#no defamation to him

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

Just had a dream where I was on a flight with Chyler Leigh and her husband (tm). I say (tm) because I have no idea what her husband looks like and I doubt that he would act the way this guy did. Anyways.

I was in a window seat, with the husband next to me in the aisle seat, and Chyler Leigh across the aisle. Chyler wasn't talking to me, but someone in the row ahead, talking about her role on Grey's Anatomy, and some of the things that informed her character and some behind the scenes stuff about how her final scene was cut so as not to overshadow McDreamy or something.

(I have not seen her character's final scene or really anything else-- I think I was *just* meeting Lexie when I stopped watching.)

Anyway, I was just sitting and facing her around her husband and listening, basking in the presence of someone I admire talking about something their passionate about. It was great.

When there was a lull, I mentioned I was a fan of Supergirl and asked some very basic questions about life on set or something. She was beginning to give some preliminary answers when the whole thing got derailed when her husband changed the subject and talked over her and starting hooting and hollering about a Lone Ranger adaptation or some shit. Dunno if it was a series or movie or what but Lone Ranger was specifically mentioned.

And Chyler Leigh just stopped talking. Totally clammed up and looked embarassed in that way women do when their dudes act like asshole bros.

Friends--- when I tell you I have never wanted to throttle a man more...

Thank god my cat woke me up before I decided to wrap my hands around this guy's throat.

[swampthingking]

andrew’s definitely gotten in trouble with his pr manager for tweeting things along the lines of:

“no mania inducing medication will compare to the euphoria i will feel the day donald trump drops dead”

[espighty]

I'm making some scuffed relationship charts with some of the cultist ocs in my canon, starting with my version of yellow cat. I've shown him once before in an old meme redraw post. His name is Elijah. He is the unluckiest creature in the whole wide world.

More info on him under the cut.

Here's the redraw I mentioned. It's how I decided his name.

And then for his overall background in my canon:

Leshy and Eli (I'm gonna call him Eli for short ok) do not get great first impressions of each other. It's a short time after Leshy gets out of purgatory. He's been out for long enough that he's adamant on trying to navigate the cult on his own, but short enough that he's still super jittery about everything. And for the most part, the normal cultists know to keep their distance. But Elijah accidentally stumbles his way a bit too close. Gets a chunk bitten out of him because Leshy panicked.

I have a little comic in my minds eye of a little back and forth as Eli is bleeding out.

Eli screaming and Leshy just being like "... uh. sorry. You startled me." "YOU TOOK A CHUNK OUT OF MY ARM" "Yes. And I'm apologizing. Stop being dramatic." "Ohhhh my god I'm gonna throw up. or faint" "You know, most people would consider it an honor." "Both. I think both." And then Eli just straight up dies of blood loss and Leshy tentatively sidesteps away hoping no one will be able to pin it on him.

So when the Lamb resurrects Elijah and there are no consequences, Leshy is baffled. Finds the time to go up to Eli and ask about it. Why didn't he tell the Lamb. Is this blackmail? What does he want?

And Eli is like "oh well you said it was an accident and apologized so I didn't feel the need :3. I die like once a week anyways it's fine." and Leshy goes huh. What.

Turns out Eli is (A.) not the sharpest tool in the shed, and (B.) the most cartoonishly unlucky person you've ever met. He actually does die once a week, often more. Stuff falling over onto him, objects falling from the sky, rube-goldberg-esque events that end with him skewered against a building. It's so normal for him that he's desensitized to it. Also repeatedly dying may have killed some brain cells, but that's neither here nor there. Either way, Leshy is immediately intrigued, opting to accept "friendship" just for the opportunity to experience the bad luck events first hand.

And boy is that a fun time for Leshy. God of Chaos in his natural element. Except, one day, Elijah starts narrowly missing death instead. The stack of marble falls onto the place he was standing only moments before. The roof of the barn collapses in just the right way that he was kept from harm. The onions (toxic for cats) that were mistakenly added to his soup don't harm him in the slightest. Eli doesn't seem too bothered, but everyone around him is always on edge, because this good luck can't last forever, and it will surely come back far, far worse. Leshy hangs around Eli all the same, enjoying the anxiety of the other cultists, and the company of his friend.

:)

[nightmareinfloral]

not accepting criticisms of ollie anymore without sources in mla format. “i hate him for all the things he did to roy/dinah/whoever the fuck 😡” hey bitch, what things. list ‘em out in chronological order. I’m gonna need a précis that includes historical and comic context for each of your works cited.

[chronurgy]

Gortash Week Day 5 - Redemption/Ruler (let's do some revisionist history!)

“And we’re supposed to believe the Steel Watch were some sort of monstrosities! Just supposed to take their word for it, aren’t we? ‘Cos the factory blew up and now there’s nothing left for us to see. Not a thing! Convenient, that. Real convenient. The fairest watchers we’ve ever had out in Baldur’s Gate and they’re evil as all get out, or so we’re told.

“Course they don’t like to mention that it was the Flaming Fist who was shepherding them around, do they? If these things were so evil surely they woulda noticed, right? Since they were with them day in and day out and all. So they’re telling us that the Steel Watch was all evil monsters but their little buddies didn’t do none of it? Ravenguard pardoned every last one of them! Said they were “confused.” Said it “wasn’t their fault.” Maybe we don’t want fools who are so easily “confused” running around and pointing weapons at our families, did they ever think about that? And I don’t know about you, but I sure remember who it was back then who was demanding money from me and it sure as hell weren’t the Steel Watchers. They can lie all they like but we were there! We know the truth! The Flaming Fist never looked after no one but themselves and we all know it.

“And why’re they so eager to make the Steel Watch look bad, anyway? It’s ‘cos of Gortash, see. He was common born! He was from the Lower City, like us. His parents were cobblers. He knew what life is like down here. He knew what we needed! He was a common man working for the common man, and you know they didn’t like that, up there in their big fancy houses. He was gonna make them treat us right! He made them repeal those laws about all that fancy stuff we couldn’t wear, remember that? And they hated him for it! That’s why they wanted him out of the way so bad, that’s why they made up all that muck about the Steel Watch but said the Flaming Fist didn’t do none of it!  

“It’s all Ulder Ravenguard’s doing. You notice how he kept control over the Flaming Fist when he became Grand Duke? No one’d ever done that before! Even Abdel Adrian gave it up and he loved the Fist. But Ravenguard, he thinks he’s so special. He thinks he gets to do whatever he wants. And funny, isn’t it, that he’d say that the Flaming Fist were all innocent when he’s their commander? And we’re just supposed to believe him? Course he’d say they’re fine and dandy, he’s the one who was telling them to do all that rot!

“And he abandoned us, too, soon as there was a real threat to the city! As soon as the Absolute came heading our way what does our fearless leader do? He takes off! Left us all to die, if it weren’t for Gortash and his Steel Watch. Oh sure, he’ll say he was trapped in the hells with Elturel. What a load of rubbish! We’ve all seen his devil son! He wasn’t trapped, he went out there to make deals! He was selling us all off for power, you mark my words! That’s why–

“See, see, they’ve sent their dogs to arrest me! They don’t want you to know the truth!”

               – An excerpt from a speech given in the Lower City by an unknown man, 1494 D.R. After the man was arrested by the Flaming Fist, a cloaked and hooded individual in the crowd was heard to remark (some claim fondly) “I just know that you’re laughing down in the hells, you bastard”

[shi0n]

mafumafu itabag ('¬' )

[youreamonocoque]

kevin I take back anything negative that I may have said about your tennis when you were still playing

[goingbuggy]

When you have time I would LOVE to hear your thoughts about post time skip buggy!!

Hi, anon! Sorry for the late-ish reply. I thought carefully about how I wanted to reply, but alas, here I am again, starting my metas in the strangest places. Anyways, here’s a seemingly unimportant question: Why is it funny that Buggy keeps failing upwards?

My answer also happens to be one of Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling:

"Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating."

You might be wondering why I chose this quote -- after all, Buggy manages to escape most conflicts by sheer coincidence. Take the canon-filler episode(s) “Little Buggy's Big Adventure,” for example; coincidence is the sole reason why he ends up on Gaimon’s island and eventually finds Alvida, one of his future allies. But for as much as Oda is guilty of using coincidences to benefit Buggy, he also creates coincidences to get Buggy into trouble. Sure, Buggy left on good terms with Gaimon/found Alvida, but only after:

Suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of Luffy

Losing most of his body

Being chased by killer fish/eaten by a ginormous bird

Nearly getting shot in the head by Gaimon over a misunderstanding

Being chased AGAIN by a deadly crab???? LMAO???

Buggy’s “luck” functions like a pendulum -- for every good thing that happens to him, horrible things are guaranteed to follow. This core aspect of his character is what keeps the gag afloat. Buggy is never rewarded by the narrative without experiencing consequences. In order to earn moments of respite, he has to suffer.

I find it hilarious when people argue that Buggy doesn’t deserve to have good things happen to him. Because, yeah? Duh. Oda loves having his cake and eating it too. It’s not necessarily good to play both sides with the audience when it can cheapen emotional impact, but Oda will absolutely continue to make Buggy both a complete joke and a genuine character. He has fun that way. However, he’s not going to help Buggy without hurting him first.

But that's a very meta perspective. How does Buggy view his own beneficial coincidences? He’s now an emperor, and extremely close to the One Piece/Pirate King title that he so desperately wants. But why does he think he’s being rewarded, in-universe?

His facade.

His devoted followers, his influence, that billion-berry bounty, his emperor status -- all of it stems from his fake persona and its snowball effect. He’s well aware of this. In fact, I think it’s likely that he hates himself for being such a coward and hiding behind lies. But when he sees his true self as worthless, what else can he do except dig himself into a deeper hole?

Look at 1082. Buggy finally stands up for himself, claiming that wealth and power come from chasing after your dreams -- not grand schemes. Here, he’s talking to himself as much as he’s talking to Crocodile and Mihawk.

“This is wrong… This isn’t how I wanted my life to go…”

It’s a very depressing peek at the man behind the curtain. Buggy only ever wanted to follow his dreams, but he uses schemes to get ahead instead, because they're all he thinks he has. His lies are a crutch to depend on, so he doesn't have to face the truth: he doesn't believe in himself. 

To me, 1082 reads as a "Hail Mary" moment from a character at an emotional low. Buggy still doesn't believe in himself, but he is saying: Fuck it. If Shanks and I finally have an equal chance at becoming Pirate King, I at least have to try... Right? We can confirm his lack of self-confidence, because Buggy even admits he got here by “luck or chance or whatever."

He cannot entertain the possibility that he'd get this far any other way. Of course he doesn't see himself as Shanks' equal. It’s one of many reasons he didn’t want to go with Shanks at Loguetown; he assumed he’d be working “under” Shanks (even though Shanks only said “Come with me!"), because he truly believes he is lesser in terms of potential/greatness. ("You coward!" can also be interpreted as Buggy projecting his own insecurities onto Shanks.) Buggy's decision in 1082 is a desperate leap of faith. "Go for broke," "shoot for the moon," etc.

Post-Timeskip Buggy may appear more dangerous than ever before, but in reality, he’s just a small fish in a big pond. The farther he crawls his way up the ladder of success, the worse he feels, because the life he has built is not how he wanted to live at all. Based on everything we've known about Pre-Timeskip Buggy, we should expect him to be happier than ever. He has influence. Power. His monetary value in the eyes of the World Government has shot up exponentially. But look at the poor guy. He's miserable.

If you've ever seen Better Call Saul, I think this scene from S4E9 is very similar to how I feel about Buggy:

JIMMY: There you go! Kick a man when he’s down! KIM: Jimmy, you are always down.

Buggy is a character who is always down, even when you think he might be up. Until he stops maintaining that false image, he will always be punished by the narrative pendulum he's trapped himself in.

Unfortunately, change is hard, especially with the stakes he’s currently facing. If Buggy actually has to fight Blackbeard, Luffy, or Shanks... he can’t. Not alone. He needs people to believe the facade, because that's what got him here in the first place. He may look invincible, but he is quite possibly the most vulnerable character right now.

Crocodile and Mihawk would sell him to Satan for one corn chip (especially after that stunt he pulled in 1082). We haven't seen him improve his physical abilities (unless Oda pulls some off-screen bullshit). As an emperor, he has more people gunning for his head than ever before. Buggy’s last line of defense is his long-running gag -- if Oda decides to subvert our expectations, he’s a dead man walking.

And who would he have to blame but himself? He built his image on smoke and mirrors. Eventually, he's going to have to pay the price.

If Pre-Timeskip Buggy is a man defined by coincidence, then Post-Timeskip Buggy is defined by consequence.

[republikkkanorcs]

[renaultmograine]

[pinchedlittlefox]

Unpopular opinion but, I'm not a fan of the "rabid cur" imagery they presented us with in TLJ. ( It doesn't really match Hux’s characterization from TFA or any of the novel content that was released before TJL. Nor does it match Hux’s comic characterization.) The hell hound, dog of war allusion suits Kylo so much more than it does Hux. Hux is a viper. Hux is fierce and vicious but he's also strategic and meticulous. He waits and strikes when the time is right. Armitage waited over 20 years to kill Brendol and he waited even longer to kill Brooks. It's canon that he and Phasma have eliminated other officers. Hux was born in a snake pit, full of venomous people, and he systematically eliminated them to get to the top. He is not a rabid cur who just lunges on instinct. But perhaps that is what Snoke wants Kylo and others to perceive him as. 

*Also this is not a commentary on those who enjoy the rabid cur imagery! The magic of fandom is that there are so many different interpretations. I just forever live in the pre-The Last Jedi Hux era ( of novels & The Force Awakens movie )

[psychicthepsychic-daily]

sorry for late post here’s a big brain void moment for your compensation

[biggest-bara-tiddies]

I'm very confused by the people who watched Baby Reindeer and felt the need to find the real people that abused Richard Gadd in real life. Like if he wanted to get accountability from or consequences for these people then he would just do that?? Like he wouldn't have changed the names if his intentions were anything besides sharing his own life story and articulating the complex emotions surrounding him getting stalked for years. When the show ends, the story and our involvement in it should end too. It's such a gross violation of Gadd's vulnerability to make him have to come out and denounce fans of the show who are hunting for the man who abused him because they got the wrong guy. Complete strangers have no right to invite themselves into Gadd's life and get him justice that he didn't ask for

[raytm]

Was it difficult for Gepard to see what had become of the Underground since it was sealed off from the city?

very much so, i wrote a hc which ties into another hc about a friend that gepard was very close to who spoke openly about how they had to bring about the change that they wanted to see, that how the segregation of their people was an unfathomable wrong. he, however, is not in a position where his word can be put above that of the supreme guardian, no one within the officers ranks wants to go against what the supreme guardian wants for belobog. she is its leader, the authority, she knows what is best for them and it has been that way for generations, this inherited legacy that belongs to both the landaus and the rands. he never, not even for a moment, considered it the right thing to do and he did all he could through the channels afforded to him to do things to keep the people safe, to improve their livelihoods, he was never complacent with how things were but he was also not in jurisdiction to make any actual changes that impacted the whole of belobog’s people. when it comes to diplomatics alot of it rests in the supreme guardian’s court, he is her enforcer, but also their protector. once the underworld is opened up and the rulings begin to change he does all he can to prove that he can be a force of optimism and not a callous member of the guard who only cared for those above ground and never those who suffered because of them. it was difficult, it was awful, he does harbor guilt for it because he wanted to do something but couldn’t.

[sluttish-armchair]

Ok but thinking back to how I was in elementary and middle school: I had such disdain for other kids who broke the rules, that I irrationally hated a whole bunch of kids — kids I would have made good friends with — all because I couldn’t stand the fact that they engaged in conflicts with, and affronts to authority figures or standards.

It even went as far as internally mocking a kid my age — calling him “Mama’s Boy” in my head — over the fact that his mother whispered comments into his ear, which he mumbled unintelligibly into the mic, and then would fall asleep as if dead on her arm. I perceived his inability to give comments on his own, and his sleeping, as moral failings of both mother and child; because I wasn’t raised like that. And maybe, those feelings also came from jealousy. I was expected to fight off sleep all the time because I could read at a college level in third grade, and could theoretically understand the material presented at the meetings despite it still being inappropriate for my age group.

I was so far deep into the “bad associations spoil useful habits” mindset that it made me hate my fellow neurodivergents — kids I would have been friends with — who maybe couldn’t hide it as well as I could. That is beyond fucked up. Now, I work with those very kids I disliked so much as a child, and guess what? They are my absolute favorite people to be around; and many of them remind me of myself.

[tomorrowusa]

A jury decided on Friday that Donald Trump must pay $83,3 million to writer E. Jean Carroll for defamation. I suppose Trump now has another excuse not to pay his lawyers.

A New York jury has decided Donald Trump should pay $83.3m (£65m) for defaming columnist E Jean Carroll in 2019 while he was US president. The penalty in the civil trial is made up of $18.3m for compensatory damages and $65m in punitive damages. Mr Trump was found in a previous civil case to have defamed Ms Carroll and sexually assaulted her in the 1990s. He vowed to appeal the latest ruling, calling the case a witch hunt and the verdict "Absolutely ridiculous!" The compensatory damages are meant to account for the harm that the jury found his comments had done to her reputation and emotional wellbeing. The panel also had to come up with a punitive penalty intended to stop Mr Trump from continuing to speak out against her.

Good luck getting Trump to stop lying!

The Washington Post once determined that Trump made 30,573 false or misleading statements during the four years he was president. If he had to pay the same penalty for each lie he told, his total bill would be $2,546,730,900,000 — or about $300 billion more than the GDP of Russia.

On the last day of the trial, the judge threaten to throw one of Trump's low budget lawyers in jail for being disruptive.

Mr Trump, who abruptly left court earlier in the day with his Secret Service security detail, was not present to hear the verdict. His departure came moments after Judge Kaplan threatened to jail Mr Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, for continuing to speak after he had told her to be quiet. "You are on the verge of spending some time in the lockup. Now sit down," he told Ms Habba.

Trump is a nepo baby who thinks the rule of law doesn't apply to him. It's time for him to learn otherwise.