Horror anthology from Denmark. Original title: Yndige Mennesker

Four eerie tales re-imagine H.C. Andersen’s stories as a chilling anthology, where lost souls confront fate, love, and the darkness lurking beneath the surface.

Video

I’ve always found Hans Christian Andersen to be a fascinating character. He ranks with J.M. Barrie, Lewis Carroll and a few others as the most eccentric literary gods in the pantheon of modern world literature.

A few examples:

* The same outsized imagination that made him a great storyteller also made him paranoid and a hypochondriac. He constantly articulated that he was dying from trivial things. A slight morning dizziness or a throat-clearing cough meant he was dying of consumption. Every splinter meant a life-threatening infection was about to set in. He traveled with a rope because he feared being trapped by a hotel fire.

* A visit to his literary hero, Charles Dickens, turned out to be a disaster. Andersen was expected for roughly two weeks, stayed five, and after he departed Dickens famously noted that those five weeks had seemed to the family like “ages.”

* Dickens was not the only one who came to dread the sight of Andersen. Hans had a habit of showing up at acquaintances’ houses unannounced and forcing them to sit through dramatic readings of his latest work, whether they wanted to or not.

* He frequently accompanied friends to brothels in Denmark or abroad, but he would only sit and chat with the sex workers rather than engage in physical acts. In Paris in 1867, Andersen actually recorded going into a brothel, paying twelve francs, talking to a woman, and leaving, pleased that he had not “sinned in action.” He was fascinated by sex, but appears to have been too terrified to try it. Biographical and diary evidence strongly indicates that Andersen died a lifelong virgin, never having consummated a physical relationship with anyone.

* He would break into histrionic weeping when his behavior or his works were criticized.

The peculiarities are more than celebrity trivia. Andersen spent much of his life desperately wanting to belong while feeling that he never quite did — precisely the emotional territory to which his greatest stories return again and again. Despite the fact that he was such an awkward man, an outsider in every crowd, his stories are known and beloved throughout the world, have been translated into more than a hundred languages, and are embedded in the cultural vocabulary of much of the world. Pretty much everyone in Europe, the New World, and all the English-speaking nations, through reading or osmosis, has assimilated (sanitized versions of) the stories of “The Ugly Duckling,” “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” and many other Andersen tales. At the time of his death, Andersen was internationally revered, and the Danish government paid him an annual stipend for being a “national treasure.” He and his works are now viewed as symbols of Denmark itself.

Spanish-language drama filmed in Buenos Aires

Fede, a young bicycle delivery guy, leads a simple and carefree life, traveling around the city daily to deliver orders. One day, in the midst of his routine, he’s assigned a delivery to a luxurious house where he meets Josefina, a girl from a wealthy family and surrounded by comforts. From their first encounter, a spark of attraction arises between them, although they belong to completely different worlds.

Video

Stunning French fashion and lingerie model Carla Mattei in all her nude and sexy photoshoots

Only one man in history ever struck out 27 men in a nine-inning professional game. No major leaguer ever topped 20. Even the legendary Steve Dalkowski maxxed out at 24 in the minors. (Dalkowski once threw a 24-strikeout no-hitter … and lost the game!)

The man with the 27 was Ron Necciai (NETCH-eye). He performed that feat in a D-league game on May 13, 1952, when he was a 19-year-old rookie. It took some luck to get 27 strikeouts. Two of his opponents put the ball in play to the shortstop and another hit a routine pop-up to the catcher, but lady luck must have wanted Necciai to get that 27. In the third inning one of his opponents grounded a ball to Necciai’s shortstop, but the fielder flubbed it, so Necciai was still able to get three K’s that inning. In the ninth inning his catcher dropped an easy foul pop-up, allowing Necciai to strike the batter out instead.

But there was another problem. In the second inning the shortstop fielded a ball cleanly and threw the batter out at first, so Necciai only got two K’s that inning. So how did he reach 27? He prepared to face the last batter with only 25 K’s in his pocket, and he fanned him to chalk up number 26. The game should have ended right there, but the catcher dropped the third strike, which meant that the batter was free to try for first, and he succeeded. Necciai therefore got one more opportunity, and he capitalized on it, fanning the final batter to finish with 4 K’s in the ninth inning and 27 for the game.

Catcher Harry Dunlop always denied that he intentionally flubbed those two balls in the ninth inning (the pop-up and the dropped third strike), but the team’s first baseman told another story. Either way, the 27 is writ in stone. What many people don’t know is that Necciai struck out 24 more in his next start. Only 24? Heck, that was just business as usual for Necciai in his brief stay with class-D Bristol. He was undefeated and averaged 22.8 strikeouts per 9 innings.

The Pirates even gave him a major league shot later that year. Again, lady luck watched over Necciai. A few great games in D-ball does not ordinarily vault a player to the majors, but the 1952 Pirates were one of the worst teams in history. Their 42 wins were only two more than the famously inept 1962 Mets. The Pirates were stronger on future TV stars (Joe Garagiola and John Berardino) than they were on ballplayers. Dick Groat was a raw rookie, while Clemente and Mazeroski were still a few years in the future. Moreover, the team drew fewer than 700,000 fans. That team was so bad and so desperate to fill the seats that they had nothing to lose by giving their wonder boy a few starts to pack the seats. Necciai pulled in 17,000 fans in his debut, the Pirates’ largest crowd of the year. Necciai didn’t win that day, but he did win one game later on in the season, and he had one terrific relief outing in which he pitched three hitless innings with five K’s. Unfortunately he also lost six games and finished with an ERA above 7.00.

Thereby achieving complete parity with the rest of the Buccos’ roster.

1952 was pretty much his whole career. A stint in the army, plus various maladies and injuries, curtailed his remaining career to a few minor league games here and there over the next three years, and he never played in the majors again.

But he was never forgotten.

Baseball fans are more than a little nuts, and the game keeps meticulous records to remind those fans of unusual achievements, so the 94-year-old Necciai still receives a ton of fan mail because of one low-level game he pitched in front of a mere 1,100 people more than 70 years ago. To be honest, I think he deserves those fans. He’s a modest man who’s grateful for his tiny bit of fame. Here is the story of a decent guy who lived an ordinary life except that he pulled off an amazing achievement while still in his teens.

—-

Here is a nice article about Necciai, written by a fan who, as an eleven year old, wrote Necciai fan letters. (Ever the nice guy, Necciai wrote back thoughtful letters in longhand.)

“I gotta fly to Saint Somewhere
I’m close to bodily harm”

– James William Buffett

In this case, the designated warm-weather saint is Tropez.

Tropez is not one of the more famous saints, is he?. He’s an early Christian martyr, a Roman soldier who converted, then refused to renounce his faith. It was in the reign of Nero, so long ago that as many as ten of the eleven faithful apostles were still alive! Nine of them supposedly died in the same era, 60-80 AD, although exact dates are not known. The only one said in Christian lore to have predeceased Tropez (AKA Torpes of Pisa) was James, son of Zebedee, who was martyred in Jerusalem around 44 AD by King Herod Agrippa I. According to Christian tradition, it was only John, the other son of Zebedee, who lived to a ripe old age, allegedly shuffling off the mortal coil around 100 AD in Ephesus.

Zebedee?

To my knowledge, ol’ Zebedee never did anything especially holy. Virtually nothing is known of him other than that he was a fisherman who was trying to earn a living when Jesus asked two of his sons to fish for men instead, presumably leaving ol’ Zeb short-handed on the nets. Despite knowing almost nothing about him, the Roman Catholic Church made him a saint. Apparently donating his semen to two apostles, and being the husband of a devoted follower of Jesus, was contribution aplenty. He was sort of a reverse nepo baby. His feast day is March 15th. I wonder whether anyone celebrates that day.

How do I know something about this? I (unhappily) attended an elementary school named after Zeb’s wife, Salome. We pronounced it “sa-LOAM,” for reasons unknown to me, perhaps to distinguish her from the “SA-lo-may” Salome who danced for Herod and asked for the head of John the Baptist as payment for her sexy solo lambada.

And with good reason.

It’s real, but almost nothing is showing.

Sarah Jane Nader showing a glimpse of areola on her right tit as she exits a convenience store holding a bottle of Smart water and a bag of Chester’s Flamin’ Hot Fries. She stopped for a snack while on her way to the Dancing with the Stars rehearsal in New York City on August 20, 2026!

She is joining her more famous sister Brooks Nader in the upcoming dance competition and is supposedly paired with a female dancing pro, which is a big twist for fans who care about DWTS.

She and Brooks don’t look very much alike, do they?

The headlines regarding Margaret Qualley being “naked” at the world premiere of The Dog Stars in London on August 20, 2026 is in reference to her viral Chanel “naked shoes” that makes her appear to be barefoot (she’s just wearing heel caps).

Feet fans are probably very excited about that, but it seems like everyone missed that Margaret Qualley is also showing nipple between the chain-link rings that her dress is made up of!

I am calling this a nipple slip because even though its more of a see through, I think showing the nipple was completely unintentional on her part.

The full HD gallery is here.

Here’s a very close close-up for a teaser.

Bonus: Margaret Qualley with several topless photos in a 2022 pictorial for AnOther magazine!

Or, for that matter, any other film.

From the comment section.

Gofipro wrote:

Random find. This is how Brits promote a film: Promotion for the DVD film release of Lady Godiva and sponsored charity ride. Rotten Row, Hyde Park, London, Britain – 19 May 2008