#henry hopkins manning up

[jomiddlemarch]

Some options for you:

Emmry, Mulled Wine

Helnik, Come All Ye Faithful

Thank you!

Emma stood beside the window, looking out into the night. She could hear the sound of Mary talking and Dr. Foster’s low, delighted laugh drifting down the hall, the voices of the others harder to tell apart. She’d said she’d be along in a minute, uttering some nonsense that Mary nodded at before letting herself be led into the well-lit sitting room, her arm on Dr. Foster’s, his other hand at her waist, keeping her steady despite her lameness. Emma had wanted to be alone or so she told herself. She wanted something and being alone was something she could have.

“Emma?” Henry said, her name a question he must have asked a thousand times. How many times had he asked it lying sleepless in his bed, suffering over a sermon that he couldn’t write, muttered under his breath when he sat by a dying boy and there was no prayer he could remember? She’d never ask and he’d never tell.

“I’ve been here before,” she said, touching her fingers lightly to the windowpane. It was raining and the glass looked like it had been enchanted or she had drunk too deeply of the mulled wine Dr. Foster had poured out with a liberal hand. “Before Dr. Foster leased it for Mary, for Mrs. Foster, it was the Arden’s house. They had a ball and Georgianna had her mother get every last gardenia in Alexandria.”

“You miss it,” Henry said. He’d walked closer than she expected, standing near enough she could reach out and touch his cuff, as near as Dr. Foster stood to his wife, though without the doctor’s obvious eager fondness. 

“It gave me a sick headache, all that perfume,” Emma said, frowning a little. “It was another world. I can’t go back, I wouldn’t, even if I could.”

“Still, you may miss it,” he said. 

“It’s not what I want,” she said. “I didn’t want the mulled wine either, though I know Mary had it made for me, I’d mentioned it was something we used to have on these cold nights. It was costly, all the cinnamon and clove and Dr. Foster would only allow Bordeaux, and Mary would have served spiced cider or a rum punch if she hadn’t been thinking of me. I don’t want to be in ballroom, in a ballgown, and it isn’t that I envy Mary, she’s the dearest woman, the dearest friend—”

“She is,” Henry said. “She wouldn’t want you to be unhappy—”

“How can I be otherwise?” Emma exclaimed. “How can I be happy when everything is wrong and I don’t want what I have? When I can’t have what I want, when even wanting it is wrong?”

“I want you,” he said, shocking her into silence. He’d said it, the words hung between them, and he did not try to take them back or offer some explanation that would lessen them.

“You don’t—”

“I do,” he said, moving just that much closer, touching her hand where it lay on the window, then taking a finger and using it to lift her chin. “I want you, I want to taste the mulled wine on your lips. I want Jed to call out my name, Hopkins, not Henry, to remind me that I cannot take liberties, that’s he’s trusted me long enough and Mary is beginning to worry.”

“Henry—” she began, her voice uncertain, disconsolate. His hand moved to cup her cheek, his face moved closer to hers, so his lips were nearly touching hers. He held her gaze so she couldn’t bring herself to look away.

“Say it again. Like you know I’ll answer,” he said. “Like you know Mary should worry.”

“Henry,” she said, without the coquetry of a sigh, without anything but hope.

“Yes,” he said. And then he kissed her, the taste of the mulled wine all ginger and myrtle pepper on his lips, and distantly, Emma felt Mary worry and smile and squeeze Dr. Foster’s hand. No one called Henry’s name, nor her own, but someone, perhaps Miss Jenkins, began to sing “I Saw Three Ships” and the melody wound around her just as Henry pulled her into his arms.

*

“I’m not worried,” Mary said, her hands moving steadily, plaiting her unbound hair with a graceful rhythm Jed never tired of watching. “Now that they’ve declared themselves, they’ll find a way through.”

“You’re so sure he spoke, our diffident Reverend Hopkins? And that Miss Green answered in the affirmative?” 

“I see you’re in a mood to jest,” Mary replied. “As if anyone could wonder, seeing their faces—”

“I will admit we might have put out every candle and still had the house bright as noon,” Jed said, smiling himself in memory. “I could have operated on Sergeant McFarland’s orbital fracture far more efficiently if Henry had only proposed a bit sooner while Miss Green assisted on the surgery.”

“And Henry isn’t diffident, he’s got a New Englander’s proper reticence. You mightn’t be expected to recognize it,” Mary said, teasing him with her prim tone, her hands tying a bow in the ribbon at the end of her braid. “It won’t be easy for them, but it’ll come out right and I’m sure they’ll have all kinds of support, even from the most unexpected quarters.”

There was a moment of silence, as Jed rose to help her over to the bed, aware of how sorely her leg ached after a long day, a moment during which he must have considered her remark as well, for he laughed as he settled her beneath the patchwork quilt and soft white sheets.

“Nan Hastings shall finally reign supreme, without a challenger! Heaven help me, Mary, Mansion House under the thumb of Nurse Hastings—”

“You’re wildly optimistic, I believe. I should say, under her boot,” Mary quipped and then Jed laughed again, more quietly, as he joined her in the bed and gathered her into his arms to an untroubled sleep.  

#mercy street #mercy street pbs #emmry #phoster #prompt fill #fericita s #emma/henry #holiday #mulled wine #season 3 that never was #anne hastings #henry hopkins manning up #emma green #charlotte jenkins cameo #romance #happy new year's eve #mercy street peeps

[weclassybouquetfun]

The SAG Awards will be held February 24th and Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Bret Goldstein and the series - for Best Ensemble - are all set for nominations. It's be nice if there would be a good cast turnout, but I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't.

They are winners no matter what any votes say.

Until then, what are they up to?

I would say Jason Sudeikis will be in a Super Bowl advert, but now they release those spots well ahead of the big game, so Jason is in a Super Bowl commercial for Michelob Ultra that is out now with Lionel Messi and Dan Marino.

-S2 of Brett Goldstein's SHRINKING has commenced production.

Dreams just keep coming true for Brett.

-If there was one Ted Lasso cast member who would be in a music video, I didn't think it would be David Elsendoorn.

What else is AFC RIchmond up to?

-Hannah Waddingham will host the Olivier Awards for a second time.

-Toheeb Jimoh is in rehearsals for the play PLAYER KINGS: SHAKESPEARE's HENRY IV Part 1 and 2, with Richard Coyle and Sir Ian McKellen.

-James Lance will tread the floorboards once more in UNCLE VANYA.

The role has been played many, many a time since its first production in 1899, with the titular role having been played by Ian Holm, Michael Redgrave, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Iain Glen and in recent years Toby Jones, Andrew Scott and Steve Carell later this year.

Vanya went into the woods looking like this

and came out like this

-Cristo Fernandez is never not working! Posting his casting announcement for SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3.

And he took time out to see Brendan Hunt's one-man performance "The Movement You Need".

#ted lasso #ted lasso cast #ted lasso alums #Youtube #james lance #hannah waddingham #jason sudeikis #brett goldstein #cristo fernández #toheeb jimoh #david elsendoorn #shrinking #sonic the hedgehog 3 #tv talk #afc richmond #theatre #uncle vanya

[jamesbracket]

The matchups have arrived!

This tournament includes 96 characters named James, Jim, Jimmy, and Jay (with some others too), and they will all be competing in 6 brackets of 16, and the winners of those will be participating in two semifinals, and the winners of the semifinals will fight each other in the final finals! (Basically, it’s just how I did it on @blue-character-brawl, but with the amount of participants cut in half.)

Here are the matchups:

Bracket 1

Jim Hopper (Stranger Things) VS. Jim Halpert (The Office)

James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Marvel) VS. James “Bucky” Barnes (Marvel)

James Bonde (Moriarty the Patriot) VS. James Blond (Super Mario Brothers Super Show)

Jim Rockford (The Rockford Files) VS. James Bond (James Bond)

Jimmy Carter (Real Life) VS. James Madison (Hamilton)

James Byrd (@byrdsfly) VS. James Byrd (Spyro the Dragon)

JayMoji (Real Life) VS. James Phryllas (Real Life)

Jimmy Z (Wild Kratts) VS. Jimmy T (WarioWare)

Bracket 2

James Baxter (Adventure Time) VS. James (Adventure Time)

Jamestown, Virginia (Real Life) VS. James Webb Telescope (Real Life)

Jim Henson (Real Life) VS. Jim Davis (Real Life)

Jimmy Olsen (DC Comics) VS. Jim Gordon (DC Comics)

Jay Gatsby (The Great Gatsby) VS. James Henry Trotter (James and the Giant Peach)

Jimmy Neutron (Jimmy Neutron) VS. Shimmy Jimmy (Phineas and Ferb)

James McCloud (Star Fox) VS. Jay Elbird (Ace Attorney)

James (Wii Sports) VS. James (Papa Louie)

Bracket 3

Captain James Hook (Peter Pan) VS. James Norrington (Pirates of the Caribbean)

Jim Hawkins (Treasure Island) VS. Jimmy Hopkins (Bully)

Jamie Waring (Black Swan) VS. James Flint (Black Sails)

Jamie McCrimmon (Doctor Who) VS. King James IV (Doctor Who)

Dr. James Possible (Kim Possible) VS. Jimmy Pesto Jr. (Bob’s Burgers)

Prince James (Once Upon a Time) VS. James (Princess and the Frog)

jim teacher (This TikTok) VS. Nagasaki James (Noonbit Man)

James March (American Horror Story) VS. James Vane (The Picture of Dorian Gray)

Bracket 4

James (Pokémon) VS. James T. Kirk (Star Trek)

James the Red Engine (Thomas and Friends) VS. James P. Sullivan (Monsters, Inc.)

Jamie Fraser (Outlander) VS. James Sunderland (Silent Hill 2)

James Ironwood (RWBY) VS. Private Jimmy (Red vs Blue)

James Rallison (Real Life) VS. James Huckle (The Search for Santa Paws)

Jay Walker (Ninjago) VS. Jimmy McGill (Better Call Saul)

Jaime Lannister (Game of Thrones) VS. Jimmy Novak (Supernatural)

Jem Carstairs (The Infernal Devices) VS. James Herondale (The Last Hours)

Bracket 5

James Wilson (House MD) VS. Jamie Tartt (Ted Lasso)

Jim Lake Jr. (Trollhunters) VS. James Hunter (Animal Ark)

James (The Walking Dead) VS. Jimmy (Scott Pilgrim)

James-Roman Grilfalinas (@artificialkids-2k23-official) VS. Jimmy Lightning (Peggle)

Jamie Wellerstein (The Last Five Years) VS. Jamie Winter (Midsomer Murders)

James Holden (The Expanse) VS. James Ford (Lost)

James Garrett (Zoey 101) VS. James Amber (Life is Strange)

Jay Merrick (Marble Hornets) VS. Meanie Jim (Junie B. Jones)

Bracket 6

Jim Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes) VS. James Maguire (Derry Girls)

James Black (Detective Conan) VS. James Gunn (Real Life)

James the Cat (James the Cat) VS. Jimmy the Robot (The Aquabats)

Jimmy King (Emmerdale) VS. Jim Johnman (Monster Factory)

Jame Palrose (Terror Island) VS. Jimmy (Johnny the Homicidal Maniac)

James Diamond (Big Time Rush) VS. James Herriot (All Creatures Great and Small)

James West (The Wild Wild West) VS. James Maxwell (We Happy Few)

Jimmy Campbell (Bandstand) VS. James E. Negatus (Yonderland)

Round 1 of Brackets 1 and 2 will be going up on Saturday, May 20!

#jamesbracket #bracket #competition #tournament

[mercurygray]

Merc, what kind of Historical Military Man gets the wheels turning for you? What are the markers of 'Oh, that one, that one is now mine'?

Nat, I'm going to be honest, this question provoked something of an existential crisis. so I went back through, like, 20 years of fandom favorites to see if there's a pattern.

Spoiler: there isn't, apart from a perennial need to be different. This is kind of long .

2001 (ish) - Lord of the Rings is coming out, and you are either a Legolas or Aragorn girl. I am deep in my 'not like the other girls' phase and decide Boromir is actually the superior choice here. (This leads me to watch A LOT of period dramas that are probably not appropriate for for me at this age, including Clarissa and Lady Chatterley's Lover.) It also leads me to the Sharpe books, which are great and awesome. Richard Sharpe doesn't necessarily do anything for me as a character, but that gets me into Hornblower, which gets me into the Aubreyad, which leads me to read a lot about the Napoleonic Wars in high school. Cliff-diving into a different historical period is now something I do every single summer.

I also spend about 5 years (2008-2013) writing a 225,000 word fanfic in which Boromir doesn't die.

2010-2015

Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) is really only in the army a brief while but who can say no to the blue eyes and the absolute vibe he has going with Mary?

During the Downton phase I decide to raid the library for other period dramas, again, and watch The Forsyte Saga. Soames Forsyte is not a man you love, but Damian Lewis has A Face and I know he was on Band of Brothers, which the library perennially never has a copy of.

2011

I finally watch Band of Brothers in its entirety my senior year of college and am a little disappointed I appear to be missing large parts of the story. (Future rewatches will explain that this is actually a feature of the show, not a bug.) My recollections of this are hazy, but I'm fairly certain my favorite character the first time I watched this was Lewis Nixon (Ron Livingston). He's dark-haired, he's funny, he's an absolute mess with a trust fund. Dick Winters (Damian Lewis) also has one hell of a face. He's a red-head, he's in charge of everyone else, he doesn't say much, and he is tall. I know there must be fic for this show but am also very, very sure it is shippy in a direction I do not want to read, so I do not go looking for it.

TURN - 2014-2017

Ben Tallmadge (Seth Numrich) is the guy to watch on TURN: he's a lieutenant, he's tall, he struggles with rules, but the entire fandom is also crazy about him and the leading queen bee in the OC end of that fandom is a real pain about it, so I decide I will not be writing for him no matter what it costs me to hold off admitting I want to. However, in the next episode we meet his best friend, Caleb Brewster (Daniel Henshall) who is short, bearded, dark-haired and chaotic. The moment he comes onscreen I love him. Sadly, no one is reading fic for him and this project is abandoned.

In Season 3, we meet the Marquis de Lafayette. Historical Lafayette is a tall, awkward redhead in need of a father figure who makes up for war experience with boundless enthusiasm. His letters home are adorable. Show Lafayette (Ben Wiles) is tall and enthusiastic. I love him anyway and I make it everyone's problem for, like, a year.

2016-2017 - Mercy Street

Henry Hopkins (Luke Macfarlane) is a military chaplain in a hotel-turned Union hospital in Alexandria, Virginia. He's tall, he's a little tortured, and he has a knack for putting others first. Wrestling with some past choices, his romance with Emma Green, the privileged daughter of the family who owned the hotel, is sweet and full of pining. I write so much fix-it fic for them it's not even funny. (I love this show because the female characters I love come pre-installed. Please watch this.)

2016 - Dunkirk

I see this movie three times in theaters and love it more each time. Collins (Jack Lowden) is a blonde RAF flyboy with a very adorable face. (Tom Glynn Carney is also a face I like but he's on a backburner for a bit.) I write a lot of fic about it and affectionately refer to this as my first Planes Go Zoom phase.

2020

Two weeks into the pandemic I decide rewatching Band of Brothers is a good idea and buy the book and the DVD set from my local secondhand bookshop like I am doing a drug deal in a parking lot. Two weeks after that I am writing a fanfic for Dick Winters (Damian Lewis) because I am a loon who likes men in charge and painfully slow burns.

2021

Still in the middle of a pandemic I decide to watch The Pacific, because I make good decisions, apparently. Hoosier Smith (Jacob Pitts) is a taciturn, wise-cracking friend of Leckie's who is joked about as being the pretty one. He is. Andrew Haldane (Scott Gibson) is quiet, unassuming, and in charge, and played college football for Bowdoin. Very dad energy. Extremely charming. Dead in three episodes as history intended. Fix-it fic incoming.

2022 Top Gun Maverick comes out. Jake "Hangman" Seresin (played by Glen Powell, who I loved in Hidden Figures and The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society) has a jawline you could cut something with and an attitude. My friends think I am mental. Second Planes Go Zoom phase coupled with Devotion, which comes out shortly after.

SAS Rogue Heroes comes out. I have been really looking forward to seeing Tom Glynn Carney in something else and he delivers. Mike Sadler is blond, extremely good at his job, not capable of suffering fools, and far too attractive for the desert.

2024

We do not even make it out of trailer season before I realize I still have a Thing (TM) for Callum Turner's face, which I have known since he was Theseus Scamander in Fantastic Beasts. Watching The Boys in the Boat before this all starts doesn't help - he has regrettably blond hair but thighs for days and shoulders you could hang the universe on. John "Bucky" Egan, is tall, dark-haired, incredibly generous spirited and nominally in charge. I want all of it. The rest of the fandom does too. I try to make peace with that and write anyway. Third Planes Go Zoom phase.

#asked and answered #emilykaldwen #more about me

[oliverwolfboy]

Poe backstory headcanons, and other shit. BSD

* David Poe, Jr. And Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe, were not the best of parents. David had never really cared about being a parent. No he spent most of his time at local bars. Drowning his sorrows in alcohol, and avoiding thinking about his failing acting career, by starting bar fights and making advances on the women there. When David finally did get home, he would be a drunken mess. So irritable that if one just made the slightest miss step, he would all over them screaming and yelling till one's ears bleed. Sometimes even bottles were thrown. Elizabeth was a traveling stage actress, and a very good one at that. But Elizabeth was what people call a narcissist. To her, her children was an extension of herself, and they had to be perfect. Elizabeth would often start fights with her husband due to his drinking, these fights would rarely end well. But despite their fights Elizabeth would always pretend as if everything was fine in her family to keep up the image of a perfect family, bruises from her last fight with David? Make up. Edgar got caught sneaking into the police station? Oh why officer thank you for catching him. He is truly a troublemaker, I will make sure to punish him accordingly. Her opinion of her children depended on how good they were, and how much they complied to her wishes. Henry was the golden child. The one that did what she said and did well in school. Edgar was a troublemaker however. Never home. Always outside at the library, or god forbid a crime scene. Edgar was her least favorite child, and by extent the least favorite child. To her Rosalie was just there.

* William Henry Leonard Poe was born in january on the 30th in the year 1985, in Boston Massachusetts. Henry was the golden child, always obedient never stepping out of line, he did good in school, always number one in every activity. Henry always helped his mother with everything she asked, helping her put on her make up after David got aggresive, or cooking. Henry was the perfect son. Henry was almost always at odds with his brother, arguing with him about never being home, his hobby of finding and analysing crime scenes, and his lack of respect for their mother even though she does so much for them. After Elizabeth got tuberculosis Henry was sent to live with his grandparents, David Poe, Sr. And Elizabeth Cairnes Poe.

* Rosalie Mackenzie Poe was born on the 8th of december 1988, in Norfolk, Virginia. Rosalie was always a quiet child. She stayed in the background and just did what was asked of her. Never directing any attention to herself. She followed her mothers instructions, and hid whenever there was a fight. She didn't really have a close relationship with either of her brothers. Henry was always busy doing homework, studying, and helping mom with whatever, and Edgar was never really home, and when he was he would mostly lock himself in a closet, and write and draw whatever crime scene he found, or new a idea he had, that or he was getting yelled at. She doesn't really think she wants to hang out with him anyway, he was cool and all, but too morbid. When their father disappeared she wasn't that sad, she did grive but it was more of the idea of a father she was sad about losing, not really the man himself. And when their mother died of tuberculosis on her birthday, she was sad for the lose of the hope of her mother becoming better. She was eventually taken in by the Mackenzies. They were a lot better then her original family, her new parents actually care for her. She also lived in the same city as Edgar, though she still didn't see him much.

* Edgar Allan Poe was born on the 19th of january 1987 in Boston Massachusetts. If you had asked the people who had interacted or been around Edgar what they thought of him, they would have probably said they thought that he was creepy, macabre, morbid, dubious, grimy, sketchy, some of folk might even have used the terms retarded, or psycho. Not all of them are wrong of course. Edgar is a creepy kid, and he had always been very morbid. That being said however he was also very smart, while his classmates were just learning to read and write, Edgar had already learned to do so at the age of four and a half, with some help from a nice librarian. Since then he has read many books, mostly one's on psychology, engineering, criminology and everything that included, and of course mystery and horror novels. You see Edgar loved the macabre, he adored the mysterious and the stange, whether that be the paranormal, the existential, that of the mind, or simply people, he loved the macabre and all it's flavors. He also liked guessing why people would do the things they did, why they feared the things they did, especially when it came to criminals, there were just so many reasons, to him it was all just so fascinating. In short Edgar loved to study fear psychology. Edgar wasn't really home a lot, he’d rather spend his time in a library reading books, or breaking into a police station or crime scene to find more cases to solve, and motives to figure out, then be home and getting yelled at. To Edgar solving cases and the like came naturally, in his head sorting though the evidence and possible motives was as easy as breathing. It was also very easy for him to find these crime scenes because of his engineering hobby, when ever they moved to a new city Edgar would simply steal a radio off one of the police officers and modify it to pick up on any and all signals coming from the station, not just signals directed at it and emergencies, he never got caught. Edgar would also find cases (and info he needed) from breaking into the police station, he only got caught once, never again. When Edgar wasn't reading or solving cases he was writing. Edgar would write short stories and poems about mystery and horror, he would sketch out crime scenes and monster ideas, and he would write stories and plots, most of which were either in the horror genre or mystery genre, he did do some lighter genres but not a lot of the time. Edgar would often go into a closet or small room to write in when he was home, it just made him more comfortable. Most of the time when Edgar wrote it would be at night, when most of the other people were asleep. Edgar was a very lonely kid, due to his hobbies noone really wanted to hang out with him, and his family doesn't really like him either, not to mention he is so above everyone his age in intelligence, but well he didn't really like crowds anyway. After his father went missing Edgar didn't really Care much, he had never liked his father anyway. After the death of Elizabeth Edgar was in the foster system for sometime before being taken in by the Allans in March of 1995 on the 13th.

* there are very few people that know what happened to David Poe Jr. some others suspect it, but they can't be sure. On june 15th 1994 David Poe Jr. Had come home really late in the night. Noone in the entire house was awake except one person. As David Poe walked though the hall to the bedroom he heard scribbling coming from a little side room in the hallway. The noise irritated the middle aged man. He slamed the door open, and in that little room was a little boy scribbling away in a notepad. David yanked the notepad out of the little boys hands. He looked down at the notepad, and he without thinking read a word. Edgar in a panic subconsciously pulled him into his ability, and then he was gone. Dispite the ruckus that night everyone slept like a rock, except for Edgar. As Edgar climbed into his bed, his lips were tucked in a small smile. David Poe Jr. Died on June 15th 1994, in a poam with no name. The page the poam was on was later burned on June 15th 2007, on Mt. Taurus. Edgar doesn't really feel gulity.

* America needed more ability users. America had plenty of people, and by extension plenty of soldiers. What they didn't have plenty of were ability users. Yes they did have some, and some of those ability users were soldiers, but a lot of them also weren't. Some of those ability users abilities simply weren't that useful, or they would be to great of a cost to use, like that kid from St. Paul, Minnesota, he had a very useful gift, however that gift traded money for strenght, and at this time of war, the usa simply couldn't risk losing that much on what was just one soldier. At this point in time the government and military really didn't care if the ability user was an adult or child, as long as the ability was useful. John Allan would be the one to bring them a useful ability user.

* John Allan was a smart man, I mean he somehow dealt with drugs right under the militaries nose, so that should count for something right? The military had ordered all officers to be on the look out for potential ability users. For while they did have a system to keep track of them, there could be a lot that aren't in the system. John had his eyes on his new foster son, Edgar Poe. The kid was quiet, and flinched whenever he got yelled at, not to mention the fact that he obviously didn't trust them. Whenever he was in the house, he would always seek out a small dark room or closet. John had seen some of the things he wrote and drew, and the kid was morbid. That however wasn't John's priority, no his priority was that the kid was smart, a genius if John said so himself. The kid turned 8 years old just about Four month's ago, give or take maybe a few weeks or days, yet he could already read, understand and apply, advanced psychology, engineering, architecture, sociology, and criminology. John was going to take the kid in, no matter what, he however had to check if the kid was an ability user. at the end of april John took Edgar to the new military base stationed in richmond. The government had, had new military bases stationed in every city. They were used to identify abilities and ability users, as well as test the limits of said abilities. As it turned ok Edgar did have an ability, and a very powerful and useful one at that. After Edgar admitted to having an ability, the officers at the station were quick to get it tested, and it was perfect, an ability that could suck anyone into a fabricated reality, created though a piece of text, it didn't matter on what or where it was written, all it had to be was a somewhat coherent piece of text and it would work, it didn't matter if it was written as a book or poem. There didn't necessarily have to be a way out either, of course you could create one or two if you'd like but it wasn't a condition. You could choose rather if the person died in the story they would also die in real life or not. The conditions of the world was completely up to the user. The best part was it didn't have to be the user that was Holding or useing it, it could be used by anyone, as long as the owner of the ability allowed it.

* Frances Allan adored Edgar, sure he was quiet and if she was being honest quite morbid, but that didn't matter to her, no all that mattered was that Edgar finally met her husbands standards, so of course she would try her hardest to get to know him. So from the 13th of march to the 30th of april, Frances did all she could to get to know the boy, she would ask him if she could see some of what he wrote and drew, though his works were quite scary and macabre, and sent a chill down her spine, they were also quite good and she tried her best to encourge him to continue his passions. She would purchase him all kinds of books, she took note that Edgars favorites seem to be (to no one's surprise) the horror and mystery novels she got him, and to her surprise he also seemed to favor some of the sci-fi, fantasy, and comedy books. Of the educational books he favored those about psychology, criminology, sociology, engineering, and architecture, she had brought him some more advanced books on these subjects because Edgar was far above most when it came to Intelligence. She gleefully took note of which subjects and genre's Edgar seemed to like and dislike, it was worth every penny spent to see that gleeful look on his face and shine in his eyes, as he read. When Frances noticed Edgar take an interest in her piano she was delighted, this was an activity they could do together, a chance to get closer to her soon-to-be son. And so Frances sat Edgar down and began teaching him how to play piano, and oh did Edgar love it, he looked so gleeful as he sat there, hands sliding over the over the keys of the piano, clumsily at first but over time he began getting the hang of it. Frances almost cried when her sweet little Edgar first hugged her. Oh but then John came with the terrible news that Edgar was to be drafted and trained to go to war, she protested, of course but they said his ability was to good to just let go.

* Frances had always wanted children, but she was unfortunately infertile, this however didn't stop her from wanting kids. So they had become a foster family so she could adopt one of the kids, they had, had two before Edgar, but they didn't meet his standard, if he had to have a kid it at least had to be smart. John didn't care about kids outside of getting an heir, however being a foster parent also, allowed him to scout out the children, for possible ability users. When Edgar was sent to be trained Frances did the best she could to make sure he was comfortable, she sent him letters every other day, she also made sure to send him books, notepads, and pencils, to make sure he could still read, draw, and write, she even visited him.

* and so on May 1st Edgar was sent out to train for the military. They started with basic combat and strenght training, but it quickly got harder after that. He was taught how to assemble and disassemble a sniper in under half a minute, he was taught where to hit a target depending on the situation, he was taught how to walk around without making a sound, he was taught everything he needed to go to war. Edgar was to be assigned a special forces unit. Edgar had already went though the basic training, now it was time for special forces training. On the 19th of January 1996 Edgar officially became a part of the special forces.

* his favorite weapons were guns and knives, he even started a knife collection which he still has to this day. He never goes outside without a knife, sometimes even a gun.

* After the great war finished Edgar was about 13 to 15 years old. while Edgar was still a part of the special forces after the war, he was a lot more focused on his education. It was very easy to catch up and go beyond people his age, mostly because he was already far above people his age when he was 8 years old. Edgar of course went to a military highschool where he might have been a bit of a troublemaker, okay who am i kidding he had no respect for authority. Other students would pay for him to do their homework. If someone annoyed him it was very likely that he would pull some kind of prank on them, the worst part is he always got away with it. Edgar has anxiety, but one thing he takes pride in is his intelligence. When Edgar becomes comfortable with a group he can become kind of unhinged, he also has people pleaser tendencies when he really cares about someone, he is just very afraid of losing them.

* Edgar left the military to become a detective in June 2007, which would make him a college drop out because he was attending West Point at the time. Edgar did very well as a detective, he was the departements best. Then Ranpo came along, when Ranpo solved that case the answer was on the tip of Edgar's tongue, but Ranpo was faster in his deduction. Edgar left the police and became a part of the guild, he needed to beat Ranpo, he couldn't just torture him with a horror book or something like that, no he needed to outsmart him. Found Karl along the way.

* dates. William Henry Leonard Poe was born on the 30th of january in 1985. Edgar Allan Poe was born on the 19th of january in 1987. Rosalie Mackenzie Poe was born on the 8th of december 1988. Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe died of tuberculosis on the 8th of december 1994. David Poe, Jr. Was declared missing on the 22nd of June 1994 by some bar buddies. David Poe, Jr. Died on the 15th of June 1994. Edgar Allan Poe was taken in by the Allans in March 13th 1995, and was taken to the military to check if he was an ability user on the 30th of April 1995. Edgar Allan Poe began military training on the 1st of May 1995. Edgar began in the millitary on the 19th of January 1996. Edgar Allan Poe left the millitary to work as a detective on the 1st of June in 2007. Edgar Allan Poe burned the poam his father died in, on the 15th of June 2007.

* Edgar's opinion on other members of the guild: F. Scott Fitzgerald: as long as he doesn't stick his nose in his business then he's fine. Doesn't like how uncaring he is towards the poor, but does like how attentive he is towards his wife. Herman Melville: he likes him. He respects his devotion to his ship and the guild, as well as his competence. H. P. Lovecraft: he likes him. He thinks he is great inspiration for writing, and has followed him around a few times. If Edgar wasn't focused on other things, then maybe he would have tried to make friends with him. Overall he finds him very fascinating, as he does most things macabre. James L: doesn't really care. John Steinbeck: He likes him. He respects his devotion to his family and cunning. He likes how easygoing he is, it makes him easier to be in a room with. Lucy M. Montgomery: he likes her well enough. He doesn't pity her out of respect. Lousia May Alcott: as a fellow wallflower he likes her. He hasn't really talked with her a lot, since she mostly only talks to fitzgerald, but if he hadn't been busy planning revenge he would have probably tried to befriend her. Margaret Mitchell: he knows she has a softer side, yet he still doesn't really care for her all that much, mostly finding her irritating for how often and how often she underestimates her opponents(I personally like Margaret btw, she is awesome). Mark twain: he actually really likes him, he finds him cheerful and appreciates his effort into trying to befriend him, maybe if he hadn't been so focused on revenge he would have agreed. Thinks his marksmanship is very good. Once showed him his knife and gun collection. Nathaniel Hawthorne: he finds him obnoxious.

* Edgars mansion has a bunch of different hidden passege ways, rooms, and mechanisms where he hides all kinds of stuff, most notably his knife and gun collections.

* Edgar has some mental illnesses here is a list: anxiety, depression, PTSD, Autism. He May or May not have BDP or Bipolar, seriously i don't know if he does, and if he does which one.

* Edgar is actually really hard to scare, outside of his social anxiety and slight fear of abandoment and judgement, and trust issues… and heights, it is really hard to scare him, like you could put on the scariest horror movie or book and he will only find it fascinating. He loves horror and all, but he is really hard to scare, and he is so fucking macabre. He is also really hard to disgust, like he has watched the entire disturbing movie iceberg and more, this man can watch slow torture puck chamber and all it's sequels with a straight face, he HAS watch the entire franchise with a straight face.

* He pranks people that annoy him, and people that he dislikes. Hawthorne has been the victem of so many pranks by now(it is a non-confrontational way of getting revenge, and this man holds grudges)

* He is a beast online, i mean what introverted person isn't?

* He is actually really good at psycho analysing people

* He doesn't trust his own judgement when it comes to Ranpo, he knows he is smart but Ranpo beat him and he doesn't want to face that judgement again.

* Edgar is not oblivious, he can see Ranpo's feelings for him crystal clear. He just doesn't know how to feel about it, he's just afraid of vulnerability, especially to a guy he hates(d?), plus he himself has some very conflicting feelings about him.

* Edgar has been practising piano because of his adoptive mother.

* Frances is dead

* Edgar is jealous of Ranpo, no it was not love, now he is jealous of Ranpo but also inlove with him and he doesn't know what to do or how to feel.

* Edgar can see when Ranpo is trying to hide his emotions, he knows Ranpo is afraid, he doesn't bring attention to it however, but he knows, and he will help in whatever way he can

*Edgar doesn't just have a lot of IQ, he also has a lot of EQ.

*Edgar doesn’t have a lot of connections in his life so he is very attached to Ranpo, to the point it is unhealthy. When he hated him his anger and spite was what got him through the day. He still uses some of that anger and spite to get through the day.

*how Edgar looked though out his life. When he still lived with his biological parents he mostly wore oversized sweaters, and worn shorts or jeans, plus his og hairstyle. When he began living with his adoptive parents he wore more casual formal clothes, plus his og hairstyle, however Frances would sometimes try to get at least one side of it behind his ears. When he was in the military he wore more tactical clothing, and he had a military haircut. When he got out of the military he grew his hair back out and started wearing lighter clothes.

Feel free to use. This isn't theory this is headcanon, just to make that clear.

#bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs #bsd #poe bsd #bsd edgar allan poe #bsd poe #ranpo edogawa #ranpoe #bsd ranpo #edogawa ranpo #edgar allan poe bsd #edgar allan poe #bsd headcanons #bungou stray dogs headcanons #the guild #bsd the guild #lovecraft bsd #bsd twain #bsd louisa may alcott #bsd lucy #bsd lovecraft #bsd steinbeck #bsd francis #fanfiction inspiration #fanfic inspo #bsd melville #bsd ranpoe #ranpo bsd

[holmesillustrations]

Vote for your favourite, the top 9 will proceed in the bracket. Since theyre all different shapes and sizes, make sure to click into the full views!

Paget Eliminations

Other Artist Eliminations

Full captions and details for each illustration below the cut:

All Sidney Paget illustrations are for the Strand Jul 1891 - Dec 1904

"He congratulated me warmly." Redheaded League Characters: Vincent Spaulding/John Clay, Duncan Ross, Jabez Wilson

"Staring into the fire." Twisted Lip Characters: Holmes

"Not a word to a soul!" Engineer's Thumb Characters: Victor Hatherley, Lysander Stark

"Running up, I blew its brains out." Copper Beeches Characters: Mr Rucastle, Dog, Watson

"Pycroft shook his clenched hands in the air." Stockbroker's Clerk Characters: Holmes, Hall Pycroft, Watson

"I stared at him in astonishment." Resident Patient Characters: Blessington, Percy Trevelyan

"Professor Moriarty stood before me." Final Problem Characters: Moriarty

"It was a stranger pursuing me." Hound of the Baskervilles Characters: Watson, Stapleton

"He looked round him in surprise." Hound of the Baskervilles Characters: Watson, Lestrade, Holmes, Sir Henry

"I slowed down my machine." Solitary Cyclist Characters: Violet Smith

"He was introduced to us as the owner of the house." Six Napoleons Characters: Holmes, Watson, Lestrade, Horace Harker

"It was the body of a tall, well-made man, about forty years of age." Abbey Grange Characters: Lord Brackenstall, Holmes, Watson, Hopkins

#acd holmes #sherlock holmes #tumblr bracket #sherlock holmes illustrations #elim poll #sp elim

[shirtlesssammy]

The Winchesters 1x13: Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye

Detroit, Michigan

1972

John Winchester, freshly home from Vietnam, enters a bus station. He doesn’t know what he’s doing (aside from burying a friend, RIP Murph.) He takes a bus schedule from a kindly attendant and sits down on a bench and stares into the abyss for a while. 

Important Dialog Alert!

Dean: John Winchester?

John: Sir

Crops watered, skin hydrated, etc. 

ALSO DEAN IS BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!

I literally blacked out. I don’t know what’s happening right now, and I don’t care. I’m going to float on this bearded, pea coat wearing cloud forever. (Also, [Boris] can exist in two simultaneous worlds where Cas is in the Empty and Dean has to save him still (99.9% of her fanfic thoughts) and Cas is in Heaven and Dean dresses all fancy for him for reasons.)

But for archival purposes, Dean hands John the fateful letter from Henry. John opens it and wonders where the mystery man got it, but he’s gone. 

Okay, he’s not gone, he’s just in the atrium watching over John WITH BOBBY!!! He tells Dean he isn’t supposed to be meddling. Dean counters that he didn’t really meddle, he just gave things a nudge. Bobby tells Dean to pay attention to things “here” and he’ll gather the cavalry. “One last hunt,” they both agree. 

OVER OUR DEAD BODIES. ALL THE HUNTS. ALL THE STORIES. KEEP THEM COMING FOREVER! 

Cue cool new title card!

At Casa Campbell, Samuel confronts Mary about her application (and decline??) to KSU. She tells him she doesn’t want to keep hunting but she doesn’t know what her future holds. Since Samuel is home, Mary guesses he has news. He tells her that he talked to a hunter named Joan who has information about a guy who the Akrida is afraid of. He asks Mary what John thinks about her college non-dreams. (Um, who cares? Sigh.) He doesn’t know because he’s busy worrying about the Akrida, and more immediately, the crystal that will help (BUT AT WHAT COST, ADA!?!)

John, in his best cursed Dean flannel, tells his mom about the crystal and its one-and-done usage (Is this a god object? I guess maybe not? Why would Chuck create these creatures to destroy humanity and then have an object that can defeat said creatures? Why does Chuck do anything?) Millie wonders about the future for John and Mary. 

At the clubhouse, Carlos states the IMPORTANT OBSERVATIONS. “Well, whoever this guy is, he is ruggedly handsome.” 

Lata is superhuman and not affected by the mystery man (just get to know him a little, girl!) They think the mystery man can defeat the Akrida because he is “not of this world.” The Akrida attack is imminent. They look longingly at the crystal for their salvation. Ada decides to drop the soul-bomb, if you will. She has to utter one word and the crystal is activated. They agree to maybe wait on that little bit. Carlos and Ada head out to find the queen while Lata hangs back to look into the lore. She wants to find a way to help Ada grow back her soul if this is the way. 

At a bar, Samuel, Mary, and John meet up with Joan (Hopkins). Joan tells Samuel their families used to hunt together, but her family died out with her “a long time ago.” She tells them about the man with no name. He was digging into the Akrida. But that’s okay because she used the Akrida portal and threw him “and his car” into the abyss. “No human can survive that.” Oh, sweet summer child. Chuck always thought he was king shit, but he’s got NOTHING on free will. She has a journal that looks a lot like John’s journal but ~isn’t~. Mary draws a knife, but Joan tells them they’re in her world now. The rest of the bar’s clientele rise. SHE’S THE AKRIDA QUEEN!

She’s not Akrida apparently. She was a hunter once. She wants them to join her (and to get them out of the clubhouse so she could move in, oops.) LATA!

Mary and John end up in her attic, while Samuel scouts out the clubhouse (guarded) and hunts for the portal. Carlos and Ada show up and they realize that Lata is still in the clubhouse with the Akrida. 

Joan wanders the clubhouse calling for Lata. Our brave pacifist tries fighting.

And cue Classic Robbie Thompson multi-scene mashup!

While Mary spills the beans on Joan (b. 1673, reluctant hunter), Joan tells Lata her life story (lost her family to hunting, decided humans are WORTHLESS (amen).) Lata wonders if the monster essence drove her mad (Mary: yep. She decided to wipe out everyone who needed saving. Hunters + MoL teamed up and banished her from the world.) Joan wants to show Lata how the magical little bugs are cool and shit, but Lata stabs her because she does not care. Things do not go well. 

At Mary’s home, Carlos has an idea. “Was this idea inspired by a drug induced trip I took a few years ago? Yes. Are we judging me for that right now?” he wonders. NO, YOU BRILLIANT SOUL. The others agree! Carlos wonders if they can use the Ostium to bring the mystery man back to them to help. YES! 

At the clubhouse, Joan and a possessed Lata set the place on fire to open the portal. Seems dangerous, but I’ll allow it for narrative progression. 

The gang rushes to the clubhouse to find a possessed Lata telling them they have one more chance to join Joan’s team. “How many Campbells and Winchesters have to die? And for what? History? Legacy?”  

She then goes on to tell them that the Akrida were created by an angry god as a failsafe. They were designed to wipe out all life on all universes (EVEN SQUIRREL WORLD!) “Lata” finishes her little speech and holds a knife to her neck. Without hesitation, Ada brings out the crystal and utters the fateful word. Lata is saved.

At the garage, Lata tells the team everything she’s learned. The queen is at full strength, and she’ll have the portal open by that night (Samuel found the portal at least!) They just need to feed the Ostium the journal and wham! Mystery Man! They need to kill some time until midnight when they can work their magic. 

John pulls Mary aside as they’re heading out. He tells her to stay behind. At first I roll my eyes like, TYPICAL MAN AMIRITE? But instead, he tells her that she’s their general and needs to stay behind so she can lead the Mystery Man into battle when he zaps back into their world. She says she has to tell him something but he defers that conversation for later, and departs. 

Fun fact. I watch these with closed captions while I do my recap, and I’m pleased to say that not only did this week’s closed caption actually correctly translate Carlos’s “querida” to Ada this time, but the next scene opens with the caption over the portal: OTHERWORLDLY WHOOSHING. I love to see it! The Akrida queen holds her palms to the air, where a swirling blue portal otherworldly whooshes. She rolls her eyes and the portal closes as she turns. It’s the Scooby Gang! “Hello, boys.” 

The team pulls out swords as Akrida materialize for the fight. 

While fisticuffs ensue, the women plonk the diary into the Ostium. It gets sucked in and at first it seems like nothing happens. Then Millie points out that something DID happen and the camera pans out to reveal….BABY! The first licks of The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” start up and the music shivers down my spine. I swear, I didn’t get to watch the episode until Friday so I KNEW what was coming (thanks Tumblr) but I am still. SO. AFFECTED. 

The car is empty (like our hearts without Dean) but Mary points out that the car is still not of this earth. “Detroit steel makes a hell of a weapon,” Millie announces as they all pile inside.

Back with the Akrida, the fight persists. It’s not looking good for our hunters. The queen reveals that the Men of Letters tried to fight her, so she used the last of her power to wipe out the MoL, including Henry Winchester. 

Mary pulls up in the car and lines it up with the queen (and John). She orders everyone out juuuuuuust in case she perishes. She guns it towards the queen, who notices the car and opens a portal. In an instant, the car squishes into the queen and all three, uh, entities, disappear into the portal. The Akrida-possessed humans drop their weapons and run, no longer possessed. I can’t blame them for fleeing the sword fight they found themselves in! The boys are JUST starting to mourn Mary’s sacrifice, when a portal zaps open and the Impala races back out! This time, there are TWO people in the car! (ohmygodohmygodohmygoditishim)

For Dimensional Portal to My Heart Science:

Dean Winchester gets out of the car and surveys the fighters. He pulls Mary out of the passenger’s seat, very much alive! 

Dean looks at his parents-not-parents emotionally. “There’s not a lot that can tear me apart,” he tells them. YEAH! I shout, punching the air. “I’m already dead,” he says, and I make a little disgruntled cat frown, and knock over a glass of water. 

He tells them he was stuck “in the world between worlds” and hopped into Baby and grabbed the wheel as soon as he saw his car passing through. Like. LITERALLY BABY IS A TIME AND SPACE TRAVELING MACHINE PLEASE LET THIS CONCEIT CONTINUE.

Ahem. Anyway. Samuel asks the big question: who’s the mystery man? Dean introduces himself as a hunter from another world. He made it to Heaven, hopped into Baby, and went for a drive….into the multi-verse. As one does. “I was looking for my family,” he tells them. He wanted to find a version of Earth where his family had a shot at a happy ending. When he was driving, he caught wind of the Akrida, one of Chuck’s last creations. He knew the Akrida would try to devour his world too. We also get a nod that Carlos IS still alive in his world! I pinch Robbie’s cheeks and tell him he’s done a very good job. A very good job indeed.

And what about the letter to John? Well, “the rules were simple. Don’t mess with anything. Well, I gave it a little nudge.” THAT’S RIGHT YOU DID BABY! “You all can choose your own destiny,” he tells them ICONICALLY. 

Jack and Bobby appear. Dean assures the Scooby Gang that they’re cool. Bobby greets him with a grimace. They’re in trouble with Jack, who set up the worlds to prevent interference from “on high.” Dean argues that the Akrida fight needed to happen to protect his own family as well as the people we’ve grown to love during this season. “If you want to cast me out of heaven, so be it.” Bobby lobbies for a second chance for Dean Winchester. We lobby for like, at least 60-70 chances. Maybe a million? Girls don’t want flowers. They want dimension-tripping Dean Winchester.

“If you’re going to meddle with things,” Jack announces, “finish what you started.” He hands Dean something (and encourages Dean to rest in Heaven - as IF). Dean heads to his parents-not-parents. His dad left him his journal, he tells them. “I lived my whole life by that damn thing,” he says with the perfect mix of love and regret. “This is my hunter’s journal. So if you’re gonna stay in this game, this’ll help guide you through it.” He hands it to John. 

Dean tells Mary that he understands her desire to quit hunting. He also tells her to keep an eye out for a yellow-eyed demon and if she even catches “a hint of that son of a bitch” she should use…the COLT. He hands her the gun that Jack gave him, and she asks him if he found a version of his family with a shot at a happy ending. Dean surveys everyone and announces, “I think I did.” 

John asks Dean’s name and he smiles a little. “Hetfield. James Hetfield,” he tells them. I think about how Metallica was “Dean’s music” in season one and experience feelings. Dean, Jack, Bobby, and Baby flash out of the world. 

The Scooby Gang looks around at each other. It’s time to go home.

We get a montage. Lata and Ada unfurl plant magic and what looks like Ada’s soul wisps back into her body. I have to pause the show and cry a little bit because it’s JUST BEAUTIFUL.

“It’ll take time..” Lata says as Ada feels her soul kindling again, but they did it!

Samuel drives away on another journey, leaving John and Mary to reconnect at the movie theater. John asks Mary what she saw in the portal. Oh, nothing. She just saw EVERY POSSIBLE VERSION OF HERSELF. Badass! She’s going to make her own way, but for that she needs to leave and find herself. John tells her that he’s going to work on the anger that rides inside him so he can be a better hunter and a better person. “No goodbyes,” he tells her, and they kiss.

In the garage the team, minus Mary, talk over a new case. It’s by a BEACH. “Werewolves don’t surf,” Carlos says. “Only one way to find out,” Lata chirps and I NEED TO SEE THIS EPISODE LIKE I NEED AIR. 

A bell tinkles and John heads out to find Mary waiting outside, leaning against her car. She asks John to come with her on a road to self discovery. In the car, John pulls out a box of tapes. Sorry, babe, but Mary was reading Hetfield’s journal and he was VERY SPECIFIC on the topic. “Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts their cake hole,” she tells him, poetically. Mary is literally and figuratively in the driver’s seat, and I couldn’t be happier. 

Led Zeppelin’s Ramble On (Boris: Led Fucking Zeppelin!! A band that does not license their music! And when they do it’s often in the 7 figures!! And it’s Dean’s favorite band! And his favorite song! And when spn couldn’t do/or didn’t want to do it, Mr. Jackles (and co.) DID IT!!) plays us out as they smile and drive through sunlit fields. (Help! My heart!) Hope spreads like sweet air, like sun-warmed ground. They drive off to a montage of their adventures…SO FAR. 

Natasha: From reading Tumblr before actually viewing the episode, I was sliding hard into the Jack-is-Chuck theory. Now that I’ve seen it, I’ve settled into a happy middle place where Jack-is-Jack or Jack-is-corrupted-by-God\-powers or Jack-is-Chuck could all be equally plausible. Honestly, it doesn’t matter to me too much because Dean. Is. Alive. He’s got a dimension-hopping car, and the story possibilities are boundless. I hope we get more of The Winchesters, and more Supernatural, and other worlds as well. I dearly want the SUPERNATURAL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE and frankly, I deserve it because we ALL deserve nice things! The Winchesters is like Supernatural, but also it’s own lovely little thing with a lot more hope and beauty than we got in the “mothership.” I want more. Just like that little soul plant, I want to see where the story grows.

__

See You Next Quote-son!

One last hunt…

Whatever this guy is, he is ruggedly handsome

“The queen is about ot sing her swan song. We can’t rewind this tape here.” “What if we could rewind the tape?”

For the first time, I’m running towards hope

__

 Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive!

#spnwin #spnwin spoilers #spnwin recap #the winchesters #spn #mary campbell #john winchester #ada monroe #carlos cervantez #latika desai #millie winchester #dean winchester #spnwin 1x13 #hey that's no way to say goodbye

[harrison-abbott]

A Short Review of Oppenheimer (2023)

Why would you want to make a film about Richard Nixon?

Oliver Stone did that in 1995, with Anthony Hopkins starring as Nixon. Hopkins’ portrayal of the President is one of a chronically paranoid, insecure man who is in charge with heavily charged international matters. He barely seems to comprehend what he’s doing.

And surrounding him are the other characters of 1950s/60s America who were key to geopolitics at the time. They’re also played by terrific actors; such as Paul Sorvino, Ed Harris, James Woods, Joan Allen and Bob Hoskins, among others. They play the parts very well. Especially with Paul Sorvino as Henry Kissinger – who was a great geopolitical villain and pantomime-like character in real life.

There was no need for Oliver Stone to glamorise the plot in Nixon (1995) because the events occurred in reality. But, what Stone did need to do was make the story a piece of art. As opposed to a documentary.

Well, for one thing, it had to be long. So it finally churned out around three hours in length. In order for it not to be tedious, Stone spliced up the time periods. It couldn’t be a long, linear epic – so he mixed up what happened into short, frenzied scenes with bursts of action. Often using black and white for historical parts and colour for modern; and yet, with present-day scenes featuring Nixon as an older, finished, defeated man.

This mix of content is dense and spanning. But it never gets dull. And it is essentially the portrait of one man. The movie is asking questions about this single person, against a background of mayhem of which he is directly integrated.

I thought the exact same way about Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer (2023): and have rarely seen a pair of films which I found quite so alike.

We have a brilliant lead actor in Cillian Murphy. Who is constantly fraught and uncertain with his plans, which have worldwide consequences. And all around him are these other people who are equally as compulsive in their disastrous ambitions. [And they’re also played by a star studded cast, of Robert Downey Jr, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Kenneth Branagh, Gary Oldman, etc etc.)

The movie lasts 3 hours. It switches throughout its tenure with an array of time periods and the scenes are short and alarming and the tension never quite ceases. Many of the scenes are shot in different tonalities and this adds to the overall sense of nightmarish delusion.

Why would anybody want to make a blockbuster film about the men (or man) who invented the atomic bomb? If we were to watch Grave of the Fireflies (1988) would that not be enough to make up one’s moral notion of what happened?

What I believe Oppenheimer has triumphed with in being a blockbuster is by making entertainment ambiguous. Which is difficult to do in a mass sense: make a popular movie questionable. There is no doubt that it’s a great film. Many ‘big’ movies come out each year which are only intended for gluttony or indulgence.

However. And, just as a parting thought: is Oppenheimer as disturbing as Grave of the Fireflies? Or Nixon, for that matter?

Of course it’s important to inform people about the past. Just as it is with current affairs.

There are films like Downfall (2004) and lofty television shows like Band of Brothers (2001) which are both historical accounts, and yet have completely different attitudes or modes of expression. Both were about World War II, yes, but, they show very alternative depictions of the conflict.

In Nixon, about 90 minutes into the flick, there is a terrific moment of cinema. Whereby we’re introduced to Nixon’s 1968 inauguration speech – and we see Anthony Hopkins by his podium: just as he’s about to start speaking. But the camera is below the podium. And we can only see his edgy, distressed face. He does not look like a man who is happy at just winning the Presidency of the United States. It’s a fantastic feat, sure. Except he’s in total terror about what to do with his position, or where it will lead.

The camera then spans up and the light and colour changes and Hopkins then smiles and waves to the crowd and the folks applaud and cheer for him.

Quite similar (if you agree?) to the scene in Oppenheimer where he making a speech to the filled auditorium just after the bombs have been dropped in Japan; and he inwardly imagines the explosions going off in his very vicinity, and what they would do to the bodies in the audience.

#writeblr #film review #oppenheimer #movie reviews #opinions #nixon 1995 #christopher nolan #oliver stone

[tortoisesshells]

For your made up title fic thing!

1. The price of freedom

2. The waves of the sea brings me back to you

3. Bigger than faith

You can do all three or just choose one! And can be about any of your fav blorbos~ have fun!!

oh man. okay. I will try very hard not to make you regret this.

1. I'm extraordinarily hesitant to use that title for any PotC fic because I can't ever dream of topping that novel, so: prequel fic to S1 of 1899 encompassing different iterations of the simulation and the various ways in which Our Heroes have been pushing up against the boundaries of the simulations and/or the boundaries of their lives within 1899 - what they think they're willing to do (and what they are willing to do) to escape from the sorrows of their 1899!selves, and what they think of as too high a price to pay for their own happinesses.

2. s/o to @boltlightning for entertaining this in the first place: the somewhat unhinged regency-era James Norrington/Anne Elliot fic, in which Frederick Wentworth never returned to Somersetshire for one reason or another, in which Anne Elliot and James Norrington meet in Bath in 1814, at the tail end of the things which have defined their lives (relationship with Wentworth & fallout on the one hand; the Napoleonic Wars on the other) and bond over their terrible families and natural disinclination to let go. There's probably some very pointed digressions about the relationship of distance and time, and longitude, by way of not talking about emotions. This fic cannot happen until I am FAR more conversant on Byron and Scott.

3. you know what? this is the "the plot of this smut fic is that Henry Hopkins believes he has been abandoned by God" I was joking about. years ago I wrote bits and pieces of a "Henry Hopkins leaves the ministry and Mansion House to enlist in the Union Army, returns in 1864 in the middle of the Overland Campaign (at some point I had the unit, battle, and injury pinned, but that was a laptop ago. p. certain I said he got shot in the elbow at the Wilderness, because the Wilderness is the stuff of my nightmares) as a patient, much to Emma Green's consternation" (did I publish any of this? no. but there is a really good playlist, if I do say so myself.) - neither of them have been much improved by the nearly two years since they've seen each other and the lives they've led since then. Emma doesn't forgive Henry, precisely, but over the course of his convalescence they repair things enough that she tells him that he may find her after the war's over.

send me a made-up fic title and i’ll tell you what i would write to go with it!

#thank you for the ask kind friend!! #... i am now very. very. interested in that version of ' bigger than faith '. oh no. oh no. #my fic #... sorta

[mortalfollies]

First Time Watches of 2023 (3/3)

SILENT NIGHT - The idea of a Christmas apocalypse film where everyone dies was immediately appealing to my mother and I because our family sucks. That Jojo Rabbit kid is fucking stellar, made me sob.

THE THING - practical effects 💖. Just such a solid film, again another tumblr recommendation I really wanted to tick off, the descent into distrust, the tension, the stakes, sexy Kurt Russell; yeah, 10/10.

LADYHAWKE - Everything about this was made for me except for that excruciatingly 80s score - get that sound outta here! Matthew Broderick is incredibly endearing as Phillipe “the mouse”, i absolutely adore him. The curse is brilliant - and hell, that scene with the transformation as they lie beside each other - MAN! I just wish that instead of telling us about the priest’s curse, and him summoning the devil or whatever, we’d been able to see it. Even if it had just been shadows on the wall, or a semi-animated sequence - would’ve added a little extra.

TREASURE PLANET - My friend Hannah had recommended this to me a decade ago and I’m very sorry it took a literal decade to get to it. The most I knew about Jim Hawkins was that people that made non/disney amvs back in the 2000s/2010s shipped him with Ariel, those Jelsa bitches don’t even know how bad it was. Anyway, this film was gorgeous, oh my god? And while I hate “I need a father figure” plots this one was well-written and genuinely moving. Great ensemble, tho the robot played by Martin Short feels unnecessarily jammed in.

THE LION IN WINTER - Numerous mutuals have posted about this; god, I’m so glad. This was another one I picked up a DVD of in my favourite antique place. KATHERINE HEPBURN. is everything. This whole thing was…insane…Shakespearean delivery for dialogue that is 90% fitting and then 10% bizarre. Timothy Dalton hot asf. Anthony Hopkins really using his eyes. All the Eleanor & Henry scenes are of course, absolute highlights - i love it when people just lie to each other, and between all of that, reveal their devastating truths - but what struck me most, and has stayed with me, is the three princes locked in the dark dungeon, reduced to little boys by the violent whims of their father & the schemes of their mother. a manipulator, a warrior, and, well, john, utterly powerless. Bizarre & entertaining.

THE BOY AND THE HERON - Saw this today, it was visually stunning; Mahito is a strong character and his VA is great; Mark Hamill delivers, but Christian Bale is wobbly, his accent fluctuating. The character of the Heron is a real highlight and wow, kudos to RPats. Love the world this film creates. Kiriko is my new fave ghibli woman. Dreamlike, mournful, fantastical, tugs on the heartstrings, enjoyable but actually made me appreciate Spirited Away more, which has never been one of my favourites but now I really wanna rewatch. Spoiler, btw, if you’re like that: when the tower started crumbling I started welling up because it just felt like a goodbye from Miyazaki, and I don’t even idolise him; it just really feels like his heart, and the heart of all the animators, was in this, and by god I appreciate that.

oh and a shout out to john wick 4, the peter cushing version of dracula, puss in boots the last wish & spiderverse 2, which were all pretty great! I have had a great time with movies this year.

#films #folly’s follies #yeah i copy pasted a couple of my letterboxed reviews thru out this #anyway! that’s my uh top 16 films of 2023 lol

[fetchmearum420]

How 1776 characters would react to you asking them how they are:

John Adams: ah well. I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace, that two are called a law firm, and that three or more become a congress. And by God, I have had this Congress! For ten years King George and his Parliament have gulled, cullied, and diddled these Colonies with their illegal taxes--Stamp Acts, Townshend Acts, Sugar Acts, Tea Acts--and when we dared stand up like men they stopped our trade, seized our ships, block- aded our ports, burned our towns, and spilled our blood- and still this Congress won't grant any of my proposals on Independence even so much as the courtesy of open debate! Good God, what in hell are they waiting for? Oh, how about you?

Benjamin Franklin: I am fine, just sitting here being preserved for posterity. And yourself?

Thomas Jefferson: I’m alright, just missing my wife. And you?

John Dickinson: I want to fucking kill John Adams that’s how I am.

John Hancock: I’m fed up with this damn congress. FUCK NEW YORK! How about you?

Charles Thompson: I can’t read through the resolution without an interruption :(

Edward Rutledge: I WAS annoyed, but now I’m happy cuz I got my way.

James Wilson: I’m sad because I don’t think Johns in love with me :(

Dr. Lyman Hall: I’m doing well, thank you. And you?

Stephen Hopkins: can you get me a rum before I tell you?

Roger Sherman: I’m angry cuz there isn’t anymore coffee :(

John Witherspoon: I am doing extremely well my dear friend. And what about you?

Richard Henry Lee: I AM DOING GLAD-LEE AND I AM HAPPI-LEE ACCEPTING THE POSITION OF GOVERNOR IN VIRGINIA! And you darling?

Thomas McKean: What do you mean man? Can’t you see I am bloody depressed by Washington’s stupid dispatches?

Caesar Rodney: *is dead*

George Read: NO NO NO!!!

Samuel Chase: Don’t ask me this while I’m eating!

Josiah Bartlett: I banned all horse racing and gambling so I’m happy. And you?

Lewis Morris: I abstain, courteously because I don’t know how to answer that. But I guess I’m sad.

Andrew McNair: Sweet Jesus I’m annoyed with everyone.

Robert Livingston: MY WIFE JUST HAD A SON SO I AM GOING HOME TO CELEBRATE AND POP A CORK WITH ALL THE LIVINGSTONS TOGETHER BACK IN OLD NEW YORK!

Courier: Momma can’t find me here :(

Abigail Adams: Oh thank you for asking, I’m doing just fine. How about you?

Martha Jefferson: I’m afraid I’m not feeling too well, but thanks for asking.

Joseph Hewes: I want to go fishing.

Leather apron: *can’t speak*

BONUS:

George Washington: I have been in expectation of receiving a reply, on the subject of my last 15 dispatches. Is anybody there? Does anybody care? Does anybody care?

#1776 musical #I tried to make these as accurate as possible #you know I had to do the opening lines for John Adams #too iconic ngl #american revolution

[jomiddlemarch]

Tis the privilege of friendship to talk nonsense

“I’m worried about Matthew,” Mary said, having set down the coffee-pot, every Wedgewood cup filled. The meal might have ended with port or brandy for the men in a household aspiring to be fashionable, but to Jed’s eternal amusement, Mary held fast to her New Hampshirewoman’s disapproval of anything she thought was more for show than purpose and though she was not deeply involved with the temperance movement, she saw limited appeal in spirits, which unlike coffee or even tea, never enlivened the enervated nor hastened industry. Jed spent a good deal of his time trying to impress upon her the value of leisure, but admitted it was a Sisyphean task. She applied her considerable efforts, fussing he called it, to the well-being of those she called friends, so he could not be surprised at her declaration.

“I’m sure you needn’t,” Emma said. This only caused Mary to purse her lips in a manner Jed found adorably kissable, but which indicated she felt Emma was not taking seriously what she deemed a serious matter indeed.

“Why are you worried?” Henry asked. “He’s not written often since he went to New York. At least not to me. Perhaps you’ve heard more from him?”

“If she hasn’t, it’s not for lack of trying,” Jed remarked. “At this rate, we may send Daniel out West to earn his Harvard tuition as his mother’s spent it on postage—”

“It won’t work, Jed, Emma and Henry already know you for a fabulist. You ought to confine your exaggeration to your waistcoats,” Mary replied, sounding very much as she had when they’d first met in Alexandria, all asperity and wit. She turned to face Henry, whose earnestness still matched her own. “It’s not so much what he says as what he omits and there are times I almost feel he’s written me a sermon instead of a letter to a friend.”

“I thought it would be easy enough for him, in New York. They’re not known for their propriety as Boston is,” Emma said. She had found it more difficult than she expected to gain acceptance, even as Mrs. Reverend Hopkins, her soft drawl a lesser issue than the myriad small faux pas she made, which she discovered only through a raised eyebrow or a short, barely audible sniff. When Mary’s efforts at consolation had proven ineffective, she’d brought Emma to Margaret Brook and then to the Bhaers’ exercise in utopia. She’d left with a hand-printed program of “The Pirate’s Fearsome Revenge and Also, His Parrot Makes a Freind” as a talisman against disappointment. “No Lowells, no Cabots, it might as well be a children’s garden party at Plumfield.”

“Evidently the von Rhijns and the Astors would make the Cabots and Lowells quail,” Mary said. “There’s a brazenness in New York society that’s frowned upon in Boston and Matthew mentioned that some of the newer families, the Russells in particular, are rather given to excess, even though that is reflected in their charitable giving as well as their millinery.”

“You are concerned Matthew will be caught up in the battles between old and new money?” Henry asked. “That he may be diverted from his ministry and his neediest parishioners?”

“The man survived five holiday bazaars, including the one the former Miss Hastings attended,” Jed said. “Have some faith—”

“He was at home then,” Mary said. “He knew the players and he knew who he might call upon as allies, should he need them.”

“You make it all sound quite cut-throat,” Jed said. “Not that I don’t think Anne brought a Bowie knife to that sewing bee you hosted. I expect she spiked the punch from her trusty flask as well.”

“No one serves punch at a sewing bee,” Emma said.

“I’m afraid Matthew’s affections are becoming improperly engaged,” Mary interrupted. Henry frowned but Jed let out a low whistle, one his sons had all learned to replicate. He was teaching the girls in secret.

“Improperly engaged! Given the source of such an assessment, I can only assume our esteemed Reverend Forte is enamored of a circus performer or perhaps his inamorata is a lady aeronaut,” Jed said, making little effort to restrain himself. He was, after all, among friends.

“Do be serious,” Emma said, an exhortation Mary knew better than to ever bother with. Henry, uxuoriousness undimmed by nearly twenty years of marriage, patted his wife’s hand. Mary rolled her eyes, but Jed could tell she was equally amused by his playfulness and Emma’s exasperation. There was little latitude granted to a minister’s wife in Massachusetts and Emma’s thirsts for gossip and the latest fashion were generally unquenched. 

“Not a widow of means, then?” Henry said.

“He writes almost effusively about a Miss Brook and no, Jedediah, there is little chance she’s any relation to Mrs. John Brook, the surname is common enough,” Mary said.

“What makes an engagement an improper one then, Molly?” Jed asked.

“As her title suggests, she is unmarried, but not fresh from the schoolroom. She is a lady of some years—”

“An elderly spinster,” Jed remarked. “Probably poor as a church mouse, though I’d defer to Henry to explain why all the mice who make churches their residence are doomed to being impoverished. Not much opportunity for cheese, I suppose—"

“Hush!” Mary exclaimed. “She is of middle years and unmarried but what makes the engagement risky—”

“Not risqué,” Jed muttered under his breath, low enough Henry could claim he hadn’t heard but loud enough he’d grinned.

“Is her connection to the van Rhijn family,” Mary went on.

“Is she a second cousin? A cadet branch? A companion?” Emma asked, speaking the word companion as she might say harlot.

“She is Mrs. van Rhijn’s only sister,” Mary said. “He was invited to luncheon at the van Rhijn house. They had New England clam chowder. Miss Brook admitted amidst the guests that she’d had it specially prepared to remind him of home.”

Emma looked aghast.

Henry looked as surprised as he had when his eldest daughter Lydia had announced her intention of studying Ancient Greek at Wellesley College the day after the school’s charter was announced. She had been five at the time and was already halfway through Cicero.

Mary looked concerned and also divinely self-satisfied, largely due to the expressions on the faces of both Hopkins and the near-absolute silence that had descended on the sitting room. Jed could only barely make out the sound of the boys arguing, Rebecca wheedling cakes from Mrs. Hudson for Beatrice and the Hopkins girls. They were dear to him, these three, and though he could not share in the apprehension over Matthew Forte’s affections and reputation, he was fond of the minister in his own way.

“As it’s evident the three of you believe Reverend Forte shortly to be torn limb from limb, either figuratively or literally, with the likelihood of a new iteration of New England chowder featuring a man of God, his frock coat, and quantity of diced potatoes doused in cream soon to be presented at the van Rhijn table, I would suggest a course of action,” Jed said, allowing himself to wax, if not rhapsodic, then comedically melodramatic. Mary might take him to task later, but they were all so earnest and Emma, in particular, needed to be reminded there was life outside the parlor and parish hall, life she had once lived, most threatening with her swinging hoopskirt. It was always fraught, to refer to the War, each of them carrying their own burdens, each of them managing in the best way they knew how, but they had once attended or performed in the dramas of the Mansion House Players and given the clear desire to make a tragedy out of a few lines in Matthew’s letter, their previous experience would be well to be evoked.

“Well, out with it,” Mary said. “You’re overdoing the dramatic pause, Jedediah. If Timothy and John were with us, you wouldn’t escape so lightly—”

He nodded. The two younger boys had his same taste for mockery and were only slightly reined in by Daniel’s steadiness, so like his mother’s, and Bea’s innocence. Rebecca would only egg them on. Mary could quell them all with a glance but only if she chose. 

“Matthew needs an ally. Reinforcements. The introduction of an unexpected character from the wings, kitted out with a shield and sword. And flask,” Jed said. Henry and Emma still had blank expressions but a light came into Mary’s dark eyes as he spoke and he loved her for it. “Mrs. Frederick Morris—”

“Nurse Hastings?” 

“Anne?”

“I may quibble with your approach, but I must admit, this is a pretty solution. A surgeon’s intervention,” Mary said. “No one can deny Anne has the acuity and aim of a scalpel. She’s impervious to shame, while being well-aware of its impact on those around her. And she has the resources to allow her to make a splash in New York society, though her money’s old enough she will merit some respect. I shall write her in the morning.”

“And if she does not succeed?” Emma said.

“I suppose Dr. Foster may find it necessary to visit Mrs. Manson Mingott and make sure she has been taking her tonics as prescribed,” Mary said, smiling. “Or then, Newport is lovely in the summer and we’d be happy to have you and the girls come to stay for a few weeks, Emma. Henry, if you can’t get away, you needn’t fret. We shall have it all well in hand and Mrs. Brook and Mrs. Laurence will make sure you don’t expire while living as a bachelor.”

“I notice you don’t leave Henry to Jo Bhaer’s tender mercies,” Jed remarked.

“I shouldn’t think he’d survive the theatricals at Plumfield,” Mary said. “And she has quite a heavy hand with caraway, which I know makes Henry dyspeptic.”

“Shouldn’t we just send you to Matthew’s side? Within a week, you’d have wedding bells rung for the lovesick couple and Mrs. van Rhijn ringing them herself as well as all the receipts for Delmonico’s menu for Mrs. Hudson to improve upon,” Jed said. 

Henry nodded. 

Emma smiled.

“I’m far too busy here at the moment,” Mary said. “And Anne is likely in need of some diversion.”

“Heaven help Mrs. van Rhijn,” Jed said.

“I believe Matthew must be trying his best in that regard,” Henry said. 

“Unless she has already dispatched him for chowder,” Emma added, making them all laugh.

#gilded age #mercy street #crossover au #gilded age x mercy street #references to little women #phoster #emmry #jed/mary #emma/henry #ada brook/matthew forte #ada brook #agnes van rhijn #domestic #fluffy #banter #the joke about jed's waistcoats will NEVER DIE #post mansion house murder hotel era #anne hastings #friendship #mansion house players #so many mercy street fic references #happy thanksgiving!

[back-and-totheleft]

Stone's embrace of a despised president

In his lonely Xanadu on Pennsylvania Avenue, the Citizen Nixon of Oliver Stone's sprawling new biography is left to contemplate what history has in store. And not in his wildest dreams can he be imagining anything like this. Like a prisoner identifying with his captor in a rare form of Stockholm syndrome, Mr. Stone aligns himself with the Presidential pariah who has captured his imagination. Out of this comes one of Mr. Stone's biggest gambles, a bold feat of revisionism that veers unpredictably between turgidness and inspiration

What it finally adds up to is a huge mixed bag of waxworks and daring, a film that is furiously ambitious even when it goes flat, and startling even when it settles for eerie, movie-of-the-week mimicry. Reckless, bullying and naggingly unreliable, this mercurial "Nixon" is also finally as gutsy and overpowering as it means to be. And it achieves the effect Mr. Stone is always after: Attention must be paid.

The visual style of "Nixon" is positively sedate by Stone standards, a welcome relief from the shrillness of "Natural Born Killers" and the historical quicksand of "J. F. K." But this film's conception is more tacitly risky, since Mr. Stone envisions a punishingly long (nearly three and a quarter hours) re-examination of what much of his audience already knows. And Mr. Stone, America's most strenuously subversive film maker, has the headstrong intelligence to make it work.

In his capacity as rogue educator, he offers an exhaustive barrage of snippets and re-enactments, with glimpses of everyone from Mao Zedong to Alger Hiss to Helen Gahagan Douglas to well-known Nixon pets. Nixon's famous speech about Checkers is lovingly recreated by Anthony Hopkins, who captures his character's embattled outlook and stiff, hunched body language with amazing skill. As for another family dog, even the unfriendliness of King Timahoe toward his master telegraphs the film's view of Nixon as a lonely man.

Or as Henry A. Kissinger (uncannily impersonated by Paul Sorvino) puts it, "Can you imagine what this man might have been had he ever been loved?" The screenplay often indulges its taste for such soapy oversimplifications, especially when it feels free to imagine how Richard and Pat Nixon talked to each other behind closed doors. (Mrs. Nixon, played gracefully and touchingly by Joan Allen: "I just wish you knew how much I love you.") That dramatic license, reducing the characters to puppets, is as damaging as the film's free-floating insinuation that Nixon's involvement in a plot to kill Fidel Castro during the Eisenhower years led indirectly to President John F. Kennedy's assassination. Mr. Stone has so much else at work here that he doesn't need this whiff of intrigue. Besides, in the conspiracy department, Watergate is a hard act to follow.

"That's not true either!" a stranger behind me kept remarking at one "Nixon" screening. It doesn't matter whether he was right to complain. What does matter is that the film is so loaded with composites and minor fictions that it inevitably excites a certain alarm, though it hardly rivals "J. F. K." in that regard. And Mr. Stone intensifies the accuracy issue with a newly published companion volume (edited by Eric Hamburg) of Watergate tape transcripts, random commentary (the essay by Alexander Butterfield, a crucial Watergate witness, notes that he was asked to write about "anything at all" regarding Nixon). The book includes a screenplay so ostentatiously annotated that it says more about the film maker than about his subject matter. Look closely and learn that while the film's Nixon refers to G. Gordon Liddy as "that fruitcake," the word Nixon actually used on June 23, 1972, was "nuts."

But this portrait doesn't stand or fall on its research credentials. Which is why it's fortunate that something changes midway through "Nixon": Mr. Stone's compassion for his subject overwhelms his film's false moves. And the barrage of undramatized, undigested data gives way to a much tighter and more artful vision. Having ricocheted through Nixon's boyhood, college years, defeats in 1960 and 1962, his visit to China and bombing of Cambodia and his immersion in the Vietnam War, the film starts snowballing its way to real dramatic power.

It achieves its full impact in its last hour as the noose of Watergate tightens, creating a claustrophobic intensity and making Mr. Stone's embellishments look insightful instead of arbitrary. By the time he stages a wrenching finale in a White House that looks haunted, where every element of the beleaguered President's world seems to conspire against him, Mr. Stone has brought this enormous film into sharp focus. And "Nixon" finally achieves its hard-won tragic dimension, even if the S-word (for Bard of Avon) has no real relevance here. "Nixon" has ghosts and hubris, a lost kingdom and a fall from grace, but its probing never penetrates the surface of this elusive man.

Instead, as it rounds up the usual suspects to reinvent the drama of Watergate, the film enlarges Mr. Hopkins's haunted, overwhelmingly vivid Nixon by framing him with secondary characters who seem like stray parts of his own tortured psyche. Never have Mr. Kissinger, H. R. Haldeman (James Woods), John Ehrlichman (J. T. Walsh), John N. Mitchell (E. G. Marshall), Alexander M. Haig Jr. (Powers Boothe), John Dean (David Hyde Pierce) or even J. Edgar Hoover (Bob Hoskins), however well and differently acted, seemed like such clear extensions of the same personality. And each of them has occasion to think piquantly about how Nixon's fortunes affect his own fate, not to mention the fate of the nation.

"This is about Richard Nixon," Mr. Ehrlichman says about dirty tricks, Watergate and his boss, whom the film sees as plagued by lifelong, childhood-rooted insecurities. "You got people dying because he didn't make the varsity football team. You got the Constitution hanging by a thread because the old man went to Whittier and not to Yale." Mr. Hopkins's Nixon has such bravado that he gets away with talking to likenesses of Presidents Kennedy and Lincoln and echoing these same thoughts.

The supporting cast of "Nixon," in which Ms. Allen, Mr. Woods and Mr. Sorvino are shown off to best advantage, is immense and often wittily chosen, even if many of the roles are barely walk-ons. (Or worse: the script features an important role for Sam Waterston as Richard Helms, but he's not here.) From Brian Bedford as Clyde Tolson, Mr. Hoover's companion (seen slyly reading "Couples"), to Edward Herrmann as Nelson A. Rockefeller and Madeline Kahn as Martha Mitchell, the film's cameos are steadily entertaining.

Blink and you'll miss Spiro T. Agnew. Elsewhere, Larry Hagman is cast to his television type as a diabolical rich Texan, one of the film's composite characters. Ed Harris makes a steely E. Howard Hunt. And Mary Steenburgen plays Hannah Nixon as a demure Quaker mother with an inspiring and debilitating influence over her son. This film's Nixon could be Norman Bates by the time he recoils at his own obscenities on the Watergate tapes, exclaiming: "Do you think I want all the world to see my mother like this? Raising a dirty mouth?"

"Nixon" has long since transcended the realm of ordinary biography by then.

-Janet Maslin, "Stone's Embrace of a Despised President," The New York Times, Dec 20, 1995

#oliver stone #nixon #janet maslin #reviews #the new york times

[protoslacker]

Exploring History

I have been trying to understand better the upsurge in adoption of "White-Christian nationalism. I believe that freedom of and from religion are public goods. I am not a very good Christian, but I know there is a long tradition of Christians arguing for the separation of Church and state. So was inteerested in pursuing that topic a little.

I knew that the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church supports the effort Christians Against Christian Nationalism.That Web site was the beginning of a rabbit hole adventure. I was curious about how the current bishop, Micheal Curry fit among the preceding presiding bishops. 

The eighth presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church was John Henry Hopkins. I had never heard of him before, but seeing his picture was enough to make me curious. It turns out that he was an important figure in  history locally to where I live now. Reading about his life informed me about aspects of local history I wasn't aware and filled me with curiosity about other connections. One aspect of Hopkins's remarkable life was that he defended slavery.

The first and fourth presiding bishop was William White, who I also knew little about. I had known that Samuel Seabury the second presiding bishop was the first American bishop ordained.  The head of the Church of England is the King or Queen, so American independence made ordination of American bishops a bit of a problem. What I had not known was that Seabury was a slaveholder.

In 1795 Bishop White ordained Absalom Jones as a deacon and as a priest in 1802. I was ignorant of Absalon Jones and the history of the African Episcopal Church of Saint Thomas the first Black church in Philadelphia.

Attending an Episcopal school in Greenville, South Carolina in the 1960's, Sewanee, The University of the South held prominence. I have never been there, but know of the abiding affection for the place and institution. I saw an essay about John Henry Hopkins at a blog from the University of the South, The essay was part of The Roberson Project On Slavery, Race and Reconciliation. The project was named for Sewanne's first tenured Black professor, Houston Robertson. The aim is from knowing history "to seek a more just and equitable future."

I really enjoyed how curiosity about John Henry Hopkins connected history to institutions and place connected to my personal history.

On the more general quest to better understand and respond to the rise of White Christian Nationalism I was reading about a book by Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon, entitled Resident Aliens. I didn't know anything about William Willimon and poking around a bit noticed one of his books is Who Lynched Willie Earle?: Preaching to Confront Racism. I knew Willie Earle was a man lynched in Greenville. It turns out that Willimon is a native of Greenville and his book recounts how a Methodist minister, Hawley Lynn, responded to the lynching. I haven't read Willimon's book, but I was inspired reading about Hawley Lynn.

My casual inquiry into the history of the denomination I grew up in was made meaningful by people and places which already familiar., but I hadn't noticed before how race and racism were at the core from the beginning. It's very hard to bury history nowadays. The encouraging thing is how some White Christians are engaging with history with a sense towards how history obligates actions to encourage better futures.

#episcopal church #american history #race #slavery #racism #books

[nsfwflint]

since your watching football - Make your own NFL Team!

QB-

RB1-

RB2 -

WR1-

WR2-

Flex (WR, RB, TE) -

TE-

K -

Def -

Soooo build my ideal fantasy team? Aight lol.

QB: Josh Allen. I think he's the best qb in football right now. He look unstoppable in week 1. If he keeps it up, Bills are easy Super Bowl favorites.

RB1: Jonathan Taylor. Man is a monster. Also how the fuck did he only have single digit carries today? Whoever playcalls for Indy needs to be fucking fired after that one.

RB2: Derrick Henry. Another just absolute fucking beast of an athlete. If he gets going, he's just unstoppable.

WR1: Justin Jefferson. Dude is just nutty as fuck. Don't have to say anything else.

WR2: Deandre Hopkins. Best WR in the league. Hands down.

Flex: Oh man this one is tough. So many great players. I'm gonna use this slot to shoutout a player I think is amazing but is slept on. Gonna go with AJ Dillon. Man is a top tier running back and could easily be a starter on almost any other team.

TE: Mark Andrews. A tightend that gets targeted and makes plays like a WR? Yes please.

K: Justin Tucker. Best kicker in NFL history, who else would I fucking take?

Def: BIlls defense looked fucking strong in week 1. If they keep it up, easily one of the top defenses in the league.

[easays]

reading list + notes

Using this space as a public space to chronicle my reading for my comprehensive exams.

Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, John Cleland (1749)

The Travels of Hildebrand Bowman, Unknown (1778)

Mary: A Fiction, Mary Wollstonecraft (1788)

A Simple Story, Elizabeth Inchbald (1791)

Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft (1798)

Adeline Mowbray, Amelia Opie (1805)

Zofloya, or the Moore, Charlotte Dacre (1806)

The Woman of Colour: A Tale, Unknown (1808)

Laon and Cythna, Percy Bysshe Shelley (1818)

Mathilda, Mary Shelley (1819)

Hamel, or The Obeah Man, Cynric Williams (1827)

Castle Rackrent, Maria Edgeworth (1832)

Agnes Grey, Anne Brontë (1847-48)

The Tenant of Wildefell Hall, Anne Brontë (1848)

David Copperfield, Charles Dickens (1849-50)

The Half-Caste, Dinah Mulock Craig (1851)

London Labour and the London Poor, Henry Mayhew (1862)

Cometh Up as a Flower, Rhoda Broughton (1867)

Middlemarch, George Eliot (1871-72)

The Uninhabited House, Charlotte Riddell (1875)

She, H. Rider Haggard

The Egoist, George Meredith (1879)

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)

A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder, James De Mille (1888)

A Marriage Below Zero, Alan Dale (1889)

Iola Leroy, Frances Harper (1892)

The Sorceress and the Strand and Other Stories, L.T. Meade (1893-1910)

A Sunless Heart, Edith Johnstone (1894)

The Three Imposters, Arthur Machine (1895)

The Library Window, Margaret Oliphant (1896)

The Island of Doctor Moreau, H.G. Wells (1896)

Of One Blood, Pauline Hopkins (1902-1903)

The Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, Ignatius Sancho, undated