#quince Dr.

[avionvadion]

Could it be...? Le gasp! MALLEORA! 

I was trying to do a thing with Malleus’ humming audio where it would fade to black from the first and then fade in to the second one, that way it could go from wholesome humming to sinister humming, but my art program is being mean so just normal pictures it is. 

It has been... so long since I last drew anything twst related. Oof. That said, I think my Malleus skills have improved greatly since then. Probably because I’ve been drawing so much webtoon stuff recently. Hmm. That said, Malleus’ lower half of his costume made my brain so confused when I went to base color because I could no longer tell what was what. T_T I’m amazed I got through both of these in one night. 

El’s dress did not originally have sparkles... but the glitter gremlin in me (Secretly Poma, lol) decided it should definitely have them. 

[bandatelevision]

“If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone: the harm is to persist in one's own self-deception and ignorance.” ― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations ➡️ @fruiityflower inspiration vip Robert Ovette Brown, CEO Banda Television

[xiofaire]

How I smile whenever I remember my better cr dr and how I am so gorgeous there, I have money, porn doesn’t exist (women aren’t sexualized), I have an even bigger family, I’m going to be 13 again and I’m going to have a big quince.

[double--hh]

Incorrect TNMN quotes :3

(Its mainly businessreport/izaack x angus/abducius x zoth)

The majority of the residents of the Astral Circle Appartment Complex, "God fuck Zoth fr, I want that thing DEAD."

Abducius, kicking his legs and giggling on his torture table of a bed, "Heheh, god I want that fat man..."

---

Ishtar, feeding her multiple pet rats, "I dunno what you even see in him, Yan Luo, all he does is talk about his defunked pizza business and robots!"

Yan Luo, humming, "He makes me laugh, Ishtar... and I'm a bit to invested in his lore... because did you know, Freddybear, not to be confused with Freddy Fivebear, was-"

Ishtar, already zoning out, 'Oh they're perfect for eachother...'

---

Angus, sitting next to Izaack, "Y'know, Izaack, 'm a friend of Dorothy m'self..."

Izaack, choking on his wine and slaps his knees, "Who is Dorothy?! So many guys tell me this and I wanna know who she is!!"

Angus, "Oh my god."

---

Francis, "Mmm, Ciprianni, no offense, but of all the places y'could've chosen to live, why'd you choose this dump of all places? I mean, you're business man for godsakes!"

Angus, looking at his overtly materialistic appartment adorned with very expensive items, "Uhm, the pay isn't that great..."

---

Yog, Teutates, and Ah Puch, at Abducius' appartment, "Abducius, quit your job and join our metal band, it's called Splitknot and we're gonna play Quachil's Quince, you in?"

Abducius, clearly covered in slobber and deep bite marks with a glimpse of Zoth in the background, "Erm... lemme think about it, Teutates."

Yog, shaking head, "Nah, you're in, you're 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 freaky, I vibe with that."

Ah Puch, "How the hell did you do that with your mouth?!"

---

Abducius, happily hopping, "Eeek! I'm so excited we need to cut ourselves in half and sew whats left together!!"

Zoth, rubbing his temple and regretting asking him out, 'Oh my god he's not 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂, he's just an absolute freak... I like that in a man."

---

Dr. Afton, walking into his appartment and falling to his kneese seeing Mia and Francis kissing, "NO! IM BEING CUCKED BY THE MILK MAN!"

Half an hour later, Francis fighting with Dr. Afton whos wrangling him with a breast pump, "NO! IM BEING MILKED BY THE CUCK MAN!"

[electronickingdomfox]

"Bloodthirst" review

It's Resident Evil, but the zombies are vampires!!

Novel from 1987, by J. M. Dillard. Kind of a retread of her previous novel ("Demons"), but substituting demonic possesion with vampires. Of course, there's nothing supernatural going on, but a scientific explanation behind everything. I found it less scary than the previous entry, though it's in the same spirit of horror story, this time with a political background as well.

The initial setting is intriguing, even though it's fairly obvious what's going on and who are the villains, from the earliest chapters. The ending is also exciting, and reminded me of an actual TOS episode. The problem is the rest of the novel, and by that I mean like 90%. I had the impression of reading chapter after chapter of barely anything but filler. Kirk does little more than talking through the terminal with this or that. McCoy does little more than telling Kirk "they're close to find a vaccine" and fretting over Chapel's sickness. Spock does... nothing, really. The fact that the story was extended artificially to a breaking point is obvious by the fact it takes the crew SEVERAL DAYS to find an intruder in the ship (an intruder who wears a red cape, is sick and insane, and screams in pain every time light touches him). This with a crew of more than 400 persons, and with the full security team activated at all times (what the hell!?).

To add more padding to it, there are lengthy scenes focused on a group of redshirts. Now I don't have a problem with original characters having their spotlight if they're interesting and play some role. But these guys just reflect about their High School dramas, and they don't have a distinct role compared to any other redshirt: that is, being attacked and suffer a lot. The other characters are a mixed bag. The most interesting is probably Adams, the "vampire", and the passages that follow his sinister deeds are the only ones that keep the plot moving, in that stale middle section. Kirk is serviceable. In particular his friendship with Admiral Quince felt like the real thing. And he gets to do some of his cunning negotiations at the end. McCoy on the other hand... Look, this author makes him funny on occassion, but in my opinion, she has a REALLY odd idea of the character. From the "dirty old man" trait, to his clumsiness and cowardice. The guy who would offer himself for torture in "The Empath" is here scared shitless at the prospect of it (well, he's scared of dark corridors too, so...). Fortunately, there's no Mary Sue on sight this time. Unfortunately, there's still the obligatory romance "out-of-left-field" for McCoy, that this author seems so fond of. This time in the shape of... Christine Chapel??? We're suppossed to believe that she's not just the closest person to McCoy (closer even than Kirk!), but that all this time, they've been repressing romantic feelings for each other. And that Chapel isn't really attracted to Spock, but only chose him because he'd never return her feelings... Yeah, weeell, how about... NO.

Other random weird bits: Nobody knows what a vampire is in the 23rd century (only Chekov has heard about this legend, that had survived for hundreds of years so far). And a crippled Enterprise can only manage to go at warp 9! (c'mon Scotty, I'm sure you can do better than this shitty, fast-as-fuck warp 9 speed...). Spoilers under the cut:

The Enterprise receives a distress signal from a scientific station at planet Tanis, but upon beaming down, they just find a deserted lab, two dead scientists missing most of their blood, and a single survivor: Dr. Jeffrey Adams. Adams looks gaunt and is obviously suffering some kind of disease that makes light painful for him. He's brought to sickbay, and needs continous blood transfusions to survive. But when Kirk interrogates him, suspecting the scientists were doing illegal research on biowarfare, Adams says they were just working on agricultural projects and that the other two commited suicide. Nonetheless, the evidence at the station points to Adams as the murderer, and it seems he had drunk the blood of the victims too. The fact that Admiral Rodrigo Mendez, head of weapons research, is awfully interested in destroying any trace of the virus, and quickly bringing Adams to trial, makes it all the more suspicious. However, the landing party is unable to recover any sample of a virus at the station, and records had been destroyed, so the Enterprise starts travelling to the nearest starbase.

After being informed of this, Adams accuses Mendez of being the mastermind behind the virus development, and begs Kirk to not surrender him to Mendez, since the admiral wants to kill him. Kirk is unwilling to believe at first that Mendez, or any other top brass at Starfleet, would be involved in such deadly project. Besides, upon learning that one of the dead researchers was Mendez's son, he dismisses the admiral's behavior as natural resentment. Nonetheless, Kirk contacts his friend, Admiral Quince Waverleigh, at Starfleet HQ, to see if he can unearth some dirty laundry among the top brass.

Meanwhile, Adams attempts an escape from his isolation chamber at sickbay, and injures Chapel, drinking some blood from her head wound. Adams doesn't go far under the light. But Chapel has contracted the disease, which is contagious upon contact, and slowly slips into a coma. In the end, McCoy realizes that Chapel has died, and disconnects life support. And there's a lot of drama about this, but since the reader can probably guess where this is leading to, and what the solution will be, the scene doesn't have all that much impact. Apart from this, Spock has recovered some info from the fragmentary records at the station, that tell about a Vulcan researcher who had also died at an earlier point. This suggests that there was, in fact, two versions of the virus: a first one that was deadly to Vulcans (and thus, Romulans too), and the current mutation (probably accidental) which is deadly to humans. This deepens Spock's suspicions about Mendez, since he had lost his wife in a Romulan attack.

Once in the starbase, Adams is brought to a detention cell, which he promptly escapes again, this time more successfully. First, he attacks a guard and steals her red cape, to better protect himself from the light, as well as a device that blocks tricorder readings. After this, Adams kidnaps Lisa (a redshirt on shore leave), and forces her to ask for a beam up directly to her quarters in the Enterprise, where he also attacks her and drinks her blood. And then comes a loooong period where everyone is searching frantically for Adams throughout the ship. And yeah, he can block tricorders, but it's not like he's invisible or anything... He goes as far as entering sickbay and stealing transfusion equipment to draw more blood! (his next victim being Stanger, another redshirt).

For his part, Admiral Quince starts noticing strange things going around him, ever since he started investigating: sudden personnel transfers, tampering with his terminal, etc. He sends Kirk a quick anonymous message, to warn him that things are looking ugly. Yet Kirk is unable to reach him afterwards, and later is notified of Quince's sudden death in an "accident". This is the last straw that convinces Kirk of Mendez's guilt, alongside a small clique of corrupt admirals. So he decides to lure him to Tanis and catch him red-handed there, with a bluff: he tells him that Adams has been captured and has spilled the beans about the R-virus (the incriminating Romulan strain), and that they have found the evidence at Tanis.

At sickbay, Ensign Stanger wakes up from the dead after having been infected. And even though he shows some early signs of "vampirism", his good side wins in the end, and he's able to protect his friend Lisa and capture Adams (at long last!). McCoy has also developed an effective vaccine, that he administers to the whole crew and Chapel, who's also waking up from the dead (but strangely enough, much slower than Stanger?). The modus operandi of the virus is thus revealed: at first, it sends the host into apparent death (actually, hybernation) while it consumes the bloodstream's heme; once the host is depleted of heme, he wakes up and starts craving blood and infecting others. (But I don't know, as a bioweapon, it doesn't seem so effective to me...).

In the final chapters, Spock and McCoy beam down to Tanis and confront Mendez, who demands the samples of the R-virus (which they actually don't have). But just then, a transporter beam captures them and they appear in a Romulan ship. As it turns out, Adams had contacted the Romulans, promising them the samples of both virus in exchange for his freedom. Kirk forces Adams to cooperate by refusing to give him the cure, until he tells them where's the R-virus, so Adams confesses: the original R-virus had been hidden all this time inside a locket that he wore around his neck. The Romulan commander threatens Kirk, saying that he'll kill Spock and McCoy if he doesn't surrender Adams. Yet Kirk tries to negotiate with him and buy time, now that he has the only sample in his hands, though the Romulan doesn't agree to destroy the sample. However, Spock, McCoy and Mendez had managed to escape from their cells in the meantime. And after a run through the enemy ship stunning Romulans (with McCoy closing his eyes every time he has to shoot, the poor devil), they manage to lower the shields and beam themselves to the Enterprise, which promptly warps away. In the transporter room, Mendez makes a last, desperate attempt to escape with Adams and the sample. But Spock tricks him into confessing everything, and then Kirk informs him that he's been monitored, and now Starfleet knows everything about his involvement in the illegal research. In the epilogue, Kirk reflects about his lost friend Quince. And there's a moving scene where he receives a posthumous gift, with a last message from his friend, telling him to not feel guilt about his death.

Spirk Meter: 0/10*. Kirk and Spock barely exchange a couple of lines throughout the novel.

There isn't a lot either in other departments. Spock and McCoy don't seem to like each other much, though McCoy asks Spock for company while disconnecting Chapel from life support. Though it's hard to read that as Spock/McCoy, when it's evident that McCoy's full concern is for Chapel in this book. Maybe, maaaaybe, one could read some McKirk in the final scene, when McCoy drinks with Kirk in his quarters and comforts him about Quince's death. But at this point, that's like begging for crumbs.

*A 10 in this scale is the most obvious spirk moments in TOS. Think of the back massage, "You make me believe in miracles", or "Amok Time" for example.

tagged: @bonez-artistry

[kwebtv]

Charles Richard Moll (January 13, 1943 – October 26, 2023) Film and television actor known for playing Aristotle Nostradamus "Bull" Shannon, a bailiff on the NBCsitcom Night Court from 1984 to 1992 and voicing Harvey Dent/Two-Face in the DC Animated Universe series Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman

In 1979, Moll played the part of Eugene, a gangster on the television series Happy Days in the episode "Fonzie's Funeral". In 1981 he had a small part in the Mork & Mindy episode "Alienation", where he appeared with future fellow Night Court TV series cast member John Larroquette.

Moll made an appearance in the first episode of Highlander: The Series as Slan Quince, the villain who reunites Connor MacLeod with his kinsman and the show's protagonist, Duncan MacLeod. Moll made a guest appearance on Babylon 5 in the episode "Hunter, Prey" as a lurker criminal who was holding a VIP hostage, and as a gangster on Married... with Children. Moll made another guest appearance in the TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, playing the cyclops in episode two, "Eye of the Beholder".

In Super Password, Moll appeared with Judy Norton Taylor, Nancy Lane, Markie Post, Gloria Loring, Florence Halop, Debra Maffett, Elaine Joyce, and Kim Morgan Greene, with Bert Convy as the game show's host from 1984 to 1987.

Moll played himself in The Facts of Life (Season 9, episodes 1 and 2: "Down and Out in Malibu").

Moll appeared in The Flintstones and Casper Meets Wendy, both TV spin-offs. He played the drifter on the Nickelodeon show 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd.

Other TV series and movies he appeared in were The Rockford Files, How the West Was Won, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Best of the West, T.J. Hooker, Fantasy Island, The A-Team, Due South, Combat Academy, Out of This World, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and many others.

IMDb Listing

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

Young Adult Book Releases: May 2024

🦇 Good morning, my bookish bats. I hope you have a good book, hit cuppa, and sweet snack within reach! No TBR is complete without a few young adult novels, and plenty were released in May! Here are a few YA releases to consider adding to your shelves.

🩷 May 7 🩷 ✨ The Summer Love Strategy by Ray Stoeve ✨ Hot Boy Summer by Joe Jiménez ✨ The Ballad of Darcy & Russell - Morgan Matson ✨ Pulled Under - Michelle Dalton ✨ Bite Me, Royce Taslim - Lauren Ho ✨ The Unboxing of a Black Girl - Angela Shanté ✨ Dispatches from Parts Unknown - Bryan Bliss ✨ Beastly Beauty - Jennifer Donnelly ✨ This Book Won't Burn - Samira Ahmed ✨ Perfect Little Monsters - Cindy R.X. He ✨ Sunhead - Alex Assan ✨ Lie Until It's True - Jessie Weaver ✨ Malicia by Steven dos Santos ✨ Blood at the Root - LaDarrion Williams ✨ Spin of Fate - A.A. Vora ✨ Death's Country - R. M. Romero ✨ Queerceañera by Alex Crespo ✨ Eyes Open - Lyn Miller-Lachmann ✨ Breathe: Journeys to Healthy Binding - Maia Kobabe, Dr. Sarah Peitzmeier

🩷 May 14 🩷 ✨ The Girl in Question by Tess Sharpe ✨ A Crane Among Wolves - June Hur ✨ 10 Things I Hate About Prom - Elle Gonzalez Rose ✨ Blood & Fury - Tessa Gratton & Justina Ireland ✨ The Dangerous Ones - Lauren Blackwood ✨ Beach Cute - Beth Reekles ✨ The Worst Perfect Moment by Shivaun Plozza ✨ True Love and Other Impossible Odds by Christina Li ✨ Flyboy by Kasey Leblanc ✨ Thirsty by Jas Hammonds ✨ It Waits in the Forest - Sarah Dass

🩷 May 21 🩷 ✨ Keeper of the Stones and Stars by Michael Barakiva ✨ We Mostly Come Out at Night ed. by Rob Costello ✨ Attached at the Hip - Christine Riccio ✨ The Quince Project - Jessica Parra ✨ I Wish You Would - Eva Des Lauriers ✨ Have You Seen This Girl by Nita Tyndall ✨ In the Shallows by Tanya Byrne ✨ Liar's Test - Ambelin Kwaymullina ✨ The Worst Ronin - Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Faith Schaffer ✨ Wild About You - Kaitlyn Hill ✨ Summer Nights and Meteorites - Hannah Reynolds ✨ The Word - Mary G. Thompson

🩷 May 28 🩷 ✨ Flawless Girls by Anna-Marie McLemore ✨ Another First Chance by Robbie Couch ✨ Don’t Be a Drag by Skye Quinlan ✨ Stay Dead - April Henry ✨ The Redemption of Daya Keane by Gia Gordon ✨ The Only Light Left Burning by Erik J. Brown

[whocookedthelastsupper]

“Thomas Jefferson in the nineteenth century wrote to his daughter that childbirth was "no more than a jog of the elbow," when his wife had died in childbed, as this daughter was to do two months later. Much more honest was the anxiety evinced by Madame de Sévigné, when her beloved only daughter suffered three pregnancies in the first two years of her marriage, including a severe miscarriage. In a furious letter she warned her son-in-law that "the beauty, the health, the piety and the life of the woman you love can all be destroyed by frequent occurrences of the pain you make her suffer" threatening him, "I shall take your wife from you! Do you imagine I gave her to you so that you might kill her?" Françoise survived this pregnancy, but her mother's fears were not at an end. Immediately after the delivery she dashed off a hasty warning not to rely on breast-feeding to prevent conception:

"if after your periods start again, you as much afarink of making love with M. de Grignan, you may consider yourself already pregnant, and if one of your midwives tells you differently, then your husband has bribed her!"

The position of the husband in this all-too-common situation, caught between the options of lethally selfish sensualist or reluctant celibate, was not a happy one. He would, however, survive his sex life: very many women did not. And as the modern age with its much-vaunted progress and prosperity broke about the ears of women in the West, they had the disconcerting experience of discovering that childbirth became worse, not better; for in one of the decisive power struggles that were to touch all women's lives, men finally won their long fight to take over the management of women in labor. Male attacks on women healers were nothing new —one facet of the witch hunts had been the determination of university-trained male physicians to eliminate the female opposition. But with the advent of drugs, obstetrical forceps, anesthesia and formal medical training, male practitioners were finally able to usurp women's age-old role as birth attendant and present themselves as the chief accoucheur.

Armed with the authority of the expert, the new men had no difficulty putting down the old women, even when they were horribly in the wrong. On his own admission "the great William Smellie," the mold-breaking "Master of British midwifery" when learning his trade once slashed a baby's umbilical cord so clumsily that the child almost bled to death. Smellie informed the suspicious midwife, whom his arrival had displaced, that this was a revolutionary new technique designed to prevent convulsions in the newly born. Privately, though, as he later disclosed, he was never so terrified in all his life.

With the advent of chloroform and disinfectant in the West, medical science began at last to make headway against its own darkest prejudices that the suffering and death of women in childbirth were no more than a "necessary evil" to be seen "even as a blessing of the Gospel," as one leading British gynecologist wrote in 1848. Elsewhere, though, it seemed that nothing could dislodge the fatalistic attitude toward the loss of female life, nor change the habits and customs that promoted those deaths. From India, a British woman surgeon, Dr. Vaughan, sent this despairing report in the last days of the Raj:

On the floor is the woman. With her are one or two dirty old women, their hands begrimed with dirt, their heads alive with vermin... the patient has been in labor for three days, and they cannot get the child out. On inspection, we find the vulva swollen and torn. They tell us, yes, it is a bad case, and they have had to use both feet and hands in their efforts to deliver her... Chloroform is given, and the child extracted with forceps. We are sure to find holly-hock roots which have been pushed up inside the mother, sometimes string and a dirty rag containing quince seeds in the uterus itself... Do not think it is only the poor who suffer like this. I can show you the homes of many Indian men with university degrees whose wives are confined on filthy rags and attended by these bazaar dhais.

With great clarity, Vaughan saw that the root cause of this suffering, infection and death lay not with the dhais who ministered to the women, but in the attitudes of the husbands.”

-Rosalind Miles; Who Cooked The Last Supper? The Women’s History of the World

[radondoran]

Happy birthday to my favorite radio actor, Larry Dobkin (September 16, 1919 – October 28, 2002)!

Character actor Lawrence Dobkin was a frequent supporting player in radio, with hundreds of credits across dozens of different programs. He appeared in over 170 episodes of Gunsmoke, playing all kinds of characters from gunmen to gentlemen. Other shows where he was often heard include Escape; Romance; Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar; The Whistler; Let George Do It; Frontier Gentleman; Fort Laramie; Have Gun, Will Travel; NBC University Theatre; etc.

Larry Dobkin's only leading role in a radio series was the title sleuth in Ellery Queen from February 1947 to April 1948—and even there he wasn't exactly a headliner, because, in keeping with the pseudonymous source material, the show tended to be coy about identifying the actors who played Ellery. You might recognize him as Lieutenant Matthews on The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, the first of three main Archie Goodwins on The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe, Dave on The Man From Homicide, or Pat McCracken (usually) on Johnny Dollar—and if you ask me, his most memorable and lovable radio character was Louie, the Brooklyn cabbie who sometimes played sidekick to Vincent Price on The Adventures of the Saint.

A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, Dobkin also played numerous roles on stage, film and television, and later did writing and directing work for television.

Here are a few of my favorite radio episodes featuring Larry Dobkin:

Ellery Queen 1947-12-04 "Man in the Street": A swindler is murdered before Inspector Queen and Ellery can put him in jail. Whodunit? There were only about ten thousand people with a motive!

The Saint 1950-11-19 "No Hiding Place": The Saint tries to help a young man who has escaped from prison after several attempts on his life. Who framed him, who's out to get him, and why? (Louie isn't in this episode as much as in some others, but the lines he does get include some of my favorite lines ever, and anyway I think it's one of the strongest episodes of the series.)

Escape 1949-07-07 "The Fourth Man": Dobkin narrates this classic story of three "civilized" men adrift on a raft in the tropics, battling thirst and one another while their "savage" pilot calmly sits by.

Richard Diamond, Private Detective 1949-07-09: An escaped convict, bent on revenge against Richard Diamond, kidnaps Diamond's girlfriend.

Philip Marlowe 1950-01-21 "The Bid for Freedom": A woman has escaped from an asylum, and now her husband is in danger. Or maybe it's not that simple.

Philip Marlowe 1950-07-28 "The Glass Donkey": Lieutenant Matthews calls to ask about a girl Marlowe used to date—a girl who's just been murdered. It's real personal as Marlowe offers his services to find out why a nice girl had to die.

Philip Marlowe 1951-08-18 "The Young Man's Fancy": There's no murder in this somewhat atypical Philip Marlowe episode by Kathleen Hite. Marlowe goes out for Moscow Mule ingredients, and gets involved in the family troubles of the nice old man from whom he buys his limes.

The Story of Dr. Kildare 1951-02-16: A madman with a gun is holed up inside a school building. Dr. Kildare goes in after him, while Dr. Gillespie scrambles to remotely diagnose a mental illness without ever talking to the patient.

Gunsmoke 1952-06-28 "The Ride Back": This recently rediscovered Gunsmoke episode is almost entirely a radio play for only two voices, as Marshall Dillon brings a twisted killer through hostile Indian country.

Gunsmoke 1952-08-02 "Renegade White": Matt goes after a white man who's been selling guns to Indians, and winds up a prisoner of the Indians himself.

Gunsmoke 1953-02-21 "Meshougah": Matt and Chester find a whole town held hostage by a crazed killer and his gang of outlaws.

Fort Laramie 1956-05-13 "War Correspondent": A smart newspaperman from the East tags along with Captain Quince, hoping to show the folks back home a fair picture of life on the frontier. He's got a lot to learn!

Fort Laramie 1956-06-03 "Don't Kick My Horse": One of Captain Quince's soldiers is a meek little man whose only friend is his horse. He's been in the cavalry ten years, and it's time for a new horse. Dude is not ready to accept this. Tragedy ensues.

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar 1956-01-09 – 1956-01-13 "The Todd Matter": A tip on an old burglary leads Johnny into a very fresh shooting. Dobkin plays five roles in this story, and what always strikes me is that he doesn't do five radically different voices—he doesn't even change his accent very much! He just acts each character so completely that you're not even inclined to notice the actor.

Have Gun, Will Travel 1958-12-14 "The Outlaw": Paladin makes a deal with a convicted killer who wants to see his newborn son before being hanged.

Suspense 1954-07-27 "Destruction": "And it had a kind of warmth to it, this dying…" A strange, melancholy, poetic script by radio noir greats Fine and Friedkin, about a pathetic little man at the end of his rope.

[mysticalspiders]

An Incomplete List of “manhood” in Bram Stoker’s Dracula

To be updated as Dracula Daily continues

We all make fun of Bram for using the voluptuous every two seconds but manhood comes in a close second. 

(inspired by @vickyvicarious’s full 'voluptuous’ list)

“He is a young man, full of energy and talent in his own way, and of a very faithful disposition. He is discreet and silent, and has grown into manhood in my service.”

May 8th. Mr. Hawkins writing to Count Dracula about Jonathan.

“When first the Professor's eye had lit upon him he had been angry at his interruption at such a time; but now, as he took in his stalwart proportions and recognised the strong young manhood which seemed to emanate from him, his eyes gleamed.”

September 7th. Dr Seward describing Van Helsing seeing Arthur for the first time. 

“His very heart was bleeding, and it took all the manhood of him—and there was a royal lot of it, too—to keep him from breaking down.”

September 18th. Dr Seward describing Quincey. 

“Poor fellow! He looked desperately sad and broken; even his stalwart manhood seemed to have shrunk somewhat under the strain of his much-tried emotions.”

September 21st. Dr Seward describing Arthur after Lucy and his father’s deaths. 

“After reading his account of it I was prepared to meet a good specimen of manhood, but hardly the quiet, business-like gentleman who came here to-day.”

September 30th. Dr Seward describing what he thought Jonathan would look like after reading his diary. 

Manhood counter:

Jonathan: 2 (maybe 1 if Sep 30th is technically -1)

Arthur: 2 

Quince: 1

[bandatelevision]

“Love speaks in flowers. Truth requires thorns.” ― Leigh Bardugo ➡️ @slp.jony inspiration vip Robert Ovette Brown, CEO Banda Television

[lancezimmermann]

Cumpleaños.

No vino nadie a la fiesta de mi séptimo cumpleaños. Había una mesa llena de flanes de gelatina y de chucherías, con un sombrero de fiesta en cada sitio, y una tarta de cumpleaños con siete velas en el centro de la mesa. La tarta tenía un dibujo en forma de libro. Mudd (como yo llamaba a mi madre), que se había encargado de organizar la fiesta, me contó que la pastelera le había dicho que era la primera vez que dibujaba un libro en una tarta de cumpleaños, y que normalmente los niños preferían una nave espacial o un balón de fútbol. Aquel había sido su primer libro.

Cuando resultó evidente que no iba a venir nadie, mi madre encendió las velas de la tarta y yo las apagué. Comí un trozo de tarta, y ella comió otro. Mudd había preparado varios juegos para la fiesta que según había leído en una revista en la peluquería de los Hoffman (también judíos), serían perfectos para una perfecta fiesta de cumpleaños. Pero, como allí no había nadie a excepción de ella y yo no pudimos jugar, y yo mismo desenvolví el premio que tenía reservado para el que ganara el juego de la patata caliente, un cromo de Wade Boggs de los Yankees. Estaba triste porque nadie había venido a mi fiesta, pero al mismo tiempo me alegraba de poder quedarme con el cromo. Después desenvolví mi último regalo de cumpleaños que mi madre había comprado en secreto (supe años más tarde) en una librería de Paterson: La isla del tesoro del escocés Robert Louis Stevenson. La organización del cumpleaños (tarta, cromo y libro incluídos) le había costado en total treinta dólares. Cuando mi padre se enteró, castigó a mi madre y no volvimos a celebrar mi cumpleaños.

Me tumbé en la cama y me enfrasqué en las historias. Me encantaba leer. Me sentía más seguro en compañía de un libro que de las personas. Primero pensaron que no hablaba porque no podía. Y después se dieron cuenta de que era tartamudo (en ocasiones lo sigo siendo, cosa que nunca ha parecido avergonzar a mi mujer), así que me llevaron a un logopeda (el Dr. Levi, también judío) para que me enseñase a pronunciar palabras como "preocuparse" u "homogéneo". Me resultaba tan vergonzoso no poder hablar como lo harían los personajes de Robert Louis Stevenson que opté por no hacerlo y mi padre, de nuevo, castigó a mi madre por hacerles perder dinero con un especialista. No volví al logopeda.

El libro era fascinante y fue una buena compañía para alguien cuya fiesta de cumpleaños había consistido en una mesa llena de pastas glaseadas, pudin de almendra, una tarta con siete velas y quince sillas plegables vacías. No recuerdo haberle preguntado nunca a ninguno de mis compañeros de clase por qué no había venido a mi fiesta. No me hacía falta preguntar. Después de todo, ni siquiera eran mis amigos. Solo eran mis compañeros de clase.

Tardaba en hacer amigos, cuando los hacía. Mudd me decía que debía "ser yo mismo" y me daba de vez en cuando algunos consejos que a su vez, su madre le había dado cuando ella era pequeña. Me decía que "era bueno, y válido", y que tenía unos "ojos deslumbrantes". Yo no sabía pronunciar deslumbrantes. Tampoco entendía por qué mi madre me vestía con corbata si nadie llevaba corbata. "Los de nuestro pueblo somos elegantes". No entendía a qué se refería con "pueblo", si Paterson era una ciudad. Teníamos muchas celebridades: Rubin "El huracán" Carter, Larry Doby o el poeta Allen Gingsberg, William Carlos Williams (otro poeta). Se refería a que éramos judíos, y sus palabras, como su cumpleaños compuesto por una tarta, un libro y quince sillas plegables, eran una forma amable de protegerme de la horrible y trágica realidad: estábamos solos.

No fui un niño feliz, aunque en ocasiones estaba contento. Vivía en los libros más que en cualquier otra parte. A menudo mi mujer me pregunta "¿y te sentiste contento?" cuando algo de especial relevancia ocurre en mi día a día, y yo no puedo evitar encogerme de hombros. Hemos llegado a la conclusión de que me siento "neutral". No creo que sea incapaz de alegrarme. Sin embargo, cuando estoy contento aún tartamudeo y creo que en el fondo me preocupa que me vean "siendo yo mismo", con unos ojos que no puedo describir por no saber pronunciar. Me pregunto qué sintió mi madre no volviendo a buscar nunca "quince ideas para un perfecto cumpleaños" y no comprándome nunca más un libro y un cromo. No era tartamuda, pero creo que simplemente, dejó de "ser ella misma". Y prefirió vivir la realidad de estar solos de una forma más austera. Sin corbatas. Ni cumpleaños.

Referencias: El océano al final del camino, Neil Gaiman (2013).

[unblogparaloschicos]

TV: Noah Porter-Benson

Hablar de "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" es mencionar a una de las series más reconocidas y premiadas de la historia de la televisión. Su longevidad (el pasado mayo ha celebrado su vigesimoquinta temporada y se acerca a los 600 episodios) da cuenta de la vigencia de una propuesta que no escatima en coraje a la hora de abarcar temáticas crudas y hechos infames. Creada por Dick Wolf en 1999 como un sucedáneo de "Law and Order" (serie que se viene desarrollando interrumpidamente desde 1990), SVU busca abarcar la investigación de casos aberrantes de índole sexual.

Al frente de la historia está un grupo liderado por Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), primero detective y luego capitana, su compañero, el detective Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), y otros profesionales como el detective John Munch (el recordado Richard Belzer), el capitán Donald Cragen (Dann Florek), la detective junior Monique Jeffries (Michelle Hurd), la asistente de fiscal de distrito Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March), el detective Fin Tutuola (el también rapero Ice-T), el detective junior Nick Amaro (Danny Pino) y el psiquiatra, Dr. George Huang (BD Wong).

De entre todos los casos que el frondoso y eficiente equipo neoyorquino ha debido afrontar, éste es uno que ha dejado una huella perdurable en los fans de la serie debido a su historia trágica. La primera vez que vemos a Noah Porter es en la decimoquinta temporada, más precísamente en el episodio 14, títulado "Wednesday´s Child". En ese capítulo, estrenado el 5 de febrero de 2014, Noah era un bebé sin nombre, robado por la misma pareja que se dedicaba a la pornografía de menores y se había llevado a otros niños, en especial, a Nicky (Duncan Nicholson), cuya desaparición era el centro de la historia. Nadie lo había reclamado, por lo que el bebé pasaba al cuidado del estado. Su siguiente aparición en el show se da cinco capítulos más tarde ("Downloaded Child"), en el que se menciona que ha vivido en cuatro hogares sustitutos, uno más negligente que el otro. En el decimocuarto y último episodio de la temporada ("Spring Awakening") volvemos a conectar con su historia, pero esta vez de una forma crucial, pues se descubre que la verdadera madre del pequeño es Ellie Porter (Emma Greenwell), una muchacha víctima de una red de trata. Tras su asesinato, la jueza que sigue el caso del bebé, cuyo nombre ya no es "Baby Doe" ("Doe" una denominación para alguien sin identidad confirmada) sino Noah, nota que Benson siempre ha estado muy pendiente del caso, por lo que le propone acoger al niño por un año y luego adoptarlo legalmente. La detective Benson, cuyo sueño era formar una familia, accede. Un detalle es que según el sitio imdb.com, los hermanitos Bradley y Skyler Dubow "interpretaron" a Noah Benson, aunque su participación no fue acreditada.

A partir de aquí, su presencia es, obviamente, constante. La peor parte de su historia se cierra en el primer episodio de la decimosexta temporada, cuando, tras ser amenazado por la organización criminal que se llevó la vida de su madre, su cabecilla muere. Más tarde, Noah continuaría apareciendo como una presencia secundaria, aunque esencial para la historia de la querida Olivia Benson. El hallazgo de una lesión en la costilla del pequeño, provocada en su paso por las familias de acogida, la pone en la mira de la asistente social Chantal Jackson (Theda Porter), pero se resuelve satisfactoriamente a favor de Benson.

Uno de los casos ("Undercover Mother": temporada 16, episodio quince) determina que el verdadero padre de Noah es el traficante sexual Johnny Drake (Charles Harford), cuya vida se trunca en el episodio de final de temporada ("Surrendering Noah"). La custodia del bebé es puesta en duda con la aparición de Sheila Porter (Brooke Shields), madre de la infortunada Ellie, que acaba detenida al intentar secuestrarlo.

Los mellizos que interpretaron a Noah dieron su última participación en "Melancholy Pursuit" (Octavo episodio de la decimoséptima temporada), siendo reemplazados por el pequeño Jack-Nawada Braunwart en once episodios, contando desde "Townhouse Incident" (Temporada diecisiete, capítulo once) hasta "Sanctuary" (Temporada dieciocho, capítulo veintiuno). Finalmente, en su versión actual, lo tenemos a Ryan Buggle (en las fotos), interpretándolo desde el principio de la novena temporada.

El Noah de Buggle ha crecido y comienza a manifestar problemas de conducta y decide cambiar las prácticas de sus partidos de béisbol por las clases de baile. El episodio que define su participación en este blog es "Burning With Rage Forever" (temporada 23, episodio once), en donde se pone del lado de un amigo que sufría bullying y asume su bisexualidad frente a su madre, quien lo toma de una manera natural, como podría esperarse de alguien que ha presenciado crímenes sexuales de horrible factura. Noah, con ocho años de edad, es considerado el personaje LGBTQ más joven de la historia de la franquicia "Law and Order". Valga recordar que, además de "Unidad de Víctimas Especiales", el personaje ha aparecido en un episodio de "Organized Crime", otra serie de la familia televisiva creada por Dick Wolf.

[crinformativa-blog]

Hospital San Carlos Recibe delegación de médicos rumanos para explorar sistema de salud costarricense

CR Informativa | redaccion@crinformativa.com Esta semana, quince médicos de la Universidad Transilvania de Brasov, Rumania, visitaron el Hospital San Carlos con el objetivo de conocer el sistema de salud de Costa Rica. Los especialistas en cardiología, neurología, pediatría, radiología y medicina interna exploraron las instalaciones. El director médico, Dr. Edgar Carrillo Rojas, destacó la…

[wendellcapili]

I learned from a post of my colleague, Prof. Gerry T Los Baños, that Prof. Carlos Ojeda Aureus (1947-2024) had passed. Caloy was a retired professor in literature and previous holder of the Diamond Jubilee Professorial Chair at the UP Department of English and Comparative Literature. Armed with experiences as a scholar at El Instituto de Cooperación Iberoamericana (ICI) en Madrid, he taught Latin and Spanish at UP's Department of European Languages. “Nagueños” is his highly acclaimed collection of short fiction on the people and places across Naga. “The Late Comer,” his story, won first prize in the 1996 Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature. His other stories, “Chinita,” Flake of Fire, Bodies of Light,” “Wings,” “Typhoon,” and especially “The night train does not stop here anymore,” also deserve some more critical attention. Also in dire need of revisiting is Caloy’s The Catholic Imagination, published in the inaugural issue of Humanities Diliman (Vol. 1, no. 1, Jan. 2000 - Jun. 2000: 92-108).

His Ph.D. dissertation in UP entitled “Towards a Dialogical Reading of W. B. Yeats' Vision” (1992) is a pioneering contribution to Anglo-American literary studies from a unique postcolonial subject-position. Together with Retired Professor Lilia Fuentebella Realubit, Professors Paz Verdades Santos, and Tito Valiente, and supported by Naga City Mayor (1988-1998, 2001-2010) Jessie Robredo, Naga City Administrator (now Representative) Gabriel Bordado and Ateneo de Naga President (1988-1999) Fr. Raul Bonoan S.J., Caloy co-organized the first-ever Bikol Writers Workshop in Naga (1993). The workshop proved to be a catalyst for the resurgence of Bikol writing many years later. Caloy was proud of his experiences as a 1970 Silliman National Writers' Workshop fellow with National Artist Ricky Lee, Albert Casuga, Conrad de Quiros, and Wilfredo Pascua Sanchez. He frequently reminisced about Dumaguete and his writing friends in Silliman, including Francis Macansantos, Christine Godinez Ortega, Anthony Tan, and Rowena Tiempo Torrevillas. I will never forget bumping into Caloy over lunch at Casaa, where we purchased takeaway food during the late 1980s and early 1990s, or having coffee and meals with Dr Realubit in UP Diliman's Chateau Verde and his mom, Tita Teresing Ojeda Aureus, around Naga's Plaza Quince Martires and Plaza Rizal during the 1990s. On 19 August 2023, writer and translator Victor Dennis T. Nierva organized a walking tour of Naga based on iconic landmarks identified by Caloy in his Nagueños. Before he passed away, he was working on the biography of Dr. Realubit. Despite his brilliance, Caloy remained kind and very humble. I am sure his students will miss him.

[getyernazzumz]

And so we say farewell to Ian Gibson, who has finally lost his long battle with cancer.

Ian came to my attention as an 'art droid' on 2000AD: he drew Judge Dredd, DR and Quince and RoboHunter. But it is as the creator of Halo Jones that he will be best remembered.

Ian was a master of line drawing. In his pictures he created emotion, he showed action and he portrayed beauty. I honestly believe that no other artist could have drawn Halo Jones so successfully and so deserves to be recognised as her creator (if not originator).

Ian was also a genuinely decent human being. In later life he connected with his fans via social media - taking commissions, offering advice and chatting to folk who had idolised him like an old pal.

The world is a poorer place for his passing, but his time on earth enriched us all.