#the meetinghouse

[emperorofthedark]

I keep hanging around your kitchenette

And I'm gonna get a pot to cook you in

I stick my fingers in your biscuit jar

And crush all your Gingerbread Men

[kamiiri]

Annie’s eyes darted from the carved name to the metallic chain hanging off the top of the stone, its pendant glittering in the moonlight.

“That’s my…” she trailed off, her voice beginning to shake. She instinctively grabbed at the area near her collarbones where that necklace used to sit. She looked up at Ophelia. “I…I gave it to him for luck.”

[revanchistsuperstar]

Speaking of GNC AF grandpas, I’d like everyone to meet mine.

The most bisexual sitter of all time, OG Gay Liberation activist and Unitarian Universalist Minister, Rev Randall Lee Gibson III.

Found this photo today while looking for a good one to put on a sign for our local Pride March this weekend.

Shout out to everyone else out there with bisexual and cunty grandpas.

And RIP Randy, you were a true original.

[mykingdomforapen]

The trailer for Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron is already haunting me. The camera pushing through the hallway of the elderly women scrambling around a secret is just stunning cinema. The quiet blend of magic, nature, and an earnest examination of grief and growing up. The chilling references both realistic and figurative of the (presumably) firebombing of a Tokyo. I’m going to throw up.

[benjhawkins]

The ca. 1758 Harpswell Meetinghouse, the oldest still standing meetinghouse in Maine. Reverend Elisha Eaton and his son, also named Elisha, were responsible for its construction and were preachers for a combined 68 years.

[mysteriouscam]

[superpte]

Morality Of War: Greater Power Must Counter Attack War Criminals

The Nuremberg tribunal in 1945-1946 determined that “the ultimate war crime and crime against humanity is to wage a war of aggression”. War of aggression is certainly what Hamas did on October 7, 2023. Some top Nazis got convicted and executed on the “war of aggression” charge alone.  During World War Two many civilians died in the counterattack of the democracies. And not just civilians from…

[scenicworlds]

September 23, 2022

Video shoot with Eloise & Co. Rockingham, VT.

[litfeathers]

In all the excitement over the HD Hollow Mind paintings getting released, and in the resulting discussion and theorizing of the Wittebane story, I haven’t seen anyone bring up something that is potentially a HUGE part of the puzzle. Which makes sense, because it only appears for a split second in Yesterday’s Lie:

Hopkins shows this picture, says “disaster struck”, and then tells us a bit about the Wittebane brothers, namely that they met a witch and were lured into another world.

There are two options here.

1) The meetinghouse caught fire and started the witch hunt that we see in the HM paintings. The same one that ended with this:

…and it’s entirely possible that Evelyn is the one who blew up the meetinghouse. Why? *shrugs* The witch hunters pissed her off? In any case, that sequence of events would track what Hopkins said (meetinghouse catches fire, witch hunt is called, Caleb and Philip are separated from the pack, and they find Evelyn).

But if this sequence of events is slightly off? He says exactly this:

We know that Caleb was sneaking around with Evelyn for a while before he left. Look at Philip’s hair here vs his hair in the above painting. Time has definitely passed. He even has his ponytail and adult hair noodle.

Further evidence that time has passed? Masha says “they used codes to travel between worlds.” Which I take to mean that the lovebirds traveled back and forth a bunch.

This is where theory two comes in.

Hopkins said the brothers were lured into the BI. We know Caleb left with Evelyn first, and some time later Philip followed them. We don’t know the exact details, but keeping in mind that the fire could have happened at any point before the “luring” (ie Caleb leaving)…

What if this is our scenario instead:

2) Caleb got caught hanging out with a witch, and was arrested. Evelyn blew up the meetinghouse to save him, spiriting him away in front of the whole town. Philip spends years trying to find a natural portal and finally succeeds, entering the BI at Eclipse Lake. He tracks down his brother and the witch.

We know what happens next.

And here’s the kicker: in that new painting, we see Philip watching his brother leave through the portal all happy and carefree.

This seems like just one of many trips. Caleb might or might not know Philip is there. But in any case, it is probably not what Caleb expects to be his last trip. He doesn’t have any possessions with him. He’s not under any sort of duress. And unless he was a MASSIVE jerk, he does not seem to be concerned that he is leaving his little brother forever.

But. What if this is an important memory because it’s the memory of Philip finally catching Caleb in the act?

What if this is the moment that led to Caleb getting caught (perhaps the next day when he returned home), setting into motion the events that required a rescue from his cell in the meetinghouse and for him to escape to the BI permanently?

I mean…what if Philip rattted out Caleb?

[auroraborealis22]

Meetinghouse Hill, Roxbury, Massachusetts - 1799

John Ritto Penniman

[fandom-geek17]

Why I actively think Tyler will be redeemed and Wyler will be endgame based on actual clues and my knowledge about movie-making (and not just because I am a raging Tyler apologist)

This is a long one so strap yourselves in, hahaha

First of all, Hunter Doohan confirmed that Tyler’s feelings for Wednesday were real because he didn’t know who she was or her significance to Laurel’s plan when they first met at the Weathervane. But I’d go even further and claim that he didn’t know her significance during the entire first episode. If he knew, why would he ever offer her a ride out of Jericho and offer her the police file that inadvertently led to her cracking the case and bringing Laurel down (but the argument could also be made that that’s why he gave her that file, to bring his abuser down).

Wednesday makes it abundantly clear over the entire season that she has no interest in Xavier whatsoever and is constantly turned off/annoyed by his presence and antics. And this might just be me personally, but Xavier reminds me a lot of an ex of mine who was extremely entitled, selfish, immature and giving major incel vibes. I feel like Xavier is the type of guy who is nice to a girl only when he is interested and/or wants something. And the way he treated Bianca at the Rave’N (immediate no-no) and immediately goes into pity party-mode whenever someone rejects him just irks me. But again, that might just be me.

Now compare that with Wednesday’s reaction to Tyler’s antics. Wednesday is not someone who wants closeness in the beginning, in any shape or form. She is honest, direct and blunt, with no interest in pretending she enjoys something to be polite. Yet she doesn’t object when Tyler manhandles her in ep 2 (in the forest), she never denies her interest in him in ep 4, her first reaction to attending the Rave’N with Xavier is ‘a bullet to the head’ whilst her reaction to attending with Tyler is to immediately start looking for a dress in her closet. She often seeks out his company when she doesn’t really have a reason to, like when she went through the trouble of going all the way to the Weathervane to ask Tyler about the meetinghouse instead just asking anyone else working at Pilgrim World. These small details are to me the ‘signals’ Tyler was referring to. And I think he also just felt the energy between them, or maybe when you’re a 16 year old boy, most things can be interpreted as ‘signals’ if there’s an interest on his part. Or it was just straight up manipulation, as Hunter stated on his instragram. Either way, we can’t deny that Wednesday seems to enjoy Tyler’s presence more than Xavier’s.

Speaking of Wednesday, this is WEDNESDAY ADDAMS. People claim Xavier is the “healthier choice”, which might be true for any other character. But I feel like it’s very OOC for Wednesday to choose one above the other for being “healthier”, not that I believe Xavier would be much healthier. Wednesday went as far as canonically confirming that Tyler is her type BECAUSE he’s a serial killing monster.

The Addams’ Family have a long history of embracing all things weird and unconventional. Fester would be over the moon hearing that a Hyde of all outcasts (his young crush) has captured Wednesday’s heart. Gomez and Morticia would be more than happy to give Tyler all the love and security he never got from his own family. Morticia smiles fondly when Pugsley mentions missing being waterboarded by Wednesday, I don’t think she would have any trouble embracing a traumatized outcast submitted to abuse and torture and then forced to do someone else’s bidding against their will. She mama-bear instincts would kick up.

Hunter Doohan also said that one of the things he looks forward to exploring in season 2 (now confirmed, yay!) is Tyler’s relationship with the Hyde, pulling each side. Who is the real Tyler and who is the Hyde? Does he have active control over the Hyde’s actions or are they all controlled by his master? Remember, we technically have no idea what Tyler did of his own free will and what he was forced to say and do (including that last fight in ep 8). I imagine the Hyde being more of a split personality rather just than man vs monster. The question is if only the Hyde-personality had access to his monster form.

We see that Tyler rebelled against Laurel when he could, when he wasn’t actively forced to do something. For example when he slipped Wednesday the police file (if we believe that theory) and when he chose to keep Eugene alive (Laurel said “take care of it”, clearly meaning “kill him” but since she never used the word ‘kill’, I believe he saw his chance). He also keeps pointing Wednesday in the right direction, even when he probably wasn’t supposed to according to his master, like when he helped her find the meeting house, helped her break into Laurel’s home, chased her and Enid into the basement where they could find more clues.

Grooming, abuse, torture, manipulation, and mind control!!! Need I say more? Tyler is a true victim of his circumstances and society. We must admit that it was pretty easy for Laurel to sink her claws into him. Lonely, traumatized boy with one dead parent and one to emotionally constipated to raise him through his trauma, and here comes Laurel and offers him the truth about his mother in exchange for mommy kink sexual advances until she kidnaps him to torture as she pleases in a cave. She basically presented herself as the sexual version of his mother that Freud loved to say young boys were so vulnerable to. Of course this lonely boy would fall for her act. Laurel even described herself as a plant metaphor in episode 4: some carnivorous varieties use sexual trickery or deception. She then made him think this entire nefarious plan was about him getting revenge on the way outcasts treated his mother.

We see Tyler screaming out for help, subtly and literally, when he tells Wednesday that he wants to “get out of this hellhole town” and later when he’s screaming in the bathtub in ep 3.

The writers keep mentioning Wyler’s “primal attraction” and how Wednesday is drawn to Tyler’s dark side even from the start when she didn’t know what he was. And I truly believe he feels the same way, he is so smitten when she states she would dump piranhas in the swimming pool again. They are both attracted to the darker aspects of their personalities, whereas I feel like Xavier has this romanticized view of Wednesday in his head and when she disproves that by being her morbid, honest self, his first instinct is to whine and feel sorry for himself. He doesn’t embrace every part of her character.

Netflix makes Wyler a large part of their promotion of the show, going as far as pinning Wyler-positive comments on Instagram and making Wyler at the dance their thumbnail for the show on Netflix and hyping Hunter Doohan in general.

If you compare Wyler and Wavier scenes, they tend to play very soft music and use soft/warm lighting during the Wyler scenes. Wavier scenes, sometimes have this too, but never as prominent as with Wyler. From what I’ve seen with other media, that is usually foreshadowing of the producers’ larger plan.

I have a Filler Couple Theory! And that is that the couple that becomes canon in the middle of a show’s entire runtime is almost never canon by the time the show ends. There are exceptions, of course. But generally, shows tend to follow a similar format: couple 1 is introduced as an idea in season 1, they may or may not become canon but the tension is there, for whatever reason couple 2 becomes canon in season 2/3 to create drama and more tension before couple one becomes endgame in season 3/3 (example Stancy in ST, Benvi in NHIE). An exception to this rule is if couple one is a blowburn over several seasons without a love triangle (example: Peraltiago in B99). The writers of Wednesday have planned 4 seasons. They end season 1 with Wyler broken up, hint that Wavier might take more precedence in season 2, and yet still keeps hyping Wyler as much as they do. I think Wavier will be a distraction/filler for Wednesday as Tyler regains her trust and they build so much sexual tension.

So, this was long and kind of all over the place. But as Enid, I write in my voice. And I will admit that some of these points may be down to pure manipulation on Tyler’s part, especially the signals thing. But part of what I love about this show is the ambiguity, the moral grey areas, the way they make a point of embracing the dark side of humanity and loving the characters through it. Until the show canonically confirms that there is no hope for Tyler/Wyler, I will continue to ship it. And I want to add that my will to ship Wyler has nothing to do with who I would personally choose for myself. If given the choice, I would date Enid before my mind could form the phrase ‘toxic relationship’, and I’m very much one of those boring straight people. But as a romantic partner for a dark, morbid character like Wednesday Addams, I would choose Tyler any day.

Tagging: @therulerofallpotatos

[emperorofthedark]

The Meetinghouse

[kamiiri]

Ophelia led Annie to one of the tombstones and stepped to the side. She didn’t know how to break it to her, so she thought she would just let Annie see it for herself.

Annie read the name: Nervous Subject.

“What is this? Some kind of sick prank? Well, it ain’t funny,” she said, growing agitated.

“I’m sorry, Annie. It’s not a prank. This grave has been here since I started staying in the Meetinghouse two years ago,” Ophelia explained. “I didn’t realize it was actually somebody’s name.”

[thepaintedroom]

Barbara Ernst Prey (American, 1950s?) • The Meetinghouse • Watercolor on paper

Official website

[churchsideblog]

i'm not sure i've even been in a meetinghouse with a single-occupancy restroom outside the nursery room

[cru5h-cascades]

Sins of the Flesh Update Trailer Dissection!

(plus some other stuff that wasn't shown in the trailer!)

At long last, the long awaited trailer & release date reveal for the newest Cult of the Lamb update's out! Storywise, there's not much to go off of from the trailer, but hey a bunch of new stuff to do in the new update!

Right out of the gate we see one of the main selling points of the update in a short animated segment of the vid: SEX. It's here we see the mating tent, where followers can do their thing and create an egg (just like I predicted! the xmas art for CotL was a teaser for the mating feature!). In order to use the mating tent, a new mechanic is introduced where followers have to have a high enough level of love for each other in order to use the tent. Once they do, you can have them make out with each other in the tent and as soon as they finish their love making session they'll come out of the tent with an egg, which you can either A) harvest for food or B) keep the egg in tact to have A BABY FOLLOWER!!! YESSS!!! I REALLY WANTED THIS TO BE IN THE UPDATE SO FUCK YEA!!! It's unclear if we ourselves can use the mating tent, but we'll find out eventually.

New follower attire (previously revealed alongside the announcement that booze would be added to the game)

We're re-introduced to a new weapon: the gun (previously revealed to us a few weeks before xmas) and get some footage of it in action.

A new follower interaction is shown off where we can fight a follower during a crusade (sorta like how Shamura turned a follower on a player in the base game's story campaign). May or may not be connected to the update's new story if there is one, which might be the case.

It appears you can further upgrade your meetinghouse/church/whatever you call it in this update. Perhaps even customize it? Seems like that in the trailer.

A re-introduction to the ability to serve booze to followers (also previously revealed to us before xmas)

New rituals ahoy! The one in the trailer where the followers are going ape shit is called the Rite of Wrath, where followers will go ahead and unleash the purge in your cult grounds by going around killing and fighting each other, vanalizing the cult grounds, and more. There's another one in the trailer that might have to do with more casual canabalizim in this game (instead a follower's presumably being eaten alive in this instance). And another ritual is going to be added into the update which is called the Rite of Lust, where your followers dance around a shrine in the Lamb's image naked. There's more rituals being added into the game but those are just a few.

A possibility of gaining more hearts??

Follower Sozo. That's all I gotta say here.

And that's everything that got revealed in the trailer. There's still a few more things that the trailer didn't show, which I'll talk about now:

New minigame ahoy! By using the new drum circle, you can now play a new rhythm game-based minigame!

A new food source (which remains unnamed; possibly due to lore significance?)

The new rituals may or may not have a tie with another new game mechanic called Sin. As of now it's unknown why we need to generate Sin in this update, but if I had to guess it has to do with the story of the new update.

There was other stuff revealed outside the trailer but those just had someting to do with something shown in the trailer (how the mating tent works and the Rite of Lust). We still dunno about why the crown turns into a snake-lookin' thing and we dunno why followers can turn on us in this update but hey at least we're getting the update soon! Then we can figure all of this stuff out for ourselves.

Sins of the Flesh will release January 16th!