#Hagen Test FAILED
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Rebel Moon Novelization
Some interesting parts from the novelization! Contains potential spoilers for Rebel Moon under the cut.
The novelization opens with the destruction of King Heron's world, as punishment for aiding the Bloodaxes. Noble forces Heron's son, Aris, to kill his father with the bone staff to protect his family before he is conscripted into the army. Noble beats the rest of his family to death anyway.
Kora's sex scene with Den is fleshed out (wink). Inwardly, she admits to liking Gunnar, despite his shyness, but has issues with intimacy and the idea of starting a family.
Hagen, a villager whose wife and daughter died, was the one who found Kora and took her in. He is something of a father figure to her.
Slightly longer dialogue scene with Sam & Jimmy. Features Jimmy's line from the trailer that a 'A king is a man, and a man can fail or betray. But a myth is indestructible.' He mentions that Balisarius had the Jimmies separated from Princess Issa, despite their vow to protect her, and that most of them had never set foot on the Motherworld.
Sam thanks Aris for saving her (❁´◡`❁)
Den takes over as the village leader after Sindri and his wife are bone staffed to death 😓
Before Kora leaves, she asks Hagen to task Private Aris to fix the guns on the dropship she crash-landed on Veldt in.
In Kora's flashback scene, we learn Kora's family lived above the tea shop they owned. She had two older siblings. They are killed by Imperium soldiers while she is upstairs packing.
Kora's scene with Balisarius has dialogue. He introduces himself. She tells him her name is Kora. She believes he is impressed she had the guts to pull the trigger. He renames her on the spot 😒 and takes her as a 'a gift to himself and his legacy' 😒 because 'every leader had an heir'.
Kora's life on the ship is briefly detailed. Balisarius brings her to a surrendering planet and makes her watch the soldiers open fire on its people. She is sent to train at the Imperium military academy and doesn't see Balisarius for years. Before she leaves, he tells her she can't tell anyone about her past or where she came from. She graduates with top marks and her final test is orchestrated by Balisarius: it involves her executing a man without question.
More scenes in the village. Aris keeps his Imperium uniform to keep up appearances for transmissions to the Motherworld.
While trying to fix the ship, Aris and Sam share how their parents died. It's giving young love over shared trauma 🥰 They wake to find there is a deer with antlers removed (important!) roasted on a spit and the ship has been repaired. Aris guesses it was Jimmy who did it.
We hear from Jimmy's perspective that he ran to save Sam because he felt the same connection and loyalty to her as he did Princess Issa (interesting). He decides to make his own choices, carves his own staff, cloaks himself with a robe, and a pair of fashionable deer antlers to go into the wilderness.
Hickman hints at Tarak's backstory-- he says Tarak runs when given the chance and that he let his own people die at the hands of the realm.
Cassius takes a call from someone who makes him more uneasy than Noble, a high scribe named Enoch with abilities that defy logic. Cassius finds Noble predictable in his brutality.
We learn more about Cassius: he doesn't have the implants the realm's upper classes and high-ranking officials make to their bodies because it would leave him open in ways he didn't want. Cassius's family isn't native to Moa (the Motherworld) but had been there for generations and became affluent. His mother's penchant for opulence mounted debts for his father, a senator, and her modifications revealed their circumstances to another senator who blackmails them. Cassius's father trades him to serve with the priests who tells him that silence and observation are powerful tools (interesting).
Sexy scene with Noble and the Octopus, called the Twins. They were gifted to him by a warlord and are one of the few things he actually likes. Not shockingly, he is really into tentacle shit and BDSM. Cassius interrupts and Noble offers to let him go a round with the Twins. Cassius, grossed the eff out, politely declines. It's TMI, even for him.
More Cassius backstory: his career in the priesthood doesn't work out; after his family is ruined and executed, he joins the military order where he meets Noble, who confirms his father was responsible for Cassius's family's downfall & execution. In the academy, Cassius sees Noble's cruelty up close. He thinks of Noble as someone charming and cruel, surrounding himself with slightly smarter but less ambitious people. Good at working his way into the right circles.
Daggus is known throughout the galaxy for its cobalt mines. The land was leveled and indigenous life died out. Workers, mostly refugees, move there with the promise of wealth only to be exploited and live in poor conditions.
Kora offers to help Nemesis with Harmada, but she declines. She says: 'Harmada has grown accustomed to the pain of her grief. I know her rage intimately. We are not enemies.'
After watching Gunnar save the child, Kora thinks that even though he isn't a seasoned warrior, he has the heart of one. She's catching feelings.
In a flashback scene, she watches Princess Issa play in the snow at the winter castle. There is a frozen lake with giant fish and creatures swimming underneath (important later).
Kora witnesses Issa bring the bird back to life and warns her not to show anyone her power. Issa recounts that when she was born she almost killed her mother but when she was placed in her arms, the Queen was miraculously healed. Everyone present was sworn to secrecy. Unbeknownst to them, the King watches this scene from the castle window.
The King approaches her later and tells Kora that Issa likes having her as a guard and expresses his happiness at her new role. He asks if she misses her homeworld, but Kora doesn't respond. Balisarius told the King that Kora was abandoned as a child.
King Levitica agreed to help the Bloodaxes because he finds the Imperium's notion of 'homogeneous purity vile' and because 'they neither respect nor value anything that doesn't serve them at the expense of their own lives.' His comfort and kindness remind Kora of Hagen, her father figure on Veldt.
While waiting for the Bloodaxes, Tarak tells the others of how the people of his home, the Samandrai system, were killed or enslaved by the Imperium. Kora asks why he wasn't taken and conscripted to be made an example of. When he doesn't respond, she surmises he left before that could happen. Kai calls him a coward and ribs the other men. He and Titus almost get into a fight. Gunnar tells Kora he thinks Kai is a dick.
Darrian tells Devra that "people need a revolution they can see". When he refers to not allowing another world to fall in their name, he is presumably referring to King Heron's world at the beginning of the book.
A dying King Levitica tells Noble that "goodness will return to the universe. Endless war and needless death will end in the universe., There will be one to bring it back." So sad to see the end of his squidgy face.
Kora and Tarak speak; Tarak doesnt trust Kai, but she brushes it off. Girl, there are SO many alarm bells ringing.
Kai's betrayal reminds Kora of the "first monumental betrayal in her life."
There is more dialogue between Noble and the team as they are bound and about to be transported. Noble mocks Nemesis's dead children (seriously, fuck this guy!!!). The spine machines are meant to paralyse them for transport.
Noble asks if Gunnar will be a problem being transported unbound but Kai laughs it off, saying Gunnar is a coward. Oop. That was a bad read.
The fight sequence actually has them fighting together. Titus acknowledges Nemesis saving his life. Tarak and Titus fight happily side by side.
Darrian's death scene is vague; it says his body 'shut[s] down like the hunk of metal he clung to' while screaming 'Death to the Motherworld! Death to the Realm! For Shasu!' while hysterically laughing.
More dialogue when Noble and Kora fight. When she looks over his (presumably) dead body, she wishes it was Balisarius instead and is sad to know that she'll likely never be able to confront him in person.
There's a "who's going to fly this thing" moment with Kai's freighter. A crime this was left out. (Also, they don't answer this; the freighter apparently just lands itself when they arrive back in Providence.)
Back on Veldt, Sam invites Aris to stay in her home. She loves sewing and quilting, which she learned from her grandmother. Aris likes the quilts, which is good because she has so many.
After the company arrive in the village, they are followed by two Hawkshaws at a distance. They are watched, in turn, by Jimmy.
Devra commands her ships return to 'Base One'.
The astral plane setting where Noble meets Balisarius is confirmed to be the winter gardens of the royal palace where the Princess Issa scene was set.
Balisarius' face is noted to have been kept young with 'fortune and science' (yeah, and bad CGI 😐)
It's explicitly confirmed that Kora is responsible for the assassination of the royal family, or at least is being blamed for it. Noble says: 'I have found her. The hated other who murdered in cold blood that which we held most dear.' He also calls her 'the ethnic impurity, the monster, the Scargiver, the enemy of us all.' Balisarius says Arthelais is the 'assassin of the royal family, she who killed the king and queen, as well as her charge, the Princess Issa.'
- From Rebel Moon Part One - A Child of Fire: The Official Movie Novelization by V. Castro
Other interesting parts:
The scribes extract the teeth of their victims and put them on their masks in front of an image of Princess Issa to 'honour her.' The effect is, not surprisingly, extremely horrifying.
While Kora is living on the ship, she sees a Kali in a giant metal encasement with 'thick tubes of red and blue energy' and 'something alive in there'. She feels sorry for it, and thinks it is the only other thing on the ship who understands the feeling of being trapped.
Kora's off-worlder status is being made a big deal of, and I'm still not sure why. Balisarius apparently gets no heat for raising the assassin that murders the royal family?
Cassius is given way too much backstory for him to just be a random henchman. I suspect he may be collecting information to overthrow Noble at some point.
I am outing myself as a Sam is Princess Issa truther, even if it doesn't make any sense at all. But I think it's neat.
Sam and Aris ❤
Jimmy ❤
#rebel moon#rebel moon spoilers#a child of fire#rebel moon novelization#kora#gunnar#tarak#atticus noble#cassius#balisarius#Princess Issa#sorry if there’s typos! I will not be bothering to spellcheck this
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Batman: The Animated Series - Paper Cut-Out Portraits and Profiles
Matt Hagen
A highly successful actor who starred in many motion pictures, Matt Hagen was renown for his ability change his appearance and mannerisms, enabling him to portray a great variety of different roles. His career appeared to come to a tragic end after he was horridly injured in an automobile accidents that left his face severely misfugured.
Whist convalescing from the accident, Hagen was approached by Roland Daggett. who had created an experimental mutagenic face cream called ‘Renuyu.’ Dagget claimed this cream could heal Hagan’s scars faster and more effectively than any plastic surgery. Desperate, Hagen accepted Daggett’s offer to be a test subject for the cream.
The Renuyu proved as effective as advertised. It made the sk entirely malleable and Hagen was able to remold its features to resemble his original face. Unfortunately these effects were only temporary and the cream itself was highly addictive. Hagen was quickly hooked and Daggett used the power he now held over Hagen to force him to commit crimes. Hagen’s acting skills coupled with the effects of the Renuyu made him an absolute master of disguise. Dagget wanted to acquire Wayne Industries so to distribute Renuyu and he had Hagen impersonate Bruce Wayne as part of an effort to murder Wayne Industries’ CFO, Lucius Fox.
The Batman interceded and Hagen failed in his effort to kill Fox. As punishment for his failure, Daggett cut Hagen off. In the throws of withdrawal, Hagen broke into Daggett’s facility searching out the Renuyu. He was caught by Dagget’s goons and they tried to kill him by dumping an entire vat of the cream onto him.
Hagen survived yet was forever transformed. The mutagenic cream had saturated his every cell, transforming him into the villainous monster that came to known as Clayface.
Actor Ron Perlman provided the voice for Matt Hagen with the tragic figure first appearing in the fourth episode of the first season of Batman: The Animated Series, ‘Feat of Clay Part One.’
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Cold Comfort: Final Part
Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader
Word Count: ~2.4k
Summary: You meet another psychic on a case that doesn’t want to work with you, and everyone’s faith is tested on exactly what you can do.
Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill
Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them. If you’ve seen the show, then it’s the same level of angst unless otherwise stated
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The DNA results came back from the swabs the teams took of potential suspects, but nothing came back. Your guy is still out there until you catch him.
Detective Fullwood brings you to his office to speak to you privately.
"I want to believe in this. I want to have faith. Please tell me you can get something off this wig."
He hands over the wig the ME gave you and Hotch for testing.
"It doesn't quite work like that. This wig isn't going to help because Ivan isn't the killer. The only thing I'm going to get off this is that Ivan is sick. He should be arrested for the things he's done, but he isn't the killer." There is loud commotion coming from the lobby, and you see Ivan escorted by police with handcuffs on his wrists. "You don't have faith and you don't really believe me. You went and arrested Ivan anyway. How arrogant can you truly be?"
Rossi and Hotch walk into his office with angry looks on their faces.
"So, you went ahead and arrested him?"
"He was trying to cross the border into Vancouver."
"Are you going to charge him?"
"I will if he confesses. Failing that, we'll hold him so he can't skip town while we're waiting for his DNA results."
Ivan is taken to an interrogation room for questioning that Ron needs to be part of. He and Emily take the lead on this one while everyone else watches from the room right outside.
"Why don't you tell me about this?" Ron slides the wig closer to Ivan.
"It looks like a wig."
"That is a magic wig. It changes the identity of the dead."
"What?"
"Well, I thought that's why you were putting it on the bodies at the morgue. It makes the fantasy more real. Who were you trying to turn them into?"
Ivan doesn't answer.
"I have worked some sick cases with rapists, pedophiles--"
"I hope you're not grouping me with those people," Ivan cuts Ron off.
"You may be the sickest of them all."
"Sick or not, many would argue it's a victimless crime."
"What's victimless about Lynette Hagen?"
"Who?"
"Melissa Claire?"
"I don't know who these women are. You have the wrong--"
"Necrophile?" Ron finishes for him.
He's really starting to get on your nerves, and you let it show.
"What, you think I'm the only guy in town who likes to crack open a cold one?"
"Where is Brooke Lombardini?"
"I don't know who that is. I don't kill people."
"These profilers say our killer is trying to turn these girls into a loved one like a wife or a mom. Is your mother a blonde, Ivan?" Ron asks.
"That's disgusting. The wig isn't even the important part. For me, it's the shoes. They're a very special pair."
"What's special about them?"
"The woman who walked in them. Sunny Raines."
"The weather girl? She was a local celebrity killed in a car accident a couple of years ago," Ron says to Emily.
"A friend of mine was working when she came in. He knew I was a fan. He stole her shoes for me. The wig just completed the look, but the shoes are a genuine article. That's what makes it real," he sighs.
Spencer leaves the room, and you turn to Rossi with your arms crossed.
"He didn't do it. He never touched our victims."
"How do you know?"
"When I look at a killer, all I see are their victims and their victim's energies because, for them, that's their anchor. That person is what's tying them to people like me. When I look at Ivan, all I see is what he's done but they're not alive. He doesn't kill them. Brooke is alive because her mother is her anchor. Sandra's passionate about finding her daughter, and it's through her that I can feel Brooke is alive. The dead give off spiritual energy while the living gives off aura energy. I can't make you understand because you don't know; not truly."
"I believe you."
This time, he really does. While Emily and Ron talk to Ivan, the rest of you head over to Spencer to see what he's found.
"I found a genuine article about a grave robbery. I thought it was a simple theft, but a dress, a pair of diamond earrings, and a pair of pearl earrings were taken from the corpse."
"If our unsub is like Bakunas, then he needs the genuine articles from the true object of his affection to complete the fantasy."
"Exactly. This grave could belong to that woman."
Spencer calls Penelope to see who owns that grave.
"Let's see. Her name is Abigail Hansen. I got her obit from the Olympian. Abigail Reina Hansen died suddenly at twenty-six from myocarditis, a heart defect. I'm sending her passport photo now."
When the picture pops up, it suddenly makes so much sense. Abigail had short blonde hair--it's why the unsub cut his victim's hair.
"Garcia, what else can you tell us about her?"
"I can tell you that she was born in Amsterdam, she never married, and her employment records show her working for Patrick and Leona Gless from 1985 to her death in 1992."
"Can you get us an address for the Gless family? They might be the only ones who can tell us who Abigail was."
"Already sent."
You, Rossi, and Hotch head over to the Gless house immediately in hopes that they are willing to talk to you. It wouldn't be the first time a family knows about their family member's extracurricular activity. Brooke's energy is all over this house so much so that it's overwhelming.
"Did Garcia say what Mr. Gless does for a living?" Rossi asks.
"Failed artist."
You knock on the front door and wait for one of the owners to answer the door.
"Can I help you?" Leona asks.
"I'm Agent Y/N and they're Agents Hotchner and Rossi. We're with the FBI. Do you mind if we come inside and talk about Abigail Hansen?"
"Of course." She leads you inside and into the living room where her husband is. "What do you want to know?"
"What can you tell me about Abigail?"
"I think about Abigail from time to time. She was such a nice girl. She was like one of the family."
"Was that why you paid for the funeral?"
"She didn't have anyone else. She was from Denmark," Patrick says.
"Holland, dear," Leona corrects.
"What kind of work did she do for you?"
"She was the caretaker, and there was some cooking and cleaning."
"Did she take care of the children?"
"Just the one--our son Roderick." Patrick grabs a picture from on top of a desk and hands it over to you. "This is the two of them together."
Abigail is much older than Roderick, but you know they were close. It's in the way he stands, how close he stands next to her, the smile on his face, and how happy he seemed. This is him, this is the unsub.
"They look close."
"She practically raised him," Leona says.
"I wouldn't go quite that far."
"No? What would you call it? Patrick likes to think he was a good father."
Patrick sighs and decides to move on from this.
"Why do you want to know about Abigail?"
"We believe that there may be a connection to some recent murders, maybe someone she knew. How old was your son when Abigail died?"
"Nine. We weren't here when it happened. We were on a cruise."
"Was Roderick here with Abigail when it happened?"
"Yeah," Leona sighs. "When we returned, we knew something was wrong. The smell was horrid. They were in his room on the floor. He was curled up next to her with her arms around him. It's how he got to sleep."
"How long had she been dead?"
"Two or three days. I didn't have the stomach for the details."
"Where is Roderick? We'd like to speak to him."
"If I knew where he was I'd be happy to tell you, but we haven't spoken in years. When he turned twenty-one, he dropped out of medical school and liquidated his trust fund. We knew he was troubled, but I had no idea he would ever hurt someone."
"They don't know for sure that he's--You don't know for sure," Patrick says nervously.
Now why would he be nervous? He knows more than he's letting on but it doesn't look like he will say anything more about it.
"When was your last communication?"
"We got a letter about a year ago."
Leona reaches into a drawer from the side table and produces a letter that's been torn open. It's as if she took the letter in and out multiple times.
"Can we borrow this?"
"You can have it. While you're at it, take this."
She also hands you the picture of Roderick and Abigail when they were younger. They won't say anything else about the matter, so you three take what they gave you and head back to the police station. On the way over there, you gave Penelope the job of looking into Roderick Gless since he's the number one suspect in this case. When you arrive, she's got all that you asked for.
"It's exactly how they said. Roderick's trust was emptied in March of '04. Half a million bucks."
"Where is he now?" Rossi asks.
"Sir, the thing is, he's gotta be using straight cash because there's no paper trail on him for the last four years. Nothing from the IRS or the DMV, and there's no property or utilities in his name.
"You can't find him?"
"I'm sorry," she sighs.
"You know, a half a million isn't what it used to be. With the way this unsub is accustomed to living, after four years, he would need to supplement his income."
"Anything between the lines, Reid?" Rossi asks Spencer who is studying the letter.
"Nothing that points to a specific location. He's basically saying he's happy and that should be enough for her. It's essentially a goodbye letter. It's only addressed to Leona."
"Why not his dad?"
"Maybe they didn't get along."
"No, that's not right," Rossi shakes his head and steps away with Pen on the line. "Garcia, I need you to check something else."
"So, basically, we got nothing."
"No, we don't have nothing. We have her," JJ says and looks at you. "Can you read it?"
"JJ," you sigh.
"Please?"
It doesn't work like that, but she needs you to do this. You sigh but take the letter to see if maybe you can get something off it. If Roderick wrote this, then his energy will be attached to it. You won't be able to see Brooke, but you might be able to pinpoint where Roderick is. You close your eyes and let the energy do the talking.
There's enough to paint a picture, and all you see are plastic medical strip curtains and a rocky shoreline like by a beach or something. There's no panic or anger within the letter because Roderick feels safe. It's not much, but that's all you're getting.
"It's not very specific," Hotch says when you tell them. "The earth is two-thirds water."
JJ looks for a picture of the Gless house which is on Mercer Island.
"Okay, this photo is from the Gless house which was taken on Mercer Island. That's a waterfront property. No one's lived there for ten years. It's abandoned, I checked. This could be where he's holding Brooke."
"Patrick is sending his son money," Rossi reveals when he comes back. "It's the reason Roderick never said goodbye to him in the letter. They never lost contact. That supplemental income you were asking about? This is it. Every six months, he gets a $50,000 wire."
"This is Western Union, though. There's no way to tell he's on the receiving end."
"I'm telling you, he's sending it to Roderick. If you'd seen his father, you'd know."
"He does have a point. I felt like he was hiding something from us. He got nervous and clammed up when he found out his son might be the murderer we're looking for."
"He's submissive in the marriage. He's probably sending it behind her back. I don't think Leona knew because I think he's a sad man trying to buy back his son's love."
"This is where Brooke's 911 call originated. Western Union is within the circle. Mercer Island isn't," Ron says.
"This is a waterfront property. There isn't any water around Western Union."
"JJ, we need to follow the facts," Hotch says.
Despite what JJ thinks, everyone gets ready to raid the place in Western Union. When you walk in, the first thing you're greeted with are the medical plastic strip curtains you saw when you touched the letter. Inside is Brooke lying on a hospital bed with her hair cut. Leaning over her is Roderick about to perform surgery to embalm her.
"FBI! Drop the weapon!" Derek yells.
Roderick tries to escape but Derek tackles him to the ground.
"Is she alive?" Ron asks.
Brooke moans in pain and rolls her head to the side, letting you know that she is alive and will eventually be okay.
"Paramedics!" Hotch yells. They come rushing in with equipment to take care of her. "He uses a barbiturate."
Now that they know exactly how to treat her, you know she is going to be okay. Rossi walks over to you with a skeptical look on his face. He still doesn't believe in what you can do, but he trusts you to always do your best to get the bad guy.
"There isn't any water or a rocky shoreline."
There are curtains on the windows to block out potential witnesses looking in and catching Roderick in the act, so you pull them to the side to look out the windows. Right there in front of you on a billboard is an ad with water and a rocky shoreline.
"It's not an exact science." Rossi is genuinely shocked about all this. "Why are you so against other psychics, Rossi? What harm are these people doing?"
"I asked the same question once. It was a kidnapping case in Georgia. We had nothing, time was running out, and there was a local woman known for her abilities. On her advice, we took the investigation in the wrong direction. The boy died."
"Children are pure and innocent, and I'd do anything to help them keep that part of them. Just know I'd never leave you astray because this is my passion. Helping people makes my abilities worth it. I see such awful things every day even when I go grocery shopping. There are victims everywhere with stories to tell, and they look to me to tell them. I see rapes, murders, robberies, suicides, and everything in between. I don't get a choice, Rossi, but the people I save do. They make it worth it."
"I wish I could see what you see so I can understand better."
"No, you don't," you whisper. "Just be glad you don't."
"For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible." - Stuart Chase
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#spencer reid#spencer reid fanfic#spencer reid fan fic#spencer reid fan fiction#spencer reid fanfiction#spencer reid fic#spencer reid fluff#spencer reid angst#criminal minds#criminal minds fanfic#criminal minds fic#criminal minds fan fiction#criminal minds fan fic#criminal minds fanfiction#criminal minds fluff#criminal minds angst#criminal minds series rewrite#series rewrite#cm season 4
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savior of halcyon
Summary: With Phineas taken by the Board, the crew starts to plan out how to break into Tartarus. But after a while, captain Ray realizes that to succeed, they need help from a faction who would really hate to see their face again due to a failed contract.
No warnings, this is a short little thing :3
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"I thought I told you to never enter my office again."
"Aren't you grumpy today. Don't worry, don't worry, holster your guns. I come in peace I swear. I would've brought a white flag but I wasn't really sure if Halcyon sees it as a give up sign or has some other meaning for it-"
Lilya took a deep breath and said, "I'll count to three and if you're not gone, my guards will get you out."
"No, no, no, wait! I have something to say," Ray said, but walked a bit closer to the door, hand ready to open it, "I have a guest who would love to see you, Lilya. But you must promise you will listen to her before you and your guards here take your guns out, okay?"
One of the guards rolled their eyes and asked loudly. "Who the fuck do you think you are? Some savior of the colony or something?"
"Well-"
"Quiet," Hagen said calmly and leaned back in her chair, "As a leader of a legally operating corporation, I guess I should have a peaceful meeting with stakeholders. Go on, show me who's this person who 'would love to see me'."
Ray nodded and opened the door properly. A woman in fully black outfit walked in. She was clearly afraid, but still held her head high and tried to look like she knows what she's doing.
Before Lilya could say anything, Ray said, "Lilya Hagen, this is Eva Chartrand. I am sure you are wondering why I-"
"We need your help with going against the Board," Chartrand said calmly. "The conspiracy you were after? The Board is behind it."
Lilya stood up, which Ray had never seen her do despite visiting her office so many times, and walked right in front of Chartrand. Ray held their breath as the Sublighr boss looked into the scientists eyes, while Chartrand stood still, not giving any kind of signs of panic. Ray wondered how many times has she stood like this in front of some Board managers. Eva clearly had some experience with standing up to people who are way more powerful than she is.
Lilya stared into Chartrand's eyes for a moment, before sitting back on her desk and taking out a cigarette. "Talk," she said while lighting it.
"The Board was interested to see if we could change human protein to-"
"Less science talk, more actual facts. Last warning."
"They wanted us to change humans so we could eat local ingredients better," Chartrand said, "It's all planned by the Board, and we even sent a message about it back to Earth."
Lilya looked at her for a moment. "What made the Captain decide to keep you alive?"
"They asked me to work for Phineas Welles. But I haven't seen him yet and-"
"Phin?" Hagen turned to Ray, "Is this related to those cystypig shipments I got him from Monarch?"
Ray flinched a little from her gaze. "Kinda, he was testing out a dimethyl sulfoxide compound to see if he can thaw out some of the people from the Hope. They are genetically very close to hu-"
"What did I say about science?"
"Ah, sorry, got a bit excited. Anyway, Phineas is exactly why we need your help. The Board got him and now we need to save him."
Lilya dumped her cigarette into the ashtray and stood up. "And you want me to...?"
Ray opened his mouth, but Eva answered first. "Help us break into Tartarus."
"Hm..."
"We could really, really use your help, Lilya," Ray began, "Groundbreaker and Monarch factions are already on board with this plan. Sublight is an extremely strong faction, you would definitely help us a lot. Together we can make sure that the Board would never do things like this again." He glanced at Chartrand and hoped that she wouldn't say that as a scientist nothing would stop her. "OH! And you could also add "savior of Halcyon" into your resume too, for real now. And Sublight would be, like, so popular because of it."
"I need to think about it. Await an answer in one to three business days."
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taglist (reply/dm to be added/removed):
@spaceratprodigy @solstheimtxt @babylon5 @terendelev @velocitic
@reaperkiller @edgepunk @devilbrakers @dekarios @honeylemony
@wavebf @vvanessaives @the-lastcall @katsigian @primonizzutto
@hiddenbeks @antoncrane
#my writing#the outer worlds#outer worlds#captain of the unreliable#oc: ray#new tow content from red? more likely than u think#i love ray sm btw. they're so talkative...
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Families of military members killed in 2020 Cyclone helicopter crash sue manufacturer
The families of the six Canadian Armed Forces members who were killed when a Cyclone helicopter crashed off the coast of Greece in April 2020 are suing the manufacturer.
The suit was filed in U.S. Federal Court on July 10 in Pennsylvania, where the Sikorsky CH-148 helicopters were made and tested.
Lawyers representing the families said a design flaw caused the electronic flight control system to take over control of the chopper, plunging it into the Ionian Sea nose-first.
Master Cpl. Matthew Cousins, Sub-Lt. Abbigail Cowbrough, Capt. Kevin Hagen, Capt. Brenden MacDonald, Capt. Maxime Miron-Morin and Sub-Lt. Matthew Pyke died in the crash.
A statement of claim says all six people on board knew they were going to die in the moments before the crash and experienced "unimaginable terror and fright."
"Reflecting a corporate indifference to safety that placed profits first, the Sikorsky defendants -- in the face of missed deadlines and financial penalties -- cut corners to rush the CH-148 into service," the claim says.
The document says an electronic flight control system had never been used in any military helicopter in the world when the Department of National Defence sought proposals for a new fleet in the 1990s, but Sikorsky offered it as a feature as a way to recoup some of the costs of developing it for a different civilian model.
But the Federal Aviation Administration never certified the control system for the other helicopter model, the claim says. "Because Sikorsky could not find a single buyer ... it never went into production."
The lawsuit alleges that the company analyzed the flight data from the crash and found the system would take control of the helicopter when pilots were making "significant pedal and cyclic inputs" while in autopilot mode, as they were on April 29, 2020.
The Cyclone's pilots were performing a low-altitude manoeuvre similar to a "return-to-target" move that is commonly used during rescue or combat.
The claim says the pilots believed they would be able to override the autopilot without disconnecting it.
A flight safety investigation report by the Airworthiness Investigative Authority for the Forces dubbed the software issue a "command model attitude bias phenomenon," which "develops under a very specific and narrow set of circumstances."
The Air Force's director of flight safety at the time, Brig.-Gen. John Alexander, was quoted saying that the phenomenon "was unknown to the manufacturer, airworthiness authorities and aircrew" prior to the accident.
"Before the crash, neither the Royal Canadian Air Force nor the pilots of incident helicopter were made aware of this potentially lethal design defect by Sikorsky," said lawyer Stephen Raynes in a statement.
"Sikorsky still has not repaired the computer software problem that led to the crash."
The claim argues that the company violated industry standards and practices in a number of ways, including by failing to create a warning system for such an event, and failing to design the flight director so that it would automatically disengage if the pilots went beyond what the company tested for.
"Sikorsky's testing of its (flight control system) under the incident flight's conditions repeatedly and consistently resulted in a fatal crash. At the time of the incident, Sikorsky's (system) was performing exactly as Sikorsky had designed it."
The document notes that under Canadian and U.S. law the Defence Department, Armed Forces and Air Force cannot be named as defendants in a case seeking damages for injuries that happen in the line of duty.
None of the claims have been tested in court.
The Department of National Defence did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Sikorsky, which is owned by Lockheed Martin, did not immediately return emailed questions Wednesday and has not filed a response in court.
Raynes previously represented claimants in a lawsuit against Sikorsky related to a fatal crash that happened in March 2009 off the coast of Newfoundland.
That crash -- which involved the S-92, a precursor to the CH-148 model -- killed 15 of the 16 workers who were on their way to an oil platform.
The settlements in that case were confidential, but Raynes's website says the amounts ensured the financial security of the plaintiffs and "honoured those that they had lost."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 19, 2023.
from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/8pOj3TU
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Batman Chiroptera: practice scene 6
[ID: Pamela Isley (left, white woman, orange hair, green dress with ruffles, green clutch purse) moves to sit down next to Selina Kyle (right, white woman, blonde hair, pink dress, white clutch purse). They are in an audience of other women drawn in silhouette.]
9:30PM, May 7 'C7
Selina slid into her seat and delicately crossed one ankle over the other. Maven sat beside her, looking significantly more bedraggled. Selina handed her her compact and whispered in a low voice, "touch yourself up, dear. Your makeup's smudged."
Maven flushed as she accepted the small mirror. It was cute how flustered she got whenever Selina paid her extra attention, but Selina didn't much care for cute. Maven was her assistant, and while she knew she was in love with her, the idea of pursuing a romantic relationship didn't thrill her. That didn't mean she couldn't enjoy the occasional secretive affair with her in a broom closet at a very public event, however. After all, if there was one thing Selina was always after, it was a thrill, and there were only a few things more thrilling than the risk of being discovered in such a compromising position.
Her attention turned to the stage as the announcer tapped the microphone twice to test if it was on. She was a stout woman wearing a gaudy orange dress. Even from where she sat, Selina could tell that the pearls around her neck were fake.
"Ladies," the announcer said, then paused as the crowd cheered. Selina rolled her eyes, but lightly joined in with the excitement despite herself. "Welcome to the John Hill Foundation's annual charity auction," the announcer continued, "My name is Beth Hill, and I am proud to announce that this year we're auctioning off boys."
The crowd cheered again, much louder this time. The undercurrent of sexual frustration was palpable in the air, and Selina found that she couldn't relate. These women repressed themselves because of some misguided idea of what a 'proper woman' should be and do, and then let it all out in these ridiculous displays. They'd be much happier if they did what she did and slept with whoever they wanted whenever they wanted without a care for propriety.
Selina wasn't there for the boys. She was there for the charity, unlike, it seemed, the rest of the women in there.
As if to prove her wrong, a redhead in a dark green dress sat down in the chair next to her, equally unenthused. They gave each other a polite smile in greeting before turning their attentions back to the stage as the cheering died down.
"We have a line up of eight of Gotham's most eligible bachelors here tonight, and eight lucky women will be taking them home!" Beth motioned for the curtain behind her to open, revealing the eight men mentioned. If Selina thought the first two cheers were loud, this one was deafening. She was glad that neither of the women directly beside her joined in for fear she might actually suffer hearing damage.
The men, as promised, were mostly celebrities. Selina recognized a few of them. Famous actor Matthew Hagen, was obvious; she'd seen his face in enough movies to recognize him from a mile away. Then there was a young man who'd been in the tabloids a lot lately. Selina didn't remember his name, but he was known as something of a bad boy. If she had to choose any of the men to actually go on a date with, she would pick him. More importantly, though, was the man standing at the back of the group, trying―and failing―to hide all six foot two of himself away. It was Bruce Wayne, the Prince of Gotham. She was fairly certain he was famous simply for being famous, which was a situation she never much cared for. It annoyed her that he was the one she would be bidding on.
"Now ladies, remember: this is for charity. You're not only vying for a date with these scrumptious men, you're also donating to the charity they represent," Beth said. "Each of the bachelors will tell you a little bit about their charity before setting the minimum bid. Then it's all up to you! Whatever ends up the final price, they're going to match. So don't be afraid to dig deep into those purses of yours. It's all for a good cause, after all!"
Excited giggles flashed through the crowd.
"I can tell you're all excited to get on with the auction, so without further ado... our first bachelor: He's a celebrity prosecutor who's making a name for himself by trying only the highest of high profile cases. But we all know what he's really famous for. Just look at him! I give you Mr. Harvey Dent!"
Mr. Dent introduced himself and his charity. He was supporting a local conservation area―one with the last known wild patch of an endangered species of roses. His starting bid of two hundred quickly went to eight, before plateauing at just under a thousand. She might have bid herself, if she hadn't had bigger fish to fry later in the auction.
The redhead beside her pursed her lips before raising her paddle for the last bid: an even thousand. She smiled as the date was rewarded to her and the announcer told her to come backstage after the auction to get his contact details. She turned to Selina. "It's a bit high for me, but all for a good cause, yes?"
Selina nodded, giving the other woman an appraising look. The way she presented herself, Selina never would have guessed that one grand was the top of her budget. The dress she wore was designer, and the color set off her emerald eyes perfectly. "All for a good cause," Selina agreed, speaking in a hushed tone over Beth as she introduced the next bachelor.
"I'm Pamela," the redhead introduced, holding out a subtle hand to shake.
Selina took it with her practiced socialite smile. "Selina," she responded. "And this is my assistant, Maven," she added with a wave to... an empty chair? She raised her head and looked around the room.
Pamela suppressed a giggle. "I think she went to the powder room."
A terse smile fell on Selina's lips as the conversation died. She turned back to the front of the room to watch and wait for her time to shine. She zoned out for the majority of the auction. It was all a haze of unremarkable, boring men offering uninspired speeches and championing unimportant charities to her. Not that they weren't worthy causes. She was sure that at least most of them were, but they weren't important to her.
She didn't care about foreign food aid or a new elder care wing at Gotham General Hospital, as awful as she knew that would make her look if she admitted it out loud. The only charities she'd ever deemed worthy of her late father's stacks of cash were animal welfare organizations.
"And finally, at last but most certainly, most definitely not least: Our very own Prince of Gotham, Mr. Bruce Wayne!" the announcer said, finally breaking Selina out of her thoughts. This was what she was waiting for.
Mr. Wayne stepped back out onto the stage―when had he left?―with a dog walking obediently by his heel. Selina scoffed to herself. Of course they would choose a dog to represent the new animal shelter. Gotham had a much larger stray cat population, but nobody seemed to care about them as much.
"Good evening," Mr. Wayne started his speech. Selina didn't pay much attention beyond that. She knew the charity he was supporting and didn't need to listen to his sales pitch. She barely stifled a yawn when he got down on his knees to pet the dog. She hadn't slept well the night before―nightmares―and it was getting quite late.
"Does nothing interest you?" Pamela asked in a hushed voice, leaning over so that their shoulders bumped each other.
Selina chuckled. "No, not really."
Pamela looked at her with unmasked confusion. "Then why are you here?"
Selina gave Pamela a conspiratorial smile. "You'll see."
She returned her attention to the stage just in time to catch the end of Mr. Wayne's short speech. "-truly believe in this cause, so while the other bachelors are matching their top bids, I will be tripling mine!"
Selina had to admit that she was impressed. She knew that Mr. Wayne had a lot of money to throw around, but he had to know that his price would end up quite high.
"We'll start the bid at five hundred dollars," Bruce said, handing the microphone back to Beth.
Immediately, a woman in the front row screamed "Six hundred!" followed by another that called "Seven!" then "Eight!"
Selina sat back and bided her time. There was no point bothering competing with this flurry of lower bids when she knew she was going to pay her maximum no matter what. She might as well let the other women have their fun before she dashed their hopes and dreams. Maybe she'd even give the date to the second runner up when all was said and done.
"I have eight thousand," Beth said, pointing at an older woman with silver streaks in her hair. "Do I have eighty-five hundred?" There was a tense silence. "Eighty-two hundred?" Nothing. "Eighty-one hundred?" Nobody seemed willing to challenge the woman. "Bruce Wayne going to number twenty-three for eight thousand, going once!" Selina scowled. She would have thought he'd have drummed up a little more support for the kittens before petering out like that. "Going twice!"
Selina raised her hand, the first time she had that night. "Twenty-five thousand dollars!" she called out through the tense silence.
The room gasped as one, all turning their attention to Selina. She smiled smugly as she raised her paddle to show her number, catching the eye of the furious older woman who'd bid eight. Even Mr. Wayne himself, who looked disinterested at best was staring at her with a shocked expression.
"Tw-twenty-five thousand dollars, for number thirty-eight," Beth stammered after taking a moment to recover. "Does anyone raise?"
Of course no one did, though the room alighted with whispers. "I thought you weren't interested?" Pamela hissed.
"All for a good cause," she said with a sweet smile. It drew a surprised laugh out of the redhead.
"Sold, to number thirty-eight! What an enormous donation!" Beth announced. "Thank you everyone for coming, and sorry to those of you who wanted a date but couldn't get one. If you still wish to donate to one of the charities presented, there are collection baskets in the lobby. As for our winners, please make your way to the stage. Thank you, and good night, everybody," she rattled off in a practiced manner.
The crowd rose and began filing out of the hall, heading towards the back doors. Selina followed them before being stopped by Pamela's hand on her shoulder. "The stage is that way," she said.
Selina shrugged. "You want him?"
Pamela blinked twice in quick succession. "What?"
"Because I don't."
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A/N: My apologies to anyone who was expecting this to come out yesterday. I’m trying to keep to a Thursday posting schedule for Chiroptera, but I was in too much pain the past few days to get it ready until today.
master list | scene 5 | scene 7
#batman#batman au#batman chiroptera#selina kyle#pamela isley#bruce wayne#harvey dent#selina kyle pov
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"stop staring at me to distract me."
"oh, i'm not staring at you to distract you."
Pairing/s: Marius Von Hagen X Reader
Genre: College AU
Warnings: none
Notes: alrightyyy let me drop this before sleeping, i need to practice writing without getting too into it that it becomes a longfic🤒 enemies to lovers got me in a vice grip sjsksk. prompt from this list
as for the requests, i'll answer them soon! reblogs are appreciated <3
They say that the library is the best place to do brain gymnastics, and get the best out of your mind's concentration because of the silence and the quaint ambience it gives off.
So why.
Why does your braincells feel like evaporating right now?
The library that was once filled with peaceful silence just 30 minutes ago is now a rippling crash of waves in your eardrums as the presence across from you on the table keeps pesking your precious study time.
You're not sure what's causing the aggravating pounding in your head anymore: the 5 page essay that you need to turn over in less than an hour, or the absolute menace to your finals project in the flesh that is Marius Von Hagen.
Even the sharp librarian couldn't seem to tell that he was being a bother.
Of course they won't notice. The little devil isn't being loud after all, he's pestering you in his own way.
"Stop staring at me, idiot," you chewed a little too harshly on your pen, the anger boiling inside you directed at the poor object.
"Don't. Wanna." He flashed you a coy smile, "you look so pretty all focused like that I can't help but stare." He cooed with a kissy face.
You grimaced internally.
Oh, you could throw a book at him right now.
You know better than that of course.
Marius is a competition to you, and you to him. Of course the first thing that's gonna come to your mind when he's being like this is that he wants you to fail.
Ever since the start of your college life you were doomed to fight at the top ranks against the one and only, the heir and the king, Marius. You would always wrestle each other using intelligence and now that the semester is coming to an end, the result of your hardwork is going to be revealed soon.
That's why you absolutely can't let this happen!
"Don't make me repeat myself," You inhaled a deep breath in an attempt to not snap in the very place you swore was the epitome of peace and quiet.
You pointed at him, "Stop staring at me to distract me!" You half screamed, half whispered, your eyes darting to glance on the librarian.
"Oh," he smirked, and before you could move, he leaned to you from across the table, he placed his hands to tip on your chin. You sat there, unmoving.
"I'm not staring at you to distract you, sweetheart." His amethyst eyes bore onto yours, strange softness filling them.
You were taken aback by his sudden shift of tone from teasing to tenderness, you swatted his hand away.
You weren't going to give in to his charms just like that, "Don't give me that," you snarled.
"Do you see this essay?" you turned your laptop around to give him a better view of the paragraphs that mentally tortured you these past few hours.
"I'm sure you've already done this, and I'm sure you know that this is worth 30% of our grades this semester so please," you massaged your temples as hard as you could, "stop trying to fail me, Marius. I can't believe you're resorting to this sort of tactic." You slammed your head to the table.
Before you could rant and rant about how this essay could literally be the verdict for your future, you heard Marius snicker.
"High grades aren't what you need right now," he winked at you, "you need sleep, babe."
You convinced yourself that the heat rushing to your cheeks right now isn't caused by whatever he just called you, but rather, caused by anger, "What? I had enough sleep," you cleared your throat, "thank you."
Lies. You barely got any wink of sleep this week because of the various events you needed to organize and participate in, as one of the university's top students.
He looked at you blankly, "Then, pray-tell, I want you to recall when's the deadline of this project."
Your brain buzzed as your sleeped deprived brain desperately search for answers, "In an hour?" you weren't so sure right now, your eyes looking anywhere but him.
His eyes gazed over you with concern, unbeknowst to you.
"The deadline's next week." He declared as he showed you the professor's memo that you misunderstood, "My, my, you should take better care of yourself." he shook his head.
You on the other hand, gaped and spluttered incoherent words, mentally slapping yourself for mixing the dates up.
For once, you admitted he was right. You needed sleep.
He grinned, "Like I said, I'm not trying to distract - or as you put it," he rolled his eyes, "fail you or whatever."
He sent you a smile so full of what seemed like fondness, "You're the best college rival I could ever ask for. You test my limits, you know? Bring the best in me."
You widened your eyes as you process his words. Is he for real? You narrowed your eyes, he doesn't look like he's lying, the usual teasing tone is completely gone.
He suddenly looked so enchanting, basked in the library's soft light.
"I won't let you fail if I can help it. I would even help you," He stood up, and he stretched his right hand to reach out to you, "Please take a rest, you deserve it for your hard work." you saw the warmest smile you've ever seen him show you, and you don't know what to feel about it.
"You.." You started, wanting to ask him why he was staring so shamelessly at you, but drowsiness took over your brain now that you know you have no deadlines to worry about at the moment.
Instead, you took his warm hand, clasping it in yours, "Let's take you home." He announced, eyes filled with delight and you find yourself wanting those eyes to stare at you again.
do not repost © lavynrose 08/19/21
#tears of themis x reader#tears of themis#marius von hagen x reader#marius x reader#tears of themis imagines#marius von hagen#tears of themis oneshots#lu jinghe#lu jinghe x reader#tot x reader
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Extracts from Pnin, Vladimir Nabokov
“And all these are worlds,” said Hagen. “Or else,” said Clements with a yawn, “a frightful mess. I suspect it is really a fluorescent corpse, and we are inside it.”
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“It is nothing but a kind of microcosmos of communism—all that psychiatry,' rumbled Pnin, in his answer to Chateau. 'Why not leave their private sorrows to people? Is sorrow not, one asks, the only thing in the world people really possess?”
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“...If he failed the first time he took his driver's licence test, it was mainly because he started an argument with the examiner in an ill-timed effort to prove that nothing could be more humiliating to a rational creature than being required to encourage the development of a base conditional reflex by stopping at a red light when there was not an earthly soul around, heeled or wheeled. He was more circumspect the next time, and passed...”
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“My patient was one of those singular and unfortunate people who regard their heart (“a hollow, muscular organ,” according to the gruesome definition in Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, which Pnin’s orphaned bag contained) with a queasy dread, a nervous repulsion, a sick hate, as if it were some strong slimy untouchable monster that one had to be parasitized with, alas.”
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“Some people - and I am one of them - hate happy ends. We feel cheated. Harm is the norm. Doom should not jam. The avalanche stopping in its tracks a few feet above the cowering village behaves not only unnaturally but unethically. Had I been reading about this mild old man, instead of writing about him, I would have preferred him to discover, upon his arrival to Cremona, that his lecture was not this Friday but the next. Actually, however, he not only arrived safely but was in time for dinner - a fruit cocktail, to begin with, mint jelly with the anonymous meat course, chocolate syrup with the vanilla ice cream.”
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Ida Lupino (4 February 1918 – 3 August 1995) was an English-American actress, singer, director, and producer. She is widely regarded as the most prominent female filmmaker working in the 1950s during the Hollywood studio system. With her independent production company, she co-wrote and co-produced several social-message films and became the first woman to direct a film noir with The Hitch-Hiker in 1953. Among her other directed films the best known are Not Wanted about unwed pregnancy (she took over for a sick director and refused directorial credit), Never Fear (1949) loosely based upon her own experiences battling paralyzing polio, Outrage (1950) one of the first films about rape, The Bigamist (1953) (which was named in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die) and The Trouble with Angels (1966).
Throughout her 48-year career, she made acting appearances in 59 films and directed eight others, working primarily in the United States, where she became a citizen in 1948. As an actress her best known films are The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939) with Basil Rathbone, They Drive by Night (1940) with George Raft and Humphrey Bogart, High Sierra (1941) with Bogart, The Sea Wolf (1941) with Edward G. Robinson and John Garfield, Ladies in Retirement (1941) with Louis Hayward, Moontide (1942) with Jean Gabin, The Hard Way (1943), Deep Valley (1947) with Dane Clark, Road House (1948) with Cornel Wilde and Richard Widmark, While the City Sleeps (1956) with Dana Andrews and Vincent Price. and Junior Bonner (1972) with Steve McQueen.
She also directed more than 100 episodes of television productions in a variety of genres including westerns, supernatural tales, situation comedies, murder mysteries, and gangster stories. She was the only woman to direct an episode of the original The Twilight Zone series ("The Masks"), as well as the only director to have starred in an episode of the show ("The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine").
Lupino was born in Herne Hill, London, to actress Connie O'Shea (also known as Connie Emerald) and music hall comedian Stanley Lupino, a member of the theatrical Lupino family, which included Lupino Lane, a song-and-dance man. Her father, a top name in musical comedy in the UK and a member of a centuries-old theatrical dynasty dating back to Renaissance Italy, encouraged her to perform at an early age. He built a backyard theatre for Lupino and her sister Rita (1920–2016), who also became an actress and dancer. Lupino wrote her first play at age seven and toured with a travelling theatre company as a child. By the age of ten, Lupino had memorised the leading female roles in each of Shakespeare's plays. After her intense childhood training for stage plays, Ida's uncle Lupino Lane assisted her in moving towards film acting by getting her work as a background actress at British International Studios.
She wanted to be a writer, but in order to please her father, Lupino enrolled in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She excelled in a number of "bad girl" film roles, often playing prostitutes. Lupino did not enjoy being an actress and felt uncomfortable with many of the early roles she was given. She felt that she was pushed into the profession due to her family history.
Lupino worked as both a stage and screen actress. She first took to the stage in 1934 as the lead in The Pursuit of Happiness at the Paramount Studio Theatre.[10] Lupino made her first film appearance in The Love Race (1931) and the following year, aged 14, she worked under director Allan Dwan in Her First Affaire, in a role for which her mother had previously tested.[11] She played leading roles in five British films in 1933 at Warner Bros.' Teddington studios and for Julius Hagen at Twickenham, including The Ghost Camera with John Mills and I Lived with You with Ivor Novello.
Dubbed "the English Jean Harlow", she was discovered by Paramount in the 1933 film Money for Speed, playing a good girl/bad girl dual role. Lupino claimed the talent scouts saw her play only the sweet girl in the film and not the part of the prostitute, so she was asked to try out for the lead role in Alice in Wonderland (1933). When she arrived in Hollywood, the Paramount producers did not know what to make of their sultry potential leading lady, but she did get a five-year contract.
Lupino starred in over a dozen films in the mid-1930s, working with Columbia in a two-film deal, one of which, The Light That Failed (1939), was a role she acquired after running into the director's office unannounced, demanding an audition. After this breakthrough performance as a spiteful cockney model who torments Ronald Colman, she began to be taken seriously as a dramatic actress. As a result, her parts improved during the 1940s, and she jokingly referred to herself as "the poor man's Bette Davis", taking the roles that Davis refused.
Mark Hellinger, associate producer at Warner Bros., was impressed by Lupino's performance in The Light That Failed, and hired her for the femme-fatale role in the Raoul Walsh-directed They Drive by Night (1940), opposite stars George Raft, Ann Sheridan and Humphrey Bogart. The film did well and the critical consensus was that Lupino stole the movie, particularly in her unhinged courtroom scene. Warner Bros. offered her a contract which she negotiated to include some freelance rights. She worked with Walsh and Bogart again in High Sierra (1941), where she impressed critic Bosley Crowther in her role as an "adoring moll".
Her performance in The Hard Way (1943) won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress. She starred in Pillow to Post (1945), which was her only comedic leading role. After the drama Deep Valley (1947) finished shooting, neither Warner Bros. nor Lupino moved to renew her contract and she left the studio in 1947. Although in demand throughout the 1940s, she arguably never became a major star although she often had top billing in her pictures, above actors such as Humphrey Bogart, and was repeatedly critically lauded for her realistic, direct acting style.
She often incurred the ire of studio boss Jack Warner by objecting to her casting, refusing poorly written roles that she felt were beneath her dignity as an actress, and making script revisions deemed unacceptable by the studio. As a result, she spent a great deal of her time at Warner Bros. suspended. In 1942, she rejected an offer to star with Ronald Reagan in Kings Row, and was immediately put on suspension at the studio. Eventually, a tentative rapprochement was brokered, but her relationship with the studio remained strained. In 1947, Lupino left Warner Brothers and appeared for 20th Century Fox as a nightclub singer in the film noir Road House, performing her musical numbers in the film. She starred in On Dangerous Ground in 1951, and may have taken on some of the directing tasks of the film while director Nicholas Ray was ill.
While on suspension, Lupino had ample time to observe filming and editing processes, and she became interested in directing. She described how bored she was on set while "someone else seemed to be doing all the interesting work".
She and her husband Collier Young formed an independent company, The Filmakers, to produce, direct, and write low-budget, issue-oriented films. Her first directing job came unexpectedly in 1949 when director Elmer Clifton suffered a mild heart attack and was unable to finish Not Wanted, a film Lupino co-produced and co-wrote. Lupino stepped in to finish the film without taking directorial credit out of respect for Clifton. Although the film's subject of out-of-wedlock pregnancy was controversial, it received a vast amount of publicity, and she was invited to discuss the film with Eleanor Roosevelt on a national radio program.
Never Fear (1949), a film about polio (which she had personally experienced replete with paralysis at age 16), was her first director's credit. After producing four more films about social issues, including Outrage (1950), a film about rape (while this word is never used in the movie), Lupino directed her first hard-paced, all-male-cast film, The Hitch-Hiker (1953), making her the first woman to direct a film noir. The Filmakers went on to produce 12 feature films, six of which Lupino directed or co-directed, five of which she wrote or co-wrote, three of which she acted in, and one of which she co-produced.
Lupino once called herself a "bulldozer" to secure financing for her production company, but she referred to herself as "mother" while on set. On set, the back of her director's chair was labeled "Mother of Us All".[3] Her studio emphasized her femininity, often at the urging of Lupino herself. She credited her refusal to renew her contract with Warner Bros. under the pretenses of domesticity, claiming "I had decided that nothing lay ahead of me but the life of the neurotic star with no family and no home." She made a point to seem nonthreatening in a male-dominated environment, stating, "That's where being a man makes a great deal of difference. I don't suppose the men particularly care about leaving their wives and children. During the vacation period, the wife can always fly over and be with him. It's difficult for a wife to say to her husband, come sit on the set and watch."
Although directing became Lupino's passion, the drive for money kept her on camera, so she could acquire the funds to make her own productions. She became a wily low-budget filmmaker, reusing sets from other studio productions and talking her physician into appearing as a doctor in the delivery scene of Not Wanted. She used what is now called product placement, placing Coke, Cadillac, and other brands in her films, such as The Bigamist. She shot in public places to avoid set-rental costs and planned scenes in pre-production to avoid technical mistakes and retakes. She joked that if she had been the "poor man's Bette Davis" as an actress, she had now become the "poor man's Don Siegel" as a director.
The Filmakers production company closed shop in 1955, and Lupino turned almost immediately to television, directing episodes of more than thirty US TV series from 1956 through 1968. She also helmed a feature film in 1965 for the Catholic schoolgirl comedy The Trouble With Angels, starring Hayley Mills and Rosalind Russell; this was Lupino's last theatrical film as a director. She continued acting as well, going on to a successful television career throughout the 1960s and '70s.
Lupino's career as a director continued through 1968. Her directing efforts during these years were almost exclusively for television productions such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Thriller, The Twilight Zone, Have Gun – Will Travel, Honey West, The Donna Reed Show, Gilligan's Island, 77 Sunset Strip, The Rifleman, The Virginian, Sam Benedict, The Untouchables, Hong Kong, The Fugitive, and Bewitched.
After the demise of The Filmakers, Lupino continued working as an actress until the end of the 1970s, mainly in television. Lupino appeared in 19 episodes of Four Star Playhouse from 1952 to 1956, an endeavor involving partners Charles Boyer, Dick Powell and David Niven. From January 1957 to September 1958, Lupino starred with her then-husband Howard Duff in the sitcom Mr. Adams and Eve, in which the duo played husband-and-wife film stars named Howard Adams and Eve Drake, living in Beverly Hills, California.[22] Duff and Lupino also co-starred as themselves in 1959 in one of the 13 one-hour installments of The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour and an episode of The Dinah Shore Chevy Show in 1960. Lupino guest-starred in numerous television shows, including The Ford Television Theatre (1954), Bonanza (1959), Burke's Law (1963–64), The Virginian (1963–65), Batman (1968), The Mod Squad (1969), Family Affair (1969–70), The Wild, Wild West (1969), Nanny and the Professor (1971), Columbo: Short Fuse (1972), Columbo: Swan Song (1974) in which she plays Johnny Cash's character's zealous wife, Barnaby Jones (1974), The Streets of San Francisco, Ellery Queen (1975), Police Woman (1975), and Charlie's Angels (1977). Her final acting appearance was in the 1979 film My Boys Are Good Boys.
Lupino has two distinctions with The Twilight Zone series, as the only woman to have directed an episode ("The Masks") and the only person to have worked as both actor for one episode ("The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine"), and director for another.
Lupino's Filmakers movies deal with unconventional and controversial subject matter that studio producers would not touch, including out-of-wedlock pregnancy, bigamy, and rape. She described her independent work as "films that had social significance and yet were entertainment ... base on true stories, things the public could understand because they had happened or been of news value." She focused on women's issues for many of her films and she liked strong characters, "[Not] women who have masculine qualities about them, but [a role] that has intestinal fortitude, some guts to it."
In the film The Bigamist, the two women characters represent the career woman and the homemaker. The title character is married to a woman (Joan Fontaine) who, unable to have children, has devoted her energy to her career. While on one of many business trips, he meets a waitress (Lupino) with whom he has a child, and then marries her.[25] Marsha Orgeron, in her book Hollywood Ambitions, describes these characters as "struggling to figure out their place in environments that mirror the social constraints that Lupino faced".[13] However, Donati, in his biography of Lupino, said "The solutions to the character's problems within the films were often conventional, even conservative, more reinforcing the 1950s' ideology than undercutting it."
Ahead of her time within the studio system, Lupino was intent on creating films that were rooted in reality. On Never Fear, Lupino said, "People are tired of having the wool pulled over their eyes. They pay out good money for their theatre tickets and they want something in return. They want realism. And you can't be realistic with the same glamorous mugs on the screen all the time."
Lupino's films are critical of many traditional social institutions, which reflect her contempt for the patriarchal structure that existed in Hollywood. Lupino rejected the commodification of female stars and as an actress, she resisted becoming an object of desire. She said in 1949, "Hollywood careers are perishable commodities", and sought to avoid such a fate for herself.
Ida Lupino was diagnosed with polio in 1934. The New York Times reported that the outbreak of polio within the Hollywood community was due to contaminated swimming pools. The disease severely affected her ability to work, and her contract with Paramount fell apart shortly after her diagnosis. Lupino recovered and eventually directed, produced, and wrote many films, including a film loosely based upon her travails with polio titled Never Fear in 1949, the first film that she was credited for directing (she had earlier stepped in for an ill director on Not Wanted and refused directorial credit out of respect for her colleague). Her experience with the disease gave Lupino the courage to focus on her intellectual abilities over simply her physical appearance. In an interview with Hollywood, Lupino said, "I realized that my life and my courage and my hopes did not lie in my body. If that body was paralyzed, my brain could still work industriously...If I weren't able to act, I would be able to write. Even if I weren't able to use a pencil or typewriter, I could dictate."[31] Film magazines from the 1930s and 1940s, such as The Hollywood Reporter and Motion Picture Daily, frequently published updates on her condition. Lupino worked for various non-profit organizations to help raise funds for polio research.
Lupino's interests outside the entertainment industry included writing short stories and children's books, and composing music. Her composition "Aladdin's Suite" was performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in 1937. She composed this piece while on bedrest due to polio in 1935.
She became an American citizen in June 1948 and a staunch Democrat who supported the presidency of John F. Kennedy. Lupino was Catholic.
Lupino died from a stroke while undergoing treatment for colon cancer in Los Angeles on 3 August 1995, at the age of 77. Her memoirs, Ida Lupino: Beyond the Camera, were edited after her death and published by Mary Ann Anderson.
Lupino learned filmmaking from everyone she observed on set, including William Ziegler, the cameraman for Not Wanted. When in preproduction on Never Fear, she conferred with Michael Gordon on directorial technique, organization, and plotting. Cinematographer Archie Stout said of Ms. Lupino, "Ida has more knowledge of camera angles and lenses than any director I've ever worked with, with the exception of Victor Fleming. She knows how a woman looks on the screen and what light that woman should have, probably better than I do." Lupino also worked with editor Stanford Tischler, who said of her, "She wasn't the kind of director who would shoot something, then hope any flaws could be fixed in the cutting room. The acting was always there, to her credit."
Author Ally Acker compares Lupino to pioneering silent-film director Lois Weber for their focus on controversial, socially relevant topics. With their ambiguous endings, Lupino's films never offered simple solutions for her troubled characters, and Acker finds parallels to her storytelling style in the work of the modern European "New Wave" directors, such as Margarethe von Trotta.
Ronnie Scheib, who issued a Kino release of three of Lupino's films, likens Lupino's themes and directorial style to directors Nicholas Ray, Sam Fuller, and Robert Aldrich, saying, "Lupino very much belongs to that generation of modernist filmmakers." On whether Lupino should be considered a feminist filmmaker, Scheib states, "I don't think Lupino was concerned with showing strong people, men or women. She often said that she was interested in lost, bewildered people, and I think she was talking about the postwar trauma of people who couldn't go home again."
Author Richard Koszarski noted Lupino's choice to play with gender roles regarding women's film stereotypes during the studio era: "Her films display the obsessions and consistencies of a true auteur... In her films The Bigamist and The Hitch-Hiker, Lupino was able to reduce the male to the same sort of dangerous, irrational force that women represented in most male-directed examples of Hollywood film noir."
Lupino did not openly consider herself a feminist, saying, "I had to do something to fill up my time between contracts. Keeping a feminine approach is vital — men hate bossy females ... Often I pretended to a cameraman to know less than I did. That way I got more cooperation." Village Voice writer Carrie Rickey, though, holds Lupino up as a model of modern feminist filmmaking: "Not only did Lupino take control of production, direction, and screenplay, but [also] each of her movies addresses the brutal repercussions of sexuality, independence and dependence."
By 1972, Lupino said she wished more women were hired as directors and producers in Hollywood, noting that only very powerful actresses or writers had the chance to work in the field. She directed or costarred a number of times with young, fellow British actresses on a similar journey of developing their American film careers like Hayley Mills and Pamela Franklin.
Actress Bea Arthur, best remembered for her work in Maude and The Golden Girls, was motivated to escape her stifling hometown by following in Lupino's footsteps and becoming an actress, saying, "My dream was to become a very small blonde movie star like Ida Lupino and those other women I saw up there on the screen during the Depression."
Lupino has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for contributions to the fields of television and film — located at 1724 Vine Street and 6821 Hollywood Boulevard.
New York Film Critics Circle Award - Best Actress, The Hard Way, 1943
Inaugural Saturn Award - Best Supporting Actress, The Devil's Rain, 1975
A Commemorative Blue Plaque is dedicated to Lupino and her father Stanley Lupino by The Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America and the Theatre and Film Guild of Great Britain and America at the house where she was born in Herne Hill, London, 16 February 2016
Composer Carla Bley paid tribute to Lupino with her jazz composition "Ida Lupino" in 1964.
The Hitch-Hiker was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1998 while Outrage was inducted in 2020.
#ida lupino#classic hollywood#classic movie stars#golden age of hollywood#old hollywood#1930s hollywood#1940s hollywood#1950s hollywood#1960s hollywood#1970s hollywood#hollywood legend
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By KEVIN KRAUSE
Staff Writer
[email protected]
He was a fugitive who had threatened to go to war with the government and had illegally gotten his hands on a powerful firearm after being released from prison.
And he was in contact with another militia extremist who months later would begin plotting to kidnap Michigan’s governor, according to the FBI.
“I am now a sought after man, who is going to stand up and NEVER allow them to kidnap me again,” Kevin “KC” Massey said on Facebook.
Massey’s final days were spent running, hiding and talking about a final confrontation. That, however, never happened. The North Texas man who once led vigilante patrols on the Texas-Mexico border shot himself two days before Christmas in 2019 in Van Zandt County, putting an end to the manhunt.
Over a year after Massey’s death, some associates who allegedly provided him with aid and support are now themselves facing prison time. While on the run, Massey, 53, became a powerful symbol of resistance for the resurgent anti-government militia movement that has been radicalizing people disaffected by the pandemic and national politics.
Cody Gene Reynolds, 34, of Hunt County recently pleaded guilty in Dallas to buying Massey an AR-15-style firearm a few months before Massey’s suicide. Reynolds is scheduled to be sentenced in August, according to court records. His attorney declined to comment.
And Barry Gordon Croft, 44, was communicating with Massey on Facebook in the fall of 2019, promising to help him and to train him for a coming war against the government, the FBI says. Croft, of Delaware, has been charged along with about a dozen others with plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
A third man, James Russell Smith, was arrested and tried on a charge of harboring Massey at his Hunt County home. But a federal jury in Dallas found Smith, 70, not guilty several months ago.
Massey was already a hero to some other homegrown extremists, and his death only served to make him a martyr in the eyes of like-minded militia members. An Illinois podcaster last year called Massey a “fallen political prisoner.” And a Facebook page created for him called Massey a “patriot who served on the Texas border repelling foreign invaders.”
For federal authorities who are looking to contain the growth of domestic terrorism in the U.S, that is a concern.
“Massey’s status as a fugitive became a symbol of government oppression for individuals like Croft who harbored anti-government and anti-federal law enforcement views,” an FBI complaint in that case said.
Croft was arrested in October. Prosecutors called him a ringleader in the Whitmer kidnapping scheme as well as the “prime mover behind” the construction and testing of “weapons of mass destruction.”
Croft took part in nighttime surveillance of the governor’s house, planned to bomb a bridge and detonated test bombs he planned to use, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler said in a filing. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His attorney declined to comment.
‘They will ... pay’
Croft messaged Massey on Facebook in October 2019 when Massey was a fugitive, the FBI says. Among the things Croft said to Massey were, “They will have to pay for what they have done,” and “I don’t care if we destroy this whole planet in the fight that is coming, but a reckoning is necessary,” an FBI affidavit said.
Croft also allegedly said that “the People” didn’t support what happened to Massey and that “Our hour draws near, brother.”
“I’m going to North Carolina on Saturday to discuss going to war against the government of North Carolina,” Croft allegedly wrote. “They invited me to speak and share tactics. Please come out bro. We need you.”
Croft also told Massey in his messages that he could help him, according to the FBI.
“I can pull you out,” Croft allegedly told him. “Let me get you nourished back to combat ready … I need to recover you, sir.”
Massey, 53, was an electrician from Quinlan, an hour east of Dallas, and a man with “alarming rage” and a love of heavy weaponry, federal authorities have said.
He had gone into hiding around May 2019, several months after being released from prison on probation for a federal weapons charge that stemmed from his armed border patrols, court records say.
In addition to being a militia member, Massey was a Three Percenter, which refers to a far-right, anti-government movement that the FBI is building a conspiracy case against in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and insurrection, according to published reports and court records.
Three Percenters are also referred to as “III%ers” or “threepers.” The term Three Percenter is based on the myth that only 3% of American colonists fought against the British during the American Revolution. Authorities say it’s not a single group but more of a common belief that a small yet determined force of armed citizens can overthrow a government. Many independent militias incorporate it into their names.
Authorities say Croft posted the following comment online in April 2019: “Be it known, any harm to KCI Massey III by the federal government will trigger my 3% [expletive] to action!!!%”
Help from friends
Massey came to the attention of federal authorities in 2014 when he was in Brownsville as a member of a border vigilante group called Rusty’s Rangers. Dressed in military fatigues, he conducted armed patrols with others on the South Texas border to search for immigrants attempting to cross into the U.S., authorities say.
The militia members, displeased with U.S. border enforcement, said they took matters into their own hands after obtaining permission to access private property. Their makeshift “Camp Lonestar” on rural land served as a “staging area for their patrols,” according to the feds.
Massey routinely videotaped his border activities and posted them on Facebook, court records said. He would later say on Facebook that he had the power of citizen’s arrest. In posts, Massey described detaining immigrants at gunpoint and binding their wrists with zip ties.
He vowed to remain at the border until regulators “sealed the border or there’s some sort of civil war,” prosecutors said.
Instead he was arrested and charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Massey was found with 20 homemade explosive devices and other weapons at the time, court records say. He was convicted and sentenced in 2016 to 41 months in federal prison.
His prison writings, archived online by a supporter, as well as his Facebook posts, show that he fervently embraced right-wing extremist movements.
According to prosecutors, he also expressed support for Timothy McVeigh, whose bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995 killed more than 160 people and injured over 680 others.
Massey was released from prison in June 2018 to begin serving his three-year probation term, according to court records. As a felon, he could not legally have firearms.
But Massey drove with Reynolds to a Caddo Mills gun store in December 2018 to buy one, according to court records. Massey gave Reynolds money and told him which gun to buy. Reynolds then purchased the Diamondback Arms DB15 for Massey. The gun, although called a pistol, looks and performs like an assault rifle.
Reynolds pleaded guilty on March 30 to acquiring a firearm from a licensed dealer by false or fictitious statement and to aiding and abetting a felon in possession of a firearm, court records show. He faces up to 10 years in prison.
A warrant was issued for Massey’s arrest in May 2019 after he tested positive for illegal drugs and failed to report to his probation officer, court records show.
While on the run, Massey went to a second man for help, an old friend, prosecutors said.
An acquittal
James Russell Smith is retired from the construction industry and lives in Lone Oak, east of Dallas. He had known Massey for about 20 years and recruited him to join the Cossacks Motorcycle Club years earlier, prosecutors said. Massey told Smith he was broke, hungry and needed a place to stay, according to court records.
In July 2019, Massey moved to Smith’s property near the banks of Lake Tawakoni, court records say. Smith provided him with food and shelter and also allowed Massey to store his property, including firearms, on his land, according to prosecutors.
U.S. marshals learned Massey was there and set up surveillance. Massey was seen coming and going from the home with what appeared to be a firearm on his hip, a federal complaint said.
Agents raided the home with a search warrant but Massey was gone, having “escaped into the woods,” prosecutors said.
Smith told agents he didn’t know where Massey was. The marshals said they found an AK-47-style pistol inside a bag he left behind. While the marshals continued to look for Massey, the government in July 2019 charged Smith with conspiracy to conceal a person from arrest.
Smith’s trial ended in September with an acquittal. Juror notes submitted during deliberations indicate they had an issue with a critical element of the charge — that Smith knew of the existence of a federal arrest warrant for Massey at the time.
‘Key issue’
Smith’s attorney, Keith Willeford, said in an interview that the arrest warrant for Massey had been sealed and therefore wasn’t public knowledge.
“The key issue was the fact that they had to prove that my client knew that KC had a warrant,” he said.
Willeford said Massey stayed at his client’s property for only about four nights. And no one ever called Smith to inform him that Massey was wanted or to ask for his help in locating him, Willeford said.
William Hagen, a federal prosecutor, tried unsuccessfully in 2015 to seek a tougher prison term for Massey, citing his “utter disregard for federal law.”
And he issued a warning that turned out to be prophetic.
“Because the defendant not only disrespects the law, but explicitly rejects the legitimacy of it, he will undoubtedly rearm and reoffend once released from prison,” Hagen wrote.
The 911 call came in on Dec. 23, 2019. Police said Massey’s body was found in a “small wooded area.”
Twitter: @KevinRKrause
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Salvation is a Last Minute Business (18/18)
Chapter 18/Epilogue: We Could Go Places
Madelyn finally earns her happy ending.
“With my brains and your looks, we could go places.” - Frank Chambers as played by John Garfield (The Postman Always Rings Twice, 1946)
That’s all she wrote! Thank you to anyone to joined me on this wonderful journey! 😭
[read on Ao3] | [series masterpost]
June 22nd, 1958
“You’re late.”
Madelyn laughed at the sound of Nick’s voice, calling out to her the moment she arrived at the agency that morning, the bell above the front door indicating her presence. Her amusement persisted as she walked through the lobby, observing the care packages that filled the space. Even Ellie’s desk was covered with boxes and flower bouquets—more than what had been present the previous evening, or the day before that. There were more gifts scattered throughout the room, all sent in congratulations after news of Valentine Detective Agency’s success spread across Boston. Taking down Eddie Winter was one thing but solving a decade-old missing persons case and exposing a government conspiracy was another. Nobody expected the ragtag detective and his lawyer broad to take expose the Institute—not that anybody knew the university were hiding such abhorrent secrets in the first place.
She leaned against the doorway of Nick’s office, surprised by the lack of clutter that typically covered his desk. The stacks of case files and reports had been boxed away, leaving the room the cleanest she’d seen in years. Well, except for the small sprinkling of cigarette ash on the oak wood that he’d failed to hide—hell would freeze over before Nick Valentine gave up that habit. All that remained on his desk, aside from the usual decorations, was a single newspaper and a bottle of Irish whiskey, two perfectly poured glasses on standby. A Sunday tradition.
Madelyn grinned. “I think I’m right on time.”
“I wonder if Grace Kelly received this many flowers when she won best actress,” she joked, walking over to take her usual seat in the armchair to the left.
Nick chuckled, rounding the desk to join her with the two glasses in hand, the bottle and newspaper tucked under his arm. “I’ll let you know when I start feeling like a Princess.”
“You should see Piper’s office,” he added, passing her one whiskey-filled glass and the weekend edition of Publick Occurrences before sitting down. “Gal’s been flooded with offers from all over the state, including the Bugle, to run their editorial departments.”
“She’ll never take them,” Madelyn contended. “She has enough resources and connections to finally fund a full staff. Maybe finally move into a bigger office and give us the space back so we can do the same.”
Even though Nick smiled at the idea, he reeled in his excitement. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
Madelyn feigned innocence, shrugging as she hid her grin behind a generous gulp of whiskey.
He glanced at her curiously, smiling against the rim of his cup as he also took a drink. He expertly diverted the conversation. “So, where were you this morning?”
She considered lying just for the fun of it, but decided the truth was just as shocking. “Church.”
“Madelyn Hardy, once again attending Sunday mass,” Nick replied, shaking his head in humorous disbelief. “I thought I’d never see the day.”
Neither did she. Madelyn was sure she had lost her faith the day her husband died, buried it along with Nate to be forgotten. His death, and her survival was more than guilt—it was sin. And then, one New Year’s Eve party later, everything changed. She’d been tested over the last several months, and despite the grief and the loss, she was also at peace. Nate was at peace. Somewhere along the way, she’d found salvation.
“You could say I’m a changed woman.”
Nick considered her words in comfortable silence, the two slowly drinking their whiskey while exchanging soft, lingering smiles. It was reminiscent of the ‘good-ol-days’, but calmer. He said what she was already thinking. “I’ve changed too. We all have.”
Madelyn contemplated asking if he had any regrets, or if everything they had done was for the best when he silently gestured towards the newspaper draped across her lap. She glanced down, smirking at Piper’s headline. Reunited!
“She’s finally learned to reel it in,” she jested, looking over the picture of Shaun Pearlman—now eleven years old—standing with his parents, Nathan and Nora.
“After such headlines as The Boogeyman Banished, and The Synthetic Truth,” Nick’s laughter was at the expense of their dearest reporter friend. “The article speaks for itself. It’ll take some adjusting, but the kid will be alright.”
Madelyn studied the family portrait again, focusing on their smiling, overjoyed faces. “It isn’t everyday that somebody gets a happy ending.”
“They’ve earned it,” Nick remarked, just the slightest hint of sorrow passing through his light green eyes. Jenny—the heartache would never go away. He remained silent, but his smirk slowly returned, encouraging her to continue reading through the newspaper.
Inside, there was a picture of Hancock—John McDonough—formally announcing his plans to run for mayor in the 1959 election. He had already been working with the interim mayor after his brother’s death, ensuring that any lingering Institute corruption was snuffed out. His platform hadn’t changed much—of the people, for the people—and judging by the large outpouring of support, a lot of Bostonians dug what he was offering.
“Are you going to vote for him?” Madelyn teased, chuckling when Nick grumbled a sigh and rolled his eyes without an answer.
There was another article about Preston Garvey and his Minutemen, reclaiming their post in Quincy now that the Gunners had been successfully chased out of town. MacCready had found a place in their ranks, grinning like the sun was shining out of his ass in the group picture that accompanied the article. It was a good fit for the former mercenary, even if Preston was a little weary about accepting him at first. The network of neighborhood watchmen were supported by the newly reformed Boston Police, Sergeant Danny Sullivan himself promising to oversee their continued partnership.
Correction—Deputy Chief Danny Sullivan—earning quite the promotion after the fall of the Institute exposed and removed more corrupted individuals from power. He was running his own campaign, recruiting the best and brightest minds to fill the ranks throughout Boston’s precincts with the promise that integrity and stability were there to stay.
“Still have a long way to go,” Nick commented, his distrust of the system would linger too. “But it’s a start.”
Madelyn nodded in agreement, flicking her eyes to another one of Piper’s headlines—Mr. Danse Goes to Washington.
“He’s not going to be happy when he finds out about this,” she laughed.
“The Lieutenant will get over being compared to Jimmy Stewart,” Nick replied. “The man’s a war hero, isn’t he?”
Her laughter continued as she read over the article, trying not to imagine Lieutenant Danse in a comedic movie from the past, and instead as the dignified officer he was. The headline was tongue in cheek but accurate—he’d gone to Washington, D.C. to testify on capitol hill about what occurred at Fort Hagen between the Institute and the United States military. He’d also promised Nick and Madelyn that he’d watch over the federal investigation closely, ensuring another cover-up didn’t take place.
“Here,” Nick spoke, standing to snag a second, unseen Publick Occurrences from his desk. “Special edition. Hot off the presses, as Piper would say.”
Madelyn exchanged copies with him, setting down her glass so she could examine the front headline closely. Valentine and Hardy—The Unstoppables.
“So are you the Silver Shroud or The Inspector?” she giggled, covering her mouth.
“Ha, ha, Mistress of Mystery,” he retorted sarcastically, sitting back down across from her.
There was a picture of them standing in front of the office building, the neon light of the agency sign burning brilliantly behind them. The longer she stared at it, the larger her smile became, warmth radiating through her body. She’d never felt more proud or honored to be a part of something important. She felt at home.
“This is going to give you more exposure than you’ve ever had,” she remarked, tapping the paper with her fingers. “There’s going to be people lining out the door asking for your help!”
“Our help,” Nick corrected with a small smile, leaning forward in his chair. “That is, if you’re still up to the task of being my partner.”
“Of course Nick,” Madelyn answered immediately, unable to stop from grinning. “You’d be hard pressed to find a woman as willing as I am to put up with your brand of bullshit.”
He laughed, louder and heartier than she’d heard him sound in a long time. “Has anyone ever told you how charming you are?”
Madelyn tilted her head to the side. “Funny you should mention that.”
The laughter settled into quiet mirth as Nick looked into his empty glass with a sigh. “I need a vacation first.”
“Really?”
“Really,” he echoed. “Starting with a proper meal. Care to join me?”
Any other time and Madelyn would’ve said yes. She frowned as she shook her head. “I have a date.”
“That’s nothing to pout about,” Nick smirked. The detective—her partner—regarded her with a warm smile. “I can forgive you this one time.”
The warmth had settled in her heart, and she wondered if she was glowing as she smiled at him, the happiest she’d felt in years. Nick reached over to gently clasp her hand, squeezing her fingers as he spoke. “It’s a good look, Madelyn.”
She stood up, leaning over the small distance to place a soft kiss to his cheek. “Thanks, Nick.”
“Sure, sure,” he watched her as she left, lingering only for a moment in the doorway. “See you later, doll.”
Madelyn sat in the vinyl blue booth of the Slocum’s Joe, gazing out the window and watching as people passed by on the sidewalk. Cambridge wasn’t nearly as busy since the Institute’s downfall, but hundreds of people still called considered the Boston neighborhood their home—including her. She’d made occasional trips to her apartment in the last few weeks but had only recently started living in D7 again now that she was sure it was safe. Codsworth and Dogmeat were more than pleased to have her home, the Mister Handy unit suffering a bout of anxiety after being separated from his mistress—even if it shouldn’t have been possible with his programing. Even now, the robot had difficulty letting her out of his sight, and she laughed when she noticed Codsworth across the street, hovering about as he walked Dogmeat, a leash tied to one of his metal arms.
“What’s so funny?”
She glanced up to find Deacon setting down two cups of coffee before sliding into the booth across from her. Two sugars and a little bit of cream for her, straight black for him. He wasn’t in his usual suit, swapped out for something far more casual and befitting for summer, black wig left forgotten on her bedside table. Of course, he’d never leave without securing his sunglasses—his eyes were only for her to see.
Madelyn titled her head, gesturing out the window as she took a slow sip. “It seems I’m always destined to have somebody stalking me.”
“I take offense to that,” he held a hand over his chest, feigning attack from her teasing words. “To imply that I stalked you.”
Madelyn struggled to contain her giggling behind her cup. “Hmm, and what would you call it?”
“Careful observation from afar,” he said, brows furrowing for a moment as he inspected the contents of his coffee before taking a careful taste—always with the suspicion. You can’t trust everyone, even the barista at their regular coffeehouse, it seemed.
“What would you call it now?”
Deacon smirked at her flirtatious question. “An up-close and personal liaison.”
Madelyn smiled, her heart racing in excitement as it usually did when they danced around this subject. There still hadn’t been much of a discussion—or a confession—since their infiltration of the Institute. No clear conversation about what their relationship meant. It didn’t stop them from acting like lovers, a constant stop-and-go ever since the evening she got shot, pausing when they needed to focus on the case instead of romance. Now that there were no more distractions, what she desperately yearned for was full steam ahead. She darted her eyes back out the window, forcing her mind to stop before she spiraled into anxiety and doubt. She was happy—right?
Deacon’s hand reached over the table to cover hers. “Do you want to go to D.C.?”
She glanced back to his face, momentarily surprised by his question. Any joke she thought about making—that everybody was going south—fell away. “With you?”
His expression faltered. “No, with Drummer Boy,” he said sarcastically.
“I dunno,” she nervously laughed, humor the only defense mechanism she could rely on. “Robby makes for a pretty good date when you aren’t—”
“Charmer,” he groaned, fingers tightening around hers, even though a smile dared to pull at his lips.
“Is this one of your business trips?” she persisted. “Or would this be for pleasure?”
“Why can’t it be both?” he responded, and it sounded witty enough, except all traces of humor had disappeared. “Can’t you tell when a guy is trying to be serious?”
Madelyn swallowed, and released a shaky breath. “What is it?”
Deacon didn’t say anything, and she was afraid she’d scared him off with her teasing. Minutes passed before he finally reached up and removed the darkened shades from his face, placing them on the table next to their forgotten coffee cups. Blue eyes locked on blue, but still, he remained silent.
“What do you want?” she prompted, slowly turning her hand over to lace their fingers. “Deacon?”
She’d seen that emotion in his eyes before—just last week—when he tried to tell her something important, and she denied him the opportunity. This time, she wasn’t afraid.
“I want…”
“Je t’aime,” she answered, filling the silence when he trailed off. His eyes widened, the shock quickly subsiding as a bright smile pulled at his lips. Madelyn knew it was a simple saying, but still translated. “I love you.”
“I—”
Not everyday that Deacon was at a loss for words. He suddenly moved, slipping out from his side of the booth and swiftly sliding in to join her. Madelyn turned to meet him, laughing as the butterflies swarmed her stomach like she was experiencing this—love—again, all for the first time. He leaned in close so only she could hear.
“Je t’aime,” he repeated with an ever-growing smile. “I love you too.”
There was nothing left to say, so he kissed her instead. Madelyn smiled against his lips, sighing when his arms wrapped around her in a warm embrace. Deacon was still grinning when they parted, eyes shining with an emotion she wanted to keep there forever. He pulled her close, and she rested her head against his shoulder, switching her gaze back outside.
The sun was shining, and she was happy.
#fallout 4#noir au#deacon x f!solesurvivor#deacon#madelyn hardy#nick valentine#oh god it's over ;_____;#I'm going to go cry now#masterpost to follow
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Batman: The Animated Series - Paper Cut-Out Portraits and Profiles
Clayface
Celebrated film actor, Matt Hagen was severely disfigured in a automobile accident. While recovering, Hagen was approached by Roland Dagget who asked him to be a test subject for the newly developed face cream, ‘Renuyu.’ This cream was a mutagenic that made skin cells malleable.
The Renuyu enabled Hagen to fix his scarred face and continue his acting career. The effects of the cream, however, were only temporary as well as highly addictive. Once hooked, Dagget used Hagen to enacted the criminal activities necessary to circumnavigate the regulatory channels that would otherwise prevent the sale of Renyu.
When Hagen failed in said efforts, Dagger cut him off. Desperate in the throws of withdrawal, Hagen broke into Dagget’s warehouse. He was apprehended by Dagget’s stooges, who attempted to kill Hagen by pouring an entire vat of the Renuyu cream onto him.
The mutagenic cream hyper-saturated Hagen’s every cell, transforming him into a large, mud-like creature. Hagen was discovered by his boyfriend, Teddy, who brought him back to their home. There Hagen found that, with concentration, he could mentally manipulate his form, altering his appearance and shape. He had become entirely malleable and could even transform his limbs into weapons with the consistency of steel or rock. And yet, it required tremendous assiduousness to maintain a given form and, at rest, he returned to a monstrous state. He decided that Hagen was dead… from now on he was ‘Clayface.’
With his new abilities, Clayface attempted to extract revenge on Roland Dagget, exposing the dangers of Renuyu and attacking Dagget on the set of the Summer Gleason talk show. Batman ended up battling Clayface and it appeared that the creature had perished after being electrocuted. Although Batman later surmised that it was a ruse and that Clayface had merely faked his death. This proved to be correct and Clayface would resurface on a numerous occasions to again do battle with the Dark Knight.
Actor Ron Perlman provided the voice for Clayface with the tragic villain first appearing in the fourth episode of the first season of Batman: The Animated Series, ‘Feat of Clay Part One.’
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I was tagged a few days ago by @justscreenshots to post nine albums that are important to me. There are so many records and so many artists I love that it’s been hard but I’ve ended up with a mix of albums which are significant and/or all time faves. I’ve done the one album one artist thing like I do for directors in my end of year film faves. I’ve gone a bit “in depth”, I’m sorry...
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road / Elton John GYBR was the first album I owned, sent to me out of the blue one Christmas by my Dad’s cousin Bella, a relative I’d never met and never did meet, and at a time when we didn’t own a record player! It made a big impression on me with it’s double gatefold sleeve, illustrations by Ian Beck (I was into art), and a few slightly risque lyrics. It’s not even my favourite Elton album but it’s the first music that actually belonged to me, and because I got a cheap Woolworths portable record player to listen to it I was then able to buy my own records, make choices, and begin to form my own musical tastes rather than being more of a passive listener to whatever I was exposed to. It’s of huge historical importance on a very personal level!
Hunky Dory / David Bowie A few old timey followers may remember from long deleted posts that Hunky Dory is the first full Bowie album I heard and is important to me for it’s connection to a girlfriend from the early 80s. Her death in 2016 hit me really hard in a way my brain tells me is illogical but my heart still feels and consequentially it’s taken on an even greater significance. I’m not sure I’ve listened to it as an album since, just on shuffle with other tracks.
The Akron Compilation / Various Artists Let’s lighten the mood with this Stiff Records compilation LP of bands from Akron Ohio with it’s scratch-n-sniff cover featuring the authentic odour of Rubber City! For many years I would state that this was “my favourite album OF ALL TIME” and I’m sure I thought I was very funny championing this new wave obscurity against the Unknown Pleasures and Bat Out Of Hells of friends, but the fact is I really do love it! It also includes “my favouite song OF ALL TIME” The Comb by The Waitresses. My most re-bought album. If someone could release this on CD that’d be great, thanks!
Nina Hagen Band / Nina Hagen Band Times were tough back in the day before iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube and if you heard a song you liked sometimes you just had to bite the bullet, roll the dice, and buy that whole LP on the off chance that the rest of the album would be as good. That’s what happened after I heard a Nina Hagen track (probably Heiss or Naturträne) on an episode of The Old Grey Whistle Test accompanied by some old black and white stop-motion animation involving plants, elves, and faries, a common practice in the pre-MTV days. Anyway Nina Hagen Band turned out to be a firm favourite. I don’t speak German but it just shows that in music, film, or art sometimes you don’t have to fully understand something for it to be great.
This Year’s Model / Elvis Costello & The Attractions Just what was it about the bespectacled unnatractive man singing bitter and/or melancholy songs of jealousy and failed relationships that resonated so much with my teenage self? Costello made such an impression that I asked my Mum to cut my hair from it’s previously scruffy Peter Noone style to something more like Elvis’ (No Mum! Not that Elvis!). Me and Elvis kind of drifted apart after Spike but those early albums are a huge part of my life.
Grotesque (After The Gramme) / The Fall The Fall are my favourite band so this is the one where I had a hard time deciding which album to choose and if I wasnt sticking to my one artist rule there would be more Fall albums in the nine. I went with Grotesque because it may be the first full album I bought by them and it certainly comes from the time I was first getting into the band after hearing tracks and sessions on John Peel’s radio show. Country ‘n’ Northern music is born!
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain / Pavement My other favourite band! Perhaps not surprising as they were often accused of being Fall imitators, something I couldn’t really hear on this the first album I bought by them after seeing their videos on MTV’s 120 Minutes, Alternative Nation, and so on (but more apparent on the earlier Slanted And Enchanted). A Fave.
The B-52’s / The B-52’s The B-52’s seemed to sound like nothing else when I first heard them and this debut is a perfect LP IMO. Subsequent releases didn’t quite reach this standard but they’re still a favourite band and Love Shack is one of the few songs I might dance to (if drunk).
Disguise In Love / John Cooper Clarke The Bard of Salford. I’ve often seen criticism of the decision to set JCC’s poems to music but I really like the contribution of The Invisible Girls and at least Disguise In Love has a mix of “songs” and spoken word.
I won’t put pressure on by tagging anyone but I’d be very interested to see the choices of any mutuals!
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Self Para #1
The sky had darkened and the stars come to hang out high above the town. There were still a number of people out and about, though not nearly the amount that there was during the sensible hours to be awake. Hagen had found a place near the lake to sit at, watching the mentioned stars reflected in the water. It was peaceful. Hagen's mind was always talking. Talking, talking, talking. Never ceasing. Never quieting, but here, out here he was able to catch glimpses of quiet.
Unzipping his backpack he pulled the Walkman out, the black paint was almost completely chipped away from it, and only one side of the current set of headphones worked. He put them on, and then proceeded to take one of his gloves off, being careful to place it down on top of the bag, before adding the other to it. His movements were slow, careful, and almost like this was all part of some sort of ritual, which in a way it was.
It wasn't something that he always did, reserving this moment for once every month, sometimes longer, but when the gloves had been properly removed he took in a breath before clasping the Walkman tight in both hands.
They came at him like a speeding train. Sensations surrounding him, he could hear music in his head without ever having hit the play button. Images of people and places and muffled audio of voices could be heard. It hurt. It hurt like hell, but he only gripped tighter. He was never sure if it was actually happening, or if it was just some sort of placebo effect, but somehow it always felt like the tighter he held on to something the faster the memories sped through. It was like hitting the rewind button at 2x speed.
How long he held onto it, Hagen wasn't sure, he'd stopped trying to figure that out months ago, but when he saw them his grip loosened. It was a camping trip. The last family vacation they'd taken together. Somehow Luka had managed to convince their parents to let him drive part of the way, despite having failed his driver's test. His dad was in the passenger's seat, jokingly pretending to be an antsy kid on a roadtrip, asking when they were going to get there. The two at the front had always looked so much alike, there had been pictures from when his dad was a kid that people had mistaken for pictures of Luka.
His mother and Rowan sat behind them. Well, more so his mother sat and Rowan had stretched out in the middle seat, still small enough to do so, her head in their mom's lap. If Luka took mostly after their father, Rowan took mostly after their mother. Lighter hair and lighter eyes. She was reading a Babysitter's Club Book. One about Mary Ann or Mary Jane, whatever the Mary girl's name was.
Then he felt him. This wasn't the first time he'd been to this place in the past, this memory, but for some reason he always felt him last. His brother's shoulder underneath his head. As with all family trips, Hagen and Hayden sat in the very back. This must've been a part of the roadtrip where Hagen had dozed off on top of his twin, cause through the music playing, Marcy Playground's I Smell Sex and Candy, he could hear his brother "Dude, you're drooling" and then the sound of a picture being taken from Hayden's phone. A photo that was, of course, promptly uploaded to social media.
He wanted to hold on longer. To live in this moment again. To hear his father's 'dad' jokes and watch Luka drive. He wanted to know his mother and Rowan were there in front of him, watching as Rowan held her book straight up in the air, watching as her fingers turned to a new page every so often. He wanted to stay there with his head on his brother, not caring now how many pictures he took of him with drool coming down the corner of his mouth. He couldn't though. The sensations, as nice as they were in this moment, always sent him into an overload, especially going back as far as he had to get to them.
It was like a whirlwind when he dropped the Walkman into his lap, and in a flash he was back sitting by the lake. It was only then he felt how wet his face was. He sat there, staring out at the water, taking in some deep, shaky breaths, before promptly putting the gloves back on and tucking the Walkman and headphones back safely away in the bag. Pulling his knees up to his chest, he wrapped his arms around his legs, and buried his face in his knees, muffling the sound of an anguished cry, followed by sobs. Noises and feelings Hagen reserved for moments like this. For moments when he was alone. Moments when he didn't have to wear a smile like it was some kind of armor.
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ERIE, Pa.—To local leaders, a row of abandoned redbrick buildings in the heart of this Rust Belt city’s ailing downtown presents the best hope to spark a citywide revival.
The buildings—stripped down to their plaster walls, tin ceilings and worn wood floors—are part of a $150 million plan to draw more people to live and work downtown. One building, most recently a biker bar, will house a food hall with seating for nearly 200 people. An old bus terminal will be demolished to make space for an indoor courtyard that will connect to an incubator for culinary startups.
The project is the cornerstone of an effort to reimagine a city once defined by industrial giants such as Hammermill Paper Co. and General Electric Co. Erie has lost more than 30% of its population since 1960. Nearly 27% of its residents live below the federal poverty level, according to the Census Bureau, well above the 14.6% U.S. poverty rate.
Older industrial cities across the Northeast and Midwest are struggling to replace lost manufacturing jobs after decades of deindustrialization. Erie, with a population of about 96,000, presents a new test of whether—and how—a town built on manufacturing can redefine itself, the role a city’s largest employer can play and the potential impact of the new federal opportunity zone program, which provides tax benefits for those who invest capital gains in low-income areas.
“One of the biggest questions policy makers, economists and pundits are asking now is, ‘What do we do for places like Erie?’ ” said John Lettieri, chief executive of the Economic Innovation Group, a nonpartisan think tank that helped develop and promote the opportunity-zone program. “Is there a future for these places when the industry they were built around has withered?”
Previous efforts to turn around the area’s fortunes haven’t worked. A pedestrian-friendly mall downtown failed. A regional economic development agency filed for bankruptcy liquidation in 2016 after a plan to create a new transportation hub for freight traffic and other projects fell apart.
“We hit rock bottom,” said Tom Hagen, who moved to Erie at age 7 and is now chairman of Erie Indemnity Co. Known as Erie Insurance, it is the city’s largest employer and only remaining Fortune 500 company. “I compare it to an alcoholic who has to be in the gutter before he or she sees the light.”
The 94-year-old insurer will next year complete a $135 million expansion of its corporate campus. The sleek brick-and-glass building is within Erie’s downtown opportunity zone, but was started before the legislation was enacted and won’t qualify for the tax benefits.
As they looked for ways to rebuild, local business and philanthropic leaders traveled west to study how the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. helped revitalize the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, an effort led by Procter & Gamble Co., that area’s largest employer.
(above: The Erie Downtown Development Corp. is renovating Park Place and Sherlock's building in Erie, Pa).
Among the lessons: Start in the core of downtown so that the city’s anchor doesn’t pull you down. Cluster investments to gain momentum and attract additional capital. Create a nonprofit to redevelop blighted properties with the help of philanthropic, state and federal dollars. Tap private financing, a considerable challenge given Erie’s soft real-estate market and blighted properties.
One of Erie’s first steps was to create the Erie Innovation District in 2016, with a $4 million grant from local sources. It recruits about 10 technology startups to come to the city each year for a 10-week accelerator program, with the aim of creating local jobs. Several startups, including one developing tracking technology for manufacturers, have made Erie their home.
The following year, some of the city’s biggest employers and its largest foundation created the Erie Downtown Development Corp., a nonprofit to revitalize the city’s center. Many of the same firms kicked in $27.5 million to create an equity fund to support redevelopment projects that wouldn’t otherwise make financial sense.
Erie was one of the first cities to jump on the federal-opportunity zone program, creating a 58-page prospectus and identifying a dozen “shovel ready” projects, including the renovation of a 133-unit downtown hotel. Redevelopment would have happened with or without the opportunity-zone program, city leaders say, but the tax breaks will speed the process.
But so far, investors have gravitated to bigger cities such as Baltimore and Los Angeles, said John Persinger, chief executive of the EDDC. Social-impact investors, he said, want greater returns on their investments and are reluctant to invest in a city where they don’t already have a presence.
“Opportunity zones should never have been seen as unlocking a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow,” Mr. Persinger said.
Erie is looking to advanced manufacturers like Plastikos Inc., located just outside the city’s borders, to keep some factory work alive. In clean, brightly lighted rooms, robotic arms swing back and forth molding resins into medical device components for insulin pumps. More than 150 employees earn about $11 to $24 an hour; experienced toolmakers can earn up to $90,000 annually.
Going forward, technology companies will play a bigger role, said Joe Schember, who became Erie’s mayor in 2018. “A lot of people in Erie think we might have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to turn it around,” said Mr. Schember, a former bank executive who put himself through college by working at a foundry in the city. “And if we miss it, we might not have another chance.”
Health care has become another source of growth in Erie. Highmark Health and Allegheny Health Network are investing $140 million to expand their medical campus; the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center-Hamot is spending more than $110 million on a new building.
Erie is still home to a handful of old-line companies, such as American Tinning & Galvanizing, founded in 1931 and employing about 80 people. The company has managed to survive by keeping costs low and maintaining good relationships with other local manufacturers, said its president, Robin Scheppner.
Erie also hopes to work local connections. More than 300 people turned out to the city’s third-annual Erie Homecoming in August. This year’s event focused on opportunity zones, part of an effort to get local investors and expats to invest in the city. At the event, Erie Insurance announced a $50 million opportunity-zone fund that will include investments in its hometown.
The EDDC is planning $150 million of opportunity-zone projects focused on the city’s core. For the first project, Erie Insurance and the new equity fund will each provide about $2.6 million of the estimated $10 million cost of the new food complex. The new equity-fund arm is providing capital to purchase the buildings; it will cover the first losses on the project and gap financing if the EDDC can’t raise enough to cover the full project cost. Other projects will include more than 200 market-rate residential housing units, retail and office space and a new parking garage.
Liz Allen, a city council member, said she’s excited about development downtown but worries about potential displacement of some businesses and low-income residents.
“It’s a real balancing act, because you want cities to thrive,” she said.
The food hall was partially inspired by the city’s inability to persuade a grocery store to locate downtown. Another building on the block will include a fresh-produce vendor, a bakery, a butcher and a distillery.
“When people raise fears of gentrification, I say we can’t afford to lose one more person,” said Mr. Persinger. “We don’t want to push anyone out. We want to bring more people in and raise the quality of life for everyone.”
Corrections & Amplifications
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center-Hamot is spending more than $110 million on a new building. An earlier version of this story misspelled Hamot as Hammot. (Oct. 7, 2019)
***
This was the entire story, sans a couple of photos, copied & pasted to circumvent WSJ’s paywall; thanks to my wife for finding this & passing it along. Remember WSJ is part of News Corp--the Murdoch media conglomerate that produces Fox News--and boycott accordingly.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/erie-hit-rock-bottom-the-former-factory-hub-thinks-it-has-a-way-out-11570440601
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Vivienne Muller, Abject d’Art, 9.5 M/C Journal
Julia Kristeva’s famous essay Powers of Horror conceptualises the abject as that which “disturbs identity, system, order. What does not respect borders, positions, rules. The in-between, the ambiguous” (4). While the social forms of the abject are clearly implicated here, Kristeva illustrates it primarily in corporeal terms, suggesting that filth, excrement, those things injected and expelled by the body, and disturb the epidermic surfaces of it (Grosz 244) are visible signifiers of the abject. In this semiotic schema, the corpse is the ultimate site of the abject because it is here that all meaning to the unity of body and mind, to the control of the border between inside and outside collapses (Kristeva 3). The corpse “signals the precarious grasp the subject has over its identity and bodily boundarie” (Grosz qtd. in Wright 198); the corpse excites fear and fascination as it represents the future for all of us- the unbecoming of the self. Kristeva’s views remind us how central the in tact body is to identity, and how much we seek reassurance in that which reifies the corps proper, despite our knowledge of its mutability. The exhibition of plastinated corpses, entitled The Amazing Human Body currently touring Australia, underscores secular society’s ongoing desire to gaze at that which we will eventually become, but constantly disavow. Unlike corpses that are preserved as life-like in the rituals of the funeral parlour, exhibitions of plastinated cadavers artistically frieze-frame corpses that are like and not like the body as we are invited to know and value it. In simultaneously exposing the inside and outside of bodies, and in posturing that which is both alien and familiar, the “amazing” human bodies on show fix an abject moment – one that does not “respect borders, positions, rules” (Kristeva 4).
Western civilization experiences extreme unease with the dead body which has resulted in all kinds of aesthetic interventions to negate its ‘reality’ as decaying matter. Post death, behind the scenes bio-scientific techniques preserve in the corpse a ‘life-likeness’; morticians cosmetically enhance the dead body on display so as not to disturb the living. In identifying the role of undertakers in the ritual disposal of the corpse, Glennys Howarth comments that when the “funeral director assumes custody of the corpse it is contaminated in the sense that it is a receptacle for disease and a symbol of mortality” (147). The task of the embalmer then is to revile this contamination, to “revitalize characteristics of the corpse” which will “enhance human-likeness, for example, facial colour and elasticity of skin.” Howarth’s descriptions identify the dead body as an abject site and the embalmer as artist whose task is to resurrect/reconstitute the corpse propre to “supply, not merely a representation, but the physical presence of the individual” as they were in life; a physical immortality as it were (Howarth 147).
Central to the embalmer’s and mortician’s art is an interesting paradox- the signification of death without physical corruption of the body. Howarth’s analysis of the “humanization techniques” in sustaining the fiction of living, points not only to “theatrical strategies” involved, but to the necessary concealment of the artist (the embalmer, the undertaker) in the process. The object is to re-create the fullness, not reveal the abjectness, of being. This preparation of the body for burial enacts what Michael Mendelson identifies as the “domestication of Death” which is to “assuage the unease Death provokes by making is something less than Death, by depicting it as an accessible and manageable place within the landscape that stretches out before us…”(191).
German anatomist, Gunther von Hagens in 1977 was the first to perfect a technique called plastination capable of preserving corpses for thousands of years. His travelling exhibition of plastinated corpses, Bodyworlds, has been shown in major international cities and has generated facsimiles such as The Amazing Human Body attracting thousands of visitors wherever they are staged. Ostensibly set up for morally instructive purposes, to “teach children about human physiology and help adults lead healthier lives” (brochure for The Amazing Human Body), these exhibitions incite a voyeuristic curiosity about the dead. The exhibited corpses are not cushioned in coffins, looking life-like; rather they often resemble the enamelled body models that have been manufactured for medical and anatomical purposes or the mummified remains, periodically unearthed, of people from an earlier age. The difference however is that we know that the plastinated bodies are in fact real bodies donated by ‘real’ people before their deaths (the sub-title of the exhibition reads –The Anatomical Display of Real Human Bodies). At one level von Hagens and others who have followed him, are, like undertakers, concealing the reality of the decaying body. Entering the exhibition one is assured that there is no odour and, unlike the autopsy table, there is no visible visceral messiness – no ‘blood and gore’. These bodies, like those in Howarth’s funeral parlour have been preserved (in this instance by the technique of plastination), and they too, like those composed for burial or cremation are artistically sculpted into shape.
(Plastination as described in the book distributed for sale, entitled The Amazing Human Body, involves Fixation, where “specimens are fixed with 5% formalin”; Dissection, where “specimens are dissected as required”; Dehydration, where “body fluid and fat are replaced by increasing concentrations of ethanol at room temperature, and then treated in a cold acetone bath”; Delipidation, where “Fat is replaced in a bath of warm acetone”; Vacuum Impregnation, where “acetone is replaced by plastic under a vacuum” and finally, Gas Curing, where “each structure is positioned and then gas cured” (10).)
Often these shapes mimic the actions of the living – for example men (and they are mostly male) running or skiing, riding bicycles or playing chess. The difference however is that the plastinated corpses invariably disclose their artifice; obviously stage managed and somewhat fake, they fail to preserve the life-likeness of the corpse propre, yet at the same time they are vaguely familiar and we know, as we discreetly test the air for odours, that they are/were ‘real’. (In his analysis of von Hagens’s Bodyworlds, Jose Van Dijck contends that “plastination is an illustrative symptom of postmodern culture” in that it reveals how “categories such as body vs model, organic vs synthetic/prosthetic, fake and real have become obsolete”. These binaries are increasingly interchangeable in the postmodern world of virtual reality (62).) In disturbing the boundaries between the real and the not-real, these plastinated cadavers engender the kind of ambiguity and in between-ness that Kristeva claims for the abject. The Bodyworlds website celebrates this ‘abject d’art’ in its promotional spiel in phrasing that is uncannily close to Kristeva’s descriptors. Spectators, the site claims, are “gripped with a deeply moving fascination for what has been fixed in this novel way on the border between death and decomposition” (http://www.bodyworlds.com/en/exhibitions/anatomy_everyone.html).
Other forms of aesthetic delivery of the cadavers in these exhibitions also highlight the abject. Many displays of bodies and body parts evince gross disturbance to the epidermic surface of the body, a visible and violent tampering with its wholeness, to reveal what lies beneath. Bodies have been sliced up, dissected, cut in half; skin has been removed to display cross sections through limbs, or flayed off to reveal central nervous systems; trunks have been cut out in horizontal planes and set out in neat racks that resemble meat trays, heads and trunks have been sliced in vertical planes, pressed between sheets of plastic and hung from hooks resembling the animal body parts in cold storage at the back of butchers’ shops. Perhaps most compelling is the display of an entire body skin complete with preserved subcutaneous tissue, revealing on close inspection, nipples and navel hole and occasionally body hair.
The skin is the most abject of sites; a reminder of the body’s permeable boundaries. (One of Gunther von Hagens’s plastinated cadavers is “Man with Skin on his Arms” featuring a body of a man holding up his entire skin, which van Dijck points out is an “imitation of a representation” of Vesalius’s copper engraving in Anatomia Humani Corporis (1685) of a man carrying aloft his own skin “as if he has just taken off his coat” (53).)
On a final point, the combination of physical, spatial and linguistic signs that constitute The Amazing Human Body; The Anatomical Display of Real Human Bodies potently, even amusingly, signifies the flimsiness and of the border between life and death, dirt and decontamination. In Kristeva’s words – “refuse and corpses show me what I permanently thrust aside in order to live” (3). The annotations accompanying the exhibits are pitched in pseudo scientific/bio-medical language to allay dread and anxiety about death by fixing the abject within an assuaging and ‘legitimate’ discursive frame, while the coffee and cake stall outside the walls of the exhibition space, offers us the comforting condiments for corporeal continuity.
References
Grosz, Elizabeth. “Bodies – Cities.” In Sexuality and Space. Ed Beatrice Colomina. Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press, 1992. 241-253.
Howarth, Glennys. Last Rites. NY: Baywood Publishing Company, 1996.
Kristeva, Julia. Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. Trans. Leon S. Roudiez. New York: Columbia UP, 1982.
Mendelson, Michael “The Body in the Next Room” Images of the Corpse from Renaissance to Cyberspace. Ed. E. Klaver. Wisconsin: Univeristy of Wisconsin/Popular Press, 2004. 186-205.
Van Dijck, Jose. The Transparent Body: A Cultural Analysis of Medical Imaging. Seattle & London: U of Washington P.
Wright, Elizabeth. Ed. Feminism and Psychoanalysis: A Critical Dictionary. Oxford: Blackwell, 1992.
Zhang, Shu qin, ed. The Amazing Human Body: The Anatomical Display of Real Human Bodies. No publication details provided, 2006.
#embodiment#julia kristeva#abjection#embodiedness#identity#The Self#self-concept#corporeality#body horror#semiotics
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