#Viktor Novak

[tikay21]

🐺24 from 2024

I know, I'm very much belated, but ...

... it was so hard to decide and get to the point. But anyway, a review is a review and these are my 24 screenshots that I chose from the many I loved most last year.

Thank you to all creators and pose makers, without whom none of this would be as creatively possible as I imagine it. Thank you to everyone who has inspired and accompanied me, for your likes, reblogs, and comments, which I always appreciate. Thank you for the kind conversations behind the scenes and thank you to my friends for being there.

My special thanks go to two people: to @herzblau Shin, my best friend, who always supports me and makes my world a bit brighter, but I also want to thank @design-men Rico for his support & simply beeing there. So I'll tag you two, if you still want to do this. Feel free not to do it at all.

Eventually maybe it's too late to tag someone more, but if anyone else feels like doing it and hasn't yet > go for it! Don't set your own limits.

Thanks for tagging me @azoressims4 🥰

[theonyxaltar]

Photodump of Judas and Viktor! Used these pics to practice with Lightroom some more, I think I'm getting a little better. :3

[luckofmylife]

nothing to see here just Novak Djokovic role-playing as Shakira in a music video where she passionately KISSES his greatest rival, that's all

[misskitxx]

Vector of Interest - Chapter 2

Featuring obsessed (and a little unhinged) Jayce 👀

Jayce “accidentally” bumped into Viktor at the coffee machine.

A sharp inhale. The unmistakable scent of bergamot and black tea filled the air. The cup wobbled in Viktor’s grasp, tilting just enough for amber liquid to slosh over the rim, splattering across the edge of his papers.

Earl Grey.

Not coffee.

Jayce blinked, registering the change, filing it away. Why? Had Viktor already exceeded his usual caffeine intake? Was he trying to cut back? Jayce thought he noticed the faintest tremor in his hand—small, but there. Maybe exertion from gripping his cane, or simply caffeine jitters?..

“Sorry, Professor Novak. Let me—”

His voice came too quickly, too eager. He reached for the paper towel stack, fumbling slightly as he plucked several from the pile. His fingers were unsteady—why were they unsteady?

Viktor barely spared him a glance, already dabbing at the stray droplets with an air of practiced indifference.

“It’s fine.” His words were softened by something imperceptible.

Continue reading on AO3!

[boywonderloverr]

im bored here are characters that are autistic because im autistic and i say so

(these r all just my personal perceptions and HCs of these characters so be nice)

• Spencer Reid from criminal minds (obviously)

• Zuko from atla

• Gwen Stacy in atsv

• Stanley Barber from i am not okay w this

• Sydney Novak from i am not okay w this

• Stanley Uris from IT (honestly the entire losers club)

• Todd Anderson from dead poets society

• the doctor from doctor who (yes all of them)

• Harper from we are who we are

• Fraser from we are who we are

• Five Hargreeves from the umbrella academy

• Viktor Hargreeves from the umbrella academy

• Emmett Brown from the bttf movies

• Annabeth Chase from pjo/hoo/riordanverse

• Leo Valdez from pjo/hoo/riordanverse

• Will Solace from pjo/hoo/riordanverse

• Evan Hansen from dear evan hansen

• Jeremy Heere from be more chill

• Christine Canigula from be more chill

• Hunter Sylvester from metal lords

[mariacallous]

The Catholic Church in Hungary has been engulfed by a series of high-profile sex scandals and child abuse investigations. The situation isn’t just a crisis for the church, but also a challenge for Viktor Orban’s Christian-nationalist government.

“Perhaps we should not refer to these merely as ‘scandalous cases’, but rather as the painful, inhumane, traumatizing injuries suffered by minors, which go far beyond ‘scandalous news’,” read a statement on December 4 by the editors of the independent Hungarian religious affairs magazine Szemlelek, reflecting on a crisis that has recently engulfed Hungary’s Catholic Church.

Since September, a series of scandals relating to sexual misconduct, pedophilia and cover-up in the Catholic church has wrecked the public reputation of five high-profile clerics and occasioned the suspension of a rising, but as-yet unconfirmed, number of their colleagues. Some see echoes of the crisis in the US Catholic church sparked by the 2002 Boston Globe ‘Spotlight’ investigation into child abuse in the city’s archdiocese – a story (and later movie) that plunged American Catholicism into a crisis from which it’s still recovering.

The close government ties of the priests implicated heighten concerns about overlaps between political power, religious networks and child sexual abuse in Hungary. These concerns were first raised earlier this year in February, following the exposure of a successful intercession by Reformed Church bishop (and former Fidesz cabinet minister) Zoltan Balog with then-president Katalin Novak, a fellow Calvinist, to pardon a church member convicted as a pedophile accomplice. News of the pardon led to Novak’s resignation.

Attention is now turning away from the Reformed community and towards the Catholic Church.

From local to national

In early September, the storm started rumbling with the public disgrace of Father Gergo Bese, a priest of the Kalocsa-Kecskemet archdiocese and a prominent social media influencer identified with the governing Fidesz party via its satellite KDNP (Christian Democratic Peoples’ Party). In 2022, Bese conducted a ‘house blessing’ of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s office in the former Carmelite monastery beside Buda Castle.

On September 6, Hungarian outlet Valasz Online revealed that Father Bese, a vocal supporter of Fidesz’s anti-LGBTQ+ agenda, had been living a double life as a gay porn movie actor. He was also (against church law) receiving a stipend from the KDNP for communications work without permission from his bishop. He is now under disciplinary suspension.

While Father Bese’s activities involved only consenting adults, their discovery, however, prompted revelations about other forms of misconduct by Kalocsa priests, including those involving minors. Two clerics – Gabor Ronaszeki and Robert Hathazi – both with strong ties to Hungary’s ruling parties, are now being prosecuted by secular authorities for alleged child molestation.

In 2023, Ronaszeki underwent a church disciplinary process during which he admitted the offences, and was removed from the priesthood. He’s understood to have offered money and gifts in exchange for sex to underage boys attending his Religious Education group over a three-year period.

Ronaszeki is the brother-in-law of former Fidesz MP and ministerial commissioner Monika Ronaszekine Keresztes, as well as being an associate of the KDNP leader Zsolt Semjen, who is currently serving as the deputy prime minister and minister for church affairs in the Orban government.

Hungarian media reported that Semjen had been a personal guest at Ronaszeki’s remote “recreational farm” near the small town of Janoshalma in Southern Hungary. Responding to the reports, Semjen claimed that “to the best of my recollection” he has not “visited the place in question”.

Handing matters over swiftly to police and prosecutors reflects improvements in practice following recent reforms across the Catholic world. Even so, the scandal has continued to grow numerically and geographically.

In a November 15 interview with Valasz Online, the archbishop of Kalocsa-Kecskemet, Balazs Babel, said public awareness of the two court cases had led to more complainants bringing allegations against other clerics.

“In recent months, the Archbishop’s Office has received many more reports than before,” he admitted, adding that several other Kalocsa priests have now been suspended pending investigation.

Major Pajor problem

The issue has morphed from a diocesan scandal into a national crisis. That’s partly because the outcry about Kalocsa was heard from early on in the national media, and partly because first central church institutions and then other dioceses became implicated in related misconduct stories.

First came the resignation on October 25 of the national Bishops’ Conference Secretary Father Tamas Toth, amid allegations of serious impropriety in mishandling communications relating to Kalocsa.

And then on December 5 the scandal reached the archdiocese of Esztergom-Budapest, led by Hungary’s primate, Cardinal Peter Erdo.

On that day, news broke of canonical and police investigations into Budapest priest Father Andras Pajor, a prominent face of Fidesz’s ‘political Christianity’. In 2023, Father Pajor received Hungary’s Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit from Deputy Prime Minister Semjen for his “role in youth education”.

Father Pajor has repeatedly urged Christians to vote for Orban. He has also, latterly, become notable as a spreader of Russian propaganda, claiming in a YouTube video about the Ukraine war that, since 2022, some 35,000 Russian children had been kidnapped “for pedophiles in the West”.

Former altar boys from his parish, speaking anonymously to Valasz Online, tell a rather different story, however. They claim Father Pajor himself frequently made them strip naked, inspected their genitals intimately with his hands, and gave them full body massages.

Anticipating the next day’s announcement concerning Father Pajor, on December 4 the Bishops’ Conference finally acknowledged the pedophilia issue as a national problem in a statement: “The scandalous news concerning our Church in recent months has caused many to feel uneasy and disappointed… for sins committed, we must pray, fast and make atonement.”

The text continued: “The Catholic Church stands with the victims and communities affected. We pray for them and support their healing.”

Political reverberations

In a letter to fellow bishops obtained by the independent news outlet Telex, Archbishop Babel observed that the impact of the successive scandals was greater “because they are interwoven with politics”.

The political dimension magnifies the spotlight on the church, but the connection of religion and pedophilia is a huge challenge for Fidesz – a party that portrays itself at home and abroad as a protector of family values.

The party’s domestic alliance with historic churches long predates its international communication about Hungary as a bulwark of Christian civilisation against Muslim migration and rising woke-secularism.

Churches have vigorously supported government messaging regarding the supposed dangers that, Fidesz alleges, the LGBTQ+ community poses to children, especially ahead of 2022’s ‘child protection’ referendum, which was timed to boost turnout at that year’s general election. Around 75 per cent of Hungary’s state-funded children’s homes are run by churches.

“Orban’s government constantly seeks endorsement from the churches for its Christian credentials,” religious affairs commentator Janos Reichert tells BIRN. This is because, Reichert continues, there are three overlapping themes closely connected in the minds of many Hungarians: “Hungarian nationalism, anti-Communism and Christianity”.

These three motifs organically support each other such that, Reichert says, “criticism of any one of them cannot be tolerated by Fidesz for fear of danger to the other two”.

Thus, anyone who criticises even one of them is “attacking the ideological basis of the regime”, he adds.

Reichert’s take is shared by political journalist Balazs Gulyas. The government’s flagging support amid economic turbulence and the rise of opposition challenger Peter Magyar means that, in his view, Fidesz is paradoxically more, not less likely to double down reflexively on its traditional talking points, including political Christianity.

“Hungary’s governing parties are grappling with a sharp decline in popularity, making it politically expedient for them to cling to their (overstated) role as the primary political patrons of the churches,” Gulyas tells BIRN. “I find it highly unlikely that they’d abandon the program of political Christianity.”

Such views seem to be borne out by the government’s responses to the crisis to date. Far from distancing itself from the churches, Fidesz has rushed to their defence.

In November, the left-wing opposition party DK proposed a parliamentary motion calling for Hungary to follow the example of Ireland and Australia in establishing an independent enquiry into child sexual abuse in the church. The government used its parliamentary super-majority to defeat the proposal.

And addressing parliament’s justice committee on November 14, Deputy Prime Minister Semjen, speaking in his capacity as minister for church affairs, dismissed suggestions that the situation in the churches represented a particular concern. “The number of church cases is a hundredth of the number of secular cases, there is no reason to single out the church world,” he declared.

[iravaid]

Nosferatu Group Photo - Art Fight mass attack babey! Lunchbox needled Gary into taking it

Back row

Millicent Azzaro (cowboydroid), Viktor (@erzfreu), Novak (@zonnmroth), Colt Wellington (sweetkingbull), Deadcat (@darkmazoiata), Hugo (@alnifena), Marsh (@grimmanxiety), Askè (@maarniee), Bitarnaby (bubopeli)

Middle Row

Ottoline 'Toll' Brodbeck (@wrenwilm), Durian (@introverted-character-town), Cherry Greek (@halifaxafterdark), Pigeon (heathenbird), Golden Magpie (@katowashere), Nox (monsterrtooth)

Front Row

Newt (maliciousmetal), Deborah (@splicerparade), Lemiel de Rayon (@platinum-panda), Lunchbox (my oc), Elodie Nichols (@qwib), Elvira (colorlesstiger), Roswell (@five5sixers)

[batsplat]

hi bat<3 i feel like you’re definitely not a die-hard fan of the big 3, but for someone like me who’s been watching men’s tennis since the early 2010s, they’re like everything.

so i wanted to ask: out of the big 3 (or big 4?) pairings, which duo do you think is more interesting? like which one feels more worth exploring in your opinion?

i just watched roger’s docu recently, and omg he gave novak a solo moment. not like a story about them, just a montage of novak yelling and screaming on court. then roger went, “this might not reflect well on novak.” it lowkey gave me vale/jorge vibes, not a perfect parallel, but within the big3/big4, they’re the duo that feels the least… connected. and yet, when it comes to tactical and technical richness, they’re at the top. roger’s obviously way more arrogant than vale, like he just doesn’t see novak as special or even interesting. meanwhile, novak used to be that guy who wanted everyone to like him, but now he’s completely over it. over the years, there’s just been this constant low-key, non-vibe-y energy between them. but their matches? they somehow deliver these insane moments at the most unexpected times. at the laver cup, roger said something to novak, and then novak cried.

i’m less into roger/rafa, partly because i’m not a rafa fan, but also because they suddenly turned into this ideal rivalry narrative, and honestly, that kinda freaked me out. i’m slowly starting to understand the feelings between them, though. like, i still don’t buy into the whole “greatest rival” thing because, let’s be real, on both the competitive and career-defining levels, it’s just not that mutual. but yeah, their pairing definitely had its advantages—sorry for saying this, but it’s true. the 2008 wimb F is obviously historic, but if you actually watch it all the way through, it’s not that great. it’s the unpredictable weather that gave it that epic feel.

and then there’s andy/novak, who’ve always been my fave because of their history and the emotional layers in their rivalry. like, when viktor troicki recently said novak was looking for a “big name” coach, my friends and i joked about it being roger, but none of us thought of andy. and then it happened. i still can’t believe it. from my very limited tennis perspective, andy’s kinda feels like a subset of novak’s. i don’t really know what qualities do coaches even need in tennis, and how do they maximize a player’s potential? so i’m really curious to see what they come up with together. their dynamic peaked in 2016, which was also the only time the big4 rivalries genuinely made me sad. so yeah, they totally deserve this heartwarming closure.

okay so first off, I have to confess I get a failing grade as a hater because I read this ask reading ?? eating breakfast with this on

I dozed off to the 2019 wimbledon final last night so idk. this isn't nadal retirement-prompted nostalgia, I actually failed as a hater there too and completely missed his last match happening so like. arrived to dance on the grave a day late. BUT the djokovic/murray coaching news DID awaken something suppressed in me. I'll probably watch the 2012 uso final next just to feel something

anyway, what this does go to show is that for all that I am obviously extremely not a fan of the big three, as a tennis fan it's also not like I can pretend to be completely immune. I grew up watching them!! I remember watching so many of their matches! often with my family! I would argue about them all the time as a fan, whether with my family or people at the tennis club or indeed my maths teacher. I was always rooting for SOMEONE, like I did have an order of preference. and... uh, it should be mentioned that I am also not a complete neutral who just intellectually hated the big three because I thought they were shitty sources of narrative tension. I was a massive murray fan as a kid so I did also just get my heart repeatedly broken by them. we're talking 'cried during murray's speech at wimbledon 2012'... I actually watched the wimbledon 2013 final at the tennis club where I trained and was EXTREMELY smug (and delighted) when murray won because EVERYONE including my coach thought djokovic would win and had been extremely annoying in my direction throughout the experience. but also I have never enjoyed a men's australian open final in my life, except 2012 I suppose. that venue holds nothing but pain and misery for me

so with my biases stated up front, where the big 3/4 rivalries are concerned, I'm basically in the 'anybody but fedal' camp. that one I feel nothing for and its popularity continues to absolutely baffle me. no hate to anyone who enjoys it but I do treat its continued dominance basically like a psyop. idk who's responsible for this or why they're doing it, but SOMEBODY is pursuing some kind of nefarious agenda. call me casey stoner because I've cracked the code. I understand they're both individually rather popular and I suppose in a detached unemotional way I do get how that could happen, but as a unit? idk man. also, EYE am a rivalry enjoyer, but I get very suspicious when too many fans are an enjoyer of a particular rivalry... (or y'know, sometimes you've got rivalries that have a lot of 'theoretical fans' but you can kinda tell they do basically hate one of the competitors involved and will immediately throw them overboard if they have to take a side, which also passes the test.) just shows to me that there's zero edge there. most partisan fans of an athlete hate anyone who is a threat to their athlete, that's just how people are. if there's this little hate then that tells me that there's too little threat which tells me the stakes aren't quite there competitively or emotionally... which tells me that there's no real reason to care. I'm well aware that federer fans used to be more likely to be nadal haters back in the noughties (david foster wallace coming through for me again on that front) and that nadal fans are more into that rivalry than federer fans and that they're both retired now... but still!! if it was a proper fun rivalry, more partisan fans would still be bitter. fundamentally the rivalry is good for both of them in terms of legacy and pr and all that shit and they both clearly agree so it's just... empty

which yeah, so full agree on the stuff you say lol. I HAVE watched the wimbledon 2008 final (and I... think?? must have watched it at the time, I was still pretty young and clearly it wasn't a defining enough experience it stuck in my mind lol) but it's been years by now. so I can't actually reallyyyy speak to its quality and I'm probably not going to rewatch it any time soon. I do also just think it's the most boring match-up tennis-wise... partly this is because my favourite big three playstyle is djokovic's - I love how he moves around the court, I love the compact backhand and the emphasis on counterpunching... the nadal/federer match-up was mostly defined by federer attempting to figure out ways to prevent nadal from bullying his backhand. which I do know is oversimplifying things lol but it's. kinda true. djokovic/federer is the best match-up tennis-wise even if it's a bit one-sided in the biggest moments (which, whatever, that was narratively engaging too)... federer's full artistry against djokovic's precision was just more exciting to watch. then comes djokovic/nadal which is a bit of a counterpuncher-off, like they are quite tactically similar in a lot of ways, extremely optimised baseliners... but that means they were always going to push each other the furthest - they were already half a step ahead of federer in the evolution of tennis and everyone now is obviously basing their tennis primarily on how they changed the game. and, y'know, nadal's biggest rival is djokovic!! I get why if you're a nadal fan, you'd want it to be federer, but well! tough!

and YES yes I ABSOLUTELY agree that federer/djokovic is the most interesting interpersonally because federer was SO arrogant towards djokovic. the worst thing that happened to federer is that he became a pr merchant, like at least being a cunt was INTERESTING. he used to be absolutely dreadful about murray too!! aggressively unpleasant!! but that one was also frustrating because... murray didn't end up surpassing him... (I genuinely have like. traumatic flashbacks to watching their atp finals 2014 match. I don't think my soul ever quite recovered from that day.) but with djokovic!! people used to be so unpleasant about him - and okay, by now unfortunately he's given everyone plenty of cause, but BACK THEN it was a completely different story. it was so much fun rooting for him when the crowds were being horrid to him and he stuck it in their faces... before he did all the boob throwing business - staring icily at them when he beat their hero? hot

and federer was so so snide about the guy... pepperidge farm remembers when he accused teenage djokovic of faking his injuries in 2006

The 19-year-old Djokovic called his trainer multiple times. He had hamstring issues, but Federer thought he was faking his injuries to disrupt Wawrinka’s rhythm. “I don’t trust his injuries. I’m serious. I think he’s a joke, you know, when it comes down to his injuries,” Federer said.

OR in 2009

Djokovic, the No. 3 seed, threw in the towel midway through the fourth set of his quarterfinal with Andy Roddick, trailing 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2, 2-1. But in pointed comments, Federer, the No. 2 seed, noted that it wasn't the first time Djokovic has withdrawn midway through a match in a Grand Slam. "He's not a guy who's never given up before ... it's disappointing," said Federer, who will face Roddick in the semifinals. "I've only done it once in my career ... Andy totally deserved to win that match." "I'm almost in favor of saying, you know what, if you're not fit enough, just get out of here," Federer added. "If Novak were up two sets to love I don't think he would have retired 4-0 down in the fourth. Thanks to Andy that he retired in the end. Andy pushed him to the limits. Hats off to Andy."

'if novak were up two sets to love I don't think he would have retired 4-0 down in the fourth' ...? what are you even saying

and like, on a moral level I do actually think this is pretty gross and have a massive bone to pick with federer on his whole 'look at me aren't I amazing for never retiring from a match' schtick, which continues to have lasting harmful consequences in this sport. this kind of record isn't heroic, it's just fucking stupid. but also, it's hardly the first time or the last time tennis players accused each other of playing up their injuries - it's very much part of the sport, we've all done it or at least thought it. I am also on the record as being pro beefing with children. and it's very strong set-up for that rivalry, especially given how bloody often djokovic went on to crush federer's spirit! it's better set-up than the payoff, quite frankly

that being said, perhaps my favourite match they played is us open 2011 semis - y'know, the match where djokovic saves two matchpoints in the fifth set en route to beating federer... oh, I suppose that doesn't completely narrow it down!!

ah well!

back to 2011, that match did lead to just some really strong snarking in the press:

Djokovic was honest enough to admit the shot was a gamble – but Federer was reluctant to give him credit even for that courage in a crisis, preferring to regard it as desperate. "Confidence? Are you kidding me?" he said when it was put to him the cross-court forehand off his first serve – described by John McEnroe as "one of the all-time great shots" – was either a function of luck or confidence. "I mean, please. Some players grow up and play like that – being down 5-2 in the third, and they all just start slapping shots. I never played that way. I believe hard work's going to pay off, because early on maybe I didn't always work at my hardest. For me, this is very hard to understand. How can you play a shot like that on match point? Maybe he's been doing it for 20 years, so for him it was very normal. You've got to ask him." Djokovic was in a more relaxed mood. "Yeah, I tend to do that on match points," he said, reminded that it was exactly what he did to Federer last year. "It kinda works."

IT KINDA WORKS jhgjhgjhgkf get him again from me

here's the matchpoint save in question ofc

"someday the little twins will grow up to hear about matches like this" well -

which, I mean, federer's being extremely annoying in press! 'oh I'm above taking risks when I'm down on the scoreboard' says the man who ended up with one hell of a reputation for choking. it's also silly!! sometimes it's worth taking a swing at it!! also psychologically, because you're making things less complicated for yourself!! in individual matches, you won't necessarily be rewarded for your diligence and hard work, just not how anything works you moron. but y'know, this was the REAL federer. by the following year he'd already completely clamped down on this kind of thing and it felt like really djokovic could have also been WAY more bitter about this stuff than he publicly was... but yeah, this I did enjoy

and yeah, I do kinda see the vale/jorge comparison! like you say, federer is kinda... more arrogant, more contemptuous towards his younger rivals, also just more of a sore loser until pr got to him? tennis is infamous for its frosty handshakes, but you compare some of those with how warm valentino generally was when he lost... federer's problem was that he lacked self-awareness and was just so committed to this image of the gentleman's sport, which is why he ended up shying away from all this stuff. the unpleasantness with djokovic was actually like... still fairly late in the game, all things considered, it wasn't even really like 2011!federer to say stuff like that. which does show djokovic was capable of really really getting under his skin! and on djokovic's end, where the jorge comparison very much applies is how much he wanted the people to love him (ik his fans hate this narrative but like,, obviously he did). and how they had all already decided he was the enemy for beating their beloved federer and nadal. I do find it a bit easier to stomach with valentino because he deliberately plays with this stuff, weaponising the crowd and all that, whereas federer and nadal just pretend like it's not happening. (also morally it might be worse to boo at a motogp event because of the danger they're putting themselves in, but practically booing at a tennis match is far far worse - you can actually influence the competitors in a way you obviously cannot in motogp.) but that WAS one of the most interesting storylines in the big three era... djokovic slowly catching these two greats who were always so far ahead of them, however much people didn't want him to, even though he didn't have the love of the people on his side, and eventually managing to surpass them altogether. I do think there's plenty of interesting stuff there!! good groundwork! it's just... nowhere near enough, given how bloody long these guys ended up dominating

on djokovic/murray - MY favourite combination of guys as well, just in terms of how much I actually like both of them. it's an interesting relationship where it's like... they knew each other quite well when they were young, then inevitably grew apart a bit when they were competing for big titles? obviously they were also born exactly a week apart from each other, which is narratively fun. I suppose it's the equivalent to jorge/dani which... actually wait, no, I realise that would assign nadal to casey and certainly not my god. it's a rivalry that's a bit tough to stomach from a murray fan perspective because... I mean, it's not quite 'this is not a rivalry, they always kick our ass' territory... but when I started following tennis as a kid, it felt completely plausible that murray and djokovic would have similarly successful careers. which obviously. did not happen. still remember that kind of controversial 2015 australian open final -

- and, y'know, it's a bit frustrating!! this was the tone of a lot of that era, where you kinda just wanted to take them all aside and tell them. my god. maybe a little bit of feuding is okay, no? but well, it is what it is, mostly they had a good relationship. 2016 was kinda the best of times and worst of times because murray was pouring his heart and soul into scraping all of his potential out of himself, got another slam, year end #1 etc... but it also probably did end up fucking up his body permanently, in the quest to fight djokovic. and there IS something compelling and sad about that, but yeah. still a bit of an old wound as an actual sports fan lol

and yeah, they're two closely related playstyles!! counterpunchers with particularly excellent backhands - and if a wing falters, then it's the forehand. it was lendl coaching murray and getting him to properly go after his forehand, be aggressive enough off that wing, that got him his biggest successes. djokovic's weaknesses are less pronounced and especially these last few years, he's often been lethal as a serve + 1 forehand merchant. roland garros 2023 is a good example of that... murray was the tactician, generally thought a lot on court and had a lot in his arsenal - ofc most famously his excellent lob. djokovic does also have more to his game than just baseline pushing, even if sometimes that involves just spamming dropshots when he feels uneasy. obviously, as can be seen from the slam count, his game ended up being just a bit better... but, well, these are very fine margins. murray's slam count is deceptive, he really was the one guy who could consistently hang with those three year-in year-out. whatever revisionism people try to do now, it really was a big four era

as for the coaching relationship, I'm very curious!! coaching can take a lot of different forms and sometimes there's a bit of a distinction between the... bread and butter coaching, the people who are working with you day to day, and these more high profile gigs where sometimes it really is just localised to specific tournaments. it's all very individualised, depends on the specific demands of the player - obviously, given where djokovic is at in his career, you won't be seeing particularly major adjustments, like murray isn't going to come in and suddenly suggest djokovic revamps his serve, right. (though sometimes players still tinker with this stuff late into careers, especially if they're managing injuries.) given the particular stresses of playing in a match, what an odd experience that is in its own right, sometimes you do just need someone to be observing you, give your game a critical once-over from a little bit of distance. now, admittedly from what I've seen of djokovic's coaching relationships, I do feel like one of the coach's roles in THAT particular camp is also just 'being yelled at continuously during matches'. which...? a little curious if djokovic has that same tone when murray's standing there lmao. also one of the reasons for the yelling is when djokovic feels like he's not getting enough enthusiasm from his box. which... ... uh. I mean. murray wouldn't have been top on MY list for that particular metric. but he can get passionate at davis cup from what I've seen!! so maybe it'll work out

anyway yeah I'll cut it off there lol. obviously I spent half my childhood thinking about tennis and inevitably that involved a lot of thinking about the big four and that means I have a lot of thoughts on them so. basically it's fedole > rafole > fedal as far as I'm concerned. good luck to djokovic/murray in their endeavours, I will be there no matter what

[cruyffista]

how many of you guys have seen the video where novak djokovic dresses up like shakira and viktor troicki dresses up like nadal and they lipsync to that one shakira song where nadal is in the music video. and then they grope and pretend to make out with each other.

[spookyblazecoffee]

Characters with my personality type (INFP)

1. Jack Kline + Souless Jack

2. Benny Lafayette

3. Anna Milton

4. Max Miller

5. Emma Winchester

6. Amelia Richardson

7. Lucky (The Dog)

8. Gavin Macleod

9. Harper Sayles (Ew)

10. Patience Turner

11. Luna Lovegood

12. Viktor Hargreeves

13. Will Byers

14. Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz

15. Marshall Eriksen

16. Spider-Man

17. Newt Scamander

18. Dobby The House Elf

19. Belle

20. Lisa Simpson

21. Mr. Miyagi

22. Coraline Jones

23. Bella Swan

24. Luke Skywalker

25. Wanda Maximoff

26. Hermione Granger

27. Sherlock Holmes

28. Violet Parr

29. Edward Scissorhands

30. Sadness (Inside Out)

31. Bubbles (Powerpuff Girls)

32. The Joker

33. Charlie Brown

34. Quasimodo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

35. Princess Aurora

36. Carl Frederickson (Up)

37. Rafiki (Lion King)

38. Lane Kim

39. Willow Rosenberg

40. Dr. Lance Sweets

41. E.T.

42. Rory Gilmore

43. Remus Lupin

44. Simon Spier

45. Sydney Novak

46. The Mad Hatter

47. Wilbur (Charlotte's Web)

48. Kermit

49. Lillian Kaushtuppe

50. Romeo

51. Frodo Baggins

52. Mike Wheeler

53. Pam Beesly

54. Ted Mosby (Ew)

55. Barry Allen

56. Lydia (Beetlejuice)

57. Mister Geppetto

58. Camden Lahey (he doesn't have a confirmed one, so I gave him mine bc I can)

59. Kira Yukimura

60. Darryl Morris

61. Gunther (F.R.I.E.N.D.S)

62. Mike Hannigan

63. Nico di Angelo

[mouthwash-stained-teeth]

hi. welcome to my blog. this blog is for mainly documenting my experiences as a fictionkin, specifically a jimmy fictionkin. yes i mean jimmy from mouthwashing. no i am not fucking with you when i saw i am a jimmy fictionkin, i am 100% for real.

i would preferred to be called jimmy, mostly because when im using this blog, ive shifted into the mindset of jimmy, but i dont mind having the names daredevil, jack, or edgelord used. but please use jimmy mostly.

i go by he/him pronouns. it/its also work too. so does thing/things but i prefer he/him.

on behalf of being a fictionkin. i am also a copinglink fictionkin, conceptkin, otherhearted, and otherkin: i am a wolfdog, a german shepard, a doberman, a husky, a golden retriever, an alien, a shapeshifter, and a cryptid. i am little brown bat hearted, spotted hyena hearted, and white tail deer hearted. i am the concept of horror. i am a sydney novak, viktor ( arcane ), and sal fisher copinglink. i am also a peridot, allan, and scourge fictionkin as well

theirs not really anything else to add here. i mean more inportant facts is that i am fifteen years old irl, and taken.

(disclaimer because apparently i need to fucking say this)

i do not condone the actions of which my kin has done in source. i am not a fucking rapist irl, nor am i sexist or misogynistic. the fact i even have to say this is so fucking appalling. no i do not hate women. just because i have the memories and past feelings of jimmy does not mean i have to codone what i did in memories.

thank you and be civil in your asks towards me. good night / day / afternoon / evening / midday.

[calyxthenerd]

Syd Novak and Viktor Hargreeves should really form a club: “I just found out I have superpowers and now I fucked up”

[beardedmrbean]

The president of Hungary has resigned live on television over a decision to pardon a man convicted of covering up a child sexual abuse case.

It was revealed last week President Novak had given clemency to a man jailed for forcing children to retract sexual abuse claims against a director of a state-run children's home.

Protests calling for her to step down had been growing in Hungary.

Ms Novak apologised and said she made "a mistake" in granting the pardon.

Judit Varga, the former minister of justice who approved the pardon, has also resigned from her new role leading the European elections campaign for Prime Minister Viktor Orban's ruling Fidesz party.

The controversy which led to the resignations came after the names of 25 people pardoned by Ms Novak in April last year, as part of a visit to Hungary by Pope Francis, were made public by Hungarian media last week.

On the list of convicts was the deputy director of a children's home near Budapest, who had been jailed for three years after forcing children to retract claims of abuse against the director of the home.

The director had himself been jailed for eight years over abusing children at the government-run facility.

Hungarian opposition parties and protesters had been demanding her resignation, but Ms Novak's decision to do so was as sudden as it was unexpected.

Ms Novak is a popular figure in Fidesz and a rare female politician in a male-dominated country. She is a key ally of Hungarian Mr Orban and previously worked as his family minister.

In 2022, she became the first woman to hold the largely ceremonial role of Hungarian president.

The case has unleashed an unprecedented political scandal for Hungary's long-serving nationalist government.

In particular, it caused deep embarrassment for Fidesz, which has made traditional family values the cornerstone of its social policy.

Speaking in an address live on television, Ms Novak said she granted the pardon in the belief the convicted man "did not exploit the vulnerability of the children under his oversight".

She apologised to victims who "might have felt that I did not stand up for them".

"I made a mistake, as the pardon and the lack of reasoning were conducive to triggering doubts about the zero tolerance that applies to paedophilia," Ms Novak added.

In addition to the resignation of Ms Novak, another leading female politician from Fidesz has also resigned over the same case.

Judit Varga, who was minister of justice at the time of the pardon, countersigned the clemency decision.

The double resignation of its two most prominent female politicians is a serious setback for Mr Orban and his party, with Ms Varga due to head the Fidesz list in the European elections in June.

[7-bcc-news-press]

Hungary quits IIB Bank after US sanctions

The Hungarian government decided to exit the Russia-controlled International Investment Bank (IIB) after the United States imposed sanctions on three senior officials of the financial institution. Russian nationals Nikolay Kosov, the bank's former chairman, Georgy Potapov, and Imre Laszloczki a Hungarian citizen, were named on the sanctions list.

Before Budapest's decision the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania have already quit or started the withdrawal process from the bank that is often referred to as Moscow's trojan horse' in the European Union.

US Ambassador David Pressman held a press conference on Wednesday where he announced the sanctions. "The presence of this opaque Kremlin platform in the heart of Hungary threatens the security and sovereignty of the Hungarian people, their European neighbors, and their NATO allies," Pressman said. “Unlike other NATO allies, Hungary has dismissed the concerns of the United States government regarding the risks its continued presence poses to the alliance,” the ambassador added.

Pentagon leaks: Orban called the U.S. one of his main adversaries

Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban was also mentioned in the recently leaked CIA assessment. Orban reportedly called the US one of the top three adversaries of his party. According to the leaked document the comment was made during a Fidesz parliamentary meeting in February. The leaked CIA document states that Orbán’s statement “constitutes an escalation of the level of anti-American rhetoric in his discourse.”

Relations between Washington and Budapest are tense, many because of Orban's close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Hungary was the only EU member state without an invite to US President Joe Biden's Summit for Democracy last month.

Hungary signs new energy deal with Russia 

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto signed new agreements in Moscow to ensure Hungary's continued access to Russian energy. The Hungarian FM met Russian Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Alexander Novak and Alexey Likhachev, chief executive of Rosato, AP reports. Szijjarto said Russian state energy company Gazprom had agreed to allow Hungary, if needed, to import quantities of natural gas beyond the amounts agreed to in a long-term contract that was amended last year.

Szijjarto is one of the only EU officials that have met Russian officials in Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine. “As long as the issue of energy supply is a physical issue and not a political or ideological one, like it or not, Russia and cooperation with Russia will remain crucial for Hungary’s energy security,” Hungary's top diplomat said.

Belarusian Foreign Minister holds talks with Szijjarto in Hungary

On Tuesday, Belarusian Foreign Minister Sergei Aleinik arrived in Hungary, to meet with Minister of Agriculture István Nagy and Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter Szijjarto. Szijjarto has just arrived back from Moscow where he sealed new energy deals with Russia, despite EU criticism. Alenik took part in an intergovernmental meeting where economic cooperation was discussed between the two countries.

In March the European Parliament adopted a resolution that underlines the importance of strengthening EU unity concerning Belarus, including the diplomatic isolation of the current regime. The resolution includes a paragraph on Szijjártó's recent trip to Minsk.

[mariacallous]

Hungary’s public prosecutor is in the spotlight after former Fidesz apparatchik-turned-critic Peter Magyar on Tuesday handed over a recording that appears to show his ex-wife, the former justice minister Judit Varga, discussing how high-ranking members of Viktor Orban’s government tampered with evidence in a major corruption case.

Evidence and suspicions of corruption surrounding the Fidesz government are not unusual during its almost 15 years in power, but whistleblowers from the inner circle of the ruling party like Magyar, who previously held positions in state-owned companies and comes from a notable conservative family, are rare.

Over the past two months, Magyar has emerged as a major critic of the government, especially of Orban’s éminence grise Antal Rogan, following the resignations of his ex-wife and the then-president Katalin Novak over their involvement in pardoning a man accused of covering up abuse at a children’s home in Budapest.

Since then, Magyar gave an interview to YouTube channel Partizan in mid-February in which he said “we must act if we do not want this country to become the holding company of a few families”, and then organised a rally of 80,000 people on March 15, Hungary’s national holiday, that far exceeded the crowd that the prime minister managed to gather for his speech. He also intends to launch a new party to challenge Fidesz and the opposition.

The latest evidence of corruption that Magyar posted on Facebook and also shared with prosecutors comes from a secretly recorded conversation at home with his then-wife Judit Varga in January 2023, who was justice minister at the time.

During the two-minute recording, a woman sounding like Varga reveals that members of the government had removed certain details from documents relating to a notorious corruption investigation into accusations that the former head of the Court Bailiffs organisation, Gyorgy Schadl, and the state secretary at the Justice Ministry, Pal Volner, took millions of forints in bribes over many years. Schadl was caught at Budapest airport in November 2021 in the act of trying to flee with his wife and a bag stuffed full of cash.

The two men, who deny the charges, are due to stand trial and face years of imprisonment if found guilty.

Varga, who as minister was Volner’s boss at the time, says on the tape that the state secretary had been warned previously but was unwilling to stop his alleged criminal activities. She says that members of the government had suggested to prosecutors that certain details be removed from the documents, but that they had not done so completely.

Varga admits on the tape that the corruption case only came to light because the country’s chief prosecutor, Peter Polt, an ally of Prime Minister Orban, “was not in [full] control” of his office, which showed that the national prosecutor’s office still had a measure of independence.

Pro-government media have dismissed the tape as “nothing new”, while Varga responded on Facebook accusing her husband of domestic violence and intimidation. “I am shocked. He has been blackmailing me with this tape for a year. He made a secret tape in our house and now he is using it for political purposes… I was being terrorised and I said what he wanted,” she explained.

Orban has previously dismissed Magyar’s actions as a soap opera, which is consistent with his usual strategy to ignore embarrassing news in the hope that people will lose interest. The government’s narrative is to portray Magyar as a vengeful ex-husband who mistreated his wife in order to discredit him.

The latest revelations come during a week when the government is also having to deal with the fallout from revelations that former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro took refuge in the Hungarian embassy in Brasilia in February as he was being investigated for plotting a coup against the elected president, Lula da Silva.

The New York Times reported that Bolsonaro spent two days at the embassy after several of his aides had been arrested and his homes were raided.

Orban, a close ally of Bolsonaro, once called the former Brazilian president an “honest patriot” and told him to “keep fighting”.

The Hungarian ambassador was summoned to Brazil’s Foreign Ministry on Monday, but reportedly remained silent during the 20-minute meeting.

[sanguine-salvation]

@crimson--corvid is still missing...

A rolodex.

Really.

Not even their father, ever a man who fawned over the novelty of the obsolete, owned a rolodex. But thankfully, Rauirí did. Because he surely did not leave a phone behind. There had been only one name that caught their eye, the others being too familiar, and this one having been left on display. Ruairí never could remember numbers.

NOVAK.

But as if this was not an utterly exhausting moment to be existing through already, the business card lead to of, course, The Coastal.

Their stomach sank, their skin bristled, but their legs pressed on. They couldn't be gone too long, they would not leave Roxxy yet. They had an oath to fulfill before they would...

could...

"Shh." Viktor hissed at themself and pushed past the doors without even minding the guard, damned near shoving them aside to do so. Though, given they were still limping obviously, having barely been patched up and only slightly rested since the battle, they looked a lot less like a patron than most.

Every inch of their body went stiff as stone as they were bombarded with the only sounds that clashed with the deafening mumbling of voices and memories in their head. Slots and card games, a dull drone of apathetically bouncy music, the clinking of glass. They recoiled harshly at a plume of cheap cigarette smoke, and peeled off towards the edge of the room as a flush of unwanted sensation clung to them like a tepid, acidic slime.

It was worth it. For Ruairí. Something was wrong and they. would. know. Where was he. He would not have left Roxxy.

They trudged past the memories pulling at their legs from the floor, clinging to the screams and pain to actually wash away the knowledge of what tables they had sat at and which ones they had won or lost at, until they found the table they were looking for. A table... they'd been... at before...

The shock wore off, and Viktor slammed their hands onto the table. Chips scattered in play, drink glasses rattled, and several of the gamblers lean away in panic. Viktor had touched this table before. They sat at that seat. They remembered their hand. Four of a kind, 3's and an ace. The thrill in their heart and the breath in their lungs as they watched the others fold one after the other after the other until—

"You." They narrowed their eyes at the man at the head of the table, the features of his face carved so deeply into their mind that it made their stomach flip and shortened their temper all the more. They snarled as someone tried to push them back, simply slamming their elbow back into the hand and not once losing focus on Novak's eyes.

"We. have. business."