#annie and charles' day of fun

[girljeremystrong]

✨ read them before they come on your screens ✨

homeland elegies by ayad akhtar

truly incredible book, one of the best i’ve ever read. part family drama, part social essay, part picaresque adventure — at its heart, it is the story of a father, a son, and the country they both call home.

black buck by mateo askaripour

very fun book where a lot happens all the time. a satirical debut novel about a young man given a shot at stardom as the lone black salesman at a mysterious, cult-like, and wildly successful startup where nothing is as it seems.

the art of fielding by chad harbach

such a wonderful book about two co-dependent friends. at a small school in michigan, baseball star henry seems destined for big league stardom, but when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the fates of five people are upended.

the nickel boys by colson whitehead

absolutely incredible book. one innocent mistake sends elwood to the nickel academy, a chamber of horrors, where abuse is rife. stunned to find himself in this vicious environment, elwood tries to hold on to hope, but his fellow inmate and new friend turner thinks he’s naive.

tin man by sarah winman

a perfect beautiful & sad love story. ellis and michael are twelve when they first become friends, and then one day this closest of friendships grows into something more. fast forward a decade, ellis is married to annie, and michael is nowhere in sight. what happened in the years between?

interior chinatown by charles yu

a truly beautiful and unique book. willis wu doesn’t perceive himself as the protagonist in his own life: he’s merely ‘generic asian man’, always he is relegated to a prop. he dreams of being 'kung fu guy’ — the most respected role that anyone who looks like him can attain. or is it?

shuggie bain by douglas stuart

very sad but very good. the unforgettable story of young hugh "shuggie" bain, a sweet and lonely boy who spends his 1980s childhood in run-down public housing in glasgow.

nothing to see here by kevin wilson

a great book that’s also very sweet.  a moving and uproarious novel about a woman who finds meaning in her life when she begins caring for two children with remarkable and disturbing abilities (they spontaneously combust when they get agitated).

a gentleman in moscow by amor towles

a novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel, in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors.

we begin at the end by chris whitaker

this book is so good. read it. a fortysomething-year-old sheriff and a thirteen-year-old girl may not seem to have a lot in common. but when trouble arrives they will be unable to do anything but usher it in, arms wide closed.

the great believers by rebecca makkai

beautiful and sad and dazzling. a novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss set in 1980s chicago and contemporary paris.

age of vice by deepti kapoor

big succession vibes. equal parts crime thriller and family saga,it is an intoxicating novel of gangsters and lovers, false friendships, forbidden romance, and the consequences of corruption. binge-worthy entertainment at its literary best.

tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by gabrielle zevin

two friends-often in love, but never lovers-come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.

the nightingale by kristin hannah

the story of two sisters caught up in occupied france during the second world war and their struggle to survive and resist.

sea of tranquility by emily st. john mandel

a novel of art, time travel, love and plague that takes the reader from vancouver island in 1912 to a dark colony on the moon five hundred years later, unfurling a story of humanity across centuries and space.

the guncle by steven rowley

a warm and deeply funny novel about a once-famous sitcom star whose unexpected family tragedy leaves him with his niece and nephew. very sweet.

razorblade tears by s.a. crosby

two ex-cons with little else in common other than a love for their dead sons, band together in their desperate desire for revenge.

washington black by esi edugyan

washington balck is an eleven-year-old field slave who knows no other life than the barbados sugar plantation where he was born. then his master's eccentric brother chooses him to be his manservant. it tells a story of friendship and betrayal, love and redemption, of a world destroyed and made whole again.

exit west by mohsin hamid

in a country teetering on the brink of civil war, two young people meet. they embark on a furtive love affair and are soon cloistered in a premature intimacy by the unrest roiling their city. when it explodes, as the violence escalates, nadia and saeed decide that they no longer have a choice, they find a door and step through.

sorrow and bliss by meg mason

martha knows there is something wrong with her but she doesn't know what it is. the story is narrated in the aftermath of martha and patrick’s separation, when she is thinking back over her life and trying to understand it, and herself.

maybe you should talk to someone by lori gottlieb

gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change.

the family chao by lan samantha chang

the residents of haven, wisconsin, have dined on the fine chao restaurant’s delicious food for thirty-five years, happy to ignore any unsavory whispers about the family owners. but when brash, charismatic, and tyrannical patriarch leo chao is found dead―presumed murdered―his sons discover that they’ve drawn the exacting gaze of the entire town.

crying in h mart by michelle zauner

a memoir about growing up korean american, losing her mother, and forging her own identity.

young mungo by douglas stuart

growing up in a housing estate in glasgow, mungo and james are born under different stars--mungo a protestant and james a catholic--and they should be sworn enemies if they're to be seen as men at all, yet against all odds, they become best friends.

[tenderbittersweet]

My 2023 New-to-Me Media Wrap-Up

Movies

History of the World, Part 1 (★★★)

A Man Called Otto (★★★★)

The Beguiled (★★★★)

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (★★★★★)

Everything Everywhere All at Once (★★★★)

Oppenheimer (★★★★★)

Barbie (★★★★★)

Bullet Train (★★★)

Other People (★★★)

A Haunting in Venice (★★★★)

Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (★★★★)

Death on the Nile – 2022 (★★★)

Death on the Nile – 2004 (★★★)

The Woman in Black (★★★)

Worth (★★★★)

The Woman in White (★★★★)

Murder on the Orient Express (★★★★★)

Santa Claus is Coming to Town (★★★)

Happiest Season (★★★)

The Other Boleyn Girl (★★★)

Maggie Moore(s) (★★★★★)

T.V. Shows

Ghosts S4-S5 (★★★★★)

Suits S1-S8 (★★★)

The Great S2-S3 (★★★)

The Bear S2 (★★★★★)

Mildred Pierce – Mini-series (★★★)

Fisk S1 (★★★★★)

Call the Midwife S12 (★★★★)

Over the Garden Wall (★★★★★)

Wolf Hall (★★★★★)

Books

Nobody is Ever Missing by Catherin Lacey (★★)

Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman (★★★★)

Beowulf (★★★★)

Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala (★★)

This One Summer by Jillian & Mariko Tamaki (★★★)

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (★★★★)

Zami by Audre Lorde (★★★)

Faustus by Christopher Marlowe (★★★)

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (★★★)

Othello by William Shakespeare (★★★★)

Dawn by Elie Wiesel (★★★)

Oroonoko by Aphra Behn (★★★)

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston (★★★)

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen (★★★★)

Clover by Dori Sanders (★★)

Passing by Nella Larson (★★★★)

Seize the Day by Saul Bellow (★★★)

Daisy Miller by Henry James (★★★★)

The Turn of the Screw x2 by Henry James (★★★★)

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde x2 by Robert Louis Stevenson (★★★★)

To a God Unknown by John Steinbeck (★★★)

The Yellow Wallpaper & Other Writings by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (★★★★)

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig (★★)

The Living by Annie Dillard (★★★)

Heartstones by Ruth Rendell (★★★)

The Law & the Lady by Wilkie Collins (★★★)

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle (★★★★)

Cane by Jean Toomer (★★★★)

Our Dark Academia by Adrienne Raphel (★★)

A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie (★★★)

Wieland by Charles Brockden Brown (★★★★★)

The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammet (★★★★)

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (★★★)

E is for Evidence by Sue Grafton (★)

Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley (★★)

Podcasts

Rehash (★)

Normal Gossip (★★)

Noble Blood (★★★★★)

Lore (★★★)

Fuckbois of Literature (★★★)

Stuff You Missed in History Class (★★★★)

If Books Could Kill (★★★★)

Wilder by Glynnis MacNicol (★★★★★)

Documentaries

Anna Nicole: You Don’t Know Me (★★★)

Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie (★★★★)

Defending My Life (★★★★★)

Plays

The Last Living Gun (★★★)

[loving-womyn]

Madam CJ Walker (December 23, 1867 - May 25, 1919)

Sarah Breedlove, known by the name Madam CJ Walker, was born in Delta, Louisiana on a plantation to which her parents were enslaved before the end of the Civil War. She was their 5th child, but the first child born free after the Emancipation Proclamation. Becoming an orphan at 7 years old, her and her sister Louvenia worked in the cotton fields of Delta and the nearby Vicksburg, Mississippi.

At age 14, to escape abuse from her brother-in-law, she married to a man named Moses McWilliams (having a daughter with him, A’Lelia, in 1885) and eventually became a widow at age 20. She moved with her daughter back with her brothers who had become barbers making $1.50 a day, and made enough to send her daughter to school. In the 1890s, Sarah began to suffer from an ailment that caused her to begin losing her hair. After consulting her brothers, she used many products to try and help her situation, and her brothers gave her products made by one Annie Malone, a black entrepreneur.

Moving to Denver Colorado to become a sales agent for Miss Malone, she married one Charles Joseph Walker. Afterwards she changed her name to “Madam” CJ Walker, and started selling her own line of hair products for American black women. Her husband, working in newspaper advertisements, helped promote her products, though eventually the two divorced. After the divorce, she moved to Indianapolis and opened a manufacturing factory for her products, employing 40,000 black women and men in the US, central America, and the Caribbean, founding the “National Negro Cosmetics Manufacturers association” in 1917.

Fun facts

Upon moving to Indianapolis, she donated $1,000 (about $30,000 in today’s amount) to the first YMCA open to black Americans, and funded scholarships for women to attend Tuskegee Institute

She is the first black woman millionaire in the US

She established clubs for her employees so they could give to their communities

You can learn more about Madam CJ Walker through the following sources:

https://madamcjwalker.com/about/

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/madam-cj-walker

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.history.com/.amp/topics/black-history/madame-c-j-walker

[moonbeamdagger]

was relistening to arc 3 and realized we have contradictory canon

Haley, Arc 3 Episode 2: Weeks are normal (7 days)

Amelia, Annie and Charles’ Day of Fun One-Shot: Weeks are 10 days (two days we don’t know the names/positions of and Tomorrowday, which comes between Wednesday and Thursday)

thoughts?

[silly-goofy-mood]

I don't think I said this on here but was I the only one who, when Haley described Dawna (person Art made a contract with), immediately thought of Bombyx? An elf-looking person with red hair and brown skin??? But obviously she sounds way too serious to be Bombyx, but someone on discord (i think) pointed out that it could be the fake Bombyx from Annie and Charles's day of fun, since she was like a weird fae person...

[popblank]

Oklahoma! at the Ahmanson Theatre:

Unfortunately I didn’t get around to writing this until after the tour closed; I have been busier than usual and am a slow writer. But I enjoyed this show a lot, so much so that I went to see it twice. However it was also one of the most divisive shows I have seen this year, judging from the audience reactions overheard. It may just be that I’ve never seen a “traditional” production of Oklahoma!, but it was fun to think about in terms of what it was trying to say and how the acting, casting, and direction conveyed that meaning.  Maybe I’ll have to find one of the more traditional productions in order to compare/contrast.

Granted I did not like it quite as much as Charles McNulty, who wrote a rave review for the LA Times. The theater/production actually printed his review in full and displayed it in the lobby, which is something I’ve never seen done before:

(Another interesting lobby display I’ve never seen before at a show: a Tony Award.) 

On Broadway this show was presented in the round in a smallish theater, with the house lights up for most of the show.  I think the need to present it in a much larger proscenium theater did not work quite as well because it lost some of the intimacy, especially in my first viewing from up in the mezzanine.  The performances seemed remote and chilly at first and it took a while to get into it. The point where it really got going was Sis as Ado Annie performing “I Cain’t Say No” – there was at least one person in the box seats giving her a standing ovation.

It worked much better for me in a 2nd viewing when I was a lot closer to the stage and it felt I was directly observing (and intruding on) the characters’ lives; performances that seemed strangely flat from far away instead seemed guarded or reserved. That helped the production make more sense to me dramatically, because the set was basically a huge, brightly lit plywood box, with guns lining the walls, non-obvious exit doors, and nowhere to hide for the characters when onstage. Many scenes took place with most of the cast sitting at tables watching the action, as if being in this small community meant being under observation all the time.

(Added bonus from being near the stage: I got splashed with fake beer during “The Farmer and the Cowman.”)

Unsorted comments:

It was very well sung, probably one of the best shows I’ve seen this year in that aspect. I was particularly impressed by “People Will Say We’re in Love” – Sasha Hutchings (Laurey) and Sean Grandillo (Curly) were pretty good in the Late Show performance, but it was great live.

During the spoken introduction to “Pore Jud is Daid” the lights in the theater went out (on purpose), but apparently while the audience’s eyes were adjusting, a black scrim came down in front of the stage so that the actors could reposition themselves, presumably with some kind of lighting. From the audience’s point of view it appeared to be nearly total darkness on stage.

Fun stage bit: there was an image of a farmhouse on a plain projected on the back wall throughout most of the show. On occasion there was smoke coming from the chimney, which I first noticed while Laurey sang “Out of My Dreams” right before intermission.

Overheard audience reactions: 1) At one intermission I heard someone complaining to a companion that the costumes and settings and props didn’t make any sense because they weren’t period-appropriate.  While it is fair that people may not care for the reinterpretation, I think he completely missed the point.  2) On the way out, I overheard one youngish guy saying, “It was bad.”  (I disagree, but it’s rare that I hear such bluntly negative opinions in the audience.)

During intermission members of the crew carefully walked the stage to clean up debris. During “Many a New Day” the women in the cast were aggressively shucking corn so there were probably corn kernels all over the place. Note: Sasha Hutchings was the only actor who managed to snap the corn in a way that would consistently launch the kernels with enough height and trajectory to hit the audience members in the front row, so kudos to her I suppose.

I didn’t really understand the dream ballet. That is, I think I got the general idea of the scene, but thought it was far less clear at expressing it than any other scene, and I didn’t quite see what this particular staging was saying about Laurey’s dilemma. However there were some brief but interesting interactions the Lead Dancer had with Cord Elam and Gertie Cummings that to me revealed some of Laurey’s feelings about those characters. I don’t recall Laurey interacting much with them otherwise, so I liked having that bit of perspective.

The Gertie Cummings laugh (from Hannah Solow) was especially funny after she had exited the stage box and it was just her voice echoing from beyond the walls.

One fun audience item: I saw a couple watching the show in themed outfits, him in Carhartt overalls and her in a black and white gingham dress.

The LA Times had another article about the varied reactions to the revival which has some good quotes from the director and actors.

[pastryleclerc]

📂

hello everyone! ✨️ below you will find the most important information about the author and the links to tagged games, etc. which will offer a little deeper view into the author's head (and life) 👀 if you wanna know more, you can always send me a dm or ask 🥰

name

i have a classic german name which i won't post publicly, but just call me anne or annie for short :)

age

at the time of writing this i am 21 years of age and i'll start my taylor swift year on december 12th 🎂

looks

i am a brunette girl with shoulder-length hair and green (and a hint of grey) eyes (side fact: i have the same eyecolor as charles leclerc and it's the rarest eye color), my height is 162cm or 5"3', i have three tattoos (bound to become more) and a lip piercing at the same place luke hemmings used to have his, i am absolutely not thin but i'm currently trying to loose weight 👩

job

i'm currently a trainee at our district administration in the system of the dual education (1-2 days of school per week and the rest in the office) with the intention to get my bachelor in public administration afterwards! 👩‍💼

places i've been to

the netherlands 🇳🇱, france 🇫🇷, italy 🇮🇹 and greece 🇬🇷 and - of course - germany 🇩🇪

interests

obviously f1 and football, but also: movies, tv shows, cooking, baking, singing (fun fact: i sing in our local choir), dancing, playing handball, playing tennis/badminton, hang out with my friends, going to parties/concerts/etc., travelling, reading, listening to music, swimming, riding the bike, inline skating, ice skating, talking about history (there's more that i can't think of right now but will definitly add) 💛

favorite movies/tv shows

movies: i will watch anything from marvel and dc, the golden age of barbie (aka the early 2000s-2010s movies), mamma mia 1 & 2, top gun 1 & 2, the m:i movies, dirty dancing, pretty woman, titanic, pearl harbor (judge me as much as you want i liked the movie), more that i currently can't think of - tv shows: hawaii five-0, gossip girl (og), pretty little liars, supernatural, desperate housewives (again, judge me as much as you want), bridgerton, more that i currently can't think of

football favorites

clubs: bvb and man city / players: basically all of the bvb squad, john stones, stefan ortega (my friend knows him lmao), christian pulisic, ben chilwell, cesar azpilicueta, kdb, erling haaland (there are probably more haha) ⚽️

motorsport favorites

charles leclerc, sebastian vettel (side fact: he's from the same state as i am), george russell, lando norris, oscar piastri, michael schumacher, daniel abt, nico hülkenberg - teams: ferrari (and mercedes, due to my family) 🏎

artists/genres i listen to often

first things first: i normally describe my taste in music as "everything i love" which is actually such a weird mix / artists: taylor swift, abba, katy perry, the weeknd, ariana grande, lana del rey, måneskin, dua lipa, 5sos, wet leg, wincent weiss, lady gaga - genres: musicals, indie, edm, house, pop 🎶

fun facts

we have a dog at home, my favorite animals are penguins, i have been to the first ever bvb vs. chelsea game, i've been to concerts of 5sos and wincent weiss, i like to build legos, i am an only child, i don't have a favorite season, there also isn't a color i don't like but i prefer beige pink and yellow, the glass is half full when you intentionally fill it up half way and half empty when you drink from it, my favorite quote is "even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise" from victor hugo's "les misérables", my english level is c2, my french level is b2, my spanish level is b1, i once had ancient greek in school, i hated the sciences (math, biology, science and physics), i'm bisexual ☀️

tagged games

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[brookston]

Holidays 3.6

Holidays

Alamo Day (Texas)

Black Balloon Day

Blackout Day

Chamorro Heritage Day (Guam)

Day of the Dude (Dudeism)

Dentist’s Day

European Day of the Righteous (EU)

European Day of Speech & Language Therapy

Feast of Excited Insects (China, Korea)

Foundation Day (Norfolk Island)

Headache Relief Day

Hospitality Workers in HealthCare Day

International Agunah Day

International Day of the Sculptor

International Day of the Skype Call

King Tut Day

Labour Day (Western Australia, Australia)

Marion Berry Day (DC)

Narcissus Day

National Brian Day

National Day of Tolerance and Coexistence (Iraq)

National Dress Day

National Emotional Civility Day

National Jute Day (Bangladesh)

National Report General Service Administration (GSA) Fraud Day

Silly Putty Day

Snowshoe Day

Sofia Kovalesvskaya Math Day

Stoneware Pottery Appreciation Day

Tolerance and Coexistence Day (Iraq)

Toronto Day (Canada)

Trollface Day

Women’s Day (Tajikistan)

World Conservation Strategy Day

World Lymphedema Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Frozen Food Day

National White Chocolate Cheesecake Day

Oreo Cookie Day (a.k.a. National Oreo Day)

World Laksa Day

1st Monday in March

Black Mental Health Day (Canada) [1st Monday]

Casmir Pulaski Day [1st Monday]

Fun Facts About Names Day [Monday of Name Week]

International Badge Day [1st Monday]

Labour Day (Western Australia) [1st Monday]

Magellan Day (a.k.a. Discovery Day; Guam) [1st Monday]

World Tennis Day [1st Monday]

Independence Days

Ghana (from UK, 1957)

Überstadt (Declared; 2010) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Abelardo (Muppetism)

Baldred of Scotland (Christian; Saint)

Borrowed Days begin (Pastafarian)

Cadroe (Christian; Saint)

Chrodegang (Christian; Saint)

Colette (Christian; Saint)

Day of the East Wind (Pagan)

Festival of Mars (Old Roman God of War)

Fridolin (Christian; Saint)

Fusilli Day (Pastafarian)

Holi (a.k.a. Phagwah, Festival of Color; Guyana, India, Nepal, Suriname)

Kyneburga, Kyneswide and Tibba (Christian; Saint)

Marcian of Tortona (Christian; Saint)

William W. Mayo and Charles Frederick Menninger (Episcopal Church (USA))

Olegarius (Christian; Saint)

Purim (Judaism) [begins at sundown] (a.k.a. ... 

Fast of Esther;

Survival Celebration

Ta' Anit Ester

Quisling Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Rose of Viterbo (Christian; Saint)

Ta’anit Esther (The Fast of Esther; Judaism) [13 Adar]

Treachery Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Xenophanes (Positivist; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Butsumetsu (仏滅 Japan) [Unlucky all day.]

Perilous Day (13th Century England) [12 of 32]

Premieres

The Big Lebowski (Film; 1998)

Chappie (Film; 2015)

÷ (a.k.a. Divide), by Ed Sheeran (Album; 2017)

Everest (IMAX Documentary Film; 1998)

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Film; 1921)

Kidnapping Mr. Heineken (Film; 2015) 

Kissin’ Cousins (Film; 1964) [Elvis Presley #14]

La Traviata (The Fallen Woman), by Giuseppe Verdi (Opera; 1853)

Lethal Weapon (Film; 1987)

Let It Be, by The Beatles (Song; 1970)

Lorenzo (Disney Cartoon; 2004)

Medusa, by Annie Lennox (Album; 1995)

Onward (Animated Film; 2020)

Paint It Black, recorded by The Rolling Stones (Song; 1966)

Playdate with Destiny (Animated Simpsons Cartoon; 2020)

There Goes My Baby, recorded by The Drifters (Song; 1959)

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Film; 2015)

To Be or Not to Be (Film; 1942)

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (TV Series; 2015)

U.S. Marshals (Film; 1998)

Watchmen (Film; 2009)

The Young Victoria (Film; 2009)

Today’s Name Days

Fridolin, Nicola, Rosa (Austria)

Ruža, Viktor, Zvjezdana (Croatia)

Miroslav (Czech Republic)

Gotfred (Denmark)

Tarmo, Tarmu (Estonia)

Tarmo (Finland)

Colette (France)

Fridolin, Nicola, Nicole, Rosa (Germany)

Isyhios (Greece)

Inez, Leonóra (Hungary)

Colette, Giordano, Ezio, Marziano, Marzio (Italy)

Centis, Gotfrids, Vents (Latvia)

Karigailė, Norvilas, Raminta, Rožė (Lithuania)

Andor, Annfrid (Norway)

Eugenia, Felicyta, Frydolin, Jordan, Klaudian, Koleta, Róża, Wiktor, Wiktoriusz, Wojsław (Poland)

Radoslav (Slovakia)

Julián, Olegario (Spain)

Ebba, Ebbe (Sweden)

Carlton, Charlton, Colette, Collette (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 65 of 2023; 300 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 1 of week 10 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Nuin (Ash) [Day 16 of 28]

Chinese: Month 2 (Yi-Mao), Day 15 (Gui-Hai)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 13 Adar 5783

Islamic: 13 Sha’ban 1444

J Cal: 4 Ver; Foursday [4 of 30]

Julian: 21 February 2023

Moon: 99%: Waxing Gibbous

Positivist: 9 Aristotle (3rd Month) [Xenophanes]

Runic Half Month: Tyr (Cosmic Pillar) [Day 11 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 76 of 90)

Zodiac: Pisces (Day 15 of 29)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 3.6

Holidays

Alamo Day (Texas)

Black Balloon Day

Blackout Day

Chamorro Heritage Day (Guam)

Day of the Dude (Dudeism)

Dentist’s Day

European Day of the Righteous (EU)

European Day of Speech & Language Therapy

Feast of Excited Insects (China, Korea)

Foundation Day (Norfolk Island)

Headache Relief Day

Hospitality Workers in HealthCare Day

International Agunah Day

International Day of the Sculptor

International Day of the Skype Call

King Tut Day

Labour Day (Western Australia, Australia)

Marion Berry Day (DC)

Narcissus Day

National Brian Day

National Day of Tolerance and Coexistence (Iraq)

National Dress Day

National Emotional Civility Day

National Jute Day (Bangladesh)

National Report General Service Administration (GSA) Fraud Day

Silly Putty Day

Snowshoe Day

Sofia Kovalesvskaya Math Day

Stoneware Pottery Appreciation Day

Tolerance and Coexistence Day (Iraq)

Toronto Day (Canada)

Trollface Day

Women’s Day (Tajikistan)

World Conservation Strategy Day

World Lymphedema Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Frozen Food Day

National White Chocolate Cheesecake Day

Oreo Cookie Day (a.k.a. National Oreo Day)

World Laksa Day

1st Monday in March

Black Mental Health Day (Canada) [1st Monday]

Casmir Pulaski Day [1st Monday]

Fun Facts About Names Day [Monday of Name Week]

International Badge Day [1st Monday]

Labour Day (Western Australia) [1st Monday]

Magellan Day (a.k.a. Discovery Day; Guam) [1st Monday]

World Tennis Day [1st Monday]

Independence Days

Ghana (from UK, 1957)

Überstadt (Declared; 2010) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Abelardo (Muppetism)

Baldred of Scotland (Christian; Saint)

Borrowed Days begin (Pastafarian)

Cadroe (Christian; Saint)

Chrodegang (Christian; Saint)

Colette (Christian; Saint)

Day of the East Wind (Pagan)

Festival of Mars (Old Roman God of War)

Fridolin (Christian; Saint)

Fusilli Day (Pastafarian)

Holi (a.k.a. Phagwah, Festival of Color; Guyana, India, Nepal, Suriname)

Kyneburga, Kyneswide and Tibba (Christian; Saint)

Marcian of Tortona (Christian; Saint)

William W. Mayo and Charles Frederick Menninger (Episcopal Church (USA))

Olegarius (Christian; Saint)

Purim (Judaism) [begins at sundown] (a.k.a. ... 

Fast of Esther;

Survival Celebration

Ta' Anit Ester

Quisling Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Rose of Viterbo (Christian; Saint)

Ta’anit Esther (The Fast of Esther; Judaism) [13 Adar]

Treachery Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Xenophanes (Positivist; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Butsumetsu (仏滅 Japan) [Unlucky all day.]

Perilous Day (13th Century England) [12 of 32]

Premieres

The Big Lebowski (Film; 1998)

Chappie (Film; 2015)

÷ (a.k.a. Divide), by Ed Sheeran (Album; 2017)

Everest (IMAX Documentary Film; 1998)

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Film; 1921)

Kidnapping Mr. Heineken (Film; 2015) 

Kissin’ Cousins (Film; 1964) [Elvis Presley #14]

La Traviata (The Fallen Woman), by Giuseppe Verdi (Opera; 1853)

Lethal Weapon (Film; 1987)

Let It Be, by The Beatles (Song; 1970)

Lorenzo (Disney Cartoon; 2004)

Medusa, by Annie Lennox (Album; 1995)

Onward (Animated Film; 2020)

Paint It Black, recorded by The Rolling Stones (Song; 1966)

Playdate with Destiny (Animated Simpsons Cartoon; 2020)

There Goes My Baby, recorded by The Drifters (Song; 1959)

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Film; 2015)

To Be or Not to Be (Film; 1942)

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (TV Series; 2015)

U.S. Marshals (Film; 1998)

Watchmen (Film; 2009)

The Young Victoria (Film; 2009)

Today’s Name Days

Fridolin, Nicola, Rosa (Austria)

Ruža, Viktor, Zvjezdana (Croatia)

Miroslav (Czech Republic)

Gotfred (Denmark)

Tarmo, Tarmu (Estonia)

Tarmo (Finland)

Colette (France)

Fridolin, Nicola, Nicole, Rosa (Germany)

Isyhios (Greece)

Inez, Leonóra (Hungary)

Colette, Giordano, Ezio, Marziano, Marzio (Italy)

Centis, Gotfrids, Vents (Latvia)

Karigailė, Norvilas, Raminta, Rožė (Lithuania)

Andor, Annfrid (Norway)

Eugenia, Felicyta, Frydolin, Jordan, Klaudian, Koleta, Róża, Wiktor, Wiktoriusz, Wojsław (Poland)

Radoslav (Slovakia)

Julián, Olegario (Spain)

Ebba, Ebbe (Sweden)

Carlton, Charlton, Colette, Collette (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 65 of 2023; 300 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 1 of week 10 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Nuin (Ash) [Day 16 of 28]

Chinese: Month 2 (Yi-Mao), Day 15 (Gui-Hai)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 13 Adar 5783

Islamic: 13 Sha’ban 1444

J Cal: 4 Ver; Foursday [4 of 30]

Julian: 21 February 2023

Moon: 99%: Waxing Gibbous

Positivist: 9 Aristotle (3rd Month) [Xenophanes]

Runic Half Month: Tyr (Cosmic Pillar) [Day 11 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 76 of 90)

Zodiac: Pisces (Day 15 of 29)

[rockislandadultreads]

Warm Up With a Good Book: Heartwarming Story Recommendations

Dewey by Vicki Myron

How much of an impact can an animal have? How many lives can one cat touch? How is it possible for an abandoned kitten to transform a small library, save a classic American town, and eventually become famous around the world? You can't even begin to answer those questions until you hear the charming story of Dewey Readmore Books, the beloved library cat of Spencer, Iowa.

Dewey's story starts in the worst possible way. Only a few weeks old, on the coldest night of the year, he was stuffed into the returned book slot at the Spencer Public Library. He was found the next morning by library director, Vicki Myron, a single mother who had survived the loss of her family farm, a breast cancer scare, and an alcoholic husband. Dewey won her heart, and the hearts of the staff, by pulling himself up and hobbling on frostbitten feet to nudge each of them in a gesture of thanks and love. For the next nineteen years, he never stopped charming the people of Spencer with his enthusiasm, warmth, humility, (for a cat) and, above all, his sixth sense about who needed him most.

As his fame grew from town to town, then state to state, and finally, amazingly, worldwide, Dewey became more than just a friend; he became a source of pride for an extraordinary Heartland farming town pulling its way slowly back from the greatest crisis in its long history.

Come Rain or Come Shine by Jan Karon

Over the course of ten Mitford novels, fans have kept a special place in their hearts for Dooley Kavanagh, first seen in At Home in Mitford as a barefoot, freckle-faced boy in filthy overalls.

Now, Father Tim Kavanagh's adopted son has graduated from vet school and opened his own animal clinic. Since money will be tight for a while, maybe he and Lace Harper, his once and future soul mate, should keep their wedding simple.

So the plan is to eliminate the cost of catering and do potluck. Ought to be fun. An old friend offers to bring his well-known country band. Gratis. And once mucked out, the barn works as a perfect venue for seating family and friends. Piece of cake, right?

In Come Rain or Come Shine, Jan Karon delivers the wedding that millions of Mitford fans have waited for. It’s a June day in the mountains, with more than a few creatures great and small, and you’re invited - because you’re family.

This is the 13th volume of the “Mitford Years” series.

This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub

On the eve of her 40th birthday, Alice’s life isn’t terrible. She likes her job, even if it isn’t exactly the one she expected. She’s happy with her apartment, her romantic status, her independence, and she adores her lifelong best friend. But her father is ailing, and it feels to her as if something is missing. When she wakes up the next morning she finds herself back in 1996, reliving her 16th birthday. But it isn’t just her adolescent body that shocks her, or seeing her high school crush, it’s her dad: the vital, charming, 40-something version of her father with whom she is reunited. Now armed with a new perspective on her own life and his, some past events take on new meaning. Is there anything that she would change if she could?

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb...

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends - and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island - boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George 

Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary. From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, he prescribes novels for the hardships of life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader needs, Perdu mends broken hearts and souls. The only person he can't seem to heal through literature is himself; he's still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared. She left him with only a letter, which he has never opened.

After Perdu is finally tempted to read the letter, he hauls anchor and departs on a mission to the south of France, hoping to make peace with his loss and discover the end of the story. Joined by a bestselling but blocked author and a lovelorn Italian chef, Perdu travels along the country’s rivers, dispensing his wisdom and his books, showing that the literary world can take the human soul on a journey to heal itself.

[gevavekexof]

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[wall-e-gorl]

What other podcast that under a year of going got a special guest like Travis McElroy to play with them

[foxwell]

When all the Arc 3 cast said they had missed Diarmad and Owen doing the accent I FELT that

(I love Booker but it still sometimes confuses me that he is not Scottish)

[hellebore-petall]

THEY JUST ANNOUNCED ON THE ANNIE AND CHARLES DAY OF FUN ONE-SHOT THAR TRAVIS MCELROY IS GOING TO BE IN THE UNPREPARED CASTERS HOLIDAY ONE-SHOT??? WHAT THE FUCK MY BRAIN LITERALLY CANNOT PROCESS THIS INFORMATION I AM SO EXCITED!!!

[thedeadhandofseldon]

The Anti-Mercer Effect

On the Accessibility of D&D, Why Unprepared Casters is so Fun, and Why Haley Whipjack is possibly the greatest DM of our generation.

(Apologies to my mutuals who aren’t in this fandom for the length of this, but as you all know I have never in my life shut up about anything so… we’ll call it even for the number of posts about Destiel I see every day.

To fellow UC fans - I haven’t listened to arc 4 yet, I started drafting this in early August, and I promise I will write a nice post about how great Gus the Bard is once I get the chance to listen to more of his DMing).

Structure - Or, “This is not the finale, there will be more podding cast”

So, first of all, let’s just talk about how Unprepared Casters works. Because it’s kind of unusual! Most of the other big-name D&D podcasts favor this long, grand arcs; UC has about 10 hours of podcast per each arc. And that’s a major strength in a lot of ways: it makes it really accessible to new listeners, because you can just start with the current arc and understand what’s going on!

And by starting new arcs every six or seven episodes, they can explore lots of ways to play D&D! Classic dungeon delve arc! Heist arc! Epic heroes save the world arc! Sportsball arc! They can touch on all sorts of things!

And while I’m talking about that: Dragons in Dungeons, the first arc, makes it incredibly accessible as a show - because it lets the unfamiliar listener get a sense of what D&D actually is. (It’s about telling stories and making your friends feel heroic and laugh and cry, for the record). If I had to pick a way to introduce someone to the game without actually playing it with them, that arc would definitely be it.

And I’d be remise not to note one very important thing: Haley Whipjack and Gus the Bard are just very funny, very charismatic people. Look. Episode 0s tend to be about 50%(?) those two just talking to each other about their own podcast. It shouldn’t work. And yet it DOES, its one of my favorite parts, because Haley and Gus are just cool.

And a side note that doesn’t fit anywhere else: I throw my soul at him! I throw a scone at him - that’s it, that’s the vibe. The whole podcast alternates between laughing with your friends and brooding alone in a dark tavern corner - but the laughs never forced and the dark corner is never too dark for too long.

Whipjack the Great - Or, the DM is Also a Player!

I think Haley Whipjack is one of the greatest Dungeon Masters alive. The plots and characters! The mechanical shenanigans! The descriptions!

Actually, let’s start there: with the descriptions. (Both Haley and Gus do this really fucking well). As we know, Episode 0 of each arc sees the DM reading a description - of a small town, or the Up North, or the recent history of a great party. And Haley always strikes this tricky balance - one I think a lot of us who DM struggle with - between giving too much description and  worldbuilding, and not telling us anything at all. She describes people and events in just enough detail to imagine them, but never so much they seem static and unreal - just clear enough to envision, but with enough vagueness left to let your imagination begin to run wild.

While I’m thinking about arc 3’s party, let’s talk about a really bold move she made in that arc: letting the players have ongoing control of their history. Loser Lars! She didn’t try to spell out every detail of this high-level party’s history, or restrict their past to only what she decided to allow - she gave them the broad outlines, and let them embellish it. And that made for a much more alive story than any attempt to create it by herself would have - but I think it takes a lot of courage to let your players have that agency. Most Dungeon Masters (myself included) tend to struggle with being control freaks.

And the plots! Yeah, arc one is built of classic tropes - but she actually uses them, she doesn’t get caught up in subverting everything or laughing at the cliches. And it’s fun! In arc 3, there really isn’t a straight line for the players to follow, either - which makes the game much more interesting and much trickier to run. And her NPCs are fantastic and I will talk about them in the next section.

Above all, though, I think what is really impressive is how Haley balances mechanics, and rules as written, with the narrative and rule of cool - and puts both rules and story in the service of playing a fun game. And the secret to that? She’s the DM, but the DM is a player, and the DM is clearly having fun. Hope Lovejoy mechanically shouldn’t get that spellslot back, but she does, and it’s fun. The changeling merchant in Thymore doesn’t really make some Grand Artistic Narrative better, but wow is it fun. And she never tries to force it one way or the other - the story might be more dramatic if Annie didn’t manage to banish the demon from the vault, but it’s a lot cooler and a lot more fun for the players if Annie gets to be a badass instead - and the rules and the dice say that Annie managed it.

Settings feel like places, NPCs feel like people, and the narrative plot feels like a real villainous plot.

Anyway. I could go on about the various ways in which Whipjack is awesome for quite a while - she’s right, first place in D&D is when your friends laugh and super first place is when they cry - but I’m going to stop here and just. Make another post about it some other time. For now, for the record I hold her opinions about the game in higher esteem than I do several official sourcebooks; that is all.

Characters - Or, Bombyx Mori Is Not an Asshole, And That Matters

Okay, I said I would talk about characters! And I will!

Just a general place to start: the party! All of the first three parties are interesting to me, because they all care about each other. Not even necessarily in a Found Family Trope sort of way, though often that too. But they generally aren’t assholes to each other. The players create characters that actually work together, that are interesting; even when there’s internal divisions like SK-73 v. Sir Mr. Person, they aren’t just unpleasant and antagonistic all the time. Listening to the podcast, we’re “with” these people for a couple hours - and it isn’t unpleasant. That matters a lot. (To take a counter-example: I love Critical Role, but the episode when Vox Machina pranked Scanlan after he died and was resurrected wasn’t fun to listen to, it was just uncomfortable and angering and vaguely cruel).

All of the PCs are amazing, and the players in each arc did a great job. If you disagree with me about that, well, you have the right to be incorrect and I am sorry for your loss. Annie Wintersummer, for one example: tragic and sad and I want to give her a hug, but also Fuck Yeah Wintersummer, and also her familiar Charles the Owl is the cutest and funniest and I love him. And we understand what’s going on with Annie, she isn’t some infinite pool of hidden depths because this arc is 7 episodes and we don’t have time for that, but she also has enough complexity to be interesting. Same with Fey Moss: yeah, a lot of her is a silly pun about fame that carries into how she behaves, but a lot of how she behaves is also down to some good classic half-elven angst about parenthood and wanting to be known and seen and important. (Side note: if your half-elf character doesn’t have angst, well, that’s impressive and also I don’t think I believe you).

There are multiple lesbian cat-people in a 4-person party and they both have requited romantic interests who aren’t each other. This is the future liberals want and I am glad for it.

Sir Mister Person, the human fighter! Thavius, the edge lord! Even when a character is “simple,” they’re interesting, because of how they’re played as people and not action-figures. And that matters a lot.

In the same way: the NPCs. There really aren’t a lot of them! And some of them come from Patreon submissions, so uh good work gang, you’re part of the awesomeness and I’m proud of you! The point being, the NPCs work because enough of them are interesting to matter. It’s not just a servant who opens Count Michael’s door, it’s a character with a name (Oleandra!) and a personality and history. They’re interesting. Penny Lovejoy didn’t need to be interesting, the merchant outside the Laughing Mausoleum didn’t need to be interesting, but they ARE! And Haley and Gus EXCEL at making the NPCs matter, not just to the story but to us as viewers. I agree with Sir Mister Person, actually, I would die for the princesses of the kingdom. I actually care about Gem Lovejoy of all people - that wouldn’t happen in an ordinary campaign! That’s the thing that makes Unprepared Casters spectacular - and, frankly, it’s especially impressive because D&D does not tend to be good at making a lot of interesting compared to a lot of other sorts of stories.

And, just as an exemplar of all this: Bombyx Mori. Immortal, reincarnating(?), and described as the incarnation of the player’s ADHD. I expected to hate Bombyx, because as the mom friend both in and out of my friend-group’s campaigns, the chaos-causer is always exhausting to me. And yeah, Bombyx causes problems on purpose! But! She is not an asshole.

And that’s important. Bombyx goes and sits with the queen and comforts her. Bombyx gives Annie emotional support. Bombyx isn’t just a vehicle to jerk around the DM and other players; Bombyx really is a character we can care about. To compare with another case - in the first couple episodes of The Adventure Zone, the PCs are just dicks. Funny, but dicks. Bombyx holds out an arm “covered in larva” to shake with a count, and robs him of magical items, but she also cares about her friends and other people! She uses a powerful magical gem to save her fertilizer guy from death! Yeah, Bombyx is ridiculous, but she’s not just an asshole the party has to keep around for plot reasons; you can see why her party would keep her around. And one layer of meta up, she’s the perfect example of how to make a chaotic character like that while still being fun for everyone you’re playing with, which is often not the case. And I love her.

The Anti-Mercer Effect - Or, “I think we proved it can be fun, you can have a good time with your friends. And it doesn’t have to be scary, you can just work with what you know”

The Mercer Effect basically constitutes this: Matthew Mercer, Dungeon Master of Critical Role, is incredible (as are all of his players). They’re all professional story-tellers in a way, remember, and so Critical Role treats D&D like a narrative art-form, and it’s inspiring. Seeing that on Critical Role sets impossible standards - and people go into their own home games imagining that their campaigns will be like Critical Role, and the burden of that expectation tends to fall disproportionately on the DM. And the end result, I think, of the Mercer Effect is that we get discouraged or intimidated, because our game isn’t “as good as” theirs. (And I should note - Matt certainly doesn’t want that to be our reaction).

So the Anti-Mercer Effect is two things: it’s D&D treated like a game, and it’s inspiring but not intimidating. And Unprepared Casters manages both of those really freaking well. Because they play it like a game! A UC arc looks just like a good campaign in anyone’s home game. They have the vibes of 20-somethings and college students playing D&D for fun because that’s who they are (as a 20-something college student who plays a lot of D&D, watching it felt like watching my friends play an especially good campaign). They’re trying to tell a good story, sure, and they always do. But first and foremost, they’re trying to have fun, and it shows, and I love the UC cast for it.

And that’s the other half of it: it’s inspiring! It’s approachable; you can see that Haley and Gus put plenty of work into preparing the game but it also doesn’t make you feel like you need hundreds of pages of worldbuilding to run a game. Sometimes a cleric makes Haley cry and she gives them back a spell-slot from their deity! That’s fantastic! It’s just inspiring - listening to this over the summer, when my last campaign had fallen apart under the strain of graduation, is why I decided to plan and run my new one!

That quote from Haley Whipjack that I used as the title for this section? That’s the whole core of this idea, and really, I think, the core of the podcast.

The Mercer Effect is when you go “that’s really cool, I could never do that.” But Unprepared Casters makes you look at D&D and go “wow, that looks really fun. I bet I can do that!” And I love the show for it.

And I bet a lot of you do too.