#Ellen Mellor

[faintingheroine]

About the problematic theme you mentioned in "Wuthering Heights" of physical strength being treated like a virtue and frail health equated with weakness of character. Do you think Emily Brontë actually believed that, and if so, does it help to explain her behavior when she was dying: why she refused to admit to how sick she was and refused any medical care?

Well, it is very hard to know what Emily Bronte thought about anything. She left so little behind her and she is so elusive a figure. I am not very familiar with her poetry, though I’ve read some of it. All I can gather from them in terms of her interests and thoughts is that she valued nature and man’s existence in nature and that she was interested in love and grief as themes, but both of these things are very evident in Wuthering Heights itself.

According to an anecdote of Ellen Nussey, they visited a stream and Emily “played like a young child with the tadpoles in the water, making them swim about, and then fell to moralizing on the strong and the weak, the brave and the cowardly, as she chased them with her hand”. According to Anne K. Mellor, the author of the book Romanticism and Gender: “C. Day Lewis revealingly observed, these values -the strong and the weak, the brave and the cowardly-“are a boy’s values, rather than a girl’s.”” Now I don’t care much for the gender essentialist reading of this anecdote that Mellor and Lewis had, but I agree that Emily seems to have uniquely valued strength. Of course Charlotte and Anne also valued strength of character a lot, but in Emily’s case this strength of character seems to go hand in hand with physical strength, after all the tadpoles that managed to run away from her did so because of their agility not because of their moral strength.

Then there are her Belgian essays. I’ve read the two most famous ones, “The Cat” and “The Butterfly”. In “The Butterfly” she says:

“All creation is equally mad, behold those flies playing above the brook; the swallows and fish diminish their number every minute. These will become in their turn the prey of some tyrant of air or water; and man for his amusement or his need will kill their murderers. Nature is an inexplicable problem; it exists on a principle of destruction. Every being must be the tireless instrument of the death of others, or itself must cease to live, yet nonetheless we celebrate the day of our birth, and we praise God for having entered such a world.”

Now, I am not saying that Emily Bronte was some sort of a Social Darwinist, “The Butterfly” reaches to the conclusion that the suffering on Earth is worth it because of the existence of Heaven. But she seems to have an understanding that every living being is for itself and everyone can only exist in expense of others.

Of course the personal anecdote of someone who didn’t care much for Emily and an essay written for an instructor aren’t sufficient proof; but Wuthering Heights can also exemplify this theme: There is not much pity for the weak here, Heathcliff (a uniquely strong individual) destroys the weak individuals like his son without pity, Catherine and Hareton manage to defeat him, because they themselves are strong, healthy individuals, thus they deserve to survive. Unlike many fictional psychopaths Heathcliff enjoys causing pain to those who fear him the most: The more the worms writhe, the more he yearns to crush out their entrails. This is a cruel world, and you must be strong to survive.

Let’s examine how sickness as a motif is handled in Wuthering Heights. I don’t think that every instance of sickness in the novel has a huge metaphoric significance, Nelly catches a cold in the second half merely so that Cathy can be free to pursue her relationship with Linton for the plot to advance. And I don’t think that there is a huge significance behind Frances dying of consumption, she has to die so Hareton can be orphaned and so Hindley can become an alcoholic out of grief. At most we can say that “consumption” is a very Linton way of dying in the novel, subtextually aligning Frances with the Lintons since it is through her influence that Catherine and Heathcliff are first separated but that is a bit of a stretch. That being said Mr. Kenneth’s callous words that Hindley should have thought better than marrying such a “rush of a lass” and that he shouldn’t fret about her death too much, that “it can’t be helped” is an example of how cruel the world of Wuthering Heights is to the sickly and the bodily weak.

Then there are Cathy’s two instances of sickness: Once after Heathcliff runs away and once after Edgar banishes Heathcliff. In both instances Catherine is separated from Heathcliff and thus from the only link to her “half-savage and hardy, and free” past self. It’s important that Catherine’s enterance into the world of femininity is via her being rendered lame by a bulldog attack, femininity leaves her bodily weak and unable to move. Later the grand dress that the Lintons gave her also renders her physically incapable, that grand dress “which she was obliged to hold up with both hands that she might sail in”. Catherine’s happy and free days of childhood are defined by her physical activity, she becomes sickly during moments where she is the furthest away from her true self. I don’t think that there is any inherent moral judgement here, that is simply who Catherine was, and it is sad that the society had to make her into something that she is not. So far, so good.

But of course Cathy’s first fever inadvertently kills the Linton parents. The contrast between the temperaments of the Earnshaw and Linton families is an important part of the construction of Wuthering Heights. I would say that what defines the Linton family in contrast to Earnshaws is their effeminacy and bodily weakness. I am not actually so bothered by the “effeminacy” element, because in the world of Wuthering Heights, “effeminacy” goes hand in hand with privilege. Edgar and Linton have the privilege to stay indoors and read books, Heathcliff and Hareton have to labour out of doors. How they relate to masculinity is not something that is innate to these men, it is almost as much a consequence of their positions in life as a trait inherent to them.

I think that the sickliness of the Lintons is also handled very smartly and meaningfully in the first generation. Edgar and Isabella do not necessarily get sick more often than Earnshaws do, they are simply more delicate, which is again related to their class position. Heathcliff who is famous for his strength goes through a rather severe bout of measles as a child along with the other Earnshaw children. Heathcliff also seems to be small for his age on his first arrival at Wuthering Heights, presumably because of malnourishment. Earnshaw siblings may have hardier constitutions than the Linton siblings but they die earlier than them because of their recklessness and addictions. Catherine dies at the age of 18/19 because she starved herself while pregnant, Hindley dies at the age of 27 because of alcoholism and depression. Isabella and Edgar die at the ages of 31 and 39 respectively. Edgar is the one who lives the longest among that generation of characters, Heathcliff dies at the age of 38.

Edgar’s sickness and subsequent death can also be related to his class privilege. Here is how he first catches the cold that kills him: “Mr. Linton and his daughter would frequently walk out among the reapers; at the carrying of the last sheaves they stayed till dusk, and the evening happening to be chill and damp, my master caught a bad cold, that settled obstinately on his lungs, and confined him indoors throughout the whole of the winter, nearly without intermission.” A mere visit to what the labourers are doing is enough to finish Edgar. His secluded and privileged lifestyle causes his end.

I don’t think that Edgar and Isabella are necessarily treated as less valuable human beings than Catherine and Heathcliff by the text. Sure they are less remarkable people, but not necessarily less valuable. Yes many people remember Edgar as a sissy snob who stood between Catherine and Heathcliff but just as many people think that he is a poor wronged husband who is destroyed by the shenanigans of the insufferable Catherine and Heathcliff. Isabella gets to relate two whole chapters from her point of view. Edgar gets much of his dignity back in the second half and is earnestly mourned by his daughter and his servants.

All this nuance in the treatment of sickliness as a theme completely goes away when it comes to the second generation. Linton is defined by his sickliness. He is not merely delicate as his mother and uncle are, he is constantly, chronically ill, to the point of being disabled. But when Linton says that walking to Thrushcross Grange every day would kill him we are not really meant to sympathize with him, despite him presumably telling the truth. And Heathcliff’s disappointment with Linton has everything to do with his bodily weakness, but we are either meant to sympathize with his disappointment or to regard him having such a son as karma for his wicked deeds. I don’t think that we are really meant to sympathize with Linton’s position and most readers don’t.

Linton’s sickliness does not work as a metaphor for his class privilege as it does for his uncle. Yes he presumably lived a rather privileged life with his mother at London, his uncle almost definitely financially aided them. But he wasn’t reared as the presumed “lord of the manor” as his uncle was. And then he leads a rather plain and very loveless existence in Wuthering Heights during the last five years of his life. And the book makes much of the irony of Cathy viewing her “real” cousin Linton as a “gentleman’s son” while sneering at Hareton, because Hareton is the one who is actually a “gentleman’s son”. So Linton’s sickliness does not really work as a metaphor for the “degeneracy” of the leisurely class, he is the son of someone who doesn’t even have a surname.

Linton’s sickliness is not really a metaphor for anything nor is it a consequence of plot developments; it is his very essence. It is the entirety of his character. And his character is regarded as uniquely unpleasant by many. He is often called “the worst person in the novel” for simply being annoying because he is in constant pain. During his worst moments, he is going with Heathcliff’s plans out of fear, so how is he worse than Heathcliff exactly?

The book very much portrays Linton’s sickliness and defective and selfish character as going hand in hand. In a rare moment of self-awareness and repentance, Linton says to Cathy:

“You are so much happier than I am, you ought to be better. Papa talks enough of my defects, and shows enough scorn of me, to make it natural I should doubt myself. I doubt whether I am not altogether as worthless as he calls me, frequently; and then I feel so cross and bitter, I hate everybody! I am worthless, and bad in temper, and bad in spirit, almost always; and, if you choose, you may say goodbye: you’ll get rid of an annoyance. Only, Catherine, do me this justice: believe that if I might be as sweet, and as kind, and as good as you are, I would be; as willingly, and more so, than as happy and as healthy. And believe that your kindness has made me love you deeper than if I deserved your love: and though I couldn’t, and cannot help showing my nature to you, I regret it and repent it; and shall regret and repent it till I die!”

This passage is rather poignant, and is the only thing that saves Linton from being a totally one-dimensional character. But he himself says that if he were as good as Cathy he perhaps would be as happy and healthy. And he unfortunately does not go through with this half-willingness to repent his conduct. He goes through with Heathcliff’s plan and his treatment of Cathy after she is kidnapped is completely horrendous. But in a way, he is right. His evil is related to his sickliness. He has to go through with Heathcliff’s plan because he rightfully fears for his life. He does not have the strength Cathy and Hareton have to withstand Heathcliff’s attacks. Cathy can be beaten bloody by Heathcliff but she has the physical (and therefore moral) strength to survive all of it. And we are explicitly told that Heathcliff did not physically abuse Hareton mostly because he was too strong to tempt Heathcliff, “he had none of the timid susceptibility that would have given zest to ill-treatment, in Heathcliff’s judgement”.

Cathy and Hareton’s strength of character and goodness is innate, just like Linton’s badness and worthlessness is. They both don’t ever get sick, besides some flimsy reference to Cathy’s childhood illnesses. They are the characters in the book whose physical beauty is emphasized the most often. Cathy is very physically active and adventurous, Hareton constantly labours or hunts. While they have their flaws, they have an innate goodness and unselfishness that none of the other characters have. Hareton’s goodness especially seems to be a natural, inborn trait. He had a childhood as traumatic as any other character, but he emerges as simply a good person. Hareton is “gold put to the use of paving-stones”, and Linton is “tin polished to ape a service of silver”. One is simply naturally good, one is simply naturally bad, and nothing about this is related to their immediate circumstances as it is with the first generation. They simply are what they are, and how healthy they are bodily is the biggest evidence of this.

There is of course a classist/racist explanation for all of this. As I’ve said there is the pointed irony of Hareton actually being the “gentleman’s son”. Hareton’s name is written on the door of Wuthering Heights, the book ends with the respective properties going back to their ancient dynasties, as if they are royalty. The usurping Heathcliff line ends with the sickly excuse of a human being Linton. Some critics also argued that Linton’s defects may reflect the belief that children born out of “miscegenation” would be sickly. Nelly does refer to him as a “cockatrice”, an abomination composed of two very different elements. Some people think that Linton Heathcliff showcases how unsuitable the temperaments of Lintons and Heathcliff are, but Earnshaws and Lintons are equally unsuitable for one another, yet Cathy is beautiful, healthy, happy and kind. If one says that Linton has the worst traits of his parents because he was born out of hatred, then that is hardly better, it again dooms Linton before he is even born. He has no free will it seems.

The characterization of Linton is generally mean-spirited. When Nelly says that it is lucky for everyone that he will die soon, I do think that many readers would contend. The authorial voice is neutral on every other character in the novel. Linton is the only character (besides Joseph) whom the authorial voice clearly dislikes, despite him not being half as bad as Hindley or Heathcliff. His death is meant to be horrific, but mostly for what Cathy goes through, not for his own pain. And unlike Frances, he is not really mourned. Frances’s life’s worth is signified to the reader despite Mr. Kenneth’s words because of Hindley’s intense grief. No such grief really exists for Linton, mostly because he was completely horrible. It’s weird, so much page time is spent to Linton’s scenes (which is mostly why I don’t think that he can be written off as a mere plot device, along with Heathcliff’s treatment of his son being a significant part of Heathcliff’s characterization) but this time is not really made use of to make him any more sympathetic. I pity Linton, but I pity him in defiance of the text.

Linton has to die so that Heathcliff’s line can end, and Earnshaw and Linton lines can survive beyond the pages of the book in health. His characterization is borderline eugenicist.

Despite what you might think, I do not dislike this aspect of the novel. As I’ve said in that previous post, I am mostly fascinated by it. I am fascinated by Linton’s characterization. I think Heathcliff’s son being an annoying shit at best and an actual sadistic monster who tortures cats at worst is much much better than him simply being a pale pitiable victim. It would be so disappointing if Heathcliff’s son weren’t a little psychopathic bastard in his own right. But his characterization is very ableist, there is no way around that.

Now as to how much of this was an inherent belief of Emily Bronte herself, I don’t know. We can’t gather much about the author’s personal beliefs from a fictional text. I doubt that she held contempt for sickly individuals, she herself was often sick. But I do guess that she valued her own strength, and that’s why she wanted to not be seen by a doctor and to be physically active until the very end.

[rotgospels]

i am interested in the secondary readings about frankenstein !!! i’m now super interested in mary shelley too if u know where i can read her journals or anything ?

yes! u should be able the find her journals on the project gutenberg site (as well as all of her other fictional work) - i’ll also try to add a few readings which go a little bit into shelley herself too. 

The Frankenstein reading list:

Angela Wright, The Female Gothic

Ellen Moers, Female Gothic: The Monster’s Mother 

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Three Women's Texts and a Critique of Imperialism (includes an excellent discussion on the figure of the english woman & the unnamable monster existing beyond the text itself - something which calls into question who gets given a voice in frankenstein) 

Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar, Horror's Twin: Mary Shelley's Monstrous Eve.

Andrew Smith, Gothic Literature (section on sublimity in Frankenstein starts around page 42) 

Barbara Johnson ‘My monster/my self’ 

Anne K. Mellor, ‘Why Women Didn’t Like Romanticism: The Views of Jane Austen and Mary Shelley’

Carol M. Davison, ‘Monstrous Regiments of Women and Brides of Frankenstein: Gendered Body Politics in Scottish Female Gothic Fiction’

Mary Poovey, "My Hideous Progeny: Mary Shelley and the Feminization of Romanticism"

George Slusser, The Frankenstein Barrier

Nora Crook, 'Mary Shelley, Author of Frankenstein’ 

Fred Botting, Limits of Horror (not exactly about frankenstein but a great further reading)  

[erotoplasty]

Erotoplasty 7 (pt. 2)!

And now to the final repast—Erotoplasty 7 pt. 2. This one is a veritable smorgasbord of haute feed, comestibles bursting with the pungent-luscious flavours of Joe Luna, L y d i a  D v n c h, Calum Hazell & Colin Leemarshall, Ghazal Mosadeq, Ulli Freer, Vik Shirley & Luke Palmer, Ali Graham, Cassandra Troyan, Andre Bagoo, Alice Tarbuck, Tim Atkins, Chris Gutkind, Giles Goodland, Chris Stephenson, Khaled Hakim, David Brazil, Fred Spoliar & Maria Sledmere, Iris Colomb, Laura Lynes, Aditya Bahl, Ellen Dillon, Peter Larkin, Anthony Mellors & David Rees, ajCarruthers, Kate Fanthorpe, Alex Grafen, Dom Hale, Owen Brakspear, Paula Damm & Dona Mayoora, Jim Leftwich & John Crouse & John M. Bennett, RTA Parker, David Ashford, and Will Alexander. Tuck in and out!

Download the PDF here.

[popentertainment-moviereviews]

COVEN OF EVIL (2020)

Starring John Thacker, Laura Peterson, Samantha Moorhouse, Craig R. Mellor, Tracy Gabbitas, Micky Satiar, Jacob Kain Prescott, Laura Ellen Wilson, Brian Woodward,

Jayne Buchanan, Ian Archdeacon, Alannah Marie, Vicki Glover, Graham Parrington, Steve Kilpatrick, Lee Glynn, Dominic Mcavish and Kristina Rekstyte.

Screenplay by Matthew J. Lawrence.

Directed by Matthew J. Lawrence.

Distributed by Macabre Pictures. 100 minutes. Not Rated.

So, what to say about Coven of Evil? It’s not really a very good or cutting-edge movie, but it’s not really trying to be one. It is a cheap and exploitative B-movie horror film. There is a place in the world for that. It has no real agenda other than scaring up some creeps for people who want an on-demand midnight thriller.

It’s not particularly bloody – mostly because it doesn’t appear to have had the budget for SFX – so it relies on the viewer’s imagination. The acting is hit or miss. Some of the actors are extremely good although over the top – Laura Peterson and Samantha Moorhouse in particular. Some are more earthbound – lead actor John Thacker doesn’t always quite seem to get a hold his character’s emotional path. Some are actively bad – I hate to come down on this guy because he only has a few lines, but one of the coven leaders in the prelude is particularly awkward.

However, there is an audience for this kind of entertainment: bloody horror with a touch of sex. Truthfully, most of the violent and erotic moments were implied more than shown. The filmmaking is very low budget and many of the effects are either off-screen or obviously fake. (For example, there are two different scenes where one of the men is supposedly spanking one of the women, and it is quite clear to anyone looking at all closely that he is bringing the belt down on the bed behind her. Not that any movie with this kind of shot wouldn’t do it that way, it just wouldn’t always be quite so noticeable.)

But okay, fine. Coven of Evil is a b-movie made to go directly to streaming or video, not a blockbuster. The expectations you bring to it have to be a bit lower than studio films, or even major indies.

So the big question is: “Will the audience enjoy it?” The answer, I’m afraid to say, is just maybe. It had some good moments and some real bad ones. However, like I said, there are people for whom this stuff will be catnip. I’m not exactly one of those, and I can’t exactly say I liked it, but I didn’t actively dislike it either. And I will be the first to acknowledge that I am not the movie’s target audience.

As you may have guessed by the title Coven of Evil is about witches and Satanists. Thacker plays Joe, a blogger who wrote a story about Wiccan sex rituals. He is approached by Evie, a funny and sexy coven member who calls him out for writing exploitative, provocative falsehoods. She invites him to a farmhouse deep in the British countryside to experience their rituals himself.

He meets the group, made up of a bunch of oddball misfits, who seem to use the rituals as an excuse to get high. But things don’t really seem to be adding up, and Joe is having some crazy dreams. And who is that gorgeous woman named Alice (Peterson) who seems to be held in her room, but not a member of the group?

Note: Although this film does state in the script that this is a group of Satanists masquerading as a Wiccan coven, apparently there is at least a small group of Wiccans who are offended by the portrayal, to the point where the writer/director had to post an explanation on IMDB saying they are not supposed to be Wiccans.

Honestly, I know very little about Satanism or Wiccanism (I don’t even know for sure if Wiccanism is a real word…). Therefore, I can’t comment on how realistic this film is – honestly it feels a bit far-fetched, but who knows?

Is it scary? Sometimes. Is it funny? Also, sometimes. Is it worth watching? If you like this kind of stuff, sure, why not?

Jay S. Jacobs

Copyright ©2020 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: September 14, 2020.

[aqueerassbookshelf]

Maiden, Mother, and Crone

Fantastical Trans Femmes by Lilah Sturges, Alexa Fae McDaniel, Kylie Ariel Bemis, Ellen Mellor, Izzy Wasserstein, Audrey Vest, Gwen Benaway, Kai Cheng Thom

Publishing date: 30 Apr 2019 Disclaimer: I recieved this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Mother, Maiden, Crone is a, at the lack of a better word, fantastical antology, gocusing on the lives and experiences of Trans Femmes  -  a viewpoint too often overlooked in representation and actvism both. The book contains 11 different original short stories from various writers, with various writing experience. The latter detail might be noticable through parts of the books, as certain texts seem to struggle with the balance between world building and representation, but over all, I really did like the book, and will be putting it on the list of “future bookshelf fillers”. I’m especially excited to re-read LIlah Sturges' "Undoing Vampirism" and Crystal Fraiser's "Perisher". 

I have to admit that reading fell in second line after exam prep, and so I did not get to know the book as thouroughly as I might have wished, but all in all, it’s a decent 4/5 stars on my count.

[aion-rsa]

How His Dark Materials Expanded Its Writing Staff For Season 2

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The His Dark Materials TV series is massive in scope—not only in terms of film production, but in the sheer ambition of the story it is trying to tell. Adapted from the trilogy of the same name from Philip Pullman, the children’s fantasy saga brings together different worlds and the very different kinds of people and creatures who live in them. It’s an enormous project for one storyteller to undertake. In Season 1, the ridiculously prolific Jack Thorne wrote all eight episodes of His Dark Materials by himself. In Season 2, he has help.

Up-and-coming British writers Namsi Khan, Francesca Gardiner, Sarah Quintrell, and Lydia Adetunji joined Thorne in writing Season 2 of His Dark Materials, and in the monumental process of adapting The Subtle Knife from book to screen.

“They really did bring scope and challenged us in really interesting ways,” Thorne said during a BBC press junket of the additional Season 2 writers last month. Thorne used the specific example of the writing of the witch plot line. According to Thorne, the new writers took the witches in a direction he didn’t originally intend, serving to deepen the witch-centric subplot, which plays a more prominent role in the second season than it did in the first.

Dafne Keen, who plays Lyra in the series, echoed the sentiment of Thorne’s comments, noting that the addition of the new voices did change the TV-making process in Season 2, especially when it came to how quickly the scripts were written.

“Because I’d worked on season one when it was just Jack alone, it was a big difference,” Keen told Den of Geek during a press roundtable. “But Jack is a genius on his own. Frankly, the others helped, but it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, now the show works.’ It was just like, it goes faster.”

In other words, Thorne is still the head writer of this show. Of the five Season 2 episodes that have been announced with writerly credits, he is a writer or co-writer on four of them.

Who Are the His Dark Materials Season 2 Writers?

While it’s traditional in the U.S. for TV series to have a staff of writers working on one show, often breaking the stories together in one room before separating to write their respective episodes, the U.K. TV industry developed along different lines. It is becoming more common in the U.K. to employ writers’ rooms, but the traditional model is much more solitary in the U.K., with either one writer writing all of the episodes or multiple writers working on one season but without that initial in-person, collaborative story-breaking process.

It sounds like, in its second season, His Dark Materials did something with at least elements of the writers’ room process. Simone Kirby, who plays new character Dr. Mary Malone, told Den of Geek during a press roundtable: “The different writers all had different storylines.” This implies that, if there was some collaborative story-breaking process, then different writers had different specialties/foci, but, as with any highly-collaborative project, it can be hard to untangle where one person’s work ends and another’s begins. Here are the writers who worked on His Dark Materials Season 2…

Jack Thorne

Even if you’ve never heard of Thorne, you’ve almost certainly watched something he’s written. In addition to His Dark Materials, his TV work includes the The Fades, This is England series, The Last Panthers, The Eddy, Shameless, and Skins. He also writes for stage and film. He wrote Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, and his film credits include Enola Holmes, The Secret Garden, Wonder, and The Aeronauts.

Namsi Khan

Namsi Khan previously wrote a third season episode for the very underrated Humans, and has worked in the writers’ rooms for the second season of The Night Manager, as well as for Black Mirror and Bulletproof. Now, she’s joined the His Dark Materials team, co-writing (with Thorne) the fourth episode of Season 2.

“I wasn’t always sure I wanted to be a writer but I was very introverted and read a lot of books like Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights,” Khan told Deadline last December. “It was the first book I read that blew my imagination into a dimension that I didn’t know existed … It’s truly a joy to have my name attached to a show whose books I love.”

Francesca Gardiner

Interestingly, Francesca Gardiner also worked in the writers’ room for The Night Manager Season 2. Additionally, she’s written an episode of The Man in the High Castle and Medici: Masters of Florence, and has been working on Starz’ The Rook. She is a co-executive producer on BBC America’s Killing Eve. Gardiner co-wrote (with Thorne) the second episode and wrote the fifth episode of His Dark Materials Season 2.

Sarah Quintrell

Sarah Quintrell made her writing debut in 2016 with Ellen, a drama that snagged her a nomination for the BAFTA Breakthrough Talent Award. She also wrote the five-part Channel 4 crime drama The Trial: A Murder In The Family, and is currently working on The Power, the Amazon adaptation of Naomi Alderman’s bestselling novel. Quintrell co-wrote (with Thorne) the third episode of His Dark Materials Season 2. (Quintrell is also an actress and has appeared in Call the Midwife and Doctor Who.)

Lydia Adetunji

Lydia Adetunji worked as a journalist for the Financial Times before moving into a creative writing career. Adetunji writes for film, TV, and theater. Her TV work so far includes Noughts + Crosses, The Last Kingdom, and Riviera.

Read more

TV

His Dark Materials Season One Recap: Dust, Daemons and Betrayal

By Louisa Mellor

TV

His Dark Materials Season 2 Episode 1 Review (Spoiler-Free)

By Louisa Mellor

Will His Dark Materials Season 2 Deviate From the Books?

In Season 1, Thorne deviated slightly from the source material, most notably by moving Will’s introduction up. This season, Thorne says there isn’t that kind of “major shock,” but that “there’s a series of micro-shocks that together…probably challenge the foundations in a more interesting way.”

For Thorne and the rest of the writing team, it’s not about trying to shock viewers with changes from the book. “Sometimes we do step away and do different things,” says Thorne, “but always we’re going back to the text and saying, ‘How does this help us tell his story best?’

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

As you might imagine, Thorne is a huge fan of the books, and doesn’t wish to change anything fundamental to the story.

“Philip has written the most incredible fiction that is so full of ideas that it’s constantly eluding you,” Thorne continued. “And actually that is a real gift as a screenwriter. As soon as you know where you are, you’re sort of in trouble because you’re…sort of descending into tropes. You’re sort of descending into things that have been seen before. With Philip, you’re never allowed to. He’s always punching you in the face, basically, and I love being punched in the face by Philip Pullman.”

His Dark Materials Season 2 premieres on BBC in the U.K. on November 8th, and HBO in the U.S. on November 16th.

The post How His Dark Materials Expanded Its Writing Staff For Season 2 appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[thedsp-blog1]

Dr. Death’s victim list

Acton, Lily Adams, Lizzie Adkinson, Sarah Adshead, Norman Adshead, Rose Ann Aitken, Irene Andrew, Dorothy Mary Andrew, Joseph Andrew, Mary Emma Arrandale, Albert Arrowsmith, Winifred Ashcroft, Netta Ashton, Dora Elizabeth Ashton, Ellen Ashworth, Ada Ashworth, Brenda Ashworth, Elizabeth Ashworth, James Ashworth, Sarah Aveyard, Clara Ethel Baddeley, Elizabeth Mary Baddeley, John Bagshaw, Bertha Barber, Squire Bardsley, Joseph Bardsley, Lily Bardsley, Nellie Barker, Elsie Barlow, Charles Henry Barnes, James Edward Battersby, Elizabeth Baxter, William Beech, Joseph Bell, Norman John Bennett, Ethel Bennett, Frances Bennett, Nellie Bennison, Charlotte Bent, Arthur Berry, Irene Bill, Edith Annie Birchall, Mary Ivy Bird, Violet May Black, Alice Boardman, Kathleen May Boardman, Mary Louisa Bogle, Geoffrey Bolland, Alice Bowers, Mary Elizabeth Bradshaw, Miriam Brady, Edith Bramwell, Harold Bramwell, Vera Brassington, Charles Geoffrey Brassington, Nancy Anne Bridge, Doris Bridge, Jane Brierley, Albert Brierley, Edith Broadbent, Lily Brock, Edith Brocklehurst, Charles Edward Brocklehurst, Vera Brooder, Irene Brookes, Lily Brookes, May Brown, Alice Brown, Mary Alice Brown, William Henry Buckland, Edward Buckley, Ethel Burke, Elizabeth Mary Butcher, Lydia Edith Cains, Ida Callaghan, Sean Stuart Calverley, Edith Campbell, Annie Carradice, Marion Carrington, Alice Carroll, Josephine May Cartwright, Hannah Chadwick, Wilfred Challinor, Ivy Elizabeth Challoner, Genevieve Chapman, Irene Chappell, Alice Chappell, Wilfred Charlton, John Charnock, George Cheetham, Albert Cheetham, Alfred Cheetham, Elsie Cheetham, Hena Cheetham, Norah Cheetham, Thomas Chidlow, Amy Clarke, Fanny Clayton, Elsie Clayton, Frances Clee, Beatrice Helen Clough, James Condon, Thomas Connaughton, Alice Hilda Connors, Michael Conway, Margaret Ann Coomber, Frederick Cooper, Ann Copeland, Erla Copeland, Sydney Hoskins Couldwell, Constance Anne Coulthard, Ann Coutts, Mary Couzens, Hilda Mary Cox, Eileen Theresa Crompton, Eileen Daphne Crompton, Frank Crompton, John Crossley, Lily Cullen, Lilian Cuthbert, Valerie Davies, Cissie Davies, Eric Davies, Fred Davies, Miriam Dawson, Fanny Dean, Elsie Lorna Dean, Joan Edwina Delaney, Bessie Denham, Christopher Dentith, Frederick Devenport, Ronnie Dixon, Alice Dobb, Edgar Dolan, Ethel Drinkwater, Alice Drummond, Joseph Dudley, Mary Rose Dutton, Elaine Earls, Doris Earnshaw, William Eddleston, Harold Eddleston, Monica Edge, Agnes Evans, Bethel Anne Everall, Hannah Everall, Joseph Vincent Farrell, Phyllis Fernley, Marie Antoinette Firman, Mary Elizabeth Fish, Hilda Fitton, Hilda Fletcher, Dorothy Fletcher, Elizabeth Floyd, Arthur Fogg, Leah Foulkes, Edwin Fowden, Thomas Fox, Moira Ashton France, John Freeman, Harold Freeman, Winifred Frith, Hannah Galpin, Minnie Doris Irene Garlick, Rose Garlick, Violet Garratt, Mary Alice Garside, Millicent Gaskell, Marion Gaunt, Mary Gee, Nellie Gess, Clifford Givens, William Goddard, Edith Godfrey, Elsie Golds, Annie Elizabeth Gorton, Alice Maude Graham, Edith Gray, Rebecca Greenhalgh, John Sheard Grimshaw, Annie Grimshaw, Muriel Grundy, Donald Anthony Grundy, Kathleen Grundy, Nora Hackney, Clara Hackney, Clara Hadfield, Violet Hague, William Hall, Josephine Halliday, Frank Hallsworth, Janet Hamblett, Leonora Hamer, Mary Emma Hammond, Caroline Veronica Hampson, Jesse Hancock, Christine Hannible, Elsie Harding, Joan Milray Harris, Charles Harris, Harriet Harrison, Christina Harrison, David Alan Harrison, Marion Harrison, Muriel Eveline Harrison, Samuel Harrop, Elsie Haslam, Mary Elizabeth Hawkins, Sarah Healey, Winifred Heapey, Clifford Barnes Heapey, Gladys Heathcote, Irene Heginbotham, Olive Hennefer, Ellen Hett, Mary Jane Heywood, Ada Heywood, Florence Hibbert, Hilda Mary Hickson, Robert Higginbottom, George Eric Higginbottom, Peter Higgins, Barry Higgins, Lily Higham, Marion Elizabeth Highley, Ruth Higson, Ellen Hill, Sarah Ann Hillier, Pamela Marguerite Hilton, Ada Matley Hilton, John Hirst, Emma Holgate, Ethel Doris Holland, Alline Devolle Holt, Alice Hopkins, Dorothy Doretta Howcroft, John Hulme, Hilda Hurd, May Iwanina, Jozef Jackman, Harold Edward Jackson, Maureen Lamonnier Jackson, Nancy Jameson, Ronald Jeffries, Beatrice Johnson, Norah Johnson, Richard Johnston, Leah Jones, Alice Mary Jones, David Jones, Hannah Jones, Ivy Jones, Jane Jones, Robert Edward Jordan, Mary Ellen Keating, Mary Kellett, Ethel May Kellett, Fred Kelly, Ellen Kelly, Moira Kennedy, Alice Killan, Charles Henry King, Elsie King, James Joseph Kingsley, Mary Kitchen, Alice Christine Lacey, Renee Leach, Florence Leech, Edith Leech, William Henry Lees, Olive Leigh, Carrie Leigh, Joseph Leigh, Wilfred Lewis, Elsie Lewis, Florence Lewis, Peter Lilley, Jean Lingard, Robert Henry Linn, Laura Frances Livesey, John Louden Llewellyn, Edna May Lomas, Harry Lomas, Ivy Long, Dorothy Longmate, Thomas Alfred Lord, Jane Ellen Lowe, Beatrice Lowe, Esther Lowe, May Lyons, Eva MacConnell, Charles Mackenzie, Selina Mackie, Christina McCulloch Mansfield, Mary Ann Mansfield, Walter Marley, Martha Marsland, Sarah Hannah Matley, Maud McDonald, Kathleen McLaren, William James McLoughlin, Gertrude Melia, Joan May Mellor, Elizabeth Ellen Mellor, Samuel Mellor, Winifred Meredith, Oscar Metcalfe, Margaret Middleton, Deborah Middleton, Mary Mills, Samuel Mitchell, Cyril Mitchell, Wilbert Molesdale, John Bennett Morgan, Emily Moss, Bertha Moss, Hannah Mottram, George Henry Mottram, Hannah Helena Mottram, Pamela Grace Moult, Thomas Mullen, Nellie Mycock, Miriam Rose Emily Needham, Nora Nicholls, Violet Nichols, Fanny Nichols, Lily Nuttall, Hervey Nuttall, Norah O'Sullivan, Thomas Ogden, Mary Oldham, Agnes Oldham, Samuel Oswald, Frances Elaine Otter, Enid Ousey, Margaret Ovcar-Robinson, Konrad Peter Overton, Renate Eldtraude Oxley, Phyllis Parker, Marjorie Parkes, Annie Parkin, Laura Victoria Parr, Bertha Pearce, Elizabeth Pedley, Rosetta Penney, Vara Pickering, Leah Pickup, Kenneth Pickup, Mavis Mary Pitman, Edith Platt, Elsie Platt, Marion Pomfret, Bianka Potts, Frances Potts, Reginald Powers, Annie Alexandra Preston, Ada Marjorie Prestwich, Alice Proud, Ethel May Quinn, Marie Ralphs, Anne Lilian Ralphs, Ernest Colin Rawling, Alice Reade, Audrey Redfern, Tom Renwick, Dorothea Hill Richards, Jose Kathleen Diana Richardson, Alice Riley, Stanley Roberts, Edith Roberts, Esther Hannah Roberts, Gladys Robinson, Eileen Robinson, Eveline Robinson, Lavinia Robinson, Mildred Rogers, Elizabeth Ann Rostron, Jane Frances Rowarth, Dorothy Rowbottom, Annie Rowland, Jane Isabella Royles, Elsie Royston, Betty Rudol, Ernest Russell, Tom Balfour Sankey, Margaret Saunders, Albert Edward Saunders, Gladys Scott, Edith Scott, Elsie Sellors, Kate Maud Sharples, Cicely Shaw, Joseph Shaw, Leonard Shaw, Lilian Shaw, Neville Shaw, Susan Eveline Shawcross, Edna Shawcross, Ernest Shawcross, Mabel Shelmerdine, Jack Leslie Shelmerdine, Jane Elizabeth Shore, Lily Sidebotham, Florence Sigley, Elizabeth Teresa Simpson, Kenneth Harry Slater, Albert Slater, Florence Slater, Lena Norah Slater, May Smith, Alice Smith, Dora Elizabeth Smith, Emma Smith, Kenneth Ernest Smith, Margaret Smith, Mary Alice Smith, Sidney Arthur Smith, Winifred Isabel Sparkes, Monica Rene Squirrell, Alice Stafford, Harry Stafford, Kate Elizabeth Stansfield, Joe Ainscow Stocks, Louisa Stone, John Stopford, Arthur Henderson Stopford, Harriet Strickland, Ruth Sumner, Grace Swann, Bessie Swann, Robert Swindells, Emmeline Taylor, Caroline Mary Taylor, Edna Mary Taylor, Florence Taylor, Lily Newby Taylor, Mary Tempest, Mary Ann Thomas, Alice Thomas, Sarah Ann Thornton, Maria Tideswell, Sarah Tierney, Angela Philomena Tingle, Walter Toft, Beatrice Tomlin, Mary Townsend, Margaret Tucker, Dorothy Tuff, Mary Tuffin, Winifred Amy Turner, Frances Elizabeth Turner, Irene Uttley, Stanley Vickers, Frederick Vickers, Margaret Mary Virgin, Lucy Vizor, George Edgar Vizor, May Wagstaff, George Lawton Wagstaff, Jessie Irene Wagstaff, Laura Kathleen Waldron, Margaret Anne Walker, Edward Walker, Ellen Walker, Henrietta Walker, Winifred Mary Waller, Harry Waller, Marjorie Hope Walls, Mary Walton, Sydney Warburton, Ada Ward, Maureen Alice Ward, Minnie Ward, Muriel Margaret Ward, Percy Wardle, Eric Wareing, William Hill Warren, May Wass, Kathleen May Watkins, Annie West, Maria Wharam, Ellen Frances Wharmby, Lavinia White, Mona Ashton Whitehead, Amy Whitham, Colin Whittaker, Maureen Whittaker, Violet Mary Whittingslow, Vera Whittle, Edith Wibberley, Edith Wilcockson, Joseph Frank Wilkinson, Annie Wilkinson, Maud Williams, Albert Redvers Williams, Emily Williamson, Sarah Jane Wills, Jack Wilmore, Margaret Wilson, Muriel Elsie Wimpeney, Mark Winston, George Winston, Olive Winterbottom, Mary Wood, Annie Wood, Charles Henry Wood, Fanny Wood, James Woodhead, Joyce Woodhead, Kenneth Wharmby

[waynejacobs777]

A big thank you Dj Mark Ellen and my buddy Julian Mellor for such an awesome night at Sheppey Fm radio interview 🤠👍 (at Sheppey FM 92.2) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtBKbeABgMP/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1dwq8kcyz4lhf

[jeremiahingham]

Best of YouTube: Brown; color is weird | You can support this channel on Patreon! Link below This video discusses the color brown. Seriously. That Aging Wheels playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmBDJoIaNRGiK2BgCwz2ALDnNanKBSOgO And, of course, the Weird World in RGB for those of you who I couldn’t manage to summon a card for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYbdx4I7STg How about some other, more different links? Technology Connextras (the second channel that stuff goes on sometimes): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClRwC5Vc8HrB6vGx6Ti-lhA Technology Connections on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TechConnectify The TC Subreddit https://ift.tt/2Sk14PE You can support this channel on Patreon! Thanks to contributions from viewers like you, Technology Connections can continue being as weird and unpredictable as it is. If you’d like to join the cool people who bring these totally rad videos to you (I’m hip and with it!), you can find out how at the link below. Thank you for your consideration! https://ift.tt/2CskvOK And thank you to the following patrons! Jorge Caballero, Kyle Messner, Mainstream, Matthew Schwartz, gs, ashka, Mr. Yan, Matthias Feist, RedR0ze, adan c, Thomas Fuchs, Alan Holland, Philipp Doppelhofer, Dan Boulden, Simon Hookham, Phiroze Dalal, Benn Bocinski, Devin Rosenthal, Avalon Hamakei, Ray Hardman, G Cowell, Dan Coulson, Mike Berman, Kevin Hamilton, Jack Manning, Chase Tarson, Christopher D'Arpa, Marshall Kurtz, Hurf Durr, shaun morris, David Bell, Miguel Gonzalez, Ed Giardina, Bryce Ontiveros, Kenneth A Cusson, Johnathan Reale, Charles Corbin, Simon Arrow, Brett Walton, Martin Schröder, lakewalk3r, Hayden McAfee, Dan Maku, Mark Injerd, Paul Demers, Stephen P Wilshaw, Vladi Ivanov, Michael Sandler, Jacob Harrington, Gustav Toth, Pete Iacono, Perl the Raven, Clay, Jason Letchworth, Benjamin Deming, Thorbjörn Meyer, Eben, M1GEO, Alan Shieh, Christopher Whyte, Michael Kaegler, Chrno, Taylor Smith, Colin Macdonald, Shlomi Borovitz, Krispin Miller, Jan Borcherding, Matthew Castellana, Finn, Sean Anderson, David, Duncan Mulholland, Chaz Serir, Jason Downs, Joe Snaza, Lincoln Cole, Deviant Ollam, Dillan Weems, Eldrin_22, Mitch SuperKnot, Andrew Bogard, Cameron McCormick, Craig Guy, Brandon Ryan, Keith Hemenway, Travis Geiselbrecht, Andrew Eslick, Pedro Brito, Ryan Milke, AARGH!, Marko, splateagle, Ada Cohen, MaikSan, Timothy Miller, Jim Renney, Steve Lafferty, Joseph Mayfield, Noah Dobson, William Astle, Zufalligeule, Joe King, John Plasket, Don Eitner, Adam Belebczuk, Matt, Karol Koziol, Matt Lawrence, Matthew Krajnak, James Fuhrman, Erik Welander, Mark Majewicz, Logan Shelts, Ryan Dean, Arcanox, Matt Beard, Chad L, Sebastian Mellor, Will Palmer, Steets, Matt, Joel Jauregui, James Alexander, Joon Shin, Joseph Weiss, Ben Slater, Calvin Walton, Jesse Crawford, Justin Tokke, Ryan Morash, Matt Towers, digit777, Tee Jay, Delliardo, Eidorian, MsWhit, Jeremy Price, Lydia Saunders, Henry Fitzgerald, Nishith Thakkar, Samuel Colburn, Raphael Wichary, Pykrete_O.Sages, HailSaturn, Evan Langlais, Andyface, Hugo Melchers, ShirleyNeko, R Fisher, Brian Stilson, ColdRamen77, Cameron Lane, Sam Atkinson, PanicOpticon, Don Riesbeck, Craig Engbrecht, Marco Menendez, Nils Schneider, Rob Tapp, Sebastian Muñoz, Andrew Bedia, John Sanchez, Kenneth Dahle, Patrick Wolfensberger, datajerk, Jimmie Rodgers, Dukey, Biff McKeldin, Sam Farrelly, AFylH9X9ZZGKbxF, Martin Porcheron, Justin Baros, Stephen Turner, kara mccabe, Denzil Wilson, Thomas Daede, Jiri van Bergen, Craig Matthews, Travis Estell, David (chipgw), Patrick McCart, H.D. Gregg, Ariel Valenzuela, Cape, Julian Kaagman, Mauri Virtanen, PseudsPie, Mark Wingerd, Antonio Juarez, Tobi, Wesley Reynolds, Tyler King, Splendid Gecko, Anicast, Steven Salerno, Kevin Tangney, Nicolae Berbece, Andrew Sebastian, Daniel A.A. Pelsmaeker, Joar Wandborg, Walter Huf, Chester Plemany, Keith, Allen Singer, Chris Gardner, Skylar Strickland, Nick Daniels, Robert Loewen, Michael Dragone, Diego Egido, Malcolm Slater, Devin Wright, Mark Provan, Zarko Kuvalja, Ivar Hosteng, Kevin Ragsdale, Karsten Müller-Bier, Ron Painter, WALLE1Doctor1Who, Joe Turner, Shaun Faloon, Andrew Collings, Robin Monks, EndoliteMatrix, Ragnar Jensen, Neale Genereux, Alexander Swaim, Aaron Hile, Austin Nunn, WishMakers, Kevin Chevalier, Declan M Martin, Michael Butkiewicz, Andrew Crawley, Eric Laska, OG-Biebs, Nathaniel Thompson, Paul Giroux, Daniel Ziegler, Chris Hodapp, Wearwolf, Greg Morin, Scott Hutcheson, Ted Kern, Ellen Murray, Paul John Sandoval, Tony Cook, Ben Cook-Feltz, Jim Burgan, dim85, Sam Lentz, AkeBjorn, Lane Robert, MPc, Daniel Prows, Christopher Lucas, Marcin Żyła, Scott McCarthy, Michael Thomas, Zach Flauaus, Vincent Larson, Bryan Boettcher, paustin, Ian Baltutis, Lucy, Tytyty, MetricConversion, AwkwardHuggs, Lex Sketch, john lombard

[erotoplasty]

Erotoplasty 6!

Through thickest miasma wafts the ambrosial scent of Erotoplasty 6! Discerning noses will pick up hints of Owen Brakspear, Blythe Zarozinia Aimson, Sam Turton, Imogen Reid, Harriet Tarlo, John Wilkinson, Aodán McCardle, Chris Stephenson, Alex Marsh, Tamsin Blaxter, Linda Kemp, Frances Presley, Mischa Foster Poole, Ellen Dillon, Alex Eccles, Emily Martin, Jim Leftwich, Will Hall, Charlotte Geater, Cleo Madeleine, Anthony Mellors, Linda Black, Dolly Turing, Fred Spoliar, S R Shah, and Danny Hayward.

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