Katniss Is Such An Unreliable Narrator. She Says "Then Something Unexpected Happens. At Least, I Don't

The Cook County Herald, Grand Marais, Minnesota, July 21, 1900

“I dressed myself hurriedly, and she handed me the articles of apparel herself one by one, bursting into laughter from time to time at my awkwardness, as she explained to me the use of a garment when I had made a mistake. She hurriedly arranged my hair, and this done, held up before me a little pocket-mirror of Venetian crystal, rimmed with silver filigree-work, and playfully asked: ‘How dost find thyself now? Wilt engage me for thy valet de chambre?’”

—

La Morte Amoureuse by Théophile Gautier (trans. Lafcadio Hearn)

This scene is honestly adorable, and made me think of how unique Clarimonde is for a vampire character from this era in that she actually has a sense of humor. 

By my count, Lord Ruthven laughs exactly three times over the course of The Vampyre: When Aubrey asks if he has any intention of marrying the woman he plans to seduce, when he’s killing Ianthe, and when he gets Aubrey to agree to The Oath™. It’s always ominous, malicious, or both, and it’s invariably in a situation where he’s enjoying hurting someone or having power over them. It’s never in a scenario where the audience would be laughing along with him, at something we’d find funny or endearing too. And that’s what you mostly tend to find in early literary vampires: even the more sympathetic ones (like E.T.A. Hoffmann’s Aurelia) are mostly just serious and brooding, without much by way of humor. 

By contrast, Clarimonde bursting out laughing because her sheltered dork boyfriend has no idea how fancy clothes work is… dare I say it, refreshingly human. There’s nothing malicious or malevolent in it, it doesn’t seem like she’s, idk, gloating in her power over him or something, she genuinely just seems to be giggling over him being an awkward dork. The same goes for the way she teases Romuald: It’s genuinely cute, and there’s a humanity and mutuality there that’s completely absent in a lot of early vampire/human dynamics (and later ones too - compare it to how Dracula’s Brides talk over Jonathan but never to him, for example). 

That doesn’t mean there’s no sense of foreboding to the story or to Clarimonde, I just think it’s an aspect that brings more complexity to the picture, and to this relationship. 

Josephine Goodrich and her “husband” (it does not appear the two were legally married) C. J. Phillips were charged with stealing $61.80 from a man’s pocket at the Stockton train station in September of 1918.

C. J. had a long criminal history, having been in jail at least seven times, mostly for vagrancy.

After their initial conviction, they requested a new trial on the grounds that the complaining witness, Mr. Song Won Sook, was a recent Korean immigrant who spoke little English, and there were apparently questions as to the accuracy of his testimony.

Their request was denied, and the two entered San Quentin Prison on June 10, 1919, receiving consecutive numbers. C. J. died in prison four months later.

Straight people: Just because they enjoy the others touch doesn't mean they are gay

The "straight" people in question:

How is bnha anime of the decade...... they aren’t even anime of the hour of the minute of the second

A few of the more creative spellings of Christmas I’ve come across while looking for Dear Santa letters in old newspapers this year.

if your weird enough with the homies you can break all boundaries of platonic/romantic love and make a third, more evil thing

Saw some memes that made me think of em

Starting out Dracula season with my interpretations of the characters!

Hey everyone, I know it's going to be a busy day for a lot of people, but Google enrolled everyone over 18 into their AI program automatically.

If you have a google account, first go to gemini.google.com/extensions and turn everything off.

Then you need to go to myactivity.google.com/product/gemini and turn off all Gemini activity tracking. You do have to do them in that order to make sure it works.

Honestly, I'm not sure how long this will last, but this should keep Gemini off your projects for a bit.

I saw this over on bluesky and figured it would be good to spread on here. It only takes a few minutes to do.