#beguilement

[wearethekat]

December Book Reviews: Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold

Reread. Burdened by a socially awkward pregnancy, Fawn Bluefield flees her family farm—only to collide with Lakewalker business, in the form of an evil malice demon that attempts to kill her and her unborn child. Now entangled with a magic bone knife, she joins forces with Lakewalker patroller Dag in order to sort it out.

This series is a departure from Bujold's previous works, in that it sits firmly in the romance genre. Beguilement is much more focused on character development and relationships than any of her other books, aside from maybe Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen. The relatively slow pace and limited action leaves the romance plotline to carry much of the weight, which Bujold has the writing chops to pull off, but might be a turn-off for those less inclined towards the genre. The romance itself is interesting. Both steady, capable Dag and bright Fawn are great characters. You vaguely get the impression that Dag is significantly older—until Bujold hits you with the actual age difference in the last fifth of the book, which is enough to make even me choke. And I say that as someone who's pretty indifferent to the actions of fictional characters. I see what she's doing, though—because of their different cultures, their romance is highly taboo. Writing them with an age gap that would be fairly taboo in our culture makes the forbidden, unlikely romance element a little more real, when it would otherwise might seem unconvincing and contrived.

Bujold is a master as always. Recommended for Bujold fans who enjoy romance, and for romantasy fans who'd enjoy a leisurely paced fantasy with excellently written characters.

[ulkaralakbarova]

In order to protect the reputation of the American space program, a team of NASA administrators turn the first Mars mission into a phony Mars landing. Under threat of harm to their families the astronauts play their part in the deception on a staged set in a deserted military base. But once the real ship returns to Earth and burns up on re-entry, the astronauts become liabilities. Now, with the help of a crusading reporter, they must battle a sinister conspiracy that will stop at nothing to keep the truth hidden. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Robert Caulfield: Elliott Gould Col. Charles Brubaker: James Brolin Kay Brubaker: Brenda Vaccaro Lt. Col. Peter Willis: Sam Waterston Cmdr. John Walker: O.J. Simpson Dr. James Kelloway: Hal Holbrook Judy Drinkwater: Karen Black Albain: Telly Savalas Hollis Peaker: David Huddleston Walter Loughlin: David Doyle Sharon Willis: Lee Bryant Betty Walker: Denise Nicholas Elliot Whitter: Robert Walden Control Room Man: James B. Sikking Capsule Communicator: Alan Fudge Vice President Price: James Karen F.B.I. Man Number 1: Jon Cedar General Enders: Hank Stohl President: Norman Bartold Dr. Bergen: Darrell Zwerling Dr. Burroughs: Milton Selzer Horace Gruning: Lou Frizzell Mrs. Peaker: Nancy Malone Jerry: Paul Picerni Alva Leacock: Barbara Bosson Reporter (uncredited): Bob Harks Film Crew: Casting: Jane Feinberg Casting: Mike Fenton Set Decoration: Rick Simpson Production Design: Albert Brenner Original Music Composer: Jerry Goldsmith Director of Photography: Bill Butler Costume Design: Patricia Norris Sound mixer: Jerry Jost Stunt Coordinator: Bill Hickman Makeup Artist: Michael Westmore Location Manager: Ron Underwood Assistant Director: Irby Smith Art Direction: David M. Haber Producer: Paul Lazarus III Director: Peter Hyams Special Effects: Henry Millar Associate Producer: Michael I. Rachmil Editor: James Mitchell Still Photographer: Bruce McBroom Script Supervisor: Marshall J. Wolins Hairstylist: Emma M. diVittorio Boom Operator: Joseph Kite Special Effects: Bruce Mattox Special Effects: Robert Spurlock Camera Operator: James R. Connell Title Designer: Dan Perri Movie Reviews: John Chard: It’s a pleasure alright, and I don’t feel guilty about it at all!. A NASA space mission up to Mars fails to get off the ground due to major technical problems. Fearing funding could be taken away and wishing to avoid embarrassment, the powers that be decide to do a fake landing in a studio. With the astronauts forced to pretend that they are actually up on Mars, and fighting with their own personal belief systems, the government executives in charge fear that the fake flight could come to light. Upon learning that the outside world actually thinks they crashed upon reentering the earths atmosphere, the astronauts run for their lives knowing that the government can’t afford for the men to stay alive. Capricorn One is an excellent conspiracy picture that sadly seems to have been largely forgotten. Even today we are still hearing mooted stories of the landing on the moon actually being fake, so here director and writer Peter Hyams takes it and crafts a thrillingly taut piece of work. At the films heart is Elliot Gould’s (his great 70s work under valued) intrepid journalist, Robert Caulfield, after being nudged in the ribs by one of his friends at NASA, is himself under threat of death from shadowy government types who will think of nothing to offing him along with the astronauts. The film is split into two very significant halves, the first half is the set up, the conversations before and after the fake landing are clever and crucially attention grabbing, and of course we get to know our characters with the right amount of time. The film then shifts for the second half into a quality thriller chase movie, our main protagonists pursued by the government assassins courtesy of two gun toting helicopters. Jerry Goldsmith’s score brilliantly becoming part of the chase sequences, making the helicopters seem like death stalking machines operated by no man alone. We even get Telly Savalas joi...

[clownowo]

I felt like i needed to express this thing i noticed again in another form

[filmgifs]

THE BEGUILED (2017) dir. Sofia Coppola

[vongulli]

fem buggy because I'm put under a spell and if I don't draw her at least once every other day I'll explode into dust.......

[sunbleacher]

The Beguiled, dir. Sofia Coppola, cinematographer Philippe Le Sourd (2017)

[idontmindifuforgetme]

I love middle aged people who spin the most exciting stories out of the most mundane things . Was grabbing dinner somewhere tn and overheard this guy going on excitedly about how the pilot predicted his flight would be turbulent ……. And then it DID end up being turbulent. Even I was hooked given how he was describing it. I want to be like this one day

[ohtendril]

that's it. that's them in a nutshell

[vaguely-concerned]

that part in sea of blood where the game is soft tutorializing you on the sunder mechanic as the elite rogue venatori enemy shows up for the first time and lucanis' reaction is sooooo..... 'mierda. these guys'. see this is why he's the funniest and also most endearing character ever made. he really does sound softly, tiredly mildly exasperated in a way so wildly out of proportion with the situation at hand. a knife dude from the secret society slash cult that's been horrifically torturing him for a year just popped out of the woodwork, and the tone of lucanis' voice in response is reminiscent of nothing so much as a man who's just realized the office printer is out of ink again and whose resigned little sigh in response conveys with perfect good-natured clarity to everyone else working late alongside him that he is a bit annoyed but like not at any of them. 'we're in this together' his tone seems to say. fuckass printer and all. I'll go fetch some new cartridges. I'm getting coffee along the way does anyone else want anything while I'm there. he has the most companionable effortlessly comforting and innately hilarious presence of anyone who's ever lived even running through the failing forcefield personal trauma horror prison of all time at the bottom of the ocean. his day job is murder. he met rook and co literally half an hour ago and already these are the vibes, starting as they mean to go on.

the je ne sais quoi factor of this man. unparalleled

[bookwyrminspiration]

following the trend, spin the wheel* for ur government assigned ability <33

*if you got polyglot, you can spin for a second ability!

(note: this is specific to the kotlc series’ abilities)

[dilfgifs]

Colin Farrell as John McBurney THE BEGUILED (2017) dir. Sofia Coppola

[fruitblr]

The Beguiled (2017) dir. Sofia Coppola

[celine-song]

The Beguiled (2017) dir. Sofia Coppola

[queefsencen]

you said you were gonna grow up, then you were gonna come find me.

[brandyvampirexx]

She’s so pretty and forever an icon

[bargarean]

i love to remember when nina was in the midst of her parem addiction and mentioned that if wylan had the rest of it she'd bully him until he gave it to her. and i must say that i do not think that would work out for her. wylan was once pinned against a wall by his throat by KAZ BREKKER who was threatening to cut off his tongue and feed it to a stray cat and he was still about to argue back. this guy has absolutely 0 survival instincts i say this with all of the love in my heart but it's a wonder he survived the barrel at all even under the dregs protection. what i mean to say here is that if nina tried to bully him for the parem i think she'd only be able to get it off of his dead body