#The Kennel Murder Case

[kingsbridgelibraryteens]

Books on Film: Here’s the dramatic bookshelf-POV reveal of the book Unsolved Murders in the movie The Kennel Murder Case (1933)

In case you were wondering if this book has anything to do with the mysterious plot, then give yourself a gold star!

When detective Philo Vance (played by William Powell) tries to help the police solve a locked room mystery, he’s stumped at first.

Was it suicide or was it murder? And if it was murder, how did the murderer lock the door afterwards?

But later, Philo finds this same book in the bag of a man who’s gone missing …

He flips through the book and finds a scenario that matches the mystery he’s been trying to solve!

There’s a lot more that happens in this story, including romantic intrigue, more mysterious twists, and the canine antics of Philo’s super-cute dog Captain McCavish!

But this book is definitely one of the biggest keys that help to solve The Kennel Murder Case!

[letterboxd-loggd]

The Kennel Murder Case (1933) Michael Curtiz

December 26th 2022

[foldingfittedsheets]

My first job was working at a dog kennel. It was a boarding facility so folks could leave their animals while they went on vacation. I always loved animals so I was stoked to apply, but I was less thrilled with the reality.

The owner operated the kennel on her personal property and was a tyrannical micromanager. For instance: she could see three of the play pens from her front porch. If you had a dog that did not in fact want to play with you, a stranger, and would prefer to sit quietly getting petted she would come out onto her front porch and yell at you.

The correct procedure in her mind was to play fetch by yourself which was just throwing a ball, going to pick it up, and throwing it again, over and over, to entice the dog. I quickly learned to never pick those pens. Even the small gravel play pen behind the building by the dumpsters was a better bet. There may not have been grassy fields but the miasma of dog waste meant less getting yelled at.

My time there colored my perception of certain dogs. To this day I disdain retrievers. They can be fine on a case by case, and ultimately my dislike isn’t their fault. But 75% of them weren’t potty trained and had never walked on a leash. They also had a brain just big enough to fixate on a tennis ball which was really annoying when trying to manage toy buckets and they’d just body check you cause they saw green.

Poodles and Dobermans were top tier, generally extremely obedient on leash and with their manners. This certainly says more about the owners inclined to get certain types of dogs than the breed itself but I remain fond. Pitbulls were similarly well mannered.

The craziest motherfuckers were Shiba Inu’s. It says a lot that these dogs rarely ended up on my schedule, despite the high proportion we had, because snappy dogs always went to the leads. It really didn’t help that we didn’t leave collars on the dogs. (I think it was a safety thing? It was weird). We slipped collars over their heads, and the shibas fucking hated it. They’d scream their little heads off and fling themselves around on the leash like a wild animal.

Hands down the worst dog I had was a beagle though. I still remember that horrible little man. He had been checked by the vet and was fine but he acted like each time he put his foot down it was landing on shards of broken glass. So each step was a tiny tentative affair, mincing and ready for the ground to suddenly rise up against being walked on. And god save you if this animal felt the slightest pressure on his collar he would shriek with ear piercing hysteria that you were trying to murder him. He walked the shortest circuit we had and it took as long to finish as the longest circuit twice over. I watched his owners pick him up once and he just trotted happily like a normal fucking dog.

My favorite animal however was this little Pomeranian with one eye. Easily the most friendly and well behaved of the dogs, big or small, he was loving life and everything in it. He didn’t yap or snap he just sat politely to be leashed and trotted along perfectly. He dashed after toys and retrieved nicely. I still think about that little dude sometimes. He was the platonic ideal of a dog.

But really the best kind of dog, the one we all wanted but never got, was one with solid bowel movements we could actually pick up instead of kennel induced stress soup, which is what we got.

[k-s-morgan]

I in no way mean to be disrespectful, I hope you and your family are doing well and I’m so sorry for the recent attacks. I’m just ignorant and want to know what would happen if Ukraine surrendered to Russia?

I hope you are safe from bombing and air raids 🙏🙏

Hi! Thank you <3 And don't worry, that's a good question.

What I'm 100% sure would happen in case of Ukraine's surrender, even under the most optimistic scenario:

We'd have to give up the entire country, not just a part of it. Russia always comes back for more. It's been following the same pattern with different countries forever. With Ukraine, it got a pretty decent chunk back in 2014. That land continued to belong to Ukraine on paper only - in reality, it was fully under Russian control, and no one really fought for it any longer. Was Russia satisfied with it? No. It kept preparing and then attacked to overtake even more land. It will never have enough, so to give up now means to acknowledge that the entire Ukraine will cease to exist as a country, whether right away or after Russia starts another war against us.

Ukrainian language, culture, and heritage would be destroyed completely in the coming years. Our history - and the history of the world children are taught - will be re-written. There is a reason why the majority of countries that were a part of USSR speak primarily Russian. Russia keeps carefully erasing other languages and culture, it's been doing it for ages. It's doing it right now on the occupied territories.

Pro-Ukrainian activists and people of note would be persecuted, kidnapped, tortured, and killed. This is also a pattern, it happens everywhere Russia invades. I know many examples personally.

We'd be gradually cut off of the outside world. Like, Russia has banned major fanfiction sites; it's trying to block YouTube and other platforms. The transformation into a semblance of North Korea would be inevitable.

Ukrainians would be treated as third-rate non-humans on their own territory. Again, it's been happening everywhere Russia barges into.

Ukraine would be used as a military base to attack other countries, and Ukrainians would be forced to become Russian soldiers.

As for the rest, it could go in several ways. Maybe Russia would want to show how 'amazing' it is, so it'd turn Kyiv into a second Moscow, creating different well-paid positions and opportunities to suck up to Kyiv residents and to prove its hypocritical benevolence.

On the other hand, it could just as well turn the entire country into a concentration and extermination camp. Russia has been torturing, raping, degrading, and murdering our people everywhere. Stealing their homes, kidnapping children, etc. and etc. I have a huge number of friends, people I know, or their friends who shared their stories, and each of them has been absolutely horrific.

My Mom's colleague, for example, used to live near Bachmut. When Russians came in, they immediately began to hunt down anyone related to the police and the military and killing them or actually demanding ransom for them. They kidnapped this colleague's friends, a married couple, kept them in a dog's kennel, pissed on them, beat them up, and raped the wife repeatedly. At that point, the colleague managed to flee the area, and she has no idea as to what happened to them afterward.

This could very well be the fate of our country in case of our surrender since the world obviously doesn't care and wouldn't bat an eye at the millions suffering and dying, kind of like it's happening now.

So surrendering is dangerous because we might cease to exist, but perhaps we are just prolonging the inevitable. A tiny country with a pathetic level of support cannot win against a giant that has a ton of everything and whose allies keep sending it even more weapons of destruction. Oh, and let's not forget how Russia keeps producing more and more weapons because the US and EU keep selling it the parts it needs for missiles and other stuff, and how Ukraine, after seemingly getting help from these US and EU, is forbidden to use it to strike Russia back.

It's all a joke to everyone but us, so I honestly don't envision a positive outcome at all. In the end, as long as our heroes are determined to defend Ukraine, we'll keep trying to hold on. The future will show what it'll lead us to.

[citizenscreen]

Eugene Pallette, William Powell, and Robert McWade for Michael Curtiz‘s THE KENNEL MURDER CASE (1933)

[loquaciousquark]

So I stayed up ungodly late last night playing through the Cazador quest/conclusion (?) of the Astarion romance and I have a lot of thoughts!

Overall, I LOVED it. Absolutely loved it. I love how much he has to say about the mansion, I love the design and weirdly oppressive layout of the space, the sinister door, the annoying button/attic puzzle, his relationship with Go...dey? The bone man! When I saw that room was called the kennel I literally said "oh no" out loud.

The one thing I'm mad at myself about is that I didn't understand how to actually get into the stupid palace to start the quest! I couldn't get up that dirt incline right next to the map marker so I thought I had to get into the upper city via Baldur's Gate on the left--that the palace was in the next area altogether--so I've been dithering about with murderers and Lae'zel getting kidnapped (D:! she's safe now though) and hag children and a million other things WHEN I COULD HAVE BEEN KILLING CAZADOR THIS WHOLE TIME. Harrumph.

Anyway, once I actually made it into the darned palace, I didn't have any trouble at all with the fights until I got to Cazador himself. I did think the ritual skull on the pillow was a nice touch, and I loved the confrontation with Sebastian in the cell, just in case the PC has any doubt left about how sane/human these spawn still are. Seven thousand souls! That's so many!! Seven is a lot, but seven thousand, yikes! There was also one room with some levers at the end of the tedious attic puzzle that appeared to have no purpose; I guess it was unfinished from the design stage, as dozens of Reddit threads/forum posts all agree there's no clear puzzle solution or interactable element. Really, the first design misstep I've seen from the game, and even that was pretty minor!

Then came the confrontation with Cazador, and for all I didn't even get touched in the werewolf fight earlier this fight WRECKED me. I didn't understand the mechanic and got everyone sacrificed for the ritual the first time (was focusing on the adds first), and then the second time I checked the journal and it said "Help Astarion" and so I wasted two turns getting to him only to discover they meant "help Astarion by killing Cazador," not "free Astarion with the Help action" because that sure didn't work, so he got sacrificed again! Then the third time I focused Cazador better until he Called Lightning on Shadowheart and Karlach and killed them both, and then I finally scraped it out on the fourth try. A really, really tough fight! If I didn't have the six summoned ghouls from the Thay book I don't know if I could have done it with this party.

The choices available afterwards are FASCINATING. I played through them all again, and I loved that in every version he absolutely butchers that vamp with as much violent stabbing as I've seen in a video game. And that little flip of the knife to the reverse grip! So deft! He's a rogue! It's like there's thought and care behind these animations!! Incredible! The choices where you don't help him are absolutely awful--the enraged venom in "I'd say good luck out there, but honestly, I hope you die screaming"--and the flat "Your companion has permanently left the party" made my stomach clench. The version where you help him ascend is also horrifying; are there many other quests where both companions are like, "this is a HORRIBLE IDEA, don't do this!!"? And afterwards Karlach said something about "all those souls..." and she looked like she was about to cry, which was the second worst thing in the world aside from the time I had to break up with her because I didn't realize we were dating. Everything is red and evil and we get nice close-up views of the spawn in agony and bursting and then Astarion's eyes glow red as sin forever. I did really like the explicit confirmation that the infected can use the parasites to see out of each other's eyes; that's given me a couple fic ideas already!

I will say the scene of him crying & screaming was unspeakably cathartic and I was yelling at the screen to let me hug him. YELLING. Thank God I live alone! Again, the tenor differences between this scene in the "insight/persuade him to be better than Cazador" track vs. the "flatly deny to help him" track were shocking. I can't believe how different the exact same animation set felt between the two versions! Unbearable relief & grief vs. total impotent despair--no wonder he tries to kill you in a few of the bad endings (on top of deciding on his own to snap the staff & trap the spawn forever).

Regardless, once the ritual was disrupted and the spawn were saved and freed and Cazador was a lolling pincushion, I couldn't figure out how to trigger the follow-up scene I KNEW had to be there, even though I'd already done Shadowheart's personal quest & should have known I needed to long-rest, lmao. I wandered around like a dope for several minutes before finally triggering it.

I really, really liked this romance scene a lot. I liked that there isn't even an option to break up at this point; just like ME3, the romance is locked in and you can just play around inside that structure, which I thought was fantastic! I am sad that it opened with what I expected, which is him resigning himself to eventually being trapped in the darkness & never seeing sunlight again, and the fact that the game let you pick "maybe we'll figure something out with the tadpoles" only for Astarion to express doubt does make me worried for long-term outcomes. My favorite options once you get to the graveyard were to just stay back and let him talk, but I'm honestly really delighted that we got this scene of pretty significant emotional closure for him, and I loved the animation of him carving the year into the headstone. It seemed so immersive & real that even though we can't read the text, we know exactly what he did.

The only incredibly, incredibly, INCREDIBLY minor things I didn't adore about this scene are that first, when he tells you he loves you, his head animation is weirdly still/frozen the whole time on that set of lines despite his expression changing, and it honestly broke my immersion a little bit. The ambient movements of the characters have been so realistic for so many dozens of hours that to have this seriously critical and important moment for the character be almost rigid, especially against a completely silent music-less background, made it stick out as an "oh yeah, this is a video game" reminder. Bummer!

The other thing is that it's icky to have sex in a graveyard, lmao. Tavish doesn't really care because it's just dirt under them--he's literally standing in front of her, so as far as she's concerned it's not that different from the forest--but I did grimace a little. Someone give these dingdongs a bed! or at least a roof!

Anyway! A fantastic romance and super strong writing/consistent characterization throughout, and I'm pumped to see where it's going to go next. I'm still so curious about how the tadpole outcomes will affect things and faintly hoping for a deus ex machina to keep him in the sun, though I suppose that's what fic's for. Regardless, full sign-off on an utterly satisfying romance; so many little things dropped throughout were EXACTLY what I wanted--you can even accuse him of sincerity in the graveyard scene, which is precisely the arc I was hoping he'd have! He didn't even like you in the beginning and now we're smooching next to a bunch of dead people. What isn't romantic about that?

10/10 Larian, thanks for making me a mess for another white-haired grump.

[shizukateal]

Grimm Variations - Episode Two Review: Little Red Riding Hood

A blonde, blue-eyed woman in a red dress gets picked up by a man while they are in some form of virtually-enhanced reality saloon. She's nervous at first, not just because of the date but because she's clearly not used to the fine establishments. But she starts to have fun with her new sexy partner for a moment... until, of course, the man brutally murders her when she drops her guard. Obviously he was going to be the the Big Bad Wolf in this story. He rips everything away from her, her dress, her tongue, and the technology hiding the fact that she's actually old. Granny gets eaten with no repercussions for the Wolf or "Mr. Gray" -first name not confirmed to be Christian- as he's called here. After all, he is truly rich and young and handsome, not just holographically pretending to be; and more importantly he is part of a club of other wolves like him who get each others' backs to make sure they don't get the heat for their actions.

We learn that in this futuristic setting, society is stepping further away from reality each day. Transhumanism has succeeded in uploading human consciousness into servers although, again, there's a way to interact in virtually enhanced reality through some special eyedrops. However people keep abandoning their bodies and uploading themselves into computers, probably because resources are so scarce there's hardly any real food at all.

It makes a certain sense, then, that our Patrick Bateman-like protagonist has developed an actual bloodlust. The man practically starves himself with a vegetarian diet because he does not want to eat the fake meat they serve him. Surprisingly for how gory the episode is they never explicitly show him eating the meat of his victims, though? Although he does explicitly like the smell of blood. In any case, Mr. Gray has an all-around comfortable arrangement with his fellow Wolves of Wall Street where he gets a safe space to butcher as many women as he can get his hands into 👍

But it's not enough. At some point the arrangement stops feeling like a proper hunt and more like shooting fish in a barrel. So Mr. Gray starts acting out the safety of his kennel. Before he can get far, however, he is stopped by his pack-pal, Mr. Brown, who gives him an address for a place to arrange another, more outdoorsy and risqué hunt. Mr. Gray goes to a slum still in his clean, tailored suit, where he meets Charlotte (once again, the little red haired girl from the promotional poster) acting as an old madam pimp. And so, she orchestrates a meeting between him and our Little Red Riding Hood: Scarlet.

(Boy can you tell the CLAMPs preferred designing her over the other characters in the story. They love themselves some short, straight-haired ladies)

This time, Mr. Gray goes to a rave in the slums wearing a leather jacket that also does fuckall to conceal the fact that he's some rich dipshit nepobaby. It's like watching Marty Mcfly in his ridiculous cowboy costume from the third Back to the Future. He follows Scarlet and helps her knock out some rape-y looser that was bothering her and the two go to her house. Mr. Gray acts just as demure and shy as the first woman we see him kill, as he has a hard time swallowing the fluorescent booze Scarlet offers him. She teases him about this. That's real alcohol after all, just like everything else in the room is real, outside the purview of the curated cyber-enhanced-world. Mr. Brown had offered him an authentic bottle of wine earlier, and he drank that easily, but in a sense the clearly artificial alcohol is the real deal because that's the everyday beverage of the people who actually live there.

He downs the rest of the glass and the atmosphere is almost sweetly romantic if you ignore the fact that this grown man paid to stalk a girl so he could kill her with no repercussions from the law...

And then Mr. Gray wakes up and finds himself tied to a dissection table. Turns out Red Riding Hood is already a much more vicious and experienced hunter than she was at the end of the Grimm's version of the story (for context, Perrault's version, which came earlier, simply ended with her death) and the hunt between them was always a battle between eating and being eaten. The Big Bad Wolf of Wall Street learns the hard way that, on an uncultivated forest away from his pack, he's prey to even a little rabbit. For all his pretensions of the reality of pain and suffering in blood and gore, at the end of the day he still lives a perfectly manicured life in his white silicon valley palace, so how was he to win against someone who is actually willing to get hurt and die for the sake of the hunt? What's the use of him having a perfect body with 8-pack abs, perfect eyes, and manicured nails if he's not willing to withstand the pain he causes others?

Scarlet faces no repercussions, of course. After all, if the Wolf decided to stray from the territory of his pack, then no one can go avenge him, as Charlotte informs Mr. Brown. Hearing this, Mr. Brown decides to upload himself to a computer. Might as well, replies Charlotte. The real world -even in this dystopic setting- has too many temptations.

All in all, I'd say this episode is better than the last one, in part because it's not a subversion, but it still has a bit of the same pitfalls that prevents it from reaching greatness. "Cinderella" suffered because it turned its protagonist into the antagonist in a way that ultimately proved to be shallow, and it undercut the genuinely interesting commentary the story was otherwise doing. Scarlet doesn't do that here since, again, the Grimms themselves turned Red Riding Hood into a hunter; however I also think that there's a lack in depth of flavor to the episode for not getting us into Scarlet's mind as intimately as we get to know Gray. The probably felt like it would take away some of the punch from the twist if they showed her "hunting" before, but I think that could have simply been avoided by simply getting to know the setting a bit more through her eyes and allowing that to also be an opportunity for characterization. You know, add to the reveal a little by making it seem like a more personal tragedy about sending a lamb to slaughter and then pull the rug from under our feet.

There's also this similar problem between the two episodes in that the post-climax reveals are kind of confusing because they are not all that well set-up. What I mean is that since Mr. Brown was the one who suggested Gray to go to this place after he acted out of line, he might have been deliberately trying to set him up to die, but the ending reveals that this is not the case and it implies that he's genuinely so upset about his friend dying that he decides to escape reality so that he doesn't end like him. Mind you, I'm not complaining that that's the truth of the matter, since it still fits the story thematically. It's just that it left me wondering why would Mr. Brown suggest this risk at all if killing him wasn't his intention. A nitpick, perhaps, but still a discordant note in an otherwise solid script.

Other than that, I'd like to talk about what the series as a whole might be building up to. These two episodes so far have shared caged bird imagery. First Makiko and Sawako in a gilded cage with two birds that are set free when they escape de Otawara house, and now Charlotte freeing another bird from its cage to let it fend for itself in the wilderness.

The next episode is going to be Hansel and Gretel, so that's one big juicy opportunity for that as well, and it makes me wonder if the prevalence of the symbol ties into whatever is going on with Charlotte and the Grimm Brother's in the background. We don't get much about that in this episode either, but I am interested in one of their dialogue exchanges. Charlotte says that the aspect of the story that worries her the most about the story is not the Wolf on its own, but that there may be more of them out there. William, however (the one with the glasses) laughs it off and says that there's only one wolf eating little girls and grannies, which is... patently untrue in the story? The original and this one? However given the tone of the series at large, and that a similar statement was made in the previous episode, its easy to take it as a deliberate contrast. I mean this episode does make a point that the wolves are an organized club, but the theme about the upper class joining forces to prey on the vulnerable with no consequence feels just a tad too secondary to everything else; and given the thematic fumbling in the previous episode I am afraid that the writers might not have any plans for all this commentary they're making and instead the focus will ultimately fall on making the good guys bad for the shock factor.

But we can still be cautiously optimistic since at least this episode has raised the quality a bit. See you next week!

[animals-in-old-films]

The many dogs in The Kennel Murder Case (1933)

[theoddcatlady]

Problem Child

TW: Child Abuse

As a social worker, you’re bound to come across some really messed up stuff. I’ve been at this job for nearly twelve years and I’ve seen everything. Joel was raised in a kennel with a dog, he were so small I thought he was two years younger than he really was. Andrea went into a doctor’s appointment only for the doc to find out the kid had contracted chlamydia. Sophia who had been tied to a bed and beaten to ‘get the devils’ out of her. Fynn had been choked for enough time by his stepdad to have permanent brain damage.

But all of those kids have homes now. They were adopted by loving families. I send them cards on their birthdays. Joel is obsessed with Disney and went to Florida with his mom during summer vacation. Andrea now speaks regularly at sexual abuse seminars and helps other victims come forward about what they went through. Sophia wants to be an astronaut, Fynn is beating the odds and making us all proud with all he’s accomplishing.

I can’t say the same for Bonnie.

Bonnie only crossed my desk recently, her original caseworker had retired and no one else wanted to do checks on her. I couldn’t imagine why until she was sent back into the system. That’s when I cracked open that file and gave it a long read.

No one knows where Bonnie came from. They found her in the backseat of a car that had been in an accident, the driver appeared to have suddenly swerved and ran into a tree. It killed him instantly. However, when the driver was ID’d, he didn’t have children that age. The girl wasn’t one of his relatives, and she was found in a worn out carseat that had the name ‘Bonnie’ scrawled on it in black crayon.

As much as it irks me to say this, she was the perfect case for an easy adoption. Blue eyes, blonde hair, six months old and perfectly healthy. Exactly the kind of child that anyone would want. It’s no surprise to me that a lovely young couple brought her into their home within a week. I even found a newspaper clipping announcing that the Johnson’s family has grown by one. Cheesy, but cute.

But not even three weeks later and Bonnie was sent right back into the system, with no explanation other than ‘she’s a handful’. I did some digging and it does seem that the perfect Johnson couple were not nearly so perfect. A well check revealed that the garbage can was filled to the brim with wine bottles and Mr. Johnson had been fired from his workplace for embezzlement.

I actually looked them up to scrape up that last fact, I had gotten far too curious.

The next couple seems to be an even better fit, the Morrisons. They’d already adopted three year old Lily the year prior and they were excited to grow their family again. Mrs. Morrison was a teacher, Mr. Morrison was an accountant. Lily was a happy, healthy girl.

Well, she was.

Two weeks after Bonnie joined their perfect family, Lily was diagnosed with leukemia. This was out of nowhere. It worked fast. Before the year was out the family had shrunk, and the Morrison family had to buy a coffin that should never have to be made so small.

Everything fell apart after this. Mrs. Morrison started having an affair with one of her students, Mr. Morrison came home to them in bed and in a rage he shot them both. The teenage boy didn’t survive but Mrs. Morrison did, although she’d never be able to walk again. During the trial it came out that Mrs. Morrison felt like she was no longer in control of her actions, she claimed she was sleepwalking when she seduced her student and brought him into her bed. Funny part is, Mr. Morrison said he had no idea where he even got that gun- he didn’t own one, and it wasn’t registered to him either.

Obviously, little Bonnie had to be sent back into the system while her parents were sent to prison for statutory rape and murder.

I wish I could say it got easier for her from here… but it didn’t. Not at all. It got worse even. Not every house was as perfect as the Morrisons could’ve been. There are so many ‘parents’ out there that are in it for the paycheck. Frankly, they got what they deserved when Bonnie entered their house.

I was on the computer all night to see the path of destruction that laid in Bonnie’s wake. Housefires. Unexpected deaths, some explained, some not. Illness. Erratic and violent behavior. The most saintly of people became depraved maniacs, devolving into sexual deviants that sold their kids to sickos and downloaded terabytes upon terabytes of illegal porn. Big brothers began gutting cats and big sisters were found with their wrists slit in the bathtub. Parents threw children out the window on the second floor. Jobs were lost. Homes destroyed.

And the only thing in common with each and every one was Bonnie.

The last house probably had it the worst, the Raders. This poor couple hadn’t a damn clue what they were getting into when they adopted Bonnie, they’d already adopted three other ‘problem’ children who came from abusive pasts so they probably thought that Bonnie would be nothing new. Nothing unexpected.

Mr. Rader went into work last week and killed nearly every one of his coworkers with a shot gun. No one was spared and it ended only when he turned the gun on himself. The only survivor had managed to hide herself in the closet and she said that he didn’t say a word until everyone else was dead. Then she heard him start to scream uncontrollably, the screaming grew louder and louder until it was cut off by the final shot.

I can’t say the rest of the family had it easy. On the same day, Mrs. Rader drowned the youngest child in the bathtub, while the older children ran down the streets, naked and wailing. They finally managed to flag down a neighbor and told her, and I quote, ‘Mom’s gone crazy, she’s going to kill us all just because of Bonnie!’

When the police finally got home, Mrs. Rader had hung herself off the shower rod while Bonnie was busy drawing flowers in the basement. It was like she didn’t even know what was going on upstairs.

I’ve seen a lot of children, many who might be concerned ‘problems’. But Bonnie takes the cake. This child is a jinx in human form and I have no idea why.

So this is why I’ve agreed to foster Bonnie. I cannot let this child go into another home knowing what I do now.

Bonnie is one of the most beautiful children I’ve ever seen, dark golden curls and those wide eyes are such a bright blue they make the sky seem drab. She’s quiet, always says please and thank you, and I’ve yet to see any typical trouble making behavior- stealing, hoarding, lying, destroying.

I questioned her about all her previous homes, how her entire life she’s never spent more than seven months in a house. At the time we were enjoying dinner, and Bonnie looked up from her mac n’ cheese to ask for some applesauce. When I poured her some applesauce in a bowl, she took it and then she started talking.

“I’m a very bad thing. I can’t do good things, no matter how hard I try, and everyone around me gets hurt because of it. I’m sorry, I’ll try to do better this time.”

I pity this child. I don’t know if I trust her, but I do pity her. I only hope I can avoid the fate of Bonnie’s other families.

[nosaviorsinthewild]

No Saviors Dynamics  ♡ Free

Shani: This is the human that brought hell upon their pack, potentially, when they first met her, but they find that not only did she not know about any of that, but she is one of very few humans who actually care about what happens to them.

Atlas: Free has been at Shani’s side for longer than Atlas has, so they tend to get territorial about it, especially whenever they know that Atlas isn’t fully being honest with himself or with Shani. Whether its due to shame or trying to protect her, Free distrusts him and doesn’t take anything he says at face value, so they remain close to Shani, just in case. (Free is a better fighter and stronger wolf than Atlas because of their advanced transformation styles) and while they maintain civility, Free would murder him instantly if he tried something, and they both are constantly aware of that fact.

Bane: This is the first friend that Free has ever made outside of their pack. They butt heads constantly and frequently bicker (he’ll say banter), and she gave him the name "Bane," but if anything happened to the other, both would fully wolf out about it. Others can't tell whether they are friends, colleages, or something more. Free considers them two halves of an alpha, though they will always tell him that they alone are THE Alpha.

Riggs: Lifelong best friend that they can no longer pretend to know, but will always love. Free feels guilty that they were spared while Riggs and their surviving friends were brought to The Kennel, and sometimes even blames themself for not rescuing him sooner, and for how hardened and traumatized he is when they are reunited.

Luna: They do not like her. They’re wary of her as a human and definitely as a human that Riggs cares about. They know that she’s good at her job and that Shani vouches for her, but she’s rich, so that itself tells them that she’s evil and even in doing the work that she's done, she is never in the field and can easily deny everything if it came down to it. Free doesn’t like that Luna offers up nothing to lose while the rest of them have already lost everything. And, they don’t think that she’s good enough to enjoy Riggs company and is especially wrought that she seems to be the only person capable of making him seem like his old happy self. They’re not necessarily jealous, but they do resent that Luna seems to have it all and still managed to “take” the one remaining thing that Free had. Riggs. Free sees Luna as a human that took their best friend after they got him back.

[queen-of-deans-booty]

Dog Dean Afternoon: Part Three

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~1.9k

Warnings: canon angst and violence

Summary: Something was taken from you, something so precious a mother should never have to lose. Then, you found something you’ve been searching for ever since your little angel was taken from you. Is this a new beginning or a fire waiting to burn?

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Supernatural. All credit goes to their respective owners. Any and all comments on these are appreciated.

x

Dean has no choice but to put the car into drive, and head over to the animal shelter. The cops are already there, but that doesn't surprise you. You're kind of scared that if you go in with Noah, and the cops see him, then they will recognize him immediately and take him away. However, Noah is out of the car before you can finish your train of thought.

You take Maryann into your arms, Joanna is in her dad's, and Noah's hand is in the hand not holding your youngest. You four walk into the animal shelter, and the young officer turns to greet you. You hold your breath, but the officer doesn't seem to recognize Noah.

Are you crazy? Most definitely.

Did you think this through? Absolutely not.

Do you regret it? Nope.

"Right, so, yesterday, we were dealing with some sort of a snake monster. Today, it's a killer kitty," Dean scoffs and walks past the kennels.

Some of the dogs bark when they see Zeus, but he's good at not giving them attention. He stays by your side and watches you the whole time. Dean passes by a kennel with a familiar looking-dog and pauses by it.

"Why does that mutt look familiar?"

"That was the taxidermist's dog."

"So, he's been at both crime scenes? Noah says he was at his house. Noah, is this the dog you saw?" Dean asks.

"Yeah."

"Maybe he's a suspect," Dean suggests. "You know maybe he could be a skinwalker? A shapeshifter?"

"He doesn't look like a monster to me."

Dean fishes for a silver dollar that he keeps on him at all times. It doesn't hurt to have something like this just in case.

"Only one way to find out." Dean kneels next to the kennel and sticks his hand in partially. "Come here, boy." Colonel walks closer to Dean until his nose is touching the metal bars. "This isn't going to hurt at all... unless it does."

Dean pets his neck, making sure to press the silver to his skin. However, Colonel doesn't react in the way Dean hopes.

"I guess we can rule out killer," Sam clears his throat.

The sheriff walks over to you, Dean, and Sam, and as soon as Colonel sees the sheriff, he begins barking at him. Dean stands with a confused look but doesn't talk about it.

"Do you agents need any further assistance?"

The Sheriff takes off his hat, and Colonel stops barking. Zeus whines and paws at your leg, and you look at him in question.

"Officer, I think we're okay. Thanks."

"Alright, well, let me know."

The Sheriff puts his hat back on, and Colonel begins barking again. Zeus whines louder; clearly, something is bugging him and Colonel.

"Officer. Excuse me. Uh, can I borrow your hat?"

The sheriff unquestioningly takes off his hat and gives it to Dean. He puts the hat on and Colonel barks at him. Dean removes the hat, and Colonel stops. He does this twice before giving the hat back to the sheriff.

"Good luck getting adopted," the Sheriff says as he passes by Colonel's kennel.

"Bitch," you cough, and the Sheriff shoots you a dirty look.

"Okay, so Colonel isn't a suspect, but he is a witness. The question is, how do we find out what he knows?"

"You know what? This is gonna sound crazy." Sam takes out his phone and dials someone. "I read this book about this guy who tried to teach his dog to speak after it witnessed a murder."

"Did it work?"

"No."

"But he wrote a book about it?"

"Yeah, well, he doesn't have what we have." He places the phone to his ear. "Kevin. Hey, it's me. How do we speak to a dog?"

Kevin was quick to get the information on the dog-speaking spell, and Dean worked on getting Colonel out of the shelter for a while. Colonel must be used to dogs because he and Zeus are getting along pretty quickly. Zeus isn't fond of other dogs, but there is something about Colonel that he loves.

Once Colonel is in your custody, and you have the ingredients for the spell, you quickly head back to the motel. If this is going to get crazy, then you may as well do it at some shady motel.

Joanna and Maryann are playing once again, Zeus is lying by their side, and Noah is sitting on the bed. Dean and Sam get the spell ready, and you take a seat next to Noah.

"Are you hungry?" He's still so scared to be here, and you want to make this as painless as possible. "Noah, you're safe here."

"Yes, I am."

You quickly prepare him something you were saving for Joanna, but it looks like she doesn't want to eat right now. He digs into the sandwich you made him, and you sit at the end of the bed facing the brothers.

Kevin gave them the ingredients for a potion to drink, and whoever does it, will be able to talk to Colonel.

"This is an Inuit spell? It's supposed to let us communicate with Colonel?"

"Yeah. Apparently, the Men of Letters had its own Eskimo section." Sam plucks one of Colonel's hairs and places it into the liquid mixture. He stirs vigorously to make sure it's all blended. "That's the plan, anyway. Kevin said it's like a sort of a human/animal mind melds."

"Meaning?"

"If it works, we should be able to hear Colonel's thoughts."

Sam pours the contents into a glass and hands it over to Dean. Sam already has enough on his plate with Ezekiel and the trials, so Dean offered to do this earlier.

"It doesn't look so bad." Dean drinks the liquid in one gulp. He looks at the glass and clears his throat. "I was wrong."

"Here, read this."

Sam hands over a book with the spell Dean needs to say in order for this to work.

"Deila hér me. Dag eru nou rar vitur orum." As soon as he's done, he turns to Colonel. "Alright. Let's get this party started. Tell me everything you know." Colonel yawns as if he's bored. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"

"Maybe this spell needs time to digest," you thought out loud.

"Okay, I'm going to get food. Be right back."

When Dean returns, both girls are sleeping in the same bed, and Noah is sleeping in the other. Zeus and Colonel are getting along really well. You've read that Rottweilers and German Shepherds get along great, so there is no issue there.

However, you immediately notice the tension when Dean looks over at Noah. Sam kicks him underneath the table and gestures to you subtly. Dean clears his throat, but you talk before he can.

"I know what you two are thinking. You think I'm crazy and I probably am. I just know this is what I have to do. We were going to have three kids anyway, and Dean and I were looking forward to having a son."

"That doesn't make it right. This is someone's child," Sam says.

"How does he differ from kids in foster homes? They don't have parents either. How is this any different than us adopting one from a foster home? One way is legal, and this way isn't. He can be ours without having to go through that legal mess."

"If I decide he's going to stay," Dean says.

"Look, I'm not dumb. Of course, I'm going to do research and make sure he absolutely has no family. If he does, then that is where he's going to go. If he doesn't, if he has no one, that breaks my heart."

"He's a kid, Y/N. He has no business being in the hunting life," Dean argues quietly.

"And our kids do?"

"They grew up with this. He didn't."

"Dean, ten percent of kids over the age of ten get adopted, which means he'll likely spend the next eight years in foster care. That's no way to live, and we can care for him better than they can. Sam, back me up on this," you beg and look at him.

"She does have a point." Sam winces at the glare his brother gives him. "I see both sides."

"You're such a great dad to Joanna and Maryann. You can be a great dad to Noah. He is meant to be here. I was meant to find him. I am meant to be his mother."

"I'll think about it."

Dean takes another bite of his burger when he's startled by a sudden voice.

"Change the station."

Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is" plays on the small radio on the counter. Dean looks at you and Sam, but neither of you is looking at him or looks like you talked.

"Change the station."

Dean looks down at Colonel like he just grew two heads.

"What?"

"What?" Sam asks, confused about Dean's behavior.

"You—shut up. It's working!"

"It—go!" Sam encourages.

"You call this classic rock? Next thing you know, they'll be playing Styx," Colonel scoffs. "Dennis DeYoung? A punk."

"Dennis DeYoung's not a punk. He's Mr. Roboto, bitch," Dean glares at Colonel.

"Why are you arguing with a dog about Styx?" you ask, only hearing one side of the conversation.

Dean shakes his head and gets back on track.

"What were you trying to tell us about Cowboy Hat?"

"The douchewheel who killed my best friend was wearing a cowboy hat. The same guy killed both victims."

"Ask about the cats," Sam says and tosses his food wrapped into the trash behind Dean.

"Yeah, what about the cats?"

Dean turns and grabs the wrapper from the trash can and rolls it over to Sam. Sam looks at you, and you shrug in confusion.

"I don't want this," Sam says, but Dean waves him off.

"I don't know. I couldn't see much. I didn't exactly have the best view in the orphanage. Oh, but I could smell him. The guy reeked of red meat, dishwashing detergent, and tiger balm."

"What is he saying?" Sam asks, tossing the wrapper into the trash can again.

Life before, Dean grabs it and rolls it back to him. You look at Dean and then at Colonel before it clicks in your head. A smile begins to form on your face.

"Uh, that the guy smelled like ground chuck, soap suds, and old-lady cream."

"Dean, what are you doing?" Sam asks and holds up the wrapper.

Dean scratches behind his ear and shrugs in a slight panic.

"I don't know." Colonel laughs at Dean, and your husband rolls his eyes at the dog. "What are you laughing at?"

Before Colonel can answer, a vehicle pulls up outside the motel room you're in. Colonel barks once, and Dean immediately gets up. He heads to the window and pulls back the curtain to reveal the mailman is delivering mail. Colonel barks, waking up your girls and Noah. Zeus has no interest in barking at the mailman, so he continues to rest on the ground.

"Hey! Hey, hey! Yeah!" Dean yells and points at the mailman who stares at Dean in concern. " You! You! Hey! Hey! Hey, hey, you! You! You! You!"

Dean growls and you look at Sam. Both of you are thinking the same thing: Dean is a dog. You can't help but giggle at his behavior. Joanna gets off the bed and runs over to you, and you pick her up and set her on your lap.

"Mama, why is Daddy barking like a dog?"

"Because it's payback," you grin.

"Uh, Dean?"

Dean swiftly turns away from the window as if he didn't do what he did.

"Yeah?"

"I think the spell worked. In fact, I think it worked a little too well."

"What do you mean?" he asks and scratches behind his ear again.

"I think... you might be a dog. You're scratching your head. You're barking at the mailman. You're playing fetch."

Sam tosses his wrapper into the trashcan again, but this time, Dean doesn't go after it. He stares at it in need, and he whimpers when he realizes Sam is right.

"Ruh-roh."

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[piratical-princess]

This is just personal whining but I need to let some stuff out.

Our house slowly flooded because the previous owners installed a pipe wrong. Mold everywhere. Now our bedroom floor is gone, bathroom is gone, kitchen is gone. Everything is in boxes. Luckily, insurance is helping pay, but I am the one who deals with them so it's on me to make the phone calls and send the emails and take photos of everything and make sure the contractors are on board and schedule appointments. Meanwhile, we are both using the Murder Bathroom, so named because it looks like a prison cell only much much much smaller, and there is no sink so we are washing hands and dishes in the shower. The gent doing the rebuilding on our house just told us he couldn't start work till the insurance company sends him payment, which could take two weeks, and then it's two weeks for him to get the work done, give or take. My baby is due in seven weeks.

Also, being pregnant, I'm fighting every day with my shitty health insurance company, and my doctor's office who does not want to work with my insurance company, and trying to get my application for Medicaid to go through but they are making me jump through every hoop, be on hold for hours, go to local offices and wait as their system crashes, accuse me of not reporting my pregnancy on the application because they simply didn't read it, then gave me forms for my employer to fill out which, because my employer is a paranoid lunatic, he is reading every line with his lawyer a hundred times before he will sign something as simple as a form proving that I am employed, and acknowledging that I soon will not be.

And speaking of my employer, because he is a sexist dick, he will not provide maternity leave, and when I told him I was pregnant his first response was that I should look for a different job before I start to show, even though I have been faithfully working for him for five and a half years. Then, he began fighting with me because he wanted to add a bunch of physical labor heavy shit to my duties and I told him I can't because, you know, pregnant, and he accused me of coasting because he simply did not want to hire anyone to replace our last kennel tech and expected me to pick it up in spite of having my manager duties and being super hugely pregnant, so now it's just a given that I will not be returning to work once I have the baby.

On top of all that, I have gestational diabetes due to this baby, so I can't eat any sugars or breads or pastas but because of other pregnancy risks I also can't eat lunchmeat or beef or eggs that isn't cooked to death or anything else I can think of besides carrots and lettuce, but because I don't have a kitchen, I can't cook or prep anything healthy. I also have carpal tunnel in both wrists, also pregnancy related, and can't pick up so much as my dumb cat without shooting pain. Then there's the pain from standing, and also the pain from sitting, but I can't lie down too much either.

And - which should be good news - I was accepted into the largest comic convention in Florida that should hopefully bring in a good amount of money to help with the joblessness and the baby, but it is HUGE, busy, at a venue two hours away, and mere weeks before my due date, so now I have to book a hotel, go through the box city that is our house to get all my art stuff ready to go, research hospitals near the convention center in case the kid comes unexpectedly, and order hundreds of dollars in supplies.

Oh and my bank account got hacked into for the third time.

If anyone read all this, thank you and I'm sorry. It just helps to write it all out. I just want to be excited to have a baby, and spend time getting ready to have him in our lives, but our lives have been such a gigantic screaming mess. I have never been so stressed. Sometimes I do not have it in me to be a sturdy oak tree.

[cressida-jayoungr]

13&20 for the film asks!

Thanks for the ask, Anonymous!

See this post for question #13 (My Neighbor Totoro for the win!).

20. What movies do you have on your current to-watch list?

Shazam: Fury of the Gods (started it, need to finish)

Mr. Malcolm's List

The Kennel Murder Case (1933, with William Powell)

Mission: Impossible 4 and onward (been working my way through the series with a friend)

Paheli

Morgiana (@instantlyexhaustedowl recommended this to me ages ago)

Plus I'm going to have to watch Barbie at some point, even though I've never been a big Barbie fan.

The list was longer a few weeks ago, but i watched a bunch of stuff over the holidays. My to-watch list also has a bunch of TV series on it, but I guess those are outside the scope of this question!

[gatutor]

William Powell-Mary Astor "Matando en la sombra" (The kennel murder case) 1933, de Michael Curtiz.

[papermoonloveslucy]

DESILU DOG POUND

Canine Companions on Lucycoms!

Woof!  Open the kennels and take a look at all the dogs, pups, and canine pets in the Lucyverse!

In Annabel Takes a Tour (1938), Annabel (Lucille Ball) has a Terrier named Elmer. 

In The Big Street (1942), Gloria Lyons (Lucille Ball) has a lap dog she calls Baby. Pinks (Henry Fonda) rescues Baby from being run over by a car. 

Probably one of the most famous dogs on television was Fred the dog. Little Ricky's friend Billy Palmer gave him a puppy to take home in January 1957 and he became part of the Ricardo family. Landlord Fred Mertz tells Lucy and Ricky their lease prohibits pets, but he bends the rules when Little Ricky names his puppy Fred. 

LITTLE RICKY: “I always name my pets after people I like.”

Fred the dog was played by a Cairn Terrier named was Danny. He was trained by Bob Blair and was owned by Frank Inn. Danny also played Fremont, Mr. Wilson's dog on "Dennis the Menace" (1959-63). In films, he was Snuffy in Pal Joey (1957), Muffy in Anatomy of Murder (1959), and Pepe in the final Three Stooges short Sappy Bullfighters (1959). Fred the dog would make the move to Connecticut with the Ricardos, but is not seen or mentioned during “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” episodes.  While he was the most popular, Fred was not the only dog seen on “I Love Lucy”...

At the end of “Lucy Thinks Ricky is Trying to Murder Her” (1951), the very first episode of “I Love Lucy” filmed, a dog act makes an appearance.  An established vaudeville act, Hector and His Pals was also seen in the film Easter Parade in 1948. The dog trainer Hector, calls one of the dogs by its real name ‘Yorkie’. In the episode, the dogs are named Ann, Mary, Helen, Cynthia, Alice, and Theodore. Lucy hears the dogs’ names and thinks they are women Ricky is having an affair with - until she hears Theodore! 

In the third episode aired, Butch, Fred’s mutt (as far as we can guess) stays under the table hoping for scraps in “The Diet” (1951) and then never heard of again. Unbeknownst to the others, a starving Lucy crawls under the table with Butch to intercept any tasty morsels meant for the dog. 

Butch looks quite alarmed by the crazy lady under the table!

Sneaking into Richard Widmark’s mansion in “The Tour” (1955), Lucy hides under a bear rug - which just happens to be the favorite spot of Widmark’s St. Bernard Cap. 

In “Second Honeymoon” (1956), a lonely Lucy asks Rocky the Bloodhound if he wants to play ping pong. Randy Rocky is tempted away by a French Poodle on a stroll. 

Lassie, the most famous canine in Hollywood history, turned up on “The Desilu Revue” in 1959. The series was filmed at Desilu Studios. Lucy and Desi enlisted the participation of all the Desilu stars in their Christmas special. Lassie was first mentioned by Lucy Ricardo in “The Young Fans” (1952).

In the very first episode of “The Lucy Show” in 1962, Tiger the dog belongs to Lucy's neighbor and boyfriend Harry Connors (Dick Martin), who we will meet in episode two. A dog named Tiger was also featured on TV's “The Brady Bunch” (1969-1974). Here Tiger serves more as a plot device than pet. This is his one and only appeareance on the series. 

When “Lucy and Viv Learn Judo” (1963), the Carmichaels dogsit with Alvin, played by Hey!  The dog belong’s to Jerry’s friend Amy Schaffer. 

The final scene of the episode features a dozen dogs of various breeds, who come running at the silent sound of a dog whistle! 

In the first frame of the June 1963 “The Lucy Show” Gold Key comic book, Jerry brings home a shaggy dog which Viv mistakes for a monster!   

“Kiddie Parties Inc.” (1963) features Thunderbolt, a basset hound with more folds than an oragami swan. 

In “Lucy is Her Own Lawyer” (1964) ~ Lucy complains when Mr. Mooney’s barking sheepdog Nelson (played by Lord Nelson) keeps her up all night. He tells her to sue him, and she does. After making a mockery of the court proceedings by acting as her own attorney, she finally wins her case by cross-examining Nelson. The neighborhood canines include: 

Howard McAdams’ Pomeranian

Audrey Simmons’ Beagle 

Grandma Sutton’s Airedale

The Hamilton’s Police Dog

Nelson is the only dog to appear on screen, with voice actor Pinto Colvig providing the off-screen barks for the other dogs.

Lord Nelson (Nelson) makes his first appearance as Mr. Mooney’s dog. He will also appear in “Lucy’s Contact Lenses” and would go on to appear on “Here’s Lucy” as Bogie in “Lucy and the Bogie Affair”. From 1965 to 1967, he played Ladadog (aka Lad) on “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies” and reprised the role of Nelson on “The Doris Day Show” from 1968 to 1971.  

To keep Nelson in check, dog trainer Bob Blair plays the Bailiff. 

In “Lucy and Clint Walker” (1965) Lightning, a lethargic Basset Hound, has a propensity to fall asleep, much like his master did Frank Winslow (Clint Walker) in “Lucy and the Sleeping Beauty”.  

“Lucy Meets Mickey Rooney” (1966) has Lucy playing Charlie Chaplin in an acting school recital. The sketch features a mutt befriending the Tramp for his sandwich. 

“Lucy at the Drive-In Movie” (1969) has Lucy searching through the passion pit cars for Kim and her new boyfriend. She mistakes an Afghan Hound for a long-haired woman. 

In “Lucy and the Bogie Affair” (1969) Kim and Craig bring home a stray sheepdog (played by Lord Nelson) which they call Bogie because it has the same sad look standing in the rain as Humphrey Bogart does at the end of 1942's Casablanca.  

When Bogie turns out to be a she and gives birth to a litter of puppies, the Carters must find a home for the baby Bogies. 

Lucy tries to give one of the pups to exercise guru Jack LaLanne, but only ends up taking one of Happy’s pups. Happy was LaLanne’s real-life dog appearing with him on many of his television shows.

“The Bow-Wow Boutique” (1973) has Lucy, Kim and Harry opening a dog grooming business.  Their clients include: 

Louie, a French Spaniel

Winston, a Bloodhound

Teddy, an English Bulldog

Tiger, a Yorkshire Terrier

Tinkerbell, a St. Bernard

and an un-named Daschund

LUCY THE PUP

[citizenscreen]

Do not miss this hilarious cast in Christopher Guest’s BEST IN SHOW (2000) on #TCM tonight followed by Michael Curtiz’s THE KENNEL MURDER CASE (1933) with William Powell, Mary Astor, and Eugene Pallette.