#The Count of the Old Town 1935

[grusinskayas]

Ingrid Bergman in The Count of the Old Town | Munkbrogreven (1935) dir. Edvin Adolphson & Sigurd Wallén

[renlyslittlerose]

So my estranged grandfather passed away in the wee morning hours today. Seventeen years and one day since my Canadian grandfather died - which is very odd.

He wasn't what I would say was a good grandfather, nor a good father. He wasn't even a very good man. I started distancing myself from him around 2016, and was fully out of his life by 2018. He was verbally and emotionally abusive, enjoyed toying with people and their emotions, used people for his own personal gain, gaslit like it was his fucking job, and was generally neglectful to his duties as a father and a grandfather - especially to my sister and I. I can count on one hand the times he actually remembered my birthday when I was a kid, but even those moments were probably prompted by my mum or his girlfriend or his ex-wife.

But he had his moments, and I think I should say a few words about him and who he was.

He was born in a town in Hungary in 1935, near Lake Balaton. He was the youngest of the children, his brothers old enough to serve during WWII. During the war he talked about how he and his friends would go out to the abandoned battlefields and collect ammunition from the German and Soviet tanks, pile them in cow pastures, and set them off to scare the cows and other livestock. He said once school resumed after the war, a lot of kids came into class with missing fingers or even missing hands. He was lucky in that the only injury he received during his dumbass-ery was slicing his ass open on a destroyed German tank.

After the war he remained in the area, growing up with minimal education and helping run the household (his eldest brother had committed suicide shortly after the war was over). But in 1956, Hungary had their failed revolution in a desperate attempt to kick out the Soviet occupation. My grandfather wasn't part of the fighting, but he had enough sense to listen to one of the elders in the village who said that if they wanted to get the fuck out of Hungary and past the Iron Curtain, now was their time to run.

So he fled to Austria with some of his friends. They stayed in a refugee camp where he tried to learn basic English, before Canada accepted Hungarian refugees in 1958. So, along with some friends he'd made in the camp, he got on a boat and had a miserable trip across the Atlantic to the harbour of Halifax (he said that he could barely eat the entire trip because he was so sea sick). From there, he was put on a train that went across Canada, and he could get off on at any stop and just... start a new life.

It was, of course, the dead of winter when he and his friends arrived. Canada during the winter isn't pleasant - doubly so when you've come from the relatively mild Hungarian countryside. But one of his friends had family in Vancouver, and so he suggested they stay on the train all the way to the West Coast. Satisfied with this idea, my Papa agreed.

Only he made it as far as my home city in Alberta. You see, my city has this funky weather phenomena called a 'chinook.' Chinooks are when warm winds from the Pacific flow into the area and rush down the mountains and across the prairies, causing an inversion of air that rapidly warms up the city for a few days. We can go from -20C degree temperatures one day, to +15C the next. So when my Papa arrived in my city it was warm. Deceptively so. Ignoring his friend's suggestion they just continue on to Vancouver, my Papa decided to get off and start his new life.

The next day the train rolled out, and with it the freezing cold temperatures returned.

Despite it all he remained where he was. Life as a Hungarian refugee was tough. He knew very little English, and wasn't sure how to navigate life in a city that had developed past his home town in Hungary. He told me a story about trying to figure out how an automatic door worked, as well as trying to ask a store clerk where the bars of soap were, only to be taken to the canned soup aisle.

But as he learned English and adapted to Canada, he decided to sign up for architectural classes. He eventually got good enough at the gig that he became an expert in concrete as a building material, and helped to build one of the more iconic buildings in my city that is shaped like a saddle (which, if you know, you know).

In 1961, he and some fellow Hungarians decided to go to a dance at the local German-Canadian club where he met my German grandmother. She'd just moved to Canada, and had made the unfortunate decision to dance with the handsome Hungarian lad in the corner. Few months later she realized she was pregnant with my mum, and they got married before she gave birth.

Their marriage wasn't a happy one. But regardless, my Grandma had two more children with him before filing for divorce.

Growing up my Papa was always this strange, nebulous figure in my life. My sister and I were the eldest of the grandchildren, so we had to deal with his fumbled attempts at trying to be a grandfather when it was clear he didn't care. My mum would take us over to his house where they would argue the whole time, while my sister and I sat in the basement watching Jesus Christ Superstar on repeat. Gifts for birthdays usually came in the form of money, but I can remember the few times he actually bought me something. One time, he took me to the circus which ended up terrifing me because of the loud noises and bright lights. But instead of yelling at me or mocking me, he took me out of the show and bought me a teddy bear to sooth me. It was light brown with a white belly, with a yellow ribbon as a tie. I cherished that thing for a long time.

When I was old enough to carry a conversation, and he realized that I had an interest in ancient history like he did, we started chatting more. For a time it was fine. But then I realized that he liked to poke and prod and jab - liked to make people uncomfortable because it made him laugh. I would say something about my studies, and he would retort with something completely bigoted just to see me get flustered. I'll admit that I put up with it longer than I should have. The final straw was when I told him what my Masters studies would be on - how ancient Greek ideals on masculinity and male same-sex relations influenced the early German Gay Rights movement. His response was 'Good - show the world how your grandmother's people are a bunch of homos.'

He didn't believe what he was saying. He wasn't homophobic - unless he knew he could make it hurt. Which is almost worse, in a way.

After that I distanced myself. I didn't go to any family events he would be present at, and if I was forced to go I wouldn't speak with him. The last time I saw him was a few years ago when he was giving out cheques from his estate, under the assumption that he only had a few years left. I was surprised that I was even included, but then I realized that once again it was someone else in his life that had made sure I was looked after. This time it was my aunt.

I think the last thing I said to him was 'take care' or something along those lines. An impersonal greeting, one made out of social obligation more than anything.

I'm not sad about his passing, but I do worry about those who are left behind. My mother claims she doesn't care, but I know she still has lingering feelings - how could she not, he was her father, after all. My aunts are grieving terribly for a person that I never got to meet. Not really. My cousins who had a better relationship with him for the most part, are probably feeling the loss. And my sister, bless her, is worried for everyone else. His death will leave a crater in the family - one last 'fuck you' to his children, whom he loved to see fight over his affections and attention.

He had a lot of bad qualities, but some good as well. He was determined, he was curious, and he loved to learn. He was brave in the sense of leaving everything he knew behind just for a shot at something better. He had a good sense of humour (when he wasn't being a jerk), and I think deep down he did love his family. Just maybe not as much as he loved himself.

Nyugodjék békében Sandor 💕

[sadbi-hours]

Title: Circa 1666 ~ a grim history of the Shadyside & Sunnyvale killers~

Pairing: Nick Goode/Ziggy Berman

Word Count: 925

Rating: SFW(ish)

Image Credits: Banner made by me with the help of PicsArt and Google Images

Created For:

@anyfandomgoesbingo: Custom Card- Zicky Ship- I3- "I can't tell you the secret, because I don't know the secret."

@anyfandomkinkbingo: N1- "You don't have to be gentle with me, I don't break easily."

@mfbingo: I4-First...

@fandombingo: I4- "I was never meant to survive that."

"I was never meant to survive that." Ziggy rasped, her voice rough from the nightmares the nurses said she had been having late at night. Of what? Nightwing, her sister, or Tommy Slater, I didn't know.

But I wished I could kiss them away. I cleared my throat. Stop it...stop being a creep.

"But you pulled me back," She sat up in her bed, her wounds woven deep into her skin, peeking her hospital gown--and I had to look away. I thought she never looked more beautiful.

"How?" She asked, pulling me from my thoughts and back onto the moment at hand. How had he saved Ziggy Berman. Sheer force of will? Some mysterious power? Love?

I shrugged. I only gave her CPR.

Ziggy scowled.

Some of the stitches on her face from Harry Rooker pulled with her frown and threatened to split open again. "You don't have to be gentle with me," she hissed with that familiar fire I had gotten used to seeing from her all summer long. "I don't break easily."

"I can't tell you the secret, because I don't know the secret." I glared back at her. "I only gave you CPR."

I only gave her CPR.

Imagine this:

What if Nick hadn't lived his whole childhood being told that he was the heir apparent to a dark secret? Or at least, not in the way this story originally goes.

No, Nick was given a book on his fifteenth birthday, the same year his father would later commit suicide after passing on the Goode legacy...

Nick would learn that year that neither his family nor Sarah Fier are responsible for carrying on a dark secret that has gripped Shadyside... and Sunnyvale... as a whole, for the last few centuries.

Solomon Goode never sold his soul to the devil or famed Sarah Fier, but instead he and Sarah fought side by side to save the union from a much darker force... but ultimately had failed.

Leaving a foul curse behind, that every first born Goode has tried to stop since. To put an end to the selling of poor souls to feed a predator. To finally defeat the thing that grows and feeds on their small town, a horror that spreads. It's not man-made by some witch and warlock, but by something as old as time that's become rooted deep into the fabric of their community... and has always been hungry for both Shadysiders and Sunnyvaler blood, alike.

Because in Shadyside and Sunnyvale, sometimes the kids and the adults; the downtrodden and the rich, they all equally have been known to randomly snap.

There's no avoiding it, you can only push misfortune...or boredom... on someone for so long before that person breaks beyond repair is what has always been said, or at least in the news, that's dubbed them as Murder Capital USA.

In 1666, it was Cyrus Miller and the eyeless children.

In 1904, a simple minded grifter come to town and one day just drowned and gutted women.

1922, Billy Barker murdered his siblings with a baseball bat.

1935, The Humpty Dumpty Killer collected his victim's skin like jigsaw pieces and put them back together again.

1953, Harry Rooker was named Sunnyvale's first serial killer, whose lust for the blood of the young and attractive housewives of Sunnyvale knew no bounds.

1965, Ruby Lane went into a deep depression and seemingly decided to kill all her friends at a slumber party before taking her own life.

And then in 1978, the newest town killer hit Nick Goode's life a little too close to home. He knew Thomas Slater, worked with him during the summers at Camp Nightwing, hung out with him, Cindy, and Alice by the lake and smoked weed and drank beers after all of the campers had gone to sleep.

Nick knew Thomas Slater. He would never just snap... not like he did. Murdering some many camp counselors and children. That wasn't the Tommy that Nick knew him to be.

But no one else is to blame for the murders Nick witnessed at Camp Nightwing, or who had induced the terror that will stay with him forever-- but what haunts him, isn't only the butchered children but the lifeless bodies of the Berman sisters.

Both the one he couldn't save, and the one he did...

He didn't know Ziggy Berman, at least not like he always wanted to. He'd only ever saw her from afar. Always a ball of anger and fire, a red beacon in his dull and meaningless world. He's always had a crush on her...

But he thought he'd truly never get to know Ziggy Berman. Not like he's gotten to over the last sixteen years of their friendship.

He guessed when trying to recount the entire history of the Shadyside and Sunnyvale and its killers and stop a curse at the same time, you end up getting to know someone real well.

And it's not like he minds...

Besides, it's not just him and Ziggy forever, trying to figure out what grips their small slice of the world...

After the latest masked killer terrorizes their local mall, a group of teens that are affected by the tragedy come to them with their own evidence to figure out the purpose of the curse and how to stop it once and for all...

And really, with two emotionally constipated adults and a group of feisty teens, what could possibly go wrong?

They may even finally crack the origins of the curse wide open and end it.

[lewis-faith]

Trip 4, final days.  On Tuesday I spent some time planning my trip to Rzeszow that would happen on Wednesday. The first time I went to Poland back in March I spent quite a bit of time in Rzeszow, as that was the closest visa centre to the Ukrainian border. When I returned I learned from my aunt that I had Jewish ancestors that used to live in this region of Poland. My grandfather’s father left in the early 1900’s with a group that mostly went on to Canada and America, many of the family stayed but were unfortunately victims of the hollocaust. My aunt sent me a letter by a Canadian relative who had been to the area in 2005, he mentioned the village where they used to live and the town where they would visit a synagogue. These places were not far from Rzeszow so I decided to go back and take a look. I was able to include driving some refugees from Rzeszow to Warsaw on my way back.

Tuesday would be my last full day so I tied up some loose ends and generally made sure everything was going smoothly for my departure. Thankfully everything seemed fine and after what had been a pretty busy and intense week things were a bit calmer, my illness seemed to be going away so that was a relief, looking back I’m pretty sure I had covid.  

On Wednesday morning myself and James tackled updating the website, which uses Squarespace as the content management system. As a programmer I never get to use these website builder programs, I was shocked at how limited it was compared to the freedom I usually have. Everything had to be pieced together in big Lego style blocks row by row. Getting each row to play nice with the previous row was more a case of making hundreds of random adjustments than following any sensible logic. Eventually we got the design working and it looked pretty good but it took a lot longer than it should have.

James dropped me off at the airport to pick up my rental car and Leonid and Galina were along with us. I said my goodbyes and Galina insisted on getting out of the car for a proper hug and goodbye - she was so thankful for my help and there was no mistaking it. We are hopefully counting the days before her and Leonid can be in the UK and reunited with their daughter and granddaughter. 

Before heading off to Rzeszow I had a bite to eat and got my haircut, when I went back to the car I found a parking ticket on the windscreen -  no getting out of this one. I had parked in Biedronka supermarket but they usually have free parking, some do have parking meters and I just didn’t see these ones. It was only a £16 fine so not worth fighting over,, I had a good 1.5 hours of parking and decently cheap haircut so overall not that bad.

The drive to Rzeszow took about 3 hours. I think it must be a new road because there is only one service station and that is not that far from Warsaw. I spent 2 hours searching for somewhere to stop and all that was on offer was a car park and toilet stop. I checked into my hotel and got some dinner whilst studying Google maps for the next day.

Thursday was my day for having a look round the ancestors' old stomping grounds before returning on Friday. I started by going to the village where they apparently ran a small hotel and shop. It must have been a small hotel because the village is pretty tiny and very spread out. It is also very out of the way and seemed like an odd place to have a hotel. It may have been for farm workers rather than anything recreational. 

The village these days has a small shop, a library bolted onto a fire station, a school and a church. Most of the buildings are modern as  the Nazi’s destroyed the village in 1941 and used the area as a training ground for the Lufftwaffe. Apparently my relatives had missed all this by moving to Rudnik in 1935, not that that helped them as they were moved to ghettos then to concentration camps, some survived by escaping to Russia others did not survive. Wikipedia tells me that Rzeszow was home to Jewish people from the 1400’s and before WW2 about 14,000 lived there, more than a third of the population. Only 100 survived the war in Rzeszow. There were 10 labour camps in Rzeszow and it is estimated around 20,000 were killed at these camps.

I didn’t know all these details until after I had left, they are obviously shocking and it is difficult to imagine this happening in what is such a remote and peaceful place. I had a good walk around the village and surrounding area, I wasn’t thinking of any of the negativity whilst there, more of the simple daily life that went on before things went bad. I visited the library and asked if they had any local history books. They had a few with a little bit of detail about when the village began and how many people used to live there but there wasn’t that much information available. I took photos of what was available nevertheless.

I drove from the village to the nearby town where the synagogue was, this journey I assume would have been done by horse and cart and would have taken well over an hour. With the village being so isolated I imagine a weekly visit was likely to keep in touch with the wider world. Probably quite pleasant in the summer but those winter days must have been a bit more gruelling. The town was small and not very well serviced, no cafes or restaurants. It did have an ice cream parlour but I was really after a coffee. I took the short walk from the main square / park to the synagogue which was pretty big for the size of the town, it was clearly being actively used. There were some cemeteries on the map nearby but these seemed to have been built on by residences. With not much else to do in the town I headed back to Rzeszow. Although there wasn’t an awful lot to see on this trip it was worthwhile experience retracing some steps and having a bit more understanding about this part of the family’s background. I’m assuming Rzeszow was their first port of call when they first moved to Poland and they may have been there for a few generations, some more work may reveal those answers.

Friday was a long day. I picked up a family of 3 from a small humanitarian centre in Rzeszow and drove them to Heavenly Hostel. They had been stuck in Rzeszow for 2 months waiting for their visas to be approved and were very happy to be leaving. We managed to stop off at the single service station on the way back and pick up some food. Some generous Poles were still offering free cooked food to Ukrainians in the car park so they picked up some pizza. After making a quick appearance at Heavenly Hostel to drop off the family I had to head to the airport to drop off the rental car, I was only a couple of minutes late which was pretty good going and didn’t get me any late fees. I asked them how I should pay the parking fine from Wednesday as it wasn’t obvious from the ticket, they said by bank transfer which seemed a bit of a hassle, or at a post office. It just so happened there was a post office in the airport two shops away so I got the ticket paid off.

Due to these back to back trips mentally and physically exhausting me, I'm planning to take the rest of the summer off. I also have some regular day job work to be getting on with. I hope beyond hope there is no work for me to do in the autumn but I am prepared to help out again. I’ll still be working on visa issues over here and hopefully keeping in touch with the people we’ve helped bring over.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 2.26

747 BC – According to Ptolemy, the epoch (origin) of the Nabonassar Era began at noon on this date. Historians use this to establish the modern BC chronology for dating historic events. 364 – Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman emperor. 1266 – Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by Manfred, King of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily and Naples. 1365 – The Ava Kingdom and the royal city of Ava (Inwa) founded by King Thado Minbya. 1606 – The Janszoon voyage of 1605–06 becomes the first European expedition to set foot on Australia, although it is mistaken as a part of New Guinea. 1616 – Galileo Galilei is formally banned by the Roman Catholic Church from teaching or defending the view that the earth orbits the sun. 1775 – The British East India Company factory on Balambangan Island is destroyed by Moro pirates. 1794 – The first Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen burns down. 1815 – Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from exile on the island of Elba. 1870 – The Beach Pneumatic Transit in New York City, intending as a demonstration for a subway line opens. 1876 – Japan and Korea sign the Treaty of Kangwha, which grants Japanese citizens extraterritoriality rights in Korea, opens three Korean ports to Japanese trade, and ends Korea's status as a tributary state of Qing dynasty China. 1909 – Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London. 1914 – HMHS Britannic, sister to the RMS Titanic, is launched at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. 1919 – President Woodrow Wilson signs an act of Congress establishing the Grand Canyon National Park. 1929 – President Calvin Coolidge signs legislation establishing the 96,000 acres (390 km2) Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. 1935 – Adolf Hitler orders the Luftwaffe to be re-formed, violating the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. 1935 – Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of radar in the United Kingdom. 1936 – In the February 26 Incident, young nationalist Japanese military officers assassinate multiple cabinet statesmen and start a rebellion in downtown Tokyo, which is ended 3 days later. 1945 – World War II: US troops reclaim the Philippine island of Corregidor from the Japanese. 1952 – Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada. 1960 – A New York-bound Alitalia airliner crashes into a cemetery in Shannon, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 of the 52 persons on board. 1966 – Apollo program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket. 1971 – U.N. Secretary-General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day. 1979 – The Superliner railcar enters revenue service with Amtrak. 1980 – Egypt and Israel establish full diplomatic relations. 1987 – Iran–Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff. 1992 – First Nagorno-Karabakh War: Khojaly Massacre: Armenian armed forces open fire on Azeri civilians at a military post outside the town of Khojaly leaving hundreds dead. 1993 – World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing six and injuring over a thousand people. 1995 – The UK's oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapses after a rogue securities broker Nick Leeson loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts. 2008 – The New York Philharmonic performs in Pyongyang, North Korea; this is the first event of its kind to take place in North Korea. 2012 – Seventeen-year-old African-American student Trayvon Martin is shot to death by neighborhood watch coordinator George Zimmerman in an altercation in Sanford, Florida.

[thebuckblogimo]

Random notes transcribed from my phone plus other snippets of thought.

September 29, 2023

For the last six months I've been fairly diligent about recording thoughts that pop into my head on the Notes app of my phone--stuff that's even briefer than I wrote about in my previous blog entry. I've transcribed them here for your consideration:

I dislike packing. Especially for winter trips to Florida. It takes days for me to round up boxes; figure out where I put various books, papers and pamplets I want to take; assemble cables, chargers, foodstuffs, tools, bottles of wine, etc.; and determine how many t-shirts, pairs of sox, sweatshirts, etc. I should pack. And then there are all the other things I have to do before departing--put cable and internet on hold, turn off the water, pack the car-top carrier and more. Geesh...

I take heat from my wife for using what I call a "travel box." It's an old Leinenkugle's beer case--made of thick cardboard--the kind that was popular during the '50s and '60s. It's ideal for transporting books, magazines, headphones, chargers, bottles of vitamins, packages of gummies, etc. Totally practical.

I don't care for emogis. Never have. I've probably used them only a handful of times in texts. To me they're just crappy clip art.

I don't like to order pizza online. I much prefer ordering over the phone. It's the only way I can be sure of getting my pizza "with onions on half of it."

I don't get the point of those bulbous, graphic letters used in graffiti on trains, subway cars, freeway overpasses, etc. If you're going to deface public property, be creative and do something different.

I know there are TV monitors in every major college and professional football stadium pressbox. And I understand that some people can read lips. Still, I've never been able to get used to coaches who cover their mouths with a clipboard as they discuss plays or strategies with their assistants up in the booth.

I don't know how many times I've said this, but ... Often, when having conversation with friends, someone will say, "Not to change the subject..." And then they go and change the subject.

I used to enjoy playing Wordle the first thing every morning for about a year, until I decided that I enjoy my first cup of coffee even more by reading a well written opinion piece along with it.

It bugs me when I drive through areas where the gas stations display the price per per gallon with small letters below that say "Cash"; and the next displayed price is ten cents more when you pay by "Credit."

It makes me uncomfotable to look into the eyes of homeless people who stand on busy streetcorners with cardboard signs in their hands as they panhandle for money. I'm sure some are truly down on their luck, but there are a lot of scam artists out there, too.

As a stupid 19-year-old in college, I once borrowed--well, "expropriated"--11 bicycles in one day. I would take a beat up, unlocked bike at one rack and leave it at the rack in front of the building for my next class, at my dorm or the book store.

Sometimes I count how many times a bartender shakes the stainless steel container for making my "straight up" martini. I've concluded that the best martinis are shaken at least 100 times.

I often say that I was very young when my Dad would regularly take me to different corner bars in the old Detroit neigborhood where he grew up. Every one of them had a drinking age calendar with tear-off pages hanging on the back bar that said something like this: TO OBTAIN ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES YOU MUST HAVE BEEN BORN BEFORE THIS DATE IN (fill in the year). Let's say he took me to one of those joints when I was nine years old. Which would have been in 1956. That means the year printed on the calendar would have been 1935. Yikes!

Random memory: It was the spring of either 1966 or '67. My first college roommate (Hi, Eric), who grew up in a small town with a single stoplight in the thumb of Michigan, came to my home in Dearborn for a weekend visit. On a beautiful afternoon we got into the car with my Dad who proceeded to travel east on Warren Ave., past Lonyo, into Detroit. I can't recall our destination. But shortly after we traveled past the Springwells Water Treatment Plant on the left, my roomie looked right and started to laugh. "What's up?" I asked. The name of a bar on the south side of Warren struck him as being hilarious: The Atomic Bar. You had to be there.

Observation: The three favorite words/phrases used by young restaurant wait staffers these days are "awsome," "perfect" and "of course."

I get disappointed when I ride my bike or motor scooter through Grand Haven State Park and don't pick up the smell of bacon and eggs being cooked on a charcoal grill in the morning.

I'm not a big fan of using semicolns. But sentence fragments? Love 'em.

As a writer, I probably used dictionaries more often than most people I knew during my life. Now I love using the Merriam-Webster app on my computer or phone.

Speaking of dictionaries, when I was in high school there was a nun at St. Al's who regularly said to the class, "Students, take out your 'dics.'" You can imagine how the pals reacted to that one.

I get really irritated with Mr. Dopey Gym Guy. He's the dude who loads up the bar with weights, then walks across the room to talk to his buddy for 15 minutes, and gets irritated with me when he comes back and says, "I was using that."

I never watched a single episode of The Sopranos, Sex in the City, Orange Is the New Black, Game of Thrones or any other television series. But now that CBS has relaunched Yellowstone, right after Sixty Minutes on Sunday nights, I'm all in.

In my opinion, going to bed at 10 o'clock and getting up at 6:00 is better than going to bed at 12:00 and getting up at 8:00.

Finis.

[thatscrewyballyhooeyhollywood]

Classic Film Festival Day 1

Picture it: it's Labor Day weekend 2023. The town is El Segundo, a charming postcard-esque community just south of Los Angeles International Airport. The venue is the Old Town Music Hall, a 188-seat movie palace originally built in 1921, and now home to a 1925 Wurlitzer Theater Pipe organ.

And the event is Cinecon 59: a five-day film festival where cinephiles gather to experience rare, sometimes newly restored, and often otherwise unavailable classics from the silent and studio eras.

I was excited to attend this year, and see an incredible line-up of rare gems over five days, starting with Opening Night.

A Language All My Own (1935)

Paramount Pictures

Director: David Fleischer

Among the many animators working during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the Fleischer brothers (Max and Dave) left their indelible mark on the field with iconic and beloved characters like Popeye, KoKo the Clown, and of course, Betty Boop.

Cinecon opened this year with a newly restored Betty Boop cartoon, in which our titular heroine - a very successful nightclub singer - travels to Japan to perform in front of her adoring fans overseas. At a brisk 6 minutes, much of the cartoon's humor comes from Betty's flight in an anthropomorphic airplane (the plane literally "runs" down the runway), but it does include a unique Betty Boop number - the eponymous "A Language All My Own" - and plenty of classic Betty dance moves onstage.

A very fun opening to what promised to be an exciting weekend.

The Gold Diggers (1923)

Warner Bros.

Director: Harry Beaumont

Betty Boop was immediately followed by this light and airy rom-com, a film long thought lost until four of its six reels were found in the back of an old van a few years ago. Newly restored, and very likely premiering for the first time since its original 1923 release, The Gold Diggers tells the story of Wally Saunders (John Harron) who has fallen madly in love with chorus girl Violet Dayne (Anne Cornwall) and wants to marry her. Unfortunately, Wally's rich uncle and guardian, Stephen Lee (Wyndham Standing) pulls the plug on that dream - all chorus girls are ruthless gold diggers, after all - and he forbids the union.

Heartbroken, Violet turns to her best friend and fellow chorus girl, Jerry La Mar (Hope Hampton) who decides to show Uncle Stephen what a real gold digger is. Maybe once he falls for one himself, the stubborn old codger will realize Violet is truly in love with Wally, and let the two live happily ever after.

Jerry's plan is brilliant, but one thing she doesn't count on? Falling in love with Stephen herself.

I will admit this was a difficult one for me to follow because it was missing two reels, and even with the intertitles explaining the missing sequences, it felt a little discombobulating. But what did survive was beautifully restored, and it had some great laugh-out-loud moments.

Adventure's End (1937)

Universal Pictures

Director: Arthur Lubin

The last film I watched on opening night was this early, pre-Stagecoach (1939) John Wayne high seas adventure.

Funnily enough, Wayne plays "Duke" Slade, a pearl diver working in the South Pacific, who manages to piss off the locals and escapes their wrath by sneaking aboard a whaling ship docked nearby. Slade is immediately drawn into shipboard drama - the captain is dying and he doesn't want his beloved whaler to fall into the hands of his crafty first mate. He implores Slade to marry his daughter, Janet Drew (Diana Gibson), so he can name Slade his heir, and hand the ship over to the two of them.

Surprisingly (yeah, actually, not surprisingly since Diana Gibson is drop-dead gorgeous), Slade agrees to this mad plan, and he is named captain right before Captain Abner (Montagu Love) passes on.

Does first mate Rand Husk (Moroni Olsen) fall in line with this new arrangement? Of course not. He had his sights set on marrying Janet himself, and he sure as hell isn't reporting to some half-naked bum that clambered onto his ship.

So, Slade sure has his hands full. In addition to a new wife anxious to annul their marriage now that her beloved father has died, he now has to captain a whaler that hasn't caught anything in ages, deal with a mutinous crew, and somehow stop his meddlesome pearl diving partner, Kalo (Paul White), from making things worse.

This really was an adventure, even if a bit *cough* of a stretch when it came to the storyline... a dying captain marries his daughter off to some bedraggled stranger who just climbed aboard his ship? But eh, it is what it is. And the visual effects were spectacular for 1937. Some of the whale chasing sequences were clearly rear projection, but some others were done.... how???

[near-tacoma-wa]

The Astor in Tacoma, WA

The Astor is one of the most famous opulent homes in Tacoma, WA. The real estate company that owned the property offers exceptional downtown Tacoma apartments service nowadays so there is no need to worry about searching for a notable community. Based on their presentation online, The Astor, Downtown Tacoma is a great architectural treasure. It is being transformed into exquisite studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartment homes crafted with modern finishes and showcasing timeless quality. Besides, it is originally known as the Washington Building. Lastly, this unique landmark will reinvent itself as a boutique-style property, retaining its historical charm and Tacoma roots as it steps toward the future.

The Astor

We know that The Astor provides luxury Tacoma apartments services nowadays. In Tacoma, WA, you can count on the said realty to help you find a lavish and safe apartment these days. In addition, the property features contemporary design, alluring apartment and community amenities, including enhanced resident services. Besides, The Astor contributes distinct character and class to the culture throughout the streets below. Apart from that, the apartment is located in the heart of Downtown Tacoma. The Astor delivers stunning views of Mt. Rainier, Thea Foss Waterway, and Commencement Bay, in addition to impressive proximity to the areas most desirable dining, shopping, nightlife, entertainment, and recreational opportunities.

Tacoma, WA

Nowadays, many people want to know the interesting historical details of the Tacoma, WA location. After all, it is one of the famous places in the area. American Indians, most recently the Puyallup people, who lived in settlements on the delta, inhabited the said place for thousands of years. In 1852, a Swede named Nicolas Delin built a water-powered sawmill on a creek near the head of Commencement Bay. However, the small settlement that grew around it was abandoned during the Indian War of 1855–56. In 1864, a pioneer and postmaster Job Carr, and a Civil War veteran and land speculator, built a cabin there. It also served as Tacoma's first post office; a replica was built in 2000 near the original site in "Old Town."

Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium                 

We know that Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium is a famous landmark in the Tacoma, WA area these days. Many people go there to unwind and spend time with family members while looking at animals in the zoo. Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium is the only combined zoo and aquarium in the Pacific Northwest, located in Tacoma, Washington, US, owned by Metro Parks Tacoma. Besides, it is situated on 29 acres in Tacoma's Point Defiance Park, the zoo and aquarium is home to over 9,000 specimens representing 367 animal species. Lastly, the zoo was founded in 1905; the aquarium was founded in 1935 near Commencement Bay and relocated within the zoo in 1963.

Tacoma egg prices surge as supply dwindles across U.S. Here’s what we found about shortage

There are many interesting news reports in the Tacoma, WA area. One of the popular reports is about egg prices. Reportedly, egg prices continue to break records at retail stores amid ongoing supply chain shortages. Aside from that, the USDA released a report Monday, which shows that the average price for a dozen large grade A white eggs across all U.S. regions is now at around $5.25. The said price is more than three times higher than the same period in 2022, where the average price of grade A white eggs was at $1.57. In addition, the average price for a dozen organic brown eggs hovered around $3.66 for the month of December in the Pacific Northwest region.

Link to maps

Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium 5400 N Pearl St, Tacoma, WA 98407, United States Take Five Mile Dr to WA-163 S/N Pearl St 2 min (0.4 mi) Take Ruston Way, N Schuster Pkwy and Dock St to Pacific Ave 14 min (6.2 mi) The Astor 1019 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, WA 98402, United States

[letsgetreelz]

This is my review for the Ingrid Bergman film The Count of the Old Town. Ingrid made this film in 1935 when she was 20 years old and it is her first major speaking role. 

If you guys have any suggestions of what I should watch and review next, be them new movies or old movies or superhero movies, send me a message through this blog or through my other socials linked below:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cinethusiast

Instagram: https://instagram.com/letsgetreelz.

[rosepompadour]

INGRID BERGMAN in THE COUNT OF THE OLD TOWN (1935) People sleep better when they're surrounded by roses.

[seeselfblack]

Dancer, Norma Miller BornDay... 

*Norma Miller was born on this date, December 2, in 1919.  She was an African American lindy hop dancer, choreographer, actress, author, and comedian known as the "Queen of Swing".  

Norma Miller was born in Harlem, New York into mother Alma and father Norman, a soldier, both from Bridgetown, Barbados. She was named after her father, who died from pneumonia a month before her birth. She had an older sister, Dot. Young Miller took dance lessons from a young age. During the Great Depression, Miller and her family moved to an apartment near the Savoy Ballroom.  

On Easter Sunday in 1932, when Miller was 12 years old, she was dancing outside the Savoy Ballroom, too young to enter. She was approached by George “Twist Mouth” Ganaway, "the greatest dancer at the Savoy," who was impressed with her dancing. Twist Mouth asked Miller to immediately be his partner in a competition occurring in the ballroom, which they won, before Miller was escorted back outside.  Later that year, Miller entered the Savoy Lindy Hop Contest, held at the Apollo Theater. Miller entered with one of her high school friends, Sonny Ashby, and they won the contest. The performance prompted Herbert "Whitey" White, the dance master at the Savoy, to ask Miller to join his group, Whitey's Lindy Hoppers.

She was hired in 1934 at age 15, the youngest member of the group. In 1935, the troupe won the Harvest Moon Ball contest and then went on a 7-month European tour that began in the U.S. with headliner Ethel Waters. In California, the group appeared in the 1936 movie A Day at the Races. After the tour, Miller was hospitalized for fatigue. Miller rejoined the group in 1938. For a second time, the group performed at the Harvest Moon Ball, hosted by Ed Sullivan. Miller and her partner placed in the top 3, and Sullivan invited them to perform on Toast of the Town (later called The Ed Sullivan Show).  

They appeared in the 1941 movie Hellzapoppin', where Miller played a dancing cook. When they returned from filming, the group went to Rio de Janeiro to perform for 10 months because of the start of World War II.  She left Whitey's Lindy Hoppers in 1942 to produce and attend dance school. She took classes based in the techniques of Martha Graham, Hanya Holm, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. She toured Canada and the United States and lived in Los Angeles before returning to New York in 1946.  From 1952 to 1968, Miller directed and toured with the Norma Miller Dancers and Norma Miller and Her Jazzmen, both of which included Frankie Manning's son Chazz Young as well as her long-time partner Billy Ricker. In 1954, her group toured nationally with the Count Basie show. She and Cab Calloway introduced their comedy skit of Romeo and Juliet while performing in Miami Beach, where she lived until 1959.  In 1972, Miller traveled to Vietnam on a solo comedy tour.

She moved to Las Vegas in 1977, where she starred in and produced shows. She returned to New York In 1982, where she lived and worked until 1990 when she returned to Las Vegas.  Miller, who never married and left no immediate survivors, had a long-term relationship with her fellow “Hellzapoppin” performer Roy Glenn, who died in 1971.  She appeared in at least nine other documentaries on dance, black comedy and other subjects, including a PBS series “Jazz” (2000). She was the subject of a children’s book by Alan Govenar, “Stompin’ at the Savoy: The Story of Norma Miller” (2006). Her own books include “Swing Baby Swing” (2010, with Darlene Gist), a chronicle of swing dancing over her century.

In 2018, Miller appeared at the Herrang Dance Camp in Sweden, an annual gathering since the 1980s of Lindy Hop lovers from around the world.  Norma Miller died on May 5, 2019 at her home in Fort Myers, Fla. She was 99.

To Become a Dancer 

See also: 

- Seven Things You Should Know about Hellzapoppin' 

- Harlem’s Norma “Queen Of Swing” Miller, 1919 – (Video) 

- What Is the Lindy Hop 

[aion-rsa]

Netflix’s Fear Street Part 1: 1994: Shadyside Killers Explained

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Contains spoilers for Fear Street Part 1: 1994

The first part of Netflix horror trilogy Fear Street has now arrived on the streaming service. It’s an homage to ‘90s slashers based on the Fear Street books by R.L. Stine and it is set in the town of Shadyside, a place riddled with tragedy. Is the town itself cursed? That’s what the series of three films will explore (the next two installments will be arriving weekly).

Part one begins with a seemingly unprovoked massacre in a mall, which ends in further tragedy as the masked killer is gunned down by police. But later, that same killer seems to be active again and he’s joined by a whole host of other monsters from the past intent on taking down the residents of Shadyside. 

We learn that these are people from the past who have been possessed by Sarah Fier (exactly who she is and what she wants is still gradually unfolding) and driven to carry out multiple murders, ending in their own deaths.

Here’s what we know:

1994 – Mall Massacre

The man in the scary skeleton mask is Ryan Torres. We know he worked at the mall and was 18 years old when he went bonkers. Torres’ weapon of choice is a large knife and why he dresses in a Halloween costume is anyone’s guess. Except of course it’s clearly a reference to ghostface from Scream, which the opening of the movie pays homage to. Ryan killed seven people and was shot in the head and killed by Sheriff Goode.

1978 – Camp Nightwing Killer

The killer with the sack on his head who carries an axe is the Camp Nightwing killer. The second installment, Fear Street: Part Two: 1978 will tell the story of this massacre in more depth. What we know for now is that in 1978 at a Shadyside Summer camp 12 people were killed. We also learn that there was one survivor, who claims she saw the witch.

This is of course C. Berman (Gillian Jacobs), who we meet at the end of Fear Street Part 1. The masked Camp Nightwing killer is obviously a nod in the direction of Jason Voorhees from the later Friday the 13th movies. Another little nugget we picked up is that the Goode family – as in Sherriff Goode, the main cop in the movie – at some point after the massacre, demolished the camp to make way for the new mall. That’s right – the Camp Nightwing Massacre took place in the same place as the mall massacre…

1965 – Ruby Lane

The young woman who has a good go at slicing up Simon in Fear Street is Ruby Lane, who committed her murders in the mid ‘60s. We recognize Ruby by the distinctive ‘60s style of dress she wears, the locket around her neck and the song she sings, “You Always Hurt The One You Love,” while she’s trying to slash your face off. Ruby killed her boyfriend and her friends with a razor blade then slit her own wrists, equaling a body count of eight in total. 

1950 – The Milkman

The killer who looks like he has scarring down one side of his face and only one seeing eye is The Milkman. This is a Shadyside murderer from 1950 who preyed on his customers. His name was Harry Rooker and he killed seven Shadyside “housewives” with a switchblade. 

1935 – The Humpty Dumpty Killer

The who? The what? This one might be a bit of a red herring but we’re including it in case any eagle eyed readers have an insight. All we have is a headline “Body Parts Found. Humpty Dumpty Killer Strikes Again!” In Fear Street Part 1 there isn’t an attacker who looks like an egg. Or a cannon (groan). Or who pushes people off walls. So we’re not sure what this is about. We’ll just leave this here in case.

1922 – Billy Barker

Phew, here’s at least another one we can clearly identify. Billy Barker is the very creepy little boy with the horrible oversized face mask. Billy’s weapon of choice is a baseball bat and it was a bat he used to massacre his family back in 1922. What we learn about Billy from the clippings is that he was a deformed child who was teased but not otherwise violent who bashed his brothers’ heads in while they slept and killed his parents too. Billy is also deceased at the end of the attack (according to the paper) but it’s not clear how.

1904 – The Grifter

Okay, this is only a tiny bit less tenuous than the Humpty Dumpty killer… but still. A blink and you miss it headline reads “Grifter Guts Girls!” And it looks as if said grifter might be the killer we see wearing what looks like a welder’s mask. Help us out in the comments…

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

1666 – Cyrus Miller

Okay, so we’re definitely going to find out a whole lot more about this guy. Part 3 of Fear Street is set in 1666, so we’re fully expecting Pastor Miller to be a key player in the origin of Shadyside’s problem. The headline runs ‘Pastor Miller Snaps’ and we later learn that he killed kids and cut out their eyes! Eek! Another interesting nugget – the newspaper report has a subhead which reads “Solomon Goode Pledges Assistance to Victims Families”. So the Goode family has been influential in Shadyside for quite some time. We’ll have to wait for Part 3 to find out more…

Fear Street 1994: Part 1, the first of the Fear Street Trilogy, is available on Netflix now. Fear Street Part 2: 1978 and Fear Street Part 3: 1666 follow on 9th and 16th July.

The post Netflix’s Fear Street Part 1: 1994: Shadyside Killers Explained appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3hbYR7e

[darlingbandit]

Munkbrogreven (The Count of the Old Town) 1935

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 12.5 (before 1940)

63 BC – Cicero gives the fourth and final of the Catiline Orations. 633 – Fourth Council of Toledo opens, presided over by Isidore of Seville. 1033 – The Jordan Rift Valley earthquake destroys multiple cities across the Levant, triggers a tsunami and kills many. 1082 – Ramon Berenguer II, Count of Barcelona is assassinated, most likely by his brother, Berenguer Ramon II. 1408 – Seeking to resubjugate Muscovy, Emir Edigu of the Golden Horde reaches Moscow, burning areas around the city but failing to take the city itself. 1456 – The first of two earthquakes measuring Mw  7.2 strikes Italy, causing extreme destruction and killing upwards of 70,000 people. 1484 – Pope Innocent VIII issues the Summis desiderantes affectibus, a papal bull that deputizes Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger as inquisitors to root out alleged witchcraft in Germany. 1496 – King Manuel I of Portugal issues a decree ordering the expulsion of Jews from the country. 1560 – Thirteen-year-old Charles IX becomes king of France, with Queen Mother Catherine de' Medici as regent. 1578 – Sir Francis Drake, after sailing through Strait of Magellan, raids Valparaiso. 1649 – The town of Raahe (Swedish: Brahestad) is founded by Count Per Brahe the Younger. 1757 – Seven Years' War: Battle of Leuthen: Frederick II of Prussia leads Prussian forces to a decisive victory over Austrian forces under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine. 1766 – In London, auctioneer James Christie holds his first sale. 1770 – 29th Regiment of Foot privates Hugh Montgomery and Matthew Kilroy are found guilty for the manslaughter of Crispus Attucks and Samuel Gray respectively in the Boston Massacre. 1775 – At Fort Ticonderoga, Henry Knox begins his historic transport of artillery to Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1776 – Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest academic honor society in the U.S., holds its first meeting at the College of William & Mary. 1831 – Former U.S. President John Quincy Adams takes his seat in the House of Representatives. 1847 – Jefferson Davis is elected to the U.S. Senate. 1848 – California Gold Rush: In a message to the United States Congress, U.S. President James K. Polk confirms that large amounts of gold had been discovered in California. 1865 – Chincha Islands War: Peru allies with Chile against Spain. 1895 – New Haven Symphony Orchestra of Connecticut performs its first concert. 1914 – The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition began in an attempt to make the first land crossing of Antarctica. 1919 – Ukrainian War of Independence: The Polonsky conspiracy is suppressed and its participants are executed by the Kontrrazvedka. 1921 – The Football Association bans women's football in England from league grounds, a ban that stays in place for 50 years. 1933 – The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified. 1934 – Abyssinia Crisis: Italian troops attack Wal Wal in Abyssinia, taking four days to capture the city. 1935 – Mary McLeod Bethune founds the National Council of Negro Women in New York City. 1936 – The Soviet Union adopts a new constitution and the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic is established as a full Union Republic of the USSR.

[mrcleanheichou]

Forever and Ever

When two young people fall in love others often call it puppy love. A love so intense that ultimately fizzles out very quickly. No one believes someone so young could fall for someone so fast and have it be genuine until they see it with their own eyes.

Pairing Cowboy!Jungkook x reader

Genre fluff, angst, smut

Word count 2.2K

Warnings small amount of smut like touching the D over his pants and peer pressure (if that’s a warning)

A/N Hi everyone! This is my first ever fic that I’ve written in 2 years. I used to run a smut reaction blog for another fandom. So this is my first actual plot based story. I want to thank @poundingthewitchdrums93 for helping me cultivate this countryside yee haw AU and to @machiavelliancarribeanmidget for always encouraging me. This is also very self indulgent because i really wanted Cowboy Jungkook but i couldn’t find any fics. So I took matters into my own hands and this baby was born.

Chapter 1

1935

Once a week for the past 3 years, rain or shine, an old man makes his way to the town cemetery. Cemetery workers know him by name and they all have a soft spot for him. They all pitched in and bought a nice bench for him so he no longer had to sit on the ground. He wanted to pay them back for their kindness but they refused his money as it was their gift. So instead of showing his thanks with money he started bring apples from his apple orchard. He had always brought two each time he came but now he brings a bag full to share. She would have wanted it that way. She always told him ‘When you have something sweet you should never keep it all to yourself.’

The man dropped off the bag of apples at the office and made his way down the winding path. As he got closer to his destination he saw the sunflowers he had planted. She always loved them, never missing the opportunity to tell him that they reminded her of him. ‘They are bright and always move towards the sun just like you.’

He can feel the tears welling up in his eyes as he places the apple down in front of the headstone that reads “*Jeon Y/N, Doting wife and loving mother 1840-1932*

“Do you remember what day it is, Y/N? This is the day I met the woman I would love forever.”

1862

“Hyung, I don’t want to go” a young man whines as his big black horse walks behind two others, whose riders are way more enthusiastic.

“I don’t want hear it, Jungkook. I already told you we’re going to make you a man. You’re 20, it’s time you get your dick wet.”

“I’ve never heard a man complain about losing his virginity before”, the smaller of the two snickered looking back at the younger man. Jungkook just rolls his eyes and adjusts his hat.

“I’d rather not lose it to some random prostitute. Unlike you two heathens I have morals” he barked back.

“Oh, don’t be so uptight. Jimin and I both lost ours at a brothel.”

“They know what they’re doing so you’re in good hands... Literally”, Jimin laughs as he stops his horse “Taehyung and I are both paying for you and we’re getting you the top girl. So be grateful.”

“Yeah, you little shit. Do you know how much she charges? You’re lucky we love you”, Taehyung says as he snaps his reins to get his horse to start jogging.

As the town gets closer Jungkook can’t help but feel dread. He really does not want to go to the saloon with his hyungs. They always push him to go upstairs with the saloon girls but he manages to escape every time. This time he knows they are going to ensure he goes into the room. It’s not like he thinks there’s anything wrong with having sex with the saloon girls it’s just not something he’s interested in. He wants to only do that with the woman he falls in love with. Call him old fashioned but he knows what he wants.

The town they come to is called Coyote Creek. It’s a small town but it’s closer to Bangtan Ranch than Silver Landings, a much larger town, is. Personally Jungkook loves this little town, everyone is friendly and there’s hardly any trouble unless a group of rouge bandits or some angry drunk cowboys come through. But the sheriff and his deputies take care of them quickly.

Riding through town Jungkook hears a sound that always makes him smile. The children are out playing during school. He loves to see them have fun and know that they’re learning. He feels envious each time though because his father didn’t let him go to school. He made him work at their farm all day. Constantly telling him he was only good for working in the fields so why waste time sending him to school. Although Jungkook never got a proper education that does not mean he isn’t smart. He’s very quick witted and knows his way around the world. He just has trouble reading things and some issues with math. The man who took Jungkook in and hired him as a ranch hand tried teaching him but it ended up with both of them getting frustrated.

Stopping his horse to watch the children and to say hello to Mrs. Choi, the kind teacher who he always greets. But instead of Mrs. Choi he is shocked to see a beautiful young woman there instead.

“Jinwoo, apologize to Yeunjae. It’s not nice to hit”, the woman says firmly. She is standing beside a crying boy who is holding onto her skirt for dear life.

“I’m sorry for hitting you”, another boy says while looking at the ground in shame. The first boy sniffles and mumbles “It’s ok.”

“Thank you, Jinwoo, for saying you’re sorry, now both of you run along and play with everyone else.”

The woman moves to sit on the steps of the school to watch over the children. While Jungkook sits watching her transfixed.

“Yah! Kookie hurry up!” Jimin yells at him already tying his horse up. At that the woman looks over and notices Jungkook staring. Jungkook panics and freezes at the eye contact. He finally snaps out of it and hurries to where Jimin and Taehyung were waiting blushing furiously. If Jimin and Taehyung saw how red his face is they didn’t say anything.

“Why were you taking so long?”, Taehyung asks as they walk into the loud smoke filled room.

“No reason, I just started spacing out.”

“Well, you better not do that later. Just because they’re getting paid doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to show them a good time”, Jimin said as they navigated through the poker tables with high stakes games being played. Once they made it to the bar Taehyung ordered a full bottle of whiskey and three glasses. As soon as they sit down to start drinking a woman comes up to them.

“Why hello there Jimin. Did you really miss me that much?”, A woman said running her hand on Jimin’s chest.

“You know I always miss you Rosé”, he says making her giggle. “But I’m not here for me I’m here for my friend over there”, he pulls out some cash “I was hoping you could show him a good time. He’s never been with a woman.”

Rosé looks over at Jungkook while he tries to shrink in his chair. “Ooo Jimin look at what you brought me. A virgin and a cute one to boot. Yes, I’ll do it. I’ll send some of my other girls down for you two”, she says tucking the money into her bra as she approaches Jungkook and touches his cheek which makes him flinch.

“It’s ok honey, I don’t bite”, she smiles at him before she leans closer to his ear “unless you want me to.” He immediately turns red while she smirks at his reaction.

“C’mon big boy lets go upstairs”, she says as she grabs his hand and starts to lead him to the private rooms.

“Have fun!”, Taehyung yelled across the bar as they started up the stairs

“Don’t come back too fast!”, Jimin called after him. Jungkook just gives both of them dirty looks.

As they walked all the way to the end of the, surprisingly nice looking, hallway all that could be heard was the sound of sex. Loud moans of pleasure from women who didn’t care if anyone heard. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t getting a little aroused.

“Right in here, honey.” Rosé says as she opens the door to a room that smells faintly of vanilla. The room contents are sparse. Just a large bed, a wooden chair and a small table. Jungkook follows as she pulls him to the soft looking bed. “Go ahead and lay down for me.”

He follows orders as she gets on the bed and slowly starts running a hand down his chest to right above his belt buckle then back up again. She could feel him tense up. “It’s ok baby, I know you’re nervous but you don’t need to be. I know it’s your first time. I’ll be gentle I promise.”

Jungkook chokes on a breath when he feels her hand on the growing length between his legs. She smiles at his reaction “See you have nothing to worry about. Just relax and let me take care of you.”, she says gently squeezing him causing Jungkook to involuntary buck up into her hand.

As Rosé starts working on getting his belt undone Jungkook closes his eyes and thinks back to the pretty school teacher. That makes his dick twitch in his pants. Then he suddenly realizes where he is and what’s happening. “I-I-I’m sorry but I can’t do this” he says as he grabs Rosé’s wrist.

“What’s the matter? Are you not comfortable? We can try something else.”

Jungkook stands up and redoes his belt. “No, that’s not it. I just...” he pauses embarrassed “I just didn’t want it to happen this way.”

She looks at him as she puts two and two together. “They’re making you do this, huh.” He just nods “That’s alright Hun, I’m not in the business of forcing anyone to do what they don’t want to. Although, I was really looking forward to you being inside me” she pouts as Jungkook’s face turns even redder “I’ll cut you a deal. If you ever change your mind in the future I won’t charge you.”

“Thank you”, Jungkook says visibly relieved.

Jungkook got up and adjusted himself before walking out the door. His nose is once again filled with the smell of smoke and alcohol as opposed to the sweet vanilla of Rosé’s room. He makes his way through the small crowd of rowdy drunk men. He looked toward the bar to see if Jimin and Taehyung were still there. When he couldn’t see them he went for the door. Once outside in the fresh air he sighed, going to where their hoses were.

“Hey, Dolly”, the horse as dark as coal snorted at him and bumped her nose against his hand. Beside her a light grey stallion tosses his head and whinnies at Jungkook trying to get his attention. “Aish, I see you Silver no need to have a fit.”

Before he can give the fussy horse some attention Jungkook caught the sound of school children running along the street. He perked up as he saw the woman walking along with some of the children making sure they don’t get trampled by wagons as they travel in the street. Her y/h/c hair was done up nicely and her light blue dress flowed as she held the hand of a little girl.

The woman must have felt him staring because she looked to where Jungkook was, making eye contact with him. Jungkook reacted by ducking out of sight.

What he didn’t see was the woman chuckle to her self as she was pulled away by the impatient children.

Once out of sight he took some deep breaths and touched his face face trying to calm down. He couldn’t understand why he was feeling this way. He’s seen beautiful women before but he’s never felt much towards them. Even when they practically throw themselves at his feet. What made her so special?

Jin hyung loves to talk about love at first sight but Jungkook always tunes him out when he gets worked up about the subject. Now he’s thinking Jin might be onto something.

About twenty minutes later Jimin and Taehyung come through the swinging saloon doors with huge smiles. Taehyung wrestles Jungkook into a headlock knocking his hat off and messing up his hair.

“Aww, my little Jungkookie is a man now”, Taehyung says as he lets Jungkook go, pretending to wipe away a tear. while Jungkook scowls at him brushing the dirt off his hat.

“So how was it?”, Jimin asks as he unties the knot he tied Silver’s reins into.

“It was ok”, Jungkook says trying to avoid Jimin’s eyes. “Just ok?”, Taehyung asks in disbelief.

“I-I mean great! Amazing! I wish I would have done that sooner” Jungkook said laughing nervously.

“Right?! There’s nothing better than good pussy!”, Taehyung exclaims a little too loud earning them some glares from the ladies across the street. Jimin just gives Jungkook a look like he’s trying to see through his lie.

Jungkook deflects by hastily getting on his horse, “Are you guys ready? I want to go home.”

“Oh, you think you call the shots now? Kids these days have no respect”, Taehyung says dramatically.

“Hurry up”, Jungkook answers back.

The three men head out to back to the cattle ranch from which they came. On the way out Jungkook looks towards the old school building trying to catch a glimpse of the woman who has held his attention all day. Of course he knew she wouldn’t be there but he still feels disappointed.

Jungkook doesn’t fully understand what he’s feeling but one thing he knows for sure. He’s going to try to come to town as much as he can.

[ducktracy]

154. porky’s road race (1937)

release date: february 6th, 1937

series: looney tunes

director: frank tashlin

starring: joe dougherty (porky), billy bletcher (borax karoff), tedd pierce (w.c. fields)

because of the 10 photo limit i can’t post a photo, but you’re lucky i can read! this is the first of many cartoons that begins with a fake disclaimer (often used exclusively for facetious purposes):

FOREWORD:—

all the characters in this picture are strictly phoney! any fancied resemblance to any living person is the bunk! any incident portrayed is pure fiction!

and so, of course, the cartoon deals with an amalgamation of celebrity caricatures, all competing in a road race, with plucky little porky reduces to a mere shadow in the competition... or so we think.

frank tashlin provides a clever segue into the cartoon as the title card fades into a banner that still advertises PORKY’S ROAD RACE —

first prize....$2,000,000.00

less tax.......$1,999,998.37

net..............$1.63

a very clever gag that would be used time and time again in many a looney tunes cartoon.

pan down from the banner to an extended garage of cars. “in my merry oldsmobile” underscores the scene (and a hearty chunk of the short), stalling’s music transforming into whistling as we hone in on porky hammering away at a behemoth of an engine. another “i would NOT want to animate that” moment from a tashlin cartoon—there’s so many little movements happening at once! to top the gag off, the behemoth engine slides out of view, and we see porky hammering on his OWN engine, a dinky, pathetic excuse of a machine. wonderful setup as always.

and, because frank warned us, we now see caricatures of Totally Fictitious Celebrities who in fact do not exist. stan laurel and oliver hardy start us off, both seesawing on a sawhorse. laurel scratches his hatless head (which spins around in circles behind him on the board) while hardy glares at him. both make their contributions to the preparations for the race—laurel pumps up a tire, while hardy raises the car jack, both contraptions connected to the seesaw. a lot of meticulous details and animation, lots too look at.

next victim is charlie chaplin, who’s going to town with a spanner wrench in the engine. the music is wonderfully hilarious—still an underscore of “in my merry oldsmobile”, but chaplin’s frantic movements are accompanied by the quick chuffs of a calliope, syncopated with the music. chaplin moves from one car to the next, wobbling along with the same frantic movements. he heads over to another car, emblazoned with three stars on the side. chaplin prepare to twist a bulb poking out of the car, when in reality, the bulb is just the bulbous nose of w.c. fields (not in pig form this time!), who chews him out. “heeeey, whaddaya think you’re doing here, my good man? keep your wrenches out of my proboscis, yeeeaaaah.” tedd pierce’s drawl is lovely as always.

next is elderly actress edna may oliver (who really wasn’t all that old, she was only 54 in 1937, and would die on her 59th birthday in 1942), sitting in her jalopy. she pegs w.c. fields for assistance, a man doing her voice—imdb lists it as dave barry, but imdb is about as reliable as wikipedia; not very. fields lumbers out of his car, droning in terms of endearment (“my little demitasse, my little chickadee, my little bonnie lassie...”) tashlin does a great job of stretching out fields’ actions, purposefully making him take forever to put on his hat and coat and get to the point, but almost to the point where it grows tedious and the joke dies off. nevertheless, tashlin compensates with the product of the build up: fields pours a bottle of alcohol into the engine, and the car launches into a hiccuping frenzy, faster than the eye can see. a faithful gag we’ve been seeing since 1931 with you don’t know what you’re doin’! (which is still my favorite ising cartoon melody)

an unseen greta garbo works beneath her car, and all we see is her giant shoes (a reoccurring garbo gag), providing her catchphrase of “i want to be alone” as “at last, i am alone.” the next car is no car at all, but a full bathtub, an engine with a propeller sputtering in the water. a zoom out reveals the driver as charles laughton, donning a captain’s hat and tipping it wordlessly to the audience. laughton played captain bligh in MGM’s mutiny on the bounty (1935), which even inspired such shorts like jack king’s shangahied shipmates.

the next caricature is probably my favorite, or at least pun wise. billy bletcher’s villainous bellow thunders as we hone in on a shed. if the skull and crossbones mounted to the wooden doors wasn’t enough of a turnoff, the giant sign shouting BORAX KAROFF — KEEP OUT! certainly is. borax karoff is a take on actor boris karloff, who played frankenstein’s monster in frankenstein. while billy bletcher supplies his voice, karloff WOULD work with a rather notable looney tunes alumnus, voicing the grinch on chuck jones’ how the grinch stole christmas! borax is a compound of boron, used to help clean cars as well as a number of other uses. i’m a sucker for puns. borax karoff is depicted as frankenstein’s monster, lubing up his giant of an engine. and, for good measure, his car number is 13. what else would it be? karoff crawls into his limo of a car and revs the engine, the skull hood ornament chattering like crazy.

tashlin’s distaste for porky is certainly starting to become more noticeable, because only now does he say his first lines of the short approximately halfway through the cartoon. an announcer (who sounds like tedd pierce to me) calls “calling all stars! calling all stars!” (as opposed to calling all cars), signaling the start of the race. porky, still whistling “in my merry oldsmobile”, obeys the cue and gives a few happy “oh boy, oh boy, oh boys!” the animation is exceptionally smooth, flouncy, and weighted as he bounces out of his car, out of frame, and then bouncing ON his car into the seat that awaits him, now donning his racing gear. with the way the eyes are drawn, it looks possibly like norm mccabe animation? i wouldn’t quote myself on that, though. the car sputters and jerks to life, an unpromising start, but manages to transport porky to the starting line where the rest of the competition awaits.

the flagger gives the telltale “on your mark, get set, SCRAM!”, which was reused earlier in hugh batman’s bosko the speed king in 1933, albeit with a stuttering dog. no stuttering dog flagger here, but we do have a stuttering pig, does that count? the cars all zip off, a few stragglers speeding by, whooshing along to “shave and a haircut”. the sound effects sound eerily similar to mel blanc’s hoohoo shrieks, so i wouldn’t totally rule that out as a possibility. on a much less lighthearted note, we get a dose of racism as a stereotypical blackface caricature of stepin fetchit (at least in voice) straggles much further behind. “i don't know why everybody's in such a big rush, i’m in no rush.” agggh, product of its time, but c’mon frank, you’re better than that! if anything though, the slightly tilted camera angle makes for an interesting layout, and the shave and a haircut gag was nice.

another parallel to bosko the speed king as we receive a ground shot of the cars barreling towards the camera, swallowing up the viewer. tashlin uses his quick cuts again, perhaps not to the extent of porky in the north woods or later porky’s romance, but they’re certainly quick enough as the cars whirl around the track, skidding on walls and flying around sideways. three celebrities are all packed in one giant car: the cheerio special, toting george arliss, leslie howard (ashley wilkes in gone with the wind), and child actor freddie bartholomew, all from the UK. w.c. fields passes the trio, honking his nose like a horn (daffy would later save everyone the trouble by either biting or squeezing the noses of his victims himself). freddie asks leslie what the time is—4:00. george does a take. “4:00? then it’s time for tea.” with that, all three pull out their teacups from the Great Unknown, taking a sip and staring into the audience, giving a “pip pip, cheerio!” in frightening unison.

big bold letters advertise the CALIBAN, a zoom out revealing the car belonging to john barrymore, who starred in a film adaptation of shakespeare’s the tempest from which the character caliban comes from. “caliban” suddenly speeds away from a shrill woman’s voice calling for his name. we see the perpetrator—a woman with a lasso, calling for caliban, the word ARIEL emblazoned on her own vehicle. barrymore’s “ariel” turns out to be his wife, elaine barrie. in real life, barrymore and barrie (confusing, ain’t it?) would call each other caliban and ariel. strangely sweet!

tashlin plays around with dynamic angles as we view the front of borax karoff’s threatening limo. he pokes his head out of the window, spotting the competition behind him. to further his lead, karoff laughs as he showers tacks on the road behind him (wacky races is taking notes), with the next shot being a lovely view of the racks thrown into the track from the audience’s perspective. charles laughton attempts to remedy the situation by wielding a fishing rod, a magnet tied to the line and thus collecting all the tacks.

karoff’s next line of action is a “torpedo” (which is really just a toy plane), tossing the torpedo at laughton. the torpedo sinks into laughton’s bathtub on wheels, striking the engine and causing the engine to drown in the water. living up to his role as captain, laughton cries “it’s mutiny! that’s what it is, it’s mutiny!” meanwhile, edna may oliver putters along in her jalopy, but her “success”, so to speak, is hindered by each passerby. one car whirls past, stripping her car of its windshield, retractable roof, horn, etcetera. another zooms by, reducing the car to a soapbox, and then another, reducing the car to a mere frame with wheels as oliver ogles at the audience in disbelief, “woo!”ing with each passerby.

it’s no cartoon without a clark gable caricature! gable hitchhikes on the side of the road, but the racers aren’t too willing. he’s spun like a top (tex avery style) as the cars whirl by. once the dust settles, gable has been considerably dug into the dirt, his lone thumb still jerking out of the hole in hopes for a ride.

some wonderfully malleable animation as karoff displays his next trick: squirting glue onto the course. the racers get lodged into the glue and fly up into the air thanks to the resistance, slingshotting back into a cluster in the middle. accompanied by the famous electric guitar zooming twang, of course. the animation reminds me a lot of the rubbery, malleable animation in ub iwerks’ cartoons. the scene where a bee swoops around and stings porky, both beneath a tarp, comes to mind from porky and gabby. speaking of porky, this is still his cartoon. he skids around in the glue, animation smooth as ever, circling around and stretching into the air. the glue strand manages to snap, and he’s propelled into a pile of bricks near a construction site (a sign reading W.P.A. DETOUR PROJECT). the combination of bricks and glue on the wheels makes for army tank wheels on porky’s car.

a lovely sense of urgency and speed as karoff speeds into view, halting in front of the camera and spreading grease on the track next. all of the other competitors zip off of the track like nothing, but thanks to the traction provided by porky’s makeshift army wheels, he’s able to crawl up the hill with ease. as both he and karoff race down the hill, the glue begins to wear on porky’s wheels, and a shower of bricks knock on karoff’s head in succession. there’s a great, quick camera angle as karoff turns the corner on the track, with porky close behind. they weave in and out, porky attempting to pass, but with little luck. the weaving gets faster and faster, carl stalling’s score enhancing the gag as each weave brings forth a higher note in succession. finally, porky outsmarts karoff (which is rare), extending a car horn to the other side and honking. as karoff zips back to where the source of the sound was in hopes of blocking porky, the pig zooms straight past him.

another one of tashlin’s famous “concealed action” scenes as porky and karoff head into a tunnel. there’s the sound of crashing and an explosion. tashlin cleverly extends the surprise just a little longer as an unidentified blur rushes out of the tunnel, presumably porky. however, a look at karoff’s long limo reveals porky in the driver’s seat, with a hunched over karoff crammed into porky’s little car. juxtaposition is comedy’s best friends, and it works!

karoff veers off course in favor of a draw bridge, where he reaches into the control room and pulls the lever. the draw bridge starts its incline, and porky in karoff’s elongated limo flies over the bridge like a ramp. just as karoff’s about to make it across the finish line, porky dives ahead of him in a photo finish, screeching to a half with karoff just a second behind.

if losing wasn’t bad enough, crashing into the rear end of porky‘s new car definitely is. karoff flops to the ground, his car landing next to him. a classic gag that never fails to amuse me as an ambulance screeches up next to karoff, the assistants loading the car into the stretcher leaving karoff by his lonesome, the assistants heading off to tend to the “injured” car. an oldie but goodie.

while the race is clinched, the others still haven’t finished. edna may oliver has completely refurbished her frame car into a sailboat, her dress the makeshift sail as she pumps air via tire pump and funnel into the sail, propelling the car along. a pompous porky awaits his coronation as speed king, when oliver zooms right past. everyone ogles in befuddlement as we iris out on oliver pumping along her makeshift car, the crown placed promptly on top of her butt.

this isn’t my favorite porky cartoon, nor is it my favorite tashlin cartoon, but i certainly think it has its share of good qualities. tashlin uses some beautiful and unconventional camera angles, such as cars zooming at the audience, tacks being thrown FROM the audience’s point of view, and so on. the caricature designs are hilarious—we’ve seen many of these from the coo-coo nut grove, but they still have their charm. a dated cartoon for sure, but as i mentioned in my review of the coo-coo nut grove, looking up who the celebrities are and learning about them is half the fun. with these shorts, at least, you get to learn something new. however, nothing in this cartoon particularly wowed me. not bad, but not as exhilarating as tashlin’s other cartoons. though, for 1937, the wacky races trope would be much fresher and newer than it is now, so as clichéd as it may be, this isn’t necessarily the fault of the cartoon itself, but just how played out the cliché came to be in other cartoons. and plus, the stepin fetchit caricature was... not great. a minor role, but still enough to be considered uncomfortable. i’d recommend this cartoon to check out the caricature drawings in action, but essentially that’s about it. you can go either way with this one.

link!