#winter river connecticut

[thebettyjuice]

Biking her way to what used to be Maitland Hardware. It's now a coffee shop.

[travmami]

Ice formations on Sandy Brook in Colebrook, CT.

[allurlsaregone-blog]

Idylls of a receding mild New England winter.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

This large 1962 Mid-century modern ranch style home in New Milford, Connecticut was very nice until I got to the family room and then it got weird. 4bds, 5ba, $1.475M + $100mo. HOA fee.

Well, this bridge in the middle of the front path is a little strange.

The entrance hall walls have a nice faux finish.

Bringing the outdoors in. Look at the size of this sunroom. It has two walls of built-in storage and display, too. Like the beams and tropical ceiling fans, too.

The large living room. What do you think of the red beams? I can't decide if they cheapen it or make it retro. I wonder if the acoustic ceiling tiles have asbestos in them. The open doors to the sunroom look beautiful from here.

The kitchen is huge, has the original cabinets, but the appliances are all updated.

This is nice, I like the original mosaic tile backsplash.

Love the corner fireplace by the kitchen.

Renovated bath with a big double shower.

Primary bedroom has faux finished walls that give it a hacienda look.

Home office with built-ins. Interesting giant bench, though.

Looks like they made a little bar area in the hallway.

Newly renovated shower room. Fancy little sink, there, but there's no room for anything, like soap.

One of the secondary bedrooms. It's a good size and has a nice mirrored closet. Okay, now wait for it... here comes the family room.

What is going on here? Sofa on a stick. Before I noticed the board, I thought it was levitating and the house was haunted.

Some nice flowers along a path.

The house is located on the banks of the Housatonic River.

Actually, it's built on a hill overlooking it.

Nice sunset.

During the winter after a snowfall.

The green of summer.

Fall, when the leaves are gone.

[akookminsupporter]

The shot of islands is not Connecticut, the river might be for the kayaking but also they didn’t have a lot of time in CT so unclear — but that coastline in the first photo is definitely not the east coast of the US so we’re for sure getting multiple locations. Maybe a summer edition and winter edition??

It isn't. According to k-jkkrs, that's in Jeju Island.

Oh, a two-part series would be ideal, but I don't think so. We should wait and see more previews of the show, but it's curious that they didn't show anything from Japan, especially Sapporo. So your idea doesn't sound so far-fetched for now.

[cloudcountry]

the harveston sledathon event: jade leech's "incantation"

i'm not sure if everyone has gotten to this part in the new english server event yet, but this part when they were at the market got me curious. so, in typical me fashion, i committed a day of research to figure out what the hell jade was talking about.

first i would like to say that this was put together with A DAYS WORTH OF RESEARCH so if you know more about these plants/mushrooms and would like to add information or correct me please do so in the replies!! i'm not an expert by any means LMAO

with that said, onto the first plant!! i will list the scientific name that jade uses first and then the common name in parentheses. each plant/mushroom will have a picture after the short description for reference!!

i got all these images from google obv

~~~~~

Urtica dioica (Stinging Nettle) - A perennial herb that grows best in moist areas. Grows in late fall to early spring. Fall sun, partial shade. Used as an herbal remedy for sore muscles and seasonal allergies.

Aegopodium podagraria (Ground Elder) - Marked as an invasive species in some of the eastern states of the US (Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey, Vermont, Michigan, and Wiscousin.) Thrives in moist soil and grows during the summer. It’s commonly used in soup and as a remedy for gouts.

Polypodiopsida (Ferns!!!) - Thrives in moist soil and grows near rivers and creeks. Grows in shady locations in early spring. They reproduce with spores. Fiddlehead ferns are the curled up fronds of a young fern that can be cooked and eaten in various ways (steamed, fried & stored, roasted, pickled, etc.) They can also be used as fertilizer and for landscaping.

Chamaenerion angustifolium (Fireweed) - A perennial herb that flowers in June to September. Grows in full sun to partial shade and moist, well drained soil. Its primary use is medicine but it’s also used in tea, which in turn can be used to treat migraines, infections, and colds. Young fireweed shoots can be cooked and eaten (apparently, they taste like asparagus and should be cooked like them, too.)

Allium ursinum (Wild Garlic or Cowleek) - Thrives in slightly acidic soil & moist conditions. Prefers shady conditions and grows around winter to spring, with a peak season of February to April. You can eat basically the whole plant, but if you eat the bulb the plant obviously won’t grow back. It’s been used as a medical plant and in cooking.

Sorbus (Mountain Ash or Rowan) - A bush that produces edible berries in late summer into early fall, and they stay on the tree into winter. The berries should not be eaten raw, but should be cooked because they contain parasorbic acid. The cooking process converts the parasorbic acid into a preservative sorbic acid. Their astringent taste is made sweeter by the frost. They grow best in full sun to partial shade and moist, well drained soil. They usually grow up to 15 meters tall.

Plantago major (Broadleaf Plantain) - A perennial herb that grows in late spring to summer (and sometimes in autumn.) They prefer moist soil but are very adaptable. Grows in moderate shade to full sun. The entire plant is edible, but apparently the flower shoots are especially delicious. They naturally grow in very dense populations and are easy to harvest. Works as a medicinal herb to treat inflammation and boost the immune system.

Equisetum arvense (Field horsetail) - Another perennial herb that grows from summer to the first frost. Grows in moist soil with full to partial sun. Can be used in tea and benefits the urinary system. Their root systems can grow as deep as six feet.

Craterellus tubaeformis (Winter mushroom, or funnel chanterelle) - Our first mushroom!! They are featured in a lot of recipes and are fairly common. They’re ready to harvest in mid-winter to mid-spring. They can be found in mossy areas with well decayed wood, and grow in loose clusters. They apparently have an earthy/fruity taste, and should be cooked so they don’t taste unbearably peppery.

Boletus edulis (Penny Bun) - Another mushroom with a dark brown cap. Spores grow more mushrooms in summer and autumn. Thrives in moist soil and can be harvested a few days after summer rain. They’re around 25cm tall on average and can weigh a kilo (which made me yell out loud, mind you. That's a big mushroom!!) They have a slightly nutty flavor.

Craterellus lutescens (Yellow Foot) - The last item on this list is another mushroom. It thrives in moist soil and they grow from 2-7 cm in length. They apparently have a peppery flavor when raw, but taste earthy when cooked. They typically grow around moss in loose clusters. They’re pretty similar to the craterellus tubaeformis, as one would expect from their shared genus, “craterellus.”

~~~~~

Overall Plant Conditions (AKA patterns I noticed while researching):

Practically all of these plants love moist & well drained soil. A lot of these plants grow in the summertime and like full/partial sun, but there’s a few exceptions of course. There’s a lot of herbs and perennial greenery that have medicinal properties. Many plants on this list grow well in disturbed soil or near water and roadways. All of them are edible (but beware of dangerous lookalikes!)

anyways < jade leech 3 i hope you found this somewhat interesting because i sure did!! (which is why i spent all my free time today researching it sigh the things i do for mermen)

[rtfics]

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice stars promise "big swing" surprises in the sequel, as Michael Keaton says it's got a "stronger story" than the original.

Beetlejuice fans are expecting a lot from Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, having waited a whopping 36 years for the Tim Burton-directed follow-up. Its cast, fortunately though, are feeling pretty chill about living up to the hype...

In the new issue of Total Film, which hits newsstands on Thursday, August 15, and features the eagerly anticipated sequel on the cover, Michael Keaton – who's back as the titular Ghost with the Most – claims the new film has "a stronger story" than its predecessor, and that "there's more of a connection for the audience in terms of the other characters."

He continues: "There's things in here that I wasn't ready for, that are beyond delightful. Instead of saying, 'I can't wait until this thing shows up,' or, 'I just want this thing called Beetlejuice to go nuts.'"

As it stands, there's very little that's been revealed in the way of plot regarding Beetlejuice 2, but we do know that Winona Ryder's returning character is now the host of a popular medium-based TV series called 'Ghost House with Lydia Deetz' – something her teen daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) loathes. That, and the death of Jeffrey Jones' Charles Deetz brings the family back to the location of the first flick, Winter River, Connecticut, and subsequently leads to the reawakening of Keaton's green-haired ghoul.

"I feel very confident that it will match and exceed expectations. It certainly did mine, and mine are way up there," Ryder says. "I literally think every generation can find something in it that they'll really appreciate."

"This movie takes some very big swings," Justin Theroux, who plays Lydia's new fiancé Rory, nods, likening it to watching Willy Wonka’s psychedelic boat ride in the 1971 film. "There's the phantasmagoria and it feels slightly out of control and unhinged. It has that vibe to it. It's clear this movie was not made by taking polls from audiences, and studio notes, and executives going, 'Well, what's the most satisfying act three?' This is 100% like someone opening the front of Tim Burton's head, and letting it dump out onto the screen. It's a fabulous ride for exactly that reason."

Also starring Monica Bellucci, Willem Dafoe, and Catherine O'Hara, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice releases on September 6. You can read more about it, and a whole lot more besides, in the new issue of Total Film when it hits shelves and digital newsstands on Thursday, August 15.

Via TOTAL FILM.

[kevinsreviewcatalogue]

Review Double Feature: Beetlejuice (1988) and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

Another double feature, and once again, it's a classic movie and its nostalgic, decades-later sequel. How do they fare?

Beetlejuice (1988)

Rated PG

<Originally posted at https://kevinsreviewcatalogue.blogspot.com/2024/09/review-double-feature-beetlejuice-1988.html>

Score: 5 out of 5

While Beetlejuice wasn't the first movie that Tim Burton ever made, it was the one that made him a goth icon, turning his name into a byword for a particular kind of style that has at least one foot in the horror genre and is often rich in gothic flair but combines it with a strong dose of comedy and whimsy. In this case, he takes a classic horror movie premise, that of a family moving into a new house only to find out that it's haunted by ghosts that don't want them there, and turns it completely on its head by making the ghosts the protagonists and using that setup as the basis for a riotous comedy, powered largely by the force-of-nature performance of Michael Keaton in his comic prime as the titular villain. It still stands as one of Burton's best movies and one of the best comedies of the '80s, especially for the less raunchy end of the genre (even if I wouldn't by any means call this a family film, inexplicable PG rating aside), powered by an all-star cast and an early version of Burton's unique style that was already apparent here. It's a movie where, the moment you see it, you don't need to ask why it's a classic, you just know.

Our protagonists are Adam and Barbara Maitland, a young couple living in the idyllic small town of Winter River, Connecticut who have just died in a car accident. What's more, when they get to the afterlife, they find a tangled bureaucracy that tells them that they have to spend 125 years in their house before they can move on, which means that they have to watch as a new family, the Deetzes, move in from the city and renovate their beautiful home into the modernist art project of the stepmom Delia's dreams and the Maitlands' nightmares. As such, they make it their mission to scare the Deetzes out of the house, easier said than done given the Maitlands' easygoing nature, the fact that the Deetz family's yuppie patriarch Charles sees dollar signs in a possibly haunted house, and the fact that the Deetzes' gloomy teenage daughter Lydia can see them and ain't scared of no ghosts. Out of desperation, the Maitlands turn to the "bio-exorcist" Betelgeuse (pronounced "Beetlejuice") for help, only to get far more than they bargained for.

The secret to Burton's success in his glory days was that, while his movies were spooky, they were very rarely scary. Burton is a man who has a clear affection for classic horror movies and injects their style into his own work, but doesn't necessarily try to replicate the actual terror, instead using that style to make comedies and dramas about offbeat people who are actually pretty normal once you get to know them. In this case, he made what's basically Poltergeist as a comedy, with the ghosts getting as much character as the living humans. Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis make for a great comic duo as the dorky yet lovable ghosts who are utterly clueless at being horror movie ghosts. They lift macabre imagery from contemporary '70s and '80s horror movies as they try to frighten their home's unwelcome new inhabitants, but John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper they ain't, and they come off as just lovably pathetic instead as they can't even get Charles and Delia to acknowledge their existence. They're Clark and Ellen Griswold as ghosts, slowly but surely melting down in frustration.

They're not the real reason everybody remembers this movie, though. It is, after all, titled Beetlejuice and not Adam & Barbara, and Michael Keaton walks away with the entire film. Beetlejuice being a comic character may have softened his nastiness and kept this rated PG, but he is otherwise presented as an absolute creep, a guy who sexually harasses every woman he meets, ruins the lives and unlives of everyone of any gender he meets, and looks like a disheveled drunk who isn't allowed within a thousand feet of a school, which only makes his plans for Lydia come off that much worse. (Apparently, the original version of the script made it explicit.) He's a whirlwind of chaos and destruction who, for all his comic presentation, brings the film the closest it comes to being actually scary, like if you took the lower-class lout character from other '80s comedies and recast him as a supernatural villain. There's a reason why Keaton, before his turn towards drama, was one of the biggest comedy stars of the '80s, making both the slapstick and the dialogue feel effortless as he makes both the Deetzes' lives and the Maitlands' afterlives into Hell on Earth.

The other character who's become synonymous with this movie is Winona Ryder's Lydia Deetz, who likely inspired the goth phases ("it's not a phase, Mom!") of an entire generation of teenage girls in the '90s. Her look was instantly iconic, and fortunately, Ryder didn't just let the costume department do all the work for her character. If Lydia comes off in 2024 as something of a cliché, then that's because she helped create the cliché, the archetypal moody teenager of any number of family comedies past and present combined with an interest in the supernatural and a heart of gold beneath her creepy exterior. She's Wednesday Addams as a teen in a yuppie family that doesn't understand her, a few years before Christina Ricci made that character her own, to the point that the only thing that surprises me about the show Wednesday is that it took Burton so long to get the chance to take a crack at a proper Addams Family adaptation. Her parents, meanwhile, serve as her utter antithesis, with Jeffrey Jones making Charles a man who desperately needs to get a clue (especially once his reaction to a haunted house is to turn it and the town around it into a tourist attraction) and Catherine O'Hara having the time of her life as Delia, a full-of-herself artist who it's implied married Charles for his money and whose aesthetic tastes are a comically grotesque parody of everything that people make fun of modern art for. From the moment you meet them, you understand immediately why the Maitlands want them the hell out of their home. If this movie has anything on its mind other than its horror parody and its visual flair, it's making fun of yuppies, and while it's mostly the obvious jokes about how they're a bunch of pretentious dilettantes, they serve the film's style quite well.

And on the note of aesthetic tastes, while this wasn't the first movie that Tim Burton directed, it was the one that made him into "Tim Burton", and it still stands as one of the greatest demonstrations of his distinct and oft-imitated style. It is a special effects showcase, starting with a playful homage to '50s giant monster movies in the opening credits and continuing on with the varied looks of the ghosts we see later in the film, especially as the Maitlands explore an afterlife reminiscent of the worst DMV you've ever been to run by a scene-stealing Sylvia Sidney as a salty, seen-it-all bureaucrat who's Not in the Mood for Your Shit. The music, too, does wonders to set the mood, from Danny Elfman's legendary score that sounds like an '80s New Wave remix of a classic horror soundtrack (as befitting a former member of Oingo Boingo) to the heavy use of Harry Belafonte in some key moments. The look and feel of the film matches the tone of the writing and story, spooky but playful, which makes the jokes that much funnier once they start rolling almost immediately. That said, it's always grounded in something resembling reality, in this case a version of small-town New England drawn less from Stephen King than Norman Rockwell. It's what makes the supernatural mayhem hit that much harder (incidentally, the reason why King himself set so many stories in small-town Maine, before his own style was copied to the point of cliché), and honestly, I think it's the difference between this and other early Burton films on one hand and his late-period decline on the other. A lot of Burton's humor, here most of all, was rooted in the juxtaposition of classically gothic imagery with life in modern America, often suggesting that it was in fact the former that was more level-headed and "normal" than our society that, in its obsession with status and the appearance of normality, can often turn quite whacked-out in its own way. Burton kind of lost sight of this with his later films, but in his earlier movies like this, he was a master at it.

The Bottom Line

Like any great comedy, it's hard to describe in words without ruining the best parts, so I'll just leave it at this: Beetlejuice is still a classic after 36 years. It's a simple movie, but that just means it can sharpen its focus and deliver a hell of a spoof of supernatural horror.

----------

And now, for the sequel...

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024 A.D.)

Rated PG-13 for violent content, macabre and bloody images, strong language, some suggestive material and brief drug use

Score: 3 out of 5

If Beetlejuice was Tim Burton at his best, then Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is, for better or worse, an encapsulation of late-period Burton, both his continued strengths as a filmmaker and the points where he's lost his touch. The plot is perfunctory, a mess of multiple different storylines butting heads with each other, with Monica Bellucci seemingly only being here as the villain because Tim Burton has a Type while an actual, more interesting villain was wasted. It felt like screenwriters Alfred Gough and Miles Millar had tried to cram an idea for a Beetlejuice TV series, or multiple different first drafts from different writers over the course of over three decades, into a feature film, with lots of plot threads that went nowhere and were wrapped up far too hastily for my liking. The first movie wasn't exactly that deep, but this makes it look downright intellectual. But when it comes to the things that Burton's name is associated with, from creepy visuals to a twisted sense of humor, this movie roars to the point that I was able to largely shut off my brain and enjoy it. The returning cast is great, not least of all Michael Keaton demonstrating that he hasn't lost a step even after he became a dramatic actor, while Jenna Ortega gets another opportunity to demonstrate why she's one of the biggest young stars of her generation. The humor is as on-point as it was last time, and while the special effects have a much bigger budget than they did before, they haven't lost the practical, handmade charm of the original. There's more of a focus on horror this time, but much of it comes proudly paired with the comedy, from deaths straight out of Looney Tunes to a running gag about the fate of Charles from the first film that I'm surprised got by with a PG-13 rating. As far as nostalgia-bait sequels are concerned, this one did most of what it needed to, if little else.

The film starts with a grown-up Lydia Deetz, now the host of a talk show dedicated to the supernatural, and her teenage daughter Astrid, a student at a boarding school who believes that ghosts aren't real and that her mother is either crazy or a grifting hack, being called home to Winter River, Connecticut after Charles Deetz dies gruesomely in a plane crash. (He survived the actual crash; shame about the shark in the water around the crash site.) Meanwhile, in the afterlife, Beetlejuice is still plugging away at his bio-exorcist gig, while Delores, the evil witch he married in life who's still pissed at him after they killed each other (the feeling is mutual), escapes from her prison thanks to some carelessness and proceeds to go on a soul-sucking rampage hoping to take her revenge on her ex. Along the way, Lydia's douchebag boyfriend and producer Rory proposes to her out of the blue, Astrid meets a cute boy in town named Jeremy who's into the supernatural, and Delia... doesn't actually get to do much, but any excuse to get Catherine O'Hara back in full form is good in my book.

There are a lot of plot threads going on here, enough that I think I might have missed a few of them, which kind of highlights the biggest problem this movie has, that it's overstuffed with plot and doesn't really have much of an actual story. Even by the third act after everything's started to come together, the plot about Lydia rescuing Astrid from the afterlife with Beetlejuice's help and the plot about Delores hunting down Beetlejuice barely have anything to do with each other, with the former settled in an anticlimatic fashion only to promptly segue into the next as Delores literally barges in. An important plot point hinges on Lydia, a woman obsessed with the supernatural and the dark side of life, being clueless about a grisly true-crime story in her own childhood hometown. This movie does a lot of things right, but its writing is not one of them. It tries to do far too much plot-wise, and it largely faceplants every time it asks me to focus on such. It's a shame, because, while Monica Bellucci had almost nothing to do in this movie beyond look creepy and sexy in that distinct Burtonesque way (see also: Lisa Marie, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green), she did it well, and I wanted to see more of her. A better movie would've found a way to incorporate Delores more directly into the plot, perhaps by having her use Lydia or Astrid to get to Beetlejuice, and given Bellucci more of a chance to shine.

Fortunately, this movie didn't forget to do the same for its other top-billed stars. Michael Keaton still has it as a comic actor, and Beetlejuice is still the same force of nature he was before, a guy who's about as profane as the PG-13 rating will allow and feels eager to punch through its bounds. Catherine O'Hara's Delia, like Delores, doesn't really get much of a plot, but she does at least get to make for some hilarious comic relief, still the same shallow yuppie arteeste she was in the '80s and one whose knowledge of the reality of the afterlife has simply given her false hope of finding Charles again. Winona Ryder and Jenna Ortega together get most of the dramatic arc of the film as the mother and daughter Lydia and Astrid, both of them turning in solid performances and Ortega in particular feeling very much like the heir to '90s Ryder in terms of being the one you cast when you want someone who can play a moody teenager really well. (One missed opportunity, though: I think the funniest version of Astrid would've been to make her the biggest girly girl imaginable, one who embraced a life in pink as her own form of rebellion against her goth mother. Not only would it have made sense given the tension between the two, it also would've done a great job of sending up Ortega's typecasting.) The supporting cast, meanwhile, was a who's who of fun bits, from Justin Theroux as Lydia's vapid boyfriend and spiritual guru who feels very much like a male version of Delia (maybe Lydia hasn't escaped her mother's influence as much as she thought) to Willem Dafoe as a Hollywood action hero who died doing his own stunts and now gets to be a loose cannon cop for real in the afterlife chasing Delores and Beetlejuice.

And when it comes to Burton himself, he brings a lot of this movie's best parts. Once I accepted that this was gonna be one of those movies where the plot made no damn sense and wasn't worth following, I stayed for the humor and the style, and this movie largely sticks to what worked last time even if they've got more money to throw around for the effects now. Jeffrey Jones' very public disgrace (I'll spare you the details, but let's just say he was really lucky he didn't land up in prison) means that this movie takes every opportunity it can to piss on Charles' grave with some of the most backhanded "tributes" I can imagine, his over-the-top death rendered in a stop-motion animated sequence being just the start. The afterlife is once again full of cool-looking ghosts whose appearances let you know right away exactly how they died, and while the balance of comedy and horror this time leans more towards actually trying to be scary, the kills are still goofy and cartoonish enough that it manages to remain lighthearted and fun. As a visual stylist, Burton has always been distinct even in his lesser films, and while there's nothing here that's particularly groundbreaking, it's always at least fun to watch.

The Bottom Line

"Nothing particularly groundbreaking, but at least fun to watch" sums up my thoughts on this movie in general. It's kinda dumb and needed a top-to-bottom rewrite, but as a showcase for a great comic cast and a lot of spooky and cool special effects, I had a good time. Check it out.

[beyourselfchulanmaria]

Hello, love the blog.. Have you ever lived in a place where it snows in the winter? ❄️ Have you ever built a snowman?⛄️😁👋🌻

@thethirdman8

You're kind, Thank you. ◠‿◠

Yes, I did snowman. ⛄️ Don't you think I was a lovely snowman too. ♫ I was living in a place where it snows when I studied art (my homestay for 3 months + another 1 year on different time).

I come from a seaport city in the south of the beautiful island of Taiwan (Formosa), and Redding, Connecticut (CT.) USA is a cold countryside in the northeastern United States, so the climate of both obviously are very different in four seasons.

In my impression, the most difficult thing to adapt to at first was the changes in women's skin. I am a person who advocates nature and do not like to apply any skin care products on my face or body. However, if you live in a cold country and have to surrender to the temperature, in order to prevent your skin from getting sick and to look beautiful and please yourself, just You need to change your thinking.

In short, I love snow days but I dislike snow removal after big snows (snowstorms) whatever by snowplows or person do. it's a very hard work more than cut wood for me. lol XD (because I am not a lazy woman although if you see snows beautiful in silver world cheerfully, by the way I will have a lot of jobs on my mind waiting & preparing it to do, terrible tired!!! especially where you live the area very large… but if die as a "snow angel" not too bad. Be cool type only!!! lol)

Oh! forget to tell that my favorite thing was bonfire by the river at outdoor yard in the snow days and Sometimes there's celebrated with few friends singing, talking & drinking is a happiness moment. I like that. it's better than made a snowman. sorry, I seem talk too much again. (XD I can apply to volunteer as a storyteller in the orphanage. 🤣) -ℒan ~*

PS. Too many photos is also a disaster lol When you try to find photos from the past, your eyeballs almost fall out. Even if there are classified photo albums. XD

[asquirrelinspace]

I got bored an decided to give my stereotypes for all the states

Alabama - number fifty in everything is good, right? Alaska - canada but with shitty healthcare Arizona - desert but people actually live there (see new mexico) Arkansas - can't think of anything, ar-kansas California - hunted their own bear to extinction Colorado - haha weed (also skiing) Connecticut - clark. rhode island but slightly more relevant Delaware - the river is more relevant Florida - the america of america, electric boogaloo (see texas) Georgia - "no, I'm from the country not the state" (peaches) Hawaii - you're crippled with living expenses but at least it's pretty Idaho - I-da-ho lol Illinois - all of their neighbors hate them (including themselves) Indiana - i got nothin Iowa - head of the chef Kansas - only known from wizard of oz Kentucky - fried Louisiana - only relevant for new orleans Maine - north Maryland - lit ass flag, crabs, DC, baltimore, or annapolis suburbs Massachusetts - only know the vowel a Michigan - cut in half, lakes are pretty in the winter Minnesota - obsessed with norway Mississippi - alabama lite, name used to count seconds Missouri - sounds like misery Montana - literally nothing. like actually there is nothing there (glacier Nebraska - 1 (one) tall building Nevada - vegas New Hampshire - aren't you just vermont? New Jersey - hates new york with all their soul New Mexico - desert and nobody lives there. cool flag tho New York - people know the city better than the state North Carolina - air force almost nuked it 'accidentally' North Dakota - they all moved to minnesota Ohio - higher population than 80% of states, still known as empty Oklahoma - pan handle (don't look up why) Oregon - cannibalism Pennsylvania - two cities and a lot of rednecks Rhode Island - might be cool if it was actually an island South Carolina - georgia but north, started civil war South Dakota - i saw some cool art and got addicted to the style Tennessee - "you're the only ten I see," north carolina extended Texas - america of america. only republican state that makes money Utah - mormons Vermont - aren't you just new hampshire? Virginia - used to own west virginia, kentucky. skill issue Washington - rain West Virginia - shithole Wisconsin - "I swear I'm totally different from minnesota" Wyoming - yellowstone is cool

[scvereignreigned]

CHARACTER SHEET : Lydia Deetz

LEGAL NAME: lydia deetz

NICKNAME[S]:  babe and honey (by beetlejuice), lyds

DATE OF BIRTH:  october 10th 1972

SEX:  female

PLACE OF BIRTH:  manhattan, new york

CURRENTLY LIVING: winter river, connecticut

SPOKEN LANGUAGES: english

EDUCATION: miss shannon's school for girls in winter river

HAIR COLOR:  black

EYE COLOR:  brown

HEIGHT:   4,3 (at 14) 5,4 (at 50)

:FAMILY INFORMATION:

SIBLING[S]: only child

PARENT[S]: emily deetz. delia deetz (stepmother) and charles deetz

CHILDREN:  astrid deetz

PET[S]: none

:RELATIONSHIP INFORMATION:

SEXUAL ORIENTATION:  heterosexual

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: almost married twice to beetlejuice.

tagged by: stolen from dash

tagging: @storywrought @monmuses @chaosfindsaway @multixfated @vyrulent @wildhecrt @spectergeuse @sirensought @realmyths

[thebettyjuice]

Her destination? This spooky old treehouse!

[laderniereseancedecedrique]

BEETLEJUICE (1988)

Un couple de jeunes mariés heureux, Adam et Barbara Maitland, vivent dans une superbe villa à Winter River dans le Connecticut. Alors qu'ils sont en voiture, Barbara sort de la route en voulant éviter un chien et le véhicule plonge dans une rivière. Adam et Barbara rentrent chez eux mais s'aperçoivent vite qu'ils sont morts dans l'accident. Devenus des fantômes, ils ne peuvent quitter leur maison car ils se retrouvent alors dans une dimension désertique effrayante peuplée de gigantesques vers de sables. Mais leur maison est vendue peu après à un couple de riches snobs new-yorkais, Charles et Delia Deetz, qui emménagent avec Lydia, une adolescente gothique, fille de Charles et de sa première épouse. Les Deetz et leur décorateur, Otho, commencent à aménager la maison dans un style art moderne qui horrifie les Maitland. Adam et Barbara, grâce à un manuel destiné aux récents défunts, découvrent comment accéder à l'après-vie, un monde s'apparentant à une immense bureaucratie où les morts doivent gérer leur propre situation post-mortem. Juno, leur conseillère dans l'après-vie, les informe qu'ils doivent hanter leur maison pendant 125 ans et se débrouiller par eux-mêmes pour chasser ses occupants.

Les Maitland essaient donc d'effrayer les Deetz mais leurs tentatives sont infructueuses car ils sont invisibles pour les vivants. Seule Lydia peut les voir et elle se lie d'amitié avec eux. Les Maitland décident, malgré les mises en garde de Juno, d'invoquer Beetlejuice, un « bio-exorciste » excentrique et peu digne de confiance, pour qu'il fasse fuir les Deetz. Le comportement pervers et grossier de Beetlejuice agace vite les Maitland, qui décident de le renvoyer mais pas avant que Beetlejuice ait réussi à causer plusieurs phénomènes surnaturels. Ces expériences persuadent les Deetz que la maison est hantée mais, loin de les effrayer, cela les convainc d'en faire une attraction touristique.

Otho conduit une séance de spiritisme pour prouver au patron de Charles que la maison est vraiment hantée. Les Maitland apparaissent mais commencent à se décomposer car Otho procède involontairement à un exorcisme. Lydia demande l'aide de Beetlejuice et celui-ci accepte à condition qu'elle l'épouse, ce qui lui permettra d'agir sur le monde matériel sans avoir besoin d'être invoqué. Beetlejuice interrompt l'exorcisme et prépare hâtivement une cérémonie de mariage mais les Maitland réussissent à l'interrompre et Beetlejuice est dévoré par un ver des sables. Les Maitland et les Deetz se mettent finalement d'accord pour vivre en harmonie dans la maison, alors que Beetlejuice se retrouve dans la salle d'attente de l'après-vie.

[jonathanbyersphd]

WIP Wednesday

For Day 3 of JancyWeek2023

Dear Jonathan, I miss you. I miss you. I miss you. I miss you when I'm walking to class, I miss you when I have to eat in the dining hall and I especially miss you late at night when I'm alone in my bed. Boston is fine I guess. It's good. I mean I really like it, it's better than I hoped. I just wish you were here too, mostly because I don't know if you know this but making friends is really hard. I get along with my roommates well. There’s Beverly from Amherst, Gina she’s from Staten Island oddly enough, and Carrie. I like Carrie the best, she's from Fall River you know where Lizzie Borden was from? Anyways Carrie's nice but kinda quiet a little like you that way. I also sorta made friends with this girl named Diana in my journalism class. There's only like five girls in the entire cohort. Can you believe that? I know I shouldn't but I'm counting down the days until we see each other for your birthday next month. Have you thought any more about what you want? I have a few ideas on what to get you but I want to make sure you don't actually need anything. Speaking of needs, I wish I had brought more of my winter clothes. I don't know what I was thinking. Boston gets colder so much quicker than Hawkins, barring the apocalypse of course. What's New York City like? How's school? How are your classes? How are your roommates? Are they from New York or out of state like you? Have you met anyone else from Indiana? Write to me soon. Forever yours, Nancy P.S. Boston is very very very cold. And I miss you, have I mentioned that? Dear Nancy, I miss you too. My bed feels lonely without you in it. I miss holding you in my arms and I'm looking forward to your touch the next time we see each other. But how have you been sleeping? Does Carrie let you leave the light on? Or are you trying to adjust to sleeping without it again? I’m glad you sorta made a friend. It is weird that there’s only five of you. How many people are in your cohort all together? Is Diana the only one you’ve made friends with? Where’s she from? What is she interested in writing? I do know that making friends is hard, but I also know there’s nothing you can’t do. NYC is good… big I guess? I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like a lot at once but not in a bad way. Does that make sense? And there’s always something to do. I think I’ve been to more museums in the last week than in my entire life. School is good too, for once I don’t feel like the weird kid everyone (at least at Tisch) has their own thing. Like my friend Les played me some stuff from a band she likes and it was weird but I don’t know it was nice not to be the kid with the weird music, you know? My roommates are mostly good, Roger is from upstate (he never says where) Craig is from Jersey, and Tyler is from Connecticut. Tyler is also an asshole, I’m sure it has nothing to do with the money though. I haven't met another person from Indiana. And every time I tell someone I’m from Indiana they look at me like I’m crazy, so that’s fun. I’m counting down the days too but all I really need is you. If you have to get me something I wouldn’t say no to more mixtapes. I never seem to have enough. Or maybe a phone card so I could call you more than once every two weeks? I miss the sound of your voice. All my love, Jonathan P.S. I write this with all the love in my heart, you are the LEAST subtle person I know. Which sweater do you want?

[dangerouscommiesubversive]

Fic questions: 7 and 15?

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

Oh, boy, this is a fun question, I love worldbuilding. I think recently I'm most pleased with the placement of various sects and individuals in the modern USA setting of the ghost story AU:

Nie in the White Mountains of New Hampshire

Yu in Newton, Massachusetts (an expensive suburb of Boston)

Jin in Winter River, Connecticut (which is, on a meta level, the town in which Beetlejuice is set, but I also picked CT because it's very...WASP-y, and the Jin in the ghost AU are about as close to WASPs as you can get with a non-Christian, Chinese family)

Lan in New Lebanon, New York, occupying the former Shaker village that in real life is home to The Abode of the Message (although the "Lan Spiritual Purification Services" offices are in New York City, where the family also owns a house in Gramercy Park)

Jiang in Georgia, not far from Savannah

Wen in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona

Baoshan Sanren lives somewhere in Appalachia, which can't generally be pinpointed with any greater detail than "somewhere around, like, Tennessee and Kentucky"

The Mo family is in New Orleans (although please know that Mo Xuanyu is much safer in this AU than in canon)

Song Lan grew up in San Francisco

and as a general rule the remaining cultivation families that exist send their children to college at Temple University in Philadelphia

I had a lot of fun finding places for everyone to live, and I also like that this leaves a lot of the country to play with, as well as leaving open the possibility of entirely unrelated groups of exorcists and spiritual professionals working in different places. (In "Hunger (Spiritual)," for example, there's a reference to XXC and SL providing backup to some local spirit workers.)

15. What’s your favorite AU that you’ve written?

Ghost story AU! I love ghosts, I love weird urban fantasy settings, I love a good funky romance. It's a very fun AU to work with.

[gore-geousrem-ains]

Headcanons: Adam and Barbara Maitland’s Lives

BeetleB@bes Do Not Interact

---

Musical Adam and Barbara (mixed with a little bit of Movie Adam and Barbara) All family names were inspired by the original actor’s families.

What were Adam and Barbara like growing up? I’m here to discuss that. 

Adam Maitland: 

Born and raised in Winter River, Connecticut. 

Mother (Carol) ran her own house cleaning service, Father (Alexander) worked at “Maitland Hardware” a Mom ‘n Pop Shop that was founded by his Grandfather. 

Alexander passed away when Adam was a toddler. 

Carol (with very few options) moved in with her widowed mother-in-law (Adam’s fraternal Grandmother); Beth. 

Beth was a kind woman, but a devout Mormon, and insisted that if Carol wanted to live with her; she and Adam had to attend church with her.

Carol begrudgingly agreed and moved into the small apartment above Maitland Hardware, sharing the small space with her mother-in-law and son.

Carol sold off her house cleaning service and worked full time at Maitland Hardware, and part time at the adjacent Barber Shop. 

Money was tight and there was always tension in the household. Carol and Beth frequently argued about money, church, and what was best for Adam.

Adam grew up pretty numb to the arguing. When he was younger he vaguely remembers being nervous all the time, and trying his best to keep quiet and stay out of the way. 

There was no hiding from the arguing though as the hardware store and apartment were his home and that’s just how life was.

When Adam was 8 Carol died in a car crash. He was understandably devastated and spent many days and nights crying to his grandmother. 

Beth did her best to comfort him, but her advice always circled back to, “Doing good works for others will make you feel better.”

Adam internalized this and stopped focusing on himself.

Like many “good” Mormons, Adam was baptized, served during Sacrament, gave his Testimony, attended Young Men’s Mutual, worked his way up the Boy Scout ranks to Eagle Scout, and planned for his Mission.

Even though he kept himself busy with “doing good works” he always felt uneasy around his peers. Adam felt like a fraud, but he didn’t know why? He was a good person. He worked hard. Took care of the Hardware Store. He was active in church and school. Yet, despite all of this, he wasn’t happy. 

Barbara Davis:

Born in Corinth, Vermont.

Her mother died during labor, leaving Barbara to be raised by her single father; William Davis.

William was a truck driver by trade, but became a mechanic to try and be home for Barbara as often as he could. 

A much as he would have liked to stay home and care for Barbara she was more often than not left in the care of various babysitters.

William worked long hours, and if he had any extra time in the day he spent those hours drinking.

William struggled with the loss of his wife, caring for Barbara, paying the bills, and keeping food on the table. All of this led to him becoming an alcoholic when Barbara was a child.

Barbara learned at a young age to be self-reliant for everything. She would prepare meals, get laundry done, clean the house, and just about every other chore including throwing a blanket over her father who’d often pass out from drinking too much. 

Barbara had a natural talent for crafting, needlework, and papercrafts. On Holidays Barbara would hand-make all of the decorations in the house and would get very upset if anyone “hurt” or damaged any of her crafts.

-Barbara had a large interest in painting and wanted to take art classes as a child (mudpies and paper fortune tellers could only entertain her for so long) but since cash was tight William, broken heartedly, had to tell Barbara “No”. 

Soon after this William lost his job ab a mechanic for “drinking on the job” which led him and Barbara down a rocky road of constantly moving to find work and survive.

Barbara was about 12 when her father’s never ending hunt to maintain a job began.

She decorated her side of her father’s truck with stickers, pictures out of magazines, and the few crafts that could sit on the dashboard.

She doesn’t remember how many times he “found a new job” then lost it within a few weeks just to get back in the truck and start driving again.

Due to the constant upheaval Barbara never stayed in any particular High School very long and was mostly self taught during her high school years (what else are you going to do stuck in an old truck driving around all day)?

They either stayed with relatives, family friends, “friends” her Dad met on the road, or in motels.

Despite William’s drinking, his priority was to always provide for Barbara and keep her safe. Barbara was never once put into a situation where she was in danger or felt unsafe. 

Eventually when Barbara was 16, William managed to find work in a small town called Winter River, helping to run a Hardware store and do a little mechanic work on the side. 

Adam Maitland and Barbara Davis:

Adam and Barbara met each other while William and Beth talked about business and housing options.

Adam was immediately struck by how beautiful Barbara was; she was petite, soft-spoken, bouncy blonde hair, her eyes a shade of blue he’d never seen before, and the prettiest pinkest lips with the world’s most beautiful smile. He didn’t understand what he was feeling, but looking back he knows he was in love with her the moment he saw her.

Adam was goofy and awkward, kind of lanky but genuinely sincere and kind while he welcomed her to Winter River. There wasn’t much to show, but Adam led her outside and pointed out everything to her, right down to the types of wild flowers growing on the hills. 

Barbara was curious about this sweet new guy who’d appeared out of the aisles of the Hardware store. As goofy as he was, he was also enthusiastic, sweet, obviously passionate, and excitable. His short and curly brown hair was cute, so cute that she had to resist playing with his curls, and his smile warmed her heart. She couldn’t quite explain it but there was something special about Adam.