#stephen boyer

[beggars-opera]

Linnda Caporael: lol everyone in the Salem Witch Trials was on acid

Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum trying to explain the intricate web of religious, class, and personal conflicts that would actually cause a small isolated village of extremist, ptsd-ridden people to kill each other:

[peterlorrefanpage]

Let's Play Ping Pong With Peter Lorre

Just felt like collecting the Peter Lorre ping-pong pictures in one place. Any others?

The bottom one is Conrad Veidt + Peter Lorre during the simultaneous shooting of the three versions of "F.P.1 antwortet nicht," 1932 (Peter was in the German version, Conrad in the English; Charles Boyer was in the French):

"After dinner, there was only one diversion—Ping-Pong. Much to everyone’s amusement, the six-foot-five Veidt and the five-foot-five Lorre—who tipped the scale at the same undisclosed weight—paired up. 'And these two guys, the one who played ‘Caligari’ and the other one who played the mass murderer in M became a team in Ping-Pong that was unbeatable,' said [screenwriter Walter] Reisch. 'It was not just if we win tonight, it was a matter of life and death to win the tournament. Not for the money, but there was a gala reception afterwards and a medal. And these guys played together like a team, with beautiful timing.'"

And not too much later:

News of Lorre’s arrival in Los Angeles had preceded him by over a month. “In all of the newspapers here, we read of his coming,” Elisabeth Hauptmann wrote Walter Benjamin in Paris. “One has to congratulate the man who engaged the ‘genius actor.’” Hollywood extended a warm welcome to the Lorres. Invitations summoned Peter and Celia to lavish Viennese and Tyrolean dinner parties, where they mixed with old friends such as Fritz Lang, G.W. Pabst, Billy Wilder, and Franz Waxman and met new ones, among them Jean Negulesco, Delmer Daves, Paul Muni, and Olivia de Havilland. The Friedrich Hollaenders also enrolled Lorre—along with Ernst Lubitsch, Conrad Veidt, and Josef von Sternberg—for their Sunday afternoon Ping-Pong tournaments."

All quotes from "The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre" by Stephen D. Youngkin.

[mylifeinfiction]

The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones

Scars proved you lived.

I admittedly have a pretty serious love/hate relationship with Jade Daniels. Her papers throughout My Heart Is a Chainsaw really tested my patience, and her immaturity throughout the events of that book seemed a bit too much. But the person she begins to grow into by the end of Chainsaw and throughout the events of the all-around masterpiece that is the middle book of this trilogy, Don't Fear the Reaper , is so interesting and complete that I couldn't help but fall in love with Jade Daniels and every blood-soaked thing for which she stands.

"...the cool thing about trilogies is you get to use every last part of the buffalo."

Stephen Graham Jones's The Angel of Indian Lake isn't quite the all-around horror masterpiece that Reaper is, but it is a wholly worthy final chapter in The Indian Lake Trilogy, or: The Savage History of Proofrock, Idaho. Throughout the trilogy, we've seen Jade Daniels go from immature, delusional slasher fantasist, to begrudgingly badass final girl, to hesitant horror historian. Best to call it the The Violent Coming-of-Age of a Reluctantly Willing Final Girl. It's an authentically compelling character arc that relishes the romance of the final girl without ever shying away from the traumatic weight of the role and the cyclical nature of violence throughout the history America.

She's right. In the rock/paper/scissors of horror, chainsaw always wins. Cops and guns don't work against slashers, trucks and fire are big fat fails, but a chainsaw? If you've got a chainsaw, you're pretty damn golden.

The Angel of Indian Lake ties the trilogy together so beautifully, so viciously, that even its flaws are fascinating. SGJ makes the risky decision to close out Jade's story by throwing us headfirst into her mind, writing Angel in an (often stream-of-conscious) first-person narrative. Jade's mind is a chaotic, damaged landscape that can often create pacing issues due to her unfocused, rambling narration, but it also gives us a deeper look into the root of these horrific events, bringing the many disjointed storylines together in a brutally bloody, emotionally exhausting and thematically cathartic manner.

And the plotting itself is even more risky, bringing together every last piece of this epic horror saga in a batshit crazy onslaught of slaughter. But thankfully, SGJ's vision is complete, and he conducts these exceedingly insane displays of slasher carnage in a way that only ever enriches the overarching themes; and more than makes up for the lulls between. The climactic massacre is so dam wild, and I loved every bizarre, messy minute of it. Jade and those she loves are seriously put through the wringer, here, but it all comes together for such a fitting, bittersweet ending that brings Jade to exactly where she needs to be.

Despite those pacing issues and some moments of feeling completely lost among all those players and plot-points, SGJ sticks the landing, delivering a third installment that does indeed "mash that pedal to the floor until it gets stuck", and thankfully never loses traction.

It's supposed to mean Proofrock's slasher days are over.

8/10

-Timothy Patrick Boyer.

[killingsboys]

read in 2023!

i did a reading thread last year and really enjoyed it so i am doing another one this year!! as always, you can find me on goodreads and my askbox is always open!

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book by J.R.R. Tolkien (★★★★☆)

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo* (★★★★★)

Beowulf by Unknown, translated by Seamus Heaney (★★★★☆)

The Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Lee (★★★★☆)

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo (★★★★★)

Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Carmen Maria Machado (★★★★☆)

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (★★★★★)

The Shadow of Kyoshi by F.C. Lee (★★★★☆)

The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta (★★★★★)

Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson (★★☆☆☆)

Sharks in the Rivers by Ada Limón (★★★☆☆)

Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R.F. Kuang (★★★★★)

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley (★★★★★)

Paper Girls, Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, and Matt Wilson (★★★☆☆)

Paper Girls, Volume 2 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, and Matt Wilson (★★★☆☆)

There Are Trans People Here by H. Melt (★★★★★)

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson (★★★★☆)

Paper Girls, Volume 3 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, and Matt Wilson (★★★☆☆)

Paper Girls, Volume 4 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, and Matt Wilson (★★★☆☆)

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (★★★★☆)

Paper Girls, Volume 5 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, and Matt Wilson (★★★☆☆)

The Guest List by Lucy Foley (★★☆☆☆)

Paper Girls, Volume 6 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, and Matt Wilson (★★★☆☆)

The Princess Bride by William Goldman (★★★★☆)

Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (★★★★★)

Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid* (★★★★★)

Goldie Vance, Volume 1 by Hope Larson, Brittney Williams

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White (★★★★☆)

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (★★★★☆)

The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (★★★☆☆)

Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Y. Davis (★★★★★)

The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (★★★☆☆)

Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell Jr. (★★☆☆☆)

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (★★★★★)

Going Dark by Melissa de la Cruz (★★★☆☆)

Working 9 to 5: A Women's Movement, a Labor Union, and the Iconic Movie by Ellen Cassedy (★★★★☆)

Why Didn't They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

The Waste Land and Other Poems by T.S. Eliot

The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley (★★★★☆)

Hollow by Shannon Watters, Branden Boyer-White, and Berenice Nelle (★★★★☆)

Heavy Vinyl, Volume 1: Riot on the Radio by Nina Vakueva and Carly Usdin (★★★★☆)

Burn Down, Rise Up by Vincent Tirado (★★★☆☆)

Heavy Vinyl, Volume 2: Y2K-O! by Nina Vakueva and Carly Usdin (★★★★☆)

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (★★★★☆)

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (★★★★★)

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo (★★★★★)

The Backstagers, Vol 1: Rebels Without Applause by James Tynion IV, Rian Sygh, and Walter Baiamonte (★★★☆☆)

The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson (★★★★☆)

The Backstagers, Vol 2: The Show Must Go On by James Tynion IV, Rian Sygh, and Walter Baiamonte (★★★☆☆)

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (★★★★☆)

Happy Place by Emily Henry (★★★★★)

After Dark with Roxie Clark by Brooke Lauren Davis (★★★☆☆)

Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones (★★★☆☆)

Lord of the Flies by William Golding (★★★★☆)

A Little Bit Country by Brian D. Kennedy (★★★★☆)

Built From the Fire: The Epic Story of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, America’s Black Wall Street by Victor Luckerson (★★★★★)

Cheer Up!: Love and Pompoms by Crystal Frasier, Oscar O. Jupiter, and Val Wise (★★★★★)

All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens throughout the Ages by assorted authors, edited by Saundra Mitchell (★★★★☆)

Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher** (★★★★☆)

St. Juniper's Folly by Alex Crespo** (★★★★★)

The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan** (★★☆☆☆)

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (★★★★★)

Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould** (★★★★☆)

Your Lonely Nights Are Over by Adam Sass** (★★★★★)

Princess Princess Ever After by Kay O’Neill (★★★☆☆)

Thieves' Gambit by Kayvion Lewis** (★★★☆☆)

The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron (★★★☆☆)

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield (★★★★☆)

Devotions by Mary Oliver (★★★★★)

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan* (★★★★☆)

The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan* (★★★★☆)

The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan* (★★★★★)

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan (★★★★★)

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan (★★★★★)

Suddenly a Murder by Lauren Muñoz** (★★★★☆)

The Demigod Files by Rick Riordan (★★★★☆)

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (★★★★★)

All That’s Left to Say by Emery Lord (★★★★★)

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan (★★★★☆)

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee (★★★☆☆)

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan (★★★★☆)

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Joseph Andrew White (★★★★★)

Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

M Is for Monster by Talia Dutton (★★★★☆)

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan (★★★★★)

Our Shadows Have Claws: 15 Latin American Monster Stories by assorted authors, edited by Yamile Saied Méndez and Amparo Ortiz (★★★★☆)

These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall (★★★★☆)

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (★★★★★)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins* (★★★★★)

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston (★★★★☆)

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins* (★★★★★)

The October Country by Ray Bradbury (★★★★☆)

Hamlet by William Shakespeare (★★★★☆)

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving (★★★★☆)

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins* (★★★★★)

The Appeal by Janice Hallett (★★★★☆)

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (★★★★☆)

The Carrying: Poems by Ada Limón (★★★★★)

The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler-Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917-2017 by Rashid Khalidi (★★★★★)

Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen (★★★★★)

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins* (★★★★★)

Know My Name by Chanel Miller (★★★★★)

Rifqa by Mohammed El-Kurd (★★★★★)

Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia E. Butler (★★★★☆)

The Witch Haven by Sasha Peyton Smith* (★★★★★)

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

The Essential Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson (★★★★★)

A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On by Franny Choi (★★★★★)

The Witch Hunt by Sasha Peyton Smith (★★★★☆)

That’s Not My Name by Megan Lally** (★★★★☆)

The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher (★★★★☆)

The House of Hades by Rick Riordan (★★★★☆)

Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson (★★★★☆)

Pageboy by Elliot Page (★★★★★)

All This and Snoopy, Too by Charles M. Schultz (★★★★☆)

The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan (★★★★☆)

Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter (★★★★☆)

The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill** (★★☆☆☆)

Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente (★★★★☆)

The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei (★★★★☆)

Spell on Wheels Vol. 1 by Kate Leth, Megan Levens, and Marissa Louise (★★★★☆)

Spell on Wheels Vol. 2: Just to Get to You by Kate Leth, Megan Levens, and Marissa Louise (★★★★☆)

Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Y. Davis (★★★★☆)

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (★★★★☆)

The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett (★★★★☆)

So Far So Good: Final Poems: 2014 - 2018 by Ursula K. Le Guin (★★★★☆)

Murder on the Christmas Express by Alexandra Benedict (★☆☆☆☆)

Midwinter Murder: Fireside Tales from the Queen of Mystery by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon (★★★★☆)

Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (★★★★★)

The Twelve Days of Murder by Andreina Cordani (★★★★☆)

The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson (★★★★☆)

The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

The Twenty-Ninth Year by Hala Alyan (★★★☆☆)

Christmas Presents by Lisa Unger (★★★☆☆)

Letters From Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien

Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia (★★★★☆)

An asterisk (*) indicates a reread. A double asterisk (**) indicates an ARC.

[malkments]

video description:

Stephen Malkmus performing the end of Freeze the Saints. He plays the tambourine a bit too enthusiastically and knocks over bandmate Mike Clark’s equipment. Malkmus grimaces apologetically.

seattle, neptune theater, 2014 recorded and uploaded to YouTube by Matt Boyer

[lunarxdaydream]

RULES, TAG 10 FOLLOWERS  YOU WANT TO GET TO KNOW BETTER!

tagged by: @arcxnumvitae​ tagging: anyone!

NAME: Steph STAR SIGN: Aries HEIGHT: 5′2″ (travel friendly!) MIDDLE NAME: Sorry I don’t share that 😅

PUT YOUR ITUNES/SPOTIFY/YOUTUBE ON SHUFFLE. WHAT ARE THE FIRST 6 SONGS THAT POPPED UP?

1. Volver Volver - Vincente Fernandez 2. And the Waltz Goes On - André Rieu & Johann Strauss Orchestra 3. You’re Gonna Leave (Acoustic) - Stephen Marley 4. Hikari - Royal Scandal 5. Fleur Blanche - Örsten 6. Aprendiz - Alejandro Sanz

EVER HAD A POEM OR SONG WRITTEN ABOUT YOU: Only one time that I was able to read it but the second was sent directly to my house and uh ... yeah, someone else got a hold of it before I did so I never had the chance to read it  😅

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU PLAYED AIR GUITAR: Earlier today when I was on facetime with my dad. He plays guitar so it was more to practice my dexterity as I’m trying to learn how to play it whenever I visit him meanwhile working on the piano at home. 

WHO IS YOUR CELEBRITY CRUSH?: Hmm ... I don’t really know? I think there are some good looking celeberties like Cristano Ronaldo, Michael B. Jordan, Chayanne (oh man back in the day he was the guy), Chris Hemsworth, good ol’ Henry Cavill, Zendaya and Angelique Boyer. 

WHAT’S A SOUND YOU HATE; SOUND YOU LOVE?: Scrapping of utensils on a plate that makes this weird screech sound and anything close to nails on a chalkboard. As for what I love, it’s the loud clickity clack of a keyboard and best of all: a doggo’s nails clicking on wood floors!  

DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS?:Eh ... so so, like I’m not a die hard believer but I also won’t walk into a creepy place where someone was murdered and poke to ask the spirits because I ain’t about to have an exorcist episode in my house, nope nope nope. 

HOW ABOUT ALIENS: Hmm ... I’m not really sure. I’ll listen to a friend of mines talk about it but I don’t really have much of an opinion either way. 

DO YOU DRIVE?: Absolutely! I enjoy it, especially when it’s some nice curvy roads! 

IF SO HAVE YOU EVER CRASHED: Just a minor accident or two that wasn’t my fault, never anything major. 

WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ?: I’m working through ‘The War of Two Queens’  when I’m home but I’m going to start ‘Fourth Wing’ this weekend as my travel book since I will be going out of town (again). So ... I guess both???

DO YOU LIKE THE SMELL OF GASOLINE: I definitely do! I mean, I’m not sniffing it like a maniac but I do enjoy it. Maybe it’s because my husband is a complete motorhead so we tend to do a lot of car activities and my uncle owned a mechanic shop that we used to visit a lot and my dad for a few years so I guess it’s a comforting thing for me. 

WHAT WAS THE LAST MOVIE YOU SAW?: The Little Mermaid

WHAT’S THE WORST INJURY YOU’VE EVER HAD?: Oooof which one? Let’s see ... probably when I (foolishly) decided to chase after my husband in our previous home with socks on wood floors and right when I turned the corner, I slipped and not only did my back hit the bottom edge of the staircase but I also sprained my ankle and bruised my head. Aside of that, when I fell down the stairs after getting a leash tangled. 

DO YOU HAVE ANY OBSESSIONS RIGHT NOW?: Breath of the Wild! So it’s a game I’ve had on backlog and played it on and off. Now that I have to travel a ton, it’s been the main game I’m playing and I’m hooked. It just took a while for me to get really into it but man is it a blast. 

[wadbot]

Venom.wad: VENOM E1M3 (3760, -1312, -153) Author: Stephen K. Boyer Date: 1995-12-21 Description: As I was saying, this was my first level for Doom

[theyoungbattler65]

If Brandon Santiago's Erma was gonna turn into a fully animated series, here’s what my cast would be like..

- [ ] Erma Williams-Stephanie Sheh

- [ ] Sam Williams-Alejandro Saab

- [ ] Emiko Williams-Dominique McElligott

- [ ] Siris-Derek Stephen Prince

- [ ] Connor-Christian J. Simon

- [ ] Miko-Grey Griffin

- [ ] Amy-Tara Strong

- [ ] Terry-Chris Netherton

- [ ] Felicia-JazzyGuns

- [ ] Sidney-Kira Buckland

- [ ] Regan Williams-Kathy-Chan

- [ ] Michael Williams-Vic Mignogna

- [ ] Emily Williams-Mia Talerico

- [ ] Diablo (Connor’s sister)-Jessica Dicicco

- [ ] Principal Phibes-Dave Fennoy

- [ ] Sylvia (Felicia’s sister)-Grey Griffin

- [ ] Amaya Yūreimoto-Judi Dench

- [ ] Osamu Yūreimoto-David Kaye

- [ ] Kentaro Yūreimoto-CJ Dachamp

- [ ] Rin Yūreimoto-Erica Lindbeck

- [ ] Ena Yūreimoto-Tara Strong

- [ ] Mayumi Yūreimoto-Stephanie Sheh

- [ ] Fumiko Yūreimoto-Tara Strong

- [ ] Haru Kappa-Scott McNeil

- [ ] Yori Yūreimoto-Jamie Lynn Marchi

- [ ] Mitsu Yūreimoto-Jessica DiCicco

- [ ] Momo Yūreimoto- Kelly Boyer/Chi-Chi

- [ ] Toru-Chris Sabat

- [ ] Kiko-Cree Summer

- [ ] Mei-Tara Strong

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Angela Lansbury, the irrepressible three-time Oscar nominee and five-time Tony Award winner who solved 12 seasons’ worth of crimes as the novelist/amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher on CBS’ Murder, She Wrote, has died. She was 96.

Lansbury, who received an Emmy nomination for best actress in a drama series for each and every season of Murder, She Wrote — yet never won — died in her sleep at 1:30 a.m. (Tuesday) at her home in Los Angeles, her family announced.

She was five days shy of her birthday.

Lansbury went 0-for-18 in career Emmy noms but did get some love from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who gave her an honorary Oscar in 2013 for her career as “an entertainment icon who has created some of cinema’s most memorable characters, inspiring generations of actors.”

The London-born Lansbury, then 19, received a best supporting actress Oscar nom for her very first film role, as the young maid Nancy in the home of Charles Boyer and his new bride Ingrid Bergman in George Cukor’s Gaslight (1944).

For her third movie, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), she received another nom for playing the lovely singer whose heart is broken by the hedonistic title character.

(Her mother, West End actress Moyna MacGill, played a duchess in the film.)

Lansbury then took a turn toward evil and was rewarded with her final Oscar nom for portraying Laurence Harvey’s manipulative mother in the Cold War classic The Manchurian Candidate (1962).

The actress often played characters much older than herself, and in this case, Harvey was just a few years younger than Lansbury.

Her charismatic performance as the eccentric title character in a 1966 production of Mame vaulted her to Broadway superstardom and resulted in the first of her four Tonys for best actress in a musical.

She followed with wins for playing “the madwoman of Chaillot” in 1969’s Dear World, with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman; for starring as the ultimate stage mother Rose in a 1974 revival of Gypsy; for dazzling as the off-the-wall Mrs. Lovett in the original 1979 production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd; and, in 2009, for portraying the clairvoyant Madame Arcati in a revival of the Noël Coward farce Blithe Spirit.

She was still on the road in Blithe Spirit as she approached her 90th birthday, and in December 2018, she was back on the big screen, as the Balloon Lady, in Mary Poppins Returns.

In June, she received yet another Tony, this one for lifetime achievement.

In the early 1980s, Lansbury was not interested in headlining a TV series when she was approached by Columbo creators Richard Levinson and William Link to star in Murder, She Wrote.

The pair earlier had created Ellery Queen, another show about a crime-solving writer, and former All in the Family star Jean Stapleton had already turned them down.

“I couldn’t imagine I would ever want to do television,” Lansbury said in a 1985 interview with The New York Times.

“But the year 1983 rolled around and Broadway was not forthcoming, so I took a part in a miniseries, Gertrude Whitney in Little Gloria, Happy at Last [a dramatization of Gloria Vanderbilt‘s childhood].

“And then [there was] a slew of roles in miniseries, and I began to sense that the television audience was very receptive to me, and I decided I should stop flirting and shut the door or say to my agents, ‘I’m ready to think series.'”

Then 59, Lansbury signed on as the widowed Jessica, a retired English teacher, mystery writer and amateur detective who enjoyed riding her bicycle (she didn’t drive) in the cozy coastal town of Cabot Cove, Maine.

Late in the series, Jessica spent time teaching criminology at a Manhattan university.

Universal Television’s Murder, She Wrote ran from 1984-1996 (plus four telefilms) and was a huge ratings hit on Sunday nights following 60 Minutes.

Both CBS shows appealed to intelligent, older viewers, and Lansbury was the rare woman in the history of television to carry her own series.

The show went 0 for 3 in the Emmy race for outstanding drama series and won just twice in 41 tries overall, according to IMDb.

“Nobody in this town watches Murder, She Wrote,” Lansbury, referring to the TV industry, said in 1991. “Only the public watches.”

The show was ranked in the top 13 in the Nielsen ratings (and as high as No. 4) on Sundays in its first 11 seasons but plummeted to No. 58 when CBS moved it to Thursdays in 1995-96 against NBC’s then-powerful lineup.

The series finale, quite appropriately, was titled “Death by Demographics.”

“What appealed to me about Jessica Fletcher,” she said, “is that I could do what I do best and [play someone I have had] little chance to play — a sincere, down-to-earth woman.

Mostly, I’ve played very spectacular bitches. Jessica has extreme sincerity, compassion, extraordinary intuition. I’m not like her. My imagination runs riot. I’m not a pragmatist. Jessica is.”

During the course of 12 seasons, Jessica solved some 300 murders — and still had time to write more than 30 books!

Angela Brigid Lansbury was born on 16 October 1925 in London to a timber-merchant father and an actress mother, a star of the English stage.

She participated in school plays at Hampstead School for Girls and studied for a year at drama school, passing with honors at the Royal Academy of Music.

With the outbreak of World War II, she, her mother and her younger twin brothers, Bruce and Edgar, moved to the U.S.

(Her father had died when she was 9; her half-sister stayed behind and married actor Peter Ustinov in 1940.)

The blue-eyed Lansbury attended the Feagin School of Dramatic Art in New York City and graduated in 1942.

Although still in her mid-teens, she auditioned for nightclub appearances.

Her songs and imitations of comic actress Beatrice Lillie won her an offer from the Samovar Club in Montreal. She fibbed about her age and got a six-week engagement.

Her mother, who had wound up in Hollywood at the end of the war, brought her daughter to California.

The 18-year-old was signed by MGM and given the role in Gaslight. She then appeared in National Velvet (1944) with Elizabeth Taylor but spent much of the next several years stuck in small parts at the studio.

“I ended up playing some of the most ridiculous roles at MGM,” she said.

But Lansbury found a home in the theater. She made her Broadway debut in 1957 in the farce Hotel Paradiso, and her first musical came with the 1964 Sondheim production Anyone Can Whistle.

On the big screen, Lansbury also was memorable as Elvis Presley’s mom in Blue Hawaii (1961), as a cold-hearted parent in The World of Henry Orient (1964), as the English witch Eglantine Price in Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) and as the teapot Mrs. Potts in the animated Beauty and the Beast (1991).

Warming up for her Murder, She Wrote stint, Lansbury starred in two Agatha Christie projects: as a novelist in Death on the Nile (1978) and as the spinster sleuth Miss Marple in The Mirror Crack’d (1980).

When she was 19, she wed actor Richard Cromwell, then 37, but the marriage lasted less than a year. She later discovered he was gay.

In 1949, she wed British agent and producer Peter Shaw, and they were together until his death in 2003. They had two children, Anthony and Deirdre.

In 1971, after her house burned to the ground in Malibu, the family moved to a farmhouse in Cork, Ireland, and stayed there for a decade. She said that saved her kids from succumbing to drugs.

Her brothers also went on to show business careers, with Edgar working as an art director and producer, and Bruce, who died in February 2017, serving as a producer on Murder, She Wrote; The Wild Wild West; Wonder Woman; and other shows.

In addition to Edgar, Anthony and Deirdre, survivors include another son, David; grandchildren Peter, Katherine and Ian; and five great-grandchildren.

A private family ceremony will be held at a date to be determined.

Duane Byrge contributed to this report.

[oldbaton]

Are you excited for Kimberly Akimbo???

I am! I love Victoria and Stephen Boyer and Ali Mauzy and Bonnie Milligan. (I should point out that Victoria is from DFW 😊). I’m excited to see what it’s like I know refreshingly not a lot. And obviously Jeanine Tesori is one of the most reliable in the game.

Fun fact: a friend offered me a ticket to it off Broadway. Along with funds being light, I thought it sounded dumb so I passed. Dumb me.

[iamodyseus]

Mi Año en Lecturas (Terminadas y Recomendadas) [En Orden Alfabético]

Adiós a Todo Eso – Ernest Hemingway (Novela)

Agripina: Primera Emperatriz de Roma – Emma Southon (Investigación Histórica)

Alejandro Magno y las Águilas de Roma – Javier Negrete (Novela Ficción Histórica)

Aquitania – Eva García Sáenz de Ururti (Novela Ficción Histórica)

Biografía de la Inhumanidad –José Antonio Marina (Investigación)

Breve Historia del Mundo – Ernst H. Gombrich (Historia)

Breves Respuestas a las Grandes Preguntas – Stephen Hawking (Divulgación)

Caos: El Poder de los Idiotas – Juan Luis Cebrián (Investigación)

Clicks Contra la Humanidad: Libertad y Resistencia en la Era de la Distracción Tecnológica – James Williams (Investigación)

Desmorir: Una Reflexión sobre la Enfermedad en un Mundo Capitalista – Anne Boyer (Investigación)

Dignos de Ser Humanos – Rutger Bregman (Investigación)

El Cura Hidalgo y sus Amigos – Paco Ignacio Taibo II (Investigación Histórica)

El Extraño Caso de Benjamín Button – F. Scott Fitzgerald (Cuento)

El Hombre Ilustrado – Ray Bradbury (Cuentos)

El Llano en Llamas – Juan Rulfo (Novela Costumbrista)

El País de los Ciegos – H. G. Wells (Cuento)

El Poder de las Historias: O Cómo han Cautivado al Ser Humano, desde La Ilíada hasta Harry Potter – Martin Puchner (Investigación)

El Precio era Alto – F. Scott Fitzgerald (Cuentos)

Expiación – Ian McEwan (Novela)

Fahrenheit 451– Ray Bradbury (Novela)

Filosofía a Martillazos – Darío Sztajnszrajber (Filosofía)

Guía del Autoestopista Galáctico – Douglas Adams (Novela)

Humanos: Una Historia de Cómo la Hemos Pifiado – Tom Phillips (Investigación Histórica)

Identidad: La Demanda de Dignidad y Las Políticas de Resentimiento – Francis Fukuyama (Investigación)

La Invasión de América – Antonio Espino (Historia)

La Noche en que Frankenstein Leyó El Quijote – Santiago Posteguillo (Divulgación)

La Odisea – Homero (Epopeya)

La Ridícula Idea de No Volver a Verte – Rosa Montero (Memoirs/Investigación)

La Ruta Prohibida y Otros Enigmas de la Historia – Javier Sierra (Investigación)

Las Caras Ocultas de Hernán Cortés – Alejandro Rosas (Investigación Histórica)

Las Epidemias Políticas – Peter Sloterdijk (Investigación)

Locos por los Clásicos: Todo lo que Debes Saber sobre los Autores Griegos y Latinos – Emilio del Río (Divulgación)

Meditaciones – Marco Aurelio Antonino (Filosofía)

México Bizarro – Alejandro Rosas & Julio Patán (Relatos)

Mundo Orwell: Manual de Supervivencia para un Mundo Hiperconectado – Ángel Gómez de Ágrieda (Investigación)

París era una Fiesta – Ernest Hemingway (Memoirs)

Pequeño Elogio de la Fuga del Mundo – Rémy Oudghiri (Relatos)

Reflexiones – Aristóteles (Filosofía)

Sobre el Anarquismo – Noam Chomsky (Filosofía)

SPQR: Una Historia de la Antigua Roma – Mary Beard (Investigación Histórica)

Suave es La Noche – F. Scott Fitzgerald (Novela)

Un Mundo Feliz – Aldous Huxley (Novela)

Un Paraíso en el Infierno – Rebecca Solnit (Investigación)

Un Verdor Terrible – Benjamín Labatut (Relatos)

Una Historia Diferente del Mundo – Fernando Trías de Bes (Investigación)

Una Princesa de Marte – Edgar Rice Burroughs (Novela)

[mylifeinfiction]

I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones

Schting!

I really should have known better. For some ridiculous reason I went into this expecting a straight-forward, bloody slasher book told from the slasher's point-of-view. What I got was an inventively written examination of horror as a whole that gleefully dismantles the tropes of the genre to further understand—and therefore better execute—what they represent at their core.

Just because you learned it from VHS tapes doesn't mean it was bullshit, right?

Stephen Graham Jones's I Was a Teenage Slasher is so much more than just another horror thesis from one of the most resounding voices in literary horror, though. In addition to dissecting the genre, Jones also expertly utilizes each and every one of the tropes he's dissecting to deliver a deeply affecting coming-of-age story about the complex connection of friendship, the crushing weight of grief and trauma, and the forlorn feeling of being an outsider looking in.

The crowd I do run with are . . . well. We're the ones with black hearts and red hands. Masks and machetes.

This may not be the story I was expecting, but through Jones's brilliantly executed prose and astounding character work, he's able to tackle these themes in a wholly unpredictable manner that makes them simultaneously feel every bit as familiar and relatable as they do utterly groundbreaking.

The world's so much simpler when you've got a chainsaw in your hand, isn't it? A chainsaw or a machete or an axe, that's the elegant solution to every problem.

I Was a Teenage Slasher is horror lit in its highest, most unassuming form; a violently empathetic piece that delivers its maniacal slasher mayhem while never solely relying upon it.

It's liberating, not having to be yourself, isn't it?

9/10

-Timothy Patrick Boyer.

[killingsboys]

new septembers readathon book recs

i like making lists so i thought it would be fun to make a list of recommendations that fit at least one prompt in case people were struggling to find books!! every book on this list, i have either already read & enjoyed, or it's on my tbr:) books i have not read yet will be marked by an asterisk! and if you're not joining the readathon, this can still help you find some good books to read this autumn :)

The Witch Haven by Sasha Peyton Smith (a book about witches)

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna* (a book about witches, a cozy fantasy)

Our Shadows Have Claws: 15 Latin American Monster Stories edited by Yamile Saied Méndez and Amparo Ortiz (a creepy/horror book, a short story collection)

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang (dark academia, a book that takes place (partially) in september)

Mexican Gothic by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia (a book about a haunted house, a creepy/horror book, a gothic novel)

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman* (a book about witches, an autumnal romance)

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (dark academia, a book that takes place (partially) in september)

Weyward by Emilia Hart* (a book about witches)

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (a gothic novel, an autumnal classic)

Payback's a Witch by Lana Harper* (a book about witches, an autumnal romance)

Your Lonely Nights Are Over by Adam Sass (a creepy/horror book, a september 2023 release)

Wild Is the Witch by Rachel Griffin* (a book about witches)

Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones (a creepy/horror book)

The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling* (a book about witches, an autumnal romance)

After Dark with Roxie Clark by Brooke Lauren Davis (a murder mystery, a book with a red cover)

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston* (an autumnal romance)

Saint Juniper's Folly by Alex Crespo (a creepy/horror book, a book about a haunted house)

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow* (a book about witches)

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio (dark academia, a book that takes place (partially) in september)

Legends & Lattes* by Travis Baldree* (a cozy fantasy, an autumnal romance)

Hollow by Shannon Watters, Branden Boyer-White, Berenice Nelle, and more (a graphic novel, a retelling/reimagining)

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas* (a book about a haunted house, a creepy/horror book)

M Is for Monster by Talia Dutton (a graphic novel, a retelling/reimagining)

Slasher Girls & Monster Boys edited by April Genevieve Tucholke (a creepy/horror book, a short story collection)

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake* (dark academia)

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron (a creepy/horror book, a book with a red cover)

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher* (a creepy/horror book, a retelling/reimagining, a gothic novel)

Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie (a murder mystery, a book with an orange cover)

Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill* (a creepy/horror book, a retelling/reimagining)

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Joseph Andrew White (a creepy/horror book, a gothic novel, a september 2023 release)

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson* (a creepy/horror book, a book about vampires, a retelling/reimagining)

Why Didn't They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie (a murder mystery)

A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher* (a gothic novel, a creepy/horror book)

Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie (a book with an orange cover)

House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson* (a book about vampires, a creepy/horror book)

Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson (dark academia, an autumnal classic)

Over My Dead Body by Sweeney Boo* (a graphic novel, a book about witches, a book that takes place at a private/boarding school)

Suddenly a Murder by Lauren Muñoz (a murder mystery, a september 2023 release)

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu* (a creepy/horror book, a book about vampires, a book with a red cover, an autumnal classic)

Thieves' Gambit by Kayvion Lewis (a book with a red cover, a september 2023 release)

Coven by Jennifer Dugan, Kit Seaton* (a graphic novel, a book about witches)

Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould (a creepy/horror book, a book with an orange cover)

The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes* (a book with a yellow cover)

I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman* (a book with an orange cover)

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson* (a creepy/horror book, an autumnal classic)

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (autumnal romance, a book with a red cover)

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie (a murder mystery, a book with a red cover)

She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran* (a creepy/horror book)

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (an autumnal classic)

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (an autumnal classic, a book that (partially) takes place in september)

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland (a creepy/horror book)

She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippincott, Alyson Derrick* (a book with a yellow cover, a book that (partially) takes place in september)

These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall (a creepy/horror book, a book about a haunted house)

Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall (a creepy/horror book)

The Gathering Dark: An Anthology of Folk Horror edited by Tori Bovalino (a creepy/horror book, a short story collection)

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (an autumnal romance, an autumnal classic, a book with a red cover)

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand (a creepy/horror book)

Dracula by Bram Stoker (a book about vampires, a creepy/horror book, an autumnal classic)

The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson (a creepy/horror book, a retelling/reimagining)

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (a murder mystery)

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (a creepy/horror book, an autumnal classic)

The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow, Liz Lawson (a murder mystery)

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (an autumnal classic)

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro (a retelling/reimagining, a murder mystery, a book that takes place at a private/boarding school)

Macbeth by William Shakespeare (an autumnal classic)

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson (a murder mystery, a book that takes place at a private/boarding school, a book that (partially) takes place in september)

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill (a murdery mystery)

If I Have to Be Haunted by Miranda Sun* (a book with an orange cover, an autumnal romance, september 2023 release)

Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Carmen Maria Machado (short story collection, creepy/horror book)

On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (a book with a yellow cover, a book that takes place at a boarding/private school)

The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould (a creepy/horror book)

Crooked House by Agatha Christie (a murder mystery, a book that (partially) takes place in september, a book with a red cover)

Ace of Spades by Fariday Àbíké-Íyímídé (dark academia)

Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas (retelling/reimagining)

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (a cozy fantasy)

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (an autumnal classic, a creepy/horror book, a book about a haunted house, a book with an orange cover)

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (an autumnal classic)

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (an autumnal classic)

Tripping Arcadia by Kit Mayquist* (a creepy/horror book, a gothic novel)

[s-o-n-de-r]

REVIEW: The Academic

Review by Travis Boyer

Photo by: Wolff

Chances are, you’re not entirely the same as you were a number of years ago. Rock bands are no exception, especially after reaching incredible heights at the beginning of your career. Five years after their debut album, “Tales From The Backseat,” topped the Irish music charts, indie rock band The Academic have returned with their follow-up record, “Sitting Pretty.” In addition, the band is set to embark on a 14 stop, North American tour, kicking off on April 9 in Toronto. During a recent 1824 press conference, The Academic talked in-depth about their new album and how they’ve progressed as a group.  

After their 2018 debut, the quartet from Mullingar, Ireland signed with Capitol Records in 2020. However, the journey towards a second album, much like the rest of the world, was put on pause by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the meantime, The Academic produced a pair of EPs, “Acting My Age” and “Community Spirit,” because they, as lead singer Craig Fitzgerald described it, “respect the album process so much that they didn’t want to do something from home.” However, the lockdown served as a “blessing in disguise,” according to guitarist Matthew Murtagh, because the band was able to become “better at getting ideas across to each other.”

In turn, the band approached the creative process for “Sitting Pretty” as if it were an “open kind of field where we could take the songs in loads of different directions,” Fitzgerald said. Murtagh echoed this, saying that the new album exhibits “not too many frills and excesses," adding that “it’s a good bit more raw.” While in the studio, bass player Stephen Murtagh said that the band “embraced the live element” and, by doing so, stumbled upon “happy accidents” and bits of “magic” in the process, leading to a shared philosophy of following their “intuition.”

To Stephen, prior to “Sitting Pretty,” The Academic could be described as “energetic, boisterous, youthful.” Now, given the passage of time, he defined the band as “mature, pensive, neurotic.” Both of the Murtagh brothers pointed to “Homesick” as emblematic of their new sound with Matthew defining the track as displaying “the most development in our songwriting.” While Stephen noted how the “vulnerable” song being “drenched in reverb” represented a style that they “weren’t quite bold enough to go with” before. In addition, Fitzgerald described “Homesick” as being about “surroundings weighing in on you…making you not exactly present as you want to be in a situation.”

Also, Stephen deemed “My Very Best” the “emotional epicenter of the album.” Coincidentally, the portion of the chorus, “I got the fear,” has a unique meaning in Ireland. According to Stephen, it can refer to the “fear of everything” that may arise in the morning as you sober up from a night of drinking.

With the release of “Sitting Pretty,” The Academic hopes to show that they have matured in the intervening years since bursting onto the scene. What does shine through is a band that sought out ways to grow as a unit. As a result, they have taken a giant step forward in their evolution.

Where you can find The Academic: Instagram | Twitter | TikTok

[katarzynakozlowska]

Stephen Boyer, atakujący Jastrzębskiego Węgla.

MVP kibiców, 9. kolejki PlusLigi.