#post-presidency plans parody

[satireinfo]

Joe Biden’s Confession to the Pope

Joe Biden’s Scripted Confession: Preparing for the Pope Biden Prepares a Carefully Crafted Mea Culpa for His Highly Anticipated Meeting with Pope Francis By: Seraphina Snark Vatican City – In a move that blurs the lines between diplomacy and performance art, President Joe Biden has reportedly been rehearsing a confession to deliver during his upcoming meeting with Pope Francis. Sources close to…

[melancholicstation]

Do wanna run marathons in Long Beach by the sea? — a john f. kennedy jr one-shot

taglist: @obsessedwithjohnjr @vanillqcoke @rocker-chick-7 @ultr4v1ol3nt @violetharmonsfavgf @strip-weather-forecast @darcyspirits @fortheloveofjos @h-l-v-kennedy-blog @h-l-vlovesvintage @bluelancergirl @snowsgames @salvatoresablondie @dulcegal @kennedyism @bloxholden35 @kimcrystal123 @astro-vibes-bro @absurdlyvintage @jackiesgirl

SUMMARY: After a round of bad luck after bad luck with guys, Bobby, who has come to be a father figure of yours concocts a plan to set you up with his Bachelor of a nephew: John F. Kennedy junior, only neither of you quite know it yet.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: in this au bobby is still alive and works at the innocence project post his presidency. for a while it truly stumped me on what a man like him would've done if he lasted through 2 terms of a presidency and had to get a new job 🫠 also what should we name this reader!?

warnings: nothing just cute flirting, mean-ish jfk jr, use of the word bitch, kissing, bon*r but nothing beyond that, face touching

words: 1,759

Upper East Side, NY. 1995

Your conscious mind is rudely pulled back into reality from it's own sleep-induced bliss-state as you hear sounds akin to that of a racoon rummaging inside an opened trash chute.

As your eyes adjust to the change you start to get a feel for your surroundings. Nothing similar to a trash can—no quite the opposite. Instead of a grimy green, slick covered dross habit you had found yourself in a place you'd come to know as familiar: miss bouvier's new york townhome, or as you'd come to call her: Jackie.

You recognise yourself to be in her living room fit with a vast bookshelf, a safe haven for her over the decades you'd presume. Shrouded and protected by the novels and their winding tales—as if the paper thin pages were her coat of arms.

After your eyes had adjusted to the light, your whole body slowly seems to return to itself as your sensory receptors pick up the velveteen settee: in a swirling pattern of pink against a midnight black background.

Behind you sat a bookshelf wall to wall with books, so packed in fact that a ladder sufficed to be put in to explore the contents sufficiently. Glancing up the first book you lay your eyes upon is Works of Aeschylus. Instantaneously you are transported to how you got here in the first place—

*flashback to three hours ago*

You're regretting about all the romantic decisions that led you up to this point: crying the lobby of a Manhattan high-rise, embarrassing the hell out of yourself. Even in front of all the guys who looked like they were playing parodies of themselves on SNL. Despite not being blood Bobby was always the one you'd call when the going gets tough.

So that's how you got here: clad in nothing but an old heather-grey knit romper that you'd "stolen" from your recreational sport team in college and a pair of joggers with embroidered golfing patches—you knew they were less than fashionably conscious but damn! were they fucking comfortable.

Unsurprisingly you see Bobby bounding out the elevator, just on time, making his way over to you, encasing you in a fatherly hug before you can even mutter out a conversationally polite greeting of "hello" or "hi".

He doesn't say much, he never really does when you get in this state over a boy. To be quite frank he's fed up—no not at you, never at you: but at those douchebag boys who could never to measure up in any measure of a man. He knew he, or his brother's for that matter, weren't exactly angels in the fidelity department but they'd never have had the gall to run games like these boys have played on you.

And to top it off he'd just got off from a phone call from John last night saying that he wouldn't come to thanksgiving���too worried that the family will tease him for not bringing a girl home 4 years in a row.

While you silently cry in the taxi on the way home—well not to your home or bobby's instead to Jackie's home in manhattan: according to Bobby he'd been cat-sitting for Jackie while she sailed through St-Tropez for the weekend so that's where you two would be headed.

In between your crying and unbeknownst to you, Bobby concocted a plan to kill two birds with one stone...

Mysteriously informing you he'd ride with you to the townhouse and ride all the way back to his office, apparently he'd forgotten to some important papers to leave at Jackie's in his office. Assuring you that he'd be back before you knew it.

*end of flashback*

Your disturbed once more by the sound you presumed had woken you up in the first place and are met with a disturbing sight John no less than 5 five metres away from your splayed out frame: crouching over a filing cabinet aptly disguised as a chest of drawers.

You'd never really got along with John, not with his smug nature and ability to deflect questions with ease that he didn't feel bothered to pay attention to. Truthfully it was like a dance of tango even trying to engage in a conversation with him: so you never really tried. Bobby had always tried to ingrain you into Kennedy family traditions: knowing your rocky relationship with your own family. So you would talk to John in passing but never for too long: though it was long enough for you two to start a Cold War of passive aggressive passes of mash potatoes every holiday season.

Now to any other women aged 25-40 in America this sight would be a dream come true what with John clad in a simple button down shirt, and loosely tied linen slacks: none drawing attention away from his sharp jaw and frustratingly kissable lips, resembling the shade of a rabbit's tongue.

"Oh so sleeping beauty does wake!" You startle at the arrogance simply seeping out of his vocal cords.

"Pretty sure sleeping and being comatose are two different things, Jackass." you curtly reply while moving up into the slightly less demeaning positioning of half-sitting half-laying: hoisted up by the refined floral patterned cushions splayed about the living room.

"You say such pretty things to me, Y/n!" John says, motioning his hands in a fake swooning gesturing his hand to his forehead faking feeling faint.

"What're you looking for any way? Snooping in one me sleeping. I didn't take you for a peeping tom, maybe I should have."

"Oh don't flatter yourself. Bobby called me."

My body quickly turned cold why would Bobby call him, at this hour of night? I knew them to be close but not—calling at all hours of the night for favours���close.

"Now why in the hell would he do that John-John?"

"Would you shut up with that? you know I hate that nickname. Bob called me cause he needed me to bring some of mom's papers to the office."

How peculiar, you thought. Didn't Bobby just say, mere hours ago, that he'd left papers for Mrs Kennedy in his office? Not finding it particularly relevant you decline to tell John this fact.

"Why would he call you? He'd have a better job getting Freckles to go find it first."

"Stop that will ya? To be honest I think he's just giving me something to do I guess he feels sorry for me. Y'know about the Claudia stuff."

A melancholic stupor falls over his face, and you start to feel like you're talking to a real human being: y'know with feelings and thoughts. Seemingly some of the hubris had fallen from his features at the mere mention of that girl. You'd heard that Jackie never liked her found her too eccentric for her likening.

Uncomfortable with the certain intimacy he'd uncharacteristically shared with you, you try to lighten the mood

"If you want some basic bitch, go to the Beverly Center and find her. I'm sure the girls down fifth avenue would simply fawn over just the sight of you."

"Don't act like you're any different. You fawn over as much as the rest of them, nothing better to do", he says with a performed confidence.

"For the record I did have things to do. I don't normally mop around like you tell Bobby I do all damn day"

"Oh yeah? What things do you have to do?"

"Not much at all but I strain to think of it as your business"

"Well you are my business!"

You scoff "Oh-oh I'm your business now? Is that it?"

"You've been my business since the minute a saw you sleeping on the couch with tear stains on the pillow"

Time slows for several moments, shit how long had he been here to see you crying?

As if he can read your mind he answers your question with his next breath

"Don't worry I didn't see anything. Just saw the remnants on your pillow but it was enough to make me want to knock the teeth out of whatever boy made you like this." John says while still desperately trying to find Bobby's magically disappearing and reappearing file to deal with his uncomfortableness at his own outburst of sincerity. A mode unfamiliar to him normally.

Betraying yourself you blush like a schoolgirl, tipping your chin to your neck, the acetate claw clip clipped into your hair dragging along the base of your neck.

Slowly John makes his move towards you: precise and monitored. As if you're a wounded dear he doesn't want to scare off. Brushing a hand across your check: making his way down to tug on your bottom lip.

As if operated by magnetic pull, you meet each other's lips. Surprisingly either of the two do not fight for dominance, instead you two fall into a routine not dissimilar to that of a dance in which you both inhabit spaces of dominance and submission. A true push and pull.

A large friend graces your acquaintance and attention: in the shape of a prominent mound in his trousers, which he laughs off clearly embarrassed from getting this worked up over a 5 minute make-out session.

In the throughs of passion the papers John had been sorting through crumple slightly. That sound is what precisely stops his movements: clearly coming back to his senses and remembering that he'd promise Bobby that he'd find the papers.

Conflicted on how to move forward. John takes a big swing

"Y'know is there any chance you'd wanna come and rive with me to Bob's office, there's this Italian place we could eat at if you're hungry? Don't get me wrong I'd love—" gesturing down to the mound in his slacks "—to continue this further but I just can't let him down."

"Nah I get it. And I guess I'm a little hungry" you try to perform nonchalance to your detriment.

Chuckling at your faux coolness, John rises to stand wringing his large veiny fingers

"I'll go head and ring Bobby so he knows we're coming up, and meet you downstairs, alright?"

"Okay" you reply still out of breath as you watch him leave the living room and grab his Nokia 1011. Mortified yet extremely pleased with yourself you grab one of Jackie's refined choice of couch furnishings and yell into its feather filled centre.

A yell filled with utter disbelief and a renewed hope for the future—or at least for the rest of your night.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

david rowe :: @roweafr :: would you like nukes with that :: @FinancialReview

* * * * *

"The Bizarro Presidency"

November 20, 2024

Robert B. Hubbell

If Trump's nominations were not so deadly serious, they would qualify as parody bordering on slapstick. On Tuesday, Trump nominated as the head of Medicare a T.V. doctor who promoted hydroxychloroquine as a cure for Covid and who supports privatizing Medicare. The world is upside down.

Trump then topped his nomination of Dr. Oz by nominating Linda McMahon to lead—or dismantle--the Department of Education. Linda McMahon is the former CEO of the scandal-plagued World Wrestling Entertainment, which was sued last month for knowingly tolerating the abuse of teenage “ring boys” by the ringside announcer. See Rolling Stone, (10/23/24), Vince and Linda McMahon Named in New ‘Ring Boy’ Sex Abuse Lawsuit Against WWE. (“WWE founders “knew or should have known” about an employee who allegedly assaulted teenage employees in the 1980s, according to five new John Does who have come forward.”)

As with other nominations, those of Dr. Oz and Linda McMahon are insults to the tens of millions of Americans who rely on Medicare and the Department of Education to provide essential health insurance during retirement and educational support for students with special needs. I

have already received emails from readers who are living on a fixed income who are fearful that their Medicare will be privatized by Dr. Oz. For parents with students with special needs, the dismantling of the Department of Education would be a seismic shock and a blow to the health and education of their children.

During Ronald Reagan’s first term, Saturday Night Live produced a skit called the “Bizarro Presidency.” The premise was that Ronald Reagan appointed cabinet members who were the sworn enemies of the federal agencies they headed. The two examples I recall from the skit are Secretary of Interior James Watt who famously said that “killer trees” were the cause of urban pollution. And EPA head Ann Gorsuch (Justice Neil Gorsuch’s mother) did her best to dismantle the EPA by firing 30% of the agency’s employees and replacing them with executives from the oil and logging companies that the EPA was supposed to regulate. (I cannot locate a video of the skit and would appreciate anyone who can post a link in the Comments or forward a link by email. I need some comedic relief.)

The Reagan appointments were a scandal. Trump's appointments are an assault on the federal government designed to advance Trump's dictatorial aspirations. And he is advancing those aspirations by imperiling the health and safety of the American people.

Dr. Oz is a physician who holds an MBA. That hardly qualifies him to run the Department of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). But he should be disqualified from running CMS because he continuously promoted unproven supplements and fraudulent cures on his television show. A study in the British Medical Journal found that 54% of the supplements and cures promoted by Dr. Oz were “contraindicated” or lacked support. See British Medical Journal, (12/17/14), Televised medical talk shows—what they recommend and the evidence to support their recommendations: a prospective observational study | The BMJ

During the height of the Covid pandemic, Dr. Oz promoted the off-label use of hydroxychloroquine in 25 appearances on Fox News. He also promoted Medicare Advantage plans that Trump hopes will allow the privatization of Medicare. See Newsweek, Mehmet Oz Backed Massive Change to Medicare That Would Impact Millions. During his 2022 Senate campaign, Dr. Oz called for a 20% payroll tax to pay for the privatization of Medicare.

Linda McMahon is a nonsense choice for the Department of Education. Her career has been devoted to taking a regional professional wrestling company and converting it into a publicly traded wrestling company. McMahon’s experience in education consists of planning to become a teacher (but never doing so) and serving for one year (in 2009) on the Connecticut Board of Education. Those credentials do not qualify McMahon to lead the Department of Education—but they may qualify her to dismantle it. See ABC News, Dismantling the Department of Education? Trump's plan for schools in his second term.

As Trump added two wildly unqualified candidates to his proposed cabinet, he told a reporter that he stands by his nomination of Matt Gaetz as Attorney General. See Reuters, Trump says he is not reconsidering Gaetz nomination for attorney general.

Trump's failure to reconsider the nomination is reprehensible. Details continue to emerge about Gaetz’s drug use, payment for sex with (at least) two high school girls (over 18), and his sexual relationship with one 17-year-old high school girl.

Lawrence O’Donnell interviewed the lawyer for two of the high-school girls that Gaetz paid for sex. The attorney said that the girls saw their (then) 17-year-old friend having sex with Matt Gaetz at the home of a retired Florida congressman. See MSNBC, Lawrence: Matt Gaetz cannot possibly survive a Senate confirmation hearing

Although Speaker Mike Johnson does not want the House Ethics Committee to release the report on Matt Gaetz, the committee will vote on the release of the report later this week. But the committee’s vote may be overtaken by the fact that a hacker reportedly obtained the investigative file from a private law firm. See Forbes, Matt Gaetz Controversy Explained: Hacker Reportedly Gets Depositions As Lawmakers Debate Report.

The problem with atrocious nominations like Dr. Oz and Linda McMahon is that they distract attention from dangerous nominations like Matt Gaetz, Robert Kennedy, and Tulsi Gabbard. Gaetz is a threat to democracy; Kennedy is a menace to public health; and Gabbard is a threat to national security.

The problem is also that it is exhausting to force ourselves to care deeply about every dangerous or wildly unqualified nomination proposed by Trump. But we have no choice. We are in this mess (in large part) because Merrick Garland cared more about the reputation of the Department of Justice than he did about bringing Trump to justice—which was the harder path, by far.

Garland chose the path of least resistance—virtuously honoring the internal policies of the DOJ to the detriment of the Constitution and the American people. We must not be like Merrick Garland. We must fight every battle—even when we are exhausted or accused of being “over the top” in constantly raising the alarm about Trump.

And yet, we must also maintain our sanity and self-respect. We must be centered in our lives so that we can help others who are suffering from an incoming administration whose goal is to psychologically torture the majority of Americans who did not vote for Trump.

The nominations to date and those to come are intended to be part of a “Bizarro Presidency” in which the chief law enforcement officer is a criminal, the chief national security officer may be a Russian asset, and the chief health officer does not believe in medical science.

But we recognize the long con that Trump is playing. We must be serious in our opposition without allowing Trump to engage or enrage our emotions. This is strictly business. Deadly serious, strictly business. We must maintain professional distance even as we invest our hearts and minds to the fullest extent in preserving democracy by resisting Trump's anti-democratic moves.

We can do that. The Bizarro Presidency is a gambit. Recognize it. Resist it. Call it by its name—fascism. But do not let it gaslight or dispirit us. Every day that we can maintain resistance is one day closer to the end of Trump's last term in office.

Morning Joe and Mika Brzezinski show us how not to act

CNN is reporting that Morning Joe and Mika Brzesinski met with Trump to “restart communications” because they are afraid of Trump. See CNN, ‘Morning Joe’ meeting with Trump was driven by fears of retribution from incoming administration, sources say.

Professor Timothy Snyder reminds us constantly that the first step to surrendering to tyranny is to “obey in advance”—i.e., to give up resistance before the battle has been joined.

Morning Joe and Mika Brzesinski have “obeyed in advance.” They have shown us what surrender looks like. We must not be them.

Reuters is reporting the “contours of a peace deal” in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine

Reuters is reporting on an exclusive basis that Russia is open to a Trump-brokered “peace deal” that maintains Russia’s control over Ukrainian territory that it has unlawfully seized from Ukraine. See Exclusive: Putin, ascendant in Ukraine, eyes contours of a Trump peace deal | Reuters.

The problem with the Reuters’ story is that it is written from the perspective of Russia—in which “peace” means victory for Russia and surrender for Ukraine.

Imagine, for example, if Canada engaged in an unprovoked attack against the US and seized the states of Washington, Idaho, Montana, and North Dakota.

Canada then leaks to the press that it would agree to a “peace deal” that awards Canada the four US states that it seized in the war of aggression.

How likely is it that the US—or Ukraine—would agree to surrender substantial portions of its territory to the aggressor?

As noted in the Reuters article, Ukraine entertained a proposal for a ceasefire in the early days of the war (2022)—when Russia had nearly encircled Kyiv. The conditions on the ground have since improved considerably for Ukraine, although Russia controls about 20% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory. It is also true that public opinion in Ukraine is shifting toward a “negotiated peace”—a phrase that contains oceans of ambiguity. Everyone is in favor of peace. The question is, “At what cost?”

The poll was conducted by Gallup. In a particularly callous aside, Gallup noted that its results did not include responses from Ukrainians living in areas seized by Russia—a cohort that might have strong feelings about a negotiated surrender.

Concluding Thoughts

The urge to declare the “answers” explaining the 2024 electoral outcome is strong. Whatever those answers are, most of them will improve with the benefit of more time and additional data.

For example, we don’t yet know how the House will be decided. At the moment, it is looking like 214 to 221—a four vote margin for Republicans. But temporarily eliminating three seats for Trump cabinet nominees reduces the margin of control to two votes—214 to 218. (E.g., if Republicans suffered two defections, the House would be tied 216 to 216 and any motion or legislation would fail because they would not have a majority.)

But Adam Gray (CA-13) is within 227 votes of taking the lead as ballot curing and counting continue. If Gray were to win, then the margins of control for Republicans (discussed above) would reduce to three votes (before vacancies for cabinet nominations) and one vote (if three vacancies are caused by cabinet confirmations).

Those margins are extraordinarily thin and could be affected by illness, accident, or family emergencies. A one-vote margin of control will require the cooperation of Democrats on important bills—and provide Democrats with leverage not apparent in the “binary” election descriptions of who “won” and “lost.”

Another area of Democratic influence that has emerged is the progress made on state supreme courts. See Mark Joseph Stern, Slate, 2024 Election: The surprising bright spot for progressives.

As explained by Stern, Democrats won important victories in Michigan, Kentucky, Montana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and (likely) North Carolina. I recommend Stern’s article, which describes the significance of those victories.

My point is this: In the deluge of articles scolding Democrats, no one is highlighting the fact that Democrats scored important victories on the supreme court in red states. Since that fact isn’t included in the “Lazy Journalist’s Guide for Reporting on the 2024 Election,” it is not something you will read about in the op-ed pages of legacy media.

So let’s spread the word about Democrats’ hidden successes that run counter to the “landslide” narrative that legacy and right-wing media are spreading. It was a close election and a tough fight. We held our own—and we have every right to be proud of those efforts! Stay strong and keep the faith!

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[thedude3445]

Let's Read Systemless

Here's Reborn on a Systemless Earth... With a System!

It's my 1100+ page trilogy that's just about to finish. Read it all for free, and preorder Volume 1 before it releases on Kindle Unlimited on June 18th!

This comedy fantasy reverse isekai story features the following:

Cultural differences leading to many shenanigans.

Card game-based RPG superpowers.

Perpetually annoyed lesbian wives.

Underground wrestling arenas with Pretty Cure expys.

Multiversal temporal desychronization causing cosmic chaos.

Bizarre numbers of references to CATS (dir. Hooper, 2019).

Anarcho-monarchist surf pirates.

Using Minecraft to cheat at real life.

Ridiculously convoluted hidden origin stories.

Beavers.

A very slow-burning BL subplot that eventually ends with heartwarming triumph.

President Joe Biden with a plan to use RPG powers to solve climate change.

Plot twists so massive you'll be dropping your damn jaw to the floor.

Hot guys with pink hair.

I've been posting the story for over 3 years, and I think you'll really enjoy the insanity to come. It started as a parody of isekai stories by sending an idiot fantasy guy to modern-day America, but it became so, so much more over its 250-chapter run.

The story will post its final chapter in June, and then it'll be published on Kindle Unlimited.

Read it for free now, and also preorder Volume 1 so I can become rich and successful and self-finance the rest of that one Squiddles fan adventure!

[weaselandfriends]

Okay, the aformentioned second post:

1, In Cockatiel x Chameleon, there's no credits page, unlike with your other works. Do you have any list of chapter title credits somewhere? I'd be curious on that, I recognise a few of them.

2, In Chicago, you depict a group of magical girls plotting to overthrow the US government. As this was published in 2018-19, I assume you had access to depict Donald Trump as the sitting President, but you chose to set it during Obama's presidency instead. Any specifics reasons for that? Did you just want it to be in 2013-14 for other reasons and that was collateral?

3, I see you have read the Magical Girl Raising Project novels (and the anime, but I prefer the novels over the anime lmao). What are your thoughts on them? Which point have you gotten up to? Did you know that they're fully complete and released in official English now? I'm a big fan and they're pretty obscure overall when compared to other stuff, so I was surprised to see you cite them in one chapter title of yours.

4, Finally, do you have any solid plans for your next book after When I Win the World Ends?

Most of the chapter titles are original. Two, Me!Me!Me! and FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, are references, but those references are glossed within CxC itself by Gramme's footnotes. For the other chapter titles that are references:

Moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymotherfuckers is from this Aesop Rock song.

The two titles that start with "Harper goes to Hell" are modeled on the 1993 film Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday.

Entartete Kunst is a reference to the Nazis' degenerate art exhibit.

HELL OF SWALLOWED?! is the title of a series of snake vore hentai doujins. (I will not be linking to this.)

The title of Part I, Nothing to Nothing, is a reference to a quote from King Lear: "Nothing will come of nothing: speak again." Part III, End of History, is a reference to the 1991 essay by Francis Fukuyama.

While not exactly a reference, "Teatime witches who sneer at the uninitiated" is meant to evoke Umineko.

"Trees part; an idol emerges: She" evokes She by H. Rider Haggard, and more specifically the reference to She in Stephen King's Misery.

"Scrape of the cane" is modeled on the Homestuck song Swing of the Clock.

"Welcome to a land of magic" is a slightly altered quote from the first volume of Magical Girl Raising Project (more on that later this ask); the actual quote is "Welcome to a world of dreams and magic."

Other references, like those to Persephone or the Soviet Union, are probably well known enough to not require a gloss.

2. Two reasons. First, Fargo was set in 2013, the height of the Williston shale oil boom that is central to Fargo's first arc. (I also started writing Fargo in 2015, when 2013 was close enough that it basically seemed like the same time period.) Chicago is set immediately after Fargo, and even has some returning characters like Cicero. If I really wanted to, I probably could have stretched Chicago's setting to the Trump era, but the second reason I didn't was to give it some political distance from the Trump administration. Chicago is in many ways a product of the Trump years, but I didn't want the story to get bogged down in the swamplike minutiae of Donald Trump himself, and all the very charged political and aesthetic associations he carries. There's a reason there wasn't a single good Trump parody made during the time Trump was actually in office, and I did not consider myself up to the task of changing that trend. Beyond just that, there's something archetypally "presidential" about Barack Obama from a purely aesthetic standpoint that makes him a fitting stand-in for the United States political system as a whole. If the final chapter of Chicago involved Donald Trump giving a "return to normalcy" speech instead of Barack Obama, it would be a far different vibe, regardless of how you feel about either of those figures politically. (Also, throughout the entire time writing Chicago, I had that video of Obama wielding the Chaos Emeralds in my mind.)

3. I'm a major fan of Magical Girl Raising Project. I even wrote an essay that compared it to Madoka Magica. I am fully caught up on the series and own every book, as my updated magical girl shelf shows:

I got into the series through the anime, which adapts the first book in the series plus some side material from the fourth book, and I got into the rest of the series through my friend PlatFleece, who did a bunch of fan translations of the books before Yen Press made official releases. I actually really love the anime, though it's in some ways not fully indicative of the rest of the series. The anime is basically a magical girl battle royale, and it's one of the few battle royales that actually understands the core appeal of the genre. I'm totally annoyed by fake battle royales like Hunger Games or Mirai Nikki that are, in actuality, simply a series of challenges for the main character to overcome, with side characters virtually not mattering beyond their interactions with the lead. To me, a true battle royale should be an ensemble, and one that really surprises you with which characters die and in which order; any battle royale that follows a typical progression of killing off characters in order of irrelevance is a complete failure of the genre. The anime of Magical Girl Raising Project is excellent at not only surprisingly killing off major-seeming characters early on, but also having seeming cannon fodder characters make deep runs with unexpected impact on the whole affair. That's exactly what a battle royale should be like.

What's impressive about Magical Girl Raising Project as a series is how it continually reinvents itself with each arc. The first arc is a battle royale, the second arc is a murder mystery, the third arc is a season of 24 (this is the best arc, and the one I took the Cleveland Quixotic chapter title from), the fourth arc is a survival horror, and so on. And over the course of these arcs, the series gradually develops this fascinating world that is kafkaesque and bureaucratic in nature, with a labyrinthine magical girl government divided into endless departments and political factions. Magical Girl Raising Project is unique among dark magical girl series in that there is nothing innately bad about being a magical girl; you're not doomed to die like in Madoka or punished for using your powers like in Site or Yuuki Yuna. Being a magical girl gives you no-downsides superpowers and even increases your lifespan (there are some characters who have been alive since Victorian England), and the government's intended purpose for creating magical girls is simply to help people. The series is interesting in how it indicates spectacular consequences of fairly humdrum bureaucracies and political systems acquiring the power of magical girls; most conflicts, especially from the third arc on, are caused by government factions playing chess games for power, and most of the recurring antagonists originally sought to reform the government before themselves getting mired in and corrupted by its political games.

Of course, it's also a character meat grinder, fully willing to kill off characters both minor and major, even load bearing characters who drastically warp the status quo via their absence, and that's something else I really like. There's a hilarious tug of war between the series' author and illustrator, the former writing the story before the character designs have been created, and the latter consistently giving some of the best and most interesting designs to the characters who get axed first.

It's unfortunate the series isn't more popular and got really unfairly kicked into the "Madoka Magica ripoff" bucket by undiscerning critics (it's really nothing like Madoka beyond the basic idea of dark magical girls). Chicago is in many ways a stealth Magical Girl Raising Project fanfic, with its focus on government and bureaucracy, as well as its "harder" magic system. Even Clownmuffle's name is very MagiPro-esque.

4. I'm already hard at work on 1 Over X, my next story. Yesterday I finished the rough draft of my outline for it, so I will probably start writing within a month or so. It's a horror story set at an elite all girls boarding school in New England, where the richest of the rich attend. The story begins as four girls sneak out of the school to attend a Halloween party...

[gaykarstaagforever]

If you haven't been "blessed" yet with iPhone 16 ads...oh man. Are you in for some shit!

First of all, all of them are 3 minutes long, and are mostly some guy just saying things in front of a spa...? And the things he is saying are a parody of absolutely everything wrong with modern tech, and the shitty techbro demand that we all integrate their lying, incoherent chat-bot code into every aspect of our lives (and pay them for it, of course).

This ad blitz is unreal. I can't imagine how much they paid for this. ALL of my at-work, unsubscribed YouTube Music ads were this, for 3 hours. All of them, 3 minutes long. It put that inexplicable Donald Duck Hot Ones mini-movie to shame, in both length and sheer infuriating pointlessness.

"If you are replying to a Stack message from your boss, this fucking phone can rephrase it so it has a more professional tone!"

Yes, because the thing the world needs most right now is a robot that helps the most helplessly stupid people imaginable not say "buttfucker" in a work email.

Most of us already have human brains that can do this, with very little effort. How is "we will help unqualified dipshits keep high-paying jobs they suck at" a feature?

Grammerly has already been selling this "feature" for awhile now, and it begged the same question when they started this: why is tech specifically helping awful people keep jobs they clearly aren't qualified for, because they lack any basic interest in being professional to coworkers?

Why would techbros think THAT is a good idea? One wonders!

Serious, find these ads and watch them. No one will ever be able to parody this moment in tech as well as what Apple just seriously produced.

Also, think about this: you know how autocorrect is annoying, and you kind of want to turn it off most of the time? (And you should. It makes you a better writer. Try it.)

Now imagine that every time you write a thing on your phone, the phone stops you from sending / posting it, and a confused algorithm based on 200+ years of stolen books rewrites it for you. And you have to look over that nonsense before you tell it no, stupid, I'm not Mary Shelley writing a thesis paper to submit to General Electric's President in 1972. Because that is exactly what this shit is going to do to you. All the time.

And you paid for this. Because they told you they were smashing this garbage into your camera rectangle, and you paid $1300 or more for it. Because...you want to impress terrible people?

I'm an Android guy, so I don't ever understand why people buy Apple's overpriced equivalents (they ARE built better and DO last longer. But unless you plan to keep this phone for 10 years, and you do not, it doesn't matter.)

You buy an iPhone 16, with integrated Apple Intelligence, to impress other (white) people at the chain bars you go to in your pressed khakis and boat shoes. Because there needs to be more unwitting victims of your 45 seconds of sex. But outside of that very specific usage case, you will come to hate what this device does to your daily phone experience.

...Unless of course you are the type of person who routinely sends texts to the office cleaning lady, rife with racist sexual harassment. In that very specific situation, this WILL improve your life.

And we as a society should really stand up against these kinds of people ruining absolutely everything for their very peculiar benefit.

Because most of us know how to think, and at a professional level, know how to turn that into formal writing. Elementary schools teach that. Even the bad ones. No one needs tech to do this for us. Except the terrible people trying to flog these unnecessary phones to other sad fucking losers.

[jordanianroyals]

BBC: Jordan's free speech boundaries tested with satire

By Yolande Knell, BBC News Middle East correspondent, 5 August 2023

One of the most popular satirical websites in the Arab world has hit back after being banned in Jordan by poking fun at the country's new planned censorship laws.

AlHudood, meaning "the limits" or "the borders", publishes articles and social media posts highlighting the absurdities of Middle Eastern politics and everyday life in a deadpan style. It is in effect the region's answer to the US parody website The Onion or the UK's Private Eye.

Its mocking commentary of the lavish wedding of Jordan's crown prince apparently led to AlHudood being blocked by the authorities last month - just ahead of tighter restrictions on the media being introduced.

Legislation currently going through parliament has been denounced by journalists and human rights groups, who say it will further restrict freedom of expression.

In its response, AlHudood - which was started in Jordan a decade ago - has offered a sardonic guide to publishing content in the country "without being fined, imprisoned, crucified".

Another mock article in a series of reports focuses on a "terrorist" who just started to pose a question on Facebook and was arrested for an "electronic crime".

"I think this will probably create a bigger clash [with officials in Amman] than before, but we feel we have no choice because if we don't do this, the longer-term effect for us and everyone else is going to be so much worse," an AlHudood source tells me from London.

In a region of autocratic leaders where state-run media dominates, AlHudood has thrived against the odds over the past decade and is seen as a breath of fresh air by many of its young followers. It says it reaches a million readers on its website and some 30 million a year on social media, which has become the main forum for voicing criticism of Arab authorities.

"We sort of do the journalism and then repackage it with satire," the London source says. "Satire is really great at working with hypocrisy and corruption."

Dark humour is deployed even on the toughest topics such as civil war, sectarian fighting, immigration and terrorism.

"A lot of the news is so overwhelming and it's difficult to find an angle on it," the AlHudood source adds. "Our approach at least gets people curious about what's happening. It helps create a question in people's heads like: 'What should I think about that?'"

Among the online publication's recent satirical reports was one about the Tunisian president condemning sub-Saharan Africans for stealing places on migrant boats from his own people.

Others drily introduce the two latest candidates "who will not end" Lebanon's long-running presidential vacuum and tell of an agreement between Turkey and Syria "to repatriate 50% of every refugee".

One headline: "Saudi government signs Hajj promotion deal with Cristiano Ronaldo" mocks how widely the superstar footballer has been used in marketing since his lucrative transfer to a Riyadh club.

For AlHudood's writers the opulent celebrations for the Jordanian royal wedding in June seemed ripe for ridicule. While Jordanian law has long criminalised speech deemed critical of the king, from experience its team did not think it was crossing red lines.

A satirical Instagram post depicted Jordanian riot police arresting a man for throwing a party for his baby son on the day of the crown prince's nuptials. There was also a joke threatening fines for citizens who were found not smiling sufficiently. Another gag asked how the costs of the wedding were being covered in the country struggling with rising living costs.

Human rights activists say that in Jordan and the broader Middle East, there has been a recent trend for increased state censorship. There have been many prosecutions of social media influencers and bans on TikTok.

A coalition of civic rights groups led by US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Jordan's parliament to scrap its new cybercrimes law, saying it could jeopardise free speech and lead to greater online censorship. They criticise how some offences are described in vague terms which could leave them open for the interpretation of prosecutors.

"It makes very clear that the intention of this is to scare people and make them think twice about posting anything online that could be remotely critical or controversial, or something some official won't like. It's deeply concerning," says Adam Coogle from HRW in Amman.

"When you pair it with the real shrinking space for civil discussion that has taken place in this country otherwise in the last few years, we're looking at a clear slide into more authoritarian governance."

The cybercrime bill - which has just been sent back to Jordan's lower house of parliament by the Senate after it drafted small revisions - is also expected to give greater powers to the authorities to block websites and social media platforms.

Jordan's government maintains that the draft law is not meant to limit freedoms but tackle fake news, online defamation and hate speech. It denies trying to stifle dissent but says it wants to protect people from internet abuse or blackmail.

Nevertheless, there has been criticism from Washington, the country's main donor.

In order to work around regional restrictions, AlHudood has now been formally based in the UK for several years. It does not name its contributors from across the Arab world, reducing the chance of direct conflict with officials.

Despite the Jordan ban - which follows on from one in the United Arab Emirates - its writers say that they will continue touching the sensitive nerves of Middle Eastern powers.

[talkingbl]

Why I Dropped Never Let Me Go (NLMG)

I dropped NLMG at Episode 10. Here's why.

Expectations

NLMG promised art, acting, and a story progression that eliminated filler and raised the stakes. And overall I expected a tight mystery where every action could have been foreseen with just a little attention to the right details. What I got fell shy of some things and, for other things, never delivered in the first place.

First, what I liked

The mise en scene (particularly the shot composition, cinematography and settings). Just look at some of these shots:

You could frame so many scenes from this show.

PondPhuwin still have some of the best chemistry in BL. Seriously, one of my favorite all time scenes from a GMMTV BL was early on in Episode 2 or 3 where Neung pulls Palm around a corner as he's being chased by bullies, and Palm creates this very palpable tension as he ogles Neung. It was so well done.

Let's move on.

Minor Gripes

I didn't need ChopperBen's storyline. Because it was only tangentially connected to the main plot, it made the story seem overly long and made it difficult to readjust to PalmNeung/the overall plot.

I wish GMMTV would stop trying to sell us stuff. I get that they have to make money but some things just felt too shoehorned in. And because this show is supposed to have a serious tone (we'll get to this later), it just pulls you out when you can tell an item is just there to sell products.

The inconsistent tone. For this show to deal with such a serious subject matter, it definitely had moments that seemed to belong in something more like My School President. I know this is something GMMTV likes to do a lot but I could never tell what we were going to get in a given episode. Don't get me wrong, I don't think the show should've been depressing the whole way through, but there was so much levity at times that it made the serious portions unbelievable and lose stakes.

Major Concerns

Pond's acting has improved...but not by much. All the parents were okay. Chimon was decent and Perth was excellent. But Pond and Phuwin? Honestly, I was a bit disappointed in the performances we got. Pond, while having improved since FUTS, had virtually no life behind his eyes. In some cases, this isn't a problem, but Palm is a very emotional character. There's this melancholy underlying Palm's sense of self that Pond couldn't quite grasp. Other than the scene where Palm blew up at his dad at the hospital, it was like he was acting like Pond playing Palm instead of just being Palm. His strongest scenes were when he first began discovering his crush on Neung. Everything else left a lot to be desired (with the hospital scene exception).

Phuwin's acting actively regressed. I'm not sure what happened with Phuwin between FUTS and now but I feel like the promise I once saw with him is all but gone. His acting is not acting, it's overacting. He's hitting dramatic beats like he's on broadway or playing a parody of Neung. I don't want to be too harsh--he's still only 19 after all--but it's wild to see given how much potential he showed in previous works. And I would chalk it up to discomfort in this particular role but his acting also seemed to have the same issues in The Warp Effect. My guess at this point is either he doesn't work well with Jojo or he needs to hit the acting classes a bit more.

Poor pacing. The switch pre-Thanya getting shot and post-Thanya getting shot was wild... We went from consistent story beats and a stable/logical distribution of screen time for different elements of the story to entire episodes dedicated to high school hijinks without actually advancing any meaningful plot point. There were episodes that consisted of 40% filler, episodes where a lot happened but nothing happened at the same time, etc. This completely killed any momentum the story built up during the first few episodes.

Ill-planned and meandering plot. All I have to say is Thanya getting shot felt unearned and unpaid off. I know that it's supposed to poise Neung to take the throne, but I don't think the thought behind the beat was well-executed. It didn't help that Neung seemed to only be effected by it for all of 10 minutes and we only learned she survived off-screen. Also, what kind of hitmen don't ensure that they've finished the job? Anyway, the whole going to Palm's mom's plot was strange and introduced more issues than it resolved, I think. Plus, those episodes were like one big beach episode.

Sketchy character writing. Chanon made no sense as a concept. He had more loyalty to Neung's dad than his own son, only to turn around and pretend that he's putting Palm in harm's way for Palm's own good. What sense does that make? Also, not a single character developed over the first 10 episodes outside of Chopper and maybe Neung. I should've had some better insight into Palm that felt substantial, instead, I had no clue about who he really was deep down. What's the point in learning about someone (or their parents in this case) if we're never going to get inside their head to connect the dots? And even for characters we knew a lot about, they stopped making sense like immediately after Thanya was shot (i.e., Neung). I could really get into this but this post is long enough as-is.

In short, this story could've been amazing but it chose style over substance. Not sure if I'll ever finish it but open to being convinced.

[theprojectreneblogger]

Grand Theft Auto VI

Grand Theft Auto VI is an upcoming action-adventure game in development by Rockstar Games. It is due to be the eighth main Grand Theft Auto game, following Grand Theft Auto V (2013), and the sixteenth entry overall. Set within the fictional open world state of Leonida (based on Florida) and its Miami-inspired Vice City, the story is expected to follow criminal duo Lucia and her male partner.[a]

Following years of speculation and anticipation, Rockstar confirmed in February 2022 that the game was in development. That September, footage from unfinished versions was leaked online in what journalists described as one of the biggest leaks in the history of the video game industry. The game was formally revealed in December 2023 and is scheduled to be released in 2025 for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Setting and characters

Grand Theft Auto VI is an action-adventure game set in the fictional open world state of Leonida—based on Florida—which includes Vice City, a fictional version of Miami.[1][2][3] Vice City was previously featured in Grand Theft Auto (1997) and as the main setting of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (2006).[4][5][6] The game world parodies contemporary American culture, with satirical depictions of social media and influencer culture, and references to Internet memes such as the Florida Man.[7][8][9] The story follows a criminal duo: Lucia, the series' first female protagonist since 2000,[b] and her male partner;[a] the first trailer depicts Lucia as a prison inmate, and later evading custody with her partner.[2][16]

Development

Following Grand Theft Auto V's 2013 release, Rockstar North's then-president Leslie Benzies said the company had "some ideas" for the series' next entry.[17] In 2018, The Know reported the game, code-named Project Americas, would be set primarily in Vice City and partly in South America with a female protagonist.[18] In 2020, journalist Jason Schreier reported the game was "early in development" as "a moderately sized release" that would expand over time, to avoid its predecessors' developer crunch.[19] In 2021, Tom Henderson claimed the game's map could evolve akin to Fortnite Battle Royale.[20][21] In 2022, Schreier reported the game entered development in 2014 and would feature two Bonnie and Clyde-inspired protagonists, including a Latina woman, and claimed the developers were cautiously subverting the series' trend of joking about marginalised groups.[22][23]

The game became highly anticipated in the years before its announcement,[24][25][26] and journalists noted some fans became frustrated by Rockstar Games's continued silence, particularly after they announced a re-release of Grand Theft Auto V in 2020.[27][28][29] An individual referencing the game received media attention for interrupting several live stage and television shows.[30][31][32] On 4 February 2022, Rockstar confirmed development was "well underway".[33] In July, Rockstar announced Red Dead Online would not receive more major updates as development resources were withdrawn to focus on the upcoming game;[34] industry sources stated Rockstar reallocated resources after planned remasters of Grand Theft Auto IV (2008) and Red Dead Redemption (2010) were paused due to the backlash received by Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition (2021).[35]

In November 2023, Rockstar president Sam Houser announced the first trailer would release in early December to celebrate the company's 25th anniversary.[36][37] Within five hours, the announcement on X surpassed two previous posts about the game to become the platform's most-liked gaming-related post,[38][39][40] later surpassed by Rockstar's post announcing the trailer's 5 December release date, with 1.8 million likes in 24 hours.[41] Other developers imitated the announcement's formatting to promote their trailers.[42][43][15] On 4 December, a low-quality version of the trailer was leaked on X; in response, Rockstar published the official version on YouTube, revealing the title, protagonists, setting, and release window of 2025 for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.[44][45][46] No Windows version was announced.[46][47] The trailer broke the record for most first-day views on a non-music YouTube video within 12 hours, with 46 million,[48][49] became the third-most overall within 24 hours with 93 million,[50][51][52] and surpassed the lifetime viewership of Grand Theft Auto V's 2011 reveal trailer within two days with 101 million.[53] Its featured song, Tom Petty's "Love Is a Long Road", saw a near-37,000% increase in Spotify streams, had almost 250,000 searches on Shazam, and ranked second on the worldwide iTunes chart.[54]

September 2022 leak

On 18 September 2022, a user known as "teapotuberhacker"[c] published 90 videos to GTAForums showing 50 minutes of work-in-progress game footage.[57] Schreier confirmed with sources at Rockstar that the footage was genuine,[58] and The Guardian reported it was from several stages of development,[57] with some videos about a year old.[4] The footage revealed a modern-day Vice City setting, contained animation and gameplay tests, level layouts, and character conversations, and depicted player characters Lucia and Jason entering a strip club and robbing a diner.[4][14] The hacker claimed to be behind the Uber security breach from the earlier week.[58][59] They said they downloaded the files directly from Rockstar's internal Slack groups,[60] and claimed to possess source code, assets, and internal builds of Grand Theft Auto V and VI, which they threatened to publish.[58]

Rockstar's parent company Take-Two Interactive responded by submitting takedowns of videos showing or discussing the leaks hosted on YouTube,[57][61] and contacted GTAForums and Reddit moderators to remove access.[62] The hacker wrote they were "looking to negotiate a deal" with Rockstar or Take-Two.[63] Journalists described the event as one of the biggest leaks in video game history;[64][65][66] Schreier called it "a nightmare for Rockstar Games" which could limit employees' remote work flexibility.[67][68] Jefferies analyst Andrew Uerkwitz called it a "PR disaster" that could potentially delay the game and diminish staff morale, but was unlikely to impact reception or sales.[69][70] The Guardian noted the leaked footage was being widely criticised "by ill-informed users" due to its quality, despite not being representative of the final product.[57] Some users erroneously claimed graphics and art assets are finalised early in game development. In solidarity, several developers shared work-in-progress footage of their games[71][72][73] and some, including Cliff Bleszinski, Neil Druckmann, Rami Ismail, and Alanah Pearce, offered sympathies to Rockstar.[4][57][74]

On 19 September, Rockstar confirmed the leak to be a "network intrusion" and lamented how the game was first demonstrated but did not anticipate long-term effects on development.[75] They disabled comments and replies on their social media accounts in the days following the leak.[56] Take-Two added that steps had been taken "to isolate and contain this incident".[69] Take-Two's share price dropped by more than six per cent in pre-market trading that day,[69][70] but recovered during regular trading hours following their statement.[76] Uber acknowledged the potential links to their security breach and noted they were working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Department of Justice. They believed the hacker was affiliated with the group Lapsus$, which was thought to have breached companies such as Microsoft, Nvidia, and Samsung over the preceding year.[77][78] Zelnick said no material assets appeared to have been taken and the incident caused the companies to become more vigilant with cybersecurity.[79] He later reiterated the leak had impacted staff emotionally but business remained unaffected.[80]

A 17-year-old boy from Oxfordshire—claimed to be "teapotuberhacker"—was arrested by City of London Police on 22 September as part of an investigation supported by the National Cyber Crime Unit and American federal law enforcement.[81][82][83] The suspect is a key member of Lapsus$ who was previously arrested under suspicion of hacking several other companies.[77][84][85] Appearing before the Highbury Corner Youth Court, he pleaded guilty to two counts of breach of bail conditions and not guilty to two counts of computer misuse.[84][86][87] The case was referred to a higher court while the boy was remanded to a youth detention centre.[87][83] In mid-2023, he stood trial at Southwark Crown Court for twelve offences, including six counts of computer misuse, three of blackmail, and two of fraud.[85][88] Prosecutors alleged he threatened to release the source code in a message to all Rockstar staff on Slack and had targeted other companies like BT Group, Nvidia, Revolut, and Uber.[88][89][90] He was deemed unfit to stand trial; instead of assessing his guilt, a jury determined he had committed the acts, and he was set to be sentenced by a judge.[85][91]

[tomorrowusa]

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was supposed to save the Republican Party from twice-indicted former president Donald Trump. He was going to be Trumpy enough without being nutty, a successful culture warrior and a pugilist who could convince the permanently angry MAGA base that he would fight for it. Instead, as some of us who have witnessed him in action predicted, DeSantis turned out to be an inept, unlikable and mockable candidate devoid of basic interpersonal skills.

The longer DeSantis stays in the race, the worse his poll numbers get. And rather than stanch his serial gaffes, he adds to them. His recent homophobic ad drew condemnation, even within the GOP.

If Republicans were betting on him (or on special counsel Jack Smith) to rid them of Trump — an unfit, unhinged candidate who could well drag the entire party under in 2024 — they should come up with a Plan B.

– Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post.

The words "unlikable and mockable" are all anybody needs to know about DeSantis as a candidate. When every other word you utter is woke, you sound like a self-parody.

It is to Ron DeSantis's advantage that late night comedy is currently on hiatus because of the WGA strike. DeSaster is basically an SNL sketch that writes itself. And we can imagine Jordan Klepper of The Daily Show visiting a DeSantis campaign event and asking attendees, "Do you personally like Ron DeSantis?"

To use an old cliché, DeSantis is not the sort of person you'd want to have a beer with. He's more like the obnoxious fan at a sports event that you'd want to pour your beer on.

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

Perhaps Meghan looked angry in Indianapolis due to Mandana's resignation? 🤔

Garrett Bradley, the original Director of their Netflix Parody, must feel like she dodged a bullet.

Boss of Harry and Meghan's media empire leaves after 18 months - just days before the release of their Netflix documentary

By Charlotte Griffiths and Mark Hookham For The Mail On Sunday20:53 EST 03 Dec 2022 , updated 02:00 EST 04 Dec 2022

One of Harry and Meghan's key aides quit just before launch of documentary

Mandana Dayani, 40, stepped down as president of Archewell this weekend

She is one of several high-ranking figures to have left the Sussexes' company

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have lost another key aide, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Mandana Dayani, 40, this weekend stepped down as president of Archewell, the couple's media empire and charitable foundation.

A spokeswoman for Meghan and Harry last night said the pair would 'take full lead of their company'.

With her US media connections, the Iranian-born activist was considered one of the Duke and Duchess's most important advisers.

She has been at Archewell, where she oversaw day-to-day operations, for less than 18 months.

Her surprise exit comes only days before a bombshell six-part documentary series about the couple's acrimonious split from the Royal Family – produced by Archewell and streaming giant Netflix – is released online.

Ms Dayani is the latest of at least 13 top staff to leave the Duke and Duchess since 2018.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have lost another key aide, The Mail on Sunday can reveal (Pictured: Meghan with former Archewell president Mandana Dayani)

Her surprise exit comes only days before a bombshell six-part documentary series about the couple's acrimonious split from the Royal Family. First trailer for Harry and Meghan's Netflix docuseries released

Toya Holness, Archewell's global press secretary, parted company with the Sussexes earlier this year, while Catherine St-Laurent, their chief of staff and a director of Archewell, left in March last year after little over 12 months in the role.

In a statement, Ashley Hansen, Meghan and Harry's global press secretary, last night said that Ms Dayani 'has been an integral part of Archewell and we are grateful for her passion, commitment and leadership'.

She added: 'Ms Dayani was brought on during their parental leave to move the company and its projects forward.

'She has continued to shape its vision and future successfully. Her transition was mutually planned, with intent for the Duke and Duchess to now take full lead of their company.

'There will be no replacement for this position, and Ms Dayani is fully supportive of the Duke and Duchess in their new leadership roles, and they remain friends.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11499609/Boss-Harry-Meghans-TV-firm-leaves-18-months-days-Netflix-documentary-release.html

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle first hired an Oscar-nominated director for their still-to-air Netflix series before they had a falling out and she left, it was claimed today.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex had turned to Garrett Bradley,  director of the critically acclaimed Netflix series about tennis prodigy Naomi Osaka – but they reportedly clashed over the direction of the show. 

A TV insider told the New York Post: 'Garrett wanted Harry and Meghan to film at home and they were not comfortable doing that. There were a few sticky moments between them, and Garrett left the project. Harry and Meghan's own production company captured as much footage as they could before Liz Garbus was hired.'

Garbus, who was also due to work on the Duchess' series Pearl before it was scrapped by Netflix, is a Left-leaning documentarian and filmmaker and also helmed the last season of The Handmaid's Tale, which earned her an Emmy nomination in 2021. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11443741/Harry-Meghans-original-Netflix-director-quit-creative-differences.html#comments-11443741

[satireinfo]

Biden’s Regretful Reflections

Biden’s Regretful Reflections: A Presidency Wrapped in Nostalgia, Gaffes, and Late-Night Ice Cream Runs Biden’s Reflective Rodeo: The Greatest Hits of Regret, Rhetoric, and Retirement Plans Written in Washington, D.C., by Libby Leftfield Washington, D.C. – As his term comes to an end, President Joe Biden has taken time to reflect on his presidency—a mix of triumphs, stumbles, and moments that…

[radioactive-earthshine]

Bestie please tell us more about Green Lantern Thad AU I don't remember you talking about it. Are we going to see it in Sunshine Falling?

I mentioned this casually months ago in a standalone post, but I didn't really get into the technicalities and I don't really have details but here's my reasoning for why this works for Thad in the way I conceptualized his redemption and who he is as a character.

Basically, Thad is a character that has been indoctrinated to hate Bart and the entire Allen family from pre-"conception." He is an exploited person whose only purpose was to be an agent of misery at the behest of cruel pitiful men as a weapon of personal vengeance.

Thad, had no say in any of this.

We get to see in Mercury Falling how Thad for the first time in his life he gets to experience something he likely had not up until then; affection and love without conditions.

Within Mercury Falling we get to see Thad's own internal dialog talk about those he interacts with and how those thoughts became less about manipulating them (and killing them) and more about how much he felt praised, liked and loved for him being him as he let more of himself show and less of the parody of Bart. Max, Helen and all of Bart's friends were in love with the Bart Thad was showing, which was not like Bart at all. Thad essentially came to the conclusion that they all loved him, not Bart. And he wasn't wrong.

The love Thad was experiencing, was changing him and HAD changed him in this story. He found a home.

The tragedy of Mercury Falling is that Thad had essentially already met redemption living as Bart, as he began to change his mind about everything, but when faced with the option to turn his back on his initial plan he suffered a relapse and defaulted to his 'original programming.'

Thad wasn't defeated in Mercury Falling by being pummeled or tricked or won over like a traditional villain, he was defeated because he realized that the "bitter ghosts" involved in his creation had lied to him. That they set him up on a path of pain and destruction to please only them and none of it meant anything for Thad himself. They would never love him, even if he succeeded in doing everything they wanted him to do he would never have their love.

Thad realized the nihilism of his existence up until that point and bolted giving up his mission, sparring both Bart and Max when he was absolutely going to win.

This on it's own is redemption only lacking in an 'apology' and reconciliation with his victims with forward movement towards a better and independent future, which was set up but sadly we NEVER got.

Where the Green Lantern AU comes in is that Thad (through comic specific events etc etc) is chosen as a ring bearer post Mercury Falling because he does have the ability to overcome great fear. In this AU he decided to turn around and come back, to turn his back on President Thawne and to become someone else, to find his own self and place in the world other than a weapon.

It's essentially a story about dealing with past trauma and overcoming internal self loathing and hatred to look forward to a better tomorrow. It's also a story that deals with addressing exploitation and how hard it is to face the fear that you were never loved until you left what you thought was home and to return to a place you almost destroyed to start again.

As for if this will show up in Sunshine Falling... Not this time. Maybe in another fic.

[overlooked-gems]

A Look At Stuff You Probably Never Heard Of: The Legend of Koizumi

April Fools Day was yesterday at the time of posting this, so I figured it would be appropriate to talk about a manga that’s basically a complete farce. And by “farce”, I mean that it’s highly comedic and practically not serious at all. Today, we’re taking a look at... The Legend of Koizumi! But before we go into this, I want to point out that this will refer to political figures. However, there will be no discussions on one’s own political views; just talking about the characters as they appear within the manga.

Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku (Reform with no Wasted Draws), otherwise known as “The Legend of Koizumi”, is a satirical manga series by Hideki Ohwada and was initially published infrequently in Kindai Mohjong Original before being published bimonthly on Kindai Mahjong in April of 2009 and ending in 2015. Following a two-year hiatus, the series was started again as “Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku: Princess of Zipang” with a new protagonist, Hako Mikado, which is still ongoing to this day.

Taking place in a world where all forms of politics are solved via intense games of mahjong by various world leaders and important political figures, the manga follows 87th Prime Minister of Japan, Junichiro Koizumi, first doing battle with 43rd US President George W. Bush at the Japan-U.S. summit in Okinawa. What follows is various encounters with other figures such as 41st US President and father of George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush (codename: Papa Bush), Russian President Vladimir Putin, and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il.

Before long, Koizumi, Pope Benedict XVI, Putin, George H. W. Bush, and 13th Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko all team up to defend earth from the returning Adolf Hitler, who survived the fall of Nazi Germany, established the Fourth Reich on the moon, and is planning on destroying everyone unless he and his team of skilled Mahjong players.

As stated before, this manga as a satirical parody. Often times, characters have very over the top facial expressions, with perhaps the biggest ones going to Tymoshenko, who changes her expressions very quickly. And with such extreme use of facial details, proper shading is used, either to make a character seem more serious or threatening, make them seem intimidating and terrifying, or just plain comedic or even cute. Also, characters have various “signature skills” based on what hand they can form with the tiles which acts in a manner similar to Yu-Gi-Oh, with said skills “damaging” the opponent.

And so, it’s time for  my Final Recommendation Never Let Go Of It||Get It||Hold Onto It||Try It||Consider It||Stay Away From It

This manga is absolutely WILD!! I mean, look at the image above! Hitler goes Super Aryan! Tymoshenko is an absolute psychopath! After getting her fingers stabbed with pins injected with neurotoxins while battling Josef Mengele, she slits her own throat before the toxin can reach her brain and kill her, allowing her to beat him. And Kim Jong-nam is depicted as wearing Mickey Mouse ears.

Which actually leads me to my next point. Legend of Koizumi is largely a parody, but they do occasionally poke fun at real historical events. Like Kim Jon-nam’s Mickey Mouse ears referene the fact that he tried to sneak into Japan under a false identity just to go to Disneyland. And the above image with Donald Trump defeating Hillary Clinton? By defeating Hillary, Trump won the 2016 election.

Also, other characters in the manga include Xi Jinping, Mao Zedong, Winston Churchill, Colin Powell, Yukio Hatoyama, Yukari Satō (who has a crush on Koizumi), the 14th Dalai Lama, Shinzō Abe, and Leon Trotzy.

I also want to mention that it got an anime adapation in th form of 3 OVAs, but I can only seem to find one.

So with all that finished, I’ll see you guys next week. But before I do, I’ll leave you with some of the expressions made by Yulia Tymoshenko.

[rosemary-is-in-pesterquest]

I won’t claim hs1 didn’t have *some* politics but like. Vast majority of that was 1) world building and 2)designed to give context as to why a character acts a certain way or has certain beliefs and how that effects their actions in the narrative.

Things like great rebellions against fascist empires are left a flavor text, as back story and mythology. We know that feferi planned to overthrow her ancestor but she never actually does that bc the story isn’t about overthrowing condy and dismantling the caste system. It’s about the game of sburb, the vast multitudes of the genesis frog and defeating the doomsday clock that was Lord English, and creating a new universe.

The politics of Candy feel out of place. Not only is Jane impossible to take seriously as a villain, the whole war is. Shallow. The topics the story tries to go into don’t have a place in homestuck. The gods aren’t even gods anymore, just ultra powerful political figures who can’t even play that role correctly because they keep having affairs and stupid interpersonal drama. There none of the tragicomic extionalism, and overall the story despite being about a global conflict feels strangely mundane compared to the creation myth that came before it. Vriska is getting hyped up as the protag once again but her character has no place in this type of story. Heck, none of these characters are built for that type of story, that’s why they had to be crunched down into parodies of themselves.

Ghost brain dirk says they can never be normal, and at least Jane knows that blah blah blah. But Jane is also trying to be normal. Jane is the goddess of life!!!! Why is she running for president???? If she wants power she’s better off building a temple and having people worship her!!! Because she is literally a god!!! But she doesn’t want to acknowledge her place as a deity, she wants to be a normal human dictator, obeyed, but not worshiped.

I’m not upset post canon has politics, I just think post canon doesn’t realize there’s a time of place for certain types of themes and messages and homestuck really isn’t the place for a metal gear solid crossover.

All of this. Excellent and so goddamn right.

[themurphyzone]

Screenshots from The Pink Candidate. The first one with Brain isn’t actually important to the point of this post, but it’s cute and therefore had to be included. 

Anyway, I actually skipped over this episode for a long time, not because of anything the episode did, but because I was pretty much avoiding political heavy content in general this year. It was a huge mistake on my end, and I’d like to thank @plutonis for pointing out to me that this episode is actually a wonderful Pinky centric story. 

I just thought I’d make this post because Ep 3 Pinko and the Brain and Ep 8 Mousechurian Candidate made me angry with how the political allegories/parodies overtook Pinky and Brain as characters, and transformed the mice into a cruel entity and a passive enabler. These two eps were the weakest PatB segments of the reboot, and Pinky and Brain had much better displays of their characters in pretty much every other episode of the reboot. 

This episode, however, focuses on Pinky and how he truly wants to better the world for himself, for Brain, and for the people. When Brain teaches Pinky the Constitution on the campaign trail, Pinky takes it all to heart, something that leads to their argument when Brain reveals the rest of his plan, and Pinky states that what Brain plans to do breaks everything he’d taught him about the Constitution. 

Here’s the thing though, my sympathies ultimately lay with both mice for this episode. After their argument, Pinky feels morally conflicted over right and wrong. Should he help his friend, or should he continue being president and do good now that he’s in a position of power to do so? Brain, despite his hypocrisy in teaching Pinky the Constitution only for it to be broken in the end, well...the fact that he took the time and succeeded in teaching Pinky those principles in ways Pinky could understand is actually pretty sweet. 

Not to mention, the entire reason the plan failed was because Pinky’s kind heart threatened the American two party system, and that the trial’s intentions were to ultimately smear Pinky’s name by setting up Brain as a fall guy. And sadly, Pinky gets trapped in a no-win situation, where he can lose the presidency that will result in the plan’s failure, or allow Brain to take the fall. And he chooses to take the blame himself rather than allow them to jail Brain. At the end of the episode, Brain doesn’t hold the failure against Pinky but rather thanks him instead. 

This post is a little long but in conclusion, Pink Candidate uses its political commentary to highlight Pinky’s morality and heart, and Brain himself isn’t heartless, and that’s why this episode succeeds where the political laden eps of the reboot’s PatB segments have failed.