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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 2 months

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"We are all in this together. It is so important right now, as truth is being assaulted not just in this country, but all over the world. Let us dig into the truth. Let us be fierce and dangerous about the truth. Let us find in that truth the strength to demand that truth from our government."

[Native author Louise Erdrich]

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

Heather Cox Richardson

March 17, 2024 (Sunday)

On Friday, journalist Casey Michel, who specializes in the study of kleptocracy, pointed out that reporters had missed an important meeting last week. Michel noted that while reporters covered Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s visit to former president Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, they paid far less attention to the visit Orbán paid to the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Heritage Foundation on Friday, March 8. There, Orbán spoke privately to an audience that included the president of the organization, Kevin Roberts, and, according to a state media printout, “renowned U.S. right-wing politicians, analysts and public personalities.”

Michel noted that it was “nothing short of shocking” that Orbán declined to meet with administration officials and instead went to Washington, D.C., to meet with a right-wing think tank. With Roberts’s appointment as head of Heritage in 2021, the conservative organization swung to the position that its role is “institutionalizing Trumpism.”

Roberts has been vocal about his admiration for Orbán, tweeting in 2022 that it was an honor to meet him. At last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Orbán boasted that Hungary is “the place where we didn’t just talk about defeating the progressives and liberals and causing a conservative Christian political turn, but we actually did it.” In January, Roberts told Lulu Garcia-Navarro of the New York Times that Orbán’s statement was “all true” and “should be celebrated.” In a different interview, Garcia-Navarro noted, Roberts had called modern Hungary “not just a [italic] model for conservative statecraft but the [italic] model.”

Last year, Michel notes, Heritage joined the Hungarian Danube Institute in a formal partnership. The Hungarian think tank is overseen by a foundation that is directly funded by the Hungarian government; as Michel says, it is, “for all intents and purposes, a state-funded front for pushing pro-Orbán rhetoric.” The Danube Institute has given grants to far-right figures in the U.S., and, Michel notes, “we have no idea how much funding may be flowing directly from Orbán’s regime to the Heritage Foundation.”

The tight cooperation between Heritage and Orbán illuminates Project 2025, the plan Heritage has led, along with dozens of other right-wing organizations, to map out a future right-wing presidency. In Hungary, Orbán has undermined democracy, gutting the civil service and filling it with loyalists; attacking immigrants, women, and the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals; taking over businesses for friends and family, and moving the country away from the rules-based international order supported by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

In the January interview, Roberts told Garcia-Navarro that Project 2025 was designed to jump-start a right-wing takeover of the government. “[T]he Trump administration, with the best of intentions, simply got a slow start,” Roberts said. “And Heritage and our allies in Project 2025 believe that must never be repeated.”

Project 2025 stands on four principles that it says the country must embrace. In their vision, the U.S. must “[r]estore the family as the centerpiece of American life and protect our children”; “[d]ismantle the administrative state and return self-governance to the American people”; “[d]efend our nation’s sovereignty, borders, and bounty against global threats”; and “[s]ecure our God-given individual rights to live freely—what our Constitution calls ‘the Blessings of Liberty.’”

In almost 1,000 pages, the document explains what these policies mean for ordinary Americans. Restoring the family and protecting children means making “family authority, formation, and cohesion” a top priority and using “government power…to restore the American family.” That, the document says, means eliminating any words associated with sexual orientation or gender identity, gender, abortion, reproductive health, or reproductive rights from any government rule, regulation, or law. Any reference to transgenderism is “pornography” and must be banned.

The overturning of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision recognizing the right to abortion must be gratefully celebrated, but the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision accomplishing that end “is just the beginning.”

Dismantling the administrative state in this document starts from the premise that “people are policy.” Frustrated because nonpartisan civil employees thwarted much of Trump’s agenda in his first term, the authors of Project 2025 call for firing much of the current government workforce—about 2 million people work for the U.S. government—and replacing it with loyalists who will carry out a right-wing president’s demands.

On Friday, journalist Daniel Miller noted that purging the civil service is a hallmark of dictators, whose loyalists then take over media, education, courts, and the military. In a powerful essay today, scholar of authoritarianism Timothy Snyder explained that with the government firmly in the hands of a dictator’s loyalists, “things like water or schools or Social Security checks” depend on your declaration of loyalty, and there is no recourse. “You cannot escape to the bar or the bowling alley, since everything you say is monitored,” and “[e]ven courageous people restrain themselves to protect their children.”

Defending our nation’s sovereignty means ending the rules-based international order hammered out in the years after World War II. This includes organizations like the United Nations and NATO and agreements like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which provide an international set of rules and forums for countries to work out their differences without going to war and which offer a system of principles for those abused within countries to assert their rights.

Heritage and Orbán have stood firmly against aid to Ukraine in its struggle to fight off Russian aggression.

Securing “our God-given individual rights to live freely,” hints at religious rule but ultimately focuses on standing against “government control of the economy.” The idea that regulation of business and taxes hampered economic liberty was actually one of the founding ideas of Heritage in the 1980s.

In the U.S. that ideology has since 1981 moved as much as $50 trillion from the bottom 90% to the top 1%.

And, as that concentration of wealth and power among a small group of people reveals, the real plan behind Project 2025 is the rule of a small minority of extremists over the vast majority of Americans.

The plan asserts “the existential need for aggressive use of the vast powers of the executive branch”—that is, it calls for a very powerful leader—to dismantle the current government that regulates business, provides a social safety net, and protects civil rights. Instead of the government Americans have built since 1933, the plan says the national government must “decentralize and privatize as much as possible” and leave “the great majority of domestic activities to state, local, and private governance.”

We have in front of us examples of what such governance means. Because state legislatures control who can vote and how the state’s districts are carved up, Republican-dominated state legislatures have taken absolute control of a number of states. There they have banned abortion without exceptions and defined a fertilized human egg as a person; discriminated against LGBTQ+ people and immigrants, banned books, attacked public education, and gutted business regulation, including child labor laws. They have also attacked voting rights.

Project 2025 presents an apocalyptic vision of a United States whose dark problems can be fixed only by a minority assuming power under a strongman and imposing their values on the rest of the country. And yet they assert that it is their opponents who do “not believe that all men are created equal—they think they are special. They certainly don’t think all people have an unalienable right to pursue the good life. They think only they themselves have such a right along with a moral responsibility to make decisions for everyone else.”

In 1776 the Founders were quite clear about the relationship between rights and government, and their vision was quite different than that of the authors of Project 2025. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” they wrote.

They continued, “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men,” and that those governments were not legitimate unless they derived power “from the consent of the governed.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#MAGA madness #Biden Harris #election 2024 #Louise Erdrich #Letters From an American #Heather Cox Richardson #history #dictatorship #democracy

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wroteonedad · 1 year

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Scream (1996) Slayed

I feel as though this is something that I have probably mentioned a million times before which is that when I was growing up, I never had the attention span to be able to sit down and watch a movie. It feels my entire adult life is me playing catch up on the millions of cult classic movies and TV shows for me to finally be able to pick some favourites. I can finally say that I have watched enough movies that I am starting to notice that certain actors do keep popping up in many different franchises though.

Here is where the me watching films thing gets worse. While I was bedridden and sick with the flu last week, I decided that it would be a great idea for me to watch Scream, as in the new reboot of it with Ms Wednesday Addams that came out last year, but it was the second one she was in. I decided it would be great to miss a whole 25 years of the franchise and just delve into the brand new film as if I really knew anything about it. But oddly. I did end up quite enjoying that film too??? Anyway, to the point. Scream (1996) has to be one of the most camp horror cinematic masterpieces I have ever seen.

A movie that I simply decided I wanted to add to my list on Netflix as I was endlessly scrolling through my feed and looking for those no thoughts head empty types of films that I can revisit whenever I feel like it, which by that point half of those films already are not available on the platform to stream anymore. Scream however, is close to its Netflix execution as I opened the film and it reads 'last chance to watch 31 May', devastated, I accepted it and delved into the movie.

The opening scene of the movie is all for our favourite 90s girlie, Drew Barrymore as Casey. She is seen in her large American home situated in what looks like the British countryside as she is waiting for her boyfriend to arrive and is cooking popcorn ready to watch a horror movie when she receives a mystery call from Ghostface. Casey quickly hangs up, assuming the incorrect number has been dialled when he calls again, saying he just wants to talk to her. He flirts over the phone asking what her favourite horror movie is and that he'll tell her his name so long as she tells him hers before announcing on another phone call that she needs to answer some questions since her boyfriend is tied to a chair on the patio. When she is asked a trick question, Ghostface proceeds to gut him alive and then kill Casey. What is really iconic about this is that for the promotional means of this movie, it was Barrymore that was featured on all of the movie posters in order to hype the movie up, even though she is only in the film for an average of 6 minutes. But that's okay because Courtney Cox and Shaggy from Scooby Doo are also in the movie.

Cut to another home, also situated in this countryside area is where we meet Sidney. The same evening as the murder of Casey, we learn that Sidney's dad is going away for the weekend and we also meet her boyfriend, Billy. Billy gives off the energy of a bad popular boy from school and is quickly noted as an important main character for the duration of the movie.

It seems that news of the murder has spread around the highschool like wildfire, the following morning the place is swarming with news reporters and the authorities, who are viewing every person in the school as a suspect and quickly roll out a curfew across the town. We then meet Sidney's friends, who are all the important characters of the movie. Tatum, the pretty popular girl with the bubbly personality. Stu, the goofball of the group, though I'm sure I think that because he is literally Shaggy and despite him having such a range of roles, I cannot see him as anybody else ever. Then we also have Randy, the friendship groups loveable loser. This guy works in the video store and is a huge horror movie buff, which of course makes him the most meta character in the movie.

I just want to add to this that the other main character worthy of any note is of course Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox), the lady that is hyperfixated on the supernatural, the life of Ghostface and writing an entire conspiracy theory book on the murder of Sidney's mother Maureen. Gale is the most slay character of this entire movie even if she always finds herself in the worst situations (being punched in the face, murdered like 4 times in this movie alone etc, but she is the most girlboss of them all).

Ghostface then decides to target Sidney, he is the killer of her mother a year prior. Sidney slates him, claiming that he is full of empty threats and how embarrassing it is to be the protagonist in a horror movie where you are nothing but a bad actor with huge boobs running up the stairs away from the bad guy. Sidney is also targeted by a fake Ghostface at school, which to be honest I was convinced it was the real guy the whole time. I also forgot the part where by this point in the story, Ghostface had already attempted to kill Sidney once where he disappears and Billy shows up within seconds of Ghostface leaving. Suspicious? I think so too.

Sidney ends up staying over at Tatum's place where we also meet Dewey Riley (Tatum's brother), the local police officer who becomes more of as welfare officer to Sidney during this time. Except for when Sidney literally leaves the room for one minute, she is once again being contacted by Ghostface.

Shortly after in the story, the principal decides to suspend all classes with immediate effect. 5 minutes later, he is also murdered by Ghostface. There is a scene of him wandering around the office area of the school, as if sensing the presence of Ghostface and instead scaring himself every time he caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror, any mirror. His murder is forgotten about for a little while in the story as Stu decides to plan a big house party to celebrate all class suspension while his parents are also out of town. Truthfully I think all of these parents just don't care what happens to their kids while there's a literal killer on the loose.

Let's flashforward to the main event, Stu's party. Officer Dewey decided to drive Sidney and Tatum to the party which is weird because I thought the town had a curfew and all of the students at the school were considered to be suspects in the murder of Casey and her boyfriend (I'm really sorry, I forgot his name because he was nothing in the movie to me).

Ironically, this party is also the place for Ghostface to really unleash themselves.

Tatum goes down to the garage to fetch some more beers out of the fridge. Sadly for her, Ghostface appears, trapping her into the garage. At first, she tries to leave through the garage door before Ghostface abruptly closes it in front of her. She looks at him dead in the eye before saying the one sentence that stole the entire movie, 'No, please don't kill me Mr Ghostface, I wanna be in the sequel!'. Spoiler alert, she isn't. After pelting him with bottles of beer, she then decides to try and escape through the cat flap at the bottom of the garage door. She maybe gets about a fifth of her body through this before Ghostface decides to open up the door, crushing poor Tatum's body and killing her.

Downstairs Randy (remember him) is showing the rest of the party horror movies, explaining the three things you should never do in a horror movie. A, never have sex. Sidney and Billy have decided to make up at this point of the film and she is upstairs losing her virginity. B, never drink alcohol. This causes the whole party to cheer as they then shortly after find out the principal was killed and they all decide to leave the party so they can see that which is so ???? And C, never say I'll be right back because you will not be back at all. This is the line that Gale Weathers says to her news guy before going for a walk with Dewey. Randy then proceeds to watch horror movies featuring a young Jamie Lee Curtis in them where he is seen saying 'BEHIND YOU' where Ghostface is also behind Randy.

It then ends up with Ghostface locating Sidney, killing Billy and then chasing Sidney around to kill her too. There is a wild goose chase scene, she finds Tatum hanging from the garage door and locks herself into a car without the keys before running into the newscasters van where he is also killed by Ghostface in front of Sidney. She then manages to escape where she finds that Billy is still alive and opens the front door to a hysterical Stu and Randy. I forgot what happened to Randy because he just seemed to disappear for a good portion of the end action scene for whatever reason. Randy claims that Stu has gone mad when Billy slams the door on Stu's face to which he reveals 'we all go a little mad sometimes' revealing him as one of the killers. It is quickly revealed that Stu is the other Ghostface and since Gale has been filming everything in the living room, she has the whole scoop that she needs to cover the whole reveal.

To summarise, Billy dies another three times before finally apparently dying, Gale keeps dying but the girlboss also came back to life so she could shoot Billy. I think the best way to describe the very end of the movie is with this.

youtube

I loved how self-aware this movie really was. To be a first movie from the franchise and parody itself well is one hell of a skill to have and I enjoyed every minute of this film. I think that Randy was done so dirty considering he essentially carried how meta this film was and I would like to hope that I see him come back in the future films. I haven't actually seen them yet so I need to spend some time getting through the whole franchise here. It's also fun to see a character like Sidney who is portrayed as the strong smart woman, I feel like this is something that was rather uncommon for a film in the 90s and so that was fun. No matter what happens too, Gale Weathers is the ultimate girlboss and there is nothing anyone can say to me that could possibly change that. It just makes sense to me that this movie is a cult classic.

#writing #review #movie review #scream review #scream

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daimonclub · 7 months

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Halloween quotes

Halloween best quotes Halloween quotes, ideas, thoughts, jokes, images and aphorisms by the World of English or English-culture.com Halloween for the year 2022 is celebrated/observed on Monday, October 31st. Tis the night—the night Of the grave's delight, And the warlocks are at their play; Ye think that without, The wild winds shout, But no, it is they -it is they! Arthur Cleveland Coxe I think if human beings had genuine courage, they'd wear their costumes every day of the year, not just on Halloween. Douglas Coupland Nothing on Earth is so beautiful as the final haul on Halloween night. Steve Almond If a man harbors any sort of fear, it makes him landlord to a ghost. Lloyd Douglas True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about but few have seen. Author Unknown I love the spirit of Halloween and the energy that comes with it. Katharine McPhee Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble. William Shakespeare Nothing on Earth so beautiful as the final haul on Halloween night. Steve Almond Nudist Colony Halloween parties are especially scary. They give the word "moon" a new cruel meaning. Ray Palla On Hallows Eve, eat, drink, be scary, take a bit of drugs and have some sex to forget about our scary life. Anonymous There is nothing funny about Halloween. This sarcastic festival reflects, rather, an infernal demand for revenge by children on the adult world. Jean Baudrillard On Hallows Eve, we witches meet to broil and bubble tasty treats like goblin thumbs with venom dip, crisp bat wings, and fried fingertips. Richelle E. Goodrich Witch and ghost make merry on this last of dear October’s days. Author Unknown A grandmother pretends she doesn't know who you are on Halloween. Erma Bombeck The coldest day in fall is at the Hallows Evening ball where ghoulish fun avoids the sun as monsters mingle wall to wall. Richelle E. Goodrich, Slaying Dragons Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Christmas and the others can end up making you sad, because you know you should be happy. But on Halloween you get to become anything that you want to be. Ava Dellaira Halloween is fun, but it wasn't always my favorite holiday. I think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Tobin Bell My children are vampires. I don't mean that they are going to dress as vampires for Halloween. I mean that, like vampires, they cannot be captured on film. John Dickerson I actually have a stash of wigs for Halloween. But only for that. Not to play dress-up. Alexa Vega

Halloween quotes and aphorisms Tis now the very witching time of night, When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out Contagion to this world. William Shakespeare When witches go riding, and black cats are seen, the moon laughs and whispers, ‘tis near Halloween. Author Unknown We are born from the star dust, and there we have to come back, under some nice carpets, to enjoy some cheerful Halloween parties! Carl William Brown On ol' Halloween Night These monsters join the living If they had it their way They'd stay until Thanksgiving. Casey Browning You never what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from. Cormano McCarthy Magic is very simple, all you have got to do is want something and then let yourself have it. Aggie Cromwell Fear has many eyes and can see things underground. Miguel de Cervantes There is a child in every one of us who is still a trick-or-treater looking for brightly lit front porch. Robert Brault Halloween wraps fear in innocence, As though it were a slightly sour sweet. Let terror, then, be turned into a treat... Nicholas Gordon A costume party… great… a chance for the bimbos to whore themselves out with no penalty of conscience. I found myself excruciatingly curious as to what she was going as, a sailor? No. A pilot. That would be something Bruce Crown I only eat candy on Halloween. No lie. Michael Trevino Will we ever stop being afraid of nights and death? When you reach the stars, boy, yes, and live there forever, all the fears will go, and Death himself will die. Ray Bradbury At first cock-crow the ghosts must go back to their quiet graves below. Theodosia Garrison Halloween is an opportunity to be really creative. Judy Gold The idea of dying and coming back is what makes the Halloween films work. Donald Pleasence Backward, turn backward, O Time, in your flight make me a child again just for to-night! Elizabeth Akers Allen Acting is like a Halloween mask that you put on. River Phoenix Nothing beats a haunted moonlit night on All Hallows Eve... And on this fatal night, at this witching time, the starless sky laments black and unmoving. The somber hues of an ominous, dark forest are suddenly illuminated under the emerging face of the full moon. Kim Elizabeth If human beings had genuine courage, they'd wear their costumes every day of the year, not just on Halloween. Douglas Coupland Halloween isn't the only time for ghosts and ghost stories. In Victorian Britain, spooky winter's tales were part of the Christmas season, often told after dinner, over port or coffee. Michael Dirda My house is basically like Halloween, 365 days a year, with my son. Alex Kurtzman Every Halloween for six years, I was a Ninja Turtle, and Mikey was my favorite. The turtles really made me who I am today. They got me into martial arts, meditation, surfing, skateboarding; big time influence on who I am today. Greg Cipes Halloween is bigger than Christmas in America. I've experienced it in New York, Los Angeles and Washington D.C., and if you're in the right neighbourhood, every house is decorated with spooky ghosts, spider webs, and jack-o-lanterns. Rhys Darby Halloween is one of my favorite days of the year. I have a strict rule: I don't work on Halloween and I won't travel on Halloween. Not for any reason. Simon Sinek

Halloween aphorisms and quotes I am unusually Halloween-attentive, because, as it happens, I was born on Halloween, so for me it has always been an occasion of great moment. Susan Orlean South Africa is the only place in the Southern hemisphere where Halloween is really catching on. They have a lot of sporting events that have made it more popular there. They have motocross and rave celebrations, and they're embracing it as a youth culture thing. Lisa Morton I start lighting pine-scented candles the day after Halloween. Mary Page Keller Yes, obviously, I would love to play a vampire! I mean, I went to Hot Topic and got the fake vampire teeth for Halloween in middle school. Obviously, I want fangs sometime! Grace Phipps All my life, I have been a celebrant of Halloween. For me, it is the most important day of the year, the turning point in the old pagan calendar. John Burnside Some people are born for Halloween, and some are just counting the days until Christmas. Stephen Graham Jones Where there is no imagination there is no horror. Arthur Conan Doyle If ever there was a holiday that deserves to be commercialized, it's Halloween. We haven't taken it away from kids. We've just expanded it so that the kid in adults can enjoy it, too. Cassandra Peterson I love the spirit of Halloween and the energy that comes with it. Katharine McPhee I don't know that there are real ghosts and goblins, but there are always more trick-or-treaters than neighborhood kids. Robert Brault Shadows of a thousand years rise again unseen, Voices whisper in the trees, "Tonight is Halloween!" Dexter Kozen People value Halloween, like Valentine's Day, because they can tell themselves that it's not merely secularized but actually secular, which is to say, not Christian, Jewish, Hindu or Muslim. Amity Shlaes I was kind of a dark kid. I loved Halloween, and I loved vampires and the black and white old monster movies. Joe Manganiello Seems like Americans just want it to be Halloween all year. The holiday just keeps getting more popular. Amity Shlaes This Halloween the most popular mask is the Arnold Schwarzenegger mask. And the best part? With a mouth full of candy you will sound just like him. Conan O'Brien On Halloween, kids get to assume, for one night the outward forms of their innermost dread, and they're also allowed to take candy from strangers - the scariest thing of all. Kate Christensen I'm cool with people dressing up as Eleven for Halloween. I definitely want to open my door and give them candy. Millie Bobby Brown There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls. George Carlin I grew up in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, in the early '90s, and hospitals and doctor's offices offered to x-ray candy. I was 7 or 8. The day after Halloween, my brother and I were sorting all of our candy, and my mom asked if she could have a piece of my gum. She put the gum in her mouth, bit down, and there was a shard of metal in it! Cory Michael Smith There is a child in every one of us who is still a trick-or-treater looking for a brightly-lit front porch. Robert Brault The first Halloween was very well made. The second one was also well made, though I didn't like it as well as the first one. The third one had nothing to do with the series at all and perhaps shouldn't have been made at all. Donald Pleasence There is something haunting in the light of the moon; it has all the dispassionateness of a disembodied soul, and something of its inconceivable mystery. Joseph Conrad Read also Halloween great quotes ; Halloween Thoughts ; Halloween Poems ; Download the pdf file about Halloween History Quotes by authors Quotes by arguments Read the full article

#Americans #aphorisms #delight #Doyle #Evening #Fire #fun #ghost #grave #halloween #ideas #mystery #night #parties #quotes #Shadows #Shakespeare #trouble #vampires #wigs #Witch #witching

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storyxonline · 11 months

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Release Day Review: My Best Friend's Brother (Elysian Escapades #1) by Casey Cox

Reviewed by True TITLE: My Best Friend’s Brother SERIES: Elysian Escapades #1 AUTHOR: Casey Cox PUBLISHER: Self-Published LENGTH: 89 pages RELEASE DATE: June 26, 2023 BLURB: What’s worse than mistakenly professing my love for my best friend?… How about sleeping with his brother? I swear I had no idea Will was Emry’s older brother when we hooked up. So when Emry barges in on us—awkward—things…

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hallmark-movie-fanatics · 1 year

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TORREY DEVITTO AND ZANE HOLTZ STAR IN ‘’TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,’ A NEW, ORIGINAL MOVIE PREMIERING DECEMBER 17, ON HALLMARK CHANNEL

Part of the Network’s Annual “Countdown to Christmas” Programming Event

Inspired by the Troy, New York Tradition and based on the play, The Trial Before Christmas

STUDIO CITY, CA – November 28, 2022 – Torrey DeVitto (“Rip in Time,” “The Rite”) and Zane Holtz (“NCIS,” “From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series”) star in “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” a new, original movie premiering Saturday, December 17 (8 p.m. ET/PT), on Hallmark Channel, as part of the network’s annual “Countdown to Christmas” programming event. Inspired by Troy, New York’s beloved annual tradition, “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” is based on the play The Trial Before Christmas, written by Duncan Crary and Jack Casey.

Madison (DeVitto) is an actress who, despite working for decades, is best known for an an early catch phrase she’d rather forget. Looking to broaden her career, she sees the opportunity to direct a play in Troy, New York as the perfect chance to prove her skills. Part play, part mock trial, the show features two lawyers debating whether “A Visit from Saint Nick” was authored by Clement Clark Moore or Henry Livingston Jr. and has the audience decide as the jury. Madison casts an old costar, Connor (Holtz), who is struggling to balance time for acting and his young daughter, Josie (Morgan Saunders, “Aww Shucks”). Despite feeling a spark with Connor, Madison has a rule to never date an actor. Also joining the show are two of the town’s overzealous Moore and Livingston cosplayers. They are remarkably convincing – when they can be found. Less convincing is Madison’s lead actress, Lena (Sophie Bastelle, “The Clue to Love”), whose sole qualifications seem to be hand modeling and the fact that she’s the producer’s girlfriend. Soon, Madison worries that her first foray into directing will be a flop. Perhaps however, with determination, support from the town and from Connor, Madison just might find a way to make it all work.

“’Twas the Night Before Christmas” is from Muse Entertainment. Jesse Prupas and Jonas Prupas are executive producers. Shane Boucher and Caitlin Delaney are producers. Gary Yates directed from a script by C. Jay Cox & Gary Yates, based on the play The Trial Before Christmas, written by Duncan Crary and Jack Casey.

#'twas the night before christmas #countdown to christmas #hallmark channel #press release #torrey devitto #zane holtz #hallmark movies

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authorwhitleycox · 2 years

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This hilarious, heart-warming and super sexy slow burn rom-com is finally out! Who doesn’t love a man in gray sweatpants?

Title: Mr. Gray Sweatpants Authors: Whitley Cox Genre: Romantic Comedy Tropes: Neighbors to Lovers, Alpha, Slow Burn Romance Release Date: September 10, 2022 “Mr Gray Sweatpants was a romantic comedy that also was packed with emotion and heartfelt moments. This author never disappoints with the heat and the steam with the chemistry between Leo and Casey being like an inferno. These two made…

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#alpha hero #gray sweatpants #neighbors to lovers #rom-com #Romantic comedy #slow burn #spin-off from Single Moms of Seattle #tracy&039;s dog

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valerieullmerromanceauthor · 2 years

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Mr. Gray Sweatpants by Whitley Cox

Title: Mr. Gray Sweatpants Authors: Whitley Cox Genre: Romantic Comedy Tropes: Neighbors to Lovers, Alpha, Slow Burn Romance Release Date: September 10, 2022 – – – – “Mr Gray Sweatpants was a romantic comedy that also was packed with emotion and heartfelt moments. This author never disappoints with the heat and the steam with the chemistry between Leo and Casey being like an inferno. These…

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joyffree · 2 years

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Join us for the Excerpt Reveal and Giveaway

Nothing Special an MM Romance by Casey Cox

They don't write romance novels about guys like me…

Benji: Trust me, I know. Crafting swoon-worthy happily ever afters is literally my day job. Being a quirky introvert with an overactive imagination, underwhelming social skills, and a few pounds overweight, I'm no leading man.

My best friend, though? He's total cover model, call the plumber because I just flooded my basement material. He's also outgoing, charismatic, free-spirited, and basically the best guy ever.

I may know romance, but I'm no dummy when it comes to reality. I'm nothing special. And the truth is, a guy like Darren would never fall for someone like me.

Darren: I'm the poster child for failure to launch. Twenty-seven, didn't make it in Hollywood, forced to slump my sorry self back home to Australia with my tail in between my legs.

The only bright spot in my life is nabbing the apartment next door to my best friend, Benji. He's like no one I've ever met. Genuine. Sensitive. Nurturing. A talented author. An amazing cook. So freaking handsome. And yeah…I am so stupidly in love with him it's not even funny.

When Benji needs some inspiration to clear his writer's block, I gladly help out. He wants to write a friends-to-lovers romance, and hello, I'm his best friend. This should be a cinch. It's not as if he's suddenly going to fall in love with me. I'm nothing special. And the fact is, a guy like Benji could do so much better than someone like me.

@caseycoxbooks · Author Organized by ➱ Foreword PR & Marketing

#nothingspecial #mmromance #friendstolovers #kindleunlimited #caseycox

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bookstattoosandtea · 3 years

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Release Blitz, Excerpt & Giveaway: Forecast by Casey Cox

Title: Forecast Series: 99 Daddies Book 3 Author: Casey Cox Publisher: Self-published Release Date: 16 Jan 2021 Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex Pairing: Male/Male Length: 66k Genre: Romance, New Adult Add to Goodreads Synopsis Forecast: (noun) A calculation or estimate of future events, especially coming weather. See also: Liam “I’m Always Right” Wright. Not your typical Daddy. Not your typical…

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#99 Daddies #Author Debut #Book Love #Casey Cox #Daddy Lite #Forecast #Gay Book Review #Gay Romance Reviews Tours #LGBTQ #LGBTQ Books #MM Romance

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madlovenovelist · 4 years

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Transgender and intersex protagonists – are they represented in the mainstream literature yet?

Is there still a lot of discrimination or is it just fear and dysphoria? Or is a thing of the past?

I had this idea a couple of years back after beginning to read more diversely, and with the latest coming out and worldwide publicity around Nikkietutorials, curiosity of how trans and intersex protagonists are represented in mainstream literature is back in the forefront of my mind. We even have…

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bookgeekgrrl · 2 years

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My media this week (27 Mar-2 Apr 2022)

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

😍👂 Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road (Kyle Buchanan, author; various narrators)

😊 One True Outcome (KD Casey)

😍 Scents and Sensibility: The Working Assassin's Guide to Supersoldier Seduction (galwednesday, silentwalrus, skellerbvvt) - 93K, aka the clownfish a/b/o au, featuring 'instituionalized softism' - 6th reread

😍All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) (Martha Wells, author)

😍👂Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries, #2) (Martha Wells, author; Kevin R. Free, narrator)

😍 Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries #3) (Martha Wells)

😍👂 Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries #4) (Martha Wells, author; Kevin R. Free, narrator)

😍👂 Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries #6) (Martha Wells, author; Kevin R. Free, narrator)

😍👂 Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries #5) (Martha Wells, author; Kevin R. Free, narrator)

💖💖+93K of shorter fic 💖💖

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Our Flag Means Death - s1, e6-10

Mad Max: Fury Road

Airheads

Hot Ones - John Boyega

Hot Ones - Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Hot Ones - Key & Peele

Hot Ones - Lil Nas X

Hot Ones - Charlie Day

Hot Ones - Courteney Cox

Hot Ones - Jon Bernthal

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

Failure to Adapt - Stardust

Marvel's Voices - Anyone Can Wear the Mask: 60 Years of Spider-People [with Preeti Chhibber & Saladin Ahmed]

You're Dead To Me - The History of Football

Failure to Adapt - The Martian

You're Wrong About - Juliet's Balcony w. Chelsey Weber-Smith

You're Dead To Me - Sake Dean Mahomed

Richmond Til We Die: A Ted Lasso Podcast - Ted Lasso S2E6: Some Kind of Wonder Kid

The Birthday Cake Game - Episode 1

Switched on Pop - Listening 2 Britney: Gimme More

The Birthday Cake Game - Episode 2

You're Dead To Me - The History of Ice Cream

Endless Thread - Excrement of the Stars

Ologies with Alie Ward - Carnivorous Phytobiology (MEAT-EATING PLANTS) with Hali’a Eastburn

Gastropod - Buried Treasure: Weeds, Seeds, and Zombies

Dear Hank & John #325 - Just A Chicken Floated By (w/ Roman Mars!)

This is Good for You - Ep 28: Board Games Are Good For You

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

Hozier

My Greatest Showman playlist

Ted Lasso Soundtrack

Presenting Bee Gees

Presenting Smokey Robinson

Penned By: Alan Menken

Folk Metal Forever

Boardwalk Oldies

My Fleetwood Mac Playlist

Presenting Blondie

Joan Jett

Pump-Up Pop

Presenting Dua Lipa

#sunday reading recap #bookgeekgrrl's reading habits #that fury road book was fascinating #like you knew making that movie was bonkers but WHEW when all the bonkers is collected in a single narrative...#mad max fury road #scents and sensibility #cannot stress how much i fucking love love love this clownfish au universe #then i had a whole bunch of largely unsatisfactory false starts to reading both books & fic #so i fell back to murderbot of comfort and certainty of enjoyment #ilu murderbot #the murderbot diaries #airheads came up next on my bff's & my watchthru of brendan fraser's ouevre & he's still delightful in it. he's in his twink phase here #we play this game where we shout 'THERE'S the racism/ableism/misogyny/homophobia' whenever it pops up in these 30 year old movies #we'd make a drinking game of it except we are both too old for that and our livers can't take it #switched on pop podcast #you're dead to me podcast #marvel's voices podcast #ologies podcast #this is good for you podcast #richmond til we die podcast #endless thread podcast #bookgeekgrrl's soundtracks #fleetwood mac #alan menken #hozier #blondie #joan jett #dua lipa

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insanityclause · 5 years

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I always found Betrayal to be Harold Pinter’s most accessible play. It has a lyrical flow and showcases a love triangle in the most mature manner without chronicling all the baggage that bogs down a ménage a trois. However, under Jamie Lloyd’s ultra-minimalistic staging, it has been stripped of any form or flow. It looks more like a first day rehearsal than a full performance. In this case minimalism is another way of saying pretentious.

Since the play spans a nine-year period and moves backward in time, when it originally opened in 1980, it had a specific time and was set in many places. The time now is irrelevant; it can be 1980 or 2019. However, there are many specific settings and on a threadbare stage, it is very difficult to decipher where you are in that moment. Since Mr. Pinter is a man of words and every word and sentence has to be listened to and digested, the audience has to now formulate where they are at any given time/year, thus robbing the play of the full attention it deserves.

As the curtain rises, Jerry (Charlie Cox) is having drinks “somewhere” with Emma (Zawe Ashton). It’s been two years since they have last seen each other and they are discussing their seven-year relationship. Jerry is a literary agent for writers, Emma runs an art gallery and is married to Robert (Tom Hiddleston), a book publisher. Robert and Jerry have been best friends since college, and Jerry was best man at Robert and Emma’s wedding. However, at this particular moment, various betrayals are being revealed. Emma is currently having an affair with Casey, an author, whose agent is Jerry and his publisher is Robert. Robert has been cheating on Emma for many years, and they are at the juncture of a divorce. Emma tells Robert about her seven-year relationship with Jerry. Betrayal runs through marriages, friendship and extra-curricular affairs, but all in a civilized manner without any mire to bring it down.

The next scene follows the previous one and is between Robert and Jerry. I’ve seen the play three times before, (so I know where it is being held) “in Robert’s apartment.” Robert and Jerry are casually conversing and it comes up that Robert didn’t find out about the affair the previous night but in actuality four years earlier in Venice. Betrayals in affairs and friendship keep mounting.

The scenes keep moving backwards in time; the next is two years earlier at the flat where Jerry and Emma used to meet in the afternoons for their rendezvous but now are breaking up and giving it up. Moving back four years earlier to where Emma and Robert are in Venice where Robert first learned of Emma’s affair with Jerry. Time keeps going backwards to the time when a drunken Jerry surprises Emma in her bedroom and professes his love for her while a party is going on downstairs in her and Robert’s home.

A lot of movies and shows have since used this format of moving back in time. Betrayal was an original with its technique of reverse chronology. Affairs in general but especially extra-marital affairs have always been messy; how refreshing it was to see something handled so delicately and eloquently. Under this regime of “ultra-minimalism,” subtlety and nuances are being sacrificed under the guise of visionary directors. This means doing it on the cheap, especially for a play of this nature where time and places play such an important factor.

This is another movie-star vehicle and Tom Hiddleston making his Broadway debut as the cuckolded husband, Robert, is brilliant. His stage presence is palpable. His Robert is strong, venerable and multi-faceted. Even when he is off to one side of the stage and he is not in the scene, his presence and stature is felt. Mr. Hiddleston’s is probably the best Robert to date.

Charlie Cox as Jerry is effective but not commanding. Zawe Ashston as Emma seems more like she is modeling instead of acting in a Pinter play. Her staccato delivery of lines, which is good for a Pinter play, is overshadowed by her striking poses, and at times it appears she’s more into the poses than performing. Also, can anyone tell me why Emma is barefoot in every scene spanning over nine years? Couldn’t she afford a pair of shoes for one of those scenes? I guess this is yet another one of director’s minimalistic choices.

Like Sea Wall/A Life, another Hollywood star vehicle (which opened back in August), the latest Betrayal revival is another example of ultra-minimalism. This is the price we have to pay for seeing Tom Hiddleston or Jake Gyllenhaal. It seems minimalism must be the new theatrical experience for the rest of this season.

#zawe ashton #tom hiddleston #charlie cox #betrayal #review

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storyxonline · 11 months

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This Week’s Releases – June 26-July 2, 2023

Here are the new releases for the week. Let us know if there’s something missing & we’ll add it to the list. Title Author Publisher Release Date Other Details Link First Catch Cecelia Storm Self Published 6/26/2023 San Diego Seals #1 Amazon Frost Sundae Leighton Sullen Press 6/26/2023 With the Band #2 Amazon My Best Friend & Brother Casey Cox Self Published 6/26/2023 Elysian Escapades…

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blairemclaren · 3 years

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Casey Cox Car Accident - Death, Casey Cox Has Died

Casey Cox Car Accident - Death; 45-year-old Casey Cox has died in a motor vehicle accident that occurred on Spring Branch Road. - click link to learn more

Casey Cox Car Accident – Death; 45-year-old Casey Cox has died in a motor vehicle accident that occurred on Spring Branch Road. Authorities identified the victim following the fatal accident. The friends and relations of the deceased have so far, taken to different social media timelines to post tributes and condolences to Cox‘s family. Casey Cox was pronounced dead at age 45 after succumbing to…

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nellisschad · 3 years

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