#and once again I am Amazed

[thatlittlesentientfox]

never forget james flint parallel parked a fucking warship

[triona-tribblescore]

I thoroughly enjoy the stage of huskerdust where they have yet to fully admit their feelings to each other uvu <3

P2

[fictionadventurer]

I have to talk about Chester Arthur. His story makes me go crazy. A mediocre president from the 1880s who's completely forgotten today has one of the best redemption stories I've ever heard and I need to make people understand just how cool his story is.

So, like, he starts out as this idealist, okay? He's the son of an abolitionist minister and becomes famous as a New York lawyer who defends the North's version of Rosa Parks whose story desegregates New York City's trolley system.

Then he starts getting pulled into politics and becomes one of the grimiest pieces of the political machine. He wants money, power, prestige, and he gets it. He becomes the right-hand man of Roscoe Conkling, the most feared political boss in the nation, a guy who will throw his weight around and do the most ruthless things imaginable to keep his friends in power and destroy his enemies.

Because Arthur's this guy's top lackey, he gets to be Controller of the Port of New York--the best-paying political appointment in the country, because that port brings in, like, 70% of the federal government's funds in tariffs. He gets a huge salary plus a percentage of all the fines they levy on lawbreakers, and because he's not afraid to make up infractions to fine people over, he is absolutely raking in the dough. Making the rough equivalent of $1.3 million a year--absolutely insane amounts of money for a government position. He's spending ridiculous sums on clothes, buying huge amounts of alcohol and cigars to share with people as part of his job recruiting supporters to the party, going out nearly every night to wine and dine people as part of his work in the political machine. He's living the high life. Even when President Hayes pulls him from his position on suspicions of fraud, he's still living a great life of wealth, power, and prestige.

Then in 1880, his beloved wife dies. While he's out of town working for a political campaign. And he can't get back in time to say goodbye before she dies. Because he's a guy who has big emotions, it absolutely tears him up inside, especially because Nell resented how much his political work kept him away from home. He has huge regrets, but he just moves in with Roscoe Conkling and keeps working for the political machine.

And then he gets a chance to be vice president. The Republican Party has nominated James Garfield, a dark horse candidate who wants to reform the spoils system that has given Conking his power and gave Arthur his position as Port Controller. Conkling is pissed, and he controls New York, and since the party's not going to win the election without New York, they think that appointing Conkling's top lackey as vice-president will pacify him.

They're wrong--Conkling orders Arthur to refuse--but Arthur thinks this sounds like a great opportunity. The only political position he's ever held is Port Controller--a job he wasn't elected to and that he was pulled from in disgrace. Vice President is way more than he could ever have hoped for. It's a position with a lot of political pull and zero actual responsibilities. He'll get to spend four years living in up in Washington high society. It's the perfect job! Of course he accepts, and Conkling comes around when he figures out that he can use this to his advantage.

When Garfield becomes president, Arthur does everything he can to undermine him. He uses every dirty political trick he can think of to block everything that Garfield wants to do. He refuses to let the Senate elect a president pro tempore so he can stay there and influence every bill that comes through. He all but openly boasts of buying votes in the election. He's so much Conkling's lackey that he may as well be the henchman of a cartoon supervillain. On Conkling's orders, he drags one of Garfield's Cabinet members out of bed in the middle of the night--while the guy is ill--to drag him to Conkling's house so he can be forced to resign. He's just absolutely a thorn in the president's side, a henchman doing everything he can to maintain the corrupt spoils system.

Then in July 1881, when Arthur's in New York helping Conkling's campaign, the president gets shot. By a guy who shouts, "Now Arthur will be president!" just after he fires the gun. Arthur has just spent the past four months fighting the president tooth and nail. Everyone thinks he's behind the assassination. There are lynch mobs looking to take out him and Conkling. The papers are tearing him apart.

Arthur is absolutely distraught. He rushes to Washington to speak with the president and assure him of his innocence, but the doctors won't let him in the room. He gets choked up when talking to the First Lady. Reporters find him weeping in his house in Washington. Once again, death has torn his world apart and he's not getting a chance to make amends.

Arthur goes to New York while the president is getting medical treatment, and he refuses to come to Washington and take charge because he doesn't dare to give the impression that he's looking to take over. No one wants Arthur to be president and he doesn't want to be president, and the possibility that this corrupt political lackey is about to ascend to the highest office in the land is absolutely terrifying to everyone.

Then in August, when it's becoming clear that the president is unlikely to recover, he gets a letter. From a 31-year-old invalid from New York named Julia Sand. A woman from a very politically-minded family who has been following Arthur's career for years. And she writes him this astounding letter that takes him to task for his corrupt, conniving ways, and the obsession with worldly power and prestige that has brought him wealth and fame at the cost of his own soul--and she tells him that he can do better. In the midst of a nationwide press that's tearing him apart, this one woman writes to tell him that she believes he has the capacity to be a good president and a good man if he changes his ways.

And then he does. After Garfield dies, people come to Arthur's house and find servants who tell them that Arthur is in his room weeping like a child (I told you he had big emotions), but he takes the oath of office and ascends to the presidency. And he becomes a completely different man. His first speech as president mentions that one of his top priorities is reforming the spoils system so that people will be appointed based on merit rather than getting appointed as political favors with each change in the administration. Even though this system made him president. When Conkling comes to Arthur's office telling him to appoint his people to important government positions, Arthur calls his demands outrageous, throws him out, and keeps Garfield's appointees in the positions. "He's not Chet Arthur anymore," one of his former political friends laments. "He's the president."

He loses all his former political friends. He's never trusted by the other side. Yet he sticks to his guns and continues to support spoils system reform. He prosecutes a postal service corruption case that everyone thought he would drop. He's the one who signs into law the first civil service reform bill, even though presidents have been trying to do this for more than ten years, and he's the person who's gained all his power through the spoils system. He immediately takes action to enforce this bill when he could have just dropped it. He becomes a champion of this issue even though it's the last thing anyone would have expected of him.

He oversees naval reform. He oversees a renovation of the White House. He still prefers the social duties of the presidency, but he's respectable in a way that no one expected. Possibly because Julia Sand keeps sending him letters of encouragement and advice over the next two years. But also because he's dying.

Not long after ascending to the presidency, he learns he's suffering from a terminal kidney disease. And he tells no one. He keeps going about his daily life, fulfilling his duties as president, and keeps his health problems hidden. Once again, death is upending his life, and this time it's his own death. He's lived a life he's ashamed of, and he doesn't have much time left to change. He enters the presidency as an example of the absolute worst of the political system, and leaves it as a respectable man.

He makes a token effort to seek re-election, but because of his health problems, he doesn't mind at all when someone else gets the nomination. He dies a couple of years after leaving office. The day before his death, he orders most of his papers burned, because he's ashamed of his old life--but among the things that are saved are the letters from Julia Sand, the woman who encouraged him to change his ways.

This is an astounding story full of so many twists and turns and dramatic moments. A man who falls from idealism into the worst kind of corruption and then claws his way back up to decency because of a series of devastating personal losses and unexpected opportunities to do more than he could have ever hoped to do. I just go crazy thinking about it and I need you all to understand just how amazing this story is.

[delizbin]

:)

[omegalomania]

i haven't seen anyone post about this yet here but today a new comic series was announced that joe was a part of! it's called holy roller and issue #1 will be available november 22nd.

It's not every day that a publisher announces a new comic co-written by comedian Andy Samberg and Fall Out Boy's Joe Trohman. But that's what happened at Comic-Con, as Image Comics revealed the first details about Holy Roller. Billed as a cross between Kingpin, Inglourious Basterds and Batman, Holy Roller is a darkly comedic superhero series about a bowling ball-wielding vigilante. He'll have to bowl the perfect game when his hometown becomes overrun by Neo-Nazis. [...] “If you have ever found yourself wondering, ‘Why is there no comic book about a vigilante hero who smashes people's faces in with a bowling ball?’ you are in LUCK, bruv!" said Samberg. Trohman added: “This is an intensely personal book that will resonate with all. A hyper-stylized yarn, but informed by the bleak reality we’ve all come to know. It’s also your one-stop-shop for a bad-ass Jewish guy kicking, punching, and bowling-balling Neo-Nazis into oblivion!”

[adelphenium]

Hi thereeee I wanted to say your art literally changed my lifeeeee I check in on your blog like an old person checks in the morning newspaper to look for updates. I get so excited when you post something new. Have you ever considered drawing Jeff Skinner?? That’s my pookie pooks I would love to see that if you ever wanted to😭💖💖

nooo this is so sweet,, thank you for the req and for dropping by my blog every morning..!! 🥹💘

and yes! i've actually wanted to draw jeff and his show-stopping dimples for a while now!

today's morning news is forecasting you a wonderful day :))<3

[yourlocalguardian]

Sometimes I see posts about therian stuff and I want to reblog them but I almost feel like I cant because despite also being kin and a creature I kinda feel like there’s this. Nuance a little that therians are “more valid” or just in general more respected than otherkin are because they’re “real” animals

To be clear, not at all a shade towards therians, yall are amazing just sometimes I worry that despite also being a beast I am not supposed to show my relatance or even interact at all

Like I worry if they see me interact they’ll be disgusted somehow? Like “ew one of those reblogged my post”

Idk probably totally irrational fear, just sometimes I worry about it because it feels like there’s a sort of divide between therian and otherkin spaces

[starlightvld]

"Ghost catches Johnny's fingers between his own. He threads their scarred skin and knuckles together like interwoven lines in a story of all the wounds treated with out-of-date med kits and near misses ridden out in cramped waiting rooms, all the terrible jokes stuttered through gritted teeth and laughter barked through comm lines, all the desperation embossed in tender skin and pleas whispered into panting mouths. Johnny's heart races, pounding like it might jump out of his chest and into Ghost's... into Simon's scarred hands."

- Broken Bones and Shattered Hearts, Chapter 4 sneak peek, Art by @kibagib

[impromptu-sketches]

Re-listening to the volume 1 drama CD...

In the beginning Kazuki is so close to giving up... he’s gambled his money away, he’s sad and drunk, he runs into Kyu-chan who he’s been avoiding because he’s failed so many of his jobs...

And then he meets Rei and his apartment gets destroyed (then he keeps living there for a month probably because he can’t afford to move) but at least he has the opportunity to keep working.

Then he moves in with Rei, agreeing to be his housekeeper essentially, but now he has his dream kitchen, a nice place, a partner to make up for his shortcomings at work. Someone to cook for that will (kind of) appreciate it. A home to take care of.

Going back to their conversation in the car in episode 8...

Kazuki: When Kyu-chan first introduced us, you were such a mess. Your room as full of garbage, all your food was instant crap. Unshaven, ungroomed, living like a shut-in with dead zombie eyes.

Rei: Like you were any better, acting like you’d caused all the world’s misfortunes.

-

Maybe because he’s great at reading people (?) or because it’s Kazuki, Rei could sense he was blaming himself for something big or many things. The WORLD’S misfortunes.

And he invited Kazuki to live with him. Rei did. REI SUWA invited someone to live with him. In his house!! After meeting him barely 3 times!!

And I think it ended up saving him.

[fightingdragonswithwho]

EMILY PRENTISS IN SEASON 12 for @lcvingprentjss <3

[maybeinanotherworld]

what is it about the amazing devil that makes me want to cry and scream and frolic in a field and make art and love all the beautiful things the world still has to offer, despite everything

[snarkspawn]

Commissions are now closed

Thank you so much to everyone who submitted a request, as well as everyone who left a nice comment either in the tags or on the form itself! I see you and mentally I am wrapping you in a blanket and handing you a hot beverage of your choice because that is how you make me feel 🥰

So I'll take tomorrow to sort through all the responses and send out the emails to everyone who got a slot afterwards!

[esaari]

:)

[drawing-pomni-daily]

could i humbly request pomni at mcdonald’s?

day 41!

working at a mcdonald's!

(or at least i think it looks like one)

[magistralucis]

Djoseras, prior to biotransference: The highest good present in Ithakas is the legacy of Ithakas itself. Necrontyr lives are impermanent and fragile, but the stones that enshrine our legacy are not. No individual life is more important than those stones, not the common people, not any noble, not even royals such as you or I or the king. Death comes for everyone equally, young or old, lowborn or highborn, slave or dynast; we would do best to make use of the inevitable to prioritize the dynasty's integrity above all else. All can and must be sacrificed to ensure its permanence, including our royal selves, if we must

Djoseras, after locking himself in 'the dynast is the dynasty' logic:

[teachyouhowtodothesponge]

LONG RAMBLE-

WOW!!! 800 followers?? 500+ likes on my wally art?? This is incredible! I- I can't- AAAAA Thank you!!! There have been so many cool artists following me and so many nice words have been said! I cannot say this enough, THANKS. I literally never expected this and 800 is MORE THAN I EXPECTED! I am really grateful for everyone who have followed me, or even liked my artwork! Thank you all so much!

😭💓💞💓

One more thing! A special thank you to the following for inspiring me, following me, and/or supporting me through their sweet comments!! Go follow them! All of their art are really cool!

@eechytooru

@moecartoons

@redshamrock56

@bunnyupsidedowncake

@cloudygazer

@sara-bell101

@paper-starz

AAAA I love you all and your art!!! Thanks for your support!