Jennifer Garlen

LEGO figures of a vampire lady and a witch stand beside a figure with a jack o' lantern head.

Happy Halloween!

My father controlled the TV (we called him the "entertainment despot") and we didn't have cable, so I read constantly as a kid. I hope W will find something that lights that urge to read. My kid (24) rarely reads mainstream books but consumes a ton of fan fiction (and writes it, as well).

That's so sad. Reading is one of life's great pleasures. I know smart phones and the internet and the 24/7 dumpster fire of "interesting times" all conspire against our attention spans, but it's not like you're asking them to read the unabridged CLARISSA.

“Biblical Justice, Equal Justice, for All”: How North Carolina’s Chief Justice Transformed His State and America Paul Newby, a born-again Christian, has turned his perch atop North Carolina’s Supreme Court into an instrument of political power. Over two decades, he’s driven changes that have reverberated well be...

NEW: Paul Newby, a born-again Christian, has turned his perch atop North Carolina’s Supreme Court into an instrument of political power.

Over two decades, he’s driven changes that have reverberated well beyond the borders of his state.

By @dougbockclark.bsky.social

They're all so fun! Can't wait to see what you've come up with this year...

Jane Randolph in the Val Lewton/Jacques Tourneur horror classic CAT PEOPLE (1942)

She was BOTD in 1914

Bulldozing space for women sounds very on point for this regime.

I'm shaking almost too hard to type. I entered SLC airport and heard screams and cries for help. I could see people gathered around, watching. I sped over to discover this woman face down on the floor, four grown men pushing her down, while she cried "HELP ME" and pled for her child.

Alabama Public Television may cut ties with PBS, cutting off Sesame Street, other educational shows APT board debates political and educational implications of ending the partnership that provides 90% of its content.

They admit in the article that it's political because the regime hates PBS and, you know, educating people. We already lost our local NPR station, and they didn't even ask us to help save it before they pulled the plug.

Graphic showing a grocery store in the background, colorized to be in blues and pinks reads: A banner on the USDA website is blaming immigrants and trans people for the loss of food stamps. 50501 On the lower right of the graphic is a screenshot of the official website of the United States U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE website.

This administration is using hunger AND propaganda as a weapon. Don’t fall for the lies meant to divide us— the problems we face weren’t created by neighbors who are just struggling to survive.

Cult Classics: THE FOG (1980) Horror movies got much gorier after the advent of the slasher, and the most iconic chillers of the 1980s tend to lean into that genre and it...

New on the blog - I've been watching John Carpenter movies this month on the Criterion Channel. THE FOG (1980) is a favorite because of Val Lewton's influence and the range of interesting female characters. #filmsky

Mamdani supporters: This should worry you. Do not underestimate the money and power behind the campaign against him. Go vote.

Even more badass than most realize. #RIP #JuneLockhart

I consider this piece by @sparkytopia.com proof of successful parenting on my part. #phantomoftheparadise

A picture of the garden in front of the east wing of the White House. A mix of colorful flowers and small trees

NEW: NBC News confirms that the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, on the east side of the White House, has been destroyed as part of the demolition of the East Wing.

(📸 Getty Images)

The optics of Trump building a ballroom that 99.9% of Americans will never set foot in while millions line up for food banks are worth more than any policy paper or economic proposal. This image is a visceral punch in the mouth that needs no words. It should haunt the GOP for a generation.

I'm really enjoying the THURSDAY MURDER CLUB series (now halfway through book 2), and I recommend them if you need to see some justice meted out by a small group of charming and unlikely heroes. The first book is so much better than the Netflix movie (although the casting was great). #booksky

trump is demolishing our national symbols and selling the country for scrap to his corrupt donors

Chris Murphy: "There's a lot of history that has taken place in the East Wing & it was just destroyed without any conversation in the public, without any consent of Congress. It's absolutely illegal. That visual is powerful b/c you're watching destruction of the rule of law as those walls come down"

A Sinister Study: THE BLACK CAT (1934) This marks the first of eight films that paired Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. Both big names in Hollywood coming off of their huge successes of DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN. But while Karloff would co…

kelleepratt.com/2023/10/28/a...

When we were in London last January, the weather was so mild that it was actually colder at home in AL. We also learned that January is a great time to visit London without the hordes of summer tourists (and cheaper, too!).

the president has destroyed the east wing of the white house without so much as a word of input from anyone else to build a royal ballroom paid for with bribes

Photograph of ongoing demolition of the East Wing of the White House.

Monday's photo from the Washington Post

NEW: After The Washington Post reported Monday on the demolition of the "East Wing facade," a new picture obtained by Law Dork that was taken on Tuesday shows that a substantial portion of the entirety of the East Wing has been demolished.

October 21, 2015 #BackToTheFutureDay

Picture of Biff Tannen's casino from "Back to the Future Part II". The sign says "Biff Tannen's Pleasure Paradise" and includes a picture of him burning a wad of cash with his lit cigar.

The White House (2028)

What is your favorite horror film released before 1980?

Cat People (1942) but I have a long list of favorites from the 30s-50s.

YouTube video by Senator Elizabeth Warren Donald Trump is trying to fire nearly every federal worker who supports special needs education.

Donald Trump is trying to fire nearly every federal worker who supports special needs education.

It’s kids with disabilities who will suffer.

The cruelty is the point.

Magic City Acceptance Academy and the cost of state-sanctioned bigotry | Alabama Reflector A school that opened to serve LGBTQ+ students could only survive by getting away from its original mission.

A Homewood charter school that opened in 2021 with a mission to serve LGBTQ+ students won renewal last week, but no longer uses that language. Editor Brian Lyman says its a terrible marker of the degeneration of tolerance and Alabama politicians' endless embrace of bigotry and grievance.

When the Birmingham, Alabama, march is packed, you know something is up in America!