─ •✧ WILLIAM'S YEAR IN REVIEW : JUNE ✧• ─

1 JUNE - William and Catherine attended the Marriage of Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan with Miss Rajwa Al Saif at the Zahran Palace. Afterwards, they attended the State Banquet in Hussein and Rajwa's honour. 2 JUNE - William held a Meeting with Jack Beeton, a crash survivor he helped save while he was with the air ambulance. 3 JUNE - William attended the Men's FA Cup Final between Manchester City & Manchester United. 6 JUNE - William held a Meeting to mark Pride Month. 7 JUNE - He received the Rt. Hon. Sir Keir Starmer MP (Leader of Opposition). 8 JUNE - William was received the Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London as he opened the Oak Cancer Centre at the Royal Marsden. 10 JUNE - He took the salute at the Colonel's Review of The King's Birthday Parade. 13 JUNE - William was received by the Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London as he opened Centrepoint's Reuben House housing development. Afterwards, he held a Meeting with Dr. Jayne Brady (Head of Civil Service, Northern Ireland) via telephone. Subsequently, he was joined by The Duchess of Edinburgh for the Screening of "Rhino Man". 14 JUNE - William held a Meeting with the Rt. Hon. Humza Yousaf MSP (First Minister of Scotland) via telephone. Later, he had a telephonic Meeting with the Rt. Hon. Mark Drakeford MS (First Minister of Wales). 16 JUNE - William and Catherine attended the Senior Colonels' Conference and Dinner at Clarence House. 17 JUNE - William took part in The King's Birthday Parade on Horse Guards Parade. Later, he appeared on the Balcony along with Catherine and their children for the RAF fly-past. 18 JUNE - William appeared in Father's Day Portraits released by Kensington Palace with George, Charlotte and Louis. 19 JUNE - William and Catherine attended a Chapter of the Most Noble Order of the Garter in the Throne Room at Windsor Castle. Afterwards, they were present at the Luncheon Party for the Companions of the Garter. Subsequently, they attended the Order of the Garter Installation Service at St George's Chapel. 20 JUNE - William visited St George's Park and was received by the Lord-Lieutenant of Staffordshire. He wrote a letter to Oscar Burrow congratulating him for his fundraising efforts. 21 JUNE - William celebrated his 41st Birthday. To mark the day, Buckingham Palace released a Birthday Portrait featuring William and The King. He visited Eton College with Catherine and George. 22 JUNE - William received Ms Hannah Jones (Chief Executive, the Earthshot Prize). Afterwards, he held a Meeting at Windsor Castle. He appeared in a video message marking Windrush Day. A special documentary - 'Pride of Britain: A Windrush Special' with an appearance from Willliam was announced. 23 JUNE - William and Catherine attended the Ascot Races. Later, they were spotted at KOKO. 25 JUNE - William launched 'Homewards' and held a Meeting with Homewards Advocates. 26 JUNE - William appeared in a video for Homewards. He embarked on a 2-Day Homewards Launch Tour and visited Mosaic Clubhouse in London, where he was received by the Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London. Afterwards, he was received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Dorset at St John's Church Hall in Poole. Subsequently, William visited Maindee Primary School & Hill Street Housing Development and was received by the Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Gwent. 27 JUNE - William visited East Belfast Mission in Belfast and was received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of the County Borough of Belfast. Afterwards, he was received by the Lord-Lieutenant of the City of Aberdeen at the Tillydrone Community Campus. Finally, he visited Verdon Recreation Centre in Sheffield and was received by the Vice Lord-Lieutenant of South Yorkshire. 28 JUNE - William held an Investiture at Windsor Castle. 29 JUNE - He was received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Norfolk at the Royal Norfolk Show. 30 JUNE - William appeared in a video for Pride Month along with Michael Lister, Alexis Caught and Sharvari Patil discussing mental health in the LGBTQ+ community. He also appeared in a video message for the 2023 Diana Award.

6.15.2023

"I wanna be where all your paths end."

It took me more than seven days this June to read Seven Days in June by Tia Williams, because I was so in love with the story that I didn't want it to end.

The poetic ways Shane speaks to and about Eva set my heart on fire. I wish everyone was so able to explain their feelings for others, we'd all be a lot better off.

Reading this in a time of learning to live with the pains of life made the story even more alive. I seriously understand why this book has been reviewed so well by so many people. Adding it to my comfort list immediately.

🌙𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰🌙

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

@tiawilliamswrites

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Eva Mercy is a single mom and bestselling erotic author, who battles an invisible disease. Shane Hall is an award-winning author known for being a recluse. So when Shane shows up unannounced in NYC at a Black literary event where Eva is at everyone is shocked, but not as much as Eva herself. No one knows Shane and Eva spent a wild week madly in love twenty years earlier, and since then they have been secretly writing to each other in their books. Will this be the chance they have been waiting for to reconnect and rekindle the spark from their past? Or will the traumas that haunt them be too hard to overcome while reliving those seven days in June?

The emotional roller coaster this book put me through😩 I cried, laughed, sweated, screamed! It’s no surprise that I really enjoyed this book because I have only heard great things. Williams tackles themes like mental health, living with chronic illness, single parenthood, family issues/generational trauma, racism/systemic racism (and more!)!! The way she effortlessly sows these topics into this book is amazing and really helps you connect to the characters and identify with them! The romance and banter between Shane and Eva is *chef’s kiss* and her daughter Audre is hilarious. I’m not a huge fan of second chance romance trope but this was done perfectly, and the audiobook was great!!

Read if you love:

👩🏾‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏿 Second chance romance

🧠 Mental health rep

⚕️Chronic illness rep

✊🏾 Black rep

⚠️ Trigger warnings: mentions cutting, alcohol/drug abuse, sexual assault, violence/death

Seven Days in June

by Tia Williams

Rating: 4.5/5

-> a #studyblr w/knives reading challenge

• | • | •

The joy and out-of-this-world sadness I endured while reading has me both overwhelmed and elated to have picked up this gem of a book.

A true, raw love story with so much trauma and healing. It was beautifully written and every character really had their own voices, which is hard to find in books sometimes!

Also my absolute favorite character was Audre! She was such a joyful and funny 12 year old that she nearly stole the show every time she showed up!

• | • | •

Overall:

The hype is so well worth it! What Williams is able to capture in 325 pages is magic.

I am glad I decided to pick it up and add this to my tbr!!

• | • | •

posted for the winter mini reading challenge (second chance prompt) 🤍🖤

Quick Review: Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

the start was a bit rough for me but when once the leads meet, it's fire

this is like, half tragedy, half romance

it was apparently inspired by romeo and juliet but it also had persuasion vibes

the misunderstandings made SENSE!!! love that in a book

audre was adorable!! a little unrealistic but i loved her.

i loved the themes of creating art and being a Black author and commentary on fandom

it was more unpredictable than most romances

please please please look up content warnings before reading this book if you have any concerns, look them up! (or ask me specifically and ill let you know to the best of my abilities)

i will definitely be reading more of tia williams books in the future!!

Valerie June, Rachael Davis and Thao Bring Musical Conversation to Brooklyn Opera House

Valerie June, Rachael Davis and Thao – Brooklyn Opera House – November 16, 2023

“We’re going to play you a few songs and tell you a few stories.” That’s how Valerie June described the night ahead at the beginning of the set at the Brooklyn Opera House on Thursday. Yes, that’s a pretty accurate description of the show, but it somehow doesn't quite capture the intimate and personal energy in the room. The stage was filled with three women — June, Rachael Davis and Thao (the fourth member of the touring ensemble, Yasmin Williams, was out sick) — several banjos, guitars and a ukulele. The ensuing 90 minutes were filled with yes, songs and stories, stories about songs and songs telling a story. The set ran like words on the page of a book, going left to right, June, then Davis, then Thao, each singing a song, each linking it to something deeper. The three voices seemed to come from three different places, June summoning emotions — joy, sadness, combinations of each — from some faraway space, Davis both powerful and wholesome, a jovial spirit, and Thao off-kilter and confident, an admirable brashness. 

The first round felt like icebreakers, with Davis’s “Circle of the Sun” a sunshine gospel that had everyone in the room clapping along, and Thao’s “Kindness Be Conceived” introducing some gritty blues guitar to match her singing. From there, things loosened up, acquaintances turning into friends, turning into the best of friends in real time. Along the way, the stories grew increasingly more personal: Davis’s long tale about learning to play banjo and the first song she learned was more endearing than rambling, June talking about the loss of an old friend and then later the otherworldly inspiration that led to “Astral Plane,” and Thao telling of the intense familial history behind “Temple,” a story that gets lost in her normal full-band live show, but, laid bare and raw, was an emotional center to the night.

Still, there were plenty of laughs and joy and fun, some poetry and some “mouth trumpet.” Of course, all this warmth and mutual love made way for adding harmonies on one another’s songs, and songs sung together scattered through the night. “I Shall Be Released” was an obvious choice, but the three distinct voices, mixed with guitar, banjo and Thao’s slide, brought extra enchantment to the familiar sing-along. The show ended with the trio singing the traditional “Shady Grove,” which came off like a time-traveling mirror, reflecting how the roots of folk music have suffused the three women’s own music and lives in such different ways. But perhaps that’s a story for another time. —A. Stein | @Neddyo

Photos courtesy of Ellen Qbertplaya | @Qbertplaya

 ☆☆YouTube | Tumblr | Instagram | Storygraph ☆☆

book review || Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

video review || 5 by 5: Second Chance Romances || 5 Romance Reads and Reviews

Wow the character creation of both Sean and Eva is so freaking good? They both feel completely fleshed out, with well-formed backgrounds and personalities that jump off the page. They’re complex and complicated. What has really won me though is as soon as the two of them are in the same room, I lost it. They have amazing banter and this constant tension that you could cut with a knife.

We do actually see some of their relationships when they were teenagers, which also has me so invested. They’re both struggling with difficulties in their lives. Sean is an alcoholic and self-destructive while Eva’s lonely and struggling to find herself and control, suffering from chronic migraines. Both of them have poor home lives and they find companionship in each other so quickly.

Apparently, toxic young love second chance romance really does it for me, because I’m in love with this in both timelines. Their relationship is just so intense and you can feel it in every interaction. I definitely felt the passion in the past chapters and the tension in the current, making me truly believe in their feelings for one another. I felt every emotion while reading this and the entire time, I was so enamored with Shane and Eva, no matter which timeline we were seeing their relationship.

There are also these great lines about writing and the process of it, discussion around black stories and inspiration versus co-opting, all of which I’m really enjoying.

As always, we had a third-act conflict, but I really liked how it was handled, without being dragged out. The events that occurred because of it hurt my heart initially, but I think made the final reunion that much sweeter.

I adored the scenes with Audre interacting with Shane, which actually gave me faith that his relationship with Eva could genuinely last and be a happy ever after for their little family. This was so damn good, I can’t not give it 5 stars.

AUGUST 2022 WRAP-UP

These are all 5 of the books I’ve read in August. I usually read about 5 because I’m a slow reader but I did read 4 of these within a week so that was impressive for me. I was in a huge reading slump after I read Archer’s Voice by Mia Sheridan in June. I truly did not at all like that book and I could not convince myself to pick up another book until August 17th. I am terrified of flying and reading helps me forget where I am, so I had no choice but to read which is why I started with Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt. (I have my reviews of the books posted individually so I won’t go into them in detail.)

Orbiting Jupiter | Gary D. Schmidt | ⭐️⭐️

This is my lowest rated book of the month at 2 stars. It was such a disappointment because I had been looking for it for so long and I just was not into it like I wish I had been.

Nothing but Blackened Teeth | Cassandra Khaw | ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This one was also such a disappointment because I had been WAITING for it to come out in paperback and it finally did… and it was not what I thought it would be. I wanted it to be scary but it was more about love and friendship with a horror background.

You’ve Lost A Lot of Blood | Eric LaRocca | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book gave everything I was looking for! It was disturbing and weird and I had a lot of fun flipping between the serial killer, his book, and the poetry. It was so hard to put it down when I had to be a person and participate in life.

Pretty Girls | Karin Slaughter | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ .75

Coming from YLALOB, I had HIGH expectations and let me tell you, Ms. Karin DELIVERED. Oh my god I physically reacted to this book more than a few times. The story was easy to follow but still kept you guessing. It was amazing and I will be reading more of Karin Slaughter’s stuff. This was my favorite book of the month.

Seven Days of June | Tia Williams | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ .75

I had seen so many tiktoks about this book and the way it was described was not at all what I got from it. It was made out to be this book about sex and list and love and while it had those aspects, it was much more than that. It’s truly a beautiful story with great representation and I feel like a lot of people overlooked it. This skewed my perspective of the book and I started it because I was looking for an easy to digest book. This is why my rating is so low and if I had no info about it prior, I likely would’ve rated it higher.

#ARC The Last Charge of the Rough Rider: Theodore Roosevelt's Last Days by William Hazelgrove #BookReview

There's a new biography coming out on the final years of #TheodoreRoosevelt. Normally I'd love a book that explored a lesser known time of #TR's life, but this book was not a hit with me. #Thelastchargeoftheroughrider #williamhazelgrove #lyonsbooks

There have been many books on Theodore Roosevelt, but there are none that solely focus on the last years of his life. Racked by rheumatism, a ticking embolism, pathogens in his blood, a bad leg from an accident, and a bullet in his chest from an assassination attempt, in the last two years of his life from April 1917 to January 6, 1919, he went from the great disappointment of being denied his…

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Book Review: Seven Days of June

~ Spoiler-Free Book Review: Seven Days of June by – Tia Williams (2021) ~ REVIEW Seven Days of June appeared in Katie Coulson’s “Best Books of 2022 According to Booktube” video, which sounded interesting. I borrowed the audiobook from my library app and am happy to announce that I loved it. Two troubled high school teens, Eva and Shane, meet in their senior year and bond over their depression…

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Book Review: Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

This novel was not a typical love story. While it gave romanticism at many points, every turn was also filled with realism.

Main character Eva takes us on a ride as we live through her flashbacks to unfold what really happened between her and Shane's week long love story, and imagine what could be for their future.

Fairy tale love stories are cute, but the realistic view of this love story actually brought me to tears at a couple points. This novel deals with mental illness, personal identity issues, and even parenting through illness.

This novel is unusually unpredictable which adds to this compelling read.

See more of Ashley's recs

Check out Seven Days in June

─ •✧ WILLIAM'S YEAR IN REVIEW : JUNE ✧• ─

1 JUNE - William attended the Senior Colonels' Conference and Dinner at Clarence House.

2 JUNE - William took part in The Queen's Birthday Parade on Horse Guards Parade along with other members of the Royal Family at which The Queen's Colour of the 1st Battalion Irish Guards was trooped. On the conclusion of the Parade, they rode back to Buckingham Palace where he appeared on the Balcony along with Catherine and their children to witness a fly-past marking the Queen’s official Birthday. In the evening, William was present at the lighting of the National Beacon at Buckingham Palace to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee.

3 JUNE - William and Catherine attended the National Service of Thanksgiving for Her Majesty's Platinum Jubilee in St. Paul's Cathedral. After the Service, they a attended Reception at Guildhall given by the Rt. Hon. the Lord Mayor and the City of London Corporation.

4 JUNE - William and Catherine along with George and Charlotte visited Cardiff Castle where were received by Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of South Glamorgan (Mrs. Morfudd Meredith). Later they attended the Platinum Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace.

5 JUNE - William and Catherine attended the Platinum Jubilee Street Party at Kensington before attending the Platinum Jubilee Pageant in the Mall. They later appeared on the Buckingham Palace Balcony along with their three children.

7 JUNE - William held an Investiture at Buckingham Palace on The Queen's behalf.

8 JUNE - William was spotted selling the Big Issue Magazine in London.

13 JUNE - William and Catherine attended the Order of The Garter Service at St. George's Chapel in Windsor.

14 JUNE - William attended a Duchy of Cornwall Meeting at 10 Buckingham Gate. Afterwards, he attended the Grenfell Tower Five Year Memorial Service along with Catherine.

15 JUNE - William visited the Lionesses team at St. George's Park ahead of the European Championship where he was received by Mr. James Leavesley (Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Staffordshire).

16 JUNE - He held a United for Wildlife Meeting at Kensington Palace.

17 JUNE - William and Catherine attended Day Four of Royal Ascot.

19 JUNE - Kensington Palace released a new photograph for Father's Day featuring William with his three children.

21 JUNE - A special issue of the Big Isuue magazine was released to mark William's 40th Birthday. He also visited Dave Martin, the Big Issue seller with whom he sold the magazines in London earlier in the month. William and Catherine held a Meeting with the Lord Hague of Richmond, Mr. Simon Patterson and Ms. Amanda Berry (Chairman, Vice-Chairman & Chief Executive, The Royal Foundation) via video link.

22 JUNE - William and Catherine visited Brixton House Theatre where they were received by Mr. Christopher Wellbelove (Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London). Afterwards, Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London (Sir Kenneth Olisa) recieved them as they attended the unveiling of the National Windrush Monument at Waterloo Railway Station.

23 JUNE - William and Catherine spent their day carrying out engagements in Cambridgeshire. First, they were received by Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire (Mrs. Julie Spence) as they visited Fitzwilliam Museum where their first joint portrait was unveiled. Afterwards, they visited East Anglia Children's Hospice - Milton where they were received by Mr. Benjamyn Damazer (Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire). Subsequently they were received by Mrs. Caroline Bewes (Deputy Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire) at Jimmy's Cambridge. Later Williama and Catherine spent their time at the first-ever Cambridgeshire County Day at Newmarket July Course.

24 JUNE - William held an Investiture at Buckingham Palace.

A SHORT REVIEW by Danny P. Parker

"Caesarella and the Red Skirts" is critically acclaimed comedy musical about a simple girl with her simple goal to conquer the entirety of the world.

The story follows the many adventures of a whimsical misandrist Caesarella, "she loves books, unpaid labor, setting her ex-boyfriends on fire and throwing them off of cliffs!"

The musical is filled with humor and joyness, wonderful sounds and choreography. As a good friend of the main songwriter, I can tell that Bruce put a lot of good work into all of the songs, and I can appreciate that, but boy oh boy, the "Oh, Joshua" will forever be my favorite! I always had a soft spot for romance and the chemistry between the actors was on spot.

Can't miss out on the amazing acting and singing by William Erickson, a new shining star at the Tops! Besides not being in the spotlight and seemingly first-timing the role of Caesarella, William left the the audience in awe at his otherworldly performance, a fantastic start for him! We also have a few familiar faces with Alexa Strongmore as Lupus Inculta and Gordon Frens as The Burned Man, with their performances being as good as ever.

If this review didn't convince you to buy a ticket for the closest show, that means you are either not human or cheap to your bones! Which is no problem, because my good friend Bruce shared a secret with me, that they will be making a radioplay version of the "Caesarella" this June! So, go buy these tickets while you still can and see the show LIVE on STAGE!

"Caesarella and the Red Skirts" Tops Casino, Aces Theater, every Friday, 9 PM!

Dragon magazine 26, June 1979, featured GDW's wargame System 7 Napoleonics on the cover and in 4 articles -- a review, system analysis, designer's comments, and Q&A with designer Rich Banner. System 7 was a hybrid of board and miniature wargames, played on a table without a board but using cardboard counters to represent the formations of units. The aim was to get players playing immediately without spending weeks painting miniatures.

Other articles covered TSR's William the Conqueror: 1066 board game, D&D, Boot Hill, Empire of the Petal Throne, FGU's Lords & Wizards, and Avalon Hill's Starship Troopers.

The origins of D&D were rooted deeply in historical miniatures campaigns, and TSR originally catered to the wargaming community as a core part of its audience. TSR was founded to sell D&D but its first publications were historical miniatures rules, and Dragon magazine continued to include historical gaming topics for years, gradually reducing its coverage in favor of more D&D content and other TSR RPGs.

Lost, but Not Forgotten: The Dancer of the Nile (1923)

Alternate Titles: Tut-ankh-amen, Tutankhamen of Luxor

Direction: William P.S. Earle

Scenario: William P.S. Earle

Original Story: Blanche Taylor Earle

Production Manager: Dick L’Estrange

Camera: Jules Cronjager & Joe Goodrich (assistant)

Scenic Artist: Xavier Mochado

Set Designer: Paul Dodge

Technical Advisor: Capt. Dudley S. Corlette

Studio: William P.S. Earle Pictures Corporation (Production) & Film Booking Offices of America (F.B.O.) (Distribution)

Performers: Carmel Myers, Bertram Thomas Grassby, Malcolm McGregor, Anthony Merlo, Sam de Grasse, Iris Ashton, June Elvidge, Paul Weigel, Howard Gaye, Mother/Nellie Anderson, Beatrice Marsh, & Earle Marsh

Premiere: 12 October 1923, Loew’s New York, New York, NY

Status: presumed entirely lost

Length: 6 reels,  5,787 feet

Synopsis (synthesized from magazine summaries of the plot):

Princess Ankhnespaton [sic] (June Elvidge), daughter of King Akhnaton [sic] (Howard Gaye), has a run in with a band of thieves while traveling. Prince Karmit (Malcolm McGregor) of Syria arrives, disguised as a merchant, and saves the princess. The princess becomes enamored with Karmit and invites him back to the royal residence in Thebes. 

While visiting the royal gardens, Karmit encounters a dancer, Arvia (Carmel Myers). He is instantly smitten. The princess is furious that Karmit has rebuffed her for a mere dancer.

Meanwhile, tension between those loyal to the king and those loyal to the old gods erupt when the seasonal flooding of the Nile river doesn’t occur. The princess finds in this situation an opportunity to get her revenge on Arvia. 

The princess decrees that Arvia will be offered as a human sacrifice to the god Sobek, in order that the Nile will rise as expected. Arvia is adorned with a poisoned amulet to knock her out while she is fed to the crocodiles.

In an unexpected turn of events, the high priest Pasheri (Sam De Grasse) discovers that the intended sacrifice is his own daughter. Pasheri sneaks into the chamber where Arvia is to be sacrificed and saves her at the last moment. 

With Pasheri’s aid, Karmit whisks Arvia away. As the Nile rises, the new couple sail away to Karmit’s kingdom to live happily ever after.

The princess goes on to marry Prince Tutankhamen (Bertram Grassby). And, after the death of her father Prince Tut will become King Tut.

Additional sequence(s) featured in the film (but I’m not sure where they fit in the continuity):

The Temple of Amun-Re is also depicted in the film.

Points of Interest:

While many contemporary reviewers of The Dancer of the Nile (DotN) didn’t mark it as an especially good film, props were given for the artistic effects achieved by Director Earle. Earle and his brother, Ferdinand Pinney Earle, were both pioneers of the era in special effects. 

Ferdinand was a painter who contributed matte paintings and art titles to many films of the 1910s and 1920s. While William was primarily a director, both brothers ambitiously created films that were on the cutting edge in regard to techniques of incorporating matte paintings with live actors/studio-shot footage. 

For William, it was DotN, and for Ferdinand it was A Lover’s Oath (1920/1925, presumed lost save for a few fragments), which was an adaptation of Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat. (ATM, I’m planning on doing the next installment of this series on this film!)

(Explanatory note: One technique at use here involves double exposure. Part of the frame is obscured while filming, leaving the obscured part of the film unexposed. The film is then rewound, with the exposed part of the film obscured, to film another element. The final result is, hopefully, a cohesive sequence. 

Another technique is shooting through painted glass, which, if painted and lit correctly, results in the painting and the scene occurring behind it appearing as a singular space. 

For example, a fully painted environment with live actors moving across the scene. In DotN, there is at least one scene where a live actress ascends a set of stairs, which is a painting. These techniques require an amazing amount of precision, but when done right they can be really dazzling. The double-exposure matting technique has persisted through most of film history, albeit rarely at the scale the Earle brothers were using it! 

Below is an illustration of how a moving version of matte photography works from a 1926 issue of Photoplay, followed by some stills from DotN that used the multiple-exposure technique.

I have a few posts coming up that go into more detail on how special effects were executed in films of the 1920s!)

William P.S. Earle’s focus on the artistic elements without much regard for story or characterization may have left many critics cold, but DotN did prove to be a lasting attraction, running in theatres around the world for years following its release.  DotN was produced hot on the heels of the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922 in Luxor, which launched a new wave of Egyptomania. On one hand, Earle was cashing in on a trend, but on the other, he took the opportunity offered by assured profitability to experiment. In addition to the special effects discussed above, Earle attempted to capture as much period accuracy as possible in the painted settings, props, and costumes. Balancing historical accuracy with perceived “authenticity” in period art is exceedingly difficult—Earle seemingly had mixed success. However, one contemporary review in the magazine Art and Archaeology by Dudley S. Corlett (also the film’s technical advisor) is highly complementary of DotN’s attention to historical and artistic detail. [You can find the review in the transcription section!]

After Earle had more or less finished DotN, F.B.O. bought “Tut-ankh-amen” for distribution. F.B.O. financed reshoots that shifted the narrative away from Tut and towards Arvia, the dancer—hence the title change. I guess F.B.O. believed that cashing in on the trend of movies about dancers would be more lucrative than cashing in on Tut-mania!

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Transcribed Sources & Annotations over on the WMM Blog!

I’m so interested to hear your thoughts on the announcement HoB.

Unpopular opinion probably but me personally - I’m not buying it. It wouldn’t have taken this long to reveal cancer post her surgery date.

Nor do I buy that William is the hero that Kensington Palace is desperately trying to paint him as. It’s crass how their children are used as human shields in that statement.

It will be interesting to see the online reaction to this because the timeline on this story is fishy as hell and against Willy is hiding behind her skirt to save his reputation.

So I listened to Sky News for the announcement and the immediate commentary afterwards, which included an oncologist.

I think it's important to remember that she does NOT have an active cancer diagnosis, which people seem to be forgetting. Her own statement said "preventative chemotherapy," which as the oncologist on Sky News clarified is an adjuvant therapy. Adjuvant therapies are something to prevent cancer from returning, not active cancer treatment. The Sky News oncologist speculated that she was diagnosed with colon cancer, which has already been treated.

The sequence of events seems to be that she had "major abdominal surgery," which was probably on her colon. They did routine pathology on the tissue that was removed. Pathology usually takes seven to ten days to confirm. The pathology on an unspecified amount of tissue came back as cancerous.

They've known about this since February. She was not diagnosed with this in March. It seems to be more that she had some kind of emergency abdominal surgery in January--due to an intestinal blockage, perforation, or whatever. Recovery in the hospital for almost two weeks, which not even every colon cancer patient requires. They received the pathology results after she probably got out of the hospital. She started adjuvant therapy/"preventative chemotherapy" after her medical team determined it was appropriate post-surgery.

I know everyone is freaking out about CANCER, but she does not currently have cancer. Again, her own statement "cancer had been present." (Past tense!) She had some cancer that was removed during surgery, which may not have even been a surgery designed to remove cancer in the first place, and is now doing preventative therapy.

The problem with all of this is that they've known that she's had this SINCE FEBRUARY. It doesn't take two months for pathology to come back. That's where the PR problems are clearly evident. We all know when the kids go on break. They had a week long break in February, and they didn't announce this when they could have.

If they really had wanted to just wait until the kids were out of school for almost a month, then why didn't they create a strategy based on that weeks ago? Why release the problematic Mother's Day photo if you were planning on making an announcement when the kids are going to be out of school a few weeks later? Why not make a better strategy in dealing with the press? Why throw a fit about Carole & Kate being photographed on a public road? Why throw a fit over The Colonel's Review in June?

Oh, wait, all is supposed to be forgiven now because Kate HAD cancer.

HAD.

Past tense people.

King Charles has an ACTIVE cancer diagnosis. Kate's cancer has already been solved. It was solved back in January when it was removed during surgery. She is only doing preventative treatment currently to decrease the future risk.

But, hey, Kensington Palace and Catherine used the c-word (CANCER!), so all those previous fuckups should be forgiven.