Angela Bennett is a computer expert working as a programmer and stumbles across some government secrets and then finds herself being targetted by an unknown enemy and when everything is saved online it can be changed …
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Continue reading The Net (1995) Review
“I am, my friends agree, a fairly easy-going sort of chap, not quick to anger or to fear. Thus, when I came to live in Caldwell Place, I paid no mind to the screams in the night, which could well have been foxes or cats (never mind that they sprang from the empty air of my bedroom). I scarcely objected to the muffled moans, which could have come from a neighbour's pleasures (if the house had not stood alone, with no neighbour for a mile to either side). But I did feel it was a bit much when the walls began to bleed.”
—Robert Caldwell, The Caldwell Ghost by KJ Charles
A widow for ten years, Anna (Academy Award® winner Nicole Kidman) is looking forward to getting remarried when a mysterious boy appears claiming to be her late husband reincarnated. The boy can recite the most intimate details of Anna's life. What follows is a spellbinding journey inside the very soul of a woman whose mind refuses to believe the impossible but whose heart knows the undeniable truth.
If you would like to “Buy Me a Glass of Wine,” you can click this link or the ***DONATE*** link at the bottom of the menu on the left.
I know that I’m wearing this out, but my outside emailer could take quite a while to fix—it could be a day; it could be a month; I don’t know. So, please make sure that you’re subscribed directly to this blog to continue getting updates. Instructions to subscribe…
21 aprile … ricordiamo …
#semprevivineiricordi #nomidaricordare #personaggiimportanti #perfettamentechic
2023: Kate Saunders, Katharine Mary Saunders, scrittrice e attrice britannica, famosa per i suoi libri per bambini, vincitrice del Betty Trask Award e del Costa Children’s Book Award e selezionata due volte per la Carnegie Medal. Saunders fu attrice fino ai vent’anni. Oltre che scrivere per testate giornalistiche londinesi, pubblicò molti romanzi. Kate Saunders aveva la sclerosi multipla.…
Sales assistant: Welcome Your Royal Highnesses. We are honoured that you have come to us for such a special occasion. I have taken the liberty of putting a few options out for you to browse, please come this way
Robert - Thank you
Charles - *behind the sales assistants back* Like they haven’t held a royal warrant since our great great grandfather was King
Margaret - For once in your life can you shut up?
Robert – I was beginning to think you weren’t coming Margaret - Im not going to let you down
Charles - What about that one?
Margaret - Of course you would choose the biggest one. Size isn't the most important consideration you know.
Charles - Why not? Why shouldn’t Alexandra have the biggest, shiniest diamond Robert can give her? She’s about to become a Princess, doesn’t she deserve it?
Robert - She deserves everything I could give her.
Margaret - Alexandra has taste, and she needs a ring that reflects that! She has to wear it for the rest of her life.
Robert - she hasn’t said yes yet
*Both ignore Robert*
Charles - I have taste
Margaret - Since when? I don’t know why Robert brought you
Charles - Because he wanted his big brother by his side as he makes this decision! Things may go south if he chooses the wrong ring….
Margaret - I guess you would know
Charles - What's that supposed to mean?
Margaret - If I remember correctly, didn’t Dad-
Charles - I was there!
Robert - I'm beginning to wonder why I brought either of you.
This is about me for once and I don’t think it's too much to ask that my brother and sister put aside their bickering and help me.
Margaret - I'm sorry - you are right.
Charles - Yeah. Sorry.
Sales Associate: If there isn’t anything to your liking, I do have more options that I can bring out
Charles – Robert, you need to go bigger
Margaret – For gods sake don’t you listen? I think Alexandra would be more than fine with something like that one…
Mario Lanfrachi studio film, 1965 (Sesto Bruscantini, Valeria Mariconda, Ugo Benelli; conducted by Alberto Zedda; no subtitles)
Jean-Pierre Ponnelle studio film, 1974 (Hermann Prey, Teresa Berganza, Luigi Alva; conducted by Claudio Abbado; English subtitles)
New York City Opera, 1976 (Alan Titus, Beverly Sills, Henry Price; conducted by Sarah Caldwell; English subtitles)
Arena Sferisterio, 1980 (Leo Nucci, Marilyn Horne, Ernesto Palacio; conducted by Nicola Rescingo; no subtitles)
Teatro Real de Madrid, 2005 (Pietro Spagnoli, Maria Bayo, Juan Diego Flórez; conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti; Arabic subtitles)
Teatro la Fenice, 2008 (Roberto Frontali, Rinat Shaham, Francesco Meli; conducted by Antonino Fogliani; Italian subtitles)
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 2009 (Pietro Spagnoli, Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Flórez; conducted by Antonio Pappano; English subtitles)
Vienna State Opera, 2019 (Rafael Fingerlos, Margarita Gritskova, Juan Diego Flórez; conducted by Evelino Pidó; English subtitles)
Arena di Verona, 2022 (Leo Nucci, Nino Machaidze, Dmitry Korchak; conducted by Daniel Oren; English subtitles)
Garsington Opera, 2023 (Johannes Kamler, Katie Bray, Andrew Stenson; conducted by Douglas Boyd; English subtitles)
Rigoletto
Wolfgang Nagel studio film, 1977 (Rolando Panerai, Franco Bonisolli, Margherita Rinaldi; conducted by Francesco Molinari-Pradelli; Japanese subtitles)
Metropolitan Opera, 1977 (Cornell MacNeil, Plácido Domingo, Ileana Cotrubas; conducted by James Levine; no subtitles)
Metropolitan Opera, 1981 (Cornell MacNeil, Luciano Pavarotti, Christiane Eda-Pierre; conducted by James Levine; no subtitles)
Jean-Pierre Ponnelle film, 1982 (Ingvar Wixell, Luciano Pavarotti, Edita Gruberova; conducted by Riccardo Chailly, English subtitles)
English National Opera, 1982 (John Rawnsley, Arthur Davies, Marie McLaughlin; conducted by Mark Elder, sung in English)
La Monnaie, Brussels, 1999 (Anthony Michaels-Moore, Marcelo Álvarez, Elizabeth Futral; conducted by Vladimir Jurowski; no subtitles)
Arena di Verona, 2001 (Leo Nucci, Aquiles Machado, Inva Mula; conducted by Marcello Viotti; Italian subtitles)
Zürich Opera house, 2006 (Leo Nucci, Piotr Beczala, Elena Mosuc; conducted by Nello Santi; no subtitles)
Paris Opera, 2016 (Quinn Kelsey, Michael Fabiano, Olga Peretyatko; conducted by Nicola Luisotti; English subtitles)
Teatro Massimo, 2018 (George Petean, Ivan Ayon Rivas, Grazia Schiavo; conducted by Stefano Ranzani; English subtitles)
Così Fan Tutte
Vaclav Kaslik studio film, 1969 (Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig, Luigi Alva, Hermann Prey; conducted by Karl Böhm; English subtitles)
Jean-Pierre Ponnelle studio film, 1988 (Edita Gruberova, Delores Ziegler, Luis Lima, Ferruccio Furlanetto; conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt; English subtitles) – Act I, Act II
Teatro alla Scala, 1989 (Daniela Dessì, Delores Ziegler, Josef Kundlak, Alessandro Corbelli; conducted by Riccardo Muti; Italian subtitles) – Act I, Act II
Théâtre du Châtelet, 1992 (Amanda Roocroft, Rosa Mannion, Rainer Trost, Rodney Gilfry; conducted by John Eliot Gardiner; English subtitles)
Vienna State Opera, 1996 (Barbara Frittoli, Angelika Kirschlager, Michael Schade, Bo Skovhus; conducted by Riccardo Muti; English and Italian subtitles)
Teatro Comunale di Ferrara, 2000 (Melanie Diener, Anna Caterina Antonacci, Charles Workman, Nicola Ulivieri; conducted by Claudio Abbado; no subtitles)
Zürich Opera House, 2000 (Cecilia Bartoli, Liliana Nikiteanu, Roberto Saccá, Oliver Widmer; conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt; no subtitles) – Act I, Act II
Opera Lyon, 2007 (Maria Bengtsson, Tove Dahlberg, Daniel Behle, Vito Priante; conducted by Stefano Montanari; French subtitles)
Salzburg Festival, 2009 (Miah Persson, Isabel Leonard, Topi Lehtipuu, Florian Boesch; conducted by Adam Fischer; English subtitles)
Zürich Opera House, 2009 (Malin Hartelius, Anna Bonitatibus, Javier Camarena, Ruben Drole; conducted by Frans Welser-Möst; English subtitles)
Aïda
San Francisco Opera, 1981 (Margaret Price, Luciano Pavarotti; conducted by Luis Garcia Navarro; no subtitles)
Metropolitan Opera, 1985 (Leontyne Price, James McCracken; conducted by James Levine; English subtitles) – Act I, Act II, Act III, Act IV
Teatro alla Scala, 1986 (Maria Chiara, Luciano Pavarotti; conducted by Lorin Maazel; English subtitles)
Metropolitan Opera, 1989 (Aprile Millo, Plácido Domingo; conducted by James Levine; English subtitles)
Teatro Comunale di Busseto, 2001 (Adina Aaron, Scott Piper; conducted by Massimiliano Stefaneli; Italian subtitles)
St. Margarethen Opera Festival, 2004 (Eszter Szümegi, Konstantin Andreev; conducted by Ernst Marzendorfer; English subtitles)
Prince of the Sorrows (Rowan Blood, #1)
Lord of Silver Ashes (Rowan Blood, #2)
Herald of the Witch’s Mark (Rowan Blood #3)
The Fox and the Dryad
K.J. Charles
The Smuggler and the Warlord (A Charm of Magpies, #0.5)
The Magpie Lord (A Charm of Magpies, #1)
Interlude with Tattoos (A Charm of Magpies, #1.5)
A Case of Possession (A Charm of Magpies, #2)
A Case of Spirits (A Charm of Magpies, #2.5
Flight of Magpies (A Charm of Magpies, #3)
Feast of Stephen (A Charm of Magpies, #3.5)
Five For Heaven (A Charm of Magpies, #3.6)
Jackdaw (A Charm of Magpies, #4)
Rag and Bone (A Charm of Magpies, #5)
A Queer Trade (A Charm of Magpies, #5.5)
The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal
Butterflies (The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal, #2)
Remnant: A Caldwell & Feximal/Whyborne & Griffin Mystery (The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal, #3; Whyborne & Griffin, #3.5)
Proper English (England World, #1)
Think of England (England World, #2)
Song for a Viking (England World, #2.1)
A Fashionable Indulgence (Society of Gentlemen, #1)
A Seditious Affair (Society of Gentlemen, #2)
A Gentleman’s Position (Society of Gentlemen, #3)
Wanted, A Gentleman
An Unseen Attraction (Sins of the Cities, #1)
An Unnatural Vice (Sins of the Cities, #2)
An Unsuitable Heir (Sins of the Cities, #3)
Spectred Isle (Green Men, #1)
The Henchmen of Zenda
Unfit to Print
Band Sinister
The Rat-Catcher’s Daughter (Lilywhite Boys, #0.5)
Any Old Diamonds (Lilywhite Boys, #1)
Gilded Cage (Lilywhite Boys, #2)
Masters in This Hall (Lilywhite Boys, #3)
Slippery Creatures (The Will Darling Adventures, #1)
The Sugared Game (The Will Darling Adventures, #2)
Subtle Blood (The Will Darling Adventures, #3)
The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting
The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen (The Doomsday Books, #1)
A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel (The Doomsday Books, #2)
A Thief in the Night
A.J. Demas
One Night in Boukos
Something Human
Sword Dance (Sword Dance, #1)
Saffron Alley (Sword Dance, #2)
Strong Wine (Sword Dance, #3)
Honey and Pepper (When in Pheme, #1)
C.S. Pacat
Captive Prince (Captive Prince, #1)
Captive Prince: Volume Two (Captive Prince, #2)
Kings Rising (Captive Prince, #3)
Dark Rise (Dark Rise, #1)
Dark Heir (Dark Rise, #2)
Downtime
Whistling in the Dark
The Only Gold
If It Ain’t Love
The Road to Silver Plume (Secret Service #1)
Playing the Ace (Secret Service #2)
Invitation to the Dance
Harper Fox
Brothers of the Wild North Sea
Once Upon a Haunted Moor (Tyack & Frayne #1)
Tinsel Fish (Tyack & Frayne #2)
Don’t Let Go (Tyack & Frayne #3)
Kitto (Tyack & Frayne #4)
Guardians of the Haunted Moor (Tyack & Frayne #5)
Third Solstice (Tyack & Frayne #6)
Preacher, Prophet, Beast (Tyack & Frayne #7)
Out
Sebastian Nothwell
Mr Warren’s Profession (Aubrey & Lindsey, #1)
Throw His Heart Over (Aubrey & Lindsey, #2)
Hold Fast
Oak King Holly King
Lydia Gastrell
One Indulgence (Indulgence #1)
One Glimpse (Indulgence, #2)
Hale Ginn
Lord of the White Hell, Book 1 (Lord of the White Hell, #1)
Lord of the White Hell, Book 2 (Lord of the White Hell, #2)
Adella J. Harris
The Marquess of Gorsewall Manor (After the Swan’s Nest, #1)
The Earl of Klesamor Hall (After the Swan’s Nest, #2)
Cat Sebastian
The Soldier’s Scoundrel (The Turners, #1)
The Lawrence Browne Affair (The Turners, #2)
The Ruin of a Rake (The Turners, #3)
It Takes Two to Tumble (Seducing the Sedgwicks, #1)
A Gentleman Never Keeps Score (Seducing the Sedgwicks, #2)
Two Rogues Make a Right (Seducing the Sedgwicks, #3)
Lily Morton
The Mysterious and Amazing Blue Billings (Black and Blue #1)
The Quiet House (Black and Blue #2)
Something Wicked (Black and Blue #3)
Freya Marske
A Marvellous Light (The Last Binding #1)
A Restless Truth (The Last Binding #2)
Other Authors
The Devil Lancer by Amara, Astrid
The Reluctant Berserker by Beecroft, Alex
The Scottish Boy by Campi, Alex de
Catalina Blues by York, Marlo
The Rake, the Rogue and the Roué by Westfall, Eric Alan
The Gladiator’s Master by Sutherland, Fae
The Song of Achilles by Miller, Madeline
When Skies Have Fallen by McGowan, Debbie
Nova Praetorian by N.R. Walker
The Reanimator's Heart (The Reanimator Mysteries #1) by Kara Jorgensen
(last update 2024/04/19)
I would appreciate your recommendations if you enjoy one or more books from this list.
George Villiers 1st Duke of Buckingham in Fiction - a partial summary
CW: discussions of biphobia and homophobia in historical fiction and current historiography.
Feeling both inspired and outraged in equal measure by the upcoming Mary&George series, and having been fascinated with this remarkable man since forever, I have decided to post this partial overview of portrayals of George in fiction. The ones in bold are the ones I have read. Feel free to add to the list.
The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas
The Honey and The Sting, Elizabeth Freemantle
My Queen My Love, E.M Vidal
Cavalier Queen, Fiona Mountain
The Dangerous Kingdom Of Love, Neil Blackmore
The Fallen Angel, Tracy Borman
Wife Of Great Buckingham, Hilda Lewis
Darling Of Kings, P J Womack
The Queens Dwarf, Ella March Chase
The Smallest Man, Frances Owen
The Spanish Match, Brennan Purcell
Captain Alatriste, Arturo Pérez-Reverte
The Cardinal and The Queen, Evelyn Anthony
Earthly Joys, Philippa Gregory
Myself My Enemy, Jean Plaidy
Charles The King, Evelyn Anthony
The Young And Lonely King, Jane Lane
The Fortunes Of Nigel, Walter Scott
The Crowned Lovers, E Barrington
The Minion, Raphael Sabiniti
The Murder In The Tower, Jean Plaidy
A Net For Small Fishes, Lucy Jago
The Arm and the Darkness, Taylor Caldwell
Les Gloires et les perils (?), Robert Merle
And a few I’m not so sure about where George is mentioned in passing: .
Viper Wine, Hermionie Eyre
John Saturnalls Feast, Lawrence Norfolk
Rebels and traitors, Lindsay Davis
The Assassin, Ronald Blythe
Some observations, in no particular order:
Novels set mostly in James reign often have George as a rival to Robert Carr and will attempt to foreshadow how much worse he will be compared to Carr.
The ones that feature Henrietta Maria as Protagonist or at least POV character, where George is normally a baddie trying to sabotage HM and Charles I's relationship, and his death is often portrayed as some sort of salvation for HM. In these books George will often be lamed for things which were IRL Charles's fault such as the expulsion of HMs French household in 1626.
Three Musketeers is practically a category in its own right due to all the film/tv adaptions but has had relatively few clones or imitators in English which is something of a surprise
George is only a protagonist in one of these books (Darling of Kings, P J Womack) in the rest he's a cameo or a villain
Rumours that I suspect authors know is nonsense are repeated verbatim such as Tracy Borman's baseless speculation about G offing the Manners brothers, king James, and his rumoured involvement with the occult.
Georges relationships with James and Charles respectively are mentioned but not meaningfully explored. neither are any other personal relationships he had.
The insights and shifts in terms of post 1970s revisionist and post revisionist scholarship esp. Roger Lockyer's bio of George have not found their way into any fiction set in this era. Georges capability as an administrator and manager of patronage is more often than not totally absent.
the general view of George and why he's often shown in such a negative light is pretty much "well, he was willing to god knows what with that dirty old man James; who knows what other depravities he was capable of" and its female authors who really seem to lean into this, which I find fascinating and disturbing.
EDIT (can’t believe I forgot this) George’s murder in 1628 is always the result of some sort of aristocratic conspiracy rather than the act of terrorism it was IRL. I do get why authors do this - the amount of world building and foreshadowing needed to make it seem plausible rather than random in universe. However making it the result of personal grudge rather than ideological violence detracts from why it was so shocking and important.
Figured I should make a proper post with all the name duplicates. I’ll update periodically as we get new casts. Just counting queens right now, but I’ll probably add LiW eventually.
21 aprile … ricordiamo …
#semprevivineiricordi #nomidaricordare #personaggiimportanti #perfettamentechic
2022: Jacques Perrin, Jacques-André Simonet, attore, regista e produttore cinematografico francese. Figlio di Alexandre Simonet, regista teatrale, mentre Perrin è il cognome della madre Marie, anch’essa attrice. I primi ruoli giovanili come attore: La ragazza con la valigia (1961) e in Cronaca familiare (1962). Ebbe da subito grane notorietà. Sposato con la direttrice della fotografia Valentine…
First attempt at photo restoration in years - photo of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes taken from The Liverpool Echo. Altered colour settings, painted out scratches, restored details to a face, ran it through an image upscaler, and then fixed a few more things.
From left to right: Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr), I think Charles O'Brien (Ty O'Brien), Alan Caldwell (Rory Storm), Walter Eymond (Lu Walters), and I think Johnny Byrne (Johnny Guitar). O'Brien and Guitar may be round the wrong way.