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[marilynjeansims]

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about me

hello my loves, i’m megan! i’m 27 years old and from england in the united kingdom. as well as providing me with an escape from the real world, the sims provides me with entertainment, and I find great pleasure in sharing my creations with other sims enthusiasts. i will be creating content based on lookbooks, interior design, gameplay, and much more.

it has been a joy to play the sims 4 since its release in 2014, and it is only growing in my love with each passing day. it has also been a pleasure getting to know people within the community and i always look forward to browsing through my feed at your amazing creations!

please let me know if you have any ideas for future content in my ask box, so I can incorporate them into my blog. happy simming!

[filmforager]

The End We Start From: Review

The mother of all flood films

Having your first child is supposed to be a joyous moment for a mother (well, apart from the late nights and constant wailing). But in The End We Start From, the joys of motherhood are overshadowed by a nightmarish fight for survival. From first-time director Mahalia Mehlo, this artfully explores the very real fear of a mother who gets unlucky enough to give birth at the start of an apocalypse. 

Based on the novel by Megan Hunter, the story deftly explores the heights of motherhood through a prism of dread and uncertainty. Set in London, we follow a woman known only as Mother (Jodie Comer), on the brink of giving birth with her partner R (Joel Fry). However, as the camera lingers dangerously on blinkering TVs and leaking doormats, you get the sense that something isn't quite right. Sure enough, in one dazzling cross-cutting sequence, we watch as Mother's home is submerged in murky water, while she gives birth to newborn son Zeb (one of the cutest babies in recent cinema).

We soon learn that London is buried in a devastating flood, plunging England into a fight for resources by the countryside. This dystopian situation isn't that unthinkable, but Alice Birch's adaptation takes a controlled approach that ensures this world feels as natural and grounded as possible, making every sudden wave hit you like a ton of bricks. You are reminded constantly that danger and uncertainty lurk around the corner, from the sudden shock of tragic family losses to a nervy stay at a shelter that only allows one child and one parent per family - alarming news for R. Whenever Mother is suddenly set adrift on her own, you'll bite your nails off worrying about her safety.

Thankfully, there are some moments of levity amid the darkness. Katherine Waterson brings some much-needed humour as a resourceful fellow parent, while Benedict Cumberbatch has a short-but-memorable cameo as a kind stranger who reminds Mother of the life she left behind. Comer and Fry could've used a few more scenes together to sell their relationship, but their poignant separation is still the beating heart of the film. 

Of course, the film would be nothing without Comer, who carries the film (and a small child) on her capable shoulders. It's hard to think of a more skilled actress to lead this sort of film right now. We spend most of our time in her company, and whether she's teasing her newborn, making risky survival decisions, or generally struggling to keep it together, Comer is nothing if not watchable, investing you further in her plight. The resulting film is so effective that you might leave with a phobia of leaky roofs.

With impressively restrained work from Mehlo and Comer, The End We Start From is a bittersweet and often terrifying story about motherhood and human resilience.

★★★★

[ladyherenya]

Sequels and retellings, mostly.

Also read: Circling Back to You by Julie Tieu and “Death of Snow” by Tansy Rayner Roberts.

Reread: Fangirl and Carry On by Rainbow Rowell.

Total: Eleven novels (including one audiobook), one graphic novel, one short story collection and one short story.

My favourites: The Swallows’ Flight (perspicacious and poignant and vividly-written), Return of the Thief (tense, with twists and revelations I didn’t anticipate and a satisfying ending) and “Winter Songs for Summer” in Scattered Showers (the early noughties tech made me nostalgic and Summer’s relationship with music was interesting).

I’d also recommend: Ten Thousand Stitches, Great or Nothing, Fangirl vol. 2, Scattered Showers and If the Shoe Fits.

Cover thoughts: The covers for both The Swallows’ Flight and Great or Nothing are lovely. I like the internal illustrations for Scattered Showers more than its cover. I think I would have read Return of the Thief sooner if its cover were less ominous.

Titles, authors, genres and ratings listed below, with links to my reviews on LibraryThing.

The Swallows' Flight by Hilary McKay. Children’s historical fiction about growing up during the 30s and WWII, set in England and Germany. 4☆

Naughty Dragons Try School! by Natalie Jane Prior (illustrated by Simon Howe). Sequel to Naughty Dragons Make Trouble! Children's fantasy. 3½☆

Ten Thousand Stitches by Olivia Atwater. Romantic Regency fantasy about a housemaid who receives an offer of help from a faerie lord. Same world as Half a Soul. 3½☆

If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy. Contemporary retelling of Cinderella, about participating in a dating reality TV show. Single POV. 3½☆

By the Book by Jasmine Guillory. Contemporary retelling of Beauty and the Beast, about an editor's assistant and an uncommunicative author. Single POV.

“Death of Snow” by Tansy Rayner Roberts. Murder mystery retelling of Snow White. Short story.

Great or Nothing by Joy McCullough, Caroline Tung Richmond, Tess Sharpe and Jessica Spotswood. A retelling of the later part of Little Women, set during WWII. 3½☆

Circling Back to You by Julie Tieu. Contemporary office romance.

Fangirl: the manga (volume 2), adapted by Sam Maggs and Rainbow Rowell and illustrated by Gabi Nam. Part 2 of 4, adapting Rowell's novel about a fangirl at college. 3½☆

Scattered Showers by Rainbow Rowell. A collection of nine short stories. Three stories revisit characters from her novels.  Most are romantic. 4☆

Four Kings by Karan K Anders (aka Andrea K. Höst). Sequel to The Book of Firsts. A very low-key sort of book about uni students who have the resources to pursue their passions -- in terms of their studies, artistic ambitions, paid work and unconventional relationships. 3☆

Return of the Thief Megan Whalen Turner. Fantasy. Final Queen's Thief book. 4☆

[nofatclips]

Forever Unsung by Dead Quiet from the album Truth and Ruin - Written and directed by Mitch Ray and Rob Zawistowski

[el-im]

2022

key ↻ = re-read ☞ = continuing (started previously) ✑ = for school ➢ = reading to ellum  ✏︎ = from the library  ☏ = others recommended and/or gifted to me

- measuring eternity: the search for the beginning of time by martin gorst - the holy bible (the revised standard version) - stiff: the curious lives of human cadavers by mary roach - the primeval atom: an essay on cosmogony by canon georges lemaître, trans. betty h. and serge a. koroff - ✑ the land ethic by aldo leopold - cyrano de bergerac by edmond rostand, trans. gladys thomas and mary f. guillemard - ↻ cyrano de bergerac by edmond rostand, trans. brian hooker - quantum leap: the novel by ashley mcconnell - deadeye dick by kurt vonnegut - the bean trees by barbara kingsolver - colossus by d. f. jones - war with the newts by karel čapek - ☏ animal dreams by barbara kingsolver - voices from chernobyl by svetlana alexievich, trans. keith gessen - love like water, love like fire by mikhail iossel  - cod: a biography of the fish that changed the world by mark kurlansky - the lathe of heaven by ursula k. le guin - ☞ special topics in calamity physics by marisha pessl - winter count by barry holstun lopez - galápagos by kurt vonnegut - the house of the seven gables by nathaniel hawthorne - the year of magical thinking by joan didion - ✑ modern architecture since 1900 by william j. r. curtis - ✑ introduction to recreation services: sustainability for a changing world by   karla a. henderson - ☏ the member of the wedding by carson mccullers - giovanni's room by james baldwin - the autobiography of f.b.i. special agent dale cooper: my life, my tapes by scott frost - the making of the atomic bomb by richard rhodes - too close for comfort by ashley mcconnell - isaac newton by james gleick - the myth of sisyphus by albert camus - the cosmic connection: an extraterrestrial perspective by carl sagan - starfleet academy by mike johnson and ryan parrott - time, love, memory: a great biologist and his quest for the origins of behavior by jonathan weiner - alaska bear tales by larry kaniut - the glass menagerie by tennessee williams  - ☞ waiting for godot by samuel beckett  - ☏ the tin drum by günter wilhelms grass - ☞ nine stories by j. d. salinger  - from both sides now: the poetry of the vietnam war and its aftermath, edited by phillip mahony - brave new world by aldous huxley - ➢ stuart little by e. b. white  - ➢ the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe by c. s. lewis - uncle tungsten: memories of a chemical boyhood by oliver sacks - hope: entertainer of the century by richard zoglin - my brief history by stephen hawking - ☞ solar perplexus by dean young - the omnivore's dilemma by michael pollan - ☞ log three by alan dean foster - the last thing he wanted by joan didion - still foolin’ em’ by billy crystal - kitchen confidential: adventures in the culinary underbelly by anthony bourdain - broken bow by diane carey - ☞ for the relief of unbearable urges by nathan englander - star trek: the motion picture: a novel by gene roddenberry - my incredibly wonderful, miserable life by adam nimoy - i am not spock by leonard nimoy - gentleman: the william powell story by charles francisco - myrna loy: being and becoming by myrna loy and james kotsilibas-davis - joy of cooking (6th edition, december 1986) by irma s. rombauer and marion rombauer - pulitzer: a life in politics, print, and power by james mcgrath morris - the sea by john banville - the all-new, all-purpose joy of cooking (7th edition, january 1997) by irma s. rombauer, marion rombauer, and ethan becker - ✏︎ the anatomist: a true story of gray’s anatomy by bill hayes - ✏︎ natural history by carlos fonseca, trans. megan mcdowell - ✏︎ the lamb's war by jan de hartog - ✑ evolution (second edition) by carl t. bergstrom and lee alan dugatkin - ✑ your inner fish: a journey into the 3.5-billion-year history of the human body by neil shubin - ✑ interactive general chemistry by jessica white, brian anderson, brandon green, and mildred hall - ✑ ecology (eighth edition) by manuel c. molles jr. and anna sher simon - ✏︎ the sirens of mars: searching for life on another world by sarah stewart johnson  - ↻ the man who mistook his wife for a hat and other clinical tales by oliver sacks - letters to véra by vladimir nabokov, trans. olga voronina and brian boyd - ✏︎ the history of tom jones: a foundling by henry fielding, illustrated by t. m. cleland - cactus hotel by brenda z. guiberson, illustrated by megan lloyd - ✏︎ tinkers by paul harding - ✏︎ the life and death of peter sellers by roger lewis - ✏︎ swamplands: tundra beavers, quaking bogs, and the improbable world of peat by edward struzik - ✏︎ far from the madding crowd by thomas hardy - a short history of nearly everything by bill bryson - the swamp: the everglades, florida, and the politics of paradise by michael grunwald - life signs: the biology of star trek by susan and robert jenkins -  ✏︎ dinner with dimaggio: memories of an american hero by dr. rock positano and john positano -  ☏ displacement by kiku hughes - reverence for life: an anthology of selected writings by albert schweitzer, edited by thomas kiernan - dean & me: a love story by jerry lewis and james kaplan  - steps in time: an autobiography by fred astaire  - seven brief lessons on physics by carlo rovelli, trans. simon carnell and erica segre - behaving as if the god in all life mattered: a new age ecology by machaelle small wright - ✏︎ leonard cohen: the mystical roots of genius by harry freedman - ✏︎ baggage: tales from a fully packed life by alan cumming - ✏︎ paul simon: the life by robert hilburn - ☞ masters of sex: the life and times of william masters and virginia johnson, the couple who taught america how to love by thomas maier - ✏︎ the flame: poems, notebooks, lyrics, drawings by leonard cohen, edited by robert faggen and alexandra pleshoyano - ✏︎ book of longing by leonard cohen - ✏︎ stranger music: selected poems and songs by leonard cohen - ☏ the beginning place by ursula k. le guin - selected poems by octavio paz, trans. g. aroul, elizabeth bishop, paul blackburn, lysander kemp, denise levertov, muriel rukeyser, mark strand, charles tomlinson, william carlos williams, monique fong wust, and the editor (eliot weinberger) - averno by louise glück - dance for two: selected essays by alan lightman - ✏︎ dostoevsky: a writer in his time by joseph frank - from sawdust to stardust: the biography of deforest kelley, star trek's dr. mccoy by terry lee rioux - ☏ the dead romantics by ashley poston - ✑ experimental writing: a guide and anthology by will cordiero and lawrence lenhart  - ☏ lessons in chemistry: a novel by bonnie garmus - ✏︎ eels: an exploration, from new zealand to the sargasso, of the world’s most mysterious fish by james prosek

[cricketnationrise]

quarantine reads part 4

part 1 | part 2 | part 3

76. The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan: book 3 of the brothers sinister romance series. you absolutely DO NOT need to read these in order. i certainly didn’t. also. its a romance novel. there is sex.

77. Joy: And 52 Other Very Short Stories by Erin McGraw: short story collection. some of these are less than a page long. ideal reading for only having like 5 mins.

78. One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah MacLean: did i get this from the library because of the title? yes. is it a fantastic story? also yes. book 2 in the rules of scoundrels series. romance novel. there is sex.

79. The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman: magical library world at the heart of multiple universe has agents that retrieve unique works. featured universe is a sort of victorian england plus elves and werewolves and vampires and dragons and magic and this book is FANTASTIC. still need to get the others because IT IS A SERIES BUCKLE UP BUTTERCUP

80. The Rogue Pirate’s Bride by Shana Galen: book 3 of the sons of the revolution series. look i like romance novels. i especially like that you don’t have to read them in order. its a romance novel. there is sex. also PIRATES and the leads saving each other’s lives.

81. The Queens of Animation: The Untold Story of the Women Who Transformed the World of Disney and Made Cinematic History by Nathalia Holt: non-fiction look at the history of disney animation via the women who worked there. lots of details i didn’t know. chapters are movies rather than years.

82. The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett: bit of a misnomer since the guy is straight up stealing rare books with credit card fraud. he just thinks he’s being gentlemanly by amassing these books. it started off as a feature article and it shows.

83. We’re Here, We’re Here by KM Szpara: tor.com short story, 2 members of a boy band fall in love. management doesn’t like that so starts to control/manipulate the implants they put iN THEIR VOICE BOXES AHHH

84. The Night Soil Salvagers by Gregory Norman Bossert: tor.com short story, cool story telling form with in-world songs/poetry/recipes, very poetic writing

85. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt: two brothers are hitmen get hired for a job. one of the brothers is really excited, the other starts to contemplate a different life, gold rush era california/western USA, horses, violent, seriously at least one person is killed in every chapter. at one point they burn down a whole lodge. cw: harm to animals, murder, starvation

86. The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin: classic piece of writing about the Black Male experience in the united states

87. The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick: lonely old man goes on scavenger hunt to find the meanings behind the charms on a bracelet he finds in his dead wife’s closet. travels all around UK and paris and makes friends near and far.

88. The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by HG Parry: some people can read characters out of books. i repeat. CHARACTERS CAN COME OUT OF THEIR BOOKS. theres a whole diagonalley esq space that houses characters that can’t go back. chaos and danger ensue when uriah heep refuses to go back into his book. magic!

89. Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett: #11 in the discworld series, DEATH gets tired of doing all the things and decides to retire.

90. Death and What Comes Next by Terry Pratchett:  discworld short story

91. Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan: girls life is about to change when her sister is proposed to, very gifted, coming of age, crush on her teacher, endgame is her/her best friend who is a guy and has clearly been pining THE WHOLE TIME

92. Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography by Laura Ingalls Wilder:  i love the little house books and this was the first non-fictionalized account of her life i’ve read. the introduction by the editor was especially cool/helpful to read, lots of photos and drawings

93. Exhalation by Ted Chiang: this might be my favorite book of all quarantine. and i read a lot of books. a collection of short stories that all fucked me up, but in a good way? title story contains the sentence, “It’s no coincidence that “aspiration” means both hope and the act of breathing.” which like, how dare you sir

94. Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell: book 2 in the simon snow series, which is a fantasy series created by rowell in her novel Fangirl. She then proceeded to write fanfic of this already fictional series. i’m in love with the meta. 3rd book out in 2021.

95. Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward: set in mississippi before/during/after hurricane katrina hits, follows one family through the eyes of the daughter. tw: sexual assault, dog fighting, harm to dogs, death of dog

96. The Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce: was still doing my Emelan reread. 4 protags reunite to help out Sandry as she goes to Namorn to deal with her estate and her cousin the empress. whether they will be allowed to leave is another story

97. The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner: book 3 in the queen’s thief series, seriously, go back and read from the beginning. political machinations of the king from a (Mostly) outside POV. the gods are always closer than you think

98. The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson: a very Spanish vibe fantasy novel. book 1 in a series. chosen one trope. new queen stumbles into the resistance. magic!

99. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley: first book in a mystery series. a young teen girl is super into chemistry in 1950′s england countryside. someone is murdered in her garden. she tries to figure out what happened because her dad is still shell shocked. cw: kidnapping, harm to children

100. A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe by Alex White: first in the salvagers trilogy. motley crew turns into found family on a space ship. in this world almost everyone has magic. older female protagonist. queer representation out the wazoo, SPACE. boots just wants to brew her beer and be left alone.

[saltspray]

Gigantic M/M Romance Rec List

A gentle reminder that I keep an ongoing list of my favorite m/m romance books.

There are 50+ books on the list! I’m always adding more as I read.

Last updated 12.17.23 

(Please don’t judge me for recommending my own books at the top of the list. I’m only human!)

The Naked Dancer by Emme C. Taylor | Contemporary/Artists/Depression 

He Dreams Magic by Emme C. Taylor | Fantasy/Horror/Magic

Salt Magic, Skin Magic by Lee Welch | Magic/Historical

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh | Nature/Magic/Novella

Aristotle and Dante Explore the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz | Young Adult/Coming-of-Age

Rattlesnake by Kim Fielding | Contemporary

Seven of Spades series by Cordelia Kingsbridge | Contemporary/Crime

Kill Game

Trick Roller

Cash Plays

One-Eyed Royals

A Chip and a Chair

The Remaking of Corbin Wale by Roan Parrish | Holiday/Contemporary/Magical Realism

The Ruin of a Rake by Cat Sebastian | Historical

The Lightning-Struck Heart by TJ Klune | Fantasy/Humor

The Art of Murder series by Josh Lanyon | Mystery/Crime

The Mermaid Murders

The Monet Murders

The Magician Murders

Immemorial Year series by T.J. Klune | Post-Apocolyptic/Dark/Gritty–Ongoing Series

Withered + Sere

Crisped + Sere

Seven Summer Nights by Harper Fox | Historical

Merry Christmas Mr. Miggles by Eli Easton | Holiday/Contemporary/Cozy

Tournament of Losers by Megan Derr | Fantasy

The Tin Box by Kim Fielding | Contemporary/Historical

The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater | Young Adult/Magic

The Raven Boys

The Dream Thieves

Blue Lily, Lily Blue

The Raven King

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller | Greek Mythology

Holmes and Moriarity series by Josh Lanyon | Mystery/Crime

Somebody Killed His Editor

All She Wrote

The Boy with the Painful Tattoo

Winter Spirit by Indra Vaughn | Holiday/Cozy/Sweet/Ghost

Comfort and Joy by Joanna Chambers, Josh Lanyon, Harper Fox, and L.B. Gregg | Anthology/Holiday/Cozy

Motel. Pool. by Kim Fielding | Contemporary/Paranormal/Ghost

Kim Fielding’s Fantasy Novels | Fantasy

Brute

The Pillar

The Downs (FREE READ!)

Driving into the Sun by Dev Bentham | Contemporary/Road Trip

Sand and Ruin and Gold by Alexis Hall | Short Story/Dystopian/Dark/Mythology (mermaids)

Glitterland by Alexis Hall | Contemporary

Think of England by K.J. Charles | Historical

Tyack and Frayne series by Harper Fox | Mystery/Crime/Paranormal—Ongoing Series

Once Upon a Haunted Moor

Tinsel Fish

Don’t Let Go

Kitto

Guardians of the Haunted Moor (haven’t read yet)

Third Solstice (haven’t read yet. I’ve fallen so behind on this series!)

The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks by Josh Lanyon | Mystery/Crime

El Presidio Rides North by Domashita Romero (FREE READ!) | Short Story/Zombie Apocalypse

After Midnight by Santino Hassell | Dystopian/Dark/Gritty

Brothers of the Wild North Sea by Harper Fox | Historical/Vikings and Monks

On a Lee Shore by Elin Gregory | Historical/Pirates/Seafaring

Lord of the White Hell series by Ginn Hale | Fantasy

Lord of the White Hell Book One

Lord of the White Hell Book Two

Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz | Dark/Mythology (mermaids)/Young Adult

As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann | Dark Historical

Nor Iron Bars a Cage by Kaje Harper (FREE READ!) | Fantasy

Songbirds of Valnon Series by L.S. Baird | Fantasy—Ongoing Series

Evensong’s Heir

Adrien English series by Josh Lanyon | Mystery/Crime

Fatal Shadows

A Dangerous Thing

The Hell You Say

Death of a Pirate King

The Dark Tide

So This Is Christmas

PsyCop series by Jordan Castillo Price | Mystery/Paranormal/Crime—Ongoing Series

Among the Living

Criss Cross

Body and Soul

Secrets

Camp Hell

GhosTV

Spook Squad

Agent Bayne (haven’t read yet)

Psycop short stories

Psycop Briefs Volume 1 (haven’t read yet)

Psycop from Crash’s PoV

Skin After Skin

Line and Orbit by Sunny Moraine and Lisa Soem | Science Fiction/Spaceships

Gideon and Jedediah series by Margaret Mills and Tedy Ward | Historical

Well Traveled

Earth and Sun, Cedar and Sage

Wolf’s Own series by Carole Cummings | Fantasy

Ghost

Weregild

Koan

Incendiary

Storms and Stars by Neena Jaydon | Science Fiction/Spaceships

Dream Boy by Jim Grimsley | Dark/Young Adult/Coming of Age

Vintner’s Luck series by Elizabeth Knox | Historical/Angels/Theology—Ongoing Series

The Vintner’s Luck

The Angel’s Cut

The Archer’s Heart by Astrid Amara | Fantasy

Scarlet and the White Wolf series by Kirby Crow | Fantasy/Fairytale Retelling—Ongoing Series

The Pedlar and the Bandit King

Mariner’s Luck

The Land of Night

The King of Forever (haven’t read yet)

Captive Prince series by C.S. Pacat | Political Fantasy

Captive Prince

Prince’s Gambit

Kings Rising

Captive Prince short stories

Green but for a Season

The Summer Palace

The Adventures of Charls, the Veretian Cloth Merchant

Like a Sparrow Through the Heart by Aggy Bird (FREE READ!) | Shapeshifters/Fantasy

Song of the Fallen series by Rachel Haimowitz | Fantasy

Counterpoint

Crescendo

Dynasty of Ghosts by P.L. Nunn | Dark Fantasy

Tamara Allen’s Historical Novels | Historical

Whistling in the Dark

Downtime

The Only Gold

A Strong and Sudden Thaw series by R.W. Day | Dystopian Future/Fantasy

A Strong and Sudden Thaw

Out of the Ashes

Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale | Steampunk

[dillydedalus]

january reading

why does january always feel like it’s 3 months long. anyway here’s what i read in january, feat. poison experts with ocd, ants in your brain, old bolsheviks getting purged, and mountweazels. 

city of lies, sam hawke (poison wars #1) this is a perfectly nice fantasy novel about jovan, who serves as essentially a secret guard against poisoning for his city state’s heir and is forced to step up when his uncle (also a secret poison guard) and the ruler are both killed by an unknown poison AND also the city is suddenly under a very creepy siege (are these events related? who knows!) this is all very fine & entertaining & there are some fun ideas, but also... the main character has ocd and SAME HAT SAME HAT. also like the idea of having a very important, secret and potentially fatal job that requires you to painstakingly test everything the ruler/heir is consuming WHILE HAVING OCD is like... such a deliciously sadistic concept. amazing. 3/5

my heart hemmed in, marie ndiaye (translated from french by jordan stump) a strange horror-ish tale in which two married teachers, bastions of upper-middle-class respectability and taste, suddenly find themselves utterly despised by everyone around them, escalating until the husband is seriously injured. through several very unexpected twists, it becomes clear that the couple’s own contempt for anyone not fitting into their world and especially nadia’s hostility and shame about her (implied to be northern african) ancestry is the reason for their pariah status. disturbing, surprising, FUCKED UP IF TRUE (looking back, i no longer really know what i mean by that). 4/5

xenogenesis trilogy (dawn/adulthood rites/imago), octavia e. butler octavia butler is incapable of writing anything uninteresting and while i don’t always completely vibe with her stuff, it’s always fascinating & thought-provoking. this series combines some of her favourite topics (genetic manipulation, alien/human reproduction, what is humanity) into a tale of an alien species, the oankali, saving some human survivors from the apocalypse and beginning a gene-trading project with them, integrating them into their reproductive system and creating mixed/’construct’ generations with traits from both species. and like, to me, this was uncomfortably into the biology = destiny thing & didn’t really question the oankali assertion that humans were genetically doomed to hierarchical behaviour & aggression (& also weirdly straight for a book about an alien species with 3 genders that engages in 5-partner-reproduction with humans), so that angle fell flat for me for the most part, altho i suppose i do agree that embracing change, even change that comes at a cost, is better than clinging to an unsustainable (& potentially destructive) purity. where i think the series is most interesting is in its exploration of consent and in how far consent is possible in extremely one-sided power dynamics (curiously, while the oankali condemn and seem to lack the human drive for hierarchy, they find it very easy to abuse their position of power & violate boundaries & never question the morality of this. in this, the first book, focusing on a human survivor first encountering the oankali and learning of their project, is the most interesting, as lilith as a human most explicitly struggles with her position - would her consent be meaningful? can she even consent when there is a kind of biochemical dependence between humans and their alien mates? the other two books, told from the perspectives of lilith’s constructed/mixed children, continue discussing themes of consent, autonomy and power dynamics, but i found them less interesting the further they moved from human perspectives. on the whole: 2.5/5

love & other thought experiments, sophie ward man, we love a pierre menard reference. anyway. this is a novel in stories, each based (loosely) on a thought experiment, about (loosely) a lesbian couple and their son arthur, illness and grief, parenthood, love, consciousness and perception, alternative universes, and having an ant in your brain. it is thoroughly delightful & clever, but goes for warmth and humanity (or ant-ity) over intellectual games (surprising given that it is all about thought experiments - but while they are a nice structuring device i don’t think they add all that much). i haven’t entirely worked out my feelings about the ending and it’s hard to discuss anyway given the twists and turns this takes, but it's a whole lot of fun. 4/5

a general theory of oblivion, josé eduardo agualusa (tr. from portuguese by daniel hahn) interesting little novel(la) set in angola during and after the struggle for independence, in which a portuguese woman, ludo, with extreme agoraphobia walls herself into her apartment to avoid the violence and chaos (but also just... bc she has agoraphobia) with a involving a bunch of much more active characters and how they are connected to her to various degrees. i didn’t like the sideplot quite as much as ludo’s isolation in her walled-in flat with her dog, catching pigeons on the balcony and writing on the walls. 3/5

cassandra at the wedding, dorothy baker phd student cassandra returns home attend (sabotage) her twin sister judith’s wedding to a young doctor whose name she refuses to remember, believing that her sister secretly wants out. cass is a mess, and as a shift to judith’s perspective reveals, definitely wrong about what judith wants and maybe a little delusional, but also a ridiculously compelling narrator, the brilliant but troubled contrast to judith’s safer conventionality. on the whole, cassandra’s narrative voice is the strongest feature of a book i otherwise found a bit slow & a bit heavy on the quirky family. fav line is when cass, post-character-development, plans to “take a quick look at [her] dumb thesis and see if it might lead to something less smooth and more revolting, or at least satisfying more than the requirements of the University”. 3/5

the office of historical corrections, danielle evans a very solid collection of realist short stories (+ the titular novella), mainly dealing with racism, (black) womanhood, relationships between women, and anticolonial/antiracist historiography. while i thought all the stories were well-done and none stood out as weak or an unnecessary inclusion, there also weren’t any that really stood out to me. 3/5

sonnenfinsternis, arthur koestler (english title: darkness at noon) (audio) you know what’s cool about this book? when i added it to my goodreads tbr in 2012, i would have had to read it in translation as the german original was lost during koestler’s escape from the nazis, but since then, the original has been rediscovered and republished. yet another proof that leaving books on your tbr for ages is a good thing actually. anyway. this is a story about the stalinist purges, told thru old bolshevik rubashov, who, after serving the Party loyally for years & doing his fair share of selling people out for the Party, is arrested for ~oppositional activities. in jail and during his interrogations, rubashov reflects on the course the Party has taken and his own part (and guilt) in that, and the way totalitarianism has eaten up and poisoned even the most commendable ideals the Party once held (and still holds?), the course of history and at what point the end no longer justifies the means. it’s brilliant, rubashov is brilliant and despicable, i’m very happy it was rediscovered. 5/5

heads of the colored people, nafissa thompson-spires another really solid short story collection, also focused on the experiences of black people in america (particularly the black upper-middle class), black womanhood and black relationships, altho with a somewhat more satirical tone than danielle evans’s collection. standouts for me were the story in letters between the mothers of the only black girls at a private school, a story about a family of fruitarians, and a story about a girl who fetishises her disabled boyfriend(s). 3.5/5

pedro páramo, juan rulfo (gernan transl. by dagmar ploetz) mexican classic about a rich and abusive landowner (the titular pedro paramo) and the ghost town he leaves behind - quite literally, as, when his son tries to find his father, the town is full of people, quite ready to talk shit about pedro, but they are all dead. it’s an interesting setting with occasionally vivid writing, but the skips in time and character were kind of confusing and i lost my place a lot. i’d be interested in reading rulfo’s other major work, el llano en llamas. 2.5/5

verse für zeitgenossen, mascha kaléko short collection of the poems kaléko, a jewish german poet, wrote while in exile in the united states in the 30-40s, as well as some poems written after the end of ww2. kaléko’s voice is witty, but at turns also melancholy or satirical. as expected i preferred the pieces that directly addressed the experience of exile (”sozusagen ein mailied” is one of my favourite exillyrik pieces). 3/5

the harpy, megan hunter yeah this was boooooooring. the cover is really cool & the premise sounded intriguing (women gets cheated on, makes deal with husband that she is allowed to hurt him three times in revenge, women is also obsessed with harpies: female revenge & female monsters is my jam) but it’s literally so dull & trying so hard to be deep. 1.5/5

the liar’s dictionary, eley williams this is such a delightful book, from the design (those marbled endpapers? yes) to the preface (all about what a dictionary is/could be), to the chapter headings (A-Z words, mostly relating to lies, dishonesty, etc in some way or another, containing at least one fictitious entry), to the dual plots (intern at new edition of a dictionary in contemporary england checking the incomplete old dictionary for mountweazels vs 1899 london with the guy putting the mountweazels in), to williams’s clear joy about words and playing with them. there were so many lines that made me think about how to translate them, which is always a fun exercise. 3.5/5

catherine the great & the small, olja knežević (tr. from montenegrin by ellen elias-bursać, paula gordon) coming-of-age-ish novel about katarina from montenegro, who grows up in  titograd/podgorica and belgrad in the 70s/80s, eventually moving to london as an adult. to be honest while there are some interesting aspects in how this portrays yugoslavia and conflicts between the different parts of yugoslavia, i mostly found this a pretty sloggy slog of misery without much to emotionally connect to, which is sad bc i was p excited for it :(. 2/5

the decameron project: 29 new stories from the pandemic, anthology a collection of short stories written during covid lockdown (and mostly about covid/lockdown in some way). they got a bunch of cool authors, including margaret atwood, edwidge danticat, rachel kushner ... it’s an interesting project and the stories are mostly pretty good, but there wasn’t one that really stood out to me as amazing. i also kinda wish more of the stories had diverged more from covid/lockdown thematically bc it got a lil repetitive tbh. 2/5

[beansonbread2]

BEANSONBREAD AWARDS 2020 - BEST ALBUM

AWARD NO.2 - BEST ALBUM OF 2020

PAST WINNERS

2019 > Self Esteem - ‘Compliments Please’ (see full list HERE)

2018 > Kero Kero Bonito - ‘Time ‘n’ Place’ (see full list HERE)

2017 > Richard Dawson - ‘Peasant’ (see full list HERE)

2016 > Blood Orange - ‘Freetown Sound’ (see full list HERE)

2015 > Holly Herndon - ‘Platform’ (see full list HERE)

2014 > FKA Twigs - ‘LP1′ (see full list HERE)

2013 > These New Puritans - ‘Field Of Reeds’ (see full list HERE)

2012 > Django Django - ‘Django Django’ (see full list HERE)

2011 > Shabazz Palaces - ‘Black Up’ (see full list HERE)

2010 > These New Puritans - ‘Hidden’ (see full list HERE)

2009 > Animal Collective - ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’ (see full list HERE)

2008 > Wild Beasts - ‘Limbo, Panto’ (see full list HERE)

2007 > Animal Collective - ‘Strawberry Jam’ (see full list HERE)

2006 > Safetyword - ‘Man’s Name Is Legion’ (see full list HERE)

2005 > Animal Collective - ‘Feels’ (see full list HERE)

2004 > Devendra Banhart - ‘Rejoicing In The Hands’ / ‘Nino Rojo’

2003 > Dizzee Rascal - ‘Boy In Da Corner’

2002 > The Streets - ‘Original Pirate Material’

2001 > The Beta Band - ‘Hot Shots II’

2000 > Outkast - ‘Stankonia’

1999 > The Beta Band - ‘The Beta Band’

1998 > The Beta Band - ‘The Three EPs’

1997 > Radiohead - ‘OK Computer’

1996 > Beck - ‘Odelay’

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THE RULES - No Re-issues, Live Albums, Compilations, or EPs.

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SPECIAL MENTIONS for these collections

Bulbils (Richard Dawson & Sally Pilkington) - 50 lockdown albums

Dean Blunt ‘Roaches 2012-2019’

These New Puritans ‘The Cut (2016-2019)’  

Hudson Mohawke ‘B.B.H.E.’ & ‘Poom Gems’

Various Artists ‘Paul Institute - Summer 2020’

Various Artists ‘Return To Y’Hup - The World Of Ivor Cutler’

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***SPOTIFY PLAYLIST FEATURES TRACKS FROM TOP 80 ALBUMS (coming later) ***

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WORTH A MENTION (in no order) - A bunch of albums i enjoyed but didn’t quite make the final lists and others i just didn’t hear enough to be considered properly.  A list for future me to revisit.

Still House Plants / Fire-Toolz / Lomelda / Jerskin Fendrix / Zebra Katz / The Bug / Lorenzo Senni / Diamond Soul / Wilma Archer / Black Dresses / The Fantasy Orchestra / William Carkeet / Bonny Light Horseman / KA / Yung Lean / BlackPink / Rural Internet / Okay Kaya / Future / Belan / Tame Impala / Banoffee / JARV IS / Grimes / Whitmer Thomas / Jeff Parker / The Massacre Cave / Porridge Radio / Selena Gomez / Teyana Taylor / Sparkle Division / Cecile Believe / Lyra Pramuk / Waxahatchee / Happyness / Khruangbin / Bananagun / OHMME / Drakeo The Ruler / Missterspoon / Juice WRLD / Lonnie Holley / Jiafeng / October Drift / Roisin Murphy / KeiyaA / Dizzee Rascal / Salem / Tiña / The Weeknd / Aaron Cartier / Dana Gavanski / A.R. Pinewood / The Cool Greenhouse / Royce Da 5’9’’ / Rachel Aggs / Karl Band / Four Tet / Georgia / Sonic Boom / Kali Uchis / Luis Pestana / Salac / David A Jaycock / Klein / Temple After Faith / Roman Noseband / Dylan Henner / G.S. Sultan / Hinds / Jess Williamson / Coby Sey / Randolph’s Leap / Matthew D. Gantt / Stephen Kerrison / Katie Gately / Snails / Juniore / Good Dog / Lil B / Kamaiyah / Ryuichi Sakamoto / The Big Moon / Zoe Mc Pherson / Holy Fuck / Ovrkast / Reol / Andy Shauf / Ethan Gruska / Poliça / D Smoke / Sign Libra / Chara & YUKI / Wiley / Bad Bunny / Shirley Collins / Jordana / Gaika / DJ Python / North Americans / Michael / Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith / Lido Pimienta / Everything Is Recorded / Lwesberg / Sufjan Stevens & Lowell Brams / Rhodri Davies / LA Priest / Ian William Craig / Flohio / Irreversible Entanglements / Islet / Westside Gunn / Empress Of / NNamdi / Warm Digits / Baxter Dury / Kehiani / Eels / Emmy The Great / Owen Pallett / Elysia Crampton / The Beths / Julianna Barwick / Liv.E / Jimothy Lacoste / Ben Frost / J Hus / Sylvan Esso / Haiku Hands / Ariana Grande / Jean Dawson / Food House / Nuala Honan / Helena Deland / Boldly James / Headie One / Oliver Coates / Lowkey-E / Bree Runway / Warren Ellis / Boldy James & The Alchemist / Young Knives /  Little Dragon / The Garden / Melt Yourself Down / Quakers / Kamasi Washington / Mogwai / Gil Scott-Heron & Makaya McCraven / Eyeliner / ‘The Whalebone Box’ OST / Special Interest / Teyana Taylor / Nadine Shah / Tricky / Moor Mother / Nick Storring

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2020 RUNNERS UP (in no order)

William Basinski ‘Lamentations’

Hook ‘Crashed My Car’

Vic Berger IV ‘Late Enough To See The Moon’

Nines ‘Crabs In A Bucket’

My Morning Jacket ‘The Waterfall II’

Firestations ‘Dream Home’

Moses Boyd ‘Dark Matter’

Dick Dent ‘Life’s Hard’

Nicholas Stevenson ‘Dead Arm, Vol.2’

Otto ‘Clam Day’

Pa Salieu ‘Send Them To Coventry’

Undermedvetenheten ‘Undermedvetenheten’

Martha Ffion ‘Nights To Forget’

Adrianne Lenker ‘Songs’

Happy Spendy ‘You’re Doing Okay’

Mark Korven ‘The Lighthouse’ OST

21 Savage and Metro Boomin ‘Savage Mode II’

Yorkston/Thorne/Khan ‘Navarasa’

Three Queens In The Mourning & Bonnie Prince Billy ‘Hello Sorrow / Hello Joy’

Shopping ‘All Or Nothing’

Megan Thee Stallion ‘Good News’

Obongjayer ‘Which Way Is Forward?’

Mush ‘3D Routine’

Geoff Barrow, Ben Salisbury & The Insects ‘Devs’ OST

Luke Abbott ‘Translate’

Spinning Coin ‘Hyacinth’

Princess Nokia ‘Everything Sucks’

Fleet Foxes ‘Shore’

Julia Holter ‘Never Rarely Sometimes Always’ OST

Sufjan Stevens ‘The Ascension’

Nicolas Jaar ‘Cenizas’

Pottery ‘Welcome To Bobby’s Motel’

Jessie Ware ‘What’s Your Pleasure?’

Jung Jae II ‘Parasite’ OST

Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist ‘Alfredo’

Doves ‘The Universal Want’

Brigid Mae Power ‘Head Above The Water’

Bab L’ Bluz ‘Nayda!’

James Yorkston ‘That Summer, We Flew’

Oklou ‘Galore’

Angel Olsen ‘Whole New Mess’

The Lemon Twigs ‘Songs For The General Public’

Marie Davidson & L’Œil Nu ‘Renegade Breakdown’

Gupi ‘None’

Alexia Avina ‘Unearth’

John Bence ‘Love’

Colin Stetson ‘Color Out Of Space’ OST

King Krule ‘Man Alive!’

Against All Logic ‘2017-2019’

Willie J Healey ‘Twin Heavy’

Jam City ‘Pillowland’

MXLX ‘Maximum Amounts Of Extremely Fucking Yes (Vol.1)’

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THE TOP 80 ALBUMS OF 2020

80. Poppy ‘I Disagree’ 79. ThisisDA ‘Mud Hype’ 78. Fenne Lily ‘BREACH’ 77. Gorillaz ‘Song Machine’ 76. Soccer Mommy ‘Color Theory’ 75. 1995 Epilepsy ‘1995 Epilepsy’ 74. Jabu ‘Sweet Company’ 73. Actress ‘Karma & Desire’ + ‘88’ 72. Chloe x Halle ‘Ungodly Hour’ 71. Dirty Projectors ‘5EPs’

70. Beatrice Dillon ‘Walkaround’ 69. Matmos ‘The Consuming Flame: Open Exercises In Group Form’ 68. Blanck Mass ‘Calm With Horses’ OST 67. Eartheater ‘Phoenix: flames Are Dew Upon My Skin’ 66. Sega Bodega ‘Salvador’  65. Savage Mansion ‘Weird Country’ 64. Kelly Lee Owens ‘Inner Song’ 63. Daniel Blumberg ‘On&On’  62. Clementine March ‘Le Continent’ 61. HAIM ‘Women In Music Pt.III’

60. Dua Lipa ‘Future Nostalgia’ 59. Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs ‘Viscerals’ 58. Darkstar ‘Civic Jams’ 57. Lil Uzi Vert ‘Eternal Atake’ 56. This Is The Kit ‘Off Off On’ 55. Shabazz Palaces ‘The Don Of Diamond Dreams’ 54. Princess Nokia ‘Everything Is Beautiful’ 53. The Orielles ‘Disco Volador’ 52. Oro Swimming Hour ‘Pteradactyl’ 51. MXLX ‘Serpent’

50. Dan Deacon ‘Mystic Familiar’

49. Jay Electronica ‘A Written Testimony’

48. Fiona Apple ‘Fetch The Bolt Cutters’

47. Galen Tipton ‘Ungoliant’

46. Knife Liibrary ‘MARKS: Songs For Those I Have Killed’

45. Deerhoof ‘Future Teenage Cave Artists’

44. Caribou ‘Suddenly’

43. Working Men’s Club ‘Working Men’s Club’

42. Seamus Fogarty ‘A Bag Of Eyes’

41. Field Music ‘Making A New World’

40. Cornershop ‘England Is A Garden’

39. Lambchop ‘Trip’

38. Katy J Pearson ‘Return’

37. Amaarae ‘The Angel You Don’t Know’

36. James Ferraro ‘Neurogeist’

35. Hen Ogledd ‘Free Humans’

34. Spectres ‘It’s Never Going To Happen And This Is Why’

33. Laura Marling ‘Song For Our Daughter’

32. Bill Callahan ‘Gold Record’

31. Bob Dylan ‘Rough And Rowdy Ways’

30. A.G. Cook ‘7G’

29. Good Sad Happy Bad ‘Shades’

28. SAULT ‘Untitled (Black Is)’

27. Run The Jewels ‘RTJ4’

26. Clipping ‘Visions Of Bodies Being Burned’

25. Thundercat ‘It Is What It Is’

24. Pictish Trail ‘Thumb World’

23. Jessy Lanza ‘All The Time’

22. Yves Tumor ‘Heaven To A Tortured Mind’

21. Sorry ‘925’

20. Yaeji ‘What We Drew’

19. A.G. Cook ‘Apple’

18. Wesley Gonzalez ‘Appalling Human’

17. Pet Shimmers ‘Face Down In Meta’ & ‘Trash Earthers’

16. Arca ‘KiCK i’

15. 100 Gecs ‘1000 Gecs And The Tree Of Clues’

14. Tara Clerkin Trio ‘Tara Clerkin Trio’

13. Richard Dawson ‘Republic Of Geordieland’

12. Phoebe Bridgers ‘Punisher’

11. Perfume Genius ‘Set My Heart On Fire Immediately’

10. Charli XCX ‘How I’m Feeling Now’

9. Rina Sawayama ‘SAWAYAMA’

8. Dorian Electra ‘My Agenda’

7. Alabaster DePlume ‘To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals Vol.1’

6. SAULT ‘Untitled (Rise)’

5. Tim Heidecker ‘Fear Of Death’

4. Moses Sumney ‘græ’

3. Oneohtrix Point Never ‘Magic Oneohtrix Point Never’

2. Crack Cloud ‘Pain Olympics’

1. The Flaming Lips ‘American Head’

[wazafam]

Netflix's Vikings: Valhalla cast includes actors and actresses who should be familiar to many TV viewers. The historical drama series takes place 100 years after the events of the popular History Channel show Vikings and chronicles the lives of several real-life Scandinavian warriors. Vikings: Valhalla doesn't have an official release date but will premiere sometime in 2021.

Vikings: Valhalla focuses on the end of the Viking era as Christianity takes over Scandinavia. When a religious Viking named Torsen survives a massacre led by King Æthelred the Unready, he forms a romance with a deeply anti-Christian woman named Freydís Eiríksdóttir. Vikings: Valhalla sets up a war between religious progressives and Scandinavians who cling to the past.

Related: Every New Show Releasing On Netflix In 2021

The Vikings: Valhalla main cast includes an ensemble lineup. Some performers already have loyal followings due to prominent roles in mainstream television, while others are mostly known for work in their native homelands. Just as Vikings helped launch the careers of so many actors and actresses, the Netflix follow-up will similarly do the same.

Sam Corlett stars as Leif Eriksson, a famous Icelander who arrived in North America several hundred years before Christopher Columbus. In Vikings: Valhalla, he's framed as an outsider character who values family and old pagan beliefs. Netflix has teased that Leif will introduce audiences to a Viking world "in the throes of violent change." Corlett portrays Caliban in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. He also appeared as Young Luke in the 2020 film The Dry.

Frida Gustavsson co-headlines as Freydis Eriksdotter, Leif's pagan sister who values the ways of the Old Gods. After experiencing various tragedies, Frida forms a romance with a religious man and leads an uprising against Christians. Actress Katia Winter portrayed Freydis Eriksdotter in DC's Legends of Tomorrow. Gustavsson also starred as Vuxna Thea in the TV series Dröm and may be familiar to Netflix viewers as Ma from The Witcher season 1. She recently appeared as Clara in the 2020 series Partisan.

Leo Suter appears as Harald Sigurdsson, a nobleman who is one of the last Viking berserkers. Due to his charming ways, he's able to bridge the gap between Vikings and Christians, or at least that's his intent. Suter portrayed Young Stringer in Sanditon and Captain Bill Lauder in The Liberator. He also appeared as Drummond in Victoria and Daniel Beecham in Beecham House.

Related: Vikings Season 6 Ending Explained: Ragnar's Sons & Kattegat's New Ruler

Bradley Freegard co-stars as King Canute, the King of Denmark. He's a legendary Viking leader who was crowned in 1017. Freegard appeared as Mei Huws in the series Gwaith/Cartref and starred as Evan Howells in Keeping Faith.

Jóhannes Jóhannesson portrays Olaf Haroldson, Harald’s half-brother. He's a Christian who believes in the Old Testament and is quite large in stature. In real life, Olaf became the King of Norway. Jóhannesson is best known for portraying Lem Lemoncloak in Game of Thrones and Cumber the Ice King in Cursed. He also appeared as Bors in The Letter for the King.

Laura Berlin co-stars as Emma Of Normandy, an ambitious woman from the Norman court with Viking heritage. She's a savvy businesswoman with interest in politics, and also one of the wealthiest females in Europe. Berlin portrayed Julia Weigert in Einstein and Charlotte Lindemann in Breaking Even. She also appeared as Charlotte Montrose in the movies Ruby Red and Sapphire Blue.

David Oakes appears as Earl Godwin, the chief counsellor to the King of England. Based on the man's real life story, he seems to be the Littlefinger of Vikings: Valhalla. Oakes portrayed Juan Borgia in The Borgias and Prince Ernest in Victoria. He's also known for his role as George Duke of Clarence in The White Queen.

Related: Vikings: What The Names of the Main Characters Really Mean

Caroline Henderson portrays Jarl Haakon, a warrior leader who rules Kattegat. The Pagan woman mentors Freydis and keeps an open mind when discussing religion. Henderson appeared as Snow White in the 2006 film Skymaster and Gloria Cole in the 2007 feature Always Yours.

Pollyanna McIntosh as Queen Ælfgifu: The Queen of Denmark who forms a relationship with Canute and hopes to affect the power dynamics across Northern Europe. Pollyana McIntosh portrayed Vera Chase in The Last Tycoon and Jadis in The Walking Dead.

Asbjørn Krogh Nissen as Jarl Kåre: A man who feels threatened by the old pagan ways. Asbjørn Krogh Nissen portrayed Ivan in Copenhagen and Odin in Valhalla - The Legend of Thor.

Julian Seager as Jarl Gorm: Julian Seager portrayed Florentin the Miller in Cursed.

Pääru Oja as Arne Gormsson: Pääru Oja portrayed Rupi in The Last Ones and Peeter Parik in O2.

James Ballanger as Hallbjorn: James Ballanger portrayed Guard Denny in the 2019 series The Capture.

Joakim Nätterqvist as Birkir: Joakim Nätterqvist starred as Arn Magnusson in Arn: The Knight Templar and appeared as Petter Torwalds in Maria Wern.

Related: Vikings: How Every Main Character's Death Compares To Real Life

Bosco Hogan as  Aethelred the Unready: Bosco Hogan portrayed Bishop Fisher in The Tudors and Cardinal Piccolomini in The Borgias.

Jaakko Ohtonen as Johan: Jaakko Ohtonen appeared as Aaro Leppihalme in All the Sins and MakeX in HasBeen.

Mark Huberman as Earl of Sussex: Mark Huberman portrayed Lester Hashey in Band of Brothers and Greg in Finding Joy.

Gavin O'Connor as Earl of East Anglia: Gavin O'Connor played Macken in Taken Down and Murphy in The Alienist: Angel of Darkness.

Gavin Drea as Eadric Streona: Gavin Drea portrayed Sergeant Cooper in Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets and Michael Collins in Resistance.

Gavan O'Connor-Duffy as Niall: Gavan O'Connor-Duffy portrayed King Frodo in Vikings and Saka in The Legion.

Yvonne Mai as Merin: Yvonne Mai appeared as Tara in Reflections and Megan in House of Shadows.

Bill Murphy as Ogda: Bill Murphy portrayed Ford in Jack Taylor and Bremner in Titanic: Blood and Steel.

Brian Robinson as YNGVI: Brian Robinson appeared as Irish in 2 Broke Girls and Pavle in Hit the Floor.

Next: All 27 2021 Netflix Movies Explained

Vikings Valhalla Cast Guide: Where You Know The Actors From from https://ift.tt/36lg74h

[shrimpkardashian]

I have a list of ~900 albums from 2019 that I still want to eventually listen to / review [IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT ALERT]

For this project (already 125+ releases deep), which is just impossibly daunting and makes me head hurt. IDK how to streamline this process or is any “critic” out there really listening to “all” the good music? It’s impossible I guess... BUT needless to say, these have made this list from an even larger pool of music that I either listened to briefly and immediately dismissed or (gasp!) never even came across my radar (radar = many many music blogs I follow via RSS). 

Anyway, because I’ll most likely never get to this (whatever this is, an Xgau parody or something)... Here is the list (please ignore some of my notations/typos):

1 matana roberts, coin coin chapter four 2 jeffrey lewis 3 negativland 4 camedor 5 the darkness 6 jai paul [leak] 7 shikoswe 8 anatolian weapons 9 cakedog, doggystyle 10 carly rae jepsen (LP, plus single w Gryffin) 11 parsnip 12 the comet is coming 13 girl in red 14 ezra furman 15 the kvb 16 freddie gibbs & madlib 17 say sue me (single) 18 denzel curry 19 fatamorgana 20 vivian girls 21 wobbly, monitress 22 helado negro 23 anamanaguchi 24 paul demarinis 25 comet gain 26 personal best 27 king princess, LP? big little lies single 28 marble arch 29 mini dresses 30 matt christensen 31 jade bird 32 black mountain 33 body meat 34 pat, Love Will Find A Way Home 35 acid arab 36 the 83rd 37 common holly 38 wicca phase 39 mark ronson 40 spirit in the room, single 41 rebe, “pienso en ti a todas horas” [just a single?] 42 a giant dog, neon bible cover LP 43 hey collosus 44 moon king (meh/ or *) 45 vanity productions 46 velvet negroni 47 g perico 48 budokan boys 49 skryptor 50 oscar scheller 51 the muffs 52 larry gus 53 these new puritans *** 54 angel olsen 55 bleu nuit 56 meatraffle 57 josephine wiggs 58 jennifer vanilla 59 big|brave 60 rico nasty 61 friendship, dreamin' 62 mike, tears of joy 63 bellrope 64 gbv 65 machìna, archipelago 66 toy, songs of consumption 67 ayankoko 68 the intelligence 69 drahla 70 corridor, junior 71 urochromes 72 david hasselhoff 73 aMAZONDOTCOM 74 kehlani 75 ne-hi EP (final) 76 avey tare 77 bonnie "prince" billy 78 battles 79 snapped ankles 80 mannequin pussy 81 toro y moi, soul trash 82 twen 83 self discovery for social survival comp 84 bad heaven ltd 85 eric frye 86 the mattson 2 87 duncan park 88 pure bathing culture 89 arthur russell, iowa dream 90 wild pink 91 flaming lips 92 pan amsterdam 93 flaural 94 knife wife 95 hannah peel & will burns 96 klein 97 meat puppets 98 tnght 99 james ferraro 100 royal trux / ariel pink 101 new rain duets 102 black marble 103 sui zhen 104 liam the younger 105 the mountain goats, welcome to passaic 106 frank hurricane and hurricanes of love 107 sebadoh 108 xylouris white 109 lindstrøm 110 franck vigroux 111 joyero 112 dorian electra  113 ride 114 crumb, jinx 115 nonconnah 116 cup, spinning creature 117 brutus 118 bjarki 119 khotin 120 alexander tucker 121 gunna 122 operator music band 123 tony molina 124 nanami ozone 125 sad planets 126 bemydelay 127 laurie anderson et al, songs from the bardo 128 teebs 129 deerhunter, timebends 130 tr/st (2 LPs) 131 dolores catherino 132 liturgy 133 floating points 134 sasami, LP + xmas EP 135 trikorder23 136 moor mother 137 have a nice life 138 la dispute 139 lingua ignota 140 lina tullgren 141 earl sweatshirt 142 entrail 143 alexander noice 144 shock narcotic 145 rakta 146 munya 147 el drugstore 148 buck gooter 149 caribou, single - more? 150 rosenau & sanborn 151 kevin abstract 152 pile 153 e for echo 154 animal collective, new psycho actives vol. 2 + live album 155 harlem 156 sudan archives 157 lil peep, posthumous ep 158 young guv, i and ii 159 orville peck 160 75 dollar bill 161 institute 162 tove lo 163 the chocolate watchband 164 foie gras, holy hell 165 french vanilla 166 chuck cleaver 167 kollaps 168 spirits having fun 169 game 170 badgirl$ 171 medhane 172 alberich 173 show me the body 174 the night watch, an embarrassment of riches 175 inus, western spaghettification 176 pregoblin, singles? 177 ra ra riot 178 de lorians 179 kool keith 180 kaspia & stride 181 glen hansard 182 dpeee 183 berlin taxi 184 foghorn 185 ionnalee 186 american sharks 187 sitcom, dust single 188 pip blom 189 j balvin & bady 190 fenella 191 tanya tagaq 192 sean o'hagan 193 j robbins 194 peter ivers (comp) 195 neon indian, not sure if single is part of larger proj? 196 triad god 197 yeule 198 roland tings 199 schoolboy q 200 ava luna EP 201 fried eggs 202 drugdealer 203 half japanese 204 todd anderson-kunert 205 emily reo 206 christelle bofale 207 brion starr 208 jan jelinek (reissue) 209 peaer 210 devin townsend 211 vik 212 young m.a 213 default genders 214 night lovell 215 rocketship 216 kim gordon 217 ellen arkbro 218 george clanton and nick hexum [single?] 219 the minus 5 220 penguin cage 221 felicia atkinson 222 take offense 223 moon duo 224 chemical brothers 225 nef the pharaoh 226 daniel norgren 227 unkle 228 pup (?) 229 baroness 230 velvet bethany 231 resavoir 232 gruff rhys 233 lana del ray 234 empath 235 burial and the bug, flame 2 236 russian baths 237 quelle chris 238 corpse flower 239 roy montgomery [reissue] 240 clinic 241 a.g. cook, [single] 242 why? 243 beck 244 francis lung 245 thom yorke 246 warmduscher 247 uv-tv 248 aa bondy 249 max richter, ad astra ost 250 younghusband 251 stereo total 252 julie's haircut 253 aa matheson 254 eartheater 255 kelly moran 256 mana (seven steps behind) 257 c.h.e.w. 258 sarah mary chadwick 259 midsommar ost 260 beabadoobee 261 life, a picture of good health 262 dumb, club nites 263 dame dolla 264 endless boogie 265 burna boy 266 lungbutter 267 wand 268 future punx 269 yves jarvis 270 kim petras [LP, halloween EP] 271 bts world 272 pikelet 273 panda bear, single 274 samiyam 275 red river dialect 276 ryan pollie 277 ryuichi sakamot (reissue) 278 jackie mendoza 279 dark blue 280 jay som 281 stephen mallinder 282 neutrals, kebab disco 283 foodman 284 capitol, dream noise 285 new pornographers 286 mark korven, the lighthouse ost 287 gauche 288 the japanese house 289 cave (re-issue) 290 ybn cordae 291 the vacant lots 292 arwen 293 rhucle 294 lil b, @ least 2 releases? 295 tea service 296 chai 297 black pumas 298 program, show me 299 marika hackman 300 sonny and the sunsets 301 lillie mae 302 mean jeans 303 the stroppies 304 poppies 305 twin shadow 306 vanishing twin *** 307 portrayal of guilt [EP + split single] 308 lucki [2 lps] 309 absolutely free 310 girl band 311 black midi 312 torche 313 perfume (best of) 314 white denim 315 clipping 316 the hu 317 big business 318 metro crowd 319 ex-vöid, 7" 320 broken social scene 321 lil pump 322 uranium club 323 doon kanda 324 hesitation wounds 325 sorry girls 326 bibio 327 red mass 328 the shins, single 329 lil keed 330 yeasayer 331 bts / blackpink KPOP 332 galen tipton, fake meat 333 the world, reddish 334 lanark artefax, ep 335 ladytron 336 g.s., schray 337 just mustard [single, more?] 338 mdou moctar 339 rangers, spirited discussion 340 tyson meade 341 dj nate 342 kelly lee owens 343 bambara 344 kilo kish 345 lusine 346 ralph heidel / homo ludens 347 psychic graveyard 348 homeshake 349 wives, so removed 350 proto idiot 351 let’s eat grandma, ost ep 352 foals 353 caroline shaw & attacca quartet 354 juan waters 355 mount eerie with julie doiron 356 mestozi 357 patio 358 oh baby, the art of sleeping alone 359 earth 360 haybaby 361 anna meredith 362 the caretaker (6) 363 rich brian 364 sunn o))), [two LPs] 365 alessandro cortini 366 ty segall 367 injury reserve 368 elucid 369 budos band 370 tim hecker 371 waqwaq kingdom 372 william doyle *** 373 innercity ensemble 374 filthy friends 375 prurient 376 shlohmo 377 bon iver 378 sean henry 379 yeesh 380 faye webster 381 megan thee stallion 382 squid, town centre 383 simulation (hausau mountain) 384 flying lotus 385 horse jumper of love 386 rap, export 387 lansky jones 388 the gonks 389 cate lebon 390 rome fortune 391 chain cult 392 empty set 393 big thief (2 lp's) 394 laura cannell [and polly wright album ?] or is there just a laura c album too ? }} 395 froth 396 thugwidow 397 organ tapes 398 the new pornographers 399 zonal 400 bbg baby joe 401 whitney 402 guards 403 anemone 404 sheer mag 405 nots 406 fujiya & miyag 407 kool aid, family portrait ep 408 frankie cosmos 409 kaputt 410 quelle chris 411 operators 412 marco benevento 413 elvis depressedly 414 school of language, 45 415 rob burger 416 pozi 417 redd kross 418 randy randall 419 yatta 420 hide, hell is here 421 bobby krlic, midsommar ost 422 planet england 423 kev brown 424 robedoor 425 tropical fuck storm 426 haram, 9/11 ep 427 candy, super-stare single 428 sly and the family drone 429 kevin morby 430 porches, rangerover [single] 431 odae 432 pottery 433 saint pepsi 434 slowthai 435 iggy pop 436 swans 437 iLOVEMAKONNEN 438 mukqs 439 feels 440 luke temple 441 oli xl 442 orphan swords 443 post pink 444 deli girls 445 nilüfer yanya 446 idk, is he real? 447 interpol 448 priests 449 galcher lustwerk 450 smokepurpp, various? 451 kindness 452 ex hex 453 sampa the great 454 methyl ethel 455 ellis, the fuzz ep 456 jeanines s/t 457 water from your eyes 458 twin peaks 459 sam cohen 460 fontaines dc 461 spiral stairs 462 the hecks 463 nicola ratti 464 four tet, various (inc. "wingdings" alter ego side proj) 465 holy ghost 466 half stack 467 cherubs 468 juana molina, forfun EP 469 jpegmafia 470 bedouine 471 fury 472 melvins/flipper 473 the curls 474 izambard 475 heart eyes 476 drinking boys and girls choir 477 big search 478 glenn branca 479 rose elinor dougall 480 bat for lashes 481 young knives, [single, more? 482 hot chip 483 alex lahey 484 hemlock ernst & kenny segal 485 dj seinfeld 486 joni void 487 rema rema 488 spencer tweedy 489 trash kit 490 dry cleaning [2 ep's] 491 mega bog *** 492 saudade 493 monster rally 494 wilco 495 chromatics, LP + EP 496 slayyyter 497 maral 498 blarf 499 pernice brothers 500 la neve 501 marie davidson 502 tredici bacci 503 deathprod 504 lowly 505 russian circles 506 angel witch 507 fires were shot 508 amy o 509 q da fool 510 clams casino 511 automelodi 512 paradox 513 dababy (2) 514 david kilgour 515 missy elliot 516 baby smoove 517 boris 518 thanks for coming 519 yves tumor [single w/] 520 ΜΜΜΔ 521 falcon/falkland 522 noel wells 523 ecstatic vision 524 amyl & the sniffers 525 barrie 526 bianca scout 527 katie dey 528 prince rama 529 control top 530 duster, comp + new LP 531 foxes in fiction 532 slowthai x denzel curry [single] 533 the murlocs 534 plaid 535 ela orleans 536 gobby 537 cfm 538 carla del forna 539 pale spring 540 pixx 541 širom 542 lightning bolt 543 cate lebon & deerhunter 544 channel tres 545 sigrid 546 help, s/t 547 shellac, live 548 crack cloud, pain olympics (ongoing) / s/t (2018) 549 notes underground 550 fat white family *** 551 gloop 552 equiknoxx 553 nakhane 554 czarface meets ghostface 555 the rubinoos 556 shannon lay 557 tim heidecker 558 droneflower 559 john vanderslice 560 your old droog 561 bats, alter nature 562 zvi 563 justus proffit 564 lower dens 565 anna of the north 566 yg 567 holly herndon 568 good fuck 569 clark, single 570 charli xcx 571 the nativist 572 low life 573 jonsi & alex somers 574 kazu 575 günter schickert 576 odonis odonis 577 kelsey lu (+ remix EP) 578 young thug 579 thaiboy digital 580 hatchie 581 hiro kone 582 cocorosie 583 sabiwa 584 oh sees 585 rex orange county 586 311 587 erland cooper 588 jtamul 589 the brilliant tabernacle 590 free love, extreme dance anthems 591 jeff lynne's elo 592 dutch courage 593 booji boys 594 giggs 595 ceschi 596 inter arma 597 psychic sounds ensemble 598 eli kezsler EP 599 thelma 600 haiku salut 601 julia jacklin 602 otoboke beaver 603 colin self 604 mark mulcahy 605 rosalia, single "a pale" more? 606 chris lott 607 royal trux 608 weyes blood 609 mikal cronin 610 hissing tiles 611 grace ives 612 vic bang 613 nick cave 614 sugar world [single] 615 herzog 616 offset 617 mike adams at his honest weight 618 real life buildings 619 aldous harding 620 pye corner audio 621 doja cat 622 bleached 623 book of shame 624 kate davis 625 i was a king 626 pendant, through a coil 627 joseph arthur 628 great grandpa, four of arrows 629 modern nature 630 stef chura 631 spaza, s/t great 632 the alchemist 633 pond 634 aiden baker, etc 635 kirin j. Callinan 636 possible humans 637 greys 638 kizuna ai 639 little simz 640 big bend 641 membranes, what nature gives… 642 young nudy 643 car seat headrest (live) 644 seahawks 645 dumbhop's party 646 julien chang 647 pacific yew 648 pharmakon 649 lomelda 650 versing 651 olden yolk 652 mekons 653 the dream syndicate 654 the gotobeds 655 amy klein 656 bABii 657 bill callahan 658 grlwood 659 van dale 660 ziúr 661 delicate steve 662 debby friday 663 dehd 664 south city hardware 665 kesha 666 (sandy) alex g 667 computer slime 668 fka twigs 669 rob halford, celestial 670 dean hurley 671 school of language 672 nicolas godin 673 blue hawaii 674 leggy 675 ceremony 676 his name is alive 677 third eye blind 678 sadgirl 679 ariana grande 680 skepta 681 dylan moon 682 jay mitta 683 the drums 684 kero kero bonito, ep 685 charly bliss 686 lee renaldo etc 687 rina mushonga 688 ulla straus 689 cherushii & maria minerva 690 slaughter beach, dog 691 maps 692 dj shadow 693 tool LOL 694 diiv 695 pixies 696 cuco 697 black peaches 698 subhumans 699 gurr 700 cashmere cat 701 brockhampton 702 fire-toolz 703 lambchop, LP + EP 704 messthetics 705 neuland 706 westkust 707 haelos 708 sturgill simpson 709 maria usbeck 710 king gizzard (2) 711 earthgang 712 paranoid london 713 fet.nat 714 bethlehem steel 715 neil young with crazy horse 716 tengger 717 guerilla toss 718 spelling 719 lizzo 720 wiki 721 dr00p, mkULTRAHD 722 ghost orchard 723 jane weaver 724 usa/mexico 725 carl stone 726 richard dawson *** 727 rafael toral 728 test dept 729 sacred paws 730 big krit 731 mallrat 732 jenn champion 733 moE/Mette Rasmussen, tolerancia picante 734 facs 735 yung lean, single (blue cup) and ep, more? 736 pissgrave 737 moodyman 738 sing sinck, sing 739 tyler the creator 740 sleater-kinney 741 dean blunt, zushi 742 cursive 743 barker, utlity 744 gemma 745 octavian 746 pronoun 747 girl ray 748 julia shapiro 749 nodding god 750 daniel saylor 751 jakob ogawa 752 richard youngs 753 diät 754 w00dy 755 omar souleyman 756 vōx EP 757 topdown dialectic 758 penelope islea 759 gbv 760 glass beach 761 james hoff, hobo ufo 762 euglossine 763 dream ritual 764 terry allen 765 office culture 766 ghostie, devour 767 beat detectives 768 red channel 769 octo octa 770 julien baker [toyko single] 771 shackleton as "tunes of negation" 772 sons of raphael 773 lena raine 774 fitted, first fits 775 velf 776 cvn 777 black country, new road, [2 singles only?] 778 chief keef 779 andrew bird, LP and EP 780 tamaryn 781 vagabon 782 zelooperz 783 brian jonestown massacre 784 angel dust 785 pere ubu 786 vatican shadow, church... 787 spencer radcliffe 788 mr muthafuckin exquire 789 earth to mickey 790 beak> 791 byron westbrook 792 major murphy 793 nicole yun 794 the divine comedy 795 sote, parallel persiao 796 the radio dept. 797 prince daddy & the hyena 798 mudhoney 799 truth club 800 shura 801 underworld, drift 802 lil texas 803 that dog 804 gary wilson / r. stevie moore 805 divino nino 806 spiral heads 807 claire cronin 808 devendra banhart 809 c.y.m. EP 810 dude york 811 sangri 812 vegyn [2 lp's?] 813 brooke candy 814 caroline polachek 815 hurt valley 816 O.L.I.V.I.A, modo avion 817 ziúr 818 pepper mill rondo, it's christmas time 819 ben vida 820 nick hexum/george clanton 821 meara o'reilly 822 tyler holmes, devil 823 blood incantation 824 guenter schlienz 825 gavilán rayna russom 826 loraine james *** 827 lithics, Wendy Kraemer EP 828 navel, ambient 2, in space 829 the proper ornaments 830 jon hopkins & kelly lee owens, single 831 julianna barwick 832 park hye-jin 833 bea1991 834 men i trust 835 erika de casier 836 ducks unlimited 837 lyzza 838 refused 839 jim o'rourke, to magnetize ... 840 analemma, 2 singles on a comp? 841 zack fox, "the bean kicked in" 842 real life rock n roll band 843 prefab sprout 844 daniel lopatin, uncut gems ost 845 kaytranada 846 the voidz, 2 song single + video? 847 grandaddy, single (add scissors icon) 848 dark thoughts, must be nice 849 loose nukes 850 sam mallet 851 very good, adulthood 852 henge, nothing head 853 kaleidobolt 854 nebula, holy shit 855 terminal cheesecake 856 uzeda 857 wet tuna 858 sean mccann 859 black dresses, love and... (2nd LP) 860 nefew 861 taylor swift ??? 862 lala lala, the lamb 863 jenny lewis 864 33EMYBW 865 blood orange, angel's pulse 866 caterina barbieri *** 867 yusu 868 white reaper 869 rozi plain 870 bamboo, daughters of the sky 871 seragina steer 872 clear channel, hot fruit 873 patience, dizzy spells 874 mope grooves, desire 875 current affairs, object & subject 875 comfort, not passing 876 bill orcutt 877 bonnie baxter 878 carl stone 879 thurston moore 880 alameda 5 881 john zorn 882 the membranes, what nature gives... 883 meemo comma 884 ana roxannne 885 whistling arrow, s/t 886 dis fantasy 887 giant swan, s/t 888 buck young, buck ii 889 abdu ali 890 ifriqiyya électrique 891 $hit and $hine, doing drugs, selling drugs 892 ghold 893 theon cross 894 yao bobby & simon grab 895 solange *sure whatever ok 896 the comet is coming 897 the utopia strong, s/t 898 karenn, grapefruit regret 899 brìghde chaimbeul 900 nav, bad habits 901 chance, big day 902 nostalgia critic's the wall 903 uboa, the origin of my depression 904 hobo johnson 905 ana frango elétrico 906 dorian electra

[wellesleyunderground]

Wellesley Underground’s Holiday Guide to Wellesley-Owned Businesses: November 2019

The Good Supply / Image Credit: The Good Supply

Looking for your holiday gifts? Check out Wellesley Underground’s crowd-sourced list of Wellesley-owned businesses (updated for 2019)! Compiled by Hoi-Fei Mok ‘10, WU Managing Editor.

Pinterest Board of the Shops (incomplete)

Jewelry

Alumnati Jewelry by Stephanie Christie ‘00: Handmade Wellesley lamppost earrings

Ecru Collection by Kara Templeton '12: Jewelry, home decor, and stationery

Kindred Spirit Studios by Michelle Davis Petelinz '78: Jewelry, home decor

Lauren Wimmer Jewelry by Lauren Wimmer ‘98: Jewelry

Mala Shah Design by Mala Shah ‘98: Metalworks and Reiki-infused jewelry

Ready-Made by Jenn Meng ‘13: Materials-focused jewelry brand offering minimal, everyday pieces that are affordable, hypoallergenic, super strong, and tarnish-free.

Porcelain and Stone by Kimberly Huestis '05: Nautically inspired jewelry

Space Mermaid by Stephanie Carbone '93: Sky and sea inspired jewelry

Urban Witchcraft by Elena Gauvin ‘13: hand fabricated sterling silver gemstone jewelry with a gothic feel 

Wellesley Voices For Disability: Wellesley earring and necklace set, scarf and hat set, fountain pen, bookmark, keyboard covers and more. 

Art & Crafts

A Riot of Color by Susan Eiseman Levitin '85: Hand-dyed yarns

Achiaa Paper and Pen by Rebecca Amponsah ‘08: Handmade paper goods and lettering

Alyssa Sketch’d by Alyssa Torres ‘09: Original illustrations/art and jewelry

Art Without A Frame by Hoi-Fei Mok ‘10: Original illustrations/art from the Dragon Fruit Project, an oral history project of queer and trans Asian Pacific Islanders

Cardiology Cards by Tamar Zmora ‘11: Break up Cards

ChemKnits Creations by Rebecca Brown ‘06: Hand dyed yarns

Connie-Chen.com by Connie Chen ‘17: Calligraphy commissions, prints, bookish apparel, oblique holders, penmanship lessons 

DisaporicArts by Jenny Jean ‘13: Modern digital art prints

Fran Decker by Fran Decker '80: Original paintings, prints, tiles and notecards

Genevieve Calligraphy by Genevieve Goldleaf ‘12: Botanical illustrations and custom calligraphy

The Grey Fox Studio by Katherine Grey '08: Printmaking, drawing & painting

KT Obermanns by KT Obermanns '07: Illustrations, portraits, pinups, and caricature

Leslie Ordal Fibre Arts by Leslie Ordal ‘04: Handspun yarns, handwoven scarves, and other fibre arts. Lessons and workshops in the Toronto, Ontario, area.

Map Attic by Alex Azzi ‘15: Block-printed holiday cards, resin jewelry, vintage map crafts, ceramics, and abstract fluid paintings.

Misc Midwest by Marie Clymer Sarnacki '13: Wooden coasters and fridge magnets with a Wellesley design

Miyun Makes by Gena Hong ‘12: handmade pottery inspired by Korean traditions.

Monica Starr Creations by Monica Starr Feldman ‘14: Leather luggage tags, metal flower bouquets, embossed stationary, scarves, mason jar cozies, metal & wood working

My Big Pink Crafty Box by Sophia Giordano '09: Feminist crafts

Pick Two Pottery by Dana Lamb ‘99: Pottery

Singing Whale Stained Glass by Amy Putnam ‘90: Handmade stained glass art and shattered glass pins, plus chainmaille bracelets and earrings, including Wellesley inspired pieces.

Stephanie Hessler by Stephanie Hessler ‘84: Wellesley inspired prints, apparel, homewares

Tiny Small Joys by Alyssa Kayser-Hirsh '14: handmade books, calendars, notebooks, and planners

Wear I’ve Been by Samaa Ahmed ‘13: Art designs on throw pillows, prints, mugs, tote bags and more.

Kacie Lyn Martinez by Kacie Lyn Martinez ‘09: fiber artist who weaves tapestries and other fiber art 

Photography

Az Bulutlu by Eylul Dogruel ‘07: Skyscapes, travel and abstract photography, prints and merchandise.

JezRebelle by Jess Planos '10: Wellesley photos on prints, apparel, homewares

Meera Graham Photography by Meera Mohan ‘09: Nature Prints for Sale, Headshots & Candid Portraiture

Vero Kherian Photography by Veronique (Chau) Kherian ‘05: Professional Portraits and Headshot Photography in the SF Bay area  

Health & Skincare

Beautycounter by Jen Askin Pollock ‘99: Safer, high-performing products for the whole family

Box Naturals by Irene Kim ‘99: Luxe towelettes with organic essential oils

Cocofloss by Chrystle Cu '05: Flavored dental floss

EmmGerri by Karen and Kristi Jordan: Skincare lotion

Eu’Genia Shea by Naa-Sakle Akuete ‘08: Shea butter 

Just Botanicals by Sonya Funaro ‘00: Handcraft organic, ethically-sourced skincare  

Hubba Hubba by Megan (MJ) Pullins `94: The oldest alternative adult store in New England, stocking everything from corsets, club clothes, lingerie, and all sorts of sex toys.

Lioness by Liz Klinger: Smart vibrator

Maum Goods Co. by Helen (Tak) Kingery ‘01: Handmade essential oil products for wellness and balance

TATCHA Beauty by Victoria Tsai ‘00: Japanese based skincare products

Fashion and Apparel 

A Gifted Baby by Amelia Gray ‘03: Online boutique for babies and little people focussing on small and emerging designers, ethical production practices and women-owned labels. Alums are friends and family, use code “weloveyou20much” for the 20% f&f discount:).

Baby Blast Off by Emily Bennett: Baby clothes

Catie’s Natives by Jennifer Roesch ‘92: Shirts, hoodies, and accessories that show city pride. Developed and designed by Jennifer’s 10 year old daughter. Featured in Time Out NY. 10% of profits support Hartley House which provides social services to residents of Hell’s Kitchen, NY.

Charlotte and Asher by Laura Hahn ‘06: Fashionable diaper bags

Cliobags by Alejandra Zambrano: Handmade bags

Emma Finney by Kristin Bunce ‘00: Bags and clutches

Orange Soda Baby by Dorothy Hsiung '05: Whimsical children's clothing

The Outrage by Claire Schlemme ‘06: Feminist clothing and accessories with a portion of profits to women’s empowerment orgs.

Satya Twena by Satya Twena ‘05: Hats and millinery 

Stoptiques by Olga Vidisheva '07: Apparel and accessories

Wellesley Class of 1990: Purple W capes!  Made of durable material - great for wearing as a cape, using a picnic blanket, keeping your car seat clean, etc.

Wellesley Class of 2003: Wellesley lamp post shirts, baby apparel, and accessories

Wellesley Class of 2007: Wellesley apron (“We can stand the heat!”), baby and kids apparel

Wellesley Club of Columbus, OH: Wellesley insignia whistle

Swells Swag by Sarie Hale-Alper ‘04: Wellesley-themed designs on a variety of apparel and accessories.

Food & Care Packages

ChocolatesU by Amy Camargo ‘94: Chocolates

Ice Cream Jubilee by Victoria Lai ‘01: 6 ice cream pints, shipped nationwide

Montecarlos Estate by Carlota Batres ‘09: Coffee

Off The Beaten Path Food Tours by Lizzie Bell '03: Food tours in MA

Sky Vineyards by Skyla Olds ‘99: Wines

Sunny Exchange by Connie Su ‘09 and Jennifer Lim ‘06: Care packages

Takeout Kit by Rachael Blanchard Lake '07: Shelf-stable meal kit

Tranquil Tuesdays by Charlene Wang '03: Tea and teaware

Toys

My Muse Dolls by Torlisa Jeffery ‘06: Customizable dolls

Animal Care

Newbury Paws by Andrea Fowler '07: Harnesses for large dogs

Wellesley DC Club: Wellesley pet bowls

Domesticat: Rocío Garza Tisdell ‘07: modern-design cat furniture and accessories

Books & Zines

DefinitiveLeigh by Leigh Morrison '15: Feminist zines

Children’s photo books by Cristi Carlstead ‘01: Colors, alphabet and numbers from various countries around the world Romance Novels by Kate Broad ‘06, writing as Rebecca Brooks: sexy contemporary feminist romance

Jambo Book Club by Mijha Butcher Godfrey ‘98: Receive two-three age-appropriate children’s books each month that feature a child of color as the star. Jambo books show children of color in situations where children’s literature rarely places them - making friends, raising pets, loving grandparents and fighting dragons. The books arrive with a personalized letter in boxes beautifully decorated with art that celebrates the joy of childhood. We serve children aged 0-13.

General Home:

Domesticat by Rocío Garza Tisdell ‘07: posters, more products in development

TAIT Design Co. by Audrey Elkus ‘18: Toys + Homewares designed and assembled in Detroit and 100% made in USA. Minimalist, mid-century modern, built to last and make great gifts. Thanks for checking us out : )!

Professional Services

Abilities Dance: Boston-based physically-integrated dance company. Able to perform at holiday parties, fundraisers, and all types of events. Always willing to negotiate rates for W alums. 

Grace Astrology by Elisabeth Grace ‘83: Professionally certified astrologer; life strategist. Astrology is a powerful tool for understanding why you are the way you are; what you need in order to feel fulfilled and why things happen when they do. Improve your timing and your relationships. Based in New York -- available for parties, fundraisers, speaking/teaching engagements.  

Leslie Ordal: Writing and editing, with a specialty in medicine and science but other fields also welcome. Ad copy, journal manuscripts, etc.--my clients have ranged from Big Pharma to artisans to graduate students. Discount on my usual rate for W alums! Makefast Workshop (Maura Atwater ‘08): Prototyping consultancy; hardware, software, and musical instrument design.

[expshared]

a little bit o’ spring anime season retrospective, a little late 👇

I’ve only watched 2.5 series involved in the Isekai Quartet but I was thirsty for Re: Zero content so I tuned in to this. I’mma be honest: this was fun. Crossovers are fun. I really enjoyed seeing funny skeleton man and Goddess of Dumbass interact, and I think equal time and attention was given to all parties involved, and that made it fun, too. It was accessible for someone like me whose knowledge of these shows was only tertiary and even if it had its questionable moments (Darkness I hate you so much), the sum is an enjoyable package. I question if this show could work with any other quartet of isekai heroes because all other isekai protagonists are boring af.

Watching Fruits Basket again makes me realize that I absorbed too much of Tohru Honda into my personality when I was impressionable and wee and never figured out that it was bad. Anyway this was a nice new coat of paint on a beloved series. The updated designs are nice to look at and the care given to the new material is evident. But it is considerably less…fun than the first incarnation and can I be honest? As a manga reader, knowing what I know about how the little love triangle pans out and watching it from the beginning? I just don’t like Kyo like I did when I was 12. Which, uh, wasn’t that much to begin with. Tohru deserves the world and the anime has a lot of work to do to convince me that Kyo can give that to her.

Fairy Gone takes its place alongside The Lost Village for being the biggest waste of time. In its favor: I liked the main character’s design and that she wore pants. Its sins: horrible clunky CGI I could not make out, way too many proper nouns, infodumps every episode, butt rock, a general disinterest in its main cast and their secrets. It expected me to care about a bunch of stuffy old men and their machinations when there were friends-to-enemies girlfriends in the background they weren’t even considering. I don’t remember who the assistant attorney general prime minister of Not-England is and I don’t care. The fact that this gets another 12 episodes is baffling, how anyone could anyone listen to another 12 episodes of dull political cud-chewing is beyond me.

Carole and Tuesday makes La La Land look like a plastic bag tumbling underneath a highway. Carole and Tuesday should win the Oscar for best everything. Carole and Tuesday is the best contemporary musical by a mile. Watanabe has been waiting 25 years just to make this show, and it’s a delightful cross section of everything that’s made his shows successful in the past—the slice of life futurepunk of Cowboy Bebop, the zaniness of Space Dandy, the ensemble cast of Samurai Champloo. It’s a pleasure to watch. I love seeing these girls underestimated and then blow everyone out of the water, it’s a consistent delight. The soundtrack is amazing and everything on it sounds genuine and legitimate—probably because it is. Netflix shouldn’t be keeping this one all to itself.  

Hitoribocchi was a sweet little gem of goodwill. Strange, anxious Bocchi’s quest to make friends with her equally strange classmates was funny, empathetic, and endearing. I love this cast of weirdo misfits and who among us doesn’t secretly hope their friends don’t forget about them when they’re sick oh thank goodness it’s not just me.

Senryuu Shoujo was a little cute, a little funny, a little heartwarming. It’s forgettable but a nice kind of forgettable, where you fondly remember it for five minutes and then move on with your life. It’s a short form series so if you’re in the mood for a quick n’ light shoujo about pining and misunderstanding, this is an easy recommendation.

I think I set my expectations too high for Sarazanmai. I wanted it to be the takedown of yaoi tropes like Yurikuma so gleefully pitchforked yuri tropes, but that wasn’t its project at all. It was Ikuhara’s most visceral work, but also, I feel, his most grounded in reality, which is a weird fucking thing to say about a show wherein three boys turn into kappas to go up the concept of someone’s butt. This was, decidedly, my least favorite Ikuhara title, which isn’t to say it’s bad. It’s just not Penguindrum or Yurikuma. Its scope felt smaller, its commentary less biting, its reveals less….revealing. Stand By Me is a bangin’ ED, though, I will Stand By That.

Kono Oto Tomare suffers from not knowing who its main character is. Surely it’s Megane Senpai, who starts the show off? But it’s not, it’s most assuredly Delinquent Guy, who is the emotional heart of the show and who definitely has something going on with our third main character, Prodigy Girl, leaving Megane Senpai the third wheel. This show just doesn’t start with its feet underneath it—it hobbles along an ungainly fusion of shoujo and sports anime and doesn’t do either tremendously. It does, however, have a heart, and this cast did eventually grow on me and I want to see them succeed. Protip: if your show is about an activity, please feature the activity. There is very little actual koto playing in this show and this is one of its biggest missteps. It’s a serviceable show, but not a great one.

I don’t drop a lot of anime but I dropped Cinderella Nine at episode 5 because it was just too ugly. It was so bad that I began to doubt there was an “on model”. There was just nothing going for it—the character designs were awful, the animation would pass as a power point, and the sportball was nonexistant. Non Non.

Dororo really let me down. I didn’t care for its ending at all, and in fact, sort of felt as if it nullified all the hard work of the prior 23 episodes. Having Dororo and Hyakkimaru part is a terrible decision. Nothing was learned. The payoff was not rewarding. Would have to point to Aldnoah to find an ending in recent memory I disliked more than this one. >:(/10

The show I was most hyped for every week was Demon Slayer. It didn’t start out swinging—Tanjiro’s origin story is unfortunately pretty par for the course in terms of shonen heroes, and the years-long training arc and time skip right after it was not the most inviting beginning. In fact, that’s where I dropped the manga when I tried reading it a couple of years ago. But ufotable makes this serviceable and by the fourth episode or so, I was completely sold. Something I loved about the manga was its unique artstyle and use of patterns and gradients—any other studio would have sacrificed both. Watching a fight scene in Demon Slayer is a joy. Characters ping pong around each other and footwork is fancy and weapons feel dangerous and the techniques look cool and require Tanjiro to puzzle them out. Also, Tanjiro is such a good boy. He drinks so much respect women juice. Every time an episode ends I’m disappointed I don’t have more to watch.

[medea10]

Medea’s Silly Thoughts & Predictions for Pokemon Sword & Shield

Okay, by the looks of this region (Galar) is based off of England...I think it’s time for some SUPER silly predictions.

The Pokemon Professor for Galar shall be...

Rowan Atkinson (a.k.a. Mr. Bean). He can be Professor Bean.

Person in charge of Pokemon Storage? That honor goes to...

John Oliver.

The gym leaders can be members of the royal family.

Yeah, I’m not too picky. Megan and Kate can be gym leaders to. Same with the two princes. Hell even Prince Charles. Except he’ll probably be the outcast of the gym leaders to Galar.

He’s been the butt of the joke for decades, I’m not letting this opportunity slip up now.

The evil organization shall be named Team Galexit (pun on Brexit). Though now that I think about it, that sounds like a cheap Team Galactic. But might as well throw Galactic a bone since Game Freak won’t any time soon.

That’s right, I insulted Gen4, come at me!

Team Galexit will consist of some wank trying to overthrow a monarchy. Or they’ll probably just throw Team Rocket and Giovanni in again.

Or some shit.

That rugby stadium and theme we saw in the trailer...yeah...

I want to see some soccer/rugby hooligans. Like in the movie Eurotrip.

The Elite Four will consist of the remaining members of Monty Python.

Michael Palin must dress like a lumberjack. That’s a requirement!

And the champion? You’d think I would say the Queen, right? NO!

There is only one champion! Alive or dead, it has to be...

Freddie “God Damn” Mercury!

OH GOD MEDEA, I THINK YOU PISSED OFF ALL YOUR ENGLISH FRIENDS.

Probably. That’s why I said this was going to be super silly.

REAL SILLY PREDICTIONS TIME:

This will consist of game prediction and anime prediction.

1. Scorbunny will end up FIRE/FIGHTING type by the time of its final evolution.

No shit, Sherlock. Everyone’s been saying that this morning.

2. There will finally be a Corgi pokemon.

That’s more of a severe WANT than a prediction. Because I want one so bad.

3. That “more” indication at the end of Pokemon Direct probably means there’s going to be another game that’s a free-to-download and NOT a Sinnoh remake.

No, I’m quite content beating the dead Sinnoh remake horse.

4. Ash will be in Galar by the end of 2019.

...Huh...Can we have his Pikachu wear a Sherlock Holmes hat in the new series?

5. Serena must receive a fucking restraining order from this fucking region.

Fine, I won’t attack Blushy McIdiot.

Giovanni must receive a fucking restraining order from this fucking region. Stay in Kanto, you twat! My fanfiction depends upon it.

Better.

6. I will NEVER SEE TRACEY SKETCHIT HERE.

You got that right!

7. The anime will scout voice actor, J. Michael Tatum (a.k.a. the voice of this sexy mofo) to do characters with accents.

PLEASE DEAR GOD, DO THIS!

8. The anime will scout voice actor, Ted Lewis (a.k.a. the voice of this character) to do characters with accents.

...

...

99% of the fandom boos at this. Me being the 1% in this says ‘yay’ because I’m still hearing Ted Lewis.

Say what you will about his Bakura, I thought he was adorable.

9. “Wank”, “Cheeky”, “Cunt”, “Cocksplat”, “Twat”, and “Swamp-Donkey” will now be appropriate language for the Pokemon anime.

Hey, Detective Pikachu can get away with saying “Hell”.

10. Some Cocksplat from Canada is going to receive an advanced copy of the game a week before its release, ruining the story for everyone.

I call it like I see it.

11. The game will come out September 20th, 2019.

Medea, NO! It will not come out on your birthday. I don’t care if it lands on a Friday this year.

Fine. The game will come out November 15th, 2019. Remember, this is just a prediction. Don’t take my word for it.

12. There will be a same-sex couple shown in the game and/or anime.

HEY, I didn’t get my Ash on Gladion smut I asked for yet. I’m waiting here!

I just added this category just to put up Yuri/Viktor stuff.

13. Clefable will be Nurse Joy’s partner pokemon in Galar.

My silly predictions, guys!

14. Detective Pikachu easter egg/cameo/appearance might appear in the game or the anime.

15. A Sun & Moon episode will introduce some random guy who plays Pokemon Rugby and eventually an introduction to the Galar region, which gets Ash excited and more fuel for more Pokeani!

I’m basing this on the fact that there have been a total of 3 sport-related episodes in Sun & Moon thus far (Ping Pong, Baseball, and recently Golf).

16. I might get lucky with a game or anime character cross-dressing again.

Current prediction on this: Ash will have to help out a theater and ends up in women’s clothing again.

That’s all for now.

[parf-fan]

Ask and ye shall fucking receive, bitches!!!

Oh yeah, that’s right, the cast lists have been posted!  Moreover, posted IN FULL!  Actors, character names, character professions, and chARACTER DESCRIPTIONS HOLY SHIT!!!!1!!

Once again, I have done my best to sort the Bacchanalians by track.  It was much more challenging than last year (and took a good deal longer), where I only mixed up two.  The music track is easy, of course, but combat and improv are another matter.  In the end, I simply could not decide for a fair number, and these are listed in a separate section.

A small note, I had to copyedit the FUCK out of these descriptions.  Man, I dunno, I think their apostrophe key was maybe busted? and there were loads of misspellings, a few missing spaces, and occasionally just the wrong word entirely.  If anyone with any sort of influence on the Faire’s website happens to see this, PLEASE go back and fix these errors.

As always, check the Faire’s website for headshots.  And also for the scenario, I guess, because I just realized I never got around to making a post about that.

Leads

Mary Huff :  Queen Elizabeth I – Queen of England

Young and full of hope for the future of her country, Queen Elizabeth I is eager to take part in the day’s festivities and to learn more about the people she is meant to rule. Though she is youthful in appearance, she should not be underestimated. Queen Elizabeth I is intelligent, quick-witted and does not suffer fools lightly.

Joshua Kachnycz :  Robert Dudley – Master of Horse

Wealthy and benevolent, this Englishman seeks to ensure everything is perfect for the Queen’s coronation day. Though he is a strong, independently wealthy, and capable man, he is not afraid to listen to and heed a woman’s opinion, which quickly makes him one of Queen Elizabeth I most trusted advisors and friends.  [Listen I am so glad this man is returning, he is such a joy to watch act.]  [Zis is pleasink to me!]

Alex Stompoly :  Henry Carry – Nobleman

Cousin to Elizabeth I, Henry Carey has a claim to the English throne and is not likely to let you forget it. While he ultimately wants what is best for the country, he doesn't always have the hearts of the ordinary citizens he represents at the forefront of his political strategy. It may take him a while to believe that such a young Queen can be a strong leader.  [OH FUCK YEAH ALEX IS THE VILLAIN THIS IS EVERYTHING I’VE EVER WANTED]

Combat

Sunny Vinsavich :  Bev Tanningrove – Tanningrove Family Muscle

When carousing with friends, she is playful and carefree; but this cousin to Jack Tanningrove is quick to anger if she suspects you of disrespecting the Tanningrove name. Bold and hot-blooded, it doesn't take much to convince her to enter into a brawl to defend her house.

Emily Wirthwein :  Sylvia Forel – Sword Mistress

As lethal as she is lovely, this German Master Swordswoman is renowned throughout Europe. If you are lucky enough to have her in your employ, you can expect her complete loyalty and services as a sellsword – as long as you aren't outbid by a wealthier party.  [Oh good, the German mercenaries are back.]

Mel Angelo :  Mary McBride – Dance Mistress of the Shire

Best friend to Rose Hopfield, this dancing mistress makes a loyal, dependable, and energetic companion. Shire folk beware: don't call her a coward or insult the Hopfields, else you might find yourself face to face with the pointy end of her sword.

Ilana Lo :  Fan Liu – Pirate

Running away from home at the age of thirteen, Fan Liu spent her formative years as a member of pirate crews in many different countries. Because of these varied experiences and her own innate charm, Fan Liu is a brilliant negotiator, easily able to talk people into doing just about anything she asks. And if they make the mistake of not doing as she asks, they will soon face her steel.

Leigh Loureiro :  Bonnie Buchanna – Pirate

A formidable opponent who can fight, curse, and drink just as well if not better than her male counterparts. Nicknamed ‘Bloody Bonnie’ for her reputation of leaving no survivors, many would be surprised to learn that she secretly has a soft spot for soft and cuddly critters. But,please, don't tell her we told you!

Amanda Darrigo :  Mistress Quickley – Tavern Keeper

Thrilled at finally fulfilling her dream of opening her own tavern, this little lady isn’t shy about inviting people in or delegating responsibilities to her subordinates. In fact, she loves being a boss so much she might try to hire you to manage the day-to-day operations so she can focus on big-picture items: like how to spend her hard earned ducats.

Sean Besecker :  Captain James Thatch – Captain of The Queen's Vengeance

Thatch grew up on pirate ships watching and learning from the best sea-robbers in the business, so it is no surprise that he is one of the most ruthless and cutthroat pirates to sail the seven seas. While polite society would consider him uncivilized, he does live his life adhering closely to a very important set of rules: the Piratical Code.  [pyrate ship count: 1]

Matthew Glen Clark :  Bartholomew Wainwright – Yeoman

Dark and brooding, the mysterious Bartholomew Wainwright is often mistaken as cynical when a better term for him would be logical. He makes decisions using his brain and not his heard – the same cannot be said for some of his fellow Yeoman.

Austin James :  Edward Mawson – First Mate

With knowledge of the civilized world, Edward Mawson, sometimes referred to as Maw, is the perfect First Mate to his unruly Captain. He is easily able to represent the Captain at important affairs and likes to mingle with the upper crust of society. In fact, he likes it so much that he dreams of bettering his own position so that he might one day join them.

Music

The Sirens

Sarah Bartley :  Captain Sheena Daley O'Connell – Captain of The Unyeilding Tempest

The Leader. She is bold, brave, fearless and knows the world of piracy like the back of her well-worn hands. Sheena actively attempts to keep the peace in ORC but enjoys looting and pillaging as much as her fellow captains. Her deeds are heroic, but often tall in nature! Ask her to tell you all about when she saved her entire crew with a single plank of wood. She will regale you.  [pyrate ship count: 2]

Leigh Anne Hamlin :  Captain Scarlett Seymour – Captain of The Shadow of Prophecy

The Joker. She is laid back, extremely confident but relentlessly lazy. Scarlett always cracks jokes and makes light of difficult situations. She has been a pirate all her life and she is damn good at it! She is fond of long naps, drinking and gambling. Whats her secret? Good luck and tons of it!  [Four things.  First, pyrate ship count: 3.  Second, presuming she named he ship herself, I guarantee that this character is queer, because that’s the most Extra ship name ever, and only us queer folk are that overdramatic.  Three, prophesy? seymour? see-more? r u kidding me?  Four: if you go look at her headshot, this actor bears an uncanny resemblance to Vanessa Sterling.]

Megan Jones :  Captain Ruth "The Blade" Gibson – Captain of The Jolly Walrus

The Wild Card. She is tough, blunt, and has a wee bit of a rage problem. Although she loves piracy and has the scars to prove it, she melts at the sight of children and cuddly animals, who have the ability to soften her strong demeanor. Do not dare question her about the name of her ship! Shes sensitive about it.  [Oh hell yeah, Megan Jones is a pyrate! I am very pleased about this.  Also, pyrate ship count: 4.]

Sarah Williams :  Captain Elanor Keetly – Captain of The Malevolence

The newly appointed Captain of The Malevolence. The innocent. She has inherited her newfound position of Captain after all the members of her crew mysteriously perished in a tragic maritime accident. She has a thirst for knowledge and craves to be the very best in her new career! Elanor is extremely enthusiastic, but a bit frightened of the weight of her new position. She has a malicious alter ego named Cookie.  [Well, that certainly took at turn at the last line!  Pyrate ship count: 5, and whomever named this vessel was definitely queer, too.]

The Irish Revels

Autumn Sheffy :  Siobhán O'Sullivan – Royal Music Tutor

Having left the rest of her family behind to seek her fortune, this maestro has ascended to the ranks of the English court! Surely she wouldn't lord this success over the rest of her siblings...

Jordan Bell :  Gilda O'Sullivan – Musician

Gilda is an optimistic and charismatic leader. She hasn't the time for negativity or ill will amongst her siblings, so she simply pushes through it with a bright smile. She is a perfectionist and an overachiever. She adores music and her siblings, despite their failings, and will do anything to make sure the festival day goes off without a hitch. She has the color-coded scrolls to prove it! because what are we, animals?

Morgan Harwood :  Alannah O'Sullivan – Musician

Alannah is kind, carefree, and a bit odd. She is the youngest of the quintuplets and the most connected to the universe. She has the ability to see magic creatures and is often overtaken by her imagination. Her magic touch can calm her siblings when the time arises. The music she performs grounds her back in reality. She doesn’t walk, she floats.  [Whelp, this character obviously has a connection to the fae, so she’s definitely Autistic.]

Jared Haverdink :  Keagan O'Sullivan – Musician

Keagan is a realist, has an excellent sense of humor, and is endlessly sarcastic. He has a bit of the ol’ Irish temper that is easily set off by small things. The most talented musically of the O’Sullivan siblings, he was always very skilled, but has recently improved dramatically, almost overnight. His siblings are suspicious he has made a deal with a sea witch for his newfound shredding skills.  [I’m so glad that last sentence exists.]

Joey Mudd :  Deklyn O'Sullivan – Musician

Deklyn, like his sister Gilda, is a very friendly and charismatic young musician. He is full of life, energy, joy and is extremely earnest. However, he does tend to worry, and his imagination takes hold, extrapolating the smallest misstep that could lead to the doom of his family. Frequently stares into the middle distance, right between the crucial and the trivial, between existential dread and I’ll take the dressing on the side.  [The Millennial™]

The Rakish Rogues

Christopher Burch :  Sterling Armstrong – Highwayman, Leader of Group

The leader of this merry band of misfits. He is bold, ambitious, but a tad arrogant. Sterling fancies himself as a ladies’ man, but when approached by a woman, he can’t always follow through. His leadership style is that of blind intuition. His British dialect is very put-on and manly, but he often slips into Cockney, his real voice, when angered. Sterling doesn't walk, he glides. Is that his real name or did he make it up?  [FUCK YEAH THEY DID THE THING THEY PUT HIM ON THE MUSIC TRACK YESSSSSS!]

Chase Brackett :  Tucker Abbot – Highwayman, Sterling's Protégé

A former homeless orphan who was adopted by Sterling Armstrong as his younger brother and protégé . He absolutely worships the ground his brother walks on. Tucker is very bright, optimistic, and somewhat naïve. He is completely unaware when he says filthy and inappropriate things. Sterling said it so it must be fine! He loves the life of crime, but mostly he just wants to find a beautiful lady and sing songs to her pretty face forever.  [This character description has newsie energy.]

Pete Hedberg :  Jeremiah Slight – Highwayman, Sterling's Right-Hand Man

He is the muscle of the group, but secretly the brains. Jeremiah is the only person keeping this group afloat, but he would rather stick to the shadows than be in the limelight. He is excellent at thievery and a master of disguise. If you get close enough to find out how many accents he can do, you may not live to tell the tale!  [*laughs in a decade of faire accents*]  [also slight is the right hand man? slight of hand? fuck you.]

Ian Agnew :  William "Bill" Crimson – Highwayman, former Benadictine Monk

A former Benedictine monk who was living a pious life in an abbey. He one day was hit in the head with a bible, decided to leave the cloth and turn to a more exciting life of crime. He adores his new lifestyle and lives it with absolutely no restraint or regret. Bill has a newfound love of drinking, women, and gambling. He may have a few loose screws, but he’s never been happier.  [So there’s a good bit to unpack there.  Kind of like a reverse Cadfael.]

Improv

Sheila Barton :  Lady Delores Anne Penburthy – Lady Mayor of Mount Hope

Effervescent and vivacious, the Lady Mayor is sure to give Queen Elizabeth I the warm and generous welcome deserving a ruler of England. Having earned the love of the townspeople, the Lady Mayor could teach the young Queen a thing or two about earning the trust and loyalty of her people.

Adam Shepley :  William Cecil – Advisor to the Queen

Her Majesty’s most stalwart advisor, and head of her privy council. Usually the smartest man in the room, and well aware of it, Cecil knows Elizabeth will be a good queen. Honestly after her sister Mary, things can only go up.

Joe Penn :  Jacob Perry – Sheriff of Mount Hope

He loves putting away bad guys and solving mysteries. The only mystery he cant solve: how to grow up.  [Oh. Hell. Yeah.]

Jonathan Handley :  Sir William Pickering – Nobleman

Well educated, well bred, well connected. William Pickering has studied at the best schools, spent time among the French court, and is a good friend of Queen Elizabeth; but surely he would never let those things go to his head. He is still a man of the people, with his finger on the gilded pulse of the court.

Rob Condas :  William Shakespeare – Apprentice Glover

Everyone needs gloves, and serving all levels of society has made young Bill a keen observer of the human condition. He has heard many stories, and feels that he has many stories to tell. He’d like to try his hand at playwrighting – maybe he can wrangle up some actors to try out a new play or two.  [This is absolutely genius, because if we remain in the same universe for a couple years, we’ll get to see his transition to fully-fledged playwright!]

Adam Kampouris :  Christopher "Kit" Marlowe – Playwright

Full of charm and swagger, this playwright can woo a hundred paramours without running out of pickup lines; finish several thousand tankards of ale without retiring for bed; and accomplish almost any task without exerting too much effort; but he cannot seem to finish a play. He is hoping Mount Hope Shire will provide him the inspiration he needs to pen his next masterpiece.

Kelsey Jefferies :  Gretchen Froman – Heir to the Sausage Throne

Her parents have newly acquired a fortune from their successful Sausage empire, and they like to flaunt it! Fortunately for them, their daughter is responsible enough for both of them and makes sure they don’t blow it all in a single shopping trip. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t enjoy some of the perks – just that she is the only one of the three with some class about it.  [For context, see the Blackfryars’ descriptions.]

Noelani Stevenson :  Eskarina Nutter – Wise Woman

This cunning woman knows that there are things in this world that cannot be explained, and their solutions must be equally inexplicable. A mistress of folk medicine, herbal lore, and charms, she will heal you up quick or dispel the evil eye. Just remember that what she can cure, she can just as easily give back if you cross her.  [hell yeah my pagan girl!  Also if you look at her headshot, her design is literally Sabrina but a little paler and with blond hair, which is most amusing to me.]   [but like,,, why is her last name nutter.]

Kira Gaudynski :  Stella Hopfield – Bottler

Wife of John Hopfield. Though her title is Bottler, she does so much more – marketing, distribution, HR, pretty much everything that isn’t the actual brewing of the beer...and girl, is she good at it! She thrives under pressure, and fortunately for her, there is always pressure abounding.

Ryan Perry :  John Hopfield – Brew Master

Patriarch of the Hopfield family. His brews are best. His ales are awesome. His stouts are stellar. His lagers are...really good too. Hes proud of the name he has made for his family, and knows that beer is the true heart of Mount Hope.

Katelyn Shreiner :  Sherry Tanningrove – Mistress of the Cellars

Sister of Horice Tanningrove and his partner in the winery. Her mind is like the aging process of wine: calculating, patient, and meticulous. She has an eye for detail and rarely jumps to conclusions. She knows that trends come and go, but wine will be forever.

Michael Stahler :  Horace Tanningrove – Vinter

Patriarch of the Tanningrove Family. Wine is what put the shire of Mount Hope on the map, and Horace is proud of that family tradition. He knows Queen Elizabeth will have a more refined palate than her late father and sister, and will help bring Mount Hope’s wines back to the top no matter what those uppity Hopfields say.  [yeah okay so there’s definitely a family rivalry here]

Alright, You Stumped Me

Katie Burch :  Theresa Ratchet – Rat Catcher

Sickness has begun blanketing the world. Some people blame it on bad smells, some people believe it to be God’s wrath due to the sinful ways of today’s culture. Theresa, however, believes it to be because of the rats. She can’t prove it, and no one else believes her, but she will do whatever it takes to rid Mount Hope of these verminous infestations and save the populous in the process.  [Heck yeah, my science-based girl, go get it!]

George Hamilton :  Douglas Johnson – Master Thief

He’s been arrested so many times by Sheriff Perry, they know practically everything about each other. One might even suspect they’ve become friends, but Douglas Johnson would never take advantage of his friendship....in any way that would be obvious to Sheriff Jacob.  [I’m always a slut for this sort of dynamic!]

Shannon Holder :  Rose Hopfield – Brew Master's Daughter

Impulsive, independent, and passionate, this young woman is exploring the world on her own and beginning to see things in a new light, not solely from the perspective of her brewmaster father. By the end of the festival day, she may even sip her first glass of wine!

Jesse Kortus :  Jack Tanningrove – Vinter's Son

Idealistic, intelligent, and inquisitive, this young man is coming into his own and beginning to question the things he has grown up with as facts. For example: contrary to his father’s opinion, there seem to be a great deal of people upon the shire who prefer beer to wine. He intends to spend the day finding out just why that is.  [....oh great we’re gonna have friggin’ het star-crossed lovers up in here, aren’t we.]

John Surgener :  Charles Kent – Yeoman

Fiercely loyal to the Queen, Charles Kent is every bit the ideal hero. With a strong moral compass and an idyllic spirit, Kent is fast, powerful, and has quickly leapt to the top of the list of the Queens favorite Yeomen.

Haley Ward :  Amy Cooper – Cooper

Who would have thought a business person could suffer from TOO MUCH demand? With the ongoing conflict between the Tanningroves and the Hopfields, Amy has been profiting, but at the cost of much sleep. Maybe today she’ll finally be able to enjoy a day off.  [*sleep-deprived fistbump*]

My Reasoning

A section I include purely because I don’t like feeling stupid: therefore when I’m wrong, I prefer people to at least see the logic I followed to arrive at my conclusion.

Leads

Robert Dudley and Henry Carry are both mentioned by name in the scenario, so they’re obviously leads, and Queen Elizabeth is sort of, well, Queen Elizabeth.

Combat

Bev Tanningrove – Tanningrove Family Muscle: character description puts her pretty firmly in the combat territory; Sunny Vinsavich’s resume backs this up with necessary training/abilities.

Sylvia Forel – Sword Mistress: character description puts her pretty firmly in the combat territory; Emily Wirthwein’s resume backs this up with necessary training/abilities.

Mary McBride – Dance Mistress of the Shire: character description puts her pretty firmly in the combat territory; Mel Angelo’s resume seems to back this up with necessary training/abilities.

Fan Liu – Pirate: character description indicates combat as a definite possibility; Ilana Lo‘s resume backs this up with SO MUCH necessary training/abilities; character seems to fit better into the pattern of the combat track than the pattern of the improv track.

Bonnie Buchanna – Pirate: character description indicates combat as a definite possibility; Leigh Loureiro‘s resume indicates potential necessary physicality; character seems to fit better into the pattern of the combat track than the pattern of the improv track

Mistress Quickley – Tavern Keeper: can’t freaking find a resume for Amanda Darrigo, but in my PARF experience, tavern-keepers tend to be involved in brawls and melees, thus indicating combat track.

Captain James Thatch – Captain of The Queen's Vengeance: character description indicates combat as a definite option; can’t find a resume for Sean Besecker, but did find a facebook post mentioning his participation in leading a stage-combat workshop alongside Sam Little, thus implying the necessary training/abilities; character seems to fit better into the pattern of the combat track than the pattern of the improv track.

Bartholomew Wainwright – Yeoman: though character description does not necessarily indicate active combat role, one would imagine a yoeman to be involved in combat, and I know past casts have included combat-track yeomen; Matthew Glen Clark‘s resume backs this up with necessary training and physicality.

Edward Mawson – First Mate: character description does not necessarily indicate active combat role, and I was completely unable to find any sort of resume for Austin James, but the character seems to fit into the pattern of the combat track well enough, so it’s my best guess.

Music (hardly challenging, as I mentioned, yet shall display my reasoning anyway)

Captain Sheena Daley O'Connell – Captain of The Unyeilding Tempest: woman pyrate whose character description matches the format of the other Sirens’.

Captain Scarlett Seymour – Captain of The Shadow of Prophecy: woman pyrate whose character description matches the format of the other Sirens’.

Captain Ruth "The Blade" Gibson – Captain of The Jolly Walrus: woman pyrate whose character description matches the format of the other Sirens’, plus we already know Megan Jones is music-track certified, so to speak.

Captain Elanor Keetly – Captain of The Malevolence: woman pyrate whose character description matches the format of the other Sirens’, plus we already know Sarah Williams is both music-track certified and Siren certified.

Siobhán O'Sullivan – Royal Music Tutor: surname matches that of the four Irish characters listed as “musician”.

Gilda O'Sullivan – Musician: surname matches that of the other Irish characters listed as “musician” or similar; Jordan Bell is already both music-track certified and Revel certified.

Alannah O'Sullivan – Musician: surname matches that of the other Irish characters listed as “musician” or similar; Morgan Harwood is already music-track certified.

Keagan O'Sullivan – Musician: surname matches that of the other Irish characters listed as “musician” or similar; Jared Haverdink is already music-track certified.

Deklyn O'Sullivan – Musician: surname matches that of the other Irish characters listed as “musician” or similar.

Sterling Armstrong – Highwayman, Leader of Group: highwayman; we already knew Christoper Burch is music-track capable.

Tucker Abbot – Highwayman, Sterling's Protégé: highwayman; singing is specifically mentioned in description.

Jeremiah Slight – Highwayman, Sterling's Right-Hand Man: highwayman; we already knew Pete Hedberg is very very music-track certified and Rogue certified.

William "Bill" Crimson – Highwayman, former Benadictine Monk: highwayman; we already knew Ian Agnew is both music-track certified and Rogue certified.

Improv

Lady Delores Anne Penburthy – Lady Mayor of Mount Hope: Duh.

William Cecil – Advisor to the Queen: Adam Shepley is historically improv track.

Jacob Perry – Sheriff of Mount Hope: Joe Penn is historically improv track.

Sir William Pickering – Nobleman: Jonathan Handley is historically improv track.

William Shakespeare – Apprentice Glover: character description gives no indication of combat; Rob Condas‘s website extols his improv ability and love of the same.

Christopher "Kit" Marlowe – Playwright: if Shakespeare be improv track, it follows that Marlowe is, too; character description gives no indication of combat.

Gretchen Froman – Heir to the Sausage Throne: one parent is a Blackfryar and the other an improv director, so the statistical likelihood lies with improv;  character description gives no indication of combat.

Eskarina Nutter – Wise Woman: character description gives no indication of combat; it makes more sense for a healer-witch-type character to not be combat-focused anyway (though that would make for a really cool character); I could not find any resume for Noelani Stevenson to verify anything one way or another, but I’m relatively confident in my verdict nonetheless.

Stella Hopfield – Bottler: character description gives no indication of combat; Kira Gaudynski’ resume seems to indicate greater improv strength than combat strength.

John Hopfield – Brew Master: character description gives no indication of combat; if the Hopfield matriarch indeed be on improv, it seems to heighten the likelyhood of the Hopfield patriarch being on the same; could not find Ryan Perry’s resume to check training/abilities one way or another.

Sherry Tanningrove – Mistress of the Cellars: character description gives no indication of combat; Katelyn Shreiner‘s resume seems to indicate stronger improv skills than combat skills; following my previous path of reason, if the head Hopfields be on the improv track, likely the head Tanningroves will, too.

Horace Tanningrove – Vinter: character description gives no indication of combat; Michael Stahler‘s resume seems to indicate average stage-combat abilities; once more following my path of reasoning through to the logical conclusion, this other head Tanningrove will likely be on the improv track.

Alright, you stumped me

Theresa Ratchet – Rat Catcher: while Katie Burch has historically been combat-track, the character description gives no indication of combat; moreover, her participation in Theatre in the Mansion indicates to me that she has the necessary abilities for the improv track; neither her website nor twitter reveals anything one way or another; finally, I have a unproven gut instinct that one is more likely to remain on cast more years running if one switches tracks.  Verdict? could go either way.

Douglas Johnson – Master Thief: George Hamilton has been on both the music track and the combat track (though music is here ruled out), and his participation in Theatre in the Mansion indicates to me that he has the necessary abilities for the improv track; thieves of various sorts are often on the combat track, but it seems his main acting partner this year is on improv; I cannot find a website for further information, and his social media reveals nothing.  Verdict? six of one, half-a-dozen of the other.

Rose Hopfield – Brewmaster's Daughter: character description indicates a divergence from her parents’ worldview, so while I have her parents under improv, it would make some degree of sense for her to be on a different track; only some degree, though, and character description does not indicate combat; Shannon Holder‘s resume seems to indicate possibility in either track.  Verdict? honestly probably improv but there is wiggle-room.

Jack Tanningrove – Vinter's Son: character description indicates a divergence from his parents’ worldview, so while I have his parents under improv, it would make some degree of sense for him to be on a different track; only some degree, though, and character description does not indicate combat; I could not find a resume for Jesse Kortus to check training/abilities either way.  Verdict? yeah prolly improv but who knows.

Charles Kent – Yeoman: though character description does not necessarily indicate active combat role, one would imagine a yoeman to be involved in combat, and I know past casts have included combat-track yeomen; however, John Surgener’s resume seems to me to lean more toward improv than combat, though he has some degree of experience in both.  Verdict? heck if I know.

Amy Cooper – Cooper: character description does not indicate combat; Haley Ward’s resume indicates the necessary training/ability for combat; the character description gives me improv-track vibes somehow.  Verdict? yeah at this point your guess is as good as mine.

Phew!  That’s more than long enough for one day, so the Blackfryars shall get their own post on the morrow (maybe this evening if I’m responsible... haha...).

To the newcomers, welcome!  To those returning, welcome back!

[cutieodonoghue]

more than all the stars (1/18)

summary: In a world full of soulmates, Emma Nolan doesn’t know who hers is. Enter Killian Jones, attempting to stop his brother from proposing to his soulmate, only to be thrown a curveball when he’s sent to spend Christmas on a farm with a bunch of strangers. (soulmate modern au)

rating: k+ (mild language, suggestive situations later on)

word count: ~3,500

catch up: read it all on tumblr here

also find it: ff.net, ao3

a/n: Hello, dear friends! I want to preface this with a rather important note. Yes! A new story! And, no! I won’t be updating any of my other mcs. Every word about them has been so kind and I feel awful about it, but as I’ve described in the past, I have run out of drive for them.

Over the past few months, I’ve spent every moment of my free time- evenings and weekends and even some days sitting at my desk at work typing on my phone- attempting to build one last hurrah to share. It was my goal to make something that could serve as a love letter to thank everyone who’s been a friend or acquaintance or just a wonderful reader, as well as a farewell, and with one last burning plot in my head, I came up with this story.

It’s been a fun one to write, and one of my beta’s all time favorites to read as well, so I hope you’ll enjoy it. If you do, please let me know!

Without any further ado, onto chapter one! Enjoy!

All my love,

Megan

one

 There are three universal truths about the way things work.

 One - Soulmates exist.

 Two - Soulmates are scientifically assigned at birth, interpreted from a birthmark in the pattern of a constellation, and shared with you at nineteen.

 Three - Soulmates are a massive waste of time.

When Emma Nolan was born, it was on the side of the freeway in the middle of nowhere, in the backseat of her father’s car at three thirty in the morning.

 Her parents weren’t rich by any means, and they still aren’t, running a small farm in a quiet town, so they never brought her to the hospital for an official assignment, instead opting for a doctor friend to make sure she was healthy.

 She must be the only person alive, over the age of nineteen, who doesn’t know the exact name, age, and location of her soulmate.

 But it’s not the end of the world, not knowing. It just sometimes feels like she’s missing something that seemingly everyone else understands. It’s as if there’s a language all of her friends and family can speak but she hasn’t learned all of the words yet.

 When she was eighteen, she thought she met the love of her life, her soulmate, but he ended up being a complete disaster, leaving her heartbroken and alone after two years together.

 Case in point, soulmates are a massive waste of time. Mostly.

 When she was twenty-one, she met the love of her life in her son, who she named Henry David Nolan.

 Her belief in soulmates changed, believing instead that maybe not everyone gets a romantic soulmate, but rather some have one like the one a mother and child share. Not everyone needs to find true love, and maybe she’s one of those people.

 She’s twenty-two now, living with her parents and grandmother in their farmhouse while she saves up to move out on her own.

 It’s not so bad. She helps run the farm and works the shop they have in town every other day. Her parents help her take care of Henry when she needs it, and it’s nice getting to have family for him to grow up around.

 All of her friends from high school have gone off to college or made big life decisions to move away for good, except for a few who remain in Storybrooke, providing her a good outlet for evenings when she’s bored.

 One of her closest friends is named Elsa, who is practically engaged to a handsome man she met a few months ago- her soulmate, obviously. His name is Liam Jones and they’ve only met twice in person because Liam lives in England with his father and brother.

 She finds Elsa sitting in a corner booth at Granny’s Diner, nursing a mug of something warm.

 Emma, bundled up in her winter coat, hat, scarf, and gloves, sighs happily at the introduction of the warm air. She smiles kindly at Granny, the namesake of the diner, from across the room as she makes her way toward Elsa, and pulls her gloves and hat off as soon as she reaches their table.

 Her friend must have something on her mind, because she doesn’t immediately react to her presence at the table.

 “Oh, Emma,” Elsa smiles, shaking her head. “Sorry, I’m just in a whole other world.”

 Emma laughs. “It’s alright.” She sits down and unbuttons her coat. “So, what’s up?”

 Elsa smiles wryly, obviously trying to keep a level head about her while she sits there with something monumentally exciting about to spill from her lips.

 “Liam is coming to town tomorrow. For two weeks. We’re going to look at land and at available listings and-“ Elsa shakes her head and beams so happily she looks like she might burst. “Emma, it’s happening!”

 She knows Elsa’s been waiting for this day to come for a long time. Ever since she started talking to Liam, she’s said how excited she is to get to be with him.

 While it’s a feeling Emma doesn’t quite understand, she knows that if she were ever to fall in love, Elsa would show her nothing but respect and equal measures of joy in regard to every step along the way.

 Emma smiles and shrugs her shoulders. “Wow, Elsa this is so exciting!”

 “I know!” Elsa presses her hands to her cheeks and shakes her head. “I know it hasn’t been very long, but it just feels so right.”

 Emma averts her gaze uncomfortably. The only thing that’s ever felt that right was when Henry came into the world and changed her life forever.

 “I feel so selfish talking about me so much lately. How are things at home?”

 Emma takes a breath and hums. She finds it a little easier to meet Elsa’s gaze.

 “Good. Things are good. Nana has decided she’s going to go for a cross country road trip this spring and she asked if I might be interested.” Emma shrugs. “I don’t know. I think I should stick around.”

 Elsa tilts her head thoughtfully. “You could go. Your parents love taking care of Henry.”

 “No, I know, it’s just…” Emma sighs. “I’m saving money.”

 Her friends eyes widen. “Emma Ruth Nolan, are you going to take my advice and see who your soulmate is?”

 Her face feels hot. She shakes her head. “Elsa, I don’t want to know…”

 “Mhm. In a world full of soulmates, it can’t be easy not knowing who yours is.”

 Emma sighs. “I’m happy. I’m happy not knowing. I have Henry. I have my parents and my grandmother.”

 “How’s Charlie?” Elsa wonders.

 The mention of her younger brother causes Emma to look down at the table briefly. She shakes her head. “He’s fine. He’s happy. How couldn’t he be? He found his soulmate.”

 Elsa hums. “And it didn’t end in ruin.”

 Emma looks down at the table. She considers chastising her friend for this but instead, they’re interrupted by Granny at the head of the table.

 “What can I get you?”

 ///

 The sun has just started setting when Emma climbs out of her car and carries a bag of breakfast pastries up the creaky steps of the porch.

 She can hear happy chatter inside, the sweet sound of baby giggles mixed with a warm chuckle from the adults, something that hastens her approach. She hates missing even a few hours with Henry, but some days she has no choice.

 Emma opens the screen door and kicks her boots against the side of the house to shake the snow that had gathered in the cracks and clung to the sides. She smiles breathlessly as she opens the door with the tasteful wreath hanging in the middle to find everyone gathered, laughing at Henry as he rides the dog through the kitchen.

 In the instant that the door opens, Henry’s attention goes directly to her and a grin splits his face in two.

 “Mama!”

 She gasps. “Hi, baby!”

 Looking up, she finds her mother ready to accept the breakfast pastries. She has an excited grin on her face, the kind she wears when she has a secret she can’t wait to spill. “Emma, Charlie called. He’s coming home in time for Christmas.”

 She slips out of her coat after pulling her hat, scarf, and mittens off. Emma’s eyes widen. “Oh?”

 “He’s bringing Hannah.” her father adds from his spot at the kitchen island, where he’s chopping something that they’ll be having at dinner.

 “It’ll be nice to see her again.” Emma takes her boots off and flexes her toes after stepping off of the slightly damp doormat and onto the hardwood floor.

 She smiles down at her son, who has climbed off of Wilby the herding dog, instead holding onto her legs tightly. He giggles through his paci, one of Emma’s most favorite things. She kneels down and takes him into her arms before standing again.

 With her lips against Henry’s forehead, she takes his fingers into her hand and then leans her cheek against his soft hair.

 She crosses the room to the dining table where her grandmother sits with a book.

 “Hey, Nana.” Emma says in greeting before leaving a gentle kiss to the top of her head.

 Affectionately, her grandmother smiles at her, “Emma. Hi, sweetheart. How was your day?”

 “It was good.” Emma smiles. She turns to look at her parents, finding them side-by-side in the kitchen, laughing with one another and bumping each other’s hips. “How was Henry? Not too bad, I hope.”

 “Oh, no,” Grandma Ruth shakes her head. “He was an angel as always.”

 Emma kisses her son’s cheek before he settles it against her collarbone and snuggles in close. Her heart swells warmly and she rests her cheek against his head.

 Swaying just a little, Emma stands beside her grandmother as her father announces, “Emma, we’re having your favorite grilled cheese and homemade tomato soup for dinner.”

 “Mmhm!” Nana pounds the table with delight. “I can hardly stand the wait!”

 Emma and her parents laugh. She shifts Henry’s weight on her hip. “Okay, well, I have to change, so I’ll be down in ten.”

 “Oh, Emma,” her mother says just as she’s about to leave the room. “You got another one today.”

 Her heart sinks and she groans a little as her mother hands her the letter still sealed in its envelope.

 “I don’t know why I ever told anyone I’m without a soulmate in a world full of them.” Emma’s voice comes out just slightly bitter, although she didn’t mean it to be.

 Nana laughs. “When I was your age, it was a game of connect the dots. Young people these days have it so much easier than in ages past.” Her grandmother tosses a hand at her and lays on classic Grandma Ruth wisdom with kindness in her eyes, “If I could do it, then you can too, Emma. You don’t have to listen to these modern day instant gratifiers.”

 Emma’s mother sighs and rubs Emma’s arm gently. “When we decided we wouldn’t take you for pattern cataloging, it wasn’t meant to hurt you. At least this way, you can find love for love and not… just because some piece of paper says it’s love.”

 While Emma’s heard both women tell her the same thing time and time again, especially with the disaster that had been her life at eighteen.

 “I’m not worried,” Emma says, tilting her eyebrows inward slightly. “I’ve given up on trying. If it’s going to happen, it’ll happen.” She squeezes Henry tighter. “I’ve got my little North Star and that’s all that matters.”

 Without another word, Emma takes her leave. She turns the corner in the living room that goes to the private set of stairs that lead to her and Henry’s shared attic bedroom.

 Grandma Ruth used to live up here while Emma was growing up, but then she had a fall that resulted in her bedroom being moved across the hall from her parents downstairs. It’s almost a full apartment of space, it’s just missing a kitchen, so it’s almost like she’s not living at home.

 Emma settles Henry down on her bed, finding him beaming up at her happily, and smiles at him sweetly before she kisses his cheek a few times.

 “You’re so good, bug.” Emma whispers. “And I love you so much.”

 She studies him, trying to memorize the little creases by his eyes and the sweet sound of his voice when he babbles at her. He grabs for her hair before she replaces it with one of his stuffed animals and shifts him further onto the bed so he won’t go rolling off.

 Emma moves across the room to the wardrobe in the corner. She pulls it open and finds one of her favorite sweaters.

 After shucking her shirt from her body, she grabs the sweater and moves toward the bed again, where she faces a mirror just so she can turn to the left and stare at the smattering of birthmarks, a unique constellation that’s mirrored on someone else’s lower rib cage just like hers.

 The idea was enough to get her heart racing years and years ago, but now she just feels quietly lost and hopeless.

 She touches the spot at the top, the biggest of the markings, the one that’s mirrored on Henry’s side- or she likes to believe it is. Henry’s father, Neal, had most of his constellation right. It was just missing a few spots here or there and it was just slightly bigger than hers.

 Not that birthmarks on skin make a soulmate at all- this is one of the cardinal rules of soulmates. They are a massive waste of time just because of the fixation most everyone she’s ever met has about the spots.

 Emma shakes her head and lowers her fingers from her side. She stuffs her head and arms through the openings of the sweater and then pulls her hair free and ties it over her shoulder before she goes to grab her favorite pair of leggings from the top drawer of her dresser.

 She makes a face at Henry so he’ll giggle and then she tugs her dirty jeans off before replacing them with her leggings.

 Satisfied, she joins Henry on the bed and curls her body toward him with her knees facing her chest.

 “You’re the only one I need,” she whispers as she reaches up to stroke his hair. She smiles softly at him. “I love you more than all the stars in the sky.”

 ///

 He’s never bought into the idea that matching birthmarks make for life lasting soulmates, so when Liam told him he’d be going to America, leaving their business in his care for a full two weeks, Killian had obviously fought him on the idea.

 One argument led to another, and all of a sudden, they’ve both packed bags and are going to America for two weeks, leaving their business in the capable hands of their father, who would much rather spend his Christmas with his new wife rather than in the office.

 The flight lasts far too long, and he’s very much regretting his choice to up and leave on a protective whim. Liam’s the older brother, for God’s sake. If anyone should be gallivanting off to another country looking for love, it should be him.

 Maine is frigid, he discovers upon deplaning, even though he and Liam wear their favorite jackets and scarves. Perhaps it’s because he’s still angry with Liam for deciding to do this, but they move in quiet companionship to the baggage claim.

 He can tell that Liam is beyond excited for what’s to come. He would be too, if he were in Liam’s shoes. Liam’s only met face-to-face with his soulmate twice, both periods lasting a weekend.

 Killian’s only met Elsa once, when she came to London to meet Liam the first time. She’s a lovely woman, one his brother would probably love even if it weren’t for the marks on their sides.

 His brother had spent a lot of time knowing who she was, knowing exactly where to find her, but hesitant to go look in case she wouldn’t want him. A foolish thought, because he’d gone crazy daydreaming the person whose name was Elsa who lived in Storybrooke, Maine. But a lot of people do the same, when their soulmate isn’t immediately nearby.

 Regardless of the past, they’re here for two weeks. Christmas is in a week and they’ll be here through the New Year as well.

 Part of him wonders why he’s doing this. Liam’s a man with his mind made up, so he won’t be talked down from marrying Elsa, and it isn’t as if the man has any other prospects back in England.

 Sighing, Killian pulls his phone out of his pocket and taps into the messaging app to let their father know they’ve arrived safely.

 He has a few notifications from dating apps he’s been trying, but it isn’t as if dating is any good if either party only has one thing in mind- the bloody birthmarks.

 “Killian, have you put any thought into what I proposed about the trip? Looking into expanding the business?”

 Killian looks up at his brother and frowns, shaking his head. “No, I haven’t. I’ll need a minute to see if expanding in this… Storybrooke makes any sense.”

 Liam smiles widely. “It’s a lovely town, brother. You’ll love it. Very quaint. Elsa’s told me that there are a hearty number of town-wide holiday traditions she wants us to partake in.”

 Killian lifts his eyebrows and hums. “Sounds absolutely delightful.”

 He doesn’t mean it, and it comes through in his voice.

 His brother gives him a hard look as the alarm sounds, signifying that their luggage is about to come down the line.

 “I know you’re not a believer in the science, Killian, but would you just be happy for me? I’m about to be engaged to a beautiful woman, who I love very much.”

 Not wanting to fight him on this, about how entirely ridiculous he is for letting his life be led by society’s solution to love, Killian keeps quiet. He watches the belt move with bags that are nearly identical to his, but aren’t quite right.

 “Liam? Liam!”

 He looks up and narrows his eyes. He finds Elsa looking every bit as pretty as she had before, maybe even a bit more. She’s wearing a lovely long peacoat and her hair’s let down over her shoulders. She has a bright smile that matches his brother’s when they meet and the pair instantly embrace in a tight hug that has her eyes falling closed.

 “It’s so wonderful to see you again, my love.” Liam’s voice is quiet, but Killian still hears it.

 He tries to pretend the luggage on the belt is far more interesting so they can have their moment, but he still hears the kiss they share, and the laughter on their lips afterwards.

 “I’m so glad you’re here.”

 “Aye. Me too.” Liam says quietly. “I… suppose you’ve noticed Killian’s here.”

 Taking that as his cue, he turns and smiles at Elsa. “Hello again, Elsa.”

 “Hi, Killian,” Elsa smiles warmly. She’s holding Liam’s hands and doesn’t seem keen on letting go. “I… just realized I don’t have room for you at my apartment right now.” She laughs and shakes her head. “Um… it’s not a problem, though. I have friends in town who might be able to help and if we need to, I can see about renting you a room at Granny’s.”

 Killian manages a smile, though the fact that he’s prematurely being kicked out of staying with his brother makes him just a little upset. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees his bag coming their way and takes a step toward it before catching it.

 He sets it down in time for Liam’s to come right behind and when he wheels the bags toward the happily reunited couple, his grin spreads. “Alright. That’s everything.”

 “Wonderful.” Elsa says as she releases only one of Liam’s hands so he can take his bag in the other. “I can hardly wait to share Storybrooke with you both. Last time Liam was here, he only got to see a few of my favorite spots.”

 Killian feels his stomach jerk with mild disgust over the thought of the last time Liam was here and he suddenly wants nothing more than to return home to their father and their business.

 Elsa leads them out of the airport, chattering excitedly the whole time.

 Killian occupies his mind with the mundane activity at the airport, staring at parents with children trying to juggle all too many suitcases or the way the snow has formed sludge in the street but maintains it’s gentle fluff on grassy spots.

 When they climb into Elsa’s car, Killian sits beside Elsa’s last minute Christmas shopping in the backseat, something she apologizes profusely about.

 “The trip back to Storybrooke is kind of long, so feel free to take a nap if you need to.” Elsa says to them both as she pulls the car out onto the highway. “I don’t mind at all. I’ve been there.”

 Liam smiles over at his girlfriend and reaches over the center console to touch her thigh. “I’ll be alright. Killian on the other hand…”

 Elsa glances at him through the rearview mirror and chuckles. “Did you sleep on the plane at all?”

 “Not all that much.” Killian admits. He stares out the window at the weather and traffic around them.

 It’s the last thing he does before his eyes fall closed and sleep brings him in and out every few minutes.

 “-doesn’t believe in them. He thinks there’s no way someone could have been meant for another in that way.”

 “Well, to each his own, I guess. It’s just… sort of silly.”

 “Believe me, I know.”

 “I wonder if… I could set him up with someone…”

 He fades back into sleep with the lulling sounds of the radio and the motion of the vehicle working together to pull him back.