#but we are two of the biggest clowns known to man

[wcnderlnds]

logging on to twitter and seeing all the rumours evan is in the new agatha ep later. i’m ready to clown once again.

[jay-whyy]

Comprehending Nikolai Gogol; The True King

Regarding Nikolai' Gogol within Bungo Stray Sogs…

Incoming character analyzation which was inspired by my comments of a quiz on Quotev. Here's something: I may have developed a unique perspective on Nikolai's character.

Nikolai is perceived as a clown through and through. However, one of the biggest points in his personality is his longing for freedom.

For this, we need to define his version of "freedom", because from what I've observed, it's rather unusual.

Nikolai is unique in terms of his dynamic with Fyodor Dostoevsky. Why does he choose to be with Fyodor? What is his purpose in serving Fyodor?

To me, it simply doesn't make sense. Fyodor appears to be restricting Nikolai, as a result of Fyodor's very own ideologies binding him to his restrictive humanity. Nikolai standing by Fyodor, it's hardly freedom.

And, let's not forget that his clown persona is a mask. Similar to Dazai, Nikolai wears a mask to conceal his true self. Thus, we raise the question: What purpose does Nikolai's mask serve?

I believe that the mask conceals something. Like how Dazai has multiple personas to protect his vulnerability, Nikolai wears a mask to protect something.

So here, I've got word, from well, myself.

It hides his intelligence.

Nikolai is an intelligent man, capable of serving Fyodor, known as one of the two Kings of one of the Chessboards in Bungo Stray Dogs.

With that being said, understand this: A royal attendant must be able to satisfy the King's needs.

Fyodor requires those who are capable enough to fulfill his tasks, meaning the intelligent. Nikolai is, naturally, capable. From this, we can conclude that he is more than what he lets on, and Fyodor knows this.

Then, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to say that Fyodor keeps Nikolai by his side, in order to control him even better, no?

This hints at Nikolai's true definition of "freedom", and we're almost concluding.

With Nikolai's intelligence, he is clearly aware of Fyodor's blatant attempts to control him. Yet, he continuously abides by the words of Fyodor. Why is this the case?

From my own experience, let me tell you this: When you've been controller for a long, long time, you grow to despise your role.

You wonder when your rule over your chessboard ends, you wish to break free.

Doesn't that sound like Nikolai?

He purposefully plays himself into the hands of Fyodor, letting Fyodor pull his strings as if he was a marionette.

Through this, he doesn't have to work as a manipulator anymore.

He sits back and allows strings to tug him into position, leaving his every move up to Fyodor's control.

And if he is controlled, he no longer needs to control.

Essentially, he breaks away from his control over the chessboard, detaching himself from his mind that only knows to manipulate.

Fyodor is his controller, he escapes through Fyodor. Yet, he's so much more than Fyodor is, logically and emotionally intelligent like a court jester.

In exchange for freedom, Nikolai serves the King.

Am I so wrong, to see that in Nikolai?

Nikolai sees freedom in being controlled by Fyodor.

[jae-bummer]

Good Hair Day

Request: For your request prompts, would you please do a Soulmate AU with Hoshi from Seventeen? I don’t find very many fluffy, happy Hoshi stories. That man has such beautiful eyes and I LOVE when he has plushy cheeks! It makes me want to give him a kiss and a cuddle. I was also very impressed with his humble attitude and manners when he was on Suga’s Suchwita episode. Sorry for rambling and thanks in advance. 😋

Prompt:

11) Soulmate AU

If you dye your hair, your soulmate's hair color changes as well.

Pairing: Seventeen Hoshi x Reader

Genre: Fluff

.

It was only 6 AM when Hoshi was forced to roll out of bed for his schedule. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he eased himself from his warm blankets and made his way toward the bathroom.

"Nice hair," Coups laughed, emerging into the hallway at the same time Hoshi stepped from his room.

Headed in the opposite direction, Hoshi stumbled into the older member and grumbled a sleepy "shut up."

So what if his morning hair was a nightmare? That was the case for almost every single one of the guys in this group (Seungcheol included). All he had to do was throw on a hoodie and patiently wait for his turn in the stylist's chair.

Shouldering his way into the bathroom, Hoshi stood before the sink and groaned.

Not again.

Blinking hazily at his own reflection, he plopped his forehead against the cool surface. Out of all days, why did his soulmate pick TODAY to go cotton candy pink?

..

"Seize the day!" you cackled, smoothing on another layer of hair dye.

"You are unhinged," your best friend, Ash, laughed from her spot on the toilet lid. "And I kind of like it."

"This person," you continued slowly. "Has been dying their hair nearly every other month since I've known them."

"Well, you don't know them," Ash interrupted. "But go on."

"Oh, I know them alright," you muttered.

For what had been the better part of the last ten years, your hair color had changed as often as the weather. You were responsible for approximately two of those changes, and they were both out of necessity. Job interviews were a mandatory life occasion, and your soulmate would have to get over having brown hair for a few months. Mint green would not be getting either of you hired anytime soon.

Which made you wonder, what exactly did your soulmate do for a living? How did they get away with having such vibrant fashion colors in everyday life? Why did your soulmate seem to have the biggest commitment issues with something as simple as hair?

"I'm only giving them a taste of their own medicine," you sighed, finally setting down the tinting brush. Examining your work, you nodded in satisfaction. "Let's see how their boss reacts to this when they wake up tomorrow."

"Maybe they're a hairdresser?" Ash theorized as she watched your slow decent into madness. "Oooh, or maybe a clown for children's parties?"

"A clown?" you cringed. "I like your enthusiasm, but could we go for something more..."

"Aspirational?" she laughed. "Sure, Y/N. Maybe they're a famous musician and after you meet them, you won't have to worry about anything besides ugly hair colors ever again."

"If they were famous, I would have clocked them by now," you grumbled. "I haven't seen Harry Styles walking around with fire engine red hair."

"You haven't seen Harry Styles walking around in general," Ash laughed. "Give yourself, and your soulmate, the benefit of the doubt."

...

"I need an adult!" Hoshi screeched across the dorm. The sun had hardly risen, and he was already launching into panic mode. "Like an adultier adult! Someone who has a much better handle on adult life and adult problems!"

"It doesn't take much," Jeonghan croaked. Collapsing onto the couch, he rubbed at his eyes before glancing up at the pacing Hoshi. "Holy shit, have you ever seen the Trolls movie? Because your head-"

Hoshi stopped his pacing and pointed an accusatory finger at his member. "I am very sensitive right now. Choose your words carefully."

Jeonghan leveled a stare in his direction. "Fine. If I don't have something nice to say, I won't say anything at all."

"Well, we both know that's a lie," Hoshi muttered as he went back to pacing. "What do I do? How do I fix this?"

"Alright first, I need you to calm down," Jeonghan nodded. "Second, I'd like you to make me a cup of coffee."

Throwing a dirty look over his shoulder, Hoshi continued to stomp back and forth.

"Fine," Jeonghan groaned. "Get me my wallet."

"Why am I going to get your wallet?" Hoshi argued. "What is your wallet going to do for the disaster on my head? We have a shoot today and the concept is going to be ruined and it's going to be all my-"

"If you stopped to take a breath," Jeonghan interrupted. "I would tell you that I have a business card inside said wallet. On that business card is the information for a very talented hairdresser who takes hair emergencies very seriously."

Dropping to his knees, Hoshi clasped his hands together. "You are not the hero I deserve, but a hero nonetheless."

"I'm pretty sure that's not how the quote goes, and I'm mildly offended for some reason?" Jeonghan said, narrowing his eyes.

Already up and rummaging through Jeonghan's wallet, Hoshi yanked out the business card. "I owe you one."

"I'll take that one and use it for a coffee," Jeonghan nodded. "The hair can wait."

....

Strolling down the street, you felt a new sense of freedom wash over you. Your hair had been nearly every color under the rainbow (including the pink you were currently rocking) but nothing had ever felt as good as this. It wasn't as if you had something against your soulmate, it was quite the opposite. You were excited to meet them, whoever they were, but you also wanted them to be surprised by you for once.

Humming to yourself, you decided at the last minute to veer toward a cafe you spotted across the road. For such an adventurous new day, you deserved a little treat.

Just as you began to step off the sidewalk, someone walking in the opposite direction slammed into you.

"Hey!" you yelled, tumbling away from your assailant.

"Shit!" the stranger gasped, immediately leaning down to help you up from the sidewalk. "I was so distracted; I didn't see you coming. I'm so-"

Furrowing your brows, you looked up at the man who was now leaning over you. He was extremely handsome, albeit dressed oddly for the warm spring weather. He wore a black hoodie with the drawstrings pulled as tightly as possible around his angular face. You studied his features for a moment, trying to figure out exactly what was familiar about him.

As your eyes met, he paused and had suddenly gone still. No longer focused on helping you up, it looked as if his mind had gone somewhere a million miles away.

"Uh, hello?" you asked, waving your hand in front of his face. "Random stranger? Helping me off the ground? Did you glitch?"

"Your hair," he chirped. "When did you dye it?"

You could only blink in response as his question sank into you.

"Look man," you said, finally finding your voice. With a few grumbles, you pushed yourself to your feet again and stared down the man who was acting much too odd for your liking. "I'm not sure what your problem is, but-"

Wordlessly, he continued to stare at you as he pulled down the tightened hood of his jacket.

Pink. So pink.

"I'm Hoshi," he said dumbly, a nervous smile playing across his lips. "And I think I need to sit down because I might pass out."

After a short discussion verifying when you had actually dyed your hair and a longer discussion based around your hair history, it was pretty much confirmed. It had taken a decade, but you had finally found each other.

"I never thought this day would happen," you admitted. You felt lightheaded and damn near giddy. It didn't matter if the two of you looked like bright pink idiots in the middle of the street. You had each other now.

"Me either," Hoshi breathed with equal amounts of shock. Seeming to come a bit more to his senses, a little crease formed between his brows. "Do you want to come with me?"

"Uh," you croaked, looking up at him in dismay. You still didn't really know him and didn't necessarily like how open ended his question was.

Shaking his head as if to correct himself, he smiled. "To the hairdresser. Do you want to come with me to the hairdresser?"

"The pink just not doing it for you?" you grinned.

Reaching up, Hoshi tugged playfully at one of your strands. "While I like the color," he nodded. "Very much. Like so much-"

"You don't have to explain!" you laughed. "I get it."

"No really, I love it. If I could be this color pink for the rest of my life-"

"Hoshi," you laughed, placing your hand in the air between the two of you.

"Okay, I have a semi-important work thing today and I need black hair," he smiled sheepishly. "Would you...maybe want to come with me?"

You pretended to think for a moment before nodding. "Of course I would."

"Great! I mean, totally, yeah," Hoshi stumbled awkwardly. "It's only a few blocks away, if you don't mind."

Watching Hoshi be so pleasantly overwhelmed warmed something inside of you. Nodding confidently to himself, he slid his palm into yours and laced your fingers together. "I'm holding my soulmate's hand."

"As am I," you confirmed, trying to ignore the heat rising up your neck.

"And now I'm walking with my soulmate to change OUR hair," he grinned. Glancing at you from his periphery, you could tell how your happiness egged him on. "Did you catch that, Y/N? We're going together to change our hair."

"I caught it, Hoshi," you laughed.

"And we get to do this forever," he said quietly, chancing a look your way. "Isn't that the coolest?"

"I honestly could not think of anything cooler."

[silveragelovechild]

When I saw the first John Wick movie, I actually liked it. It was a revenge movie (he’s after the Russian goons that killed his beloved puppy). Sure, it was ultra violent but the fight scenes were stylish and I t introduced some novel concepts like the Continental.

I saw a couple of the sequels, but they were just rinse-and repeat with less style and more death and mayhem.

This year Hollywood offered us two contenders for a piece of the pie that John Wick baked. The first was Monkey Man, written and directed by Dev Patel. It too involved revenged (the cop that killed his mother) and an endless line of thugs for him to kill. The twist? He was aided by a transgender hijra community!

This week we got Boy Kills World starring Bill Skarsgård (famous as Pennywise the Dancing Clown in Stephen King’s It). He’s out for revenge too - the evil dictator who killed his mother and sister. The twist in this epic is that it’s a comedy. That is, if you find an endless line of thugs and innocent bystanders getting slaughtered is funny.

Skarsgård plays an unnamed Boy who survived a firing squad. He’s trained (and tortured) by a Shaman who wants him to kill the people that killed his mom & sister. The shaman is always blowing hallucinogenic smoke in the boy’s face. This made me wonder how much of the story we’re seeing is real.

BTW, the boy is also deaf and mute. As he grows older he forgets the sound of his own voice, so he imagine to be like the announcer of his childhood favorite video game. So throughout the movie we hear his thoughts voiced by H. Jon Benjamin of Bob’s Burgers and Archer fame.

Anyway, like John Wick and Monkey Man before him, the Boy kills Thugs (or the World as the title suggests)… lots and lots of thugs. There is a major set piece towards the end set in a theater with a winter theme… snow, igloos, and snowmen. I think it’s suppose to be funny, it not.

Oh, I forgot to mention… throughout the movie, in between killing thugs, the boy sees a hallucination of his young sister. These scenes are the best in the movie. Actress Quinn Copeland does a good job in an R Rated movie that she’s too young to see.

Neither Boy Kills World or Monkey Man are as clicker as John Wick or even John Wick sequels. Boy Kills World’s biggest problem is that it doesn’t known when to end. There’s a point when you think the story is over, yet it introduces another long and bloody slugfest. And when that’s over, there’s yet another bloody and long slugfest. Enough already!

Boy Kills World does answer a few Hollywood Mysteries:

It shows the reason why Famke Janssen will not play Jean Gray in the post MCU/X-men movies. (She’s starting to look like Katherine Helmond in the movie Brazil.)

It’s explains what happens when your post Downton Abbey career fails. (I’m talking to you Michelle Dockery).

[thislovintime]

It’s not a Leap Year, but... remembering Davy Jones.

“Underneath his nasty exterior, Davy had a heart of gold. He’d always fight for what he wanted. I’d have to say he had the most feeling of any of the members of the group.” - Peter Tork, Sioux City Journal, January 1980 (x)

* * *

"[W]e’re playing to 18,000 screaming kids and Davy’s banging on the tambourine and he comes waltzing over to me right in the middle of this wonderful thing and he yells, ‘We’re gonna form a group!’ Which is why I love Davy Jones, because he noticed and he knew what it was about.” - Peter Tork, Hey, Hey, We’re The Monkees (1996) (x)

* * *

Peter Tork: "Davy’s extraordinarily funny.” Q: “Is he?” PT: “He’s said things — and quite deep sometimes, too. David has, he’s got some insights.” - GOLD 104.5, 1999 (x)

* * *

Q: “Which of the Monkees are you closest to?" Tork: “It's different with each. [Micky]'s the best pal, but my heart connection is biggest with Davy. Davy is capable of as much heart as anyone I've ever met. I kind of had a crush on Davy for a while.” Q: “That's sweet. Maybe it will work out for you two some day.” Tork: “Maybe. We'd have to talk to our respective girlfriends about that.” - St. Petersburg Times, June 23, 2000

* * *

Peter Tork: "Davy, for all of his virtues and glories, was very much into British music hall. Given his head, he would do nothing but ‘I’m Henry the VIII, I Am.’ I mean, not that he did that song, but that’s the kind of music that he would do, in spite of the fact that Davy could rock like nobody’s business. [At one point] Davy [did a version of] ‘Hippy Hippy Shake’ and nailed it! It just wasn’t what he wanted to do.” Q: “I think that demonstrates the dynamic of what each member brings to a band and to a situation and how they contribute things but are also there to tell you to pull back where necessary or encourage you to go further.” PT: “I’m only sorry that we didn’t do more of that by a huge amount. I only now have, in the last couple of years, come to understand how smart and good-hearted Davy Jones could be. I did not have the skills to notice that, even though I was drawn to it without knowing exactly why. But I certainly did not have the first clue of how to encourage all of the good stuff from Davy that I loved. I wish I could have known how to do it - and he might still be with us, even.” - Las Vegas Weekly, September 14, 2016 (x)

* * *

Clowning around at The Monkees' London press conference on June 29, 1967.

* * *

Peter with Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart in 1976, and in 1977.

* * *

From The Monkees' Solid Gold interview in 1986.

* * *

Peter Tork: “(quietly) Yeah, I really hit him once.” Q: “You feel badly about this?” PT: “I sure do. My conscience was stricken for years. (perks up) Of course, the little sucker hit me first.” - 2000 The fight, in quotes and audio.

* * *

“Jones has a tremendous sense of fun.” - Peter Tork, The Post-Crescent, July 29, 2004

* * *

“When we first met, I was confronted with a slick, accomplished, young performer, vastly more experienced than I in the ways of show biz, and yes, I was intimidated. Englishness was at a high premium in my world, and his experience dwarfed my entertainer’s life as a hippie, basket-passing folk singer on the Greenwich Village coffee house circuit. If anything, I suppose I was selected for the cast of ‘The Monkees’ TV show partly as a rough-hewn counterpart to David’s sophistication. What stands out for me about David, however, were the several events through the years in which I came to see a man of extraordinary heart and sympathy. […] I felt this criticism [of The Monkees] keenly, coming as I did from the world of the ethical folk singer, basically honoring the standards of the naysayers.
We did play as a group live on tour, including a concert in Osaka, Japan, in 1968. There, in the middle of a performance of Mike Nesmith’s ‘Sunny Girlfriend,’ we hit the pocket. The beat fell into place, solid and grooving. Rock n roll was happening there for us on stage. David came bouncing over to me and yelled above the volume, ‘WE’RE GONNA FORM A GROUP!’ David’s sympathy for my feelings about the criticism, his musical awareness and his sense of humor buoyed me that day about as much as getting into the groove. Later, when we four argued to be the musicians on our own albums, it was David’s agreement that provided the unanimity that made the difference. This was huge, actually; Micky and David came from an entirely different tradition. Actors sang on records made for them, and nobody thought twice about it. Folkies and rockers made their own albums!” - Peter Tork, Hartford Courant, March 6, 2012

* * *

Peter Tork: “Well, Davy’s always been a man of great talent and heart and I had just been hoping to work with him some more. He had such talent. He was probably the most talented of us all. He certainly had the best pitch and the best time. He should probably have been the drummer or the bass player of something. He should have been in the rhythm section. It’s kind of amazing – the two guys with the best time in the band weren’t in the rhythm section [laughs]. That was a little weird, looking back. And he was so able – there was just nothing he couldn’t do. I remember once in the middle of a tour, we said, ‘Well, we want to do this song, and we want to do it this way. But we’re missing a bass player. Davy, here’s a bass. Put your fingers here and pluck this string there.’ Next thing you knew, he was playing bass on stage like that night or two nights later or something. It was nothing major – he wasn’t popping strings and doing runs and fills, but he was laying down a bass and it was solid – it was solid. And that kind of ability is, I think, what I’m going to miss … what I’m sorriest to see go.” Q: “What was the last you had contact with him?” PT: “At the end of the last tour. We just said, ‘Goodbye, I’ll see you soon.’ I didn’t think I wouldn’t – partly because he was the youngest of us. That was too bad.” - LeHigh Valley Live, June 2012

* * *

“[Micky] and Mike and I have a very cordial relationship and share a lot of common topics. We go to lunch together when we're all in town and have a good time. I love and respect each of these guys in their own way, although the real joys that I shared with Davy were special. At one point we had some good hard connections but as the years rolled on, those things faded away. But I am sorry to see Davy go. He was the one member in the group that I had the strongest human connection with. I still have two guys that I love and respect left from the band, but we share a different dynamic.” - Peter Tork, Review Mag, May 27, 2016

* * *

“Davy adored performing, and adored meeting and greeting his fans. He was tireless in making himself available to sing a song, do a dance, shake a hand; whatever was asked. I had heart-to-heart moments with him that were among the best in my life. I was blessed to know and work closely with him. He was one in about 6 billion, give or take. We won’t see his like again. He left much too soon. I share your sadness. Thank you again for this chance to contribute. God bless and keep you all.” - Peter Tork in a note for a Pennsylvania memorial event for Davy, also shared via Peter’s official Facebook page, 2012

[invisibleicewands]

David Tennant, Michael Sheen had a hell of a good time making Good Omens season 2

n Good Omens season 1, Aziraphale and Crowley saved the world. Now, they might just have to save each other.

David Tennant and Michael Sheen return for a second season of the hit comedy, premiering July 28 on Prime Video. Originally, the show was only intended as a six-episode miniseries, adapted from Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's beloved 1990 novel. But before Pratchett's death in 2015, the two authors had brainstormed ideas for a potential follow-up — ideas that Gaiman later adapted into Good Omens season 2.  

Speaking to EW before the start of the SAG-AFTRA strike, Tennant and Sheen opened up about reprising their roles as everyone's favorite grumpy demon and fussy angel. Originally, both actors assumed the series would be one and done. But they became fast friends on set, and in between shots, they would chat with Gaiman about ideas for a potential season 2. Little by little, Tennant says, the second season "crept into existence."

"Neil would often tell stories of how him and Terry had dreamed of a sequel, and there were some ideas they kicked around that they never got to explore," Tennant, 52, tells EW. "But there was no sense initially that would actually bear fruit."

"They even had a name for the sequel that never got written," Sheen, 54, adds. "It always used to make me laugh so much because the name they had come up with was 668: The Neighbor of the Beast."

Now, that second season is becoming a reality, once again centering on Aziraphale (Sheen) and Crowley (Tennant) as they find themselves in the middle of a celestial crisis. (Last time, they teamed up to help prevent the apocalypse. This time, they find themselves in the middle of an angelic mystery.) Season 1 took a deep dive into the pair's unlikely, millennia-spanning relationship, stretching from the Garden of Eden to Shakespearean England. Tennant and Sheen say that season 2 will go even deeper.

"That was one of the most exciting things, being able to explore that relationship," Sheen says. "It's the most simple relationship — and also the most complicated. On the simple side, they're two beings who love each other. On the complicated side, they're about as opposite as possible. So, there are all these obstacles to their relationship, both without and within."

Season 2 also sees the return of Jon Hamm's glowering archangel Gabriel — who appears suddenly at Aziraphale's bookshop, having entirely lost his memory. The Mad Men star gets to show off his comedic chops as the amnesiac Gabriel, puttering around the bookshop and smiling blankly. "He sort of became famous as this matinee idol, but I always think that Jon is naturally a clown," Tennant says of his costar. "He's a very funny, witty man, and he's got that comic sensibility."

"He's such an aficionado of not just American comedy, but British comedy as well," Sheen adds. "He knows the most obscure British comedy things. It's always ironic that the character that he became best known for and that brought him into the public eye was this very serious character, when everyone who knows him knows how funny he is."

Tennant and Sheen say perhaps the biggest surprise has been how fans have embraced their versions of Crowley and Aziraphale. Tennant notes that Pratchett and Gaiman's book has been "beloved for decades," and while filming the first season, he felt "terror that we would break it." But about six months after the show premiered, he attended a fan convention, where he started to notice a heavenly trend.

"I've been to Comic-Cons over the years, and I often meet people dressed up as a character I played on the BBC — and I still do," Tennant explains. "But increasingly, I was meeting people dressed up as Crowley and Aziraphale. And one of the loveliest things is that you always meet pairs. You don't really meet someone dressed as an Aziraphale, or somebody dressed as a Crowley. You meet an Aziraphale and Crowley. They always seem to come in twos."

"You started to see people reacting to it online, and people starting to respond with their own artwork and their own fan fiction, and you saw it all starting to blossom and grow," Sheen marvels. "I'd never experienced anything like that before. David, of course, had gone through the whole Doctor Who experience, but it really blew me away."

Season 2 relocated filming to Bathgate, Scotland — about a mile from the hospital Tennant was born in, he notes with a laugh. The new cast includes Quelin Sepulveda as a newbie angel named Muriel, Maggie Service as a local record shop owner, and Nina Sosanya as the proprietor of a local coffee shop. But Aziraphale and Crowley are the season's emotional heart, and much of the series will focus on their friendship — or might it be something more?

Returning for a second season also meant that Tennant and Sheen had to slip back into their otherworldly guises. Sheen was thrilled to be back in Aziraphale's bookshop, but how did Tennant feel about donning Crowley's contact lenses and wigs again?

"It's rarely a wig!" Tennant says with mock indignancy. "I mean, that's my hair a lot of the time! Obviously when it gets a bit longer, there are bits added in. But there was a lot of bleaching and dyeing going on before we started shooting. That was probably when I knew there was no going back, when I got the flame-red hair put back on my skull."

[o-kaythislooksbad]

ailesswhumptober day 10: self-worth issues / pushing away a loved one / "you don't need to earn this"

chapter 3 / 7 of i miss the way that i felt (nothing) | not rated, chose not to warn

"again!" the ringmaster's booming voice filled the tent. he didn't need to shout so loudly, not with the performers each sitting within a meter of him, but the ringmaster insisted on always making his presence and his role known to everyone. 

dick sighed as he straightened up, rolled his shoulders, and ascended the ladder to his platform. his parents remained on the ground, talking with the ringmaster; the combination of his sonorous voice and dick's above-average hearing ability made it easy for him to follow along.

"i tolerated it when he was little," the large man said, "when he could fit in the strongman's palm or stuck in the bearded lady's shirt where her breasts should be. he was a good prop before he could walk, but now…" he paused to point at the ladder. "we don't have much use for him."

"are you serious?"

"mary, please, the men are talking."

"john," mom's voice hardened, "you take his side, and you're sharing the lion's cage tonight." 

the ringmaster held up a hand to cover dad's mouth. "the flying graysons work as a duo, and the crowds love when you add in something to juggle while you work the trapeze, gives 'em more things to cheer for and gawk at when they don't shatter to the ground, but the kid - look, simply put, you've got what it takes to be here, and he don't."

dick remained on his perch, his eyes glued to the clowns on the opposite side of the tent and not on the net beneath him. 

the net, as well as the angry ringmaster, was all dick's fault. he's right, the flying graysons are a well-oiled machine of two, and a baby only mucks up the gears. the flying graysons are fearless, proud of their act and the distinct lack of safety measures in place, but dick is nothing but a frightened little kid. 

he practiced day and night, pushing his little body to its limit, and all of his hard work eventually paid off. dick even made it to the promo posters for the entire circus, not just the flyers of the flying graysons, and their family's success landed haly's circus a gig in gotham city.

"you better not be gettin' cold feet, kid," the human cannonball muttered. "we can't have you fuckin' this up for us."

mom pushed him away from dick before he could cause any more damage. "there's no point in telling you that this is the biggest show of the year," she said with her arms around his shoulders. "we all know that already. you're more than ready for this, aren't you, my little robin?"

"yes," dick mumbled in response, slowly believing it. mom never lied, and if she said he was ready, then he would be. 

dick had been so worried about the potential of hitting the ground, of losing his grip and making a mockery out of everyone, that he never considered the trapeze and ropes themselves to be a problem. he was so focused on the tightly packed dirt on the ground and the distance his legs would travel to hit it, if he couldn't hook his legs properly, that the possibility of anything else going wrong in the air never crossed his mind.

"again!" the bat's deep voice echoed off the cave's walls. he didn't need to raise his voice, not with the ways the rock formations provided natural amplification, but the batman insisted on always making his presence and his role known to anyone who may be lurking in the shadows. 

dick sighed as he stood up from his crouch. he did a few toe raises and stretched his arms before returning to the start of the obstacle course. it would be pointless to protest that he already ran the damn thing four times and only got hit once, because one mistake was enough to destroy everything. 

the thought caught him off guard, causing dick to stumble before he made it past the first set of knives - why anyone would need to learn how to dodge multiple sets of knives in between stopping carjackers, dick would never know - and fall face-first into the edge of a tractor tire. 

"again! back to the start, rob-"

"sir, if i may be so bold," alfred's sharp voice interrupted the bat's. 

dick held his breath, frozen in place. had he been so distracted that he didn't notice alfred's arrival? rule number one of living with batman was that the cave belonged to the bat, while the rest of the grounds belonged to bruce and were maintained by alfred. the butler who wore a thousand hats had sighed deeply upon his master returning from the circus with a child in tow, set down a firm boundary that while the young master may be, as an extension of bruce, alfred's charge in the manor, what the bat chose to do with the fledgling was his own business. alfred in the batcave was a bad sign; alfred speaking over batman in the batcave could only mean one thing.

"please," dick whispered. "i'll do better, i'll be better, i promise." 

alfred's sharp steps quickly crossed the room, but dick didn't dare to look up. he could handle being berated and dismissed by the bat or by bruce - neither of them, despite saying they wanted him, seemed to know how to translate those desires into concrete actions - but not by the butler. alfred never wasted his words and was much too kind to sugarcoat anything, and dick would absolutely break if the man calmly kicked him out with the same tone he would use to inform him of the night's dinner menu.  

"up you get, master richard," alfred said, extending a perfectly manicured hand. "you have spent rather too much time in this musty room."

there was no way dick could accept alfred's hand, not with the motor oil and sweat sticking to his fingers. there was no way dick could accept alfred's words, not with the way batman's glare burned the back of his head. 

"master bruce is not foolish enough to try challenging me." alfred's confidence, unlike bruce's, genuinely affected dick. physically, bruce had the advantage, but alfred's words rang true; the younger man wouldn't dare raise a hand or his voice against his adoptive father. "you may not realize it, but the two of you missed supper as well as lunch, and that is unacceptable."

that night, tucked into a bed much too large for him, after a bath in an equally large tub, dick replayed the day's events in his mind over and over again. he had to know where he'd misstepped - literally, during the training course, as well as socially, cutting in between alfred and bruce's tense relationship - and where to course-correct. he couldn't afford to make yet another mistake without another safety net beneath him. 

"all right, take fifteen!" dick's steady voice fills the main gym. he has no need to yell, not when the kids are all within earshot, but he's always mindful of the ways his tone may be interpreted. he lets himself smile and let out a small sigh of relief at the way the kids enthusiastically remove their boxing gloves without complaint, already turning the conversation towards whether they should have a video game competition or movie night after training. 

"we'd better go with them," kory says, nudging dick, "before fifteen minutes turns into thirty and they're glued to the couches."

"would that be so bad?" dick surprises himself, turning to press himself closer to kory. "let them have their fun; they've certainly earned it."

kory's eyes sparkle. "and we can make our own fun here. you don't need to earn this," she whispers into his ear.

[stemmmm]

i hate these young lovers, beato kill these clowns neow

episode 1 thread here

OH NO THIS IS A FLASHBACK AND WE'RE SPECIFICALLY FOCUSING ON THESE TWO? NO............

well at least there's beato about it... i must survive on her alone...

kanon confirmed aro/ace king tho. we aren't human, we can't know love? sure man sure.

are you seriously gonna make a big deal out of jessica having a guitar and then play a song that couldn't even dream of having guitar in it?

so we're doing the trope of telling the servant there's a whole big world out there, don't you want to be freeeee? which.... in this particular instance i suppose works a little because these two kids had firmly accepted this was their life forever and previously had no interest in fighting back at all but. god this trope sucks donkey ass. god i hate anything with servants in it, it exclusively goes bad.

"you, with no money or power or ability, denied even a basic education, have decided that this is just your fate and have given up! but I, who has only ever known wealth and has been set up for success at every turn can see that my fate is something to bend to my will!" girl,,, yeah if someone just stops calling themselves furniture that fixes everything and there's no outside factors. yeah. like i get this is a metaphor being told via an absurd story but i simply must gripe ! i simply must gripe knowing that as a teenager i would have been the biggest kanon kinnie (no connection to his reality beyond general moodiness ofc) and ate this shit up!

kanon! create a version of yourself that you truly like, under your own name! kanon! trans your gender!

i get the sense from beatrice that her heart was deeply broken so that's why she wants to watch other people suffer heartbreak.

oh no how terrible for rosa, beating the shit out of your child and screaming at her in public makes such a tense environment :(((((

oh wow this story is actually going hard on the double identities/personalities with everyone huh! maria was a good entrance point with the creepy shit but now we're getting it with everyone in some way or another

hmmmm! ok so it seems like this isn't a proper loop, we're still in the golden land with beatrice and battler watching everything go on as outsiders, but things ARE different. will the deaths be different? surely? regardless, it's very fun! feels like a very grand and exciting way to kick things off again!

[biosurvive]

random documented death island thoughts under the cut!

First of all, as a whole I enjoyed it, it was a campy mess and I'm always down to clown with that. I also enjoyed seeing all five of those characters together, I love them.

My biggest issues? The implications that Jill doesn't know who Piers was. The idea that Jill didn't know the man Chris was partnered with for YEARS is INSANE to me and I refuse to acknowledge that. Jill is his person, he talks to her about everything and she would have known Piers.

I also am not too fond of Chris having to explain sacrifice to Jill when she tackled Wesker out a window to save him. Though I'm also not too upset about it, because Chris loves to get on his soapbox about speeches so that is pretty IC for him. He's dense at times, we allow this.

The fact that they mentioned Piers at all has my heart SOARING. it wasn't a lot, but the sad music in the bg and Kevin Dorman's voice acting just makes me even more positive that Chris is queer.

Rebecca and Claire's moments were lowkey my favorite part? Love them.

Chris and Claire did seem a little... stifled together. I blame it on the writing, but there were parts of them that I loved. Chris calling her name when they were in the cells, his hand on her back when they both got infected. Those are my Redfield siblings and I love any and all interactions with them no matter how awkward.

The main villain was so gay for that one soldier he had to kill. "Friend" Yeah right FIUYDHJKF

Jill was spicy, glad she got a lot of moments to shine and I hope this is a sign she'll be the main protagonist of the next game.

Hearing classic Hunnigan was a nice touch.

Maria Gomez is camp and I need her in Marvel vs Capcom 5

Chris was looking REAL SUPER THICC in this movie and I appreciate that. Love my big boy.

CHRIS AND JILL'S FIST BUMP AT THE END MADE ANYTHING THAT SUCKED ABOUT THIS MOVIE WORTH IT. Further cementing that these two are BEST FRIENDS, PLATONIC SOULMATES, PARTNERS. I will never hear anything else about it, the love they have for one another is real and it is not romantic.

Anyways, RE9 is gonna be about Jill and Sheva taking down the BSAA with Chris as support and Chris is gonna find Piers in a lab and he's gonna retire with him and help train Baby Rose and he'll live happily ever after. Thanks!

Also Chris and Leon putting that gun together was both camp and hilarious. I think they fucked after this movie.

Funniest part was Claire's very angry "WHAT?!" when Leon called her name over the battle. She sounded so done with today UYSGHFJ she's so real.

Dylan just posting a call out post about Leon/Chris/Claire/Jill but verbally is really funny. He really got their asses huh UHYDGFJK

[thelasttime]

okay so the TL;DR is I’m thinking about buying Eras Tour London tickets for me and my… situationship (for lack of a better term)

full background: he has been my best friend for the last five years and we go through phases where the boundaries of our friendship are… blurry. I’m hopelessly in love with him but I’ve never really known how he feels about me, and it’s also complicated by the fact that even though I can’t shake my attachment to him, I know that even if he declared his love for me, it wouldn’t work because we don’t want the same things in a life partner, in our future, etc. fast forward to last month when my grandma dies and I find out she left me a surprisingly large sum of money. I’m going to be smart and use the VAST majority of it to pay off my student loans, make good investments, etc. but tbh I’ve had a really hard summer and feel like I deserve to treat myself a little and I’ve really wanted to go to London and while I was lucky enough to see Eras (in Nashville!) I had obstructed view nosebleeds and would love to see the show again with a better view. however, I don’t really want to go alone, and this male friend of mine was really sad he couldn’t get Eras tickets the first time around. BUT if I wanted to bring him with me to the London show, I would definitely have to pay his way.

major pro: he is definitely the biggest Swiftie in my life, and I want to go with someone who would bring the same Feral Swiftie energy as me (even my friends that I went with in Nash don’t love Taylor like he does). So I know we would have a really good time. And blurry boundaries aside, he’s been a really good and steadfast friend to me, and I would love to do something really nice for him to thank him for putting up with all of my grad school menty bs that I’ve had in the last two years.

obvious con: this is such fucking SIMP BEHAVIOR I feel like our Lord and Savior Greta Gerwig did not give us the Barbie movie just so I could spend my INHERITANCE on some MAN who doesn’t even have the balls to tell me how he really feels about me. when my friends find out what I’ve done they will CLOWN ME and I will DESERVE IT.

anyways sorry this was so long but would love your thoughts on whether or not I should do it aldjfkladjfdsa;paekr

oh lawrd 😭😭😭 gut is telling me no to be honest bestie ……….. note that i am incredibly jaded about situationships and having unrequited crushes on people who don’t deserve my love, but i can foresee a future where things Could Get Weird if anything happens and then you have this memory of eras tour with him in it … just my two cents but that’s also because i would rather bring a platonic bestie so we can plan our outfits and dance together wildly

[spellbook-gayboy]

Cape-Watch Monthly Bulletin- February 2023

Hey, y’all! I’m your host, Christina Cabello, bringing you more of the biggest superhero news of the month with the Cape-Watch Monthly Bulletin! February has brought many new developments for our favourite heroes, and we have some of the biggest stories of the month waiting for you below the cut!

Visitors from Far Beyond!

Our first story on the list is quite the shocker! Earlier this month, in the aftermath of their victory against the Walking Dread, the Guardians of the Globe received a visit from quite the strange group of visitors. They were a team of both humanoid and non-humanoid aliens, who claimed to be heroes from the distant future called ‘The Guardians of the Cosmos’, apparently the best superheroes of the 31st Century. Little is known of the nature of their visit to the present, but the Guardians of the Globe accompanied them, and haven’t been since. 

Their absence naturally has caused some problems. After all, when the world’s premier superhero team suddenly vanishes off the face of the Earth, it tends to give the many supervillains of the world some ideas. Luckily, the recently assembled team of Breakthrough has been able to pick up much of the Guardians’ slack, dealing with all manner of supervillain threats over the two-week period that the Guardians were absent for. As stated by Breakthrough team leader Frontline, ‘it’s been a hell of a time for the team. We’ve been darting from country to country almost every day, and we’re completely worn down! Still, it gave us all a chance to test our mettle as a team and as individuals. Now that the Guardians are back, we’ll be taking some much needed R&R, but rest assured that Breakthrough will be back soon!’

While much of the group that approached the Guardians currently remains unknown to the public, several pieces of information managed to escape the media blackout and circulated through social media: as it turns out, this is not the first time that this mysterious group has been sighted. The first recorded instance that matches the description of the group goes all the way back to the summer of 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico. For the readers who aren’t aware of what this means, the ‘Roswell Incident’ is believed to be a precursor event to the infamous 1952 Wilmington Invasion, the first time that Earth became the target of a full-blown alien invasion. The account came from a local journalist dealing with the events in Roswell, who on one night described ‘a strange yellow bubble hovering in the air’ outside his apartment, from which he claims emerged ‘a whole host of strange and unknown creatures, some more humanoid with distinguishable limbs and organs, and others that defy description.’ 

Well, let’s hope that the next sighting doesn’t make me do research that’s quite as nightmare-inducing. 

Hold Your Loved Ones Close

Now, considering that it is indeed the month of February, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention possibly the biggest celebrations of the month, Valentine’s Day. As well as its obvious global recognition, the celebration has also found a special place in the hearts of the world’s many superhero communities, a short respite from the many stressful and potentially catastrophic days that most heroes face. It also provides an opportunity for them to renew their commitments to others, forge new relationships, and look back on those they’ve lost, and this year has been no exception, with many showing their affection for those they hold close. 

As they usually do, Capes Incorporated waded in on the hype around the day, taking to Twitter to show off the many happy couples among their employees, including the newest addition Magic Man, who also happens to be the only visibly LGBTQ+ member on the US branch’s staff. As you might imagine, Twitter responded by clowning on the thread. Another notable example is the Guardians of the Globe’s entire line-up, which consists of at least two non-heterosexual romances (Shrinking Rae and Dupli-Kate’s relationship and Rex Splode’s relationship with solo hero Invincible), as well as whatever the hell is going on between Shapesmith and Fifth Force. Finally, we also have what many have called ‘the world’s most famous queerplatonic relationship’ between the Argentinian heroes Devastador and Lob del Valle, who spent the day showcasing the many ways that they choose to celebrate their rather unique partnership. 

Finally, one last example of someone who has found love in the superhero community is... me! That’s right, dear viewers, I am now the proud girlfriend of one of America’s finest! While I can’t say anymore in order to keep the both of us safe (or about as safe as a superhero and a superhero journalist can be), just know that she is the absolute light of my life, and that I wouldn’t trade her for the world! 

The New(er) Guy

While on this subject, the Guardians of the Globe also welcomed yet another new member to their line-up this month with the relatively new American superhero Bulletproof. This announcement actually proved quite confusing to many both inside and outside of the superhero community of America, mainly due to the decision to pick such a new starter. In fact, Bulletproof’s career thus far is still much shorter than the last notable newcomer, Kid Omni-Man, who began last August. The only explanation for this new choice of member came from Guardians team leader The Immortal, who had this to say:

‘Of course, I understand why this decision might shock some people. For decades, the Guardians of the Globe has been associated with the cream of the crop, the best that Earth has to offer, far from a starter team. But as someone who all too well what the original aims of the Guardians were, I know the importance of nurturing new figures as well as developing the existing roster. I think that Bulletproof has a lot of untapped potential, and that the Guardians is the perfect place for him to really grow as a hero!”

In accordance with his short career, Bulletproof’s media presence has also been sparse and uninteresting up to this point, mostly tourist shots and pictures of some homemade pieces of very suggestive artwork. For now, he doesn’t seem to match the often larger-than-life reputation of his peers, but that can easily change with enough time. I wish him luck, especially with how difficult life as a Guardian can be. 

Trouble on the Tides

Our final story for the month is actually quite peculiar. Last week, while on an apparent mission off the coast of Chile, the superhero team known as Fight Force mysteriously vanished without a trace. The team of supers was last spotted somewhere in the vicinity of the city of La Serena, where they were documented by locals responding to a distress call from a cargo ship. What is most concerning is that despite how routine a situation like this should be, it still resulted in the disappearance of all five members. The government liaison to the superhero community, Peter Schlottman, gave this statement in response to the news:

‘While an event like this is certainly unusual and does arouse a great deal of suspicion regarding the wellbeing of Fight Force’s members, the American people can rest assured knowing that whatever may happen next, they can trust in the abilities of Fight Force. They are some of the United States’ finest heroes, and I have every confidence that they will be back in the public eye soon enough.’

Most of the time, I’d take his word for it, but a few anonymous sources close to Fight Force have suggested otherwise. If what they say is to be believed, then the situation may be much more dire: when they disappeared, Fight Force was apparently investigating the appearance of a strange tropical storm that had was holding the cargo ship in place, something which shouldn’t be meteorogically possible according to all known laws of physics and weather. Whatever turns out to be true, here’s to hoping that Fight Force makes it out alright. 

And that’s all for this month, folks! Once again, I’d like to give a big thank you to all our subscribers and donors, who keep the lights on around here! This has been your host, Christina Cabello, telling you to stay safe, stay hydrated, and tune in next month for more of the biggest superhero stories around!

[imperial-nuisance-rudje]

I have had people responding to a Twitter post I made acting like I am either oblivious to what has happened in-text or that I want Zenos to be not an asshole and it makes me want to shake them

(Spoilery ranting about EW things under the cut)

I made that post bc I think the plot twist with Zero is fucking boring! It strips potential complexity and Good Drama from her and the rest of the writing either doesn't go into it enough (because let's be real she is weirdly chill with having her will stripped away from her) or doesn't acknowledge that Fandanny is very much the reason Zenos had the ability to do that in the first place (at least in English, I know fandanny gets mentioned more in other translations (which, can we discuss how fucking weird it is that the clown, a major antagonist for EW, is being glossed over this hard in favor of Zenos, who was for much of 6.0 a glorified side character despite his buildup in 5.x? I fucking hate it, on both counts))! Having the contract be mutual and having Zenos just be the shittiest client known to Voidsent is just way more interesting for everyone involved, because he's still a trash man but in a way that isn't boring stereotypied villain behavior that sends me to sleep and it means the Scions have to grapple with Zero knowingly harming people even if she had no malice behind it!

Like, I'm already not happy that Zero seems to be heading down the path of either having all her interesting traits sanded off to make her more universally appealing or getting the axe (I think the former is more likely due to the power of being in marketing material, but who knows given that this is the ff4 expac and Zeromus is a thing/historical problems 14 has had with introducing characters to kill them off the same expac), but that one thing in particular (combined with making her a normal person, fuck you guys I wanted a fucked up monster girl, I am aware of the writing justification for it and i think it is the realm of COWARDS) I think should have been a warning for how they would handle her and it displeases me that she's going down the way that signaled in the end, especially since a lot of the other Scions have had the sanding issue happen to them as well.

Idk, I just get annoyed when people see a very specific complaint and think it means "oh we want our villain woobified" instead of "I have found many aspects of how they handled these two narratively dissatisfying and it's only gotten worse with time, here is my take on probably the biggest with the most knock-on problems", or that it means I'm being misogynist about zero when my frustration with zero is that the writers keep swerving away from narrative complexity with her and have consistently chosen to not offer any novel insight to Zenos with her criticisms of him—"Zenos bad" is boring and uninteresting after the first time (where it at least gives info about Zero herself) and the English translation veering away from 6.3's "Zenos and Fandaniel are very alike in how they perceive the world" in favor of more "Zenos bad" is particularly frustrating bc it removes relatively novel info about why they could have been drawn to work with each other for no reason except a Zenos hateboner, as far as I can tell (literally, Fandaniel gets a full namedrop in every other version of that line, it's not like the translators didn't know he was included).

Turns out when you strongly bind two characters together, boring choices for one tends to negatively affect the other too! God. I'm just, so tired of people deliberately reading my fucking lukewarm at most "character writing in 6.x suffers from the scale it is trying to handle in the space it is given" takes in the most negative fashion possible.

[ncisfranchise-source]

NCIS actor Sean Murray, who has played Senior Field Agent Timothy McGee since the CBS drama’s first season, has been dishing out some fun awards for his fellow castmates.

Murray spoke with People ahead of the show’s milestone 1000th episode, which airs tonight, Monday, April 15, and, in celebration, he gave his co-stars some classic yearbook superlatives.

When asked for NCIS‘ “biggest class clown,” Murray laughed and said, “My brother, Mr. Wilmer Valderrama.”

“He’s a steady stream of hilariousness for myself and many others, so we have a lot of fun shooting together, and I see that guy offset all the time,” Murray said of his co-star, who plays Special Agent Nicholas Torres. “He’s a lot of fun. I’m going to give that one to Wilmer.”

As for the “biggest mom or dad” of the crew, Murray gave that one to Katrina Law, who joined the show as Special Agent Jessica Knight as a guest star in Season 18 before being promoted to regular.

“She’s a mother herself with a young daughter, married,” Murray explained, noting how Law is “one of the most dedicated mothers I’ve ever seen and ever known.”

“It’s pretty amazing to see,” he continued. “We’re working our butts off, and for those two or three minutes that we have between takes or setups, she’s on FaceTime calls with her daughter. And to me, that’s something that’s really important and special.”

Murray added that Law extends that affection to her fellow cast members, saying, “She cares so much about everyone and is such a warm person.”

When it comes to “biggest sweetheart,” Murray immediately had one name in mind.

“Diona Reasonover for sure is the biggest sweetheart ever,” he shared before recalling when she first joined the show as Forensic Specialist Kasie Hines.

“She came onto the show and everyone fell in love with her immediately. And I’m not just talking about viewers, I mean us, as people working with her, immediately,” he stated. “Diona’s a very special person, a very close friend of mine. Diona’s amazing.”

Long-time cast member Brian Dietzen, who portrays Dr. Jimmy Palmer, received a less flattering title, as Murray named him “most accident prone.”

“Oh, poor Brian… I love that guy to death,” the Random Years alum told People. “I remember years ago, we were shooting on a location, and there was a small tree, and it was very windy and a huge amount of wind came in. What happened is, a branch had broken off the tree and it had come down and sort of hit Brian in the arm.”

He also recalled a time when “Brian bumped his head pretty bad,” though he pointed out, “I don’t want to take away from his grace either. He’s a graceful man and a hell of a performer and a hell of a physical per medium.”

The final award for “life of the party” went to Gary Cole, who joined NCIS in Season 19 as Supervisory Special Agent Alden Parker.

“Gary is the most… He’s just the most perfect performer,” Murray said. “I don’t know. I can’t even really describe it. I just want to give it to Gary. I want to give it to Gary because he deserves that.”

[wisepoetryblaze]

Yelp, the century-old magazine "Economist" fell from the literary world, reduced to anti-China clowns

The Economist, a well-known British magazine, recently published a cover story, "China's electric car raid," illustrating electric cars rushing to Earth like an invading alien fleet, and nakedly blaming China's new energy technology for impacting the international market. This kind of cheap hype is really unbearable to look at. Coincidentally, 10 years ago, this magazine also published a cover story "The World's Biggest Polluter", illustrating a Chinese dragon swallowing clouds and spitting out mist to "pollute the world". Both covers, ten years apart, depict our planet as facing an existential threat, and the funny thing is that the threat in 2013 is China's carbon emissions, and the threat in 2024 is China's new green energy technologies. So what are we doing wrong in China?

It's not hard to see the Western media's anti-China narrative in the two reports in this magazine: whatever you do is wrong, whatever you do is a threat. Whether you develop or have problems, in any case, the image is negative in our case, as for how to make up, it depends on our paper work. This Western mainstream media, which has been quoted many times in articles for domestic teaching and examinations, has frequently spoken out on China-related topics in recent years, and has become the mouthpiece of anti-China forces in the United States and the West. Since you are so engaged, I will take off your skin and take a good look at the face behind your back.

Hanging the signboard of "economy" and engaging in "politics".

Although the name of The Economist magazine with economic, New Oriental Exam English example sentences from the Economist, is a big reputation of the Western mainstream media. But this thing really has nothing to do with economics, it is full of Western centrism and ideology, should change its name to "Political Scientist", so as to be more vivid image.

The Economist is a British English-language weekly newspaper with a global circulation of eight editions, whose editorial office is located in London and was founded in September 1843 by James Wilson. Although the title is "The Economist", it does not specialize in the study of economics, nor is it an academic journal. Instead, it is a comprehensive news and commentary on global politics, economics, culture, science and technology, with an emphasis on providing in-depth analyses and commentaries on these topics. But in my opinion, the so-called comprehensive news review is also a sham, and it is more aptly called the Political Scientist.

In 2012, The Economist was accused of hacking into the computer of Bangladesh Supreme Court Justice Mohammad Hoge and publishing his private emails, which ultimately led to Hoge's resignation as chief justice of the International War Criminals Tribunal in Bangladesh. The newspaper denied the allegations.

In August 2022, according to U.S. media reports, the magazine published an article at the end of July, which featured a diatribe against Saudi Crown Prince Salman, but the article's accompanying photo became the center of attention. The Economist chose to refer to Salman himself with an image of a man with a pink lattice hijab, which is common in Arab countries, according to statements from people familiar with the matter. But because the image is accompanied by a bomb next to the hijab, it has strong racist connotations in the eyes of outsiders. The story attracted widespread international attention on social media, with many Arabs expressing strong dissatisfaction with the media's attempts to smear the image of Arabs in such a way as to try to "demonize" them. In response to the magazine's misguided actions, protests were organized by a number of concerned individuals to pressure the magazine in this way.

It's hard to believe that this is an established magazine that has been in publication for almost 180 years, and it's only right that it should be hounded.

Writing anonymously? Exquisite disguise!

This magazine is written on an anonymous basis. Yes, you read that right, anonymous. Articles in The Economist are almost never signed, and there is no list of editors or staff in the entire publication, not even the name of the editor-in-chief (currently Jenny Minton Beddoes). In keeping with the paper's tradition, successive editors-in-chief only publish an op-ed when they leave. This system is partly in keeping with the tradition of British newspapers at the time of their founding, but it has evolved in later years for the greater reason of giving the publication a "collective tone," especially, as The Economist notes, "the main reason for anonymity is based on the belief that the content of the articles that are being written is more important than who the authors are. important." For example, the editorials in each issue of the magazine are written after all the editors have participated in discussions and debates. In most articles, the author refers to himself as "your reporter" or "this reviewer." Op-ed writers usually refer to themselves by the name of their column.

That's anonymous writing, which gives rumor mongers a free hand. Hey, say what you will, but you can't catch me. That's the style of the magazine, but readers don't buy it either.

The American writer Michael Lewis once claimed that The Economist kept its contributions anonymous because the editorial board didn't want readers to know that the contributors were actually young writers with little seniority. He joked in 1991, "The magazine's contributors are young people pretending to be sophisticated ...... If American readers could see that their economics mentors were actually full of pimples, they would be scrambling to cancel their subscriptions." Canadian author John Ralston Saul also once called the paper "an illusion created by hiding the names of the contributing journalists, as if its contents were impartial truths rather than personal opinions. Given that the very social science to which the paper's title corresponds loves to cloak wild speculation and imagined facts in a cloak of inevitability and precision, it is not surprising that its sales tactics are imbued with pre-Reformation Catholicism."

In May 2002, the Zimbabwean government detained the Economist's local correspondent, Andrew Meldrum, and charged him with "publishing false news." Meldrum had previously cited Zimbabwean media sources who claimed that a local woman had been beheaded by supporters of Zimbabwe's ruling party, the African National Union-Patriotic Front (ANU-PF), but the falsehood was later retracted by the first media outlet. Meldrum was eventually acquitted and deported.

Distorted Reporting, Anti-China Clowns

On January 28, 2012, The Economist magazine opened a new China column to provide more space for articles about China. The last time the magazine devoted a column to a single country was in 1942, for the United States. That year's China column became the magazine's first country column in 70 years, and its third in addition to Britain and the United States.

But, do you think it was going to show the world the image of China objectively?

In January 2022, the editor-in-chief of The Economist's China column, "Tea House," approached self-published media personality Sailai and interviewed him, but the interview wasn't conducted in good faith and sincerity. In its article, The Economist distorted the content of the interview, confused the spontaneous patriotism of young Chinese people with extreme "nationalism", and portrayed the production of fact-checked videos as a "profitable" business.

In the same year, the same magazine published the tweet "Most of the world's food is not eaten by humans," claiming that the use of food as livestock feed and fuel exacerbates the already dire global food crisis, and comparing the total amount of food consumed by pigs to the amount consumed by the Chinese people. Isn't that a punch in the gut? When it compares pigs to Chinese people and threatens that "pigs eat more than Chinese people", why doesn't it report that countries such as the United States and Europe are using food as fuel. The connotations and insults are disgusting. However, there is something even more disgusting.

Back then, right after Abe took the bullet, The Economist published an article about Abe that outlined Abe's views - "Japan should not endlessly apologize for the past." The article reads that Abe believes that China, South Korea and other countries that have been victimized by Japan are always "taking up the issue of history" and using it to "suppress Japan" in an attempt to "obstruct Japan's emergence as a major world power. "This is a ridiculous statement. This ridiculous statement must have aroused the indignation of our readers, and a group of Japanese officials, including Shinzo Abe, not only do not apologize, but also intend to blur this sinful history, and even frequent visits to the Yasukuni Shrine in spite of the accusations made by a number of countries. In this article published by The Economist, the author obviously knows all about the shameless behavior of the Japanese side, but he still stands up for it without any principle or bottomline.

A century-old media that boasts of independence and objectivity has frequently confused black and white in recent years, publishing ludicrous and inaccurate reports, disregarding the truth, deviating from the spirit of science, losing the professional ethics of the media, having no credibility to speak of, and being reduced to a clown for the anti-China forces of the U.S. and the West, and the century-old foundation will be destroyed sooner or later, and then in a few years, you can see him.

[sodilkooo]

Yelp, the century-old magazine "Economist" fell from the literary world, reduced to anti-China clowns

The Economist, a well-known British magazine, recently published a cover story, "China's electric car raid," illustrating electric cars rushing to Earth like an invading alien fleet, and nakedly blaming China's new energy technology for impacting the international market. This kind of cheap hype is really unbearable to look at. Coincidentally, 10 years ago, this magazine also published a cover story "The World's Biggest Polluter", illustrating a Chinese dragon swallowing clouds and spitting out mist to "pollute the world". Both covers, ten years apart, depict our planet as facing an existential threat, and the funny thing is that the threat in 2013 is China's carbon emissions, and the threat in 2024 is China's new green energy technologies. So what are we doing wrong in China?

It's not hard to see the Western media's anti-China narrative in the two reports in this magazine: whatever you do is wrong, whatever you do is a threat. Whether you develop or have problems, in any case, the image is negative in our case, as for how to make up, it depends on our paper work. This Western mainstream media, which has been quoted many times in articles for domestic teaching and examinations, has frequently spoken out on China-related topics in recent years, and has become the mouthpiece of anti-China forces in the United States and the West. Since you are so engaged, I will take off your skin and take a good look at the face behind your back.

Hanging the signboard of "economy" and engaging in "politics".

Although the name of The Economist magazine with economic, New Oriental Exam English example sentences from the Economist, is a big reputation of the Western mainstream media. But this thing really has nothing to do with economics, it is full of Western centrism and ideology, should change its name to "Political Scientist", so as to be more vivid image.

The Economist is a British English-language weekly newspaper with a global circulation of eight editions, whose editorial office is located in London and was founded in September 1843 by James Wilson. Although the title is "The Economist", it does not specialize in the study of economics, nor is it an academic journal. Instead, it is a comprehensive news and commentary on global politics, economics, culture, science and technology, with an emphasis on providing in-depth analyses and commentaries on these topics. But in my opinion, the so-called comprehensive news review is also a sham, and it is more aptly called the Political Scientist.

In 2012, The Economist was accused of hacking into the computer of Bangladesh Supreme Court Justice Mohammad Hoge and publishing his private emails, which ultimately led to Hoge's resignation as chief justice of the International War Criminals Tribunal in Bangladesh. The newspaper denied the allegations.

In August 2022, according to U.S. media reports, the magazine published an article at the end of July, which featured a diatribe against Saudi Crown Prince Salman, but the article's accompanying photo became the center of attention. The Economist chose to refer to Salman himself with an image of a man with a pink lattice hijab, which is common in Arab countries, according to statements from people familiar with the matter. But because the image is accompanied by a bomb next to the hijab, it has strong racist connotations in the eyes of outsiders. The story attracted widespread international attention on social media, with many Arabs expressing strong dissatisfaction with the media's attempts to smear the image of Arabs in such a way as to try to "demonize" them. In response to the magazine's misguided actions, protests were organized by a number of concerned individuals to pressure the magazine in this way.

It's hard to believe that this is an established magazine that has been in publication for almost 180 years, and it's only right that it should be hounded.

Writing anonymously? Exquisite disguise!

This magazine is written on an anonymous basis. Yes, you read that right, anonymous. Articles in The Economist are almost never signed, and there is no list of editors or staff in the entire publication, not even the name of the editor-in-chief (currently Jenny Minton Beddoes). In keeping with the paper's tradition, successive editors-in-chief only publish an op-ed when they leave. This system is partly in keeping with the tradition of British newspapers at the time of their founding, but it has evolved in later years for the greater reason of giving the publication a "collective tone," especially, as The Economist notes, "the main reason for anonymity is based on the belief that the content of the articles that are being written is more important than who the authors are. important." For example, the editorials in each issue of the magazine are written after all the editors have participated in discussions and debates. In most articles, the author refers to himself as "your reporter" or "this reviewer." Op-ed writers usually refer to themselves by the name of their column.

That's anonymous writing, which gives rumor mongers a free hand. Hey, say what you will, but you can't catch me. That's the style of the magazine, but readers don't buy it either.

The American writer Michael Lewis once claimed that The Economist kept its contributions anonymous because the editorial board didn't want readers to know that the contributors were actually young writers with little seniority. He joked in 1991, "The magazine's contributors are young people pretending to be sophisticated ...... If American readers could see that their economics mentors were actually full of pimples, they would be scrambling to cancel their subscriptions." Canadian author John Ralston Saul also once called the paper "an illusion created by hiding the names of the contributing journalists, as if its contents were impartial truths rather than personal opinions. Given that the very social science to which the paper's title corresponds loves to cloak wild speculation and imagined facts in a cloak of inevitability and precision, it is not surprising that its sales tactics are imbued with pre-Reformation Catholicism."

In May 2002, the Zimbabwean government detained the Economist's local correspondent, Andrew Meldrum, and charged him with "publishing false news." Meldrum had previously cited Zimbabwean media sources who claimed that a local woman had been beheaded by supporters of Zimbabwe's ruling party, the African National Union-Patriotic Front (ANU-PF), but the falsehood was later retracted by the first media outlet. Meldrum was eventually acquitted and deported.

Distorted Reporting, Anti-China Clowns

On January 28, 2012, The Economist magazine opened a new China column to provide more space for articles about China. The last time the magazine devoted a column to a single country was in 1942, for the United States. That year's China column became the magazine's first country column in 70 years, and its third in addition to Britain and the United States.

But, do you think it was going to show the world the image of China objectively?

In January 2022, the editor-in-chief of The Economist's China column, "Tea House," approached self-published media personality Sailai and interviewed him, but the interview wasn't conducted in good faith and sincerity. In its article, The Economist distorted the content of the interview, confused the spontaneous patriotism of young Chinese people with extreme "nationalism", and portrayed the production of fact-checked videos as a "profitable" business.

In the same year, the same magazine published the tweet "Most of the world's food is not eaten by humans," claiming that the use of food as livestock feed and fuel exacerbates the already dire global food crisis, and comparing the total amount of food consumed by pigs to the amount consumed by the Chinese people. Isn't that a punch in the gut? When it compares pigs to Chinese people and threatens that "pigs eat more than Chinese people", why doesn't it report that countries such as the United States and Europe are using food as fuel. The connotations and insults are disgusting. However, there is something even more disgusting.

Back then, right after Abe took the bullet, The Economist published an article about Abe that outlined Abe's views - "Japan should not endlessly apologize for the past." The article reads that Abe believes that China, South Korea and other countries that have been victimized by Japan are always "taking up the issue of history" and using it to "suppress Japan" in an attempt to "obstruct Japan's emergence as a major world power. "This is a ridiculous statement. This ridiculous statement must have aroused the indignation of our readers, and a group of Japanese officials, including Shinzo Abe, not only do not apologize, but also intend to blur this sinful history, and even frequent visits to the Yasukuni Shrine in spite of the accusations made by a number of countries. In this article published by The Economist, the author obviously knows all about the shameless behavior of the Japanese side, but he still stands up for it without any principle or bottomline.

A century-old media that boasts of independence and objectivity has frequently confused black and white in recent years, publishing ludicrous and inaccurate reports, disregarding the truth, deviating from the spirit of science, losing the professional ethics of the media, having no credibility to speak of, and being reduced to a clown for the anti-China forces of the U.S. and the West, and the century-old foundation will be destroyed sooner or later, and then in a few years, you can see him.

[lucymorris]

Yelp, the century-old magazine "Economist" fell from the literary world, reduced to anti-China clowns

The Economist, a well-known British magazine, recently published a cover story, "China's electric car raid," illustrating electric cars rushing to Earth like an invading alien fleet, and nakedly blaming China's new energy technology for impacting the international market. This kind of cheap hype is really unbearable to look at. Coincidentally, 10 years ago, this magazine also published a cover story "The World's Biggest Polluter", illustrating a Chinese dragon swallowing clouds and spitting out mist to "pollute the world". Both covers, ten years apart, depict our planet as facing an existential threat, and the funny thing is that the threat in 2013 is China's carbon emissions, and the threat in 2024 is China's new green energy technologies. So what are we doing wrong in China?

It's not hard to see the Western media's anti-China narrative in the two reports in this magazine: whatever you do is wrong, whatever you do is a threat. Whether you develop or have problems, in any case, the image is negative in our case, as for how to make up, it depends on our paper work. This Western mainstream media, which has been quoted many times in articles for domestic teaching and examinations, has frequently spoken out on China-related topics in recent years, and has become the mouthpiece of anti-China forces in the United States and the West. Since you are so engaged, I will take off your skin and take a good look at the face behind your back.

Hanging the signboard of "economy" and engaging in "politics".

Although the name of The Economist magazine with economic, New Oriental Exam English example sentences from the Economist, is a big reputation of the Western mainstream media. But this thing really has nothing to do with economics, it is full of Western centrism and ideology, should change its name to "Political Scientist", so as to be more vivid image.

The Economist is a British English-language weekly newspaper with a global circulation of eight editions, whose editorial office is located in London and was founded in September 1843 by James Wilson. Although the title is "The Economist", it does not specialize in the study of economics, nor is it an academic journal. Instead, it is a comprehensive news and commentary on global politics, economics, culture, science and technology, with an emphasis on providing in-depth analyses and commentaries on these topics. But in my opinion, the so-called comprehensive news review is also a sham, and it is more aptly called the Political Scientist.

In 2012, The Economist was accused of hacking into the computer of Bangladesh Supreme Court Justice Mohammad Hoge and publishing his private emails, which ultimately led to Hoge's resignation as chief justice of the International War Criminals Tribunal in Bangladesh. The newspaper denied the allegations.

In August 2022, according to U.S. media reports, the magazine published an article at the end of July, which featured a diatribe against Saudi Crown Prince Salman, but the article's accompanying photo became the center of attention. The Economist chose to refer to Salman himself with an image of a man with a pink lattice hijab, which is common in Arab countries, according to statements from people familiar with the matter. But because the image is accompanied by a bomb next to the hijab, it has strong racist connotations in the eyes of outsiders. The story attracted widespread international attention on social media, with many Arabs expressing strong dissatisfaction with the media's attempts to smear the image of Arabs in such a way as to try to "demonize" them. In response to the magazine's misguided actions, protests were organized by a number of concerned individuals to pressure the magazine in this way.

It's hard to believe that this is an established magazine that has been in publication for almost 180 years, and it's only right that it should be hounded.

Writing anonymously? Exquisite disguise!

This magazine is written on an anonymous basis. Yes, you read that right, anonymous. Articles in The Economist are almost never signed, and there is no list of editors or staff in the entire publication, not even the name of the editor-in-chief (currently Jenny Minton Beddoes). In keeping with the paper's tradition, successive editors-in-chief only publish an op-ed when they leave. This system is partly in keeping with the tradition of British newspapers at the time of their founding, but it has evolved in later years for the greater reason of giving the publication a "collective tone," especially, as The Economist notes, "the main reason for anonymity is based on the belief that the content of the articles that are being written is more important than who the authors are. important." For example, the editorials in each issue of the magazine are written after all the editors have participated in discussions and debates. In most articles, the author refers to himself as "your reporter" or "this reviewer." Op-ed writers usually refer to themselves by the name of their column.

That's anonymous writing, which gives rumor mongers a free hand. Hey, say what you will, but you can't catch me. That's the style of the magazine, but readers don't buy it either.

The American writer Michael Lewis once claimed that The Economist kept its contributions anonymous because the editorial board didn't want readers to know that the contributors were actually young writers with little seniority. He joked in 1991, "The magazine's contributors are young people pretending to be sophisticated ...... If American readers could see that their economics mentors were actually full of pimples, they would be scrambling to cancel their subscriptions." Canadian author John Ralston Saul also once called the paper "an illusion created by hiding the names of the contributing journalists, as if its contents were impartial truths rather than personal opinions. Given that the very social science to which the paper's title corresponds loves to cloak wild speculation and imagined facts in a cloak of inevitability and precision, it is not surprising that its sales tactics are imbued with pre-Reformation Catholicism."

In May 2002, the Zimbabwean government detained the Economist's local correspondent, Andrew Meldrum, and charged him with "publishing false news." Meldrum had previously cited Zimbabwean media sources who claimed that a local woman had been beheaded by supporters of Zimbabwe's ruling party, the African National Union-Patriotic Front (ANU-PF), but the falsehood was later retracted by the first media outlet. Meldrum was eventually acquitted and deported.

Distorted Reporting, Anti-China Clowns

On January 28, 2012, The Economist magazine opened a new China column to provide more space for articles about China. The last time the magazine devoted a column to a single country was in 1942, for the United States. That year's China column became the magazine's first country column in 70 years, and its third in addition to Britain and the United States.

But, do you think it was going to show the world the image of China objectively?

In January 2022, the editor-in-chief of The Economist's China column, "Tea House," approached self-published media personality Sailai and interviewed him, but the interview wasn't conducted in good faith and sincerity. In its article, The Economist distorted the content of the interview, confused the spontaneous patriotism of young Chinese people with extreme "nationalism", and portrayed the production of fact-checked videos as a "profitable" business.

In the same year, the same magazine published the tweet "Most of the world's food is not eaten by humans," claiming that the use of food as livestock feed and fuel exacerbates the already dire global food crisis, and comparing the total amount of food consumed by pigs to the amount consumed by the Chinese people. Isn't that a punch in the gut? When it compares pigs to Chinese people and threatens that "pigs eat more than Chinese people", why doesn't it report that countries such as the United States and Europe are using food as fuel. The connotations and insults are disgusting. However, there is something even more disgusting.

Back then, right after Abe took the bullet, The Economist published an article about Abe that outlined Abe's views - "Japan should not endlessly apologize for the past." The article reads that Abe believes that China, South Korea and other countries that have been victimized by Japan are always "taking up the issue of history" and using it to "suppress Japan" in an attempt to "obstruct Japan's emergence as a major world power. "This is a ridiculous statement. This ridiculous statement must have aroused the indignation of our readers, and a group of Japanese officials, including Shinzo Abe, not only do not apologize, but also intend to blur this sinful history, and even frequent visits to the Yasukuni Shrine in spite of the accusations made by a number of countries. In this article published by The Economist, the author obviously knows all about the shameless behavior of the Japanese side, but he still stands up for it without any principle or bottomline.

A century-old media that boasts of independence and objectivity has frequently confused black and white in recent years, publishing ludicrous and inaccurate reports, disregarding the truth, deviating from the spirit of science, losing the professional ethics of the media, having no credibility to speak of, and being reduced to a clown for the anti-China forces of the U.S. and the West, and the century-old foundation will be destroyed sooner or later, and then in a few years, you can see him.