Then, too, Lucy, although she is so well, has lately taken to her old habit of walking in her sleep. Her mother has spoken to me about it, and we have decided that I am to lock the door of our room every night. Mrs. Westenra has got an idea that sleep-walkers always go out on roofs of houses and along the edges of cliffs and then get suddenly wakened and fall over with a despairing cry that echoes all over the place. Poor dear, she is naturally anxious about Lucy, and she tells me that her husband, Lucy's father, had the same habit; that he would get up in the night and dress himself and go out, if he were not stopped. Lucy is to be married in the autumn, and she is already planning out her dresses and how her house is to be arranged. I sympathise with her, for I do the same, only Jonathan and I will start in life in a very simple way, and shall have to try to make both ends meet. Mr. Holmwood—he is the Hon. Arthur Holmwood, only son of Lord Godalming—is coming up here very shortly—as soon as he can leave town, for his father is not very well, and I think dear Lucy is counting the moments till he comes. She wants to take him up to the seat on the churchyard cliff and show him the beauty of Whitby. I daresay it is the waiting which disturbs her; she will be all right when he arrives.

Lucy has inherited sleepwalking from her late father. She has sleepwalked before now, it is an old habit of hers. Dracula is nowhere near the coast of Whitby nor does he know who the fuck Lucy is.

THE SLEEPWALKING IS NOT CAUSED BY FUCKING DRACULA.

Stop, that's literally the excuse used by shitty adaptation writers who shorten the story down for the sake of convenience. And you may ask them, well, why is Dracula trying to make Lucy, a young lady he doesn't even know, sleepwalk to him from so far away, adaptation writers? THE ANSWER THEY ALWAYS GIVE IS "well, she's a slut, he can sense that she's a slut, he's trying to get at her to punish her for her transgressions and get to his pure reincarnated wife uwu."

IN THE BOOK SHE IS LITERALLY JUST A SLEEPWALKER IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH DRACULA RIGHT NOW.

Do you think that when she sleepwalked years ago as a child that was also Dracula??? Was her father sleepwalking to Dracula as well?? She is stressed about the future and her restlessness has caused her to start sleepwalking again. She dreams of showing Arthur the view from the churchyard, so she tries to go there in her sleep.

Please I swear to god when you lean into the whole "Dracula has a vendetta against Lucy and has made her a sleepwalker in order to hunt her down and punish her", it's victim-blaming and doesn't even make sense in the context of the novel.

sorry if this comes off aggressive, but I'm just like grrr I'm like rrr no fuck you Coppola get off my dick.

Animal of the Day!

Diane’s Bare-hearted Glass Frog (Hyalinobatrachium dianae)

(Photo from National Geographic)

Conservation Status- Least Concern

Habitat- Costa Rica

Size (Weight/Length)- 3 cm

Diet- Small insects; Spiders

Cool Facts- The Diane’s bare-hearted glass frog is one of the more recent species of glass frog, only being formally described in 2015. The bare-hearted frog is eerily similar to Kermit the frog due to their large pupils and green skin. These glass frogs have transparent belly skin. This transparent skin allows you to see its organs, including their tiny heartbeat. Luckily, the region of Costa Rica these frogs inhabit is relatively undisturbed by humans and is found almost completely in protected rainforest. Like with many species of frog, the Diane’s bare-hearted glass frog has a unique mating croak that sounds more similar to a whistle than a ribbit. 

Rating- 13/10 (Why are there so many, songs about rainbows and what’s on the other side?)

Requested by @personpersonyee

Timmy in NYC yesterday (IG: backgrid_usa) 🍕

1st LT Jeannie Flynn was the U.S. Air Force’s first female fighter pilot. She posed with a model of the F-15E at the start of her training period on July 26, 1993. 

Record Group 330: Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense

Series: Combined Military Service Digital Photographic Files

Image description: LT Flynn stands behind a model of an F-15E fighter jet. She is wearing a U.S. Air Force flight suit and is grinning. 

“He’s so idolized that it’s a bit of a trap, to look at him and go, ‘Well, he’s so much bigger than me…I felt like a child wearing his father’s suit.’”

-Austin Butler talking about his initial fears of playing Elvis (VMAN, 📸 by Collier Schorr) 💥

Happy 3rd Birthday to

“The Beginning of the End”

La Mode illustrée, no. 30, 26 juillet 1885, Paris. Robe en crépon. Ville de Paris / Bibliothèque Forney

La jupe, faite en crépon écru ayant 224 centimètres de largeur, est garnie d'un volant de même étoffe, disposé en plis creux ayant 10 centimètres de largeur. On la recouvre de trois volants de dentelle de laine ayant chacun 27 centimètres de largeur. La tunique, en crépon, courte, disposée devant en deux pointes, plus longue derrière, plissée, est ornée d'un nœud de ruban ottoman écru ayant 6 centimètres de largeur. Le corsage, court, à pointes, est garni d'un col droit et de revers de manches en galons d'or; on le ferme avec des boutons de nacre.

The skirt, made of ecru seersucker 224 centimeters wide, is trimmed with a flounce of the same fabric, arranged in box pleats 10 centimeters wide. It is covered with three ruffles of wool lace, each 27 centimeters wide. The tunic, in crepon, short, arranged in front in two points, longer behind, pleated, is adorned with a bow of ecru Ottoman ribbon 6 centimeters wide. The bodice, short, with points, is trimmed with a straight collar and sleeve cuffs in gold braid; it is closed with mother-of-pearl buttons.

I've just had a bit of a look into 1890s views of sleepwalking, and found a couple of interesting things.

First, sleepwalking was closely connected in the Victorian mind to hypnotism. Sleepwalking was called "natural somnambulism" and hypnotism "artificial somnambulism". Dracula is in part inspired by Trilby (one of the worst books ever written) which features an evil hypnotist... I don't know, it feels like there's something to disentangle there.

More interesting, though, was the book Day Visions and Clairvoyant Night Dreams with Facts on Somnambulism and Pre-vision by Joseph Darby, published 1892.

It could just be coincidence, but did Bram Stoker read this book? "Unconscious cerebration" is a widely used term, and this is a generic enough way to describe sleepwalking, but both on the same page of the same book...?

BBYGIRL DAY 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

you are resting now love but hope we get to spend time together again soon 💖 see you in the next one 😔💜

thanks friends of miss picasso for sticking around ik the page is kinda inactive lately but i still really love & appreciate all of you 💘 can't believe it's her third birthday since she pas*sed but still really grateful for the lovely community we have here and all the love she and you have given to me over time 💜

July 26: Happy Birthday Bert (Sesame Street)!!!!

In this entry, we see how Lucy and Mina parallel each other.

Both she and Lucy are anxious to reunite with their respective fiancés, however, Lucy does not have the means of expressing herself like Mina does, and instead of being able to turn to shorthand, she unconsciously turns to sleepwalking. It's likely that she doesn't even know! Mina only mentions speaking to Lucy's mother about it, and we'll find later that this is a common occurrence between the two of them.

Mina awaits Jonathan, she's restless to start their life together as they had planned to the moment he returned -- they might not even be able to afford a proper wedding, but they'll make do, it will have been worth it -- but all she gets is suspicious confirmation that he's only just started home! It is his ill father-figure who reveals this, the cause of Jonathan having to leave in the first place! But she should keep quiet about this, keep it contained to the pages of her journal at least for now. Her best friend is distracted with her own worries, and it is her responsibility -- dictated by the girl's mother -- to make sure no more worries are added onto that. She must lock the door and lose sleep so she can catch her and lead her back to bed. As if she were not Lucy's friend, but instead her attendant. At least she can express herself to her journal.

Lucy awaits Arthur, she's restless but has not expressed such to anyone. Mina can tell: half her own intuition and half Lucy not being able to hide when she's upset and what's upset her. She's quite sensitive, she can't even tell when she's doing it. Even when Arthur visits -- he is also called away by duty due to his father's illness -- they still will not yet be united, they have to wait for the autumn. Oh, and it will be such a big occasion, and she shall have to plan it all! There are so many expectations that come with being his wife, but she knows it will have been worth it. Mina seems distant since she read a letter from Mr. Hawkins. She hasn't brought it up yet. She's always writing illegibly in that journal of hers. Maybe Lucy should return to her calligraphy...? No, no! There is so much to do! The dresses, the invitations-- oh, no, not so fast, she doesn't even know the date yet... She and Arthur will work that out once he finally visits. But why is she always tired when she wakes from her sleep?

Timothée Chalamet in NYC on July 26, 2023.

IG credit to holycolorfulpig