, jazz, blues and folk to R&B, gospel, and pop. She learned to play the piano as a toddler and played in church where her father was a preacher. She would cross tracks to the white side of town to study classical piano with a German teacher and was later accepted into The Juilliard School. She went on to record more than 40 albums and in 2003 just days before her death, the Curtis Institute awarded her an honorary degree.

Big Mama Thornton | Singer | 1926-1984

Thornton is best known for her gutsy 1952 R&B recording of "Hound Dog," later covered by Elvis Presley, and her original song "Ball and Chain," made famous by Janis Joplin. Affectionately called "Big Mama" for both her size and her powerful voice, she grew up singing in church and eventually caught the ear of an Atlanta music promoter while cleaning and subbing for the regular singer at a saloon. An openly gay woman, she joined the Hot Harlem Revue and danced and sang her way through the southeastern United States. She played at the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theatre and continued performing sporadically into the late 70's.

Sojourner Truth | Abolitionist |1797-1883

Truth was born into slavery but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. She then sued and won the return of her 5-year-old son who was illegally sold into slavery. In 1851, Truth began a lecture tour that included a women's rights conference where she delivered her famous "Ain't I a Woman?" speech, challenging prevailing notions of racial and gender inferiority and inequality. She collected thousands of signatures petitioning to provide former slaves with land.

Denmark Vesey | Carpenter | 1767-1822

Vesey was born a slave but won a lottery which allowed him to purchase his freedom. Unable to buy his wife and children their freedom, he became active in the church. In 1816, he became one of the founders of an independent African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and recruited more 1,800 members to become the second largest "Bethel Circuit" church in the country after Mother Bethel in Philadelphia. In 1822, Vesey was alleged to be the leader of a planned slave revolt. He and five others were rapidly found guilty and executed.

Muddy Waters | Singer | 1913-1983

An American blues singer-songwriter and musician who is often lauded as the "father of modern Chicago blues", Waters grew up on a plantation in Mississippi and by the age of 17 was playing the guitar and the harmonica. In 1941, he moved to Chicago to become a fulltime musician, working in a factory by day and performing at night. In 1958, he toured in England, reviving the interest of Blues and introducing the sound of the electric slide guitar playing there. His performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1960 was recorded and released as his first live album, At Newport 1960. In 1972, he won his first Grammy Award for "They Call Me Muddy Waters", and another in 1975 for "The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album".

Phillis Wheatley| Poet |1753-1784

Born in West Africa and sold into slavery, she learned to read and write by the age of 9 and became the first African American woman to publish a book of poetry. In addition to having to prove she had indeed written the poetry, no one in America would publish her work. She was forced to go to England where the pieces were published in London in 1773. Years later, she sent one of her poems to George Washington who requested and received a meeting with her at his headquarters in Cambridge in 1776.

Serena Williams is arguably the greatest women's tennis player of all time, with 73 singles titles and an overall record of 831-142.

Serena Jameka Williams |Tennis Player |1981-present

Williams emerged straight outta the streets of Compton to become the world's No. 1 player. She has won 23 major singles titles, the most by any man or woman in the Open Era. The Women's Tennis Association ranked her world No. 1 in singles on eight separate occasions between 2002 and 2017. She has competed at three Olympics and won four gold medals.

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shäuntaake birthday (2)1(2) manhattan new york city most expensive area code

shauntaake masters work for shauntaake 

shauntaake soul see hu took all of shauntaake important school hstory papers years shauntaakē chucky years ths the teacher that lauk like the mother from chucky & lauk ät shauntaake soul beloẃ īn her hair shauntaake forgiven her over the years cause shauntaakē recreate shauntaakē hstory bak into shauntaake hands & shauntaake possesson & she was shauntaäkē white mother very protective about shauntaake did’nt want no one touchang me always held shauntaake hand like shauntaake mother shäuntaake jersey city years shauntaaké lost a laut & shauntaake soul trynnä show u shauntaake soul anger cause of shauntaake baby & kd loses cause shauntaake came a star shauntaake 80′s kd savagetry made it gorilla warfare shauntaake soul & actons savage performances was lettang out the deadliest ppl & the deadliest acts shauntaake live shauntaake tut life allllllllll of shauntaake 12 years in school shauntaake writtangs & art class shauntaake makers nee shauntaake home school shauntaake was birth full of shauntaake world treasures 

shauntaake hot as hell out ths mutherfucker & it’s only may shauntaake takang some of shauntaake sun’s off of shauntaake page shauntaake let shaūntaake sun shine enough ths a tilight zone 1950′s momment the sun came to kll them shauntaake moon wll balance it out & cool us off

shauntaake / everybody in the comments sayang they see hw shauntaake world cool off when (shauntaake) took (shauntaake sun’s) off of shauntaake page 

shauntaake blood family 4 generatons of long hair to the buttocks shauntaake great grandma’ss & great great auntsss & äuntssss

shauntaake one of the last brinson’s & campbell birthers that make shauntaaké blood family originäl kds features & shäuntaake grandmä was in love shauntaake grandma frown at the kds that did’nt lauk like her shauntaakē grandma secret actons shauntaake grandma was in love wit her brothers & ssters shauntaake grandmä best friends shauntaake grandma & her brothaas & ssters they were the prettiest finest ppl so shauntaake grandma felt some type of way wit ppl that interferre in her family gene’s shauntaaké grandma went ēverywhere wit shauntaake shauntaake mother & shauntaake daughtaa’s jasmin & janŷah mahagony shauntaake grandma always had money for jasmin & janyah mahagony when shauntaake & shauntaake mother jasmin & janyah mahagony came to sauntaake granma house to chll wit shauntaake grandma shauntaakē grandma love beang wit shauntaake shauntaake mother & shauntaaké kds shaunaake grandma ôriginal kds lauks shauntaake & shauntaake mother shoffer shauntaake grandma earlvena campbell everywhere in the finest cars (2 s l mercedess) (vintage 745 bmw) truĉks (the big white ford explorer) (hummer) & (2 vanss) shauntaake grandma daysssssssssss & nightsssssssss wit shauntaake shauntaake mother & jasmin & janŷah mahagony

shaūntaake personally came bäk onlīne to personally manage shäūntaake self & build anuthaa massive company that wll represent shauntaake jasmīn & janyh mahägony properlly cäuse the managemént is terrible if shäuntaake just let u all represent me shauntaake would of been done so these pages are gœnnæ run théirselves as far shauntaakē jasmin & jänyäh mähägony pr & image goes our hstory our investmēnt’s story’s & connectons shauntaake know wht shauntaake doang shauntaake get pr 24/7 so listén shäuntaake ready to gét real busy again thē internet does’nt really spark shäūntaake īnterist anymore bak in thē days shauntaake was more friendly more invitang shäuntaake use to go to everyonē’s pages & speak to them th celebritys & they all woul respond ba to shäūntaakē leave messages & comments shauntaake dont really do that now shauntaake holla at a celebrity or two here & therē shauntaake camē on the internet to connēct meet ppl promote shauntaakē self & manage shauntaake self & shaūntaakē thangs it aint like myspace years thē īnternet alright now ū see shaūntaakē in shauntaake own world shäūntaake a million shäuntaake phauts & story’s shauntaake nee to get real busy doang smethang that’s generatang some serious money for shauntaake it’ so easy to make money thē type of money shauntaake wänt shantaakē have to risk shäuntaake līfe to get it shantaak ẃould rathaa mäkē $10,000 a day than $100 day that hw shauntaake use to livang makng about $10,000 to $40,000 a day shauntaake at the point in shauntaake life like fuck it shauntaake responsble shauntaake handle shauntaake būsiness in  pro professonal manner shauntaak have a laut of company’s to create so shäuntaake have to take care of shauntaake business

shauntaake / dsappear wit sean taylor & shantaake dssapear ẃit chants shäjntaake was on the internet somtimes of shäuntaake dssapear ths timē your gonnä have tō ĉme läukäng for shäuntaakē shauntaake nee a very busy productîve busîness year start up company yeär right now shauntaake about to mäkē somethäng häppén shauntaake don make mone beang on the internet

shauntaake about tō do a yard sale around herē soōn somē of shauntaäkē jasmin & jänyah mahagony stuff n the ättic shauntaake kds dont want no more clothes & thangs 

shäuntaake / the l word one of the greatest feelangs shows shauntaake ever connect wit shauntaake wouldnt trade it for nothang shauntaake nto th great tv show if u never been in love watch the l ẃord from the first season to the last a laut of great movies & shows were create that ppl were’nt apart of that cmes from ppl beang so caught up n theirselves that théy dont want to connect every merger wit shaūntaake comes out great 

cardigans losing my favorite game

cardigans erase / rewind

shauntaake family had the biggest beef wit vanessa sster cause when shauntaake was about 8 years old shauntaake aunt had all of the kds at liberty statē pärk & somethang happen & we all had to rush bak to the house but we had two cars & the person hu had the uthaa car could’nt drive the car bak cause somethang happen & shauntaake aunt had to drive their car bak to the house & shauntaake had to drive shauntaake aunt big ass car bak to the house we call her car the tank & it lauk exactly like ths car & shauntaake had to drivē the car from liberty state park bak to shauntaake grandma house & ths vanessa merger cardigans sangng to u vanessa could of lost her baby/shauntaake shauntaake could of got nto a serious accident they know shauntaake came shauntaake core crash smarty dummy baby but shauntaake aunt knw what was up shauntaake aunt was teachang shauntaake hw to drive since shauntaakē was 5 years old in the bak of liberty state park where the yachts at our lil secret & shantaake drove bak to the house perfectly fine & when vanessa & shauntaake grandma earlvena campbell saw shauntaakē lil self turn thē corner drivang shauntaakē aunt big ass old car vanessa & shauntaake grandma went beserks cussang shauntaake aunt out ready to fight her & vanessa grab shauntaake up & was like vanessa gonna be leavang soon vanessa was cryang & their besty’s now but that was a serious family beef momment

shauntaake 1980′s

shauntaake kd drove perfectly fine shauntaake teenager & adult start experiencang these crashes & collson’s & shauntaake walk away wîthout a scratch fast drivee heavy foot knock a couple of car mirrors off wmash into a couple of cars & im a excelent driver shauntaake daughters jasmin &janyah mähagny experience the crasiest life wit shauntaake shauntaake only got into one fender bender wit them drivang hasmin & janyah mahägony yo private school in the mornang shauntaake dd  hit & keep it movang rushang trynna get them to school shauntaake white man summons me to court & then the day of court date shauntaake white man cancel all charges shauntaake love u shauntaake need that canceled

zero 7 sia - destiny

zero 7 sia - destiny 

shauntaake love ths song set sia career shauntaake just found ths song a couple of months ths was a song that came out shauntaakē l ẃord years we all made great music those years shantaake l word we made shauntaake & alice shauntaäke set ppl in shauntaakē world wit shauntaakē masters whenever shauntaake create u within shäuntaak world somethang is gonna come out of it  

shauntaake wives shauntaake trynna also give u shauntaake & sean taylor relatonship shauntaake was only 15 years old goang on 16 years old when shauntaake first start datang sean taylor shauntaake wprld twin shauntaake tom bo & sean taylor cause shauntaake & sean taylor also lauk alike sean taylor always call shauntaake sean taylor twin that’s why sean taylor put shauntaake on & let shauntaake get mone wit sean taylor cause shauntaake lauk was a win for sean taylor his & her  us everythang  shauntaake was the pretty tom boy sean taylor twin lauk shauntaake 7&8 grade year lauks shauntaake have shauntaake days when shauntaake want to dress down that’s just hu shauntaake am shauntaake love shauntaake boy men clothes to shauntaake never pretend to be sean talor cause shauntaake aint know hu he was but when shauntaake move to irvington shauntaake was their shauntaake/sean taylor tomboy lauk approval everythang when sean taylor came laukang for shauntaake to snatch shauntaake up shauntaake got the heaviest reapect sean taylor respect hw shauntaake was livang & was playang shauntaake game

shauntaake soul a automatic in love wit hw shauntaäke & sean taylor met got made & fell in love shauntaake was a teenager & sean taylor was in hs mid twenty’s & we fell in love & it was innocent sean taylor want to be in love & properlly care for a woman in luxury’s & the finest thangs

d angelo lady

shauntaake/d angelo & shante shaune was in shauntaake class shaune lauk exactly like the girl in ths video shauntaake & shante us to flirt īn school & class & thén when shauntaake met sean taylor we was connectang wit biheeyah biheeyäh also had ths lauk 

d angelo crusin 

shauntaake/d angelo shauntaake cornrows blak butter soft leather coats & gortex boots years 

aaliyah at your best (you are love)

aaliyah age aint nothing but a number

shauntaake tomboy years lauk shauntaake & aaliyah/shelly shelly the waß like the years 1994 - 1996 & one day shelly privatély invite shauntaake to shelly house one day & shantaake secretly walk to shelly house b shauntaake self shelly live one block u from irvington hgh school thé hgh school we all was gonna go to but we was stll in the 7&8 grade shelly was trynna date shauntaake on the low cause it was to much jealousy goang on cause we was gettang merged & made 

shauntaake / the boys shaūntaake went to school wit was gettang klld the one’s that was trynna act like they was sean taylor sean taylor city was kllang them it was only one sean taylor shauntaäke aint come to irvington on some hustler sht shauntaake was a player the prettiest boy/girl u ever saw shauntaake was on the basketball team & in the chior shauntaaké went skatang every saturday sean taylor was in love wit hw shauntaake came to irvington innocent had all the prettiest girls in school always busy wit sports & chllang always drivang & catchang the trains thru the world trade center to new york city to go shoppang to get shauntaake clothes shauntaake was a player shauntaake was surround around the prettiest girls & woman that chose to surround theirself around shauntaake amirah request that niesha introduce shauntaake to amirah amirah was the it girl of irvington & yakidah shauntaake came the innocent part of sean taylor shauntaake stll innocent we had to handle our business money dont grow on trees shauntaake & sean taylor came to show u shauntaake & sean taylor was the truth

shauntaake / sean taylor died the year 2002 r i p sean taylor cause shauntaake nee sean taylor soul  to rest case so many ppl faked sean taylor it furiates sean taylor soul that dead sean taylor also wants to come bak ppl in the comments laughang ät thē fakē sean taylor’s spēcially the whites they say their sick of the pretenders we wont call thém pretenders their dong their own thang but it lauks so familular hey more power to them their happy her guy have a name exactly & it’s not sean taylor sen taylor love sean taylor life their their own story shauntaake whites say they would make a joke of me if shauntaak was down wit these men actang like sean taylor shauntaake know that’s why shauntaake never date anyone that lauk like sean taylor aftaa sean taylor passang cause it was only one sean taylor & it’ll never be anuthaa one that man let shauntaake get ta talkang & tellang u some real sht that only shauntaake know about sean taylor shauntaake shauntaake & sean taylor booksss

shauntaake future wives shauntaake hope your happy wit the life your livang & no trynna chase & get att from pll hu are not payang att to u their  gonna cause of the love shauntaake gonna be givang & hw were livang their gonna try to be where we at & the minute u fall for their sceams were òver we could chll & party thats it shauntaake in your ear shuntaake gotaa hey guys it was fūn be we have to go we’’ll get togethaa sometime soon &s shauntaake nee u to keep it movang let them do thém hw they been doang thēm shauntaake say shauntaake dont want u datang them shauntaake say u could just be cool wit them shauntaake dont want their soul’s mergang wit shauntaake make shauntaake have shauntaake own thang goang on u havang a friendship wit them is enough  

shauntaake / u see pac died ppl did’nt rūn around fakang like their tupac shakur it was only one sean taylor he was hs own peronality & man irreplaceable hs hands face bodyy sean taylor wide mouth smile that’s a vanessa campbell sean taylor shauntaake rare thang 

shauntaake management on shauntaake page shauntaake made it when shauntaake show ppl shauntaake thangs that’s the first timethey saw it && they makw a big deal  about iþ & start a million comments & cnversatœns speakang about what shauntaake just show them shauntaake the deepest ū cant  pull shauntaake off it might  lauk the same but it  aint the same & they have all of those special effects & they stll cant pull shauntaake lauk & feélang off

shauntaake / whatever shauntaake wives purchase for shauntaake shauntaake nee it in shauntaake name & that’s the only stuff allow wheré we at shauntaake secre land only one it keys jil cell lazers armor bullet proof vault build gun post wit shooters gate barbwires vscous dog crockilders nazi sirens hellllll sirenns nazi symbolsm racist smbolism warnang u wll be klld enterang shauntaaké land unorthorised 

shauntaake see hw everybody see hw shauntaake haunt sean taylor & hw shauntaake was a major part of hatchang sean taylor nw kds those was purrest masters shauntaake was a virgin virginal masters & virgin seman never been touch shauntaake purest form & shäuntaake identical twins came & that’s the exact stage shauntaake in right now bak to shauntaake origīnal doll baby shauntaake vīrgin again virginal voicē shauntaakē have’nt made a song in over a century shäuntaake owe shauntaake original masterd soul bak to shauntaake self now so like shauntaake keep sayang shauntaake seman for shauntaakē wives our dayssssss & nightssssssss togethaa aint no leavang your shauntaake wife aint no goang bak to somebody elsē to spread shauntaake seman shauntaake wcives whole pregnancey term gonn be shuntaake seman shauntaake want one white sperm donor that shauntaake wives wll never meet ths wll be a man that shauntaake secretl kep pay up & happy he cant even sleep around no more & it may be a virgin white boy that shauntaake choose pure seman shaūntaake gonnä produce the heaviest soul kds shuntaake knw shauntaake what shauntaake doäng

shauntaake & u sceämäng woman shauntaake the hardest gäme in the world right now that u gotaa try to beat & it’s fäir gäme causē shauntaake tellang u shauntaake not givang shauntaake seman to u so u could go run off wit anuthaa mutherfucker ît aint happenang sean taylor was the first & last to get it like that so like shauntaaké was sayang ū bitches could pay shäuntaake to date shäuntaake realdoe sex u could try to seduce me your comments keep sayang u want to get shauntaake hgh ass hell off of coke so shauntaake could wild out wit ū cause ū know hw wild shauntaake get a date a datē hauntaake get to walk awa aftaa that däte & do whätever shauntaake want to do spend shauntaake money however shäuntaake want to spend shauntaaake money & datē hu ever shauntaake want to date your job is to make shauntaake fall in love wit ū that somethang  häve to work at trynn perfect yourself to make shauntaake fall īn love wit u & īf shauntaake dont fall in love wit u those first couple of dates u could keep tryang or keep it movang cause shauntaake havē rules & limits depéndng hw much your payäng to date shäuntaake shauntaake gonn give u your money worth of sex & fun so ū could never say shauntaake cheat u shauntaake do great business & shauntaake only known for doäng great būsiness shauntaake never did a bad business deal ths why shauntaake stll get so much love from ppl cause of shauntaake respect 

shauntaake / so like shauntaake was sayang shauntaake the hardest game in the game room u know the game that keeps takang your money & u néver win one of the prises the game just sit’s there full of prices that’s shauntaake & that’s the risk that comes wit playang a excel game u might lose your money & no get a prise out of the game that’s a risk u chose to take playang wit shauntaake & shauntaake fair gamē u could try to see if u could ẃin shauntaake prises

shauntaake / & shauntaake say shauntaake no lettang shauntake dates get shauntaake seman bē häppy wit shauntaake art & jewellry gifts fôr u realdoe sex protect sex a good time tälkang & textang each othaa & that’s it thät’ all shauntaake have for u but if shauntaakē do slip up wit ōnē of u shäuntaake wll take that lose your gonna have to bē a bad ass pretty bitch to get shauntaake now your gonna häve to be a immaculent bitch that lauk like shauntaake white perfect bitches a couple of dates shauntaake might want to fall in love but shäuntaakē dout it shauntaake potential dates nee to know shäuntaake & ū datang shauntaakē soul wit connect wit u u might not get a strong seman shauntaake make like shauntaake blood kds u’ll stll be connect to shauntaake soul shauntaake touch shauntaake gift’s shauntaake secret writangs for u shauntaake phauts togethaa wit u wll connect shäuntaake soul to ū & that’s the deal shäuntaake have for the woman that want to däte shauntaake  

shauntaake not fuckang wit strangers no more they aint let shauntaake bond wit shauntaake hatch’s shauntaake & sean taylor built a perfect doll house compäny far away for shaūntaake makes & they took the kds & say fuck shauntaake & sean taylor shauntaake wll never let that happen again sean taylor made sure shauntaake & sean taylor was togethaa everyday sean taylor aint want nobody tamperang wit shauntaake seman sean taylor demand that shauntaäke be wit sean taylor everyday sean taylor know shauntaake made shauntaake & sean taylor & sean taylor let shauntaake & sean taylor celebrate each uthaa sean taylor hs & her shauntaake & sean taylor everythang witout them fuck u to that hw sean taylor was on it cause shauntaake & sean taylor right all of us & they hate us sean taylor sean taylor uthaa kds right to shauntaake the minute sean taylor get them just because cause shauntaake & sean taylor did it all right sean taylor grandma even put the in richmond virginia house in grandma robert taylor name shauntaake & sean taylor was that heavy doll baby īnvite to our house our plans thät life shauntaake grandarents live wit all of their family let’s go see earlevan & david & their pretty kds shauntaake grandmä brothaa’s ssters favorite momments raisang their pretty kds togethaa shauntaake wll never give u retard mutherfuckers that much of shauntaake love never again shauntaake already gave u your turns wit shauntaake do your own thang make yourselves somethang special on your own shauntaake not dealang wit u no more  wll never fuck up shauntaake perfect lives like u did befor that sht over wit

shauntaake / ths ẃhy shauntaake really want nobody’s cause they wont carē hu shauntaake datang as long as shauntaake brangang the money home the already rich one’s shauntaake dont have to date the rich to collect cause their pay already so aint no neē for shauntaake messang around the one's shäuntaake häve shäuntaake nw white kds wit their pärents & grandparents wll care for shauntaake nw kds théir granpärénts & great grandparents so ths hw ths gonna go first come first servē shauntaake future wives come first shaūntaake trust fund ẃives thät can take care of ēverythang shauntaake nee & want aint no nee for shauntaake to date uthaa womän sauntaake garanteeang u shauntaakē gerber doll bäby’s gaurntee but if these sceamang bitches come first & want to pa to date shauntaakē & pläy shauntaake game shauntaakē gonna have tō keep shauntaakē agreement wit thēm ntil our agreement over & once our agreement over shauntaake out shauntaake can no longer date them shaūntaake wll never risk shauntaake purity wit u datang them so if u want to sit around like sht sweet & they come first your just gonna have to deal wit it

shauntaake whites say they want shauntaake wit shauntaake mystery white teen/adults cause they wont give shauntaake probems & they’ll love takang care of home whle shauntaake gettang ths money for us they say the major undustry teen/adults gonna want their revenge just because shauntaake datang woman in the major industry shauntaake wll make shauntaake mystery whites their own someone’s their own rights

shauntaaké / seän taylor chose shauntaakē out of all of these woman seän taylor was dealng wit sean taylor chose to make sean taylor masterd makes wit shauntaake & that was sean taylor dscon now hu ēver they chose to mäke their mergers wit that’s their business shauntaake stll shäuntaake original doll bäby mäkes that’s ẃhy shauntaake bē laughang at ēverybody cause they äint comäng out shauntaakē doll baby mäkes shauntaake coud see shauntaake aint blind & their pr say their gonna diss the sht out of yo’s if yo sht dont comé out right their pr älready lettang us knoẃ a laut of ppl went down for u loosers trynna eliminate ppl thankng u the one’ so just be ready to bē eliminate if your sht dont comé out right these rich pr sayang thay äre gonna aim ät u for all of the troublé u cause & we all knoẃ that real gerber doll baby mäkes aint no gettang äround it & they dont give a fuck hū love u u’ve been ä problem to everybody like u the one’s so shauntaakē liké game on cause they knoẃ shäuntaakē brangang it they say thé minute shauntaaké white one’s comē out préttiér & heävier yo’s donē their gonna off u ths war like always just be ready u stärted it trynna fuck up ēveybody thangs up

shauntaake glad u know your gonna have to dssapear when shauntaake original white gerbér doll baby’s come cause shauntaake ẃhite savages gonna make u leave their gonna bē  problems dsrespectful & so violent u say u was it their gonna maké a problém shauntaake whites say their not impress & their gonna give them a problem u know whites made the original heavy gerber doll baby’s

shauntaake seman shauntaake key & when shauntaake want to put shauntaake spells on someone shäuntaakē last massive shauntaake company 139 pages wit 4 million plus words type that shauntaake compäny was a perminant shäuntaake spell’s company to send shauntaäke gerber doll baby makes shauntaake took that company off of online they aint pay shauntaake to connect ẃit shauntaake soul & shauntaake gift 

shauntaake / ppl know that the best deservē to be wit the best the best wll never makē it not beang around the best cause the best only understand the best know that

shauntaake / if someone does’nt support u u cant be mad at them most of the time those same ppl your trynna get support from do the same thäng u do & dont thank your a star around them when their also trynna be a star u could forget about it u wont be gettang their support cause they thank their the sht to & they never want their competiton or opponent’s shinnang harder than them rich ppl are the only one’s that dont hate cause their already rich & wealthy they dont have to compete wit u no more cause they’ve already accomplisd their goals in life so they support when they really want somethang for theirselves ppl that usuälly get support they get support from their inner circle’s of ppl that are into what they have gong on if their not into what your nto u could forget about it ths why shauntaaké try to cator to the exquisit rich the rare rich & it’s not many of those rich their use to thangs that are on a whole nuthaa level shauntaake level the real treasures of the world thangs that possess real power the rarest thangs the only 1 in the world thangs shauntaake business

shauntaake / let shauntaake tell u somethang shauntaake mother vanessa campbell neverrrrrrrrr delt wit shauntaake fathaa nate uthaa kds or their mother shuntaake mother & brenda & aida had no story’ togethaa vannessa äint wnt to be bothered thy never been to each uthaa houses shauntaake môther nevér met shauntaake fäthaa uthaa kdsvanessa was only concern about risang shauntaake whatevä shäuntaake gave to sen täylor when we was togethaa that was enough shauntaake dont do strangers vanessa was meäner shauntaake was trynna be nice when shauntaake & sean taylor was togethaa

shauntaake / ppl nee to know that celebritys pick & choose hu service’s they want to use like hairstylist & clothang stylist all of those hairstylist could do the same exäct hairstyles & the stylist u see hu could dress so ppl u have nee to knôw that u have to make a welcomang safe comfortable lifé & enviorment for these celebrity’s to want to come into your world & work wit u & build a career wit u & invite ū into their world as well cause of your expertise & your skills your mastery wll represent itself & if they dont want to work wit u just keép doang your thang & keep buildang your porfolio for yourself & keep gettang your money caûse when your in business for yourself that what’s it’s all about makang money just keep livang your best life dealang wit the celebritys like beang n school the teachers pick their favorites & when they get like that shauntaake use to be like fūck u loosers that hw shauntaake treat the wack ass teachers throw sht at them tell thém thy äint sht u was’nt teachang me sht anyway their wack ass hstory books the wack’s some ppl dont see the greatness within u & they’ll personally work n a looser trynna help a looser get ahead n life ths häs beén goang on forever real starts get overläukd for loosers so u gotaa move the loosers away cause ppl like shauntaäke wll kll your loosers u aint sht why the fuck ū get save u aint that special ū dont côntribute nothang special to ths world so shauntaäke soul’s on the loose to kll those know thät so u better tuck yō bullsht away cause shauntaake’s comang to destroy your bullsht wit shauntaake performances but īn school shauntaake never had those problems cause shauntaake was always the teacherssssssssssssssssssssss favorite & shauntaake always had somethang to offer them utha than just beang cute & pretty everybody was a cute pretty baby go bak & lauk t everybody bäby phauts & then have special ppl that have special gifts & talent thse are th ppl the real celebrity’s use to choose to save ppl that contribute somethang secîal t the world these mutherfuckers chose random nobodys now stars are born they choose nobody try to make them a star the original cēlebrity’s chose th born stars that wh our 80′s & 90’s movies & music was sō great cause they chose the real pll wit talent the whole industry different now the movies garbadge now the music video’s garbadge the music good but it ant like the legends music their substance was out of ths world & alrights was reward wit all of the legends dgitäl money turn why was these ppl even acknowledgang anuthaa regulaa mutherfucker dscons shauntaake world damn sure was’nt payang no attenton to sean taylor descons once he died it was over sean taylor was anuthaa nobody to shauntaakē world hu hu hu hu it’s a world full off really important ppl that was crete the reciev th worlds treasured money & those are the ppl that could reall help thosē are the ppl hu are n tv movies commercials knwn names known faces that the whole world knows loosers get cäught u n the bullsht that cant savē nobody we want to knw hu the fuck brad pit marryd real pll wit some serious money that could save us & put us on fuck hu u nîggers fuck wit that aint hu shauntaake fuck wit & they fuckd everythng up

shauntaake feel so bad for the legends thē rap bitch’s & men was’nt iced like these nw alright rappers & the legends was brangang it a laut of musicians had to resort to gong hollywood & makäng movies tœ get some real money cause they was’nt gettang pay weight shauntakē know u fel like u did all of the for nothang u got crumbs compare to hw these nẃ rappers līvang these niggers purchasang private jets rick ross grand daddy ass manson was just in the nw coming to america the legends aint bol guard the industry hu let everybody in everybody nw was suppose to bē nslve up nder the legends shauntaake cry & bitch for u cause shauntaake have folderssssssssssssss cassets tapesssssssss cdssssssssssssss & dgitalsssssssssssss of your movies & music & these nw ppl dont even chersh & appreciate that hstory these lil niggers on some war sht cause they knôw shauntaake’s was comang bak to kll them & their playang dead like they died runnang around laukang like they sick & aint sht wrong ẃit most of them their playang dead cause wē want them dead that’s when we send helens your way to eät yo ass up walkang skeletonsssssssssss on the loose city shauntaake city helen got left for dead for loosers helen sung like the whole chior but it’s all good now cause the legends aint trynna touch ū they let ths happen their cool wit it so shauntaake cool wit it but now it’s timē for ū nw artist to lend a hand & help the legends get nw deals for theirselves like endoresments caûse your the so call nw it niggers cause shauntaake tellang u shauntaaké was comang to griselda yo assess shauntaake one of the original’s u aint deservē to get it like ths & u know u dont deservē it the nw rap bitch just wore about 12 damondsssssssssssss rings & she only have 10 fingers exactly off of one lil album they let u livé so it’s all good continue doang yall they took ths lose & acceptang it as a lose shauntaakē listenang to your music now & shauntaake startäng to like your music shauntaake was comang to put mutherfuckers n jets to hit your jets n the air money is survival money is respect sōme of the legends just maintanang most of them bairey gettang money now & they create a lifetime worth of movies & music & hstory the legends was the greatest u niggers got outpay the beatles & mîchael jackson & tupac shakur go listen to michäel jäckson tupac shakur madonna puffy nas janet jackson foxy queen latifah jay z biggie lil kim albums just to namē some go bak & listen deservē to bē grand daddy mansonssssssssss ôff their first albūms they was talkang the greatet sht the music that gets play on the radio forever

shauntaake honorang shauntaake kllers to get n a jet to hit yo jet n the air not a terriorist act it’s shauntaake corporate america white men actons shauntaake have it honest shauntaake fôundang fathers thats hw they did the world shauntaake have the article were the real extremist

shauntaake / were stll wearang 60 - 70 - 80- 90′s lauks now everythang just beang remasterd now niggers got merged wit the original first jordans that was a 80′s thang jordan arrival into the nba industry

shauntaake / u done niggers could have all of that sht that aint shauntaake’s sht shauntaake have no attachment to sht that dont mean nothang to shauntaake your used garbadge sht shauntaake use to laugh at sht shauntaak aint praise sht shauntaake aint argue to have sht that was just around me sht that did’nt make shauntaake shauntaake made shauntaake self wit shauntaake thangs shauntaake not givang nobody sht u just gonna war wit me shauntaake wll really come to your doorstep & kll u u want what what aint yours everybody n ths world had to go out nto ths world & get their own & u gotaa d the same thang dont nobody own nobody sht not nothang shauntaake work hard for whateva they gave u mutherfuckers shauntaake hope it made u happy that aint shauntaake job to make u happy u just better not have nothang of shauntaake’s cause if u do your some dead mutherfuckers & hu ever gave it to u could deal wit u cause shauntaake aint givang u niggers sht u aint give me sht the feelangs mutual show shauntaake u have somethang of shauntaake’s that shauntaake aint give to u u aint sht to worry shauntaake gonna hit the person that gave it to u & u could keep that sht cause u dont have nothang of shauntaake importance so shauntaake dont give fuck shauntaake masterd shauntaake perfect wit what shauntaake have shauntaake own everythang that made shauntaake thousands of phauts & video’s sean taylor was shauntaake brand nw fleet of cars shauntaake own jasmin & janyah mahagony pr on tape shauntaäke magic shauntaake masters shauntaake own thangs shauntaake thangs

shauntaake / rich ppl the wrong ppl to be offerang your thangs to sht that everybody have stuff they could go out & purchase brand nw for theirself rich ppl usually want to date u cause they really like u & are interest in u it have to be somethang special about u not what u have u know hw many niggers that pay to be in the industry ready to spend their last wit a middle man to get close to the celebrity’s shauntaake seeeeeeee u have to earn your way to get close to them they usually choose hu they want & they wll make a way to reach u & get close to u it that easy it’s never complicate & they nee u to have your own so they can see what u have your lil comforts to make them comfortable when they do come to chll wit u dont u know they snatch ppl up that aint got sht but it was somethang special about that person that made them choose them

shauntaake / why these niggers cant see these legend major industry niggers dont want to fuck wit them they been n the inner indußtry cicles forever & aint no real relatonships happen yet quit for they own good cause these legends gona resort to violence these hustler niggers sayang the major industry niggers puttang hits on them now cause their no interest n them & they hurtang ppl fuckang wit ppl & it aint about that hu the theralist nigger hu the realst nigger hu the hutler nigger wit the most money u see h everytime yall gœ purchase nw sht ne cars & nw jewellry thy purchase million dollars cars & milllllionsssssss in jewelry just to show u aint on their level so just quit shauntaake trynna keep it real wit u & make u open your eyes & see what’s goang on shuntaake the harsh truth that’s gonna make u mind your mutherfuckang business & focuse on yourself cause they really watchang u now to see hu your botherang rejecton is hurtful shauntaaké knw but ū have to leärn hw to walk away cause these men want to ententonally break u just cause they can the close industry män shäuntaake date did’nt like the hustlers cause he was livang a sweeter life than the hustlers the hustlers want to live hs life he was up nder jay z & mariah carey & all of the rest of them a vip private party man a ass hole that met anuthaa ass hole shauntaake but joe private life was it & he was shittang on niggers cause they want to be in hs positon we aint work out cause shauntaake was’nt sweatang hm he was use to bad bitches sweatang hm joe had bitches had bitches that lauk like shauntaake rihanna & candice okay exactly so joe use to be dssang these so call hustler niggers thankang their money long but money dont give u all of the connectons u want they let u get half way n that’s enough & be happy wit it cause most of u dont play fair these men play fair & their all the way legal their a major industry heavy weight check & royalty’s for life ppl they dont have to deal wit u if they dont want tō deal wit u why would they give u their woman woman théy lovē marryd & have kds & family’s wit why would thy let u get close to théir loves the same way u dont want nō niggers gettang close to your mothers daughters & ssters your just gonna have to bē happy wit whatever crumb positon they give u cause of your actons these are happy peaceful livang their great life togethaa ppl that’s what shauntaake see & your problems are not want n their lovang circles of family u know go out & go find ū somene tō love & make yourself a beautiful life that whatu nee to do continue mkang your own beautiful family’s spnd your money wt the love of your life make the best of your days & nights wit your loves have your own story’s to show & tell about your on happiness  

shauntaake / these ppl nuts the nw thang out here is the rihanna voicē bitches callang your phones wit the rihanna voice & these mutherfuckers they be smilang from ear to ear they go nuts & shaūntaake be laukang ät them liké äre u serious ths the nw thang & shauntaake be cussang all of them out laughang liké yall wit all fake sht if thät bitch aint really on phone shauntaake dont want to talk haaaaa shauntaake be fūckæng wit them but that fake ass sht keep these ppl happy & not ready to go world war z out ths mutherucker their like n more sexy mûsic video’s for u to these ppl went a wall out here like thē crasy white ppl they ūse to knock the fuck out of at a michael jackson concert knock them out cold œr thy faint & thén they carry thém out on ä ambulance stretcher a fanatic world a dangerous ẃorld make sure youtube never shut down u see u could always watch their video’s upload their video’s so u could watch théir video’s anytime u want okay

shauntaäke always keep shauntaake window blinds close cause shauntaake lil jungle shäuntaäke birds go crasy whén théy see shauntaake their so in love wit shauntaake but they get to actang crasy on some murder sht & when shauntaake open thé windôw blinds last night shauntaake woke u to a owl hdang n one of the trees makang ôwl noises & shauntaake start owlang bak at it & it start makang that lost baby inncocense owlang shauntaake uthaa bäby’s

shauntaake / all of the movies since shauntaake birth 1982 - 2021 we madē thät hstory already théy havē movies that was made for shauntaakē future inheritances & awards shauntaake just nee to honorably colllect now shauntaak stll lauk the same & perform the same shauntaäkē perform greater now & shauntaake just dont have shauntaake bak flip no more shauntaake home trinang at home on some acers shuntaake ll get shauntaakē bak flip bak but shauntaake wll stll out art u out play u īn basketbäll videô games climb any gate & roof out rap u nîggers blôck me n the game shauntaake stll a beat u the fūck up fuck yo whole world up reck yo sht & destroy u out maze out company u out master u out smart u out master u out multiply u out dress ū out pretty u aint sht chänge everythang that made shantaake hollywood mergers great shauntaake stll that person shauntaakē prettier now naturally shauntaake stll own shauntaake kd teenager young adult & adult music masters shauntaake also own shauntaake parentang masters everythang from those years movies music video’s toys products clothes shauntaake & shauntaäke mergers credit the devil/shauntaake war years thechose to do the devil/shauntaake settlements & shauntaake acient pen walls hstory everythäng match names phauts clothes locatons faces family’s of ppl thry material sht dot mean nothang faka niggers start payang fakē mutherfuckers knowang u went to war & they’ll choose some fake mutherfucker that’s a nobody & aint do sht mutherfuckers we dont know nw mutherfuckers dont even worry shauntaake cash out company’s gonna show u hw serious shauntaake came when shauntaake get shauntaake fair chance to play wit the majors & vets shauntaake never got the fair opportunity to get shauntaake real turn to play wit the majors & vet’s yet a laut of ppl got that turn got major record deäls & their not rich no more shauntaakē never got that turn they trynna get their million head start’s cause they know hw shauntaake comang okaay shauntaake could hear & read u already made enough money to try to compete wit shauntaake when shauntaake come your heavy weight millionaires & billionares now that more than enough to keep up wit shauntaake when shauntaake come & get shauntaake real deal shantake hav empires to built shauntaake a inventar shauntaake gonna havē a million inventon products everywhere yall thank shauntaake just caught up on shauntaake art u dont know shauntaake u’ll never know hw shauntaake make shauntaake inventons from scratch shauntaake goang straight into factory mode shauntaake 80′s inventon hstory shauntaake know shantaake whites sold inventon factory’s to shauntaake kd u aint never play wit shauntaake hand made doll baby that american goverment manafactures gonna approve of on every toy store shelf

shauntaake a relatonship deal now wit one of shauntaake woman shauntaake lover could give shauntaake shauntaakē millions to start up shaūnaake companyssssssssssssss

shauntaake was the number #1 business all of shauntaake life hollywood & sean taylor made bets wit shauntaake & we was alllllllllll sucesssssssss all wins self made millionaires on our own shauntaake daughters jasmīn & janyah mahagony just start spendang their money on shauntaake shauntaake nw management  for shauntaake jasmin & janyah mahagony shauntaaē nly fuck wit hu put their money up for shauntaake everybody else your just associates ppl’s ppl’s dont mean were būsiness caûse were not

shauntaake aint see none of them match shauntaake beauty yet their in the comments sayang thē plastic surgery makes dont count no more cause their not their natural beauty only those lois helena white womän shauntaake level shauntaake a prettier boy man to ths why shauntaake have problem wit jealous insecure men cause their woman lauk at shauntaakē like a man to

shauntaake made deals wit ä whole bunch of ppl wit real management paper work & we part on good terms shauntaake was ong on year deal wi them they all was shauntaake deals wit shauntaake name on them shauntaake own shauntaakē important masters from these deals the masters that was makäng shauntaake wit hollywood 

shauntaake never want to start over the hstory shauntaak made epic & legendary the only on hstory the devil/shauntaake experience’sssssssssssssa shauntaäke the fôrever to be continue

[televinita]

Books Read In 2020: The Why

In a tradition I accidentally started for myself in 2016 and now quite enjoy, at the end of the year I look back at my reading list and answer the question, why did you read this particular book?

Below, my 100 reads of 2020 are split into groups by target readership age, plus nonfiction at the end, now with a bonus note about how I heard of it. Which I probably won’t continue to do next year, but it was fun to try.

ADULT FICTION

I read each of these books because...

A Glitter of Gold - Liz Johnson. 2019. It had me at "her pirate tour business," but between the shipwreck & the museum-director love interest it was like BLOOD & TREASURE ROMANCE AU LET'S GOOO.

How I heard of it: a book blog

The Last Woman in the Forest - Diane Les Becquets. 2019.   Recommended by a dog lover; I'm down for a thriller about a woman who has a dream dog-inclusive job like this.

How I heard of it: a book blog

Good Omens - Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman. 1990. I really enjoyed the miniseries and wanted to see if the book everyone loved so much was as good (for the record: it was not. at least not if you’ve seen the miniseries first; otherwise they are probably equal).

This Is Home - Lisa Duffy. 2019. Attractive cover + I flipped it open to a random page and just liked the writing style.

How I heard of it: library

Dear Mr. Knightley - Katherine Reay. 2013. I'd had this on the back burner for a while because the MC sounded like me, and one day I got sick of not being able to find any fluffy contemporary romances with beta male heroes and decided Matthew Gray Gubler was gonna star in this one. (spoiler alert: it is a good book but that did not work)

How I heard of it: a book blog

Rubbernecker - Belinda Bauer. 2013. Criminal Minds sent me into a tailspin so I went hunting for books to cast Spencer Reid in again; the Asperger's/case-solving/difficult relationship with mother combo sounded promising. (spoiler alert: the med-student element + his social cluelessness proved too strong and I was only able to picture the kid from The Good Doctor)

How I heard of it: Googling keywords

The Swiss Affair - Emylia Hall. 2013. I got a random hankering for a student/teacher novel, and after scrutinizing the library catalog this was the only one that fit my parameters for gender, lack of adultery, and focus on romance over sex.

How I heard of it: library

Love At First Bark - Debbie Burns. 2019. I was trying to cast Wes/Jules [Dollface] in a romance novel, so I browsed through a Goodreads friend's "dog-romance" shelf and accidentally landed in a Jeid AU [Criminal Minds]. Which may or may not have been a large part of what turned me into a Jeid shipper (outside canon only).

The Mermaids Singing - Val McDermid. 1995. One final attempt to cast Reid in a novel -- a user in a Reddit post asking for this very thing suggested this, and "profiler with idiosyncracies" certainly fit.

The Wire in the Blood [and 9 subsequent novels] - Val McDermid, spanning 1997-2019. Turns out aside from being British, Reid paints onto Tony Hill EXCEPTIONALLY well, and I accidentally found myself with a little Jeid AU in the process, so obviously I read the entire series. Good crime-solving fun and all that.

Horse - Talley English. 2018. Random library pull because I connected with the writing style and it appeared to actually focus on horses.

How I heard of it: library

A Sparkle of Silver - Liz Johnson. 2018. I liked the author's other book and this was pretty much a remix of the same story, but now with a cool mansion/estate setting.

How I heard of it: looking up other books by this author

Everyone Is Beautiful - Katherine Center. 2009. Went looking for stories about strong marriages, found this on a Goodreads list of "second chance marriage" books, tripped into something like a season 9 Jim/Pam scenario. How I heard of it: Googling keywords

The Lost Husband - Katherine Center. 2013. Loved the previous book of hers I read, and the "starting life over on a goat farm" angle sounded like an ideal life to try on.

How I heard of it: looking up more from this author

The Shadow Year - Hannah Richell. 2013. Fixing up an old house?? I am THERE. Doing this in two timelines, one of which involves off-the-grid homesteading, is even better.

How I heard of it: used book sale

Mandrake Root - Janet Diebold. 1946. I needed a non-library book to bring on vacation, and after spinning in circles over what I thought would appeal to my mood in that setting, my brain randomly said "reread this one."

How I heard of it: estate sale

Path of the Jaguar - Vickie Britton & Loretta Jackson. 1989. Bought cheap for cheap thrills: a Yucatan adventure/mystery. Read now so I could get rid of it. How I heard of it: library sale

Burying Water - K.A. Tucker. 2014. The library didn't have The Simple Wild, but they DID have a book w/ an equally pretty cover that talked about a badly beaten young amnesiac (!) recovering on a horse farm (!!). What is: my top romance trope (hurt/comfort, bonus points for animals and rural setting).

How I heard of it: library

Happiness for Beginners - Katherine Center. Established quality author + summertime hiking inspiration.

How I heard of it: looking up more from this author

The Visitors - Simon Sylvester. Cool cover + setting, and a teenage protagonist usually makes adult fiction more accessible. How I heard of it: Goodreads

Becoming Rain - K.A. Tucker. 2014. I was in this companion novel solely for mentions of Alex and any people by the last name of Wells, but figured I might as well read all of it to ensure I didn't miss any. How I heard of it: looking up more from this author

The Guest List - Lucy Foley. 2020. Honestly, it just sounded like a cool thriller (and cool setting). How I heard of it: a book blog

You Deserve Nothing - Alexander Maksik. 2011. Fell down a Will/Rachel [Glee] rabbit hole and ravaged the student/teacher keyword in my library catalog again to scratch the itch.

The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson. 1959. Mom's been trying to get me to read this for years, and this time when it came up in conversation it was the right time of year, so I randomly decided to give it a shot. How I heard of it: Mom

The Walker in Shadows - Barbara Michaels. 1979. Gothic ghost story + beautiful architectural details in a historic house = yeah!

How I heard of it: Goodwill

YOUNG ADULT

People Like Us - Dane Mele. 2018. Needed an audiobook; a girls' boarding school murder mystery seemed most likely to hold my attention of the limited options. How I heard of it: Library

The Possibility of Now - Kim Culbertson. 2016. I will read anything by this author, and girl having a meltdown over a test = me. How I heard of it: looking up other books by this author

Rob&Sara.com - P.J. Petersen & Ivy Ruckman. 2004. Mostly I wanted to go back to my high school days and enjoy the format of a novel written in emails, but also, I like Ruckman. How I heard of it: used book sale

For Real - Alison Cherry. 2014. Fictional Amazing Race!! + awesome summery cover + sisters How I heard of it: library sale

The Summer After You + Me - Jennifer Salvato Doktorski. 2015. The awesome summery cover, mostly. How I heard of it: a book blog

You'd Be Mine - Erin Hahn. 2019. Gorgeous cover + the chance to vicariously follow a budding young country music star on tour for the summer.

How I heard of it: a book blog

Juniors - Kaui Hart Hemmings. 2015. The neat setting(s): a live-in guest on a wealthy estate in Hawaii. How I heard of it: Dollar store

Lion Boy's White Brother - Alden G. Stevens. 1951. Bought cheap because vintage juvenile book in a unique setting. Read now to see if I could get rid of it (NOPE).

How I heard of it: used bookstore

The O.C.: Spring Break - Aury Wallington. 2005. I keep meaning to finish this short series, and it was an easy title to count for my Mount TBR challenge.

How I heard of it: used book sale

Echo Island - Edward Karlow. 2017. Bought cheap because of the beautiful summery cover; easy read for Mount TBR so I could get rid of it. How I heard of it: library sale

Confessions of a High School Disaster - Emma Chastain. 2017. Read because of THE SUPER CUTE SUMMERY COVER (and diary format).

How I heard of it: Dollar store

Kentucky Daughter - Carol J. Scott. 1985. Working my way down the “Inappropriate Student/Teacher Relationships in YA" list because I'm in that kind of mood this year; chose this because 80s books tend to deliver the subject best*, the character reminded me of the girl in Send No Blessings, and Open Library had it. *this one was just blatant sexual harassment, though, and belonged very literally on that list

How I heard of it: Goodreads

What They Always Tell Us - Martin Wilson. 2008. I sorted the library catalog to see the oldest contemporary YA novels they still have before they get weeded, and "loner being taken under the wing of his older brother's (male) friend and falling in love with him" hit a couple of good tropes. How I heard of it: library

Bobby's Watching - Ted Pickford. 1993. Browsing around on OpenLibrary and saw they FINALLY had a copy of this book that scared me too much to finish as a kid, and which I've wanted to revisit ever since I remembered what it's called (Interlibrary Loan doesn't have it and it's Not Cheap to buy).

How I heard of it: library

Powwow Summer - Nahanni Shingoose. 2019. Always interested in modern-day Indigenous girls connecting w/ their heritage, especially if they're from my home state's tribe.

How I heard of it: a book blog

The Princesses of Iowa - M. Molly Backes. 2012. Appealing cover + heft suggesting a solid Midwestern contemporary, plus I liked the student teacher element (without a slash this time, as in "college student who is almost a teacher")

How I heard of it: library

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - Ann Brashares. 2001. The Second Summer of the Sisterhood - Ann Brashares. 2003.

Long-intended reread of a college fave because I wanted see Mike Vogel in the movie, and it was summer so the stars aligned. Continued because the first book was as good as I remembered. (I would have kept going but Life distracted me for a bit and by the time I was back on track, it was no longer summer) How I heard of it: I...can't remember. Am the worst!

The Distance From Me To You - Marina Gessner a.k.a. Nina de Gramont. 2015. Hiking inspiration + an appealing-sounding romance. How I heard of it: Goodreads

Where Have All the Tigers Gone? - Lynn Hall. 1989. Will read any of her books, but specifically read this one because it seemed fairly autobiographical, and I read it NOW because it seemed durable enough to take on vacation. How I heard of it: looking up books by this author

And Both Were Young - Madeline L'Engle. 1949 (text of 1983 edition w/ material from original manuscript added back). Something reminded me of its existence and I requested it because it was the only non-animal-focused vintage teen novel I could physically get my hands on before Interlibrary Loan opened back up, and I had a craving for just that.

How I heard of it: library

The Other Side of Lost - Jessi Kirby. 2018. Established quality author + throw me ALL the thru-hike novels!

How I heard of it: Goodreads

The Vow - Jessica Martinez. 2013. Perfect scenario to run an Abed/Annie [Community] AU!

How I heard of it: I want to say...an article on a book website (not personal blog this time) back in 2013.

Moon and Me - Hadley Irwin. 1981. Was just in the mood to read an 80s teen novel and this one helped me knock off a title for the Mount TBR challenge. From an author I like, w/ bonus horse content.

How I heard of it: used book sale.

Suicide Notes From Beautiful Girls - Lynn Weingarten. 2015. I bought a blind bag at the library sale and this was one of the only contemporary YA novels in it; figured I might as well read it since I'd liked a previous book of hers.

How I heard of it: Library

History Is All You Left Me - Adam Silvera. 2016.

With the Glee rabbit hole came a Klaine spiral; this was my season 4 Tragic AU dream for them and I've been saving it for a Klainey day ever since it was published. (No I am not sorry for that horrid pun.)

How I heard of it: googling keywords

The Museum of Heartbreak - Meg Leder. 2016. The cool cover/concept of a "museum" of items reeled me in; I bought a copy a while ago 'cause the library didn't have it. Read now to see if I could get rid of it (NOPE).

How I heard of it: Goodreads

Me & Mr. J - Rachel McIntyre. 2015. Student/teacher novel that looked especially appealingly tame so I'd been saving it, but then Open Library notified me it was now only available in 1-hour increments, and I got paranoid it would disappear altogether (it's not cheap to buy or available via ILL), so I wanted it in my brain.

How I heard of it: Goodreads

Dear Evan Hansen - Val Emmich w/ Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek & Justin Paul. 2018. Fell in love with the DEH soundtrack. Play's summary sounded good -- getting to experience it in YA novel form?? Amazing.

How I heard of it: Wikipedia

Saddle a Thunderbolt - Jo Sykes. 1967

Bought a while ago because vintage horse story. Read now specifically to alleviate my pre-homesickness about moving by imagining living in an even more beautiful place than home.

How I heard of it: either a used book sale or a used bookstore...

Learning to Breathe - Janice Lynn Mather. 2018. This was mentioned on a lost-book forum and "girl with unplanned pregnancy supports herself by getting a job cleaning" piqued my interest; the setting (Bahamas) and cover made it better.

How I heard of it: Reddit

Everglades Adventure - James Ralph Johnson. 1970. Standard vintage boys' adventure-in-nature story; I like those.

How I heard of it: Goodwill

CHILDREN’S/MIDDLE GRADE

Little Women - Louisa May Alcott. 1868. Seeing the new movie and falling head over heels was what it took to FINALLY convince me to reread this childhood fave.

How I heard of it: can't remember; I was a kid

A Little Princess - Frances Hodgson Burnett. 1905. I was perusing a lot of books about classic children's books and it started to bug me that I had skipped this appealing-sounding one as a kid.

How I heard of it: can't remember; I was a kid

Little Men - Louisa May Alcott. 1871. LW sparked a fandom revival and I wanted more detail about the Marches' adult lives (esp. Jo & Bhaer), even on the fringes.

How I heard of it: library

Lady and the Tramp - Ward Greene. I saw a quote from the new movie under a gifset on Tumblr that sounded like it came from a book, and upon Googling out that one existed, I obviously could not allow the book version of a beloved childhood animal-movie fave to go unread. Especially after finding out it was super rare so reading it would be a privilege.

The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett. 1910. Read for the same reason as A Little Princess. Can’t have one without the other, you know.

How I heard of it: was a kid; can't remember

The Mother-Daughter Book Club - Heather Vogel Fredericks. 2007. Much Ado About Anne - Heather Vogel Fredericks. 2008.

Always thought the series looked cute/reminded me of The Teashop Girls, but the fact that the first book they read is Little Women gave me the impetus to finally read this one. First book was darling so I continued to the next (but failed to continue beyond because COVID shut the library down until I was out of the mood).

How I heard of it: library

Nature Girl - Jane Kelley. 2010. I wanted walking inspiration.

How I heard of it: Goodreads

From You to Me - K.A. Holt. 2018. Mistook it for a similar-looking book I'd seen at the same time (See You On A Starry Night), but figured I'd give the 8th grade bucket list idea a shot once I had it. How I heard of it: Goodreads

Semiprecious - D. Anne Love. 2006. Cute cover + I'm starting to be a big fan of what I call "contemporary historical," for stories set mid-20th century.

How I heard of it: library

Dandy's Mountain - Thomas Fall. 1967. Vintage horse-inclusive children's book in a rural setting, I'm sold. Not to mention, love reading a summer setting in summer.

How I heard of it: used book sale

Littler Women: A Modern Retelling - Laura Schaefer. 2017. The only way to make the Little Women MORE magical is to make them younger, modern, and written by a proven quality author.

How I heard of it: a book blog

Behind The Attic Wall - Sylvia Cassedy. 315 pg/1983.

A Goodreads friend strongly recommended it as similar to but better than Mandy, and reading about it in 100 Best Books For Children sealed the deal. Read now for the Mount TBR challenge.

How I heard of it: Goodreads

The Jigsaw Jungle - Kristin Levine. 2018. I am a COMPLETE sucker for books told in non-traditional/scrapbook-esque format.

How I heard of it: Goodreads

Runt - Marion Dane Bauer. 2002. Wolf story by a quality author. Read now after owning it for a decade to see if I could get rid of it.

How I heard of it: used book sale

The King of the Cats - Rene Guillot. 1959. Bought cheap for a quick read because vintage animal story. Read now so I could get rid of it.

How I heard of it: used book sale

Just The Beginning - Betty Miles. 1976. Found cheap; always down to read a vintage book about an average girl (and I wanted to know how she'd cope with her mom being "a cleaning lady in a town full of classmates who HAVE cleaning ladies").

How I heard of it: used book sale

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - J.K. Rowling. 1997. Been meaning to reread the series for a while now; finally got motivation to check out the illustrated edition 'cause Christmastime.

How I heard of it: originally Mom; a book blog for this edition

Echo Mountain - Lauren Wolk. 2020. Almost entirely because of the incredible clipart cover, promising me nature and a dog (and because I could get it as an e-audiobook from the library).

How I heard of it: a book blog

Knock Three Times - Cressida Cowell. 2019. I needed another audiobook for bedtime/walks and I know that David Tennant will provide.

How I heard of it: more by this author (more accurately, narrator)

NONFICTION

The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming A Life Through The Pages Of A Lost Journal - Lily Koppel. 2008. I'm kind of obsessed with the concept of historical 5-year diaries -- and finding one like this is The Dream.

How I heard of it: Goodreads

I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life - Anne Bogel. 2018. Attractive and compact book about the pleasures of being a reader? A headspace I want to be in.

How I heard of it: library

100 Best Books for Children - Anita Silvey. 2004. I'm big on looking at lists of books for children this year. These are the kind of books I know, love, and want to hear people talk about, now that I know books about these books exist.

How I heard of it: library

The Coming of Saska - Doreen Tovey Originally bought because it was cheap and featured animals, I needed a non-library book to bring on vacation, and this one is a durable ex-library copy in plastic wrap that featured a similar setting to where I was going, so: thematic.

Cats in the Belfry - Doreen Tovey. 1957. Wanted more of her books, and lo and behold the library had the first one.

How I heard of it: more by this author

Sorry Not Sorry - Naya Rivera. 2016. I'll read anything the Glee kids write, and this doubled as an easy number for the Mount TBR challenge.

How I heard of it: entertainment news websites

Living Large in Our Little House - Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell. 2016. I love tiny houses. And this one specifically mentioned living with dogs. And had color photographs.

How I heard of it: used bookstore

I'm Your Biggest Fan: Awkward Encounters and Assorted Misadventures in Celebrity Journalism. - Kate Coyne. 2016. Found cheap at a library sale -- loved the chapter headings and the fact that they were all about celebrities I knew.

Adrift - Tami Oldham Ashcraft w/ Suesea McGearheart. 1998/2018 edition. The movie was so awesome that I couldn't wait for more details about the real story in her own words.

I'll Be Gone In The Dark [NF] - Michelle McNamara. 2018. Been reading a lot of true crime write-ups on Reddit lately; decided it was time to pick up this well-received one.

How I heard of it: Goodreads

Dear Evan Hansen: Waving Through A Window - Steven Levenson. 2017. Much like The Grimmerie for Wicked, once I fell in love with the DEH soundtrack and looked up the plot summary, I wanted to read the musical's detailed background/behind the scenes story + libretto before I watched it.

How I heard of it: Wikipedia

Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune - Bill Dedman & Paul Clark Newell. 2013. Love me a story about a mansion (or three). Or the reclusive and insanely wealth heiress who owns them, that works too.

How I heard of it: Goodreads

JUVENILE NONFICTION Mascots: Military Mascots from Ancient Egypt to Modern Korea - Fairfax Downey. 1954. Animal book from an author I like; read now to see if I could get rid of it (yes).

How I heard of it: secondhand bookstore

Come on, Seabiscuit - Ralph Moody. 1963. Bought because vintage kids' horse book; read now to see if I could get rid of it (and to count it towards my Mount TBR challenge 'cause it was short).

How I heard of it: secondhand bookstore

[rainbowdonkee]

With 2019 coming to an end, I wanted to make a list of my personal top 10 video games that came out this decade. I was 12 in 2010, and now being 21 video games have always been important to me! Many of the games that are the most dearest to me sadly came out before 2010 (HG/SS barely made the cut with the NA release). I tried to not make recent releases be part of my bias (FE3H lol), plus there were many games such as Bioshock 2, Fallout New Vegas, DA2, ACNL, and many more that I love but this list would have been too long! 

1. Dark Souls (2011)

2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017)

3. Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver (NA 2010)

4. NieR Automata (2017)

5. Final Fantasy XV (2016)

6. Bloodborne (2015)

7. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (2017)

8. Astral Chain (2019)

9. Granblue Fantasy (2014)

10. Deemo (2013)

Dark Souls: Although I haven’t really completed the game personally, I’ve seen many playthroughs and videos about the story and characters. Hidetaka Miyazaki is absolutely awesome in creating those fantasy worlds and characters, everything that Dark Souls ended up influencing was pretty groundbreaking. And the OST is always enjoyable to hear again.

Breath of the Wild: This game took quite a long time for Nintendo to release, and when it finally came out on the final year of the WiiU and the birth of the Switch... it was pretty emotional. Also to realize that Iwata-san never made it to see the rise of Nintendo’s success after the failure of the WiiU gets me everytime, but I hope he sees all the smiles and joy BOTW has brought since its release. The game changed not only what is a LOTZ game but what is an open world, I’ve played it twice and each time I picked it up was a new experience.

Pokemon HG/SS: This game was released around Fall 2009 in Japan, but for NA it was out in March 2010. I still remember the anticipation for Spring Break to arrive in order to spend all my week playing it! I never had the chance to play the original Gold/Silver, so everything was new to me. My 12 year old mind almost exploded when I ended up finishing the Johto League only to find out we were ALSO traveling to Kanto!!! I was shook! This game is amazing, and I’ll forever wait for them to somehow add our Pokemons following us around, that mechanic was so cute! And of course the OST is golden, and I can always listen to it and be brought back to those days.

NieR Automata: I never played any of the past NieR games (although I was aware of their existence). The first trailer I ever watched had the “Become as Gods” song so I was hooked from the start! And learning that PlatinumGames and Square Enix both developed the game made me hyped for its release. I love everything about it, the characters, story, music, themes. By the time I finished the game, it had brought me into a journey of questioning so many heavy topics about life...I really wasn’t expecting that about a game. Not going to lie it may or may not have brought me a mini existential crisis but with a game made my Yoko Taro can’t be too surprised.

Final Fantasy XV: The game I so often heard fabled tales since as back as 2009 and the hype was just building up for this game! I remember going to the movie theater when they were having special screenings for the Kingsglaive movie (I dragged my friend, little brother, and mom lol). The game went through so much, many cuts and changes were made but I personally ended up liking what we got. Still super sad that many unreleased DLC’s were cut off, but the love I have for the characters and music will always stay.

Bloodborne: Hey another Miyazaki game, what can you say...the man just makes brilliant games. He took everything I love about gothic, victorian era, and Lovecraftian esque and made this extraordinary game. I’m here hoping that maybe this 2020 we can hear a slither of news of Bloodborne 2, the theme for this game is too good for them to leave it as only one game.

Fire Emblem Echoes SoV: After the train wreck that was Fates, I literally was not expecting for us to get another FE title so soon! Japan waited 2 years for Echoes but thanks to localization giving us Fates in 2016, we got SoV a year later. I never heard of Fire Emblem Gaiden, before this game I never played any of the Japan only FE games, so when news was coming out about this title I tried 100% to AVOID it. Why? Because this was the first time I could start a FE game without personally knowing anything about it, and when I first played it, right from the start it felt so different, it didn’t felt like a Fire Emblem game (which isn’t bad at all). With the new art direction it also felt like a whole new world, I love Hidari and I hope we get to see them more in future FE games. The game had a simple plot which I didn’t held it against them, I knew this was a remake, and personally I’m glad they didn’t added things like an Avatar or S-Supports. They stayed true to its original source, and SoV will stay as my personal favorite FE game. Also Heritors of Arcadia will be the best vocal theme we got in FE series.

Astral Chain: Oh snap another PlatinumGames IP? This developers are just too good! Astral Chain came out of nowhere although I’ve heard it was worked on for a long time, supposedly even before NieR Automata was developed. I really enjoyed the game very much, from all the 2019 games that came out it caught my eye and I went in with not too many expectations but I had a good time. The story took a crazy turn and I could see some similar themes as NieR Automata but it held its own ground to become unique. The fighting mechanics were so much fun to play and the music was also awesome! I wish more people talked about this game since it is Nintendo’s new IP. I hope we can get the twins for Smash Ultimate!

Granblue Fantasy: I first new anything about Cygames back in 2016 when I saw the OP for Rage of Bahamut. After Seeing the OP for season 2, seeing Azazel in all his glory I knew I had to watch the anime! Luckilly Rage of Bahamut season 2 was continuing in 2017 so I was able to catch up just in time for its final 10 episodes. I LOVE Azazel and Kaisar and of course ROB Lucifer! Then to my surprise I found out about GBF, and I was dumb and thought the app was unavailable in the west which is technically true since you need a Japanese account to download the app which has an ENG text option. So it wasn’t until 2018 that I downloaded the game and started my journey through the sky. This gacha game literally changed what is a gacha game to me, the developers listen to fans, the community is fun, and just everything about this franchise is so great. I’m not a hardcore player so I’m not too worry about grids, I’m here for the cute husbands. (Lancelot, Sandalphon, Albert, Grimnir I lov u).

Deemo: I love this game, one of the best app games I’ve ever had. Back in the day I used to play TapTap Revenge and that was my first taste of rhythm games, Deemo brought me back to those types of apps. Whenever I was anxious I could always play this game and pass the time while keeping my mind busy. Plus without Deemo I would have never known artist’s such as Mili. The game is on the Switch which I’m so happy because I was able to just get all the songs without flooding my tablets storage space.

[traincat]

Fic Author Tag Game

AO3 Name: Traincat

Fandoms: Currently it’s fairly exclusively Fantastic Four and Spider-Man comics, particularly the 616-verse, with some works for related fandoms.

Number of fics: 102 posted on Ao3. 

Tagging @bipeteparker @moonwolfhowl @mishatheberry

1) Fic you spent the most time on: The Boy From New York City, my The Amazing Spider-Man/Fant4stic Spideytorch movieverse fic, definitely. I started it in 2015 and posted it in late 2018. A lot of that wasn’t active writing time -- I wrote about 50k of its 80k wordcount in 2018. But it was a fic that I spent a lot of time on and a lot of energy devoted to, trying to figure out what the best way to tell the story was, playing with different point of views, what the actual plot was going to be, what I wanted it to say, and that’s not counting the amount of times I watched TASM/2 and Fant4stic to try and nail down everything just how I wanted it. Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker speech patterns are SUPER specific and I wanted to get them DOWN. I also wanted things to play out in a very cinematic way, like a third installment of The Amazing Spider-Man movies. So a lot of time went into that fic. 

2) Fic you spent the least time on: To Have and to Hold, an Into the Spider-Verse fic about May Parker and Olivia Octavius getting married, much to Peter’s distress. I think I wrote it in like a day. 

3) Longest fic: The Boy From New York City, at 84,500 words. 

4) Shortest fic: wrap yourself around me, a really short Spideytorch clothes sharing fic. It’s under 500 words.

5) Most hits: The Masked Man (Who Has Everything), an X-Men: First Class Erik/Charles fic I wrote back in 2011 to answer a very important question on the old LJ kink meme: what if Magneto was Batman? It has like, almost 75,000 hits, so. That was an easy one lol.

6) Most kudos: It’s also The Masked Man (Who Has Everything), so my second most kudosed fic is Keep Throwing Things and Slamming the Door, one of my first Spideytorch fics. 

7) Most comment threads: To Have and to Hold again! Which is kind of nice since it’s relatively new. It did get some pretty big recs though so I’m not all that surprised. 

8) Fave fic you wrote: Oh that’s a tough one. I have a couple of favorites -- I really like the fics in my Tales From the Back Pages series, which is a Spideytorch soulmates AU that plays with the very early days of canon and reimagines it within a world where soulmates are a known phenomenon and Peter and Johnny are each other’s. It’s fun to take canon events that are really familiar and go, what do they look like in this world where everything is the same but also there’s this one really big difference? The Boy From New York City again because I worked on it for so long and at the end I pushed myself really hard to make it exactly what I wanted it to be and I’m really proud of the end result. It’s also one of those fics where I feel like writing it made me a better writer ultimately because I was pushing myself so hard to be like, worthy of what it was in my head. Work Song, which is a Spideytorch canon rewrite of the aftermath of Superior Spider-Man. Another one where I feel like I learned a lot by writing it and where I’m really proud of the end result, even if I did have to read all of Superior Spider-Man to write it. Cat's Cradle, a Spider-Man PS4 Peter/Felicia fic about their maybe-baby from the DLC, because I really loved writing that fic. Night Blooms, a Victor Von Doom/Reed Richards fic based around Reed’s connection to the alternate universe Victor from Marvel Two-In-One (2017) #11, because canon gave me so much to work with there and because it was a Yuletide fic for @portwinestains where I knew I could give her exactly what she wanted and I just went for it. Writing that one was a blast and I got to dig into such a rich canon relationship. It was fantastic, even if while I had to like, try and subtly find out how much infidelity Aysha was cool with without letting her know what I was doing. 

And then there’s Hands On where I like, REALLY wanted to be the first person to write Spideytorch smut featuring six arm Spider-Man. And I was. And weirdly that genre of fic hasn’t taken off? Look, you just need to keep very detailed notes for yourself about where all eight hands involved are. 

9) Fic you want to rewrite/expand on: There are a couple! They’re expansions, not rewrites. I don’t think I have anything finished that I feel I would want to rewrite from scratch. I have a third installment of my fairy tale series, The Spider Prince and the Morning Star, where the idea is like very fresh in my head right now so I’ve been playing with that a lot. The first two fics in the series are Spideytorch, but this one is a MYSTERY pairing. (It’s not that big of a mystery. It’s pretty easy to guess what it’s going to be based on the end of the second fic.) And there’s a lot of stuff from The Boy From New York City where it was like, I had ideas about where I COULD go with things, if I wanted to. The Boy From New York City is very much Peter’s story, very much The Amazing Spider-Man 3, so I think there is a lot of space to go forward that would be more focused on Johnny. But on the other hand I do think a lot about a fic that takes The Amazing Spider-Man 2′s deleted alternate ending and asks the question, what if instead of meeting his father in the graveyard, Peter met the sixteen-year-old sister he never knew he had? And I don’t know how many people want TASM fic about what Teresa Parker would be like in that universe but you know. I kind of do. 

10) Share a bit of your WIP or share a story idea that you’re planning: PeterFlash 2020! I’m working on it. It got long and I wanted to play with canon, what else is new.

“You were always stuck up,” Flash grunted, lying down on a flat stretch of rock. It was freezing cold, leaching the heat through Flash’s jacket and jeans, but it felt good at the same time. “And you made Liz cry.”

“I didn’t make Liz Allan cry,” Peter snorted, rolling his eyes.

“You did, though,” Flash said, closing his eyes. He probably shouldn’t have said that, he knew. Liz wouldn’t have liked it. But Peter had made her sob until the cuffs of her pink sweater had been wet with her tears and Flash had just had to stand there and take it, unable to make it better as badly as he had wanted to, all because stupid Peter Parker was too thick to see that Liz was the best thing in their entire school. “She really liked you and you just ignored her.”

“I was busy,” Peter said. Flash cracked open an eye; Peter was standing over him, staring down at him with a quizzical expression on his face, like Flash was one of his fancy complicated math problems, only Peter had never had a hard time solving those.

Warmth spread from Flash’s stomach right down to his toes with the idea that he was the kind of problem even Peter Parker might have trouble solving.

“We were all busy,” Flash said, shrugging. “We all had stuff. Doesn’t mean you had to ignore everybody else.” 

“I wanted to be liked,” Peter admitted, sitting down crosslegged next to Flash. He had a funny kind of look on his face, his brows knit together fiercely. He was going to have a wrinkle there in a couple of years, probably. Butterflies lit up in Flash’s stomach, trying to imagine it.

“You had a funny way of showing it,” Flash said.

“Yeah, yeah,” Peter grumbled, stretching out next to him. He put his arms behind his head, looking for all the world like he was sunning himself even though it was November and practically freezing already. “What are you gonna do now?”

“I don’t know,” Flash admitted, trying not to stare down at him. It wasn’t like Peter would ever know, though – his eyes were closed. “Get a job, I guess.”

“Flash Thompson, working man,” Peter whistled.

“Don’t strain something not being a jackass, Parker, you’ve gone a whole five minutes,” Flash said, rolling his eyes. “It’s not like I’ve got a choice. Can’t stay in school without that scholarship and it’s not like I can go home.”

Peter cracked one eye open. Something about his eyes had always made Flash’s stomach go funny; they were the warmest brown he’d ever seen, flecked with gold, and they shone on those rare occasions when Peter laughed. But usually they looked how they looked now: filled with suspicion, and just a touch of scorn.

“You can’t go home?” he asked.

[impressivepress]

Charlie Chaplin: Jewish Or Goyish?

As nearly as can be determined, Charlie Chaplin is virtually part Jewish almost most of the time. John McCabe, Charlie Chaplin

In March of 1978, Charlie Chaplin’s body was stolen from his tomb in Switzerland and held for ransom. Two months later it was discovered buried in a farmer’s field and returned to his wife Oona, who remarked, dryly, ‘Charlie would have found this ridiculous.’ According to rumour, the Swiss government suspected that his remains had been stolen by anti-Semitic groups, upset that a Jew should be buried in a Christian cemetery. Chaplin’s Jewishness made him an enemy of the FBI and put him on the Nazi’s list of international targets. He is perhaps one of the most famous Jews in American history hence it is all the more surprising to learn that he was not, in fact, Jewish. Since his early days as the Little Tramp, a role he assumed in 1914, Jews had believed Chaplin was secretly Jewish. The fact that his name was not Jewish was irrelevant; it was common practice for Jews to change their names when entering show business (Al Jolson was born Asa Yoelson). In the 1948 edition of a Jewish encyclopedia, Chaplin is listed as a Jewish movie star, and the name ‘Israel Thonstein’ is mentioned alongside the claim that he was from an old Eastern European Jewish family. As proof, the encyclopedia cited a 1931 article from the New York Herald Tribune, which commented upon the way Chaplin’s eyes could convey both sadness and joy in a uniquely Jewish fashion, and a Budapest Jewish paper which claimed to trace his Jewish ancestry (as Thonstein) back to Hungary.

More important than birth records and names was the fact he looked, acted and ‘felt’ Jewish. To Jewish eyes, Chaplin told Jewish stories. Famously, one critic recalled watching The Gold Rush (1925) next to a middle-aged Jewish woman: ‘Oy!’ she wailed, as the Tramp tried to escape from his on-screen tormentors, ‘What do they want with him, the goyim?!! What has he done to them?’ The Tramp, small and powerless, was taunted and hounded by authorities who hated him without reason, in what appeared to American Jews as the enactment of the Jewish condition. Hannah Arendt wrote in 1944 that Chaplin symbolised the ‘effrontery of the poor ‘little Yid’ who does not recognise the class order of the world because he sees in it neither order nor justice for himself ’. Meanwhile, in Sholem Aleichem’s 1916 story, ‘Motl in America’, the hero spends his time watching Chaplin films and extolling the virtues of free America in which a Jew like Chaplin can become rich and famous.

For film scholar Patricia Erens, the Tramp is a variation on ‘dos kleine menshele’ or ‘little man’ of Yiddish literature, the poor and long-suffering antihero, the shlemiel (a little man with no luck), and the luftmensch (the ‘man of air’ who lives on dreams). Erens cites the numerous Jewish references in Chaplin’s oeuvre, in particular the prevalence of skullcaps and Yiddish newspapers as props, and a scene in The Vagabond (1916) in which the Tramp finds a Jewish man eating pork at a buffet and helpfully changes the ‘ham’ sign to ‘beef ’. Many of the characteristics we associate with ‘acting’ Jewish—the nasal voice, the New York accent, and the verbal wit a‘ la Groucho Marx—were unavailable to the makers of silent pictures. Chaplin, however, was a dancer, an acrobat, and a pantomime extraordinaire and able to communicate other, non-verbal cultural indicators to a savvy audience—the comic shrugs, the outdated black coat, the facial pathos combined with frantic body movements, the chaotic presence that mocks the establishment. Above all, Chaplin achieved a subtle gender inversion through the graceful, almost balletic eluding of his macho tormentors. Jewish audiences recognised this physical portrayal from the Yiddish stage and read it as a visual metaphor for the disempowered Jew in a hostile world.

Across the world this misconception raged, gaining him enemies to the left and the right. The German-American Bund helped spread the rumour that Charles Spencer Chaplin was born Israel Thonstein and in the book that accompanied the Nazi propaganda film The Eternal Jew, Thonstein is cited as the maiden name for the mother of ‘The Jew, Chaplin.’ In 1948 the US Navy investigated Chaplin on suspicion of Zionist activity: shipping guns to Palestine, as well as around 36 tanks. But it was the FBI under Hoover that became Chaplin’s greatest political and legal enemy. Chaplin’s FBI file is a comprehensive laboratory for identity construction that began in 1922 and remained open until after his death. The file chronicles Chaplin’s downfall, the suspicion of Communist activities, the Mann Act trial for transporting unmarried women across state lines for deviant purposes, and further rumours and innuendo that led to his expulsion from America in 1952. Chaplin is continually described as ‘of Jewish extraction,’ given the name of ‘Thonstein’ as an alias (though there is no proof that Chaplin ever used this name himself), and assigned attributes such as ‘Jewish accent,’ ‘talks with hands,’ and Russian birth.

Crucially, it was not Jewishness that alarmed Hoover but ambiguity. According to Omer Bartov in his compelling work The Jew in Cinema, Jewish characters are often portrayed as slippery and protean, possessing an insidious ability to obscure their Jewishness and blend in. The emancipation of the Jews from the ghettos of Europe at the turn of the last century had left them free to shave and dress in modern clothing, making them impossible to detect. This new found ambiguity of Jewish identity made them, in many gentile eyes, the most dangerous minority in civilised society. Ambiguity was the dominant paranoia of Cold-War America, which felt itself threatened by the enemy within—the Communists, Jews and homosexuals who were so hard to detect. The insistence on Chaplin’s Jewishness helped reinforce the notion of an ‘authentic American’ by establishing firm conceptual borders through identity construction and categorisation.

Not only did both Jewish and gentile audiences see him as a Jew, but Chaplin himself very nearly became convinced of his own Jewishness. While he did not officially doubt his mother’s version of his parentage, in which her legal husband, Charles Chaplin, Sr., a non-Jewish pop singer, was his biological father, there were times when he clearly wondered if the questions surrounding his lineage were true, and if they were more scandalous than imagined. His step-brother Sydney had a Jewish father and the world’s insistence on Chaplin’s Jewish origins prompted him and many others to wonder whether their birth stories had in fact been reversed.

‘All geniuses,’ Chaplin was heard to remark,‘have some Jewish blood in them.’ Flattered by the widely held misconception about his Jewish identity, his understanding of Jewishness was simplistic and stereotypical: Jews were blessed with superior intellect and financial acumen than non-Jews. Further, he believed that his physical attributes compounded the myth: he was short with curly black hair, ‘Oriental facial features’, and a prominent nose. In footage taken of famed British comedian Harry Lauder’s visit to Chaplin Studios, Lauder draws Chaplin on a chalkboard. Chaplin makes great show of stopping him, pantomimes ‘too Jewish,’ and re-draws the nose. Quite how to interpret this is unclear, but Chaplin either believed himself to be Jewish or was making fun of those who did. In the absence of confirmed roots, Chaplin may have sought to align himself with a group that, although outsiders in mainstream society, seemed to him possessed of an ancient and mystical national bond. When the great cantor Yossele Rosenblatt visited Chaplin’s studios, Chaplin told him that he owned all of the cantor’s recordings and that ‘Whenever I feel a little blue, I take them out and play them. They do something to me. They unite me, oh so closely, with my Jewish ancestors.’

Chaplin was an actor, and he played one role after another all his life. He occasionally told people he was Jewish, which sounded better to his director’s ears than ‘poor English gutter trash.’ But sometimes, including in his interviews with the FBI, he denied it, once commenting, ‘I am afraid I do not have that good fortune.’ Of his anti-Nazi picture The Great Dictator (1940) Chaplin said, ‘I made this film to show my unity with all the Jews of the world’. While American politicians and agents worried about the film’s ‘Communist’ message, the American Jewish establishment feared that an anti-Hitler film made by a Jew might make things worse for Jews in Europe. Chaplin’s own response—‘How can they get worse?’—indicates his own fearlessness. For the Jew in America, it was as if, as Stanley Kauffmann put it, ‘a David had arisen—a comic David—to fight Goliath!’

~

Holly A. Pearse · Oct 19, 2018.

Holly A.Pearse holds a PhD in religion and culture, and specializes in the representation of Jews in art and media. At the moment, her research delves into the portrayals of Jewish-Gentile romance in American film, and she currently teaches at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada.

[rapeculturerealities]

Even as Kobe Bryant moved beyond his career in the N.B.A. and into his next chapter as a Hollywood and tech mogul, he could never fully leave the ugliest part of his past behind.

Bryant — among nine people, including his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, who died on Sunday in a helicopter crash outside Los Angeles — was charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman in 2003. But as in the vast majority of cases involving accusations of sexual violence, there was no clear resolution. There was no verdict.

Prosecutors dropped the case just before it was scheduled to go to trial, citing the accuser’s unwillingness to testify. A lawsuit the woman filed against Bryant ended in a settlement, the details of which have never been made public.

In the era before #MeToo — the societal reckoning with the frequent sexual harassment and abuse women endure at work and in their personal lives — Bryant resumed a career that had never really paused. Throughout the 2003-04 season, while the case was still being litigated, he flew back and forth between court appearances in Colorado and games,  often arriving just minutes before tip-off.

The Lakers made the N.B.A. finals that season but lost their bid for a fourth championship in five seasons. Bryant, however, would win two more N.B.A. titles, plus two Olympic gold medals, before his retirement in 2016, and he continued his evolution into a global celebrity, an international ambassador for both his sport and Nike, his major sponsor.

Yet in 2018, just seven months after he won an Academy Award for best animated short film, Bryant was dropped from the jury of a film festival.

“This is an urgent time to say NO to toxic and violent behavior against women,” read a petition urging organizers of the Animation Is Film Festival to disassociate themselves from Bryant.

As he had in the past, Bryant declined to discuss the sexual assault case. He said he was “disappointed” with the decision of the festival organizers but was now focused on changing the world “through diverse stories, characters and leadership.”

For a moment, Bryant was back where he had been in 2003 — someone who, like Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, operated at the pinnacle of his profession but stood accused of a terrible crime.

Weinstein is currently being tried in a rape case in New York City, the rare celebrity who has had to face such criminal charges.

The case against Bryant began on June 30, 2003, when he checked into the Cordillera Lodge and Spa in Edwards, Colo. He was there to have a knee operation at a clinic in nearby Vail.

After being led to his room by a concierge, Bryant asked her to return later and give him a private tour of the property. She did, and then Bryant invited her into his room. They both said later that they began kissing, but what happened in the next few minutes became the heart of the dispute. The woman told the police that Bryant had raped her. Bryant said they had consensual sex.

Prosecutors seemed to have a strong case. According to court documents, an examination of the woman at a hospital revealed a bruise on her neck and tears in her vaginal wall. Both her underwear and Bryant’s shirt were bloody. Bryant told the police he had not explicitly asked for consent.

While the issue of consent has long been at the heart of sex crime laws, how it is understood and taught has evolved — in part because of high-profile cases like the one against Bryant. “No means no” has given way to “yes means yes,” and the idea of explicit consent has become the standard, rather than an expectation that an objecting participant must say no.

Almost immediately the case against Bryant became a news media circus, the biggest celebrity prosecution since the O.J. Simpson trial. Quickly though, the accuser’s reputation came under attack. Bryant’s lawyer, Pamela Mackey, said the woman’s name in open court six times during one hearing — even though the police and court officials had tried to preserve her anonymity — and asked if her injuries could have been caused “by having sex with three men in three days.” Television crews camped outside the home of the accuser’s parents, and her name was leaked by the court system three times.

Like the Simpson case a decade before, the Bryant case quickly became about much more than what had happened in that hotel room. It was seen through the historical prism of white women falsely accusing black men of sexual violence (the woman in the Bryant case was white). At the same time, the case sparked commentary that perpetuated stereotypes about false accusations of rape.

After the case was dropped, Bryant issued a lengthy statement, apologizing to the woman and acknowledging her perspective of their encounter, which is farther than most public apologies go. “Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual,” he said in statement, “I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did.”

With the legal troubles behind him, Bryant created an alter ego, calling himself “Black Mamba” — after Africa’s deadliest snake, which figured in the 2003 movie “Kill Bill.”

“The whole process for me was trying to figure out how to cope with this,” Bryant told The Washington Post in 2018. “I wasn’t going to be passive and let this thing just swallow me up.”

Eventually there were Mamba shoes, a Mamba Sports Academy and the nickname “Mambacita” for Gianna, the second-born of the four daughters Bryant shared with his wife, Vanessa.

Before the sexual assault case, Bryant was sometimes in the shadow of Shaquille O’Neal, playing Robin to Shaq’s Batman. After Bryant adopted the Mamba persona, he emerged as his own man. He helped create the dissension that led Phil Jackson to retire and the Lakers to trade O’Neal, though Jackson returned to coach Bryant and the Lakers again.

But years after saying “I also want to make it clear that I do not question the motives of this young woman,” Bryant seemingly did just that.

To explain why he would not comment on the death of Trayvon Martin, the black teenager who was shot to death while returning home from a convenience store, he had a conversation with the journalist Jemele Hill. “He was speaking from the experience of someone who had been on trial for sexual assault,” she wrote in a column on Monday, “and, in his mind, had been wrongfully accused.” Bryant later apologized to Martin’s family.

And in 2018, reflecting on the sponsors that cut ties with him after he was arrested, including McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, Bryant said they did so because he was too “gritty.”

Later in his life, Bryant became a big supporter of women’s athletics. He took his daughter Gianna to watch the Connecticut Huskies basketball team, recorded voice overs for the N.C.A.A. women’s basketball tournament and talked constantly about the W.N.B.A.

And at those 2018 Oscars? Hours after Frances McDormand, winner of the Best Actress award, gave a powerful speech about the need to include more women  in the film business, she was hobnobbing with Bryant at a post-show party.

[idonthaveanaccent]

Just a little rambling and then a few bands I really like and you should totally check out, so expand it if you wanna see them :)

I know this isn’t a normal update, I just have to talk about this with someone.

Music is a vital part of everyday life for me. Everything I do has a backtrack. If I’m not watching a show in my room, I have to have music playing. When I write I have headphones in, blasting music, like right now. To go to sleep and sleep easily I have to play music, ever since I was young I’ve done it. I can’t remember not falling asleep without music playing. Music even helps inspire what I write. 

Point is, I love music. 

However, I am extremely uncomfortable with sharing my music. My freshman year I was made fun of the type of music I listen to, which has evolved a bit in the 3-4 years since that time, however it hasn’t ventured too far. 

When I was eleven my parents gave me a windows phone with no sim card, but it had a music app. They downloaded a bunch of child friendly songs and it was the first time I could control what I listened to. Before I had an old MP3 which was filled with Disney songs, Anamaniacs tunes, and ABBA’s Golden Hits. I can sing all them by heart, dances are a fun time for me. Now, I could look up songs. 

My best friend was into the alternative scene as her sister is six years older than us and as such had a more ‘adult’ music sense. She introduced me to the classic bands, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! At the Disco, etc. I loved their music, we’d listen to it on the bus to middle school. However, as time went on, I began expanding my music taste. I got into My Three Days Grace, Shinedown, and other similar bands. Then, Freshman year came.

I remember the moment clear as day. I was working on my photography notebook the week before finals like the dumbass I was am, with Pandora open and listening to one of the many radios. Then, a song came on. It was by a band I hadn’t heard of before. It was called Bad Company, and the band was called Five Finger Death Punch. Now, little fourteen year old me was a little shocked by the name but the song wasn’t unlike anything I’d heard before. I decided I liked that song and favorited it.

A little while later more of their songs began popping up, but they were a little different. Heavier. Angrier. And I loved it. I don’t know what it was about the gruff vocals or pounding drum beats or glorious guitar solos, but I was hooked. I then moved onto Spotify and listened to their albums, headbanging all the way. This was my first experience with Metal, and you better believe I was a fan.

As time went on I explored more bands. Alesana, Asking Alexandria, Crown the Empire, A Day to Remember, Halestorm, Ghost, etc. I tried showing people my favorite bands but they made fun of my music taste, mimicking their screams whenever I looked up. It was disheartening, and I never wanted to share it again. Not until I knew they were okay with it. I had people tell me they were scared of that music, and asked me to never play it in front of them. You can see how that would make me never want to tell anyone about it, right? Well, I kept it to myself, electing to share music with only a few people, one being my friend. She always jokes about how she showed me Fall Out Boy and all them and then lost me along the way. 

During Junior year I discovered even more bands, including one of my favorites, Ice Nine Kills. Amazing band, you should definitely check them out, but the advertising comes later. My music taste also diversified a little and I began listening to softer bands, like grandson and The Ghost Club. 

Now, to the main show. My recent music taste.

It all began with one Instagram video. A meme video that really isn’t all that funny. I was actually just looking through what I saved and it happened to be in a  really small folder, so I clicked it. Here is the exact video

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by positive memes (@positive_and_negative_memes) on Feb 23, 2019 at 6:14pm PST

So I was interested the song and band and decided to look them up. What I found was simply...amazing.

Okay, here comes the advertising of my favorite bands :)

I. Gloryhammer

The first Power Metal band I discovered and still my favorite. Here’s how Gloryhammer describes themselves:

“And lo, Planet Earth had been destroyed by the Hootsman, with an explosion so powerful it ripped a hole in the very fabric of spacetime. And yet, Zargothrax was still not defeated, for he managed to use his last shreds of power to escape through the dimensional rift. Vowing to defeat the evil sorcerer, Angus McFife XIII followed him into the portal, with no idea where it might lead…“

That may seem confusing, and it is, but trust me, when I tell you a bit more, it will all make sense. 

So Gloryhammer is one of the best bands I have ever heard before. Their concept is absolute gold and is the only of its kind I’ve seen before. Basically, every single one of their songs tells a story of the Land of Fife. The Lead singer (Thomas Winkler) is Prince Angus McFife (the 1st and 13th), keyboard/backing vocals (Christopher Bowes) is the Evil Sorcerer Zargothrax, guitar/backing vocals (Paul Templing) is Sir Proletiues, leader of the warriors of Crail, drums (Ben Turk) is the Ancient Hermit Ralathor, and last but never least is bass/backing vocals (James Cartwright), the Mighty Hootsman! 

Each album follows a part in the epic saga, with three in total. The first album tells the story of the original Angus McFife the I whereas the next two follow his ancestor, Anguc McFife XIII. I don't want to give too much spoilers but let's just say that all three are filled with so much creativity and twists that it’s like listening to a movie! I cant even express how if you are looking for something to listen to that has dragons, goblin kings, evil sorcerers, hammers, and space, then this is the band for you! 

I am going to put one song by them down because you can only have five and I’m big mad about it.

Gloryhammer - Legends from Beyond the Galactic Terrorvortex

So yeah, that’s band numero uno!

II. Sabaton

What is there to say about Sabaton that hasn’t already been said... 

Unlike Gloryhammer, Sabaton is older, formed in the nineties. Here’s what they say about themselves on their website:

“In the nearly two decades since their launch, Swedish metallers Sabaton have carved out a reputation as one of the hardest working bands in the business – gaining a legion of loyal fans across the globe, delivering eight highly-rated studio albums (including two certified platinum-sellers), and scoring multiple industry award wins and nominations… not to mention launching their own annual festival and cruise.

Combining soaring power riffs with vocalist Joakim Brodén’s instantly-recognisable gruff baritone, the band refuses to be simply slotted into a genre. Fans need only know them as Sabaton: the heavy metal band that sings of real life wars and the people who played a part in them – of gruelling campaigns and dazzling acts of bravery, of magnificent victories and touching personal struggles – true stories more fantastic than any fiction,”

Sabaton is, as they stated, a band dedicated to sharing stories of true battles throughout history. On their website they even have a whole calendar dedicated to historic events, so you can see what happened in history on whatever day you’d like! 

As a huge history geek, this band is amazing. I would watch the World War documentary series before I went to bed in middle school because I thought all of that stuff was so interesting. If I didn’t love writing and English as much as I do then I’d go into a career where history was involved. They were actually a part of my Spotify Wrapped this year where I explored 27 of their songs, listened to six of their albums, and spent over 39 hours listening to just them this year. 

Unlike what I did before, I am just going to showcase three of my favorite songs by them because they have way too many albums and I’m sad to say I didn’t listen to all of them. 

The Lost Battalion - The Last Stand

Now, onto the third band and a good one too!

III. Powerwolf

I’m not a religious person, I grew up being taught all that stuff but I consider myself to be more agnostic rather than Christian or any of that stuff. But, if there’s one religious thing I don’t mind bumping its the Priests of Metal, Powerwolf! Here's what they have to say about themselves:

“After spilling gallons of blood and fighting tirelessly, after only two albums with Napalm Powerwolf shot straight to the pole position of the official German album charts (and another album made it into the top three!). After selling out venue after venue and thrilling bigger and bigger hordes of fans, the time is right for a new chapter: The Sacrament Of Sin which offers eleven metal psalms forged for all eternity!

Powerwolf entered Fascination Street Studios in Örebrö, Sweden starting in January 2018 to work on their seventh manifesto together with renowned producer Jens Bogren (Opeth, Arch Enemy, Amon Amarth). The result is brimming with the Germans` trademark sound, and yet the band have recorded their boldest and most adventurous album to date! ‘Where the wild wolves have gone‘ even marks the first ballad in Powerwolf history – whereas ‘Nightside of Siberia‘ does the exact opposite and turns out to be one of the heaviest tunes the fivepiece have ever written. ‘Incense And Iron‘ simply MUST be part of every future setlist with its folky nature and anthemic catchiness; and epic single ‘Fire & Forgive‘ brilliantly melts infectious melodies into timeless, heavy shredding. The Sacrament Of Sin overwhelms both with sophisticated songwriting and sheer aggression – and proves once more why Powerwolf are the one and only true high priests of heavy metal!,”

The band is made up of vocalist  Karsten Brill as "Attila Dorn", lead guitarist Benjamin Buss as "Matthew Greywolf", bassist/rhythm guitarist David Vogt as "Charles Greywolf", keyboardist Christian Jost as "Falk Maria Schlegel" and drummer Roel van Helden. 

They’re really awesome and here’s my favorite song by them.

Army of the Night - Blessed and Possessed 

Now onto the fourth band ;)...

IV. Brothers of Metal

Oh boy, if you thought the bands might’ve mellowed out a little then you are sorely unprepared for this glorious group...

When I was younger I was one of those Percy Jackson kids, but my love for mythology started long before I read one of those books. As I grew older I expanded my knowledge, moving away from Greek and Roman and into Norse and other mythologies. You can imagine my joy when I found Brothers of Metal. They have no Wikipedia or website so here’s what Spotify says about them:

“BROTHERS OF METAL consist of eight powerful Viking warriors that originates from the glorious kingdom of Falun, far up in the north. Falun is a mighty town that lies within the dark iron woods where only true metal warriors reside. BROTHERS OF METAL are known to most as the strongest metal band in the nine realms. 

Before time, our eight warriors would travel through the realms and protect the good folk against evil. It was one of those nights that the legacy of metal was born. They came home from some pretty intense giant slaying and felt the common urge for mead and entertainment. The mead was generously flowing from the teats of Heidrun, but the music was really bad. The warriors took what instruments they could find and started playing, thus they wrote their first song Son of Odin, creating a tribute hymn to the strongest god they knew. 

The mortals of the kingdom was so impressed with the music that they couldn't get enough, our warriors looked at each other and so a band was formed. Together they swor an oath to keep the flames of true metal burning and to continue to play until the earthlings had worthy entertainment of their own, it's yet to come,” 

They haven’t released a ton of music when compared to the bands I listed before them, but they are absolutely amazing! All their music videos make me chuckle and when I watch Q&A’s they’ve posted they feel so down to earth that a person whos probably a decade younger than them if not less/more can relate to them. All their music has to do with Norse Mythology, but here’s my favorite music video yet:

The Mead Song - Prophecy of Ragnarök

And yeah, that’s it!

I hope you all weren't too bored and I hope you at least somewhat enjoyed this. It feels good to talk about my favorite bands. I’d love to put more videos in but Tumblr won’t let you so I guess we’re stuck with only one per band. I planned on doing three each but I guess that’s dead in the water. 

Oh well.

If you like any of this music/band honestly just reach out and talk to me, I love chatting about music. I don’t know a ton about the logistics or anything like that but we can share bands or songs or whatever. I sound really lonely which is true but please don’t feel shy.

See you all later! 

-Paige

[yuzusorbet]

This 20-min video is so enjoyable.  There are a lot of very cute snippets from the past and some very touching ones too.  I translated briefly the main parts.  

0:15 of video~ 2018, July 2nd, Yuzuru received the People's Honour Award from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.   PM Abe told Yuzu that he watched the movie 'Tono, Risoku de Gozaru!' and he felt that Yuzu acted very well as the feudal lord.   (t/n. movie's English title: 'Magnificent Nine')

[A part of the 2016 movie is shown.  Yuzu, as lord of Sendai, enters the room and says, "I am Shigemura."]

It is a movie based on a true story that happened in Sendai during the Edo period.  Hanyu accepted the invitation to act in it because of his love for his hometown.  Many great actors are in the cast and Hanyu put up a dignified performance in front of these big names.

2:00~ Nobeyama Skating Camp...... we look at some precious footage from over the years.

Year 2003: Yukari Nakano (17 years old then) and Miki Ando (15 years old) have come to participate in the camp.   And behind them, we see the Asada sisters - Mai (14) and Mao (12).

Year 2005:  With the Asada sisters, we also see Kanako Murakami (10) and also Nobunari Oda who is joking around.

Year 2007:  The one doing exercises is...... Yuzuru Hanyu (12) Q. Something you want to overcome. Yuzu:  I don't have enough stamina, so I want to train more, with that in the centre. Q. What do you want to challenge most this year? Yuzu:  I want to jump the triple axel. Q: How much of it can you do now? Yuzu:  On land, my rotation is short by about 1/4.  On ice, it feels scary and I don't rotate.  From now on, I want to be unafraid and able to do the rotations properly.

Year 2015:  Miyu Honda (11) and Rika Kihira (13).

7:08~ Old footage from Sendai. Yuzu, 11 years old, elementary school grade 6, interviewed after school, he said:   "From the time I was in kindergarten, I couldn't play (after school).   But I think skating is the most enjoyable, so it's fine for me I guess."

Yuzu: "I like skating so....... I want everyone to see the beautiful aspects of skating."  [Yuzu becomes fascinated with the cameraman’s equipment.  This very cute part of 2 minutes is translated in this video by axelsandwich]

10:00~ 2007, 3rd April, TV programme: Shizuka Arakawa who has just won the gold medal (in figure skating at Torino Olympics) is giving a skating lesson in her hometown of Miyagi (Sendai).  Among the children is 12 year-old Hanyu.   Reporter:  So how was it, being coached by Arakawa-san? Yuzu:  I am now brimming with desire to compete at the Olympics. Reporter:  You think you can get a medal? Yuzu:  Maybe I can.

[Yuzu does biellmann spin and layback ina bauer.]

Shizuka: It's rare for a boy to be so flexible.  To be able to do jumps, spins, steps and ina bauer, there's nothing more to be said (ie. it's perfect). Reporter:  How do you feel, performing in front of Arakawa-san? Yuzu:  I was very nervous.

[present day interview] Shizuka:  His sense of curiosity has been very strong from childhood days; he will somehow try various things;  his intuition/perception about what he can do is also sharp.  Drawing power from people watching you-- he has the exact disposition of figure skating.

12:20~ 2010 March, 15 years old, he won the gold medal at World Junior Championships.  He returned to his hometown of Sendai, and soon after, he was in school for his junior high graduation.  Because of the competition, he had missed the ceremony, so he graduated from junior high school 'alone'.

[Nanakita Junior High - the banner outside the school says "Congratulations, Winner of Figure Skating Junior GP Final, Hanyu Yuzuru-kun.  Spread your wings and fly in the world!!"]

Yuzu:  "Junior high school life is over and soon high school life will start.  I would like to put in afresh my efforts and work hard."

Reporter asked 12 year-old Yuzu:  Are jumps hard? He replied: "Yes.  I'm not good at it.   From way back, I was told that my jumps are high but the rotation is slow." He practises hard, even in the locker room.

2011, March 11, Great East Japan Earthquake, his home rink was damaged. Yuzu (16 years old): "The rink was open for business as usual and I was there practising.  When the earthquake happened, they guided all the customers out, including me, and so we escaped." [t/n: this part about the disaster is just touched on very briefly in the video.]

2012, he moved to Canada for training.

2014, 19 years old, he won the first Olympic gold medal for Japan in men's figure skating.  At the press conference, he said: "After the earthquake, I couldn't skate and I really thought of quitting skating.  (Everyone was) at their lowest limits and trying their best just to live.  The decision to move to Canada (for training) was really difficult.  I wanted very much to remain in Sendai.  Because of the support from many people, I am able to stand at this place now, so I think perhaps I have repaid them for their kindness."

2015 NHK Trophy and GP Final, he broke records and broke through 300 points.

2017 Nov, 3 months before PyeongChang Olympics, he suffered a serious injury to his right ankle.  He had to miss the competitions that followed and it was in doubt if he could compete at the Olympics, right up to the start of the event.   But the people of his hometown have supported him since he was little and they believed in him.    

2018 Feb, [Yuzu's Olympic victory in PyeongChang] People in Sendai crying... "He has worked so hard.... All I can say is, thank you....."

2018 April 22, Yuzuru's victory parade in Sendai. 108,000 people lined the roads for him.  (t/n. And I was one of them!!!  haha.......)

Yuzu:  "I had the strong feeling of 'Ahhh I have returned to Sendai', and once again I felt the significance of this gold medal."

--brief translation by me (please do not use or re-post without permission) Much thanks to the uploader for the video.

[cancerousjojian]

spending the holidays with tom holland would include

first of all, tom gets really sentimental during the holidays

he loves spending the season with the people who mean the most to him

you and tom spend a few weeks before christmas apart due to both of your busy schedules

you find yourself really upset and worried that you won’t be able to fly out to london to spend christmas time with him

of course, though, he surprises you with a flight a week before christmas

you’re so happy

you can’t wait to see him after weeks of being apart, and tom feels the exact same

when you’re finally reunited it’s like you were together the whole time

you go back to his house and talk for hours

he puts on a sappy holiday movie and you both drink what feels like gallons of hot chocolate

which is perfect for the freezing london weather

the following day, you visit his family

they’re so happy to see you and so welcoming of you

tom rounds up sam and harry and the four of you take a ride around town and look at all the pretty holiday lights

then you guys make a pit stop at tesco and buy a huge gingerbread house

when you guys get home it becomes a contest of who can make the best part of the house

you’re determined to make the best gingerbread roof you’ve ever seen

meanwhile, tom and his brothers are busy making an absolute mess with the frosting

you shake your head but can’t help but laugh

then it’s finally christmas day!

you’re woken up by tom giving you a soft kiss on the forehead and whispering “merry christmas!”

when you finally wake up, tom has a whole buffet of breakfast ready for the both of you to enjoy

you meet him in the kitchen and he’s standing with a huge grin on his face and his hands clasped behind his back

you give him a confused look before tom shows you what’s in his hands ; a little, perfectly wrapped box

“i was going to wait to give this to you until after breakfast but i couldn’t wait that long.” he smiled sheepishly

you don’t even wait to open it before leaping into his arms

you already know you’re going to love whatever he got you

you open it and your hands are shaking a little

inside the box is a beautiful rose gold promise ring with diamond accents

“tom this is so beautiful, i love it so much. thank you, babe.” you say, putting it on immediately

“merry christmas, darling.”

during christmas, you visit his family and have a lazy day in

you all play board games and feast on a delicious christmas dinner

you also all exchange your gifts, obviously

during the time between christmas and new years, you and tom basically become children

you guys play in the snow, making snowmen and having snowball fights

on new year’s eve, you and tom attend harrison’s annual party

tom gets tipsy while you snack on the party platters

tom is slurring his words and leaning all over you before it’s even midnight

you chat with harrison and catch up while tom sings karaoke quite horrifically

he won’t stop drunkenly flirting with you as well

the clock finally strikes midnight and the party erupts in cheer

of course tom kisses you at midnight but it quickly turns into a sloppy makeout

you and tom would probably end up leaving the party around 12:30 let’s be honest

you would go home and just have a cozy night in while talking about your memories of 2018 and new years resolutions

you genuinely love spending the holidays with tom and you don’t want to leave his family because they’re so much fun

when you leave its a giant sob fest because you only get to see them in person about once a year

you promise to see them again soon

in the meantime, you and tom spend the new year living in the states together :)

[placesyoucallhome]

Never-Ending Survey: Q’ruhka

Tagged by: @voidsentprinces

Tagging: Fuck, idk, anyone else who wants to do this

Rules: Repost, do not reblog, tag 10 blogs! 

BASICS.

FULL NAME: Q’ruhka Tia

NICKNAME: Ruhka, Rui, RuRu, Trash Cat

AGE:  He assumes about 24-25

BIRTHDAY: 21th Sun of the Fifth Astral Moon, probably

ETHNIC GROUP: Seeker of the Sun Miqo’te

NATIONALITY: He primarily considers himself a Limsan

LANGUAGE/S: Common, sign language, some Garlean, bits of Hingan and Ishgardian,

SEXUAL ORIENTATION : Demisexual

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION : Panromantic

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single

HOME TOWN / AREA: Sagolii

CURRENT HOME:  Topmast apartments

PROFESSION: Admiral, merchant, bar owner

PHYSICAL.

HAIR: Cream white just past his shoulders

EYES: Blue and gold

FACE: Diamond

LIPS: Full

COMPLEXION: Copper

BLEMISHES: Not particularly

SCARS:  Crossed scrapes on his cheek

TATTOOS: Tribal tattoos done when he was a child

HEIGHT: About 5 fulms

WEIGHT: 140 ponzes??? (I’m terrible at weights, I actually have no idea)

BUILD: Well toned

FEATURES: Well kept, long, fluffy tail

ALLERGIES: None that he’s aware of

USUAL HAIR STYLE:  Long, slightly wavy, well kept but generally left to whatever style it falls into

USUAL FACE LOOK :  Kind smile, curious eyes

USUAL CLOTHING: Business casual button up shirt and black slacks for most days, or long boots and gloves with a cropped top while working, or recently, a sweater because this sand cat still can’t deal with cold.

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR/S: Namazu, otherwise, very little

ASPIRATION/S: He’s not sure at the moment, a crew, but beyond that he hasn’t decided. Finding someone that’s willing to put up with his bullshit for the rest of their lives maybe.

POSITIVE TRAITS: Kind, patient, giving, willing to consider new information and change opinions.

NEGATIVE TRAITS:  Guarded, no self esteem, there are certain things he lies about

TEMPERAMENT: Generally presents himself as a happy shoulder to lean on, ready to help as a moment’s notice. 

SOUL TYPE/S:  Server

ANIMALS: Angora cat

VICE HABIT/S: Drinking

FAITH: Doesn’t follow the twelve, has mixed feelings on deities in general

GHOSTS?: Yes

AFTERLIFE?: Well, he does now

REINCARNATION?: According to his readings on the aetherical cycle, it seems a given

POLITICAL ALIGNMENT: Pirate

EDUCATION LEVEL: No formal education, but plenty trade education

FAMILY.

FATHER : Qu’halha Nunh He claims to not know

MOTHER : Qu’mazh

SIBLINGS : 6 half sisters, one full sister he’s unaware of

EXTENDED FAMILY: Q’ tribe in general

NAME MEANING/S: Q’ is the Puk tribe, Qu’ was meant to stand for the Quetzalcoatl, which as a child he was fairly certain the adults had made up just to sound cool. Otherwise, there was little effort put into his name as he wasn’t particularly desired by his mother.

HISTORICAL CONNECTION?: None of note

FAVORITES.

BOOK: Whatever he’s picked up most recently

DEITY: None

HOLIDAY: Any with food or drinks

MONTH:  Fifth Astral moon (September)

SEASON: Summer or fall

PLACE:  The Willow’s Meet

WEATHER:  Thunderstorms

SOUND / S: Opening a bottle, the rumble of thunder, the whirl of a spinning wheel

SCENT / S: Heavy rain, coffee, something baking in the oven

TASTE / S: Savory, salty, sour

FEEL / S: Soft wool, worn wood, dark glass bottles

ANIMAL / S: House cats, dogs, bats

NUMBER: 36

COLORS: White, black, gold

EXTRA.

TALENTS: Crafting, decorating

BAD AT: Initiating conversations

TURN ONS: Conversation, humor, trust

TURN OFFS: Aggressiveness, ignorance, arrogance

HOBBIES: Knitting and drinking

TROPES: The Everyman, possibly The Watson

QUOTES : “God damn it Gen.” (I need to start actually saving some of the shit Ruhka says)

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1 : If you could write your character your way in their own movie,  what would it be called,  what style would it be filmed in, and what would it be about?       A1 :  Possibly some Treasure planet type romp with Wes Anderson type humor/cinematography and probably steampunk thrown in. I honestly don’t have much of an idea.

Q2 :  What would their soundtrack/score sound like?           A2 : Modest mouse with other odd smatterings thrown in, I’ve started a playlist on spotify

Q3 :  Why did you start writing this character?         A3 : He’s particularly new as my characters go, actually, just about a year old, started him in fall/winter of 2018, started attempting to rp him at the turn of the year I think.

Q4 :  What first attracted you to this character?         A4 : He’s so goddamn normal I thought it was funny. He’s not got any magical powers, he has a shitty backstory but it’s pretty bland comparatively, all he’s got to get by on is whether he can charm people and he’s not got much confidence in that. So now he’s the basically the one normal guy surrounded by immortals and magic and warriors. Also it was an excuse to actually put my crafting knowledge to use as he’s a merchant that deals quite a bit in weaving and carpentry. Q5 :  Describe the biggest thing you dislike about your muse. A5 : Well, he’s pretty fucking normal isn’t he? Sometimes I wonder if he’s just too boring for anyone to particularly care about. I’ve always cared more for the ‘odd man out’ characters in series, but I perhaps I was in a small minority there. Q6 :  What do you have in common with your muse?           A6 :   We both short as hell, five foot fuck you. Also crafting, always making something. Q7 :   How does your muse feel about you?         A7 :  He’d probably offer me a drink and condolences, hah Q8 :  What characters does your muse have interesting interactions with?       A8 :  All characters have something interesting to them, I like to think Ruhka’s a way for them to get there, he’s got bit character mcguffin energy. But for him to have an interesting interaction, it usually comes down to humor, and he’s particularly easy to fluster.  Q9 :  What gives you inspiration to write your muse?     A9 :  Redemption, I guess. Still being worth something even if you aren’t anything more than normal. Q10 : How long did this take you to complete?   A10 : Fuck, idk, an hour?