Cally

@callys.bsky.social

216 Followers 179 Following

SFF reader, model rocketeer, tabletop gamer. She/her.

A handwritten game with charming little sketches of a spider labeled CAPITAL who is wearing a top heat and saying "Ho Ho" and a fly labeled A JUICY FLY The rules for the game are below, changed to mixed-case lettering and slightly reformatted for ascii. MONEY SPIDER A game by Oliver Darkshire for as many players as you can find on short notice You are a group of Money Spiders, and you care about two things: DELICIOUS FLIES and THE INEXORABLE MARCH OF CAPITAL. HOW TO PLAY Each player starts with three coins To start the game, each spider wagers at least 1 coin into the central pool. Then, each spider secretly writes down either A JUICY FLY or CAPITAL When all players have decided, reveal the choices. - All spiders who chose CAPITAL split the pool between them - Spiders who chose A JUICY FLY get nothing HOWEVER - If _all spiders chose CAPITAL_, one spider at random is cannibalized by the others, and their coins are added to the pool for the next round. - If _all spiders or all spiders except one_ choose A JUICY FLY then the spider with the most coins is cannibalized and their coins are added to the pool. * If more than one spider remains, start a new round. When only one spider remains, they win the game. *If necessary, vote on it.
BARBETTE VANDER CLYDE BROADWAY, BORN IN TRICKHAM (COLEMAN CO) C. 1697, BECAME A WORLD-RENOWNED ENTERTAINER. HE LATER RECOUNTED THAT AS A BOY, HE ATTENDED AN AERIAL CIRCUS PERFORMANCE WITH HIS MOTHER IN AUSTIN AND SOON AFTER BEGAN TO PRACTICE TIGHTROPE WALKING ON HIS BACKYARD CLOTHESLINE IN ROUND ROCK. SOON AFTER GRADUATING HIGH SCHOOL IN 1913, HE BECAME AN ACROBAT WITH A SAN ANTONIO CIRCUS TROUPE. LATER, HE JOINED AN AERIALIST GROUP, THE ALFERETTA SISTERS, UPON THE DEATH OF ONE OF THE MEMBERS, HIS NEW ROLE REQUIRED HIM TO DRESS IN WOMEN'S CLOTHING TO EMPHASIZE His DARING STUNTS, AND IT WAS FROM THIS EXPERIENCE HE CREATED THE STAGE PERSONA “BARBETTE." HIS 1919 SOLO DEBUT WAS AT THE HARLEM OPERA HOUSE IN NEW YORK CITY. SIGNING WITH THE WILLIAM MORRIS AGENCY, HE HEADLINED ACTS AROUND THE WORLD, INCLUDING AUSTRALIA AND SOUTH AMERICA AND SUCH EUROPEAN CITIES AS BERLIN, HAMBURG, BARCELONA AND PARIS. IN PARIS, HE FOUND SOLIDARITY IN A GROUP OF ARTISTS AND WRITERS THAT INCLUDED JEAN COCTEAU, MAN RAY AND PABLO PICASSO. COCTEAU'S 1924 ESSAY, “LE NUMERO BARBETTE,” HELPED BOLSTER BARBETTE'S FAME AND ALLOWED HIM ACCESS TO THE INNER CIRCLE OF THE PARISIAN ELITE. HE ALSO HAD A MINOR ROLE IN COCTEAU'S EXPERIMENTAL 1932 FILM, _LE SANG D'UN POETE_, WEARING COSTUMES DESIGNED BY COCO CHANEL. HIS ACCLAIMED ACT INCLUDED STUNNING AERIAL AND TRAPEZE FEATS. HE WOULD PERFORM AS A WOMAN, COMPLETE WITH WIGS, LAVISH OUTFITS AND MAKEUP. AT THE END OF HIS SET, HE WOULD REMOVE HIS WIG AND STRUT ABOUT THE STAGE, FLEXING HIS BICEPS TO LEAVE NODOUBT HE WAS, IN FACT, A MAN, TO THE AMAZEMENT OF UNSUSPECTING AUDIENCES. CONTRACTING CRIPPLING PNEUMONIA IN 1938, HE RETIRED FROM AERIAL PERFORMING. THROUGH HIS ENTERTAINMENT CONNECTIONS, HE WAS A FILM ACTOR AND CONSULTANT IN LIVE PERFORMANCES AND MOVIES, INCLUDING OSCAR-WINNING _SOME LIKE IT HOT_ (1959). AFTER HE DROPPED OUT OF PUBLIC LIFE, HE LIVED WITH FAMILY IN ROUND ROCK UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1973. MARKER IS PROPERTY OF THE STATE OF TEXAS
A white jug with a very large white lid and a slanty molded in handle, with a label reading "Safe Step" and "ENVIRO BLEND POWER ICE MELTER" along with a lot of tiny text no doubt extolling its virtues and disclosing chemical content, but honestly, it's too small to read. Behind the text on the label is a long sidewalk or driveway with no snow on it, surrounded on either side by a snowy landscape. In the far background is a house with a southern-style wraparound porch.
A greeting card with the text Have A Very Merry Dies Natalis Solis Invict May the night of cruelty be defeated by the light of kindness In the center of the card is an image of a 2nd or 3rd century Roman bas-relief depicting Mithras killing the sacred bull. He's semi-kneeling on its back (his left leg is kneeling, the right leg stretched out along the bull's back legs) stabbing it in the neck with a long dagger or short sword, and looking really rather smug about it, as he gazes more or less towards the god Helios, depicted in the upper left corner. Luna is in the upper right corner, and is being comprehensively ignored. Mithras' cloak is being Very Dramatic. In the foreground there's a scorpion being Rather Too Interested in the bull's private parts, a snake biting(?) the bull's front leg, and a dog chomping on the bull's shoulder. This is undoubtably Very Meaningful and Symbolic, but I've no idea why. Also, the bushy end of the bull's tail has been transformed into wheat stalks. Alas, since it was a Mystery Cult and they didn't write anything down, we'll never know precisely what the symbolism meant.
Photo by Beth Jordan of a dozen or so merfolk around and in a swimming pool on board the cruise ship "Nieuw Amsterdam" during the JoCo Cruise in 2024. Most of them are sitting on the pool deck with their tails in the water. In the background are a hot tub, some fancy cabanas, and a number of two-legged JoCoNauts.
A white or cream colored clapboard house with a cellar door: a short, slanted triangular prism-shaped structure sticking maybe 4 or 5 feet (a meter and a half?) out from the foundation of the house, and perhaps a yard (meter) high. On the face of this outcropping is a door. If you opened the door, you'd find steps down to the basement, and another, more secure, door at the bottom leading into the actual basement. Some cellar doors have two doors that open out from the center, but the pictured cellar door has just the one. There's a children's song lyric that includes the lines Shout down my rain barrel, Slide down my cellar door, And we'll be jolly friends Forevermore.
Stacks of colorful plastic short cups with a mostly conical cross section and the top of the handle coming right up to the rim. The bottom of the cup is open, so if you poured coffee directly into them it would pour right out again. Next to them is a stack of cheap plastic Solo brand "Cozy Cups", which are conical with a small flat base. The plastic is thin, and would absolutely burn your hands if you filled it with hot coffee. The colorful "Lifetime Cup Holders" hold the cheap plastic cups firmly, and provide both a handle and a wider base. Not pictured: when inserted into the cup holder, there's an inch or so of cup insert that sticks out the top, so you can theoretically reuse the holder without washing them, though I wouldn't recommend that.
European Robin; a small roundish bird with an orange-red face and upper chest, tan belly, and light brown back and wings. It's sitting on a pale branch with its head cocked slightly to one side.
A white marble (the stone, not the spheres!) clad house with a weird pergola that looks like it's made entirely of Lego.
A holiday card with the text "Wishing You a Joyful Dies Natalis Solis Invicti" and "May the darkness be defeated!" with the image of a bronze plaque from the mid 2nd or early 3rd century depicting Mithras in the act of killing the sacred bull. Mithras is wearing his rather silly looking Phrygian cap, a short tunic, and a dramatically flapping cloak. He looks bored with the whole business. He's holding the bull by the nostrils with his left hand, and stabbing the bull in the side of his neck with a dagger in his right hand. The bull is, understandably, looking panicked. For some reason there's a scorpion that looks like it's about to sting the bull's back leg. A human Sun and Moon look benignly down on the scene from the top corners.
A promotional picture for the 1975 Mel Brooks written tv show "When Things Were Rotten" about Robin Hood
The Bluesky popup celebrating 10 millions users. Apparently I'm number 154,804
A four poster bed with knobbly tops of the posts, and additional knobbly bits about a foot down
A statue of Mithras sacrificing a bull with the text "Happy Dies Natalis Solis Invicti"