#meg ellison

[mumblingsage]

But we’re all still horny, aren’t we? Horny to write, horny to read, horny to lube up and slide sex into the narratives that take us to the stars, to the haunted house, to the enchanted forest. We seek out satisfaction, and the best and bravest publishers are still busting it wide open for us. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to read stories that don’t contain sex; a lot of great ones have not a lick of eroticism present! But sex is part of the human experience, and it as vital to both the expression and appreciation of our art as grief, as loss, as any emotion we treat with greater gravity and respect than the quintessential quality of eroticism.

[rosalie-starfall]

Miranda Richardson as Madame Giry

The Phantom of the Opera - 2004

I re found one of my favorite fanfics which I have been re-reading (unfortunately the fic seems to be unfinished. But that's okay because it's really wait enjoyable.) Anyway I loved it then and continue to love it. Thought I'd share it here since it's basically a prequel for my head canon for Phantom (Madame Giry/Erik (Phantom)) if anyone randomly feels like reading it.

[phantomasquerade]

Requested by @opencomicbook

[randomnessoffiction]

♫They say that this youth has set my Lady's heart aflame! His Lordship, sure, would die of shock! 

His Lordship is a laughingstock! Should he suspect her, God protect her! Shame! Shame! Shame!♫

[marybeatriceofmodena]

❤️ Meg

Jennifer Ellison: I have to include her because she's the reason I love Meg in the first place, and she's definitely among the things the movie got right. I will never not be frustrated that her mother caught her in the corridor leading to the Phantom's lair.

Hayley Driscoll: Cute as a button, beautiful, childlike singing voice, a cheery little doll with big expressive eyes and graceful movements. You wouldn't expect much from her but she's very much Christine's little guardian angel, standing up to the managers when suggesting Christine and as they dismiss her. She's a Meg I would have liked to see with Kelly Mathieson if I had a time machine, because when told to stay quiet you could tell she had a lot going on in her head. She understood the premise of Meg being a little detective throughout the show to a T.

Heidi Ann O'Brien: A great counterpart to Rachel Barrell's more discreet Christine, with a lovely warm singing voice. You have the implication that she may have encouraged the iron spine and will of steel Rachel's Christine shows later in the show. Heidi's Meg was sassy, mischievous, very protective of Christine, and she'd even openly mock people who were gratuitously mean towards her.

Emma Harris: A wonderfully detailed performance that complimented Gina Beck's very well. She's very much Madame Giry's daughter in the best way possible, the big sister to her Christine, with a will of steel, a take no nonsense attitude, and a good dose of common sense where she can tell right away in Angel of Music that there is something amiss and that it's nothing good. Probably the best voice for Meg the West End production has had, so I'm not surprised she's understudying Madame Giry nowadays.

Brianne Kelly Morgan: The perfect balance between the sassier and the softer interpretations of Meg (according to no other than Hal Prince and Gillian Lynne), she really told a story through every single one of her gestures and guided the audience throughout. Even then, she would still adjust her portrayal depending on who she was playing alongside as Meg - she was the little sister to Elizabeth Loyacano's more mature Christine, and the protective big sister to Kristi Holden's. And she has a voice on Christine's level, which makes it really a shame she never played the role of either Meg or even Christine on Broadway.

Layla Harrison: Gorgeous, great dancer, lovely voice, a lovely, thought out, detailed performance, and it's honestly a crime there aren't more videos of her as Meg, and an even bigger one she never made it to principal Meg.

Deanna Doyle: Cute as a kitten, lovely facial expressions, curious, just a little ball of charm who liked everyone and wanted to be friends with everyone. I may also be biased given she was one of the first Megs I've seen in a video that wasn't the 2004 movie or the 25th anniversary, so there's that.

Polly Baird: Her Meg isn't the most... expansive one, if that makes any sense - but she has a million dollar smile and she's a Meg where you feel there's a lot more going on underneath the surface as she slowly figures out what's going on with her friend. Basically the Sonya Rostova of Megs, and I mean this in the best way possible.

Eleanor Waite: ADORABLE. You would have wanted to pinch her cheeks. Her childlike portrayal worked very well with Kristi Holden's dreamy Christine, but she still had depths, intelligence and courage you would not have expected from her.

Georgia Ware: I say Olivia Safe is the Dora Brunlow of Christines, meanwhile Georgia is the Dora Brunlow of Megs. Another one of the kitten!Megs, with a sweetness paired with a nice dose of mischief. She felt like she was more of a little sister to both Kelly Mathieson and Amy Manford's Christines, but she would always encourage them to get out of their shells and was very supportive no matter what.

Imogen-Lily Ash: She had a very special but graceful way of moving that made her look like a cross between a ballerina and a kitten, and that made her really linger on my mind after seeing the Copenhagen revival video (and mind you, it has the best cast overall I've seen in a POTO video). Like Sybille Glosted, she was very responsive to her surroudings and happenings, never had a moment where she went blank, with maybe a hint of nervousness that makes her descending into the Phantom's Lair all the more poignant.

Sara Esty: Listen, she was ready to throw hands with the so-called Angel in Angel of Music already. The Phantom is lucky to have made it out before she arrived because there would have been a fight. A determined little knight in shining armor, and I really liked her with Meghan Picerno's Christine, because they were one of those Christine/Meg pairings where they really felt like real friends.

Fernanda Muniz: Listen, I saw a picture of her with those freckles, and I was REALLY hoping she wouldn't disappoint as Meg, given the cast for the Sao Paulo revival could be a little hit and miss. She was definitely a "hit". A VERY cheery little Meg, who would spontaneously laugh at certain moments and it felt genuine every time.

I haven't seen Kelly Loughran or Erica Wong yet, but I'm really eager to because I've only heard good things about them.

Send me ❤️ and a role in a musical and I’ll give you my favorite performers in the role.

[msclaritea]

Some Prominent Silicon Valley Investors Shift to the Right (SHOCKER!) 🙄

- The New York Times

Some Prominent Silicon Valley Investors Shift to the Right

Marc Andreessen, Chamath Palihapitiya and several other tech venture capitalists are increasingly criticizing President Biden and making their disaffection known in an election year.

Credit...Barbara Gibson

By Erin Griffith

May 23, 2024, 5:02 a.m. ET

In 2021, David Sacks, a prominent venture capital investor and podcast host, said former President Donald J. Trump’s behavior around the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol had disqualified him from being a future political candidate.

At a tech conference last week, Mr. Sacks said his view had changed.

“I have bigger disagreements with Biden than with Trump,” the investor said. Mr. Sacks said he and his podcast co-hosts were working on hosting a fund-raiser for Mr. Trump, which could include an interview for their “All In” show. They also extended an invitation to President Biden, he said, but the Trump camp was more open to it.

Such public support for Mr. Trump used to be taboo in Silicon Valley, which has long been seen as a liberal bastion. But frustration with Mr. Biden, Democrats and the state of the world has increasingly driven some of tech’s most prominent venture capitalists to the right.

Some investors, like Chamath Palihapitiya of Social Capital, backed Democrats in the past. (He is set to co-host the fund-raiser for Mr. Trump alongside Mr. Sacks.) Others, like Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz and Shaun Maguire of Sequoia Capital, have criticized Mr. Biden without expressing support for Mr. Trump. Still others, like Keith Rabois of Khosla Ventures, are focusing their efforts on electing Republicans to Congress.

The activity may amount to more noise than formal support or personal donations for Mr. Trump’s campaign. And it is by no means everyone. Much of Silicon Valley, including prominent donors like the investors Reid Hoffman and Vinod Khosla, remains loyal to Democrats. Peter Thiel, the investor who backed Mr. Trump in the past, has said he is disillusioned with politics and plans to stay out of the 2024 race.

Jacob Helberg, Vinod Khosla and Senator Todd Young are seated in blue armchairs on a stage, with U.S. flags behind them.

Jacob Helberg, left, an adviser to Palantir, spoke with the venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, center, and Senator Todd Young, Republican of Indiana, at a forum in Washington. Credit...Jason Andrew for The New York Times

But the tech investors who are leaning right are influential, with enormous followings on social media and lots of money — and they are becoming more politically engaged. That reflects how the start-up industry has grown — soaring eightfold between 2012 and 2022 to $344 billion, according to PitchBook, which tracks start-ups — with more of the industry’s issues turning political in nature.

“When I started, everybody cared about tax issues and immigration issues,” said Bobby Franklin, who has led the National Venture Capital Association, a trade group, since 2013. “Now it is so much more complex.”

Delian Asparouhov, an investor at Founders Fund, the investment firm founded by Mr. Thiel, recently marveled at how much the political winds had shifted. This month, Mr. Trump made a virtual appearance at a venture capital conference in Washington. There, he thanked attendees for “keeping your chin up” and said he looked forward to meeting them.

“Four years ago you had to issue an apology if you voted for him,” Mr. Asparouhov wrote on X.

Delian Asparouhov, an investor at Founders Fund, recently marveled at how much the political winds had shifted in tech.Credit...Jason Andrew for The New York Times

Mr. Sacks, Mr. Palihapitiya and Founders Fund did not respond to a request for comment. Sequoia Capital declined to comment.

The comments and activity by the group of tech investors are particularly noticeable given Silicon Valley’s blue background. The circle of Republican donors in the nation’s tech capital has long been limited to a few tech executives such as Scott McNealy, a founder of Sun Microsystems; Meg Whitman, a former chief executive of eBay; Carly Fiorina, a former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard; Larry Ellison, the executive chairman of Oracle; and Doug Leone, a former managing partner of Sequoia Capital.

But mostly, the tech industry cultivated close ties with Democrats. Al Gore, the former Democratic vice president, joined the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins in 2007. Over the next decade, tech companies including Airbnb, Google, Uber and Apple eagerly hired former members of the Obama administration.

Mr. Thiel’s loud and enthusiastic support for Mr. Trump in 2016, which included a $1.25 million donation and a speech at the Republican National Convention, came as a shock. Even more surprising to some in the industry was the way that, after Mr. Trump won the election that year, the world seemed to blame tech companies for his victory. The resulting “techlash” against Facebook and others caused some industry leaders to reassess their political views, a trend that continued through the social and political turmoil of the pandemic.

During that time, Democrats moved further to the left and demonized successful people who made a lot of money, further alienating some tech leaders, said Bradley Tusk, a venture capital investor and political strategist who is a Democrat.

“If you keep telling someone over and over that they’re evil, they’re eventually not going to like that,” he said. “I see that in venture capital.”

That feeling has hardened under President Biden. Some investors said they were frustrated that his pick for chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan, has aggressively moved to block acquisitions, one of the main ways venture capitalists make money. They said they were also unhappy that Mr. Biden’s pick for head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler, had been hostile to cryptocurrency companies.

The start-up industry has also been in a downturn since 2022, with higher interest rates sending capital fleeing from risky bets and a dismal market for initial public offerings crimping opportunities for investors to cash in on their valuable investments.

Some also said they disliked Mr. Biden’s proposal in March to raise taxes, including a 25 percent “billionaire tax” on certain holdings that could include start-up stock, as well as a higher tax rate on profits from successful investments..."

WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT WE NEED. THEY'RE WORRIED... ABOUT THEIR MONEY; ABOUT THEIR BILLIONS. America has been under relentless assault from SILICON VALLEY since it's inception. You saw the reports from Keri Kukral an SV whistleblower. The place was teeming with criminal behavior. Foreign money flowing in from foreign adversaries like China Russia India, etc. There were prostitution rings and access run rampant, as Main Street kept having everything stolen from it. Practically every Cryptocurrency company was engaged in illegal activities.

Perhaps Mr Thiel (who is very much NOT out of politics. He's a backer of NYC Eric Adams) should not have tried to crash our Banks and the Stock Market and allow me to find the article where some of these 'former liberals' including Thiel, used to wax on about wanting a Monarchy; about wanting to 'REPLACE GOVERNMENT ' With THEY'RE OWN VERSION. He is also close to the Fascist wing of the Catholic Church They're all full of shit. And I don't know how impressive Al Gore is with that WEF leash. Tech is/was working with the World Economic Forum to gain more control.

#VoteBlue #BidenHarris2024 because our country desperately needs to get some of these billionaires under control or they will NEVER leave us alone. I'll admit to not being happy about everything right now, but I'm smart and adult enough to know that right now, it's not about me. It's about saving this country from Silicon Valley.

#SanFrancisco #KhoslaVentures #SequoiaCapital #ToddYoung #JacobHelberg #Palantir #ScottMcNealy #SunMicrosystems; #MegWhitman #Ebay #CarlyFiorina #hewlettpackard #larryellison #Oracle #dougleone #airbnb #GooglePlay #uber #apple #Obama #LinaKhan #garygensler

[radicalkai]

Co-Hosting the exclusive CMC movie premiere for Meg 2 - The Trench in Los Angeles with Jason Statham and Wu Jing

[operafantomet]

Random question that popped into my head while watching a Tiktok:

What are your opinions on the 2004 movie’s performances? Not the blocking, not the costumes—just the singing and voices.

Mostly meeeeh.... Rocky Phantom and thin-voiced Christine is partly a directing choice, to make them easy-to-like for a younger audience. But I think the vocals are too weak, I cannot sit down and listen to the soundtrack without being annoyned.

Acting wise Emmy Rossum as Christine managed to convey the innocence, charm and lonelyness I see in the role, and she certainly looked the part. But she was never particularly believable as the grand star of the Parisian opera, which I think is a crucial point of the plot. I also think she didn't show the grand transformation most stage Christines do, where they in the middle of the second act finds their own voice and way and is ready to fight.

Gerard Butler as the Phantom should probably be thanked for hindering the role and hence the movie turning into a total camp feast. The director wanted topless, muscles, nipples, and Butler refused. He seemed to dig deeper into the character than Joel Schumacher did. Duly noted and appreciated. But I did think he lacked most of the finesse, power and danger seen in even an average stage Phantom - or Lon Chaney, for that matter. Add a heavily autotuned rock-voice just isn't my cup of tea. There were moments were I felt the rougher voice served its purpose, but I would have liked it as an effect rather than constant feature.

(directing wise, I also had issues with how they stripped him of all sense of magic, to make him so HUUUUMAAAAN... showing that the manipulation of Carlotta's voice was sue to a spray, for example, and not ventriloquism. And I haven't even mentioned the lack of a decent deformity, which also is crucial to the plot)

Patrick Wilson as Raoul was maybe the one I felt made most sense of the leads, in terms of him being a fairly classic Raoul. He sung well, he loved his Christine, he fought his battle. Maybe not wildly memorable, but towards two mellow co-stars it is probably limits to how sharp edges you may have.

Minnie Driver as Carlotta was colourful and delightfully over the top, but here - opposite of the Phantom - I missed the sense of the human underneath. She was merely a comic relief. And of course, she did not sing the part herself, former stage Carlotta Margaret Preece did, and very well.

Of the other leads I liked Simon Callow as André a lot, if only because he embodied the nervousness, the need of elegance and the peculiarity of the role. Ditto for Miranda Richardson as Madame Giry. Yeah, annoying French accent, and for mysterious reasons the only one with an accent. But she is a great actress and added just the right dose of quirk, mystery and femininity to the role that I felt this was a somewhat new portrayal. I liked it. Jennifer Ellison as Meg could have been so good if they actually used her classical ballet training to the full, but she hardly got to dance. Her sweet singing voice and very meg-esque look was fine, but I cannot NOT think of what she could have done with the role if they featured her more as a dancer. But I loved that she and Miranda Richardson looked a lot alike.

I have no memory of Firmin and Piangi. Sorry.

And while writing this I realized I probably haven't seen the movie in 10-12 years. So this is based on the memory of way back. Maybe I should see it anew. But last time I tried I loved the Auction and Overture and felt I had underestimated the 2004 movie. But somewhere in Hannibal and definitely in "Think of Me" it dawned on me that nope... and by the time of the title song and MOTN I just cannot watch it (or listen to it). So...

[xtruss]

(Left to right) Deborah Blohm, Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Gwendolyn Beck at a party at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, Florida, 1995. The names of former associates and victims of deceased sex offender Epstein have been released. AFP/Getty Images

Nearly 90 Names Were Included In The Documents, With Four Redacted.

Ghislaine Maxwell

Virginia Lee Roberts Giuffre

Kathy Alexander

Miles Alexander

James Michael Austrich

Philip Barden

REDACTED

Cate Blanchett

David Boies

Laura Boothe

Evelyn Boulet

Rebecca Boylan

Joshua Bunner

Naomi Campbell

Carolyn Casey

Paul Cassell

Sharon Churcher

Bill Clinton

David Copperfield

Alexandra Cousteau

Cameron Diaz

Leonardo DiCaprio

Alan Dershowitz

Dr. Mona Devanesan

REDACTED

Bradley Edwards

Amanda Ellison

Cimberly Espinosa

Jeffrey Epstein

Annie Farmer

Marie Farmer

Alexandra Fekkai

Crystal Figueroa

Anthony Figueroa

Louis Freeh

Eric Gany

Meg Garvin

Sheridan Gibson-Butte

Robert Giuffre

Al Gore

Ross Gow

Fred Graff

Philip Guderyon

REDACTED

Shannon Harrison

Stephen Hawking

Victoria Hazel

Brittany Henderson

Brett Jaffe

Michael Jackson

Carol Roberts Kess

Dr. Karen Kutikoff

Peter Listerman

George Lucas

Tony Lyons

Bob Meister

Jamie A. Melanson

Lynn Miller

Marvin Minsky

REDACTED

David Mullen

Joe Pagano

Mary Paluga

J. Stanley Pottinger

Joseph Recarey

Michael Reiter

Jason Richards

Bill Richardson

Sky Roberts

Scott Rothstein

Forest Sawyer

Doug Schoetlle

Kevin Spacey

Cecilia Stein

Mark Tafoya

Brent Tindall

Kevin Thompson

Donald Trump

Ed Tuttle

Emma Vaghan

Kimberly Vaughan-Edwards

Cresenda Valdes

Anthony Valladares

Maritza Vazquez

Vicky Ward

Jarred Weisfeld

Courtney Wild

Bruce Willis

Daniel Wilson

Andrew Albert Christian Edwards, Duke of York

[phantasypunk]

Quite possibly the most personal piece I’ve ever written, and I’m so incredibly proud it’s published on @gaileyfrey ‘s Stone Soup.

NGL, I’ve sorta been walking around all day forgetting it’s actually real and out there for people to read right along side a host of amazing authors and delicious recipes. (Seriously, check out Meg Ellison’s sandwich recipe — it’s life changing.)

[maslows-pyramid-scheme]

After weeks of speculation and anticipation, many of the names of former associates, employees, friends and victims of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have been released. ... Many of those whose names appear in the documents released Wednesday aren't accused of wrongdoing or have been mentioned previously in legal proceedings or news accounts. The documents released Wednesday are not an Epstein "client list." ... Nearly 90 names were included in the documents, with four redacted: 1. Ghislaine Maxwell 2. Virginia Lee Roberts Giuffre 3. Kathy Alexander 4. Miles Alexander 5. James Michael Austrich 6. Philip Barden 7. REDACTED 8. Cate Blanchett 9. David Boies 10. Laura Boothe 11. Evelyn Boulet 12. Rebecca Boylan 13. Joshua Bunner 14. Naomi Campbell 15. Carolyn Casey 16. Paul Cassell 17. Sharon Churcher 18. Bill Clinton 19. David Copperfield 20. Alexandra Cousteau 21. Cameron Diaz 22. Leonardo DiCaprio 23. Alan Dershowitz 24. Dr. Mona Devanesan 25. REDACTED 26. Bradley Edwards 27. Amanda Ellison 28. Cimberly Espinosa 29. Jeffrey Epstein 30. Annie Farmer 31. Marie Farmer 32. Alexandra Fekkai 33. Crystal Figueroa 34. Anthony Figueroa 35. Louis Freeh 36. Eric Gany 37. Meg Garvin 38. Sheridan Gibson-Butte 39. Robert Giuffre 40. Al Gore 41. Ross Gow 42. Fred Graff 43. Philip Guderyon 44. REDACTED 45. Shannon Harrison 46. Stephen Hawking 47. Victoria Hazel 48. Brittany Henderson 49. Brett Jaffe 50. Michael Jackson 51. Carol Roberts Kess 52. Dr. Karen Kutikoff 53. Peter Listerman 54. George Lucas 55. Tony Lyons 56. Bob Meister 57. Jamie A. Melanson 58. Lynn Miller 59. Marvin Minsky 60. REDACTED 61. David Mullen 62. Joe Pagano 63. Mary Paluga 64. J. Stanley Pottinger 65. Joseph Recarey 66. Michael Reiter 67. Jason Richards 68. Bill Richardson 69. Sky Roberts 70. Scott Rothstein 71. Forest Sawyer 72. Doug Schoetlle 73. Kevin Spacey 74. Cecilia Stein 75. Mark Tafoya 76. Brent Tindall 77. Kevin Thompson 78. Donald Trump 79. Ed Tuttle 80. Emma Vaghan 81. Kimberly Vaughan-Edwards 82. Cresenda Valdes 83. Anthony Valladares 84. Maritza Vazquez 85. Vicky Ward 86. Jarred Weisfeld 87. Courtney Wild 88. Bruce Willis 89. Daniel Wilson 90. Andrew Albert Christian Edwards, Duke of York

[saintmeghanmarkle]

I guess Brian Robbins & by extension Stacy Robbins are getting a Markling Skydance/Oracle just bought CBS/Paramount outEllison son wanted to be Paramount CEO btw. by u/Ruth_Lily

I guess Brian Robbins & by extension, Stacy Robbins are getting a Markling, Skydance/Oracle just bought CBS/Paramount out…Ellison son wanted to be Paramount CEO btw….🍿🤔 That dinner Meg & H went to with Brian Robbins…lmfaoooooShari Redstone is selling National Amusements, CBS, BET, Paramount, etc to ….Ellison. It’s over. Brian Robbins will be tossed out, Ellison’s son will be President of Paramount/Skydance & a new team will come in. That Marley movie TANKED.https://ift.tt/AWE3QJS post link: https://ift.tt/1aJmBxp author: Ruth_Lily submitted: June 03, 2024 at 07:33PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

[rosalie-starfall]

Madame Giry

Being absolutely fed up with this damn opera house

The Phantom of the Opera - 2004

[kimwexlers-brownhair]

Merik Chicago AU where Meg is Velma and Christine is Roxie!

Oh that's funny, because I always associated Meg with Roxie! Jennifer Ellison played her once, maybe that's why.

Honestly, Velma has more Carlotta vibes, and since I can't stand the idea of Christine and Meg as rivals, I'll have to change the dynamics a little. Maybe shy Christine wants so badly to go onstage and takes inspiration from popular flapper Meg. She goes to every performance. Meg notices her in the audience and introduces herself.

Meg helps Christine in her career and Christine discovers she's a much better singer than dancer. So they start a double act: Meg shimmying to Christine's singing.

To really make it they'll need more money, so they decide, why not, let's rob a bank! Well, that was fun. Let's do it again. And again!

...and just like that, I turned your Merik ask into Megstine instead, lol. I'm just not sure how he'd fit in! As Billy Flynn, representing them both when they're caught? Raoul, I guess, would be Amos, if his wife really loved him.

[chapterchapterbook]

Mid-Year Book Tag

No one tagged me, but I saw this going around and have been meaning to do some version of a mid-year check-in. SOOO I'm doing this myself!

📚 Number of books you’ve read so far: 40! I'm honestly shocked I've read so much. Grad school and work were killing me for a while, so I never thought that I would get here but am nervous about the crash in the fall.

💫 Best book you’ve read so far: Devil's Creek by Todd Keisling! A Netgalley catch-up that I'm so disappointed I didn't read sooner.

🌎 Best sequel you’ve read so far: Record of a Spaceborn Few and The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers! Every book in this series has made me cry. I hope she continues to add to it because I want every part of this weird space family to be happy.

🔥 New release you haven’t read yet, but want to: Under Her Care by Lucinda Berry!

⏳ Most anticipated release for the second half of the year: I'll be honest, I'm very out of touch for when books release. I'm sure there is something else that is releasing later on that I'm more excited about but *shrugs*. Looking at a list of horror books being released this year, They Drown Our Daughters by Katrina Monroe looks pretty good!

💝 Biggest surprise favorite new author (debut or new to you): Meg Ellison! I've had The Book of the Unnamed Midwife on my kindle for a while but never prioritized reading ebooks. This year, I'm trying to read more to at least get through some of the backlog. I'm looking forward to reading more from her in the future.

🙈 Newest fictional crush: I wouldn't say newest fictional crush but more of a revived fictional crush. Tristan Lyons from the D.O.D.O. series by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland. Though there wasn't much competition going back through the list of books I've read this year.

😭 Book that made you cry: Let's go with the obvious and say Becky Chambers's books! Like I said before every single one of her books that I've read so far has had a moment that made me cry.

🥰 Book that made you happy: Siege Tactics by Drew Hayes! This is part of another series, and it just makes my heart all warm and fuzzy.

🍳 Most beautiful book you’ve bought or received this year: Probably The Doloriad by Missouri Williams. It's a pretty simple cover, but it speaks to my soul.

❄️ What books do you need to read by the end of the year?: I take it all of them, isn't the right answer? But in all seriousness, I have a couple of books that I was recently approved for on Netgalley that I need to read. And I have a whole stack of books that I want to read. But I guess that my goal book would be to read Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke before the end of the year.

If you want to do this as well, consider yourself tagged. Here's to doing things because we want to!

[michellcreator]

When they became Billionaires:

Mark Zuckerberg: 23

Evan Spiegel: 25

Larry Page: 30

Sergey Brin: 31

Bill Gates: 31

Rihanna: 33

Tiger Woods: 33

Jeff Bezos: 35

LeBron James: 37

Steve Ballmer: 38

J.K. Rowling: 38

Mark Cuban: 40

Elon Musk: 41

Sir Richard Branson: 41

Meg Whitman: 42

Sheryl Sandberg: 44

Jim Walton: 44

Jack Ma: 45

Gautam Adani: 46

Bernard Arnault: 48

Larry Ellison : 49

Oprah Winfrey: 49

Carlos Slim: 51

Michael Jordan: 51

Michael Bloomberg: 52

George Lucas: 52

Warren Buffett: 56

Meg Whitman: 42

Sheryl Sandberg: 44

Jim Walton: 44

Jack Ma: 45

Gautam Adani: 46

Bernard Arnault: 48

Larry Ellison : 49

Oprah Winfrey: 49

Carlos Slim: 51

Michael Jordan: 51

Michael Bloomberg: 52

George Lucas: 52

Warren Buffett: 56