#gifting to: kennedy warren

[jmiemagvans]

@joshlane @darpow @brooksienewman @stellylee @xsylcuenco @kennedyxwarren @kennaxsanchez @rafaelcb @narilily @jaceeverett @yoon-nyeon

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas, everyone! This is the season to cozy on up and enjoy some snacks while watching some Christmas movies! The pack includes popcorn, seasoning, chocolate covered pretzels, peppermint bark and a cozy throw blanket. Hope everyone keeps warm this winter!

Cheers,

Jamie

[mcndyhcrtmcn]

@owenryder @kennedyxwarren @chetang @mxharleyhua @cvssidyainswvrth @jcksonfields @elliot-newman @xcorikhang @treywright @emelineviolette

Merry Christmas!!

Enjoy a pack of flavorful coffee (and tea) a tumbler and some stickers! The best part is it helps save the manatees! Tossed in some coloring pages as well and a pack of colored pencils. Enjoy!!

xo Mandy

[x-manson-annotated]

X-Manson Annotated Chapter Two - Part Seven - CAPE CITADEL

The following section discusses the Cape Citadel incident as portrayed in the X-Manson AU. It's something of a retelling of the events of X-Men #1 (1963). By this point, The Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters and the cult surrounding it have existed for a year. 

Okay, here he's placing it after the death of Kennedy. In our universe, John F. Kennedy died on November 22, 1963, meaning the incident most likely took place in December. Below is a list of presidents in chronological order provided by Doctor Benway's notes.

This section doesn't merit its own post, but I will bring this up as details become relevant. Here we notice two things: 1. JFK's death resulted in Johnson becoming president as per usual. 2. The Vietnam War ended in 1964. Earlier on Erich mistakes the year this took place as being in '64. 

I mean, You all saw the cover of X-Men #1, you know they don't not look like bumblebees a little bit. The whole thing would be incredibly goofy if they weren't actively doing a terrorism to Erich.

You'll notice in the next section that the entire o5 are intact and Henry is with them. So his statement of not being close with them often is a lie. A great, big, goddamn lie.

Right here, Erich makes an error in his internal continuity. He ended the war in 1964, the year he mistook it for initially.

If Xavier was influencing their minds, maybe the version of the events in X-Men #1 that play out are what the military men believed themselves to be experiencing.

1. Jean attacking with psionics. 2. Scott attacking with force beams. 3. Bobby attacking with ice. These are three now that we can say definitively were at the scene of the attack. Bobby is dead, Jean has had her mind hollowed by Xavier, and Scott was executed by the state.

I think that that perhaps Erich doesn't recall Warren or Hank is either because he genuinely doesn't remember them or because they're the only ones alive who could pursue legal action for unverifiable claims. Then again, the documentary doesn't seem all too worried about being sued by Hank, so it's possible that his ass wasn't too useful in the attack.

This is the real USS Philadelphia. I'm not entirely sure why it was used in this story like this, because it wouldn't have existed at the time of the story. But, maybe this is just a minor example of the timeline being far different from our own.

I like that John is surprised by this. it paints the picture of a well-meaning, but kind of stupid liberal. John's failure to recognize how this, coupled with America already not trusting Erich as a foreigner would inflame people's prejudice.

Xavier hoping it would cause anti-mutant backlash is interesting, it serves two purposes:

1.It promotes his insane idealogy of believing that there's going to be a race war between humans and mutants where mutants will come out on top. 2. This will draw more mutants to his school, hoping to find refuge from the resulting bigotry. The soldiers for his race war and a farm of mutant organs to harvest and study. This is where the Manson aspect of the title really comes into full display.

[positivelybeastly]

20.     the last entry they ever made.

From an old, but well loved yearbook with a logo for 'Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters' stamped in the middle - the majority of the book is taken up with pictures in candid poses, including; a certain Scott Summers being blasted in the groin with a water hose, Jean Grey in mid-sneeze, and a picture of Scott, Jean, Bobby and Warren asleep on a couch, with a very young, very human Hank and a much younger Professor X smiling into the camera, clearly being careful not to wake the rest of the team.

At the back of the book is a journal entry, dated the 8th of July, 2006.

Well, as they say all around the world - adios, sayonara, dasvidanya, alvida, and so on until you reach, farewell! This is my very last day at Xavier's School, and, I suppose, my very last day as an X-Man. I graduated long ago, of course, even if the diploma wasn't real, but there's very much more a sense of finality about today than there ever was about then. I'm . . . a man, now. Twenty years of age, and a full grown man. Off to join the Brand Corporation in their genetics and mutagenics research division. I . . . almost don't know what to say. If Robert or Jeannie could read this, I'm sure they'd be flummoxed, flabbergasted, frenzied! But it's true. I thought I'd be sadder, but in a way, I'm not. This X-Men stuff has been great and all, but it's about time I moved on to greener pastures, more fulfilling pursuits. You can only change the world so much in a yellow and black spandex suit, but with science, you can do anything! I'm definitely going to miss everybody, though. The Professor, Robert, Jeannie, Scottie, Warren . . . they've become a sort of . . . family, to me. I never had brothers or sisters, so it only seems natural I would gravitate towards them all in such a manner, but even though I have the best father you could ever hope for back in Illinois, the Professor has done so much for my growth as a man, as an intellectual, and as a mutant. I don't think this has to be a goodbye (you'll note, journal, I did not say goodbye, merely farewell, at the beginning of this entry), but an end of an era, certainly . . . ah well. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future, as John F. Kennedy once said. It doesn't do to be so blue about things! To the future Henry McCoy reading this - well done! I'm certain you've made me proud.

There is a spot on the page where a picture of Hank, dressed in a Brand lab coat sent ahead by his new employers, was seemingly stuck to the bottom, beneath the journal entry - but all that remains now is a claw mark and a few shreds of glossy photo paper.

[up-risingrp]

Timeline

1831 - Sebastian Shaw forms the Hellfire Club as a way to keep mutant property and ideals aligned

1931 - Dr. Abraham Erskine begins experimentation to create a super soldier for the United States Military

1940 - Howard Stark forms Stark Industries and aligns himself with the US Military for the Second World War.

1943 - Steve Rogers is injected with the super soldier serum

1945 - Steve Rogers and the Howling Commandos take out Johann Schmidt. James Barnes is lost during the fight. He is saved by HYDRA and experimented on to create the Winter Soldier

1949 - Howard Stark and Peggy Carter launch the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics division (SHIELD). They are unaware that former Nazi spies infiltrate SHIELD to form a secret second division of HYDRA within the division

1961 - Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr are brought together by the FBI with the influence of the Hellfire Club to bring a team of mutants together and protect the world from the potential of a new world war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Charles becomes paralyzed during the Bay of Pigs.

1963 - John F. Kennedy is assassinated. It is rumored that a mutant was the cause of it and Erik Lehnsherr is arrested and held at the Pentagon. This is considered the first major incident of a mutant being held by the US military and sparks underground discussions on the dangers of metahuman kind. 

1973 - Charles Xavier, Logan Howlett, and Hank McCoy break Erik Lehnsherr out of the Pentagon in order to keep Raven Darkholme from assassinating Boliver Trask, one of the main champions of Registration laws being drafted. They stop Raven from her assassination attempt.

1982 - Charles Xavier starts the Xavier’s Institute for Gifted Youngsters. It is not well known for many years, usually acting as a safe haven for mutants who are pushed out of their work or home life.

1991 - Howard and Maria Stark are assassinated by the Winter Soldier

1992 - Tony Stark inherits Stark Industries, led by Obidiah Stane until Tony is old enough to run it himself. Stark Industries heavily shifts towards machine weaponry under Stane’s leadership.

1995 - Nick Fury begins drafting what will later become the Avengers Initiative

1997 - After a traumatic event, Jean Grey is brought to the Institute and becomes Xavier’s youngest student and starts the push to rescue younger mutants from their home lives.

2005 - During an experiment with the bio-tech enhancement force of the US military, gamma radiation turns Bruce Banner into the Hulk leading him to disappearing to avoid being turned into a weapon

2006 - After a surge of her powers, Amara Acquilla creates an island off the coast of Africa. She names it Genosha and claims it for mutant kind. Thanks to many other mutant help, the island becomes inhabited by mutants looking for a safe place and becomes the new headquarters of the Hellfire Club.

2007 - Following the horrific deaths of his wife and child in Poland, Erik Lehsherr moves to Genosha and starts the Brotherhood. Meant as a group of mutants against the humans becoming involved with mutant control

2008 - The X-men are first brought together by Charles Xavier. He cities the need for an undercover group of mutants sent on missions to bring other mutants to safety. The original team includes Warren Worthington III, Jean Grey, Scott Summers, Hank McCoy, and Bobby Drake. 

2010 - Following a mission, Natasha Romanova is deprogrammed through the help of Clint Barton. She leaves the secret Russian program of the Widows to join SHIELD as the Black Widow

2012 - During a weapons demonstration, Tony Stark is captured by the Ten Rings and during his captivity creates the first Iron Man suit to escape. When arriving home to Malibu, he begins to work on a more high tech version and starts to hunt down his weapons in the hands of the enemy. At a press conference following Obidiah Stane’s attack, he outs himself as Iron Man 

2013 - The House of Congress drafts the first bill outlining the need for regulation of metahumans and human bodysuit weaponry technology. The Iron Man suit is included in this bill. The bill dies on the House floor.

2014 - Thor, prince of Asgard is sentenced to Earth and stripped of his powers by his father, Odin. The Asgardian technology, the Destroyer is sent by his brother Loki to attempt his destruction when he regains his powers.

2015 - Steve Roger’s frozen body is found in the Atlantic Ocean and brought back to SHIELD headquarters. When realizing he is not in the right place, he finds out that over 70 years have passed since he went down to stop the Tesseract from being stolen.

2016 - SHIELD begins experimentation with the Tesseract following the events of Thor and the Asgardian technology.

2017 - The Avengers Initiative is invoked after the Tesseract begins to become unstable from experimentation. A portal is opened creating the ability for alien invaders to attack New York City. The Avengers including Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Steve Rogers, and the appearance of Thor manage to save New York City with Tony Stark flying a deadly missile through the portal and seeing what lies beyond Earth.

During this battle, Charles Xavier forbids the X-men from intervening as SHIELD has looked the other way when it comes to mutant activity and is concerned that should they become involved and allow the general public see their powers, they will not be looked at favorably. This causes rifts in the X-Men as well as mutant kind in general.

The Department of Damage Control (DODC) is created in order to help clean up the mess left behind after the Battle of New York, a jointly funded project between Stark Industries and the United States Government.

2018 - Talks of Registration spark up once again in Congress and many laws are drafted on the need for regulation of metahumans. All laws die on the floor of the House and Senate.

2020 - For years following the Battle of New York, Tony Stark has been working on an Artificial Intelligence that would serve as a shield around the Earth. When the AI goes off the tracks, Ultron is created. 

The Avengers assemble again including the new recruits of Scott Lang, Hope van Dyne, and Sam Wilson. With this group, and the eventual defection of Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, they are able to destroy Ultron but not without destroying Sokovia as well. During the fighting, Pietro is killed while saving Clint Barton.

Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Ben Grimm, Johnny Storm, and Victor von Doom leave on a SHIELD-sanctioned trip to space prior to the events of Ultron.

2021 - Following the events of Ultron, emergency action is taken and the first Registration Law is passed. This requires all metahumans to enter into a database with their powers noted. Bodysuit weaponry is heavily monitored and is strictly forbidden except for the permission granted by the US military. 

SHIELD is effectively shut down due to their involvement with Ultron and metahumans. The DODC takes up the duties of enforcing the Registration laws and absorbs many of the former SHIELD agents.

The Metahuman Advisory Council or MAC is formed after the legislation passes as a way to give insight to Congress about metahuman rights and abilities. The original members of MAC include Charles Xavier, Reed Richards, Steve Rogers, Hank McCoy, and Emma Frost. 

On the other side of the world on Genosha, the Metahuman Alliance of the State of Humanity (MASH) is formed spearheaded by Erik Lehnsherr with other members including Warren Worthington III, Amara Aquilla, Sebastian Shaw, and the unlikely appearance of Natasha Romanoff.

Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Ben Grimm, and Johnny Storm return from space after being hit with a cosmic storm. Their spacecraft crashes, and the four are picked up by the DODC for further studies. Victor von Doom is assumed dead, but a body was ever recovered.

2022 - On top of congressional and military restrictions on the use of metahuman powers, registration laws are passed requiring minors to be registered. Charles Xavier offers to take on the mutants whose abilities are considered dangerous, making the executive decision that all mutants living on in the Institute will register without complaint. Tension mounts amongst its residents and the remaining X-Men. 

Natasha Romanoff finds Yelena Belova. She manages to deprogram Yelena. They are the only two living widows outside of General Dreykov’s direct control.

2023 - Justin Hammer and Aldrich Killian have joined forces to create weaponry for the DODC to use against metahumans. There have been whispers that one of them is building on Trask’s old work on the Sentinel program. Those whispers also include William Stryker’s name.

Scott Summers has left the X-Men and moved to Genosha to create his own group of X-Men for those not interested in following Charles Xavier blindly. Jean Grey has stepped up to run the Institute while Charles works with Congress.

The Avengers are currently in shambles with some for the Registration laws and others vehemently against.

Illegal street teams are starting up, people are fighting back against the Registration laws even though to be caught would mean being branded as a metahuman.

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter - Monday, August 21

ANNOUNCER (V.O.) : Under our new C.E.O., Angel, we're focusing less on power, and more on using that power for good. We have a zero tolerance policy for killing, and that includes you, vampires. * shot of a Wolfram & Hart employee sipping from a coffee mug.* That better be pig's blood, mister. Yes, our esteemed president has made it clear that this is a new company for the new millennium, and he wants to work with you. ANGEL: If you don't kill, we won't kill you. ANNOUNCER (V.O.) That's right, no more employee sacrifices.

~~Harm's Way~~

The Sunnydale Herald is looking for at least one new editor. Contributing to the Herald is a great way to get your Buffy on! Find out more here.

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Ryan Summers: Vampire Slayer part 2: The Journey (Kennedy/Willow, T) by WitchBoy713

Paper butterflies, something amiss (Xander/Willow, T) by tinkerbellamy

Broken, But Still Good (Buffy/Faith, T) by A_World_Without_Shrimp

The Gift (Drusilla/Spike, T) by the_widow_twankey

Biased Conscience (Gen, Not rated) by Icymoonlight

Sneak Attack Behind the Slayer's Back (Gen, Not rated) by Icymoonlight

Superhero's Support System (Buffy&Willow&Xander&Giles, Not rated) by Icymoonlight

Peculiar Toys for Peculiar Battles (Buffy&Xander, Not rated) by Icymoonlight

Under One Roof (Giles&Ethan, G) by NAOA

The nips! (Spike/Buffy, PG-13) by Desicat

[Chaptered Fiction]

The World in Shadow Chapter 27 (Legion of superheroes crossover, FR18) by cmdruhura

Chosen One 2: Welcome to the Hellmouth Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, R) by all_choseny

The Truth Shall Set You Free Chapter 15 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Geliot99

Death of a Slayer Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, Adult only) by To Be Hers

The Neighbor's Point of View Chapter 36 (Buffy/Spike, PG) by the_big_bad

The Plunge Chapter 36 (Buffy/Spike, PG) by Harlow Turner

Encased by Sunshine Chapter 23 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by acb6293

The Roads not taken Chapter 10 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Lluvia

Blood and Black Lace Chapter 3 (Buffy/Spike, R) by SlayrGrl

Keepsakes Chapter 48 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by violettathepiratequeen

[Image, Audio & Video]

Art: 🗡️ BTVS 518. Checkpoint 🗡️ by tmcarlee

[Reviews]

The Buffy Re-watch: S2E4 (part 1) by jvstheworld

[Fandom Discussions]

buffy sets up the really important questions by variousqueerthings

Couple more Jenny thoughts by coraniaid

Vampire Weaknesses & Drusilla's torture in Prague by Stoney

Favourite dream from Restless? by gd4x

andrew is definitely in love with warren right? by Low-Cockroach-3141

Underrated funny quotes? by gd4x

One of the Funniest Moments From the Comics by CE-Nex

Lines you like so much you would get a tattoo of it? by chemeli888

My thoughts on Angel season 2! I got through this season a lot faster! by Quiet-Living8975

Scenes you think are over the top? by Opening_Knowledge868

buffy in fool for love by atlasshrugd

Watching with someone who's never seen it by SlytherKitty13

Really loved the first of the Boom! Comics runs! by donoho-59

Time travel fic recs? by Kirinin1

Weight of the World by BreakTacticF0

dawn is buffy's 'inner child' by atlasshrugd

what the heck was going on in s7??? by DrPepperEnthusiast17

Re-watching Waiting in the Wings by R0BBYDARK0

xxth rewatch. creepiest line: hey Dawn! is your sister home? by milkmamasilk

Buffy Reboot by Midnightwitch92

Would Faith have actually killed Xander if Angel didn’t intervene? by SpoonFullOfStupid

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

Join the editor team :)

[jdgo51]

 

When You're Not Doing-Just-Fine-Thank-You

Today's inspiration comes from:

In the Middle of the Mess

by Sheila Walsh

A year before Mum’s death, I was sitting in a departure lounge waiting for my flight to board when that dreaded announcement graced our ears: “The 3:30 p.m. flight to Dallas, Texas, will now depart at 5:40 p.m. Thank you for your patience.”

I looked at my fellow passengers and questioned the announcer’s gratitude for the passengers’ “patience.” It was our flight’s third delay, and tempers were flaring. I picked up my briefcase once again and returned to the coffee shop where I had spent much of the last two hours. I ordered a cup of tea and was settling in to read my newspaper when I became aware of someone standing in front of me. I looked up. A woman about my age, tall and slim with short blonde hair, smiled and asked, “Would you mind if I joined you for a moment?”

“No, of course not,” I said.

“I heard you speak at a conference,” she said. “We have similar stories.”

“When was that?” I asked. “It was last year, in California,” she said. “It led to this.” She pulled up the sleeve of her sweater to reveal a tattoo on her wrist. It was a semicolon. “May I ask what that means?” I said. She looked down at it and rubbed her fingers over the black ink. “It’s about choosing to live one more day,” she said. “I’m part of a movement.” “What’s the movement?” I asked.

“It’s called Project Semicolon.” She explained that it was a community of support for those who struggle with thoughts of self-harm and suicide. For those who battle mental illness or addiction. It was a community for those who needed to share the truth. She’d been at the conference hosted by Saddleback Church, she said, and it had changed her life. “I joined Project Semicolon after I heard you speak.”

I remembered that conference well. Kay Warren had invited me to be a keynote speaker at the annual Church and Mental Health Symposium, a conference rising from the ashes of Kay and Rick’s son Matthew Warren’s suicide. I remember being unusually nervous as I flew out to speak that first night. I wasn’t quite sure what I could add. The lineup of speakers was impressive and intimidating — United States Surgeon General Vice Admiral Vivek Murthy; Paul Summergrad, former head of the American Psychiatric Association; former congressman Patrick Kennedy; and many, many more.

I was the speaker on the opening night, which I was grateful for because it meant I didn’t have to follow any of the other specialized presenters. I remember my opening line so well. It’s something I couldn’t have said for most of my life.

“Good evening. My name is Sheila Walsh, and I am profoundly grateful for the gift of mental illness. It means that I can look into the eyes of someone else who is suffering and say: me too.”

Freedom begins in a community of “me too” people, people committed to helping you carry your burden. 

Such little words. But how I would have welcomed hearing them from someone in the weeks before I was hospitalized! In those days the church rarely addressed any area of mental illness.

I looked at the woman across from me in the airport coffee shop. “So, what does the semicolon mean?” I asked.

She looked down at her wrist again and said, “A semicolon is used when an author could’ve ended a sentence but chose not to. I am the author, and the sentence is my life.”

She told me that when she raises her hands in worship, that little tattoo becomes an offering to God, a daily acknowledgment of her brokenness and her faith.

“That’s powerful,” I said.

“I need to go now. My flight’s boarding,” she said, picking up her backpack.

I thanked her for sharing her story. And I meant it. I needed to hear her words.

After she left I thought about the little tattoo on her wrist. What was it about that symbol that helped her so much? Perhaps it reminds her to fight through the darkest nights of depression. It gives her something to focus on. It tells her to hold on. It’s a tangible declaration to her weary soul that her story is not over yet even when her mind tells her it should be.

Further, perhaps it lets her know she is not alone. It reminds her of the community around her who says “me too.” Shame thrives in hiding and solitude. It whispers,

You’re all alone. You’ll never be enough. You’ll never change.

Freedom begins in a community of “me too” people, people committed to helping you carry your burden. Being part of Project Semicolon has given her that kind of community. They don’t understand because they are experts. They understand because they’re honest about their own suffering, and they help her combat the lies. They help her see the truth about herself, and they accept her just as she is. That kind of community deprives shame of the oxygen that keeps it alive.

Speaking the truth about her life to those who understand her path has given her strength to keep walking.

After she left, I sat and considered Christ’s encounter with Zacchaeus, a man despised by everyone who knew him. He was Jewish, yes, but he was also a tax collector for the Roman occupiers.

The Romans gave this unsavory job to local recruits and allowed them to keep a percentage of whatever they collected. Zacchaeus and his colleagues took more than what was owed. They were parasites living off the vulnerability of their own people. When Christ decided to share a meal with Zacchaeus, the people were horrified. How could Jesus spend time with a man who was bleeding them dry?

This was His response:

The Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost. — Luke 19:10

I considered the verse and thought about the study I’d done on it years ago. The word used here for lost means “destroyed, ruined, broken beyond repair.”

I thought about the woman, about her semicolon tattoo. I thought about Jesus, who didn’t come for those who are doing-just-fine-thank-you. He came to save those who were and are willing to acknowledge they are broken beyond repair. And even now, in His tender way, He comes to the doors of our hidden places and invites Himself in for supper.

Jesus comes to us in the secret shadows and bids us into the light. He wants to be in communion with us, wants to help carry the load of the pain and shame we secret away in isolation.

I don’t think I’m the only one who has constructed walls around parts of myself. We all know that pain is part of life, but when too much of it happens all at once — when it happens too early in life or when we feel helpless to combat it — the pain can make us believe we don’t want to go on. It’s why we build a secret place inside ourselves where it can hang out. The pain might follow us there, but we believe it can’t hurt us as much if it’s walled up. And we falsely think that the world can’t see it either.

We can pretend that everything is okay. And perhaps that’s a sort of saving grace for some of us as children. When I think of the stories women have shared with me through the years — stories of the worst kind of abuse and betrayal — I’ve wondered how they’ve made it. Perhaps some have survived by burying the pain deep inside, but I believe now that others have discovered the beauty of living open, yet broken, with Christ.

My new friend with the tattoo doesn’t pretend that her pain is gone but brings it into the light of a crucified Savior. He helps her carry it with hands scarred by love. His resounding “Yes!” to the Father’s plan to save us took Him down a brutal bloody path, but it gave life to each one of us who will say yes to Christ and no to the lies that would keep us hidden.

Reflections

I know your story is different from mine, but pain is pain and you are not alone.

In Luke 19, Christ makes His way into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. The crowds welcome Him with open arms, shouting,

Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest! — Luke 19:38 NIV

Then Luke tells us that as Christ looked over the Holy City, He wept “because you did not recognize it when God visited you” (Luke 19:44).

Luke moves away from that panoramic picture and focuses on the weeping face of Christ. Why do you think Christ wept in that moment?

I wonder if Christ ever weeps over us when — even as we raise our voices in worship — our hearts, our shame, our pain is hidden? Is there something you have hidden away inside that you need to bring into the light of Christ?

My friend Ann Voskamp inks a little cross on her wrist each morning as a reminder of the One who was wounded for her so she doesn’t have to wound herself. What would help you to remember the relentless love of Christ during the messy moments of life?

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. — Psalm 46:1 ESV

Excerpted from In the Middle of the Mess by Sheila Walsh, copyright Sheila Walsh.

*

[byneddiedingo]

Walter Matthau and Audrey Hepburn in Charade (Stanley Donen, 1963) Cast: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy, Ned Glass, Dominique Minot, Jacques Marin. Screenplay: Peter Stone, Marc Behm. Cinematography: Charles Lang. Art direction: Jean d'Eaubonne. Music: Henry Mancini. Charade was dismissed in its day as a pleasant but derivative entertainment, with touches of Hitchcock and a bit of James Bond in the mix, a film that would be nothing without its star teaming of Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. It would also inspire other star-teamed romantic adventures with one-word titles, like Warren Beatty and Susannah York in Kaleidoscope (Jack Smight, 1966) and Shirley MacLaine and Michael Caine in Gambit (Ronald Neame, 1966), and Charade's director, Stanley Donen, would even repeat the formula with Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren in Arabesque (1966). But Charade has survived today as a classic when the others have mostly been forgotten. The star teaming has a lot to do with it, of course: Who doesn't want to see the two most charming people in the world together? Owing to Grant's genetic gift for looking much younger than he was, even the 25-year age difference between Grant and Hepburn only slightly tests the limits of what one can accept in a romantic pairing.* But the film also makes sly references to the difference in their ages, and wisely makes Hepburn's character into the more active one in initiating a relationship. Charade also has an exceptionally witty screenplay, with Peter Stone largely responsible for the final script from the story he and Mark Behm had been unable to sell to the studios until they turned it into a novel that was serialized in Redbook magazine. And it has a near-perfect supporting cast, including three actors at turning points in their careers: Walter Matthau, James Coburn, and George Kennedy. All of them would move out of television and into the movies after Charade, and all three would win Oscars for their work. And in Stanley Donen it had a director whose lightness of touch had been honed in MGM musicals, including the greatest of them all, Singin' in the Rain (1952). *Compare, for example, the similar age gap between James Stewart and Kim Novak in Bell, Book and Candle (Richard Quine, 1958). After that film, Stewart gave up playing romantic leads. Grant made much the same choice: Charade was his antepenultimate film: Although he would make one more, Father Goose (Ralph Nelson, 1964), that paired him with a younger actress, Leslie Caron, in his final film, Walk, Don't Run (Charles Walters, 1966), he was the older man who serves as matchmaker to young lovers -- a role that was based on the part played by Charles Coburn in The More the Merrier (George Stevens, 1943).

[carolinemillerbooks]

New Post has been published on Books by Caroline Miller

New Post has been published on https://www.booksbycarolinemiller.com/musings/for-everything-there-is-a-season/

For Everything There Is A Season

  If a person succeeds in reaching old age, three outcomes are certain. The individual will have cataract surgery, begin a prescription for glaucoma, and experience a slowdown in brain function.  Memories become slippery eels, not easy to catch.  Thank heaven experience steps in, guiding judgment because the road is familiar.  Joe Biden recently turned 80. People have questioned his capacity to lead our country should he seek reelection. They worry his physical or mental capabilities are impaired.  Or, that he might die while in office. Mishaps aren’t tied to old age, of course. Hospitals have young people and children in their care. Remarkably, pneumonia ravages young and old alike.  Alzheimer’s targets the old, of course.  In 1994, 5 years after leaving the presidency, Ronald Reagan announced he was stricken with it.  Counting back in time, he likely suffered its impairments while in office.  Testifying before Congress about the Iran-Contra Affair, he often replied,  “I don’t recall the answer to that question.” Cynics accused him of evasion.  Equally probable, he was telling the truth. Of course, if Biden escapes the handicaps of old age, he could still die while in office.  Several Presidents have. Assassination is more common than we’d like to admit. Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, John Garfield, and Robert Kennedy became victims. Others died naturally in their presidential beds: William Harrison, Zachery Taylor, Warren Harding, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Each time, the nation survived the tragedy because we the people are more than the sum of our presidents. For me, vigor isn’t the most valuable trait in a President. Experience ranks higher. The elephant that lumbers in the right direction survives to reach its destination.  The same can’t be said for wild horses stampeding toward a cliff.  Impetuousness doesn’t equate with disaster, necessarily. Nor are the young destined to make poor choices.  What they lack is consistency. Sometimes they vote.  Sometimes they don’t. When they don’t, they leave the future to the elderly who are more reliable voters. Over the last three elections, the pattern has altered a bit. More young people are casting ballots. Some pundits speculate their votes blocked the expected red wave in the 2022 midterms. That might be true. They had more on the table this round.  Already, they’d been denied their Constitutional right to abortion. Gun violence in schools is a searing recollection. Student debt threatens to drown them.  Climate change denies them a future.  To his credit, President Joe Biden, age 80, understands their concerns. He made their issues a focal point in the midterm election. When he did, the young flocked to the polls like sand fleas to a summer beach. The elderly were already with the President. Republican threats to Medicare and Social Security were a bridge too far.  In tandem with the young, they built a wall that withstood the red wave and saved our democracy. Ageism is an abominable prejudice.  Each of us wants to be judged for our ability, not the number of candles on a cake. Science has afforded our species longer and healthier lives than nature designed. We’d be wise to let society benefit from that gift. If health and reason prevail, functioning members of a society should be treated equally. To their credit, the octogenarian leaders in the House of Representatives have decided now is the time to defer to the next generation.  A prudent decision, no doubt, but remarkable for its grace. Rather than abandon all responsibility, they have chosen to lose themselves among the rank and file yet remain cheering in the wings as the neophytes they have groomed navigate without training wheels.  

[judgementdaysunshine]

Masterlist

Fics i have done!

Fandoms i write for!

Young justice

Kaldur'ahm/Aqualad

Megan morse/Miss martian

Connor kent/Superboy

Artemis crock/Tigress

Jaime reyes/Blue beetle

Cassie sandsmark/Wondergirl

Wally west/Kidflash

Barbara gordon/Batgirl

CSI Vegas

Sara sidle

Nick stokes

Mia dickerson

Greg sanders

Catherine willows

Warrick brown

Riley adams

Gil grissom

M*A*S*H*

Benjamin hawkeye pierce

Margaret hot lips houlihan

B.J. hunnicutt

Margie cutler

Radar o'reilly

Kellye yamoto

John mulcahy

Stranger things

Nancy wheeler

Dustin henderson

Max mayfield

Jonathan byers

Robin buckley

Steve harrison

Jane hopper/el

Lucas Sinclair

Joyce byers

Mike wheeler

Barbara holland

Jim hopper

CSI Miami

Walter simmons

Yelena salazar

Ryan wolfe

Natalia boa vista

Eric delko

Calliegh duquesne

Horatio caine

Alexx woods

Jesse cardoza

Marisol delko

Marvel

Kate bishop

Clint barton

Natasha romanoff

T'challa

Cassandra lang

Sam wilson

Kamala khan

Bucky barnes

Shuri

Bruce banner

Mortal kombat

Kung jin

Skarlet

Hanzo hasashi

Sonya blade

Kuai liang

Jaqui briggs

Johnny cage

Kitana

Takeda takashi

Jade

Jax briggs

Cassie cage

Resident evil

Claire redfield

Carlos olivera

Sherry birkins

Leon kennedy

Jill valentine

Jake muller

Helena harper

Chris redfield

Alice

NCIS NOLA

Chris laselle

Loretta wade

Sebastian lund

Hannah khoury

Patton plame

Sonja percy

Dwayne pride

Tammy gregario

Final destination

Clear rivers

Lewis romaro

Wendy christensen

Kevin horton

Carrie dryer

Kevin fischer

Kimberly corman

Thomas burke

Alex browning

The mighty ducks

Fulton reed

Julie gaffney

Adam banks

Charlie conway

Dean portman

Guy germaine

Dwayne robertson

Luiz mendoza

Connie monreau

Criminal minds

Emily prentiss

Spencer reid

Jennifer jareau

Aaron hotchner

Kate callahan

Derek morgan

Penelope garcia

Luke alvez

Tara lewis

Matt simmons

Trauma center

Derek stiles

Angie thompson

Gabriel cunningham

Elena salazar

Erhard miller

Naomi kimishima

Markus vaughn

Valerie blaylock

ER

Susan lewis

Mark greene

Carol hathaway

Doug ross

Kerry weaver

Gregory pratt

Samantha taggart

John carter

Cate banfield

Luka kovac

Harry potter

Cedric diggory

Luna lovegood

Harry potter

Ginny weasley

Remus lupin

Narcissa malfoy

Ron weasley

Nymphodora tonks

Sirius black

Marlene mckinnon

Draco malfoy

Fleur declour

Blaise zabini

Hermione granger

Kingdom hearts

Namine

Riku

Kairi

Sora

Aqua

Terra

Xion

Ventus

Roxas

Xmen

Charles xavier

Ororo munroe

Warren worthington

Kitty pryde

Kurt wagner

Illyana rasputin

Erik leshnerr

Raven darkholme

Logan

Marie d'ancanto

Peter maximoff

Jubliee

Pixie

Pixie o'brien

Harland mckenna

Frank mccullen

Final fantasy

Cloud strife

Oerba dia vanille

Snow villers

Tifa lockhart

Hope esthiem

Oerba yun fang

Vincent valentine

Lighting farron

Zack fair

Aerith gainsborough

Narnia

Lucy pevensie

Peter pevensie

Susan pevensie

Edmund pevensie

Mr tumnus

Prince caspian

NCIS LA

Marty deeks

Shay mosley

Sam hanna

Kensi blye

G callen

Fatima nazami

Eric beale

Harley hidoko

Nell jones

Code lyoko

Aelita schaffer

Odd della robbia

Yumi ishiyama

Ulrich stern

Milly solovieff

William dunbar

Tamiya diop

Jeremy belpois

Triple frontier

Will "ironhead" miller

Frankie "catfish" morales

Benny miller

Santiago "pope" garcia

The night shift

Landry de la cruz

Joey chavez

Gwen gaskin

Kenny fornette

Jordan alexander

Michael ragosa

Drew allister

Shannon rivera

TC callahan

Ewan mcgregor characters

Catcher block

Dan torrance

Perry makepeace

Christopher robin

Rodney copperbottom

Robert lewis

Alex law

Edward bloom

Star wars

Crosshair

Cara dune

Luke skywalker

Aayla secura

Hunter

Din djarin

Padme amidala

Cal kestis

Rey skywalker

Obi wan kenobi

Bo katan kryze

Qui gon jin

Tech

Ahsoka tano

Poe dameron

Leia organa

Echo

Finn

Iden versio

Del meeko

Wrecker

Misc 1

Jack mercer

Mason "mace" brown

Spike spiegel

Toph

Lu fox

Elizabeth martinson

Casi

Laney boggs

Max lewinsky

Mahtilda

Flip zimmerman

Nani pelekai

Murphy macmanus

Korra

Lu fox

Samantha caine

Bill s prescott

Iris

Zack siler

Rachel

David abbott

Marta

Jed eckhart

Tess finnegan

Ryan williams

Barbara novak

Ted logan

Toni

Eugene/vida boheme

Tris prior

Murtagh morzzansson

Skeeter

Christian

Stephanie speck

John wick

Viola eade

Jonathan levy

Evey hammond

Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz

Casey jones

Marni

Elliot alderson

Misc 2

Chris chambers

Andie anderson

Michael perry

Beatrix "the bride" kiddo

Elliott

Quinn fabray

Benjamin barry

Dani rojas

Billy/four

Daphne moon

Javi gutierrez

Allison reynolds

Hector villanueva

April o'neil

Ned tash

Kara

Don billingsley

Asami sato

Beau hutton

Monica long dutton

Joey coalter

Celine naville

Sam munroe

[space-feminist]

highlights from the chris fleming show on friday night

- he starts complimenting a guy from the audience on looking like a politician's kid ("are you liz warren's golden retriever?") and the guy's like "i have something to say". he says he met chris's parents and had photo evidence to prove it. chris was understandably a bit shocked. some time later, he makes his way to another part of the audience to someone who has their hand up, saying "i hope you don't have anything as shocking to tell me". what does the person say? "i met your grandparents"

- chris: every day i think i'm turning more into my aunt patty

someone from the audience: is she gay?

[audience laughter]

chris: this is how the pandemic has affected everyone's social skills. 'is she gay?'

- "in school they're all like 'be original' 'be creative' but what they actually want is to take all the creative ideas and give it to the hottest person. harry styles? that's a jock in a dress. if you threw a frisbee at him he'd be like *mimes catching a frisbee*"

- "you know how normies have appropriated edgy humor from 2006? like how every gift shop has a pair of socks that says 'i'm totally wet for pizza!'?"

- "people in massachusetts are either the kennedys or polyamorous vegans, there's no in between"

- lots of people started cheering at "polyamorous vegans" and i was hit with the realization that that makes me a kennedy

- he was obsessed with dogs as a kid but he couldn't get one bc his mom was allergic so he started researching other pets and found out that a gerbil was 4.99. he did a whole song about how that's the same price as a box of raspberries - "driscoll's or a gerbil"

- i texted my sister who works at a petco and she said that's probably not true

- "i'm used to getting hate from conservatives. if some guy whose profile pic is him driving an atv through a cvs doesn't like me i can go about my day. but gen z is brutal. they'll be like 'bestie you look dehydrated' and i'm just *lays down on the stage with his arms crossed over his chest like a dead body* that's it. it's over for me"

- "seeing a lot of glasses out here tonight"

+ not from him, but overheard on the street outside the venue: "i don't know much about high culture in the 1800s, that's one of my history weak spots"

all in all 10/10 absolutely recommend seeing chris fleming in boston

[cortexifansquint]

buffyverse?

my favorite female character: Buffy is obvious, so closely followed tie between Willow and Dawn. For ATS Cordelia, Darla, Lilah.

my favorite male character: Spike. Giles (S1-5)

my favorite book/season/etc: Constant rotation of S2, 3 & 5.

my favorite episode (if its a tv show):

BTVS: Prophecy Girl, Innocence, Passion, Becoming ll, Helpless, Dopplegangland, Bad Girls, Graduation Day ll, Something Blue, Hush, A New Man, This Year's Girl, Family, Fool for Love, Checkpoint, The Gift, Life Serial, Once More with Feeling, Normal Again, Grave, Potential, Selfless, Conversations with Dead People, Chosen

ATS: Rm W/A Vu, Five by Five, The Ring, Birthday, Darla, That Vision Thing, Lullaby, Sleep Tight, The Price, Orpheus, Damaged, Smile Time, Harm's Way, A Whole in the World, You're Welcome, Time Bomb, Not Fade Away

my favorite cast member: SMG acting wise. James Marsters (goes out of his way fan wise with cons and live signings etc) Eliza Dushku (a dope human in general). Always really enjoy con panels with them. Honorable mentions: Amber Benson (so funny and sweet) & Julie Benz (like her IG dog posts also she complimented my hair at a photo op lol).

my favorite ship: Spike/Buffy. Angel/Cordelia. Wesley/Lilah.

a character I’d die defending: Dawn. Like, I can't even objectively understand the hate for such a great character, especially it being she's 'whiny'.

a character I just can’t sympathize with: well Warren is a no brainer. Can't stand Connor, I mean I get his trauma and all that but he just..ugh.

a character I grew to love: Wesley. Andrew (I found him kinda funny in S6 but loved that dork during S7). Kennedy (took a rewatch but I actually like her)

my anti otp: hmm, got ships I don't care for but as far as anti....eh.

[sunnydale-digest]

The Sunnydale Herald, Sunday, May 9

BUFFY: Hey. SPIKE: It's a happy occasion. You meet my friend? BUFFY: No, not yet. But she seems like a very nice attempt at making me jealous. SPIKE: Is it working? BUFFY: A little. It doesn't change anything ... but if you're wildly curious, yeah, it hurts. SPIKE: I'm sorry... Or, Good!

~~Hell's Bells~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Warren's Comeuppance (Crossover with Lord of the Rings, E) by Aragorn II Elessar

Starving (Faith/Reader, E) by RiveBiFiveMind

The Trio meets the Blue Devil (Crossover with Sonic the Hedgehog, T) by Bl4ckHunter

Unwanted Assistance (Crossover with Godzilla, G) by majingojira

Reunited for eternity (Willow/Tara, T) by Aragorn II Elessar

Not Like We Knew (Crossover with The L-Word, FR18) by Lowlifer

[Chaptered Fiction]

Eliza: The Vampire Child, Chapter 1 (Spike/Drusilla, T) by Puella Pulchra

Hooked on a Feeling, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, T) by EllieRose101

The Groom of Rosenberg, Chapter 12 (Willow, K) by regertz

Sooner or Later, Chapter 9 (Angel/Buffy, T) by butimbroken

Eliza: The Vampire Child, Chapter 2 (Spike/Drusila, T) by Puella Pulchra

Held in Gass Jars, Chapter 4 (Buffy/Angel, T) by butimbroken

The Ratchet Effect, Chapter 13 (Ensemble, T) by michael t

Web, Chapter 22 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by DarkVoid116

Falling in Love, Chapter 24 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Wonder and Ashes

En hurlant à Une Lune de Béton, Chapter 10 (Buffy/Spike, French language, NC-17) by Violette-Milka

Mortal Allies Series, Episode 5: War and Roses, Chapter 20 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Passion4Spike

Someone to Lean On, Chapter 6 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by MaggieLaFey

The Saviors of The Three Worlds, Chapter 36 (Crossover with Once Upon a Time, FR13) by Kittykitkat

Invasion USA, Chapter 16 (Crossover with Harry Potter, FR7) by Buffyworldbuilder

The Ring Talks, Chapter 18 (Buffy/Spike, 18+) by Myrabeth

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork:Spike and Dawn comic panel by spikedru

Artwork:BTVS “Every Outfit” “Amends” part 2 Xx by whatshisfaceblogs

Image:Buffy/Faith in Sims 4 by emailmy-heart

Manip: Buffy S10x11 comic page remastered by l0veisntbrains

Manip: Buffy S10x12 comic page remastered by l0veisntbrains

Manip: PJ Harvey - The Devil (Spuffy) by spyder-baby

Manip: Drusilla by spyder-baby

Manip: Spike/Drusilla by spyder-baby

Manip: Spike/Buffy by spyder-baby

Manip: Spuffy by l0veisntbrains

Video:Spuffy question song (NSFW) by katrowbeeshow, shared by akajustmerry

Video:My birthday was yesterday; my husband got me Cameos from James Marsters and Juliet Landau. James was awesome and he called me “pet”, but Juliet’s gave me CHILLS (sfw) by 11whatsnewpussycats

Video: Some people asked to see my other birthday Cameo from James Marsters. Hearing him say “Happy birthday, pet” made my LIFE (sfw) by 11whatsnewpussycats

Video: Kitty Plague covers Buffy the Vampire Slayer theme song by Mark Haemmerle

Video: Buffy & Spike | Loving you is a losing game by xXmultifandomXx

Digital Sculpt: Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Rocco Tartamella

[Reviews & Recaps]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer 4x6 "Wild at Heart" Reaction by MyCupOfTv

THEY MERGED?! - Buffy the Vampire Slayer Reaction - 4x21 - Primeval by TheLexiCrowd

Buffy 1x8 I, Robot... You Jane (REACTION!) by Big Time Knights

THE FREDDY KRUEGER SLAYER! Buffy, the Vampire Slayer 2x18 'Killed By Death' by Elie Moses

Buffy The Vampire Slayer 3x12 - "Helpless" Reaction by DodoReactions

[Community Announcements]

James Marsters MegaCon Orlando 2022 Schedule by dontkillspike

The Spring 2022 round of Seasonal Spuffy is about to begin! by Seasonal Spuffy

The Spring 2022 round of Seasonal Spuffy is about to begin! by Seasonal Spuffy

Sign Up for Some Gifts! (Dreamwidth points) by 3weeks4dreamwidth

[Fandom Discussions]

Bangel as a metaphor for virginity by hellboysblazer

The absurd geography of Sunnydale by coraniaid

Transcript censorship by coraniaid

In defense of Kennedy by maclayrightswarrior

Rewatch phases by spikesdru

What was the message in "Ted"? continued by multiple authors

Was Angel right to “take the deal” and rewrite Connor’s life? by multiple authors

Rewatch update: Xander needs to GTFO by ChocChipBananaMuffin and multiple authors

Angel-hating post: Give us your best insult for Mr. Broody Forehead. Be creative. Be ruthless! by multiple authors

Share some Angel love!!! by multiple authors

Poll: ELIMINATION GAME ROUND 6. Riley, The Master AND Robin Wood were eliminated in a tie. (25 characters remaining) by jennykmusic

Maybe I’m reaching but thought for a moment this was a jay & silent bob cameo in Angel: After the Fall by multiple authors

What if ATS was never made, and Cordelia and Angel stayed on BTVS? Would the show be better if some of it's most established characters remained? by multiple authors

Buffy has become very popular with Gen Z recently and what I find hilarious is that you can overtly tell whether someone is a Millennial or Gen Z based on whether or not they like Xander. by multiple authors

A Chosen Challenge (ship meta) by multiple authors

What was Holtz' motivation before...? by multiple authors

I can’t stop crying. Rewatching as an adult and seeing Willow being addicted to magic, I can’t stop crying. “Goodbye To You” is now stuck in my head. by multiple authors

Stunt doubles by multiple authors

What if AMy Madison became a series regular on Buffy? by Legend246888 and multiple authors

Let's fanwank the reason for Giles' weird personality change in season 7! by multiple authors

Your Thoughts about the spin off Angel? by multiple authors

What’s your favorite scene from season one? by multiple authors

What’s your favorite scene from season two? by multiple authors

What’s your favorite scene from season three? by multiple authors

THE CLUB SCENE BETWEEN BUFFY&FAITH!!! by potterhead123456

Question on Angel and Darla from S1E7 "Angel" by krissyontheflip and multiple authors

Share your opinion/thoughts on the Wesley&Lilah relationship? by multiple authors

How do you feel about Spuffy? by potterhead123456 and multiple authors

Why do you love Oz and what's your favorite Oz moments!?! by multiple authors

Time in Ken's dimension by multiple authors

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

Video: Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1997 Cast Then And Now 2022 - How They Changed In 25 Years by Actors Favorite Moments

Join the editor team :)

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

Assassins

John Wilkes Booth was a Confederate sympathizer, and he believed Abraham Lincoln was 100% to blame for the war.  He called Lincoln a tyrant, a murderer with the blood of 700,000 American men and boys on his hands.  Lincoln split the union apart by trying to stop the spread of slavery into the western territories.  Lincoln refused to let the south go peacefully; Lincoln was a warmonger, he’d rather fight to the last man than discuss southern independence.  Booth believed that by killing Lincoln, he could boost morale for the south, jump start and prolong the war just long enough to sue for peace, the terms of which southern Democrat Andrew Johnson would be more likely to accept than northern Republican Lincoln.  Booth broke his leg by jumping from Lincoln’s theater box onto the stage, but managed to escape and have it set by a doctor who may or may not have been in on the conspiracy (a few of Booth’s comrades were supposed to kill the VP and the secretary of war, but they both chickened out).  Booth was found a few days later in a barn; the authorities set it on fire to try and smoke him out, and he was shot when he tried to flee.

Charles Guiteau was antisocial and narcissistic, believing himself to be God’s gift to humanity.  He survived a shipwreck once, all the proof he needed that his destiny was ordained from above.  He had delusions of grandeur, and thought of himself as far more important and beloved than he was; he passed out political leaflets for a candidate on street corners, but then the candidate lost, so he just changed the names on the leaflets to the new candidate and kept passing them out anyway.  James Garfield became president in 1881, and Guiteau was convinced that he himself was solely responsible for Garfield’s victory,  If he hadn’t passed out those leaflets (which were actually written about his opponent), if he hadn’t given stump speeches that he plagiarized from someone else, why then Garfield would surely have lost!  Guiteau wrote countless letters demanding a high paying government job as payment for his services in getting Garfield elected, but nobody at the state department had ever heard of him because he was a nobody, so they ignored him until he actually confronted one on the streets.  They then explicitly rejected him.  With this, he came to the conclusion that Garfield was a monster, a bastard, a sorry little ingrate who doesn’t look out for the people who helped put him in office.  The only thing he can do now is kill Garfield to take him out of office.  So he does; shoots him in the chest, but he survives for weeks before succumbing to infection because doctors probed around the wound with unwashed hands trying to dig out the bullet.  Guiteau defended himself at his trial because he said he was smarter than any lawyer, lost his case, was denied an appeal, denied a pardon, and hanged, though not before reading a poem to the audience at his execution where he gushes about himself and how great he is and how God and Jesus are looking forward to meeting him in Heaven.

Leon Czolgosz (Chole-gosh) was an anarchist. His motivation was the simplest of them all; he wanted to kill William McKinley to create chaos for chaos’ sake.  As President, as head of the government, McKinley was seen as the enemy of the people, so he had to be taken out of the picture by any means necessary.  A major flaw in Czolgosz’s plan was his fundamental misunderstanding of American politics; killing the president doesn’t really cause a power vacuum like it might in other countries, because we have an organized line of succession.  Kill a president you don’t like, his functionally identical vice president will take over and continue doing whatever he was doing.  If he really wanted to sew anarchy in the streets, he would have shot McKinley and made it look like he was working for Roosevelt, or made it look like it was perpetrated by the opposition Democrats; if he wanted anarchy, he should have made it look like a conspiracy, but instead he was arrested and held until McKinley finally died days later.  Charged with murder, he plead guilty, but the judge overruled him and entered a not guilty plea instead, I guess to try and stretch the case for as long as possible?  He then pleads insanity, but the jury sees through this and finds him guilty after less than 30 minutes of deliberation.  He is electrocuted, then the doctor laughed at his malformed penis covered in scars and sores; the prison dissolved his body in acid and burned all his stuff.

Lee Harvey Oswald was a US Marine sharpshooter, but he became a communist sympathizer and defected to the Soviet Union.  He soon grew bored of his new life because there was nothing to do or buy, so he defected back to the United States.  This apparently set off exactly ZERO red flags with the military or state department.  In Oswald’s mind, everyone was either a communist or a fascist; there was no in-between.  If you were against communism, you were for fascism, as simple as that.  At one point he started passing out leaflets in support of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and even tried to visit Cuba, though all travel from the United States was forbidden, so he had to go through Mexico instead.  The Cuban Missile Crisis saw Kennedy and Khrushchev use Castro as a pawn in a larger game, so Oswald decided to take Kennedy out.  He hated Kennedy for being anti-communist and anti-Cuban, so he shot him in the back and head with a sniper rifle.  Any deeper motivations or hints about possible co-conspirators died with Oswald because he was shot by a wannabe crime boss while he was in police custody; Jack Ruby wasn’t a mobster, just a criminal who wanted to be one.  The ballistics show that Kennedy was shot in the back from the Texas School Book Depository, where Booth’s rifle with fingerprints was found; he was the only shooter, but we’ll never know if there was a larger plot with more people involved because of Ruby.  The Warren Commission says there probably wasn’t a conspiracy, but you can’t trust “the man” to tell you the truth regarding “the man.”

These were all terrible men.  Booth was a racist piece of shit.  Guiteau is almost a tragic figure; he needed psychological help, and never got any.  Czolgosz deserves no sympathy, he just wanted to watch the world burn.  Oswald was politically confused and a trained killer.  None of their targets deserved to die, and in fact the only presidents who really DID deserve to die survived their attempts; Andrew Jackson, Ronald Reagan, Dubya, Gonad Lump.  It’s a total crap shoot.

[sctanic]

『 dove cameron. twenty-one. cis woman. she/her. 』 oh heavens, is that THEODORA ‘THEO’ KENNEDY from SYCAMORE WAY i see roaming around mapleview? minnie may’s always calling them -BEWILDERING & -EXTEMPORANEOUS. i happen to think they’re not that bad! they’re a pretty cool PARANORMAL INVESTIGATOR and every time i’ve seen them, they’ve always been +BEWITCHING & +UNBIASED. i hope i see them around again!

hi everyone! i’m nico and i am so happy to be here. it’s been so long since i’ve played theo and i’ve been searching for a place she’d fit in for ages. i apologize for the length of my intro and fully do not expect anyone to actually read the entire thing but if you do and you like what you read, don’t hesitate to give it a like or send me a message to plot!

trigger warnings; parental death, murder, sexual assault, abuse, alcohol, drugs

S T A T I S T I C S

full name : theodora jane kennedy nickname: theo, t.j, teddy to a select few   date of birth  :  september 1, 1999 age : twenty-one height : 5′1″ sexuality :  pansexual   relationship status : taken by sonny deluca children : river and regan deluca, twins, nearly two years old. occupation  :  paranormal investigator for ghost adventures aesthetic  :  dried blood, cigarette smoke, spilled red wine, ripped jeans over fishnets, abandoned houses, late night walks through cemeteries, combat boots, smudged mascara, bruised skin, leather jackets, old film cameras, black lipstick, nightmares, dried out flowers.

P E R S O N A L I T Y

positive traits : bewitching, unbiased, passionate   negative traits : bewildering, extemoraneous, impulsive likes : the occult, rebellion, horror movies, the smell of fall, cinnamon   dislikes : pizza, romcoms, gender norms, willy wonka, early mornings myer-briggs : ISFP enneagram : type 8

B I O G R A P H Y

╰     ‘  theodora kennedy was born on september 1, 1999 in a small town on long island, new york to a young couple. daniel and christina kennedy already had a six year old son when they welcomed their daughter into the world and although she had not been planned, they were happy to have her. for the first five years of her life, theo had everything, but that all changed on christmas eve of 2004.

╰     ‘  what they thought was an attempted robbery gone wrong left the kennedy family broken. as theo and her older brother hid in the closet and watched from the crack between the door and the frame, christina was shot 4 times repeatedly and left dead. — it would take one whole year for authorities to find out that her own husband was responsible for it.

╰     ‘  no, daniel kennedy didn’t pull the trigger. and no, he didn’t break into his own house but his past life of crime brought upon the tragedy. before meeting and setting down with christina, daniel had been involved in a sketchy lifestyle — drugs, alcohol, parties and crime. he bought, he dealt, he stole and he owed a lot of money. when he didn’t meet his deadline he was warned what would happen, and they had been true to their word. if he couldn’t offer them the money they would take something else, something money couldn’t buy. his wife, and the mother to his two children.

╰     ‘  that christmas was a dark one. there were no celebrations and the kids didn’t open their presents. the new year just brought dread and slowly the kennedy’s began to spiral. daniel began to fall back into his olf lifestyle of partying and crime as a coping mechanism. he became involved with the wrong people once more, people he called ‘old friends’ and more times than not his son jack, who was only eleven at the time, was left to care for his sister, theo.

╰     ‘  the death of a mother would be hard for anyone, but witnessing it had really ruined theodora. she stopped socializing, stopped speaking. her father still swears that she didn’t speak a single word for 3 years, and that may have been true. night terrors and flash backs took over her once pleasant dreams.

╰     ‘  after falling back into his prior way of life, mr. kennedy found himself unemployed. it was really no surprise, he would miss shifts at the auto body shop and when he did show up he was under the influence of something and incapable of doing much of anything and with no steady income, they lost their house. however, with every storm comes a rainbow and although they lost nearly everything they did get to move in with daniel’s parents, theo’s grandparents who she absolutely adored.

╰     ‘  grandma and grandpa kennedy weren’t your everyday grandparents. they didn’t knit blankets and play bingo, no, they owned the town funeral home, situated on a graveyard and lived atop of it. grandpa was a funeral director and grandma a mortician. while daniel had grown up in the funeral home, he wasn’t much phased and his new habits left him home rarely. jack hated it. he avoided the parlor at all costs and refused to tell his friends where it was he was living but theo had never felt more comfortable, surrounded by death.

╰     ‘  at only six, she began tagging along with her grandparents while they worked. she learned how to embalm bodies and prepare them for their final rest. of course her interest in the dead and the fact that she lived in a funeral home was a subject of ridicule in school. even in kindergarten she was picked on for it. she instantaneously became the ‘weird girl’. as she got older the bullying got worse, but it made her tough. she didn’t need friends, she had her interests to keep her busy and she liked to believe the dead were her friends. she’d often spend time in the morgue or out in the cemetery, making up lives in her head for the deceased and searching for answers.

╰     ‘  her interest in the occult began very early. she loved anything mysterious and dark. her first report in elementary school was on ed and lorraine warren, her biggest inspirations even back then and ever since she has longed to be the next lorraine. her intuition to the dead is strong and her sensitivity is high. she was told early on by a psychic friend of her grandparents that she had a gift and although they told her that she would one day be able to use it to help the living, she knew right away she wanted to use it to help the dead — the souls not at rest.

╰     ‘  by sixteen theo’s relationship with her father was nonexistent. he was absent most of her life, in and out of jail and always under the influence of drugs. and when he was around, he was abusive. she spent her whole life fearing him and while her brother jack strived to be everything their father was not, to make him proud, theo found herself slowly becoming everything her father was. she was skipping school to smoke in the cemetery and drinking alcohol from her fathers stash alone in her room. she tried to drown out her demons by self medicating. she found herself at house parties and in strangers beds regularly. she was her own worst nightmare. she was becoming the person her peers had made her out to be, a monster. she was mean and bitter and mad at the world, and so very young.

╰     ‘  at seventeen her world turned upside down one more time. a small town murder made the news and left the locals panicked. was there a serial killer on the loose? were they in danger? would the killer ever get caught? a witness met with the police and a sketch was made of the suspect and shared with the world via the local news — and theo knew instantly who it was. she had spent the last week hearing about the brutal murder of a young seventeen year old girl. she had been drugged, sexually assaulted and eventually choked to death. it was ugly and it was inhuman — and it was her father. she was sure of it. with shaky hands and the approval of her grandparents, she called the police and reported her father. after 3 months and a very long trial, he was sentenced to life in prison and for the first time in years, she could finally breathe.

╰     ‘  at eighteen, theodora applied for an internship with the ghost adventures team in vegas and by some miracle she was accepted. it only took six months for them to welcome her to the team full time, making her the youngest member of the crew. she found a family in her ghost adventures crew, looking up to zak bagans like the father figure she never had. her new job and new found family really helped pull her away from the dark path she was going down.

╰     ‘  she soon after moved to vegas, the glitz and glam and partying was dangerous and tempting but her work crew did their best to steer her in the right direction, it was there — in vegas that theo met sonny deluca.

╰     ‘  sonny showed up at theo’s door one morning with his mission partner, asking to talk to her about the book of mormon. one day later he showed back up alone. four days later he was leaving his mission and moving in. it happened quick and they fell fast. theo didn’t think she was capable of loving anyone, especially not in the way that she loves sonny. it only took four days for him to knock down her walls and expose her soft interior. 

╰     ‘  it did not take very long into their relationship to learn that they were expecting, not just one baby but twins. both scared and excited, they decided to keep the babies and make the impulsive decision to move. mapleview was their destination, the perfect place to raise a family. they got a house and prepared for the birth of their children.  

╰     ‘  still together, sonny and theo now have a set of twins, almost two year old son, river and daughter regan. they are the light of theo’s life and everyday she strives to be better for their sake. without her family, she would be in a very bad place. she’s positive of it.

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Saturday, August 12th (part 2)

[Fandom Discussions]

Current AO3 Top 10 Pairings by btvscrackships

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did the writers just. forget. to establish gunn getting his memories of connor back? by all-seeing-ifer

It should have been Faith speaking for the First Slayer in Restless by coraniaid

Willow analysis: it’s got nothing to do with magic by Girl4Music

Buffy and Spike getting physical in season 6 is all initiated by Buffy by marilyn-not-monroe

Apparently people hate Xander? Why?? by Tinky-Dinky

[Buffy, Kendra, Faith analysis] by Various Queer Things

Angel and Buffy by Various Queer Things

[Buffy and Angel and others] by Various Queer Things

[Dead Man's Party + Angel pulling his weight] by ted-imgoingmad and Various Queer Things

Season 1 character Analysis: Angel by jvstheworld

End of season 1 character analysis for Willow by jvstheworld

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Errors In BTVS/AtS by hoponlilmama

If Oz had stayed continued by Killjoy and TheXandyman

The Gift - As A Series Finale continued by hoponlilmama and others

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Which actors/characters has the best non-romantic chemistry? continued by Killjoy and others

Gunn - direction and representation continued by Gunn - direction and representation continued by StateOfSiege97 and others

Where did Cordelia go until she graduated? by StarryUni97

Willow sucks and Tara should have had a better romantic interest by AwNawCraig

Slayer Strength by NikkolasKing

Why vampires? by FruitsPonchiSamurai1

Psychological or Sociological Reasons for Hating Willow? by brentus86

What did you learn from BtVS? by UpstairsReasonable71

BtVS Season 4 arc improvements? by gd4x

The Rules for Surviving Sunnydale (or the Buffyverse in general) by rfresa

Buffy always seems to be in the right place at the right time by Pristine-Dame

What would you consider the most defining moment in Buffy's journey as The Slayer by InfiniteMehdiLove

Re: Willow’s character arc season 6 on by YeahIAmTheOne

Cordelia or Buffy for Angel by Clear-Map8121

On Buffy Season 6- I feel Xander & Anya should've gotten married by jblee44

Would Anyanka help men scorned? by devour-halberd

Spikes capacity for love, why is he different? by moezilla

Does this annoy anyone else? Season 5 ending by Bucky_Gatsby

Does anyone else find "The Wish" to be the most disturbing Buffy episode? by Aninvisiblemaniac

When did spike start to realize he was into buffy? Do we have faith to thank for the start of his lust? by Sudden_Pudding_1660

Unpopular opinion: I like Kennedy more than Tara by edd6pi

What's the weirdest or smallest thing you like or find attractive about a BtVS character? by Opening_Knowledge868

Warren is the worst by chapon

Which historical and/or mythological women might’ve been The Slayer in the Buffyverse? by Seer77887

Why isn’t Tara in the intro? by Spare_Somewhere1011

Alternate Universe Wilow by ColonelWolfe27

"I tried to cut out" by sushibananawater

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[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

Video: SDCC - BOOM! Studios Interview with Casey Gilly (Buffy the Last Vampire Slayer) by ComicsOnline

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