#theme: columbia house | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gsirvitor · 28 days

Text

RCMP warns Canadians may revolt once they realize how broke they are | National Post

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/secret-rcmp-report-warns-canadians-may-revolt-once-they-realize-how-broke-they-are

Incase you guys haven't seen this.

“The coming period of recession will … accelerate the decline in living standards that the younger generations have already witnessed compared to earlier generations,” reads the report, entitled Whole-of-Government Five-Year Trends for Canada.

“For example, many Canadians under 35 are unlikely ever to be able to buy a place to live,” it adds.

The report, labelled secret, is intended as a piece of “special operational information” to be distributed only within the RCMP and among “decision-makers” in the federal government.

A heavily redacted version was made public as a result of an access to information request filed by Matt Malone, an assistant professor of law at British Columbia’s Thompson Rivers University, and an expert in government secrecy.

Describing itself in an introduction as a “scanning exercise,” the report is intended to highlight trends in both Canada and abroad “that could have a significant effect on the Canadian government and the RCMP.”

Right from the get-go, the report authors warn that whatever Canada’s current situation, it “will probably deteriorate further in the next five years.”

In addition to worsening living standards, the RCMP also warns of a future increasingly defined by unpredictable weather and seasonal catastrophes, such as wildfires and flooding. Most notably, report authors warn of Canada facing “increasing pressure to cede Arctic territory.”

Another major theme of the report is that Canadians are set to become increasingly disillusioned with their government, which authors mostly chalk up to “misinformation,” “conspiracy theories” and “paranoia.”

“Law enforcement should expect continuing social and political polarization fueled by misinformation campaigns and an increasing mistrust for all democratic institutions,” reads one of the report’s “overarching considerations.”

Ironically, among the report’s more heavily redacted sections is one carrying the subtitle “erosion of trust.” “The past seven years have seen marked social and political polarization in the Western world” reads a partial first sentence, with the entire rest of the section deleted by government censors.

The censor’s pen also deleted most of a section warning about “paranoid populism.” “Capitalizing on the rise of political polarization and conspiracy theories have been populists willing to tailor their messages to appeal to extremist movements,” reads the section’s one non-redacted sentence.

In terms of declining living standards and inaccessible home ownership, the RCMP’s warnings are indeed in line with available statistics.

Canadian productivity — measured in terms of GDP per capita — has been trending downwards since at least the 1980s. But this has accelerated dramatically in recent years — even as per-worker productivity rises in many of our peer countries.

An analysis last year by University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe found that if Canada had merely kept pace with U.S. productivity growth for the last five years, Canadian per-capita earnings would be $5,500 higher than they are now.

Meanwhile, housing affordability has reached “worst-ever” levels in most of Canada’s major markets, according to a December analysis by RBC. On average, even condos are now so unaffordable that only 44.5 per cent of Canadian households had sufficient income to buy one at current prices. As for single-family homes, only the richest 25 per cent of Canadian households had any hope of obtaining one.

“Economic forecasts for the next five years and beyond are bleak,” reads the RCMP’s assessment of the rest of the decade, even adding a quote from French President Emmanuel Macron that “the end of abundance” is nigh.

30 notes · View notes

starstruckunknown-princess · 30 days

Text

Wormwood - Frankie Morales x Reader

Wormwood (Artemesia absinthium) - Meaning: Bitterness, absence

Summary: Frankie has left again, and you're left to pick up the pieces.

Pairing: Frankie Morales x Reader

Word Count: 519

Warnings: ANGST, Non-dad!Frankie, themes of abandonment, anger, bitterness, reader is a deep sleeper but otherwise not physically described, photo in banner for vibes only!

Hello lovelies! Day 1 of my In Bloom Writing Challenge starting off with some Frankie angst, I kept it pretty short because I couldn't think of actual plot lol I like it better that way. Another of our Delta Force Hotties will make an appearance later this month, so stay tuned!

In Bloom Masterlist

Comments, Likes, Reblogs are ALWAYS appreciated! Thanks for reading <3

Your first clue that he is gone is the lack of warmth on his side of the bed. Getting up, you can see the holes where his things used to be. The nightstand all but cleared off. Bare hangers in the closet, his shampoo missing from the shower.

Frankie’s gone again, and you should’ve seen this coming. You knew the nature of his work, how he would drop everything for the mission, how he’d be gone for unspecified amounts of time with no way to contact you, leaving you to fear the worst for days or weeks but it was all in the name of serving his country so you couldn’t exactly argue with him.

You’d never been particularly patriotic, and the fact that the needs of the US military took priority over you, over everything, made sure you never would be. But this time was different. Frankie had retired, he’d promised he was done leaving.

But his devotion to Santiago ran almost as deep as his devotion to his country. And again you couldn’t blame him for it without seeming insensitive and selfish. After everything they’d been through together, even though you didn’t know all the details, you knew that kind of shit bonded people for life. And you genuinely liked Santi, truly. You got along with him whenever he’d visit town and Frankie would insist he take the guest room instead of paying for a hotel. Those times you’d wake up to the smell of coffee in the morning and their deep laughs echoing up from the kitchen. It made your house feel warmer, more like a complete home.

But Santi had texted Frankie about some kind of recon job in Columbia and for that amount of money, you knew he couldn’t say no. Even though you insisted you two were fine, that you got by, you didn’t need the cash. Frankie had just looked up at you with doubt in his big brown eyes and you knew you hadn’t convinced him. Who in their right mind turned down seventeen grand?

Even more poignantly — who in their right mind would ask a man as loyal as Frankie was to turn his back on his closest friend?

Sometimes you hated how deeply you slept - you hadn’t heard him packing. Didn’t hear his old truck rumble to life or hear the key in the door. You weren’t able to hug him goodbye and beg him to stay safe, to come back to you.

Part of you wanted so badly to grab your suitcase and bolt, go stay with friends out of town so that when he got back he would feel the panic and terror at finding the person he loved had disappeared. Ignore his calls, leave his texts on read, let him sweat about your whereabouts for once. But you couldn’t. You knew whatever you had together wasn’t worth throwing away for the sake of spite.

So you dealt with the absence of his things, the absence of him, the same way you always did. You swallowed your bitterness, your pain, and learned to live with the ache.

#writing challenge #frankie catfish morales #frankie morales x reader #triple frontier fic #francisco morales x you #francisco morales fanfiction #frankie morales #frankie morales x you #in bloom writing challenge #writing challenge day 1

21 notes · View notes

emmylous-world · 5 months

Text

When We Were Young

Chapter 1

Captain John Price x Female oc!Reader (Emma)

Summary: John meets his captains niece and can't seem to get her out of his head.

Warnings: MDNI, Probably will be smut at some part. Violence and Mature themes. Slow burnnnnn.

2,6k words

A/N: I'm baccckkk, I hope you guys enjoy. I proofed read this myself so forgive any mistakes.

Pls leave some likes, comments and reblogs <3

British Columbia, Canada

John dropped his bags down on the bedroom floor, letting the tension on his shoulders go, the day had been too long for him, been up since the crack of dawn and haven't stopped moving the walls were white, the floors were a tan carpet, a desk was against the wall and the bed sat across from it, the bedding was sky blue, it reminded him of summer in England, spending the days down at the river. He undid the buttons on his military jacket and threw it on the back of the desk chair. John sat down at the end of the bed and pulled his rucksack onto the bed to pull out his files and paperwork, going through the paper, trying to find that damn report to fill out.

John was staying at his Captain Oscar Powell’s sister; Sheila's place, while in between operations, giving him a warm bed and home-cooked meals, that's all he could ask for and he was very grateful. He got up from the bed and sat down at the desk flicking on the lamp, and spreading the paper in front of him, he knew he should go out and talk with the family, get to know them, but John was too tired even to think straight, socializing made him wanna crawl up in a ball and sleep, and the bed right behind him wasn't helping him with that desire. An hour or so goes by when John finishes the report and puts it with the rest of the finished work. He checks his watch, 16:05, he gets up and changes into sweats and a sweater, which his mother made for him before she passed, it still smelt like her house; cimminon (I literally don't know how to spell it, but I hope yall understand ToT) and fresh laundry. He missed the warmth of his mother's hugs and his little sister’s pestering. He kept their memories close to his heart and cherished them as hard as he could. A soft knock sounded on the door.

"Hey, dinner would be ready in an hour or so." Shelia says, "You’re welcome to join, I can also bring it up if you like?" He opened the door to talk face-to-face with her. Her face had delicate features, and wrinkles around her mouth and eyes, showing her age, she looked much like her brother, and the familiarity of her face was comforting. To John, the Captain was like a second father, he trusted that man with his life, he knew his Cap had his back and he makes sure he had his.

“Yeah, of course, I’ll come down.” His voice was hoarse; he cleared his throat and knew his captain wouldn’t be too fond of him not joining him and his family for dinner. She smiled, her eyes crinkling and lit up. He gave her a lop-sided smile back, it did not reach his eyes, he was too tired to care. “Ok, great,” she said and went back downstairs to the kitchen. John’s muscles were screaming as he went to go lay down on the bed, he tucked himself under the blankets and soon enough he fell into a slumber

John woke to his name being called and shot straight up, panicking. “Hey, dinner’s ready chap,” he heard his captain through the door. “Ok gimme a minute,” he took off his sweats and put on a pair of jeans, the most decent he could get, with it only a few pairs of jeans and a couple of black jumpers. Downstairs the Captain gestured to John to take the seat at the right-side seat at the end, John gratefully took the seat and fell into the conversation. He was asked questions and he happily replied. The food was something John was most excited about, it was hot, and it melted in his mouth, he sighed at the savory taste. He couldn’t compliment Shelia enough.

“This is so good,” John said after swallowing a mouthful and stuffing his mouth with more.

“Geez, slow down son, we’re not going back to base anytime soon,” Powell chuckled

“Sorry Sir, just trying to get as much in as possible, can’t stand those IMPs.”

Shelia smiled with pride and Powell shook his head.

“Oh, Emma is coming home next week,” Shelia says with excitement, her smile growing. John was curious who that was, guess he will find out next week. Dinner was done, helping wash up the dishes.

“Tell me more about yourself” Shelia turns to him with a smile. “I heard you’re good on the field, well the football field.”

John gave her a warm smile. “Yah, I grew up playing on my school’s team” he put a cup on the rack “Won a couple of trophies in middle school.”

That’s amazing,”

“Mhm”

He let out a breath, thinking back about his best friend from elementary. John finished putting the dishes in the rack, wiping down the countertops, and bid Shelia a good night. When he entered his room, he immediately took off all his clothing except his boxers and crawled into bed, and soon sleep consumed him.

***

The following day John woke a wee bit panicked, still thinking he was at the base and had early mornings. He checked his watch; 09:23 am, that was the latest he had slept in a while, since his last leave, which was 8 ½ months ago. John crawled out of the covers and sat at the edge of the bed, contemplating if he wanted to go back to sleep or go on a run. He chose the latter, he figured that he should at least keep a basic schedule. He got up and put on his shorts and black compression shirt. After putting on a pair of runners, he ran off the road, pushing to see how far he could go. 30 mins had passed, 2 klicks in, he knows that he can go for another few, like a switch John picked his pace up. Around 5 Ish klicks, he turned around and headed back.

When he arrived, John was drenched in sweat, his shirt sticking to his chest and back. He quickly made his way upstairs, grabbing his shower supplies, he bought a new set of shampoo and conditioner, knowing his little sister would troll and harass him for using a 2-in-1. John turned on the water, gave it a min, and then stepped in, the cool water felt amazing on his sweaty back. Soaking his hair and running his hands in it. He followed the shampooing and conditioning steps, his sister instructed him to do. The shower was done 5 mins later, he had wrapped a towel around his hips, his v-line visible, John looked at himself in the mirror, and his auburn chest hair ran down into a trail past the towel. He flexed his pecs and shoulder muscles, his shoulders were broad, and his pecs were large, he could fit into one of his sister's bras, not that he was bragging. His thighs also were massive making it hard for him to sit in tight spaces. After checking himself out, he looked at his beard, its way past the 5 o’clock shadow and not quite a beard. He was upset that he had grey hairs in some places, screw his father's genes. John let a huff out and grabbed his razor and shaving cream, getting rid of the annoying grey specks. After finishing up, he cleaned up and went back to his room. Putting on a fresh pair of clothes and deodorant, John was ready.

Downstairs, Shelia was in the garden and Captain was out back doing yard work. Today was the day John learned about the house and yard. He put on a pair of Blundstones, and a navy blue pullover rain jacket. The weather outside was dull, and the smell of rain was strong in the air, it was April, the spring rain came during this month. He walked over to Shelia, he asked her if she needed help, eager to get his hands dirty.

“Oh Please, the bags of dirt from the lean-on by the shed, could you bring some bags,” she points to the west side of the gigantic house “It would save both Emma and I some trouble.” and John sets off, looking for the shed in the direction she had pointed. The property was huge, he remembers the captain saying around it being 26 acres or so. It was a heritage house, that had been in his family since the 1880s, the house was a massive Tudor house, with vines growing all over the east side of the building. The whole property was surrounded by forest, the whole place made John’s heart swell, the place somewhat reminded him of home or maybe he was homesick, but he missed the country of England, the smell of cow manure, and watching the sunrise on the porch with a cup of tea. After wandering around like a lost puppy, he found a shed with a lean-on, there was a wheel borrow tipped over on its side, and by the shed, he flipped it straight and started filling it up with the bags of garden soil. Once it was full, he started pushing it back over to the gardens, the trip back over was longer than expected, and he reached the garden Shelia was puttering at, emptying the wheel burrow. He stopped and let out a wheeze, the military training did not prepare him for that.

“Hope that wasn’t too hard,” Shelia remarks, seeing his out-of-breath state

“Oh no, didn’t even break a sweat.” He broke a sweat,

Shelia knew that was bullshit, but she also knew that the 23-year-old had that boyish ego that all boys seemed to have, no matter how old they are, John reminded her of her brother; Oscar, but younger, both pretty stubborn and had similar mindset.

The rest of the week, John spent his days helping in the garden, he also found out that They also had a stable on the other far side of the property, there were 4 horses and a draft, once he found that out, he spent hours in the stable, cleaning, brushing, feeding and what not in there. There was also a barn with multiple farm animals, chickens outnumbering them all. When he asked out them over dinner, He was told that they were Emma’s pride and joy, jokingly saying that they’re pretty much Shelia’s nieces and nephews. John couldn’t stop his curiosity about this Emma growing, he would never admit to his excitement.

When the following Monday rolled around, John got out of bed a little too eagerly. He put on his best shirt and the cologne his sister insisted on getting him, apparently “it makes the girls weak in the knees” He trusted her, he didn’t know diddly squat about this shit, or about girls for that matter. He hoped to make the best impression on her.

The flight home was long but worth it. Emma had been waiting to come home since the beginning of the school year in august last year. As soon as she got off the plane, she bee-lined for the luggage terminal, grabbed her stuff, and headed to the arrivals, looking for her aunt, it took some time to spot her, but once she did, she quickened her pace, desperate to get out of the place. She reached her aunt and pulled her into a big hug.

“It's so good to have you home finally,” Shelia squeezed her.

“I know, it's nice to finally get out of the city.”

“Well, we still gotta leave the city and get back to town,” Shelia says as she grabs one of the luggage. “Not quite a free bird yet.” Emma rolled her eyes, rushing to find the exit.

The car ride home was long, filling her aunt in about everything that happened at UofT (University of Toronto). Diving right into her Anthropology and Archeology classes, and what she did, she was beaming at the topic of going to an anthropology excavation site.

“We have a guest staying with us for a bit,” Shelia mentions “He’s one of your uncles men, a lieutenant I think?”

“Oh?”

“His name is John, I think you’ll like him.”

All Emma could think about was a man in his late 30s and balding. She just nods, not caring much. Her uncle had some of his men stay over before, this isn’t surprising to her.

When they finally arrived at the house, Emma couldn’t help but sigh in relief, she knew she was immediately going to go soak in a hot bubble bath. Pulling her bags out from the trunk of the SUV, she walks to the front door, she walks back to the car to grab the rest of the luggage, when she reaches for the duffle bag, a hand already beat her to it, it was not her aunts, it was too big and there were too many scars. She looked up to see who the hand belonged to, and she was taken aback, his face was young and handsome, his eyes reflected the sky, a bright blue, and his hair was short and sticking up and awry as if he was wearing a hat. He put his big hand out for her to shake it.

“Names John.” His voice was deep, husky, and British. When he shook her hand, the biceps under his black shirt flexed. This was not the man Emma was expecting, so young and so attractive. She told herself to get it together, no need to simp over a man you had just met.

“Emma”

He flashed a smile at her, it wrinkled his eyes, making them bright. She couldn’t help but return the smile “Your aunt said you needed help with the luggage?” he spoke in that voice again, she shook her head yes, “Please” was all she managed to squeak out. He grabbed the heavy stuff, Emma had to look away with a bashful look, knowing if she looked any longer, she’d start drooling.

Once everything was inside and, in her room, she figured she’d unpack tomorrow. Drawing a hot bath in her ensuite, she got out when the water got cold. She got out, dried off, and dressed, she went downstairs and into the kitchen, not realizing that she hadn’t eaten since before the plane ride. Scrounging around the fridge and pantry, looking for anything. After looking for 10 mins, she decided on KD (Mac and Cheese for u Yankee's out there) putting on a pot of water on the stove, and she went back upstairs to grab her book. She sat at the island and read while waiting for the water to boil.

As soon as her KD was done and plated, she pushed the doors to the den, and groaned at the sight of John passed out on the couch, mouth opened, snoring obnoxiously and with a book laid open on his chest. She turned to go back to the kitchen to eat, but no, this is her house, she just got home from a long 5-hour flight and it’s late, wanted to watch her reality shows, she sat down at the armchair, flicked on the TV and happily ate at her noodles.

John woke to a clatter, jolting up and knocking off the book that was lying on his lap. He looked up at Emma, she had her mouth full, and the TV was on, playing a trashy reality show. He rubbed his face with his palm, drowsy from sleep.

“Sorry did I wake you?” She looks at him with her round eyes, her hair wet from a shower. He stopped his mind from wandering to far from the subject, of this beautiful woman in the shower.

“No, no s’alright.” He yawns, gets up from the couch and picks up his book. He stood there awkwardly for a second, he checked his watch, 21:14, bedtime. He bid her a goodnight and went upstairs.

Chapter 2 here

#captain john price #john price #captain john price x you #captain john price angst #captain price x reader #captain price #slow burn #cod price #cod mw22 #cod x reader #lieutenant john price #task force 141 #captain john price imagine

27 notes · View notes

beardedmrbean · 1 month

Text

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a busy term that could set standards for free speech in the digital age, the Supreme Court on Monday is taking up a dispute between Republican-led states and the Biden administration over how far the federal government can go to combat controversial social media posts on topics including COVID-19 and election security.

The justices are hearing arguments in a lawsuit filed by Louisiana, Missouri and other parties accusing officials in the Democratic administration of leaning on the social media platforms to unconstitutionally squelch conservative points of view. Lower courts have sided with the states, but the Supreme Court blocked those rulings while it considers the issue.

The high court is in the midst of a term heavy with social media issues. On Friday, the court laid out standards for when public officials can block their social media followers. Less than a month ago, the court heard arguments over Republican-passed laws in Florida and Texas that prohibit large social media companies from taking down posts because of the views they express.

The cases over state laws and the one being argued Monday are variations on the same theme, complaints that the platforms are censoring conservative viewpoints.

The states argue that White House communications staffers, the surgeon general, the FBI and the U.S. cybersecurity agency are among those who coerced changes in online content on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and other media platforms.

“It’s a very, very threatening thing when the federal government uses the power and authority of the government to block people from exercising their freedom of speech,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a video her office posted online.

The administration responds that none of the actions the states complain about come close to problematic coercion. The states “still have not identified any instance in which any government official sought to coerce a platform’s editorial decisions with a threat of adverse government action,” wrote Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the administration's top Supreme Court lawyer. Prelogar wrote that states also can't “point to any evidence that the government ever imposed any sanction when the platforms declined to moderate content the government had flagged — as routinely occurred.”

The companies themselves are not involved in the case.

Free speech advocates say the court should use the case to draw an appropriate line between the government's acceptable use of the bully pulpit and coercive threats to free speech.

"The government has no authority to threaten platforms into censoring protected speech, but it must have the ability to participate in public discourse so that it can effectively govern and inform the public of its views,” Alex Abdo, litigation director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in a statement.

A panel of three judges on the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled earlier that the Biden administration had probably brought unconstitutional pressure on the media platforms. The appellate panel said officials cannot attempt to “coerce or significantly encourage” changes in online content. The panel had previously narrowed a more sweeping order from a federal judge, who wanted to include even more government officials and prohibit mere encouragement of content changes.

A divided Supreme Court put the 5th Circuit ruling on hold in October, when it agreed to take up the case.

Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas would have rejected the emergency appeal from the Biden administration.

Alito wrote in dissent in October: “At this time in the history of our country, what the Court has done, I fear, will be seen by some as giving the Government a green light to use heavy-handed tactics to skew the presentation of views on the medium that increasingly dominates the dissemination of news. That is most unfortunate."

A decision in Murthy v. Missouri, 23-411, is expected by early summer.

#nunyas news #platforms can determine the content that they want #the government needs to either stay out of it #or participate on their own without #trying to dictate what can and can't be posted #provided what's being posted is legal

13 notes · View notes

somedaylazysomeday · 1 year

Text

SomedayLazySomeday's Masterlist

Hey, friends! Here is the collection of everything I’ve written up to this point. Fics have their own page to keep things neat, and those links are posted under the media to which they belong.

All fics feature a female reader with minimal physical description and no use of ‘Y/N’. All of these works are rated mature or explicit and are not intended for minors. Please take note of the warnings listed on the chapter links for each fic.

Thanks for reading and enjoy!

- Ink

Arcane (2021)

Good Intentions - Silco x fem!reader. - 54.7k words. Reader runs a charitable organization, the Haven, which seeks to help people overcome their Shimmer addiction. Silco soon takes an intense interest in the Haven and the woman who operates it.

Noisy - Viktor x fem!reader. - 7.2k words. Reader is a student at the Piltover Academy and lives in student housing, one floor below Viktor. He’s a bit of an insomniac… and a noisy one at that.

Avengers (2012)

Cold - Loki x fem!reader. - 3k words. Reader is in a casual physical relationship with Loki. When she attends a party at Avengers Tower with someone else, he’s bothered by the idea that she’s ashamed of him. Themes of jealousy and minor monsterfucking.

Beetlejuice

A Deal with a Demon - Beetlejuice x fem!reader. - 13.3k words. Reader is a witch who’s a little down on her luck. She summons a demon for help, but he turns out to be very different from what she expected. Themes of magic, desperation, and monsterfucking.

Black Sails

Captured - Captain Charles Vane x fem!reader. - 9.1k words. Reader disguised herself as a man to cross the ocean, but her ship was captured by pirates who brought her on as a member of their crew. Vane eventually figures out the truth. Dub-con themes in Part One; mind the warnings!

The Boondock Saints

Na Buachaillí - Murphy MacManus x fem!reader, Connor MacManus x fem!reader. - 13k words. Reader is a high school science teacher working temp jobs over Christmas break to help pay for her divorce.

Ex Machina (2015)

Winner Take All - Nathan Bateman x fem!reader. - 11.6k words. Reader knows Nathan from MIT, and they constantly run into each other during trivia night at a local bar. Enemies to friends to lovers vibes.

The Gray Man (2022)

Paranoid - Lloyd Hansen x fem!reader. - 9.7k words. Reader runs into Lloyd and he takes a liking to her. She can’t say the same for him. Dark!fic with themes of non-con. Mind the warnings on this one!

The Hobbit

Dexterity - Thorin Oakenshield x fem!reader. - 14.6k words. Reader sells wool at Erebor’s markets and is familiar with the king, handsome and aloof. But Thorin rapidly warms up when a storm forces her to stay in Erebor overnight…

A Boon - Elvenking Thranduil x fem!reader. - 20.2k words. Reader owns a bar in Lake-Town and is very unimpressed with the Elvenking, even as he slowly works to win her over. Enemies to lovers vibes.

Labyrinth

Dreams - Jareth x fem!reader. - 7.7k words. Reader wished away her college roommate, beat the labyrinth, and resisted the Goblin King. But he isn’t done with her yet… Themes of dark fae, magic, and predator/prey.

Random Jareth Fics - Jareth x fem!reader - 6.8k words. Reader is a teacher who was wished away by a young student. She becomes Jareth’s eyes and ears in the human world, working to keep his legend alive. Over time, she becomes less human, but an occasional need still arises.

Narcos

Informant - Javier Peña x fem!reader. - 2.3k words. Reader has some information about Pablo Escobar and ends up making a different sort of deal. (Similar in tone to Oaths, but I hadn’t quite figured out how to write Javier Peña’s character yet.)

Oaths - Javier Peña x fem!reader. - 11.5k words. Reader is a nurse who treats the Escobar family. She turns information over to the DEA, though she doesn’t care for the agent assigned to her case.

Matter of Perspective - Captain Horacio Carrillo x fem!reader. - 9.6k words. Reader works for the DEA in Columbia and accompanies the Search Bloc to prove one of her theories. Enemies to lovers vibes.

Southern Vampire Mysteries/True Blood

Blood Donor - Eric Northman x fem!reader. - 2.4k words. Reader is a were-animal working for the vampires of a town Eric is visiting. You are sent to feed him.

Star Wars

Target Acquired - Jango Fett x fem!reader. - 9.6k words. Reader is a bounty hunter who often finds herself in direct competition with Jango Fett. They have a deal: whoever catches the bounty sets the terms of their night together.

Pursuit - Boba Fett x fem!reader. - 6.5k words. Reader is a bounty Boba finds, but she must convince him to let her go… even if they both know it’s only temporary.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch

Hunted - Hunter x fem!reader. - 7.3k words. Reader works with the Bad Batch. She has a crush on Hunter that seems one-sided… until a chance encounter with a mysterious substance on a mission. Sex pollen and themes of predator/prey.

Aim - Crosshair x fem!reader. - 9.9k words. Reader works with the Bad Batch and gets stranded with Crosshair after a mission. They won’t make it back to the Havoc Marauder without blowing off some steam. Enemies to lovers vibes in both parts.

Experiment - Tech x fem!reader. - 3.5k words. Tech thinks he can’t be distracted from his work. Reader bets that isn’t true, and she’s willing to prove it.

Stretch - Wrecker x fem!reader. - 13.5k words. Reader and Wrecker are a strong couple, but there are some challenges that come with dating someone so physically large.

Different, But Still Good - TBB!Echo x fem!reader. - 3.4k words. Reader is a sex-positive asexual, unbothered by the ways Echo was changed during his time with the Separatists. They’re both a little surprised when he volunteers to help on an unusually needy day.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Bitten - Commander Wolffe x fem!reader. - 13.4k words. Reader has a crush on Broadside, a pilot with the 501st. When it isn’t returned, a helpful stranger encourages her to let Wolffe provide a distraction.

Tied Up in You - Commander Fox x fem!reader. - 9.8k words. Established relationship between Fox and Reader. Sickeningly sweet glimpses at a loving, unlikely relationship.

Misbehaving - Commander Cody x fem!reader. - 9.2k words. Reader is in a relationship with Cody. Their relationship is one of control and boundaries, but they’re both willing and ready to test each other.

Star Wars: Legends

Bodyguard - Alpha-17 x fem!reader. - 9.2k words. Reader is a Senatorial aide, assigned to work for a hated senator who endangers both of their lives with his politics. Fortunately, Alpha is sent to keep them safe.

Gar Cyare Spice Fics - Alpha-17 x fem!reader. - 6.8k words. Assorted spicy chapters of an ongoing fic on my main blog. (Gar Cyare by WanderingInkSplot) Established relationship between Alpha and the fem!reader.

The Boys

Hooked - Billy Butcher x fem!reader. - 8k words. Reader is a tow truck driver sent to tow Butcher's car. He's less than pleased.

The Walking Dead

Arm Candy - Negan x fem!reader. - 18k words. Reader is a Savior and a prospective wife. Negan likes to show her off at meetings, but he is easily the most distracted person in the room.

144 notes · View notes

foxes-that-run · 6 months

Text

Question...?

Question..? track 7, is the most clearly directed at Harry on Midnights so I will start there. In the vein of Style, Two Ghosts or Perfect there is no attempt to hide the muse here. To me, these songs are intended to draw attention. It was the surprise song on the 20 May anniversary.

youtube

This post also has more on Question

This timeline suggests it may have been written late 2021

Lyrics

[Intro] I remember

Firstly, Remember is a reference to Wildest Dreams and she samples Out of the Woods. 2 words in and we know it's Haylor, Taylor is being clear, she's referencing 1989.

[Verse 1] Good girl, sad boy Big city, wrong choices We had one thing goin' on I swear that it was somethin' 'Cause I don't remember who I was Before you painted all my nights A color I've searched for since But one thing after another Fuckin' situations, circumstances Miscommunications, and I Have to say, by the way I just may like some explanations

Good Girl/Sad Boy is a matured reference to Style, where she was a good guy. He was also a bad guy in Blank Space.

'Painted my all my nights a colour I have searched for since' is one of my favourite lyrics, because Harry gets all of the colours, it also touches on the theme that are are irreplaceable to each other.

Miscommunications are also a key theme for their songs to each other. They do not communicate in words what they can in song.

[Chorus] Can I ask you a question? Did you ever have someone kiss you in a crowded room And every single one of your friends was makin' fun of you But fifteen seconds later, thеy were clappin' too? Then what did you do? Did you lеave her house in the middle of the night? Oh Did you wish you'd put up more of a fight, oh When she said it was too much? Do you wish you could still touch her?

This is often thought to reference New Years Eve which is a sad event to me. I think it is less literal, referring to how people are both thrilled and aghast that they were together.

The second half refers to the events of Say don't go to me.

In a 2013 vanity fair article swifts rep said:

“After Swift ended the relationship, he pursued her for the better part of a year until she finally took him back. “But the whole time she says she feels like he’s looking at every girl,” the source continues. And then when they were in London together he “disappears one night and after that it was like he just didn’t want to keep going.” Styles’s rep, Benny Tarantini at Columbia Records, said that all of Swift’s source’s claims are “undeniably false.””

[Verse 2] Half-moon eyes, bad surprise Did you realize out of time? She was on your mind with some dickhead guy That you saw that night But you were on somethin' It was one drink after another Fuckin' politics and gender roles And you're not sure and I don't know Got swept away in the gray I just may like to have a conversation

The bad surprise refers to an event in 2016 which I think played a role in her disappearance.

The dickhead guy is Calvin Harris. In Ready for It...?, Illicit Affairs, Woman and Delicate talk about that period as well as other songs.

Gender roles in politics is a beautiful line, she explores this more in Slut!, The Man and what makes them beautiful muses for each other is they are both purposeful with their gender expression.

[Bridge] Does it feel like everything's just like Second best after that meteor strike? And what's that that I heard? That you're still with her? That's nice, I'm sure that's what's suitable And right, but tonight

'Does it feel like everything is second best' reflects a theme that no one compares to the other, in particular:

Ready for it: Every lover known in comparison is a failure, and

As it was: "Seems you cannot be replaced / And I'm the one who will stay."

#haylor #midnights #question...?

20 notes · View notes

harvardfineartslib · 7 months

Text

This year, we were thrilled to see María Berrío’s work at the ICA Boston. Berrío (born 1982) crafts her large-scale collage paintings through a unique, meticulous process of collaging torn pieces of Japanese paper with watercolor to create riveting, magical scenes. Some of the images in this post are from her exhibit at the ICA Boston.

Born in Bogotá, Columbia, María Berrío is a visual artist working in Brooklyn, New York. She grew up between a house in Bogotá and a farm in the Colombian countryside. Berrío came to the United States at the age eighteen to attend Parsons School of Design for her BFA, later completing her MFA at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan in 2007.

Berrío’s large-scale works reflect on cross-cultural connections and global migration, often highlighting women and children. She draws inspiration from her childhood memories and South American cultural roots and landscapes.

“Much of Berrío’s work centers on the themes of women’s resilience, immigration, and climate awareness. Elegantly intertwining these three concepts throughout her art, Berrío delves into the complexities of womanhood by showing the struggles, triumphs, and challenges that women face both in private spaces and in nature. Women and children are her primary subjects, and her own personal relationships with the environment and the landscape help shape her artistic approach.” (p.109, “María Berrío: Constructing a Community of Courageous Women through Collage”)

Image 1: Ozymandias, 2022 at ICA Boston

Image 2: Under Thatch and Autumn Star, 2022 at ICA Boston

Image 3: The Conference of the Sparrows, 2023 at ICA Boston

Image 4: María Berrío in her Brooklyn studio, NY (from “We are here: visionaries of color transforming the art world”)

María Berrío: Constructing a Community of Courageous Women through Collage Cushman, Emily COLLEGE PK: Feminist Studies, Inc Feminist studies, 2022, Vol.48 (1), p.108-132

We are here : visionaries of color transforming the art world Hernandez, Jasmin [(author, interviewer)] New York: Abrams, 2021. English 2021 HOLLIS number: 99155702467103941

#HispanicHeritageMonth #LatinxAndHispanicHeritageMonth #ColombianAmericanArtist #WomenArtist #MariaBerrio #HarvardFineArtsLibrary #Fineartslibrary #Harvard #HarvardLibrary #ICABoston

21 notes · View notes

courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme · 5 months

Text

The Holiday (2006, Nancy Meyers)

04/12/2023

The Holiday is a 2006 film distributed by Columbia Pictures and directed by Nancy Meyers.

The scenes filmed in the house of the character played by Cameron Diaz were filmed in San Marino (California).

Lindsay Lohan and James Franco appear, although not in the credits, in the trailer of the film on which Cameron Diaz's character is working.

Actor Dustin Hoffman appears in the video store scene when Miles talks about Mike Nichols' 1967 film The Graduate.

In one scene, the theme from Giuseppe Tornatore's film Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, written by Ennio Morricone, can be heard in the background.

8 notes · View notes

foxhole-pipe-dream · 1 year

Text

No one asked, but here's a list of my AFTG fics and unposted WIPs.

Reckless, on ao3 — Runaway Neil spends the night trading secrets with pro Andrew, sleeps with him, and disappears the next morning—only to realize he's pregnant when he's states away. Neil finds him a year later and they make a deal. Featuring trans Neil. (+ fic tag)

Dialed, on ao3 — Neil finally upgrades to a smart phone. And he accidentally butt dials the Foxes while in Columbia with Andrew. Complete.

Learned to Lose You, Can’t Afford To, on ao3 — Aaron reflects on how normal brothers act. Or, Andrew annoys Aaron by doing typical sibling things. Complete.

Based on a Tumblr post by @do-i-still-love-kevin-day.

Mother May I, on ao3 — After the downfall of his father and the Moriyamas, Neil Josten spends his days dealing with his mom's unending paranoia, concealing his scars and breaking curfew to kiss their new neighbor. Neighbor AU.

Make This Whole Town Disappear, on ao3 — Heathers AU, to be revamped. Complete.

Ocean Eyes and Fairy Lights, on ao3 — Neil and Andrew go Christmas shopping. NSFW themes. Complete.

Kiss & Swell, on ao3 --- Neil discovers he has a... rare allergy. NSFW themes. Complete.

Crossfire, on ao3 - What Happened to Monday AU. Complete.

Down For It, on ao3 — Neil moves in with Stuart after Mary's death and becomes a recluse, staying in the house. Andrew and Neil bond through an online friendship and eventually meet up. NSFW themes.

Kevneil/Kandreil FWB AU [WIP] - Kevin and Neil become friends with benefits after both being dumped. It's good and strictly platonic. But once his old friend Andrew comes to town and starts showing clear interest in Neil, Kevin might have a problem on his hands. And he has to admit maybe his platonic arrangement with Neil isn't so platonic. NSFW themes.

Sexiled [WIP] — After having the perfect friendship for years and becoming roommates, Matt and Neil start having issues over hogging their apartment for private couple time—aka, sexiling each other. Also, Aaron is a cockblock. It's funny. NSFW themes.

Cruise AU [WIP] - Neil goes on a five day cruise as Allison's fake boyfriend to help make Seth jealous. He finds romance with another passenger—who keeps stealing all the desserts at the free buffet.

The Quarry AU [WIP] — Based on the horror video game The Quarry. The Foxes are camp counselors and there's werewolves. Andrew and Renee have guns.

The Long Walk AU [WIP] — Based on the Stephen King book.

There’s an annual walking marathon across the US composed of 100 walkers. They are not allowed to stop walking or slow down below 4 MPH for any reason. If they do, they get 3 warnings before they're shot dead. The last person standing gets whatever they want for the rest of their life.

iCarly AU [WIP] — Literally just a silly AU that's an excuse for Andrew to beat people with a butter sock and have an obvious crush on Neil. (+fic tag)

Neil enters the marathon along with many other characters, who all have their own motivations. This will not be a happy AU and will feature MANY character deaths (sorry. kinda). Most of this has been planned out.

12 Minutes AU [WIP] — Andrew gets stuck in a short loop. He repeatedly tries to stop Nathan's people from breaking into their home disguised as cops to kill him and Neil. With each loop, he learns more secrets and just how much of a liar Neil can be.

#aftg #tfc #Andreil #all for the game #the summaries and plot points are subject to change for the unposted wips ofc #we do not talk about the long gap where I disappeared from the fandom #<3 #anyway sorry for tags #mine

72 notes · View notes

justforbooks · 1 year

Photo

The dapper and sagacious Ahmad Jamal may have looked more like a UN delegate than a jazz musician, but he was recognised as a truly great jazz artist by some of the music’s most notable pioneers. Jamal, who has died aged 92, was hailed in the 1940s and 50s by Art Tatum and Miles Davis, and more recently by McCoy Tyner and Keith Jarrett. In the 90s, when a jazz piano-trio renaissance was being led by gifted newcomers such as Brad Mehldau, Jason Moran, Geri Allen and Esbjörn Svensson, Jamal did not retire to the sidelines but played better than ever. The former Wynton Marsalis pianist and composer Eric Reed has said that Jamal is to the piano trio “what Thomas Edison was to electricity”.

He was a fascinating philosopher of contemporary music and a lifelong critic of the entertainment business, which he accused of fleecing African-American artists. Although he recognised the structural and technical distinctions of jazz and European classical music, he was adamant that there was no superiority of one over the other in what he called “the emotional dimensions”. “You have to know what the hell you’re doing,” he told me in 1996, “whether you’re playing the body of work from Europe or the body of work from Louis Armstrong.”

Jamal was born Frederick Jones in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and regarded the eclectic musical culture of his birthplace as crucial to his development. His father was an open-hearth worker in the steel mills, but his uncle Lawrence played the piano and at only three years old Jamal was copying his playing by ear. He took lessons from seven, and would recall “studying Mozart along with Art Tatum”, unaware of white society’s widespread prejudice that European music was supposed to be superior to that of African-Americans. Significant influences in his early years were the music teacher Mary Cardwell Dawson (founder of the National Negro Opera Company), and his aunt Louise, who showered him with sheet music for the popular songs of the day. Pianists Tatum, Nat King Cole and Erroll Garner were among the young “Fritz” Jones’s principal jazz influences, and he also studied piano with James Miller at Westinghouse high school.

At 17 he toured with the former Westinghouse student George Hudson’s Count Basie-influenced orchestra, worked in a song-and-dance team, and wrote one of his most enduring themes, Ahmad’s Blues, at 18. Two years later he adopted Islam, and the name Ahmad Jamal. He also joined a group called the Four Strings, which became the Three Strings with the departure of its violinist, and caught the ear of the talent-spotting producer John Hammond, who signed the trio to Columbia’s Okeh label.

The public liked Jamal’s distinctive treatments of popular songs, and so did Davis. Developing his new quintet in 1955, Davis sent his rhythm section to study Jamal’s then drummer-less group. Davis liked Jamal’s pacing and use of space (the prevailing bebop jazz style was usually hyperactive), and he noticed that Jamal’s guitarist, Ray Crawford, often tapped the body of his instrument on the fourth beat. Davis told his drummer, Philly Joe Jones, to copy the effect with a fourth-beat rimshot, which became a characteristic sound of that ultra-hip Davis ensemble. Davis began to feature Jamal’s originals and arrangements in his own output, including New Rhumba (on his 1957 Miles Ahead collaboration with Gil Evans), and Billy Boy (on 1958’s classic Milestones session).

The gifted young Chicago bassist Israel Crosby joined the trio in 1955, and the following year the percussionist Vernel Fournier – who fulfilled Jamal’s requirements for a subtle hand-drummer as well as orthodox sticks-player – replaced Crawford. The group became the house band at the Pershing Hotel in Chicago, and one night in January 1958 they recorded more than 40 tracks there. One was Poinciana, which had been a hit tune from the 1952 movie Dreamboat. Jamal modernised its Latin groove, maintained a catchy hook throughout the improvisation, and found himself with a pop hit that stayed in the charts for two years.

Eight songs from that night, including Poinciana, made up the million-selling album At the Pershing: But Not for Me. Jamal’s newfound wealth led him to branch out into club ownership by opening the Alhambra in Chicago, though the venture barely lasted a year. Crosby and Fournier left for the pianist George Shearing’s group in 1962, and Jamal recorded the Latin-influenced Macanudo album the next year, with a new trio and a full orchestra. He also explored his cultural and ancestral roots in Africa, then recorded Heat Wave in 1966 – with a new group (Jamil Nasser on bass and Frank Gant on drums) and a more contemporary feel, reflected in the funkier approach to his old piano hero Garner’s Misty.

Jamal’s knack of keeping audiences mesmerised with unexpected modulations, time changes and catchy riffs, while never losing the undercurrent of the tune, was still unmistakably intact. His trademark device of insinuating a song – through toying with its bassline or its characteristic groove, but endlessly delaying the appearance of the tune – was adopted by many later jazz pianists, including such contemporary masters as Mehldau.

In 1970 Jamal recorded Johnny Mandel’s M*A*S*H theme for the movie’s soundtrack, and with the albums Jamaica (in 1974, which included Marvin Gaye’s Trouble Man as well as M*A*S*H) and Intervals (1979, which included a Steely Dan cover), showed he was not averse to toying with pop forms and even electric pianos. But he soon returned to the jazz of his roots. In 1982 he made the live album American Classical Music (it was the term he always preferred to the word “jazz”), sustained a steady output through the decade, and with Chicago Revisited (1992) sounded as assured and inventive as ever.

Now in his 60s, Jamal began to develop a higher profile in Europe. Sessions for the Dreyfus label in France led to The Essence (issued in three parts in the 90s), and found him in full flight with the saxophonists George Coleman and Stanley Turrentine and the trumpeter Donald Byrd. In 1995 his version of Music, Music, Music and the original take of Poinciana were featured in the Clint Eastwood film The Bridges of Madison County. He made what he regarded as one of his best recordings with Live in Paris 1996 (featuring Coleman again), and returned to the city to celebrate his 70th birthday in 2000 with Coleman; he was in inspired form on what would be released as the album A l’Olympia (2001).

With the exciting James Cammack on bass and Idris Muhammad on drums, Jamal’s composing blossomed. Striking originals dominated his 2003 album In Search of Momentum, and he even made a faintly stagey but soulful foray into singing, amid a raft of virtuoso keyboard displays, on After Fajr (2005).

Jamal’s alertness to an irresistible riff, like his keyboard contemporary Herbie Hancock’s, made him a favourite with hip-hop artists, and De La Soul’s Stakes Is High and Nas’s The World Is Yours were among many unmistakable testaments to that. Mosaic Records’ nine-CD set of his game-changing work in the late 1950s and early 60s was released in 2011, his group made a spectacular live appearance in London in 2014, and his last album releases came in 2022 with Emerald City Nights: Live at the Penthouse, parts one and two, featuring live recordings made in Seattle during the 60s. A third in the series is due for release this year.

Jamal was married and divorced three times – to Virginia Wilkins, Sharifah Frazier and Laura Hess-Hay. He is survived by a daughter, Sumayah, from his second marriage, and two grandchildren.

🔔 Ahmad Jamal (Frederick Russell Jones), musician, born 2 July 1930; died 16 April 2023

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

#JUST FOR BOOKS #Ahmad Jamal #in memoriam

30 notes · View notes

theopteryx · 5 months

Note

11 and 9!

9. Best month for you this year?

so obviously going to japan in the spring was up there but i've already talked about it a lot so i'm actually going to give a shout out to july, which had some of the more frustrating parts of this year (fighting with my landlord, someone hit and running my car, other stupid bullshit) but included: an absolutely incredible family beach trip that was one of our best family trips of all time, and that even includes the part where my SIL accidentally set a toaster on fire and almost burned the condo down and i had to fire extinguisher it on the floor of the kitchen and we had to throw out all the food that was out, EVEN THEN! THAT'S JUST MAKIN' MEMORIES, BAY-BEE! AND a trip to british columbia for a cousin's wedding which was a hoot n hollerin good time, AND a friend's taskmaster-themed birthday party which was. deeply unhinged.

i hate summer, and my good friend hates summer, and so this year we decided that we would NOT hate summer, we were going to become the kind of people who LOVED SUMMER, we would love summer SOOOOO much, even if it was out of spite, and we literally sat down and made a list of fun summer to-do's (we love lists. we love to check things off a list. it's fun. what is the problem here.) and by god we checked a lot of things off that list, which rolled into just having like. a ton of fucking silly fun, lmao. we ice dyed. we made spaghett (miller high life. campari. lemon juice. it's good i swear!). we sat in a creek in the woods on a hot day. we floated in a pool. we went to barbie movie opening night. we got shitty perfect drumstick ice cream cones from the gas station that melted down our arms as we walked back to her house. we went to a midsommar screening where everyone was dressed up like the may queen. we rewatched all the scream movies. i literally made and presented two powerpoint presentations about wrestling and friends listened to them WILLINGLY. i swear!! anyway sometimes it turns out that if you force yourself to have fun you will in fact have fun. fake it till you make it ☀️

11. Something you want to do again next year?

i wrote fic this year, and i'm working on another one right now that is tough but that i'm enjoying, and there's no way it's done before the end of the year but i'd definitely like to post it at some point. hopefully. who knows! 🫠

#ask meme

8 notes · View notes

fullyinconsequential · 1 year

Text

Okay, everybody relax—I wrote this random crack Steddie fic where Steve was a writer and I wrote this from his point of view and I recently reread it after a long, long time and I was floored so enjoy.

Also it is a present-day set crack fic just to clear up time inconsistencies.

Atlantis.

When I was 10, my parents took me to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex at Cape Canaveral, Florida. I’d been to Disney World a hundred times by then, knew what the air would smell like and how the waves would sound licking the shore right beside the needlessly expensive condo we’d rent in Daytona. I expected roller coasters and cotton candy and to be sick with exhaustion by the end of it, trailing behind my booze-ridden parents, watching other kids get lifted on shoulders, fireman carried, cradled. Sometimes I walked slower than I felt, hoping one of them would have grown so annoyed of begging me to hurry, that they would lift me instead.

They never did.

Instead of a theme park, I got space. Thirty-minute presentations of one spacecraft or another—Apollo 8, Apollo 17, Apollo 11, the Challenger, the Columbia. Tears rolled down my face as we wandered through exhibits of dead astronauts, failures, fuck-ups.

But I cried harder at the successes—the cheers of the control room when Apollo 8 successfully launched, the testimonial of Gene Cernan about being the last man to have touched the moon, and Neil Armstrong himself confiding in the camera, all for a silly visitor center.

I cried the entire day. I hadn’t been able to explain it, and my mother took to believing I was scared of it all. She scolded my father the whole hour it took to get back to Daytona, convinced I had been frightened at the implication of the universe being so vast.

She never failed to misunderstand me.

If there was anything I understood, it was vastness. The echoing hallways of our four-story house, my king-sized bed, the hollow place inside me that burned bigger each time my father left for a business trip, mother in tow. At a certain point, they started forgetting to hire babysitters.

Just me and the house, my own black hole.

It’s hard to comprehend how big a super heavy-lift launch vehicle is until you’re standing beneath it. My legs weren’t long or fast enough to run the length of it. I slowed to a jog half-way, and walked to the tip of the launch escape system. Then I turned around to look for my parents, and they were gone.

I didn’t panic. I knew I would find them at the nearest supply of alcohol—but not just yet. For now it was me and Saturn V, this monstrous thing, it’s vastness like a mirror. One, two, three, four, five impossible structures that might’ve fused into one had it been launched, four that might’ve been abandoned, and one that might’ve returned home. A fraction of what it had been.

My mother always turned up drunk, my father, tired. He would say something of being jet-lagged, and retire. My mother would giggle and invite her friends to the house so she could boast of all her thrilling adventures. Sometimes I wondered if they remembered they had a son at all.

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex has grown in the time since I’ve been there, most notably in their addition of the Atlantis, a spacecraft that traveled in and out of space on nearly 30 round trips. It was the first spacecraft of its kind—reusable. Returnable. Designed with the capacity to come back whole, warm with information, not lacking in love.

I’d like to stand beneath it one day. I’d like to see what I couldn’t when I was ten, to know that these wonderful metal creatures can come back whole.

And that it wasn’t my fault the others could not.

I’m off to cry now, thanks for reading :’)

#steve harrington #writer #Atlantis #kennedy space center #florida #stranger things fanfic #fanfiction #steddie #eddie munson #space

15 notes · View notes

vote-democrat-president-congress · 6 months

Text

How Trump’s rhetoric compares with Hitler’s

Washington Post: Donald Trump has long toyed with the language of famous autocrats, authoritarians and fascists. Think: “enemy of the people,” “retribution” and the frequent, years-long allusions to political violence.

But even by his standards, the former president is now mining darker territory — with overtones of some of the ugliest episodes in recent world history.

The Washington Post this weekend summarized Trump’s Veterans Day speech in a headline thusly: “Trump calls political enemies ‘vermin,’ echoing dictators Hitler, Mussolini.”

Trump not only likened his political opponents to “vermin” but suggested they represent a “threat from within” that is more dangerous than threats from beyond our borders. Both are themes seized upon by strongmen to foment populist movements.

Trump’s campaign responded by seemingly taking issue with the “ridiculous” framing. But in the same breath, it also promised that Trump’s “snowflake” critics’ “entire existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House.” (It later sought to amend that to “sad, miserable existence.”)

As that response indicates, the campaign is not exactly apologizing for this type of rhetoric, which is, at the very least and to be quite charitable, a calculated attempt at provocation. And after years of this kind of rhetoric and events like Jan. 6, you could certainly forgive people for worrying that it’s more than that.

“The language is the language that dictators use to instill fear,” Timothy Naftali, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, told The Post. “When you dehumanize an opponent, you strip them of their constitutional rights to participate securely in a democracy because you’re saying they’re not human. That’s what dictators do.”

The deepening radicalization of Donald J. Trump

Just how similar is Trump’s language to the actual words of those figures? Let’s examine how his recent comments compare with AdolfHitler’s.

‘Vermin’

Trump said Saturday: “We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country, that lie and steal and cheat on elections.”

As The Post’s story noted, likening one’s political opponents and certain elements within the country to vermin and beasts was a tactic employed by Hitler.

Hitler used the construct to justify the extermination of Jews and to attack Marxists, while Trump has used it more broadly to suggest that his opponents are subhuman.

“Should I not also have the right to eliminate millions of an inferior race that multiplies like vermin?” Hitler said, according to Joachim C. Fest’s biography.

“The rats that poison our body-politic gnaw from the hearts and memories of the broad masses even that little which distress and misery have left,” Hitler wrote in “Mein Kampf,” according a translation published by Project Gutenberg.

A 1939 report from a French official recalls Hitler and a Nazi official pressing the idea that “this vermin must be destroyed. The Jews are our sworn enemies.”

As Hitler historian Max Domarus recalled in his book “The Essential Hitler”:

Marxists, ‘root out’

The idea that the German government was being haplessly overtaken by Marxists and those who must be rooted out — as Trump has suggested is happening in the United States — also coursed through Hitler’s commentary.

“The German State is intensely overrun by Marxism,” Hitler wrote in “Mein Kampf.”

He added at another point: “But there is one thing [Germany’s leaders] have not known how to do, and that is how to save the German people from falling into the arms of Marxism. In that they have shown themselves most pitiably and miserably impotent.”

And at another: “What must be said of those State officials, chiefs of police, and even cabinet ministers, who showed a scandalous lack of principle in presenting themselves externally to the public as ‘national’ and yet shamelessly acted as the henchmen of the Marxists in the disputes which we, National Socialists, had with the latter.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/13/how-trumps-rhetoric-compares-hitlers/

4 notes · View notes

byneddiedingo · 11 months

Photo

Kim Novak in Bell, Book and Candle (Richard Quine, 1958)

Cast: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs, Hermione Gingold, Elsa Lanchester, Janice Rule. Screenplay: Daniel Taradash, based on a play by John Van Druten. Cinematography: James Wong Howe. Art direction: Cary Odell. Film editing: Charles Nelson, Music: George Duning.

Kim Novak was not an actress of wide range, but in the right role and with a good supporting cast, she made a strong, sexy impact, as she does in Picnic (Joshua Logan, 1955), Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958), and Bell, Book and Candle, in which she is paired again with her Vertigo co-star, James Stewart, and surrounded by a supporting cast full of scene-stealers: Jack Lemmon, Elsa Lanchester, Hermione Gingold, and Ernie Kovacs. The movie is nothing special: a fantasy romantic comedy with Novak as Gillian Holroyd, a witch who runs a primitive-art gallery on the ground floor of the apartment house where Shep Henderson (Stewart), a book publisher, lives. She puts a spell on him; he leaves his fiancée, Merle Kittridge (Janice Rule), for her but breaks it off when he discovers that he's been hexed. And so on. The movie was made after Vertigo, and Novak and Stewart were re-teamed because of a deal Columbia had made when it loaned out Novak to Paramount for the Hitchcock film. It's not the most plausible of pairings: Novak was 25 to Stewart's 50 -- an age difference that was less problematic in the plot of Vertigo, with its theme of erotic obsession. After Bell, Book and Candle, Stewart chose never to play another romantic lead, but the film gives him some good moments to show off his exemplary skill at physical comedy, as in the scene in which he's forced to scarf down a nauseating witches' brew concocted by Mrs. De Passe (Gingold). The screenplay by Daniel Taradash opens up a one-set Broadway comedy by John Van Druten that had starred Rex Harrison and Lili Palmer. It was nominated for Oscars for art direction and for Jean Louis's costumes, but lost in both categories to Gigi (Vincente Minnelli). The cinematography is by James Wong Howe.

#Bell Book and Candle #Richard Quine #Kim Novak

9 notes · View notes

fancoloredglasses · 7 months

Text

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Making it fun to yell at the movie since 1975), Part 2

[All images are owned by 20th Century Fox Disney....wait, really?! Anyway, please don't sue, kill, eat, or...whatever they did to everyone at the end...me]

WARNING: This review is NSFW, as it deals with sexual themes. You’ve been warned.

Are you OK with this? Good, then let’s continue.

This review is going to be done slightly different than most, even the one that was essentially a musical in that I will be going over the songs after the clips (as most of the plot is driven through them) and will be including audience partici…

SAY IT!

…pation lines (at least the ones I do) on occasion. These will be done in chat font (as shown above).

(Word of warning, despite whatever I may say at the movie, it’s not intended to be mean-spirited. I’m just going along with the show)

PREVIOUSLY ON...

Brad Majors...

ASSHOLE!

...and his girlfriend Janet Weiss...

SLUT!

...have just become engaged. However, following a wrong turn and a flat tire, the happy couple hike to a desolate castle where they hope someone can help them.

Now, on with the show!

Upon reaching the door, Brad rings the bell, sure that they’ll have a phone they can use (Castles don’t have phones, asshole!) Eventually the door opens, revealing…

Riff Raff (played by O’Brien), who (after commenting on their appearance) lets them in, announcing that they’re just in time for a celebration. As Riff Raff leads them into the house, they meet…

…Magenta (played by Quinn, as I mentioned earlier), who is Riff Raff’s sister (and you’ll see why that’s a bit of an issue later)

As the clock chimes, a rock beat announces the beginning of the most iconic song of the movie!

(Quick note, the next several minutes are pretty much one song transitioning to the next)

youtube

(Thanks to WhispersFromTheGrave)

The one in the gold sequins is Columbia (played by Campbell). As for the rest of the party-goers (AKA the Transylvanians), don’t get too attached, as they’ll be gone in the next 20 minutes, never to be seen again.

From here we transition to the next song, starting with Brad saying something stupid.

youtube

(Thanks to Angelo De Lutiis)

...and meet the star/antagonist of our story, Dr. Frank-N-Furter (played by Tim Curry)

True to his word, Frank’s staff (Riff, Magenta, and Columbia) remove the cause of Brad and Janet’s shivering.

Unfortunately, they don’t give Brad and Janet anything to wear instead! The staff eventually lead Brad and Janet to Frank’s lab.

Upon their arrival, Frank flirts with Brad and Janet before announces that he’s about to create life (Rocky Horror is very loosely based on Frankenstein, if the Good Doctor was a sex-crazed cross-dresser)

Upon the success of Frank’s experiment, his creation (Rocky, played by Peter Himwood who, according to later articles, had no clue what he was getting into with the role and left acting immediately after) begins to sing (sorta; his voice was dubbed over in post-production)

youtube

(Thanks to THIRDPROJECT)

(Quick note: in the stage production, Rocky actually has a speaking part, but all Himwood does is lip sync and look pretty. I guess O’Brien didn’t trust his acting or singing)

Frank eventually catches up with and scolds Rocky. However, Frank can’t stay mad with him (at least not until he sleeps with him) He then gets praises from Riff and Magenta, but Columbia seems a bit jealous, so he asks Brad and Janet their opinion of Rocky.