#and people who dislike him are mad because of his answers to the media?

[hyacinthsdiamonds]

Literally every driver at some point or another after a gruelling race in warm conditions: *sits on the ground and tries to cool down and recover somewhat before facing the media aka another gruelling task before they get to leave, looking absolutely shattered*

Everyone: aw my poor baby!!

Max: *does the same after a race that saw him literally overtake everyone outside of the top 3, some of whom twice*

People for some reason: BRAT HOW DARE HE BREATHE

[linkspooky]

Hey. Long time follower here. Your metas, your discussions of "bad victims", your nuanced view of heroes and victims, your favoritism towards "losers"...not only did you heavily influence my own writing and my own favorites in different medias (I'm entirely blaming you for me being a Makima stan) but you helped through an extremely dark time in my life. I don't think that you just made me a better writer, you also sort of saved my life. I'll always be grateful for that.

There's something I want to ask. You answered to another ask that you don't regret reading MHA because focusing on what doesn't work about it made your writing stronger. Do you feel the same about Homestuck? Or about the more disappointing parts of Tokyo Ghoul (and, while we're being candid here, Avatar?).

Thank you for your compliments they're very encouraging to read.

At this point this blog is becoming the bad victim lovers support group where we all hug each other and cry over how MHA is treating all of its bad victims.

HOMESTUCK: Honestly, my main problem with Homestuck is that ACT 6 was so long and uneventful full of characters not doing anything that by the end of it the only character I was invested in was Vriska. ACT 6 also did go out of it's way to kill my enthusiasm for everything I liked in ACT 5, especially John Vriska. I've never seen a comic throw out all of its previous development that the audience was invested in and like everything that was foreshadowed - oh wait My Hero Academia. Unfortunately Vriska is an all-time-fave so I still write Homestuck Fanfic about her to this day. I used to like think the finale of Homestuck was one big "meh" but after years to reflect upon it, I do like Vriska's arc ending on a final note of Terezi searching for her in the void, possibly forever, and the ambiguity of whether they'll reunite.

TOKYO GHOUL: I remember being mad about Kaneki getting a happy ending that he didn't earn. Kaneki was a character that really frustrated me for a long time, but I came to realize that if you like remove Kaneki from his group of codependent enablers he's actually a really interesting character when he's alone. So he's a character I love to explore in fic, even if I disliked what they did with him in canon. Also, Tokyo Ghoul killed off its biggest victims Furuta and Rize in a really cruel way, but it didn't kill off every single victim so it just disappoints me instead of making me sick to my stomach like MHA does.

ATLA: I actually think the Avatar the Last Airbender ending is fine. Which like, isn't saying much because I think the Season 1 finale and Season 2 finales are some of the best things ever put to television. The worst sin that the ending does is number one lack of foreshadowing in earlier in the season and number two rushed plot points. Aang not wanting to kill the Fire Lord makes sense. I think the reason a lot of people criticize this and call it an ass pull is that it's not even BROUGHT UP until the finale. Vash the Stampede is pacifist and one of my favorite characters, but it's established from episode 1 that Vash is constantly up against people who want to kill him and he either has to run away or find a way to fight back nonlethally. Azula's insanity and mental instability could have been a thing, but it's not foreshadowed at all so all it ends up doing is conveniently nerf Azula for Zuko, and also being ableist. The worst problem is while there are epic fights it doesn't feel like an ending, because everyone's character arcs are 3/4ths of the way through. ESPECIALLY ZUKO's. Like people say Zuko is acting out of character in the comics, but I think Zuko is the only person in character in the comics because that's how Zuko without a proper end to his character arc would act. It really feels like they had plans for a fourth season that they didn't get, and their solution was to cram an entire season worth of development in everything post the eclipse on season 3. The fact that Azula is left as such a hanging thread is like proof of that, and the fact that Azula's last shot in the series is just her crying and screaming with like no follow up afterwards is something I've been bitter about for fourteen years.

I could write an entire post about how Zuko's redemption arc is unfinished though. It's like the same problem as Catra. I like both characters and I'm glad they got redeemed but they crammed in the entire redemption arc into 1/2 of the last season and that simply wasn't enough time.

[partywithponies]

Glossary of media discussion terms I invented myself and then bring up casually as though you should know what I mean (AKA Tash Translation Guide):

The Inherent Eroticism of Solving Crimes Together:

the simple fact that the kinds of common character dynamics between the two leads of any given detective or mystery or police show (i.e. trust, devotion, talk of being "partners", sneaking around together in the dead of night) are often very easily read as romantic or sexual to fandom-brained people, even if that obviously wasn't the intention. Even if one of them's already married. Even if there's a 30 year age gap. Doesn't matter

The Holliday Grainger Effect/Holliday Grainger Syndrome:

Named for the actress Holliday Grainger and the MULTIPLE TIMES she has been cast as the less attractive/less desirable narrative foil to the more conventionally attractive and desirable female lead, as though we're all supposed to pretend Holliday Grainger isn't also an incredibly beautiful woman

The Milton Keynes Conspiracy:

Named for my joke conspiracy theory about the teen soap Grange Hill, in which I claim that within the Grange Hill universe, Milton Keynes isn't actually a real place, and that whenever a character disappears suddenly with the only explanation given being that they "moved to Milton Keynes", that was just code for them having been disappeared by the government for getting too close to The Truth™️, and every time something odd or unexplained happens or something major is just brushed under the rug and forgotten about, that was all just shady alien-related government activity and all part of The Milton Keynes Conspiracy. I tend to bring up The Milton Keynes Conspiracy whenever a show's canon, continuity, or geography makes absolutely no sense under close scrutiny and the only "logical" explanations left are things like time loops or aliens or cracks in space and time or government conspiracies.

Bastard Man (Affectionate) and Bastard Man (Derogatory):

A very important distinction. The sparknotes version is that a Bastard Man (Affectionate) is a Card Carrying Bastard who does it all with charm and charisma and confidence, knows they're a bastard and takes a twisted pride in it, and is at least funny about it, while the Bastard Man (Derogatory) is just whiny and sad and won't actually admit to being a bastard man, and usually the narrative won't admit it either and keeps treating him like a tragic hero no matter what. Has a tendency to just get away with stuff with no payoff and isn't even funny about it. Shares a lot of DNA with:

Sadboy:

My absolute least favourite character archetype, though that's purely subjective and there are still SOME Sadboys I like. I know that my opinions are not universal because part of the reason I have such a visceral dislike for them is because they're often tumblr sexymancoded and I cannot escape them in the show's tags. They're wet. They're pathetic. They're miserable. And they're pretty. Usually played by a skinny pale white boy. (Like I said. Tumblr sexymancoded). And because of this, the show and the fandom alike will expect you to ignore the fact they're an awful person and excuse everything they've ever done wrong. Look, you can't be mad at them, look how sad they are about it. Look at their big wet puppydog eyes. In fact they haven't done anything wrong at all and you're crazy for saying they have. It's everyone who was mean to him who is wrong and his wife/girlfriend is a bitch for getting mad at him. He's just a sad wet little meow meow. Ugh. Disgusting. When will [REDACTED ACTORS HERE] answer for what they and their characters have done to me.

[katyspersonal]

if you could ask Miyazaki a single question on Bloodborne lore and he had to give you a complete and non-obscure answer, what would you ask?

"Why the Doll from Bloodborne is dressed like this?". In a heartbeat.

There ARE some other things I really want to know, of course! All Fromsoft, not just Bloodborne. Like who was Djura's third companion, because it is absolutely not obvious since Joseph is not unique but just a summon variant of a generic invader enemy 'Izzy's Follower'! Or exact list of parents of Gwyn's children, so the family tree is solid! Or how exactly Rom ascended, because whereas Micolash claims she was given eyes by Kos, she is a Spider (Nightmare/Amygdalae affiliation) AND is found as a corpse near weeping Ebrietas in the Choir! Or who exactly Gloam-Eyed Queen was... All that!

However, simply answering all these with theories and headcanons and interpretations does not have consequences! The Doll's clothing discourse, however, does!

It is obvious that we as a fandom are not ready for Miyazaki's genius, and above all, not ready to be mature enough to respect each other's takes! Doll discourse brings out the worst in people! No other unresolved lore question makes people block each other on the spot for """wrong""" reading of this. People even block Gehrmaria shippers as if to distance from "impurity uwu" instead of just blocking the ship's name, like Tumblr allows to do! No other question makes them vagueblog absolutely vile shit about another, or sometimes put their hate for character/ship in the tags. No other question makes people call their opponents misogyny-apologists, braindead, weirdos, media-illiterate or straight up claim they "just want to woobify the cis white man" (seriously what the fuck RACE has to do with this?) ..... this is the part where I should address the wrongdoings of people with charitable Gehrman reading as a 'both sides bad' matter but I can't recall anything lolololololol

Yeah, I might not believe there was any sort of misogyny tradwife stuff planned for the character. It is not just a matter of "even the doll should it please you" and "his curious mania" being inventions of localisation team:

Doll says '私をお使いくだ��い' ('Watashi o o tsukai kudasai', so, please use me), referring to using her for channeling Blood Echoes! Gehrman says '君さえよければ、あの人形もね⋯' ('kimi sae yokereba, ano ningyō mo neso', so, 'doll too if only you are okay with it', or '...if that is alright with you') in the context of talking about the Hunter tools in the Workshop, again, pointing us towards the fact that she is, too, a 'tool' in a way. Some tools fortify your weapons, others (herself) turn blood echoes into your power.

The "mania" mentioned in this line also uses the word 狂熱 (kyoonetsu), which refers to madness and insanity. Meanwhile, the "mania" mentioned in the description of Doll's clothes uses the word 偏執 (henshuu), meaning to be absorbed in the process very much, being very fixated etc. So, he was so absorbed in his work on the clothes of the Doll that he lost track of time!

It is... everything. Him being put up as a tragic character with a tragic song, when Fromsoft is always blunt when they want someone to be a weirdo or disliked. It is Doll crying a tear of joy upon feeling how Gehrman cared for Maria through Hair Ornament. It is Doll being based on Victorian grief dolls and not being a sex doll or whatever Reddittube said and Twitbr parroted. It is bifauxnen archetype being more often about a woman who did not even want to be masculine but something, or someone, pushed her to, than about plain masculine woman, paired with how much Maria regretted joining the hunt and her hunter attire being the 'masculine wear'. If not and transition was genuine, grief doll implies Maria at least used to be this way, and Gehrman clings to the past version of her, away from what killed her.

But in the end, it doesn't matter which! I try to not have biases besides 'what works better' or 'what feels more natural'! But even if Miyazaki said that yes, he did imply misogyny tradwife forced femininity whatever whatever for this character, what would matter is a concrete answer! Again: we as a fandom, heck, as a species, are not intellectually ready for the concepts like 'up to interpretation'. But removing interpretation factor from THIS thing would've saved so, so, SO many unnecessary petty dramas and conflicts!

[mash4077confessions]

BJ hunnicutt for the ask game

Here you go anon! I got all your B.J. answers right here :)

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

I LOVE B.J. Hunnicutt because he is funny, he is kind, he is unhinged, he is witty, he is passionate, he is a hot mess express. He is so full of love and these heavy emotions that plague and he has no idea what to do with this intensity and it comes out in all of these wild ways, and even he doesn't understand half of his own actions.

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

B.J.'s absolute devotion to those he loves and cares for, and the absolute madness that comes from the need to have them feel the intensity behind his words.

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

He can be kind of overly cruel towards Hawkeye. I understand why and it does add a layer to his character, but sometimes, I just want to slap him and say, "Dude, you love him, stop being a dick and just say how you feel."

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

I feel like B.J. would fit in very nicely with the cast of Psych or possibly as a guest character in an episode of Scrubs.

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol (Hunnihawk from B.J.'s perspective)

Gunshot Lullabies by Citizen Solider (to illustrate how B.J. evolves during the course of the show/war)

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

-We both love his mustache

-We both love a good pun/dad joke

-We both love Peggy Jane and Hawkeye

-We both love little kids and I would love to talk to him about Erin

Possibly more things as well, but that's what comes to mind at the moment.

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

I appreciate it when others see his love for Peg AND Hawkeye and acknowledge that both relationships are absolutely vital to B.J.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

I don't despise it, but I do find it interesting that he is considered to be such a divisive character. People who don't like him tend to think of him as either pure evil or they think he's really boring...and I don't understand either of those views. The boring part, especially. B.J. is a great many things...boring is definitely not one of them.

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

Possibly. I think we could live together in the swamp. He would definitely prank me a lot...and I would have no way of messing with him back on an equal playing field. But we are both messy and I could definitely use a drink. I'd happily talk to him about Erin and the kids I've worked with over the years. That might be nice.

10. Could you be best friends with this character?

The best friend title has already been taken by Hawkeye, so no. But I think we could be friendly enough.

11. Would you date this character?

I would date him, B.J. would never date me. I'm not his type.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

B.J. was raised with the idea that if he behaved a certain way (his father's way) that life would go well for him. You do what's expected, and then good things come back to you. His father really pushed that into him. So, B.J. did all his father as his father commanded (be kind to your sister, become a doctor, get married, have a baby, etc).

He thought this would lead to his father loving him...respecting him, and it never did. He thought this would make him happy and it didn't. Instead, he learned to repress his rage, his sorrow, his wants, and his needs...and then they'd explode. The explosion just got louder during the war, and he began to hurt the people he loved, when all he was trying to do was hurt himself.

I have a lot of thoughts about B.J's childhood and early adolescence.

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

👨🍸👨‍👩‍👧🏍🏨🃏🧶🧦

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

this....just all of this. Tight jeans, unbuttoned shirts, chucks, etc.

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

Punnihawk is end game. B.J. needs and loves both Peggy and Hawkeye and wouldn't be the same without them.

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

I don't see him getting shipped with people other than Peggy, Hawkeye, and occasionally Trapper. Hmm...idk I guess shipping him with Frank would be pretty weird. Uh Potter would be another strange one.

17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

I once started writing a B.J/Margaret fanfic and while it's not a great ship, I do still find their dynamic interesting.

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

His relationship with Hawkeye, whether you see it as romantic or platonic, is a thing of beauty.

19. How about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?

Uh I guess his little one night stand with Carrie Donovan? But even then I'm not really bothered by that storyline.

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

Other than Hawkeye? I think that if Margaret hadn't still been with Frank, she and B.J. could have developed a much closer friendship and much sooner.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

I enjoy writing for B.J. but sometimes I struggle to write something appropriately funny for him to say. That's my own problem, though.

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

I don't like it when people write fics where they say B.J. never really loved Peg. Were we watching the same show?

23. Favorite picture of this character?

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

B.J. Hunnicutt is the live action Maes Hughes from FMA

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

B.J. was what really hooked me into watching Mash as regularly as I ended up doing so. It was the summer of 2020 and the relationship between B.J. and Hawkeye was the best going on at the time. He was the hyperfixation I needed when everything was falling apart.

Now, he is still my fave Mash character, but not my hyperfixation anymore. He has been usurped by Mulcahy.

[steampunkforever]

There's a sentiment in low-quality media crit circles that basically boils down to saying "you would be all over this unlikable character if she was a man instead" or "your love of this pathetic male character betrays a misogynistic double standard because you don't act like this about women." Often I see this used to either defend their consumption of badly written media as praxis-- see: defenses of Rey's character as somehow empowering rather than admitting that the Star Wars sequels were badly written --or (even worse) as attempts to drag mature media subjects (people who got really mad about Barbie vs Oppenheimer) into mire of gender essentialism.

Of course this sort of thinking doesn't produce any art worth paying attention to. The answer is simple: leave behind playground gender politics and arguments over the female Ghostbusters and just watch better movies. Tár is one of those movies.

Lydia Tár is an absolute disaster. Born in a wet cardboard box. She's my little meow meow. She's a composer spiraling into a tormentous nightmare. She's driving a porsche. She's seeing things. She's bothering the neighbors. She's getting violent. She's a genius, she's perfect, she's losing control. I'm obsessed with her on a level this website reserves for Columbo and certain marionette-like actors. Todd Field wrote this for Cate Blanchett and no one else, and the gusto with which she carries the film on her shoulders is downright beautiful.

Though I will not discount the importance of representation (I've enjoyed too many movies about Italians to refute the beauty in finding shared experience through cinema), I'll note that when it comes to making meaningful art, representation should not matter. I'm not a mean lesbian conducting the Berlin Philharmonic, nor do I necessarily want to be considering the events that unfold in the film, but even for as supremely unlikable as Lydia is in this movie, she's a star you wish to follow despite her downfalls of her own making.

There's a moment early on in the film where Lydia teaches a class at Julliard, and is confronted by a student who dislikes Bach on the grounds that he is a white man and presumably misogynistic due to the bevvy of children he had with his wife. This student is a self-described "BIPOC pangendered" individual, and a bit of a strawman for the sort of intellectually dishonest reasoning that's permeated pop culture criticism. Lydia, and the film itself, use this character as a punching bag, reaming him out in front of the class for the admittedly ridiculous positions on artistic analysis that are increasingly being touted by the people who unfortunately matter to this sort of thing.

I will admit, this is a bit of a soapbox, but the movie keeps one foot on the ground, as the scene ends in Lydia stating the premise of her entire character: she wishes not to be judged for her womanhood or sexual orientation, but rather for her actions. For her art. What she has done, Lydia posits, is how she wants history to classify as who she is.

Unfortunately for Lydia, she's an awful person who takes advantage of those around her, cheats on her wife with her own students in relationships that may be consensual but are certainly wrong, and ultimately deserves the blacklisting from the industry that she receives. Not relatable at all, and for sure to turn off the guys who walked out of Promising Young Woman complaining that Carey Mulligan's character hated men.

Yet Tár takes this human trainwreck and crafts a psychological drama the simply doesn't let you look away. Watching Lydia Tár experience the ultimate #WomanMoment as she spirals into insanity makes you understand all the awards this movie won. This is a great film, and like the main character, deserves to be judged for what it does rather than who it stars, though Blanchett's performance as Tár will keep me obsessing over this movie for a long time.

[dulcemaiden]

About what you said in your last BB post, I wonder if it's true that Snake will kill Doll. I have read many comments wishing for that, especially on Twitter, and readers commenting a lot of hate towards Doll, saying that Doll was always okay with kidnapping children, and even now she's hurting children, so she deserves to die again, but Doll wasn't really evil, she was a kind girl :( I just can't accept Yana brought her back only to gain the fandom's hate and to be killed by Snake. I think her condition as a bizarre doll is making her to act like that. That's why I would like to know your opinion, since you seem to be one of the few people who doesn't hate Doll, do you think Snake will really kill Doll?

Hello! Thanks for your ask ♡

I didn't know about this hate towards Doll in the fandom (as I don't spend much time in social media nowadays, especially Twitter), but I wouldn't be surprised, fandom is biased lol.

Regarding my opinion, I think I already answered it in another post, so maybe I'm just repeating more of the same, I don't know, but here we go

I agree Doll used to be a kind girl in the circus arc, she always took care of the new ones, and she protected OCiel thinking he was a kid needing her help. She also was the most conflicted about the whole child abduction thing, and was very hesitant to hurt people as we saw in BoC. Doll had an innate kindness.

HOWEVER, first we have to learn to separate that Doll from this new Doll. Doll is now an advanced bizarre doll, and those dolls seem to be desperate for blood (as we saw with Layla), they can't feel physical pain, and seem to lack empathy for the lives of other humans because they have no souls.

So you got an idea.

It is understandable if readers dislike BD!Doll, but I disagree with those comments about her being always evil, because she wasn't.

Also, is Doll really evil now? And this question goes for all the bizarre dolls. It's not like Doll gave her consent to be brought back as a monster, as she called herself. And it's not like she is the mastermind behind the horrors of the orphanage, there is an organization behind it and if Doll is important is as a test subject, she is a simple puppet, a doll. And yes, it was stated in this post before, that it's probably that bizarre dolls are programmed with their "yearning for the future" and cannot escape from that. This arc could give us more insight about how dolls function regarding that topic.

Now, let's talk about Snake.

Snake's position is a very difficult one. Snake clearly loves Doll, she was a part of his family and it was hinted in the last cover that she saved him in a similar way Ciel did with Finny, and now he has her corpse telling him that Ciel killed her, and that the people he is currently friends with killed his first family... it's heartbreaking. On the other hand, there are innocent children being used as a material for the "Stars", and that must be stopped.

About the "Snake will kill Doll theory", I don't think that would actually happen, I mean it's still a possibility, but even if Doll goes completely mad and start attacking them so Snake would have no option, he would still resent o!Ciel for being forced to do that. I think things will be resolved differently.

Sorry for the late response and again thanks for the ask!

[nerdzzone]

Pride & Passion

Summary: Joining Chris at a movie premiere for the first time in years stirs up many emotions in Madeline.

Part of the Back To You series

-----

July 2022

Red carpet events and movie premieres always seem so glamorous and exciting to those outside of the Hollywood world, but to Madeline they were bittersweet. She loved celebrating Chris and she loved seeing him get the recognition he deserved for all this hard work, but she hated the attention that she got and the anxiety that came from knowing there were eyes and cameras everywhere watching her every move.

She’d attended countless premieres over the years so she was well practiced in how to navigate them, but considering the premiere of The Gray Man was her first public appearance as Chris’ wife, she was feeling a little extra pressure. Back when they were just friends it hadn’t been so bad - her presence always sparked curiosity and speculation, but once the word got out that she wasn’t a threat to anyone’s fantasy of marrying Chris no one paid much attention to her - but ever since they first confirmed their relationship the scrutiny was intense and almost unbelievable. Every move she made was analyzed beyond belief and it was hard to relax and enjoy the event when she knew that so many people were watching her with the sole intention of tearing her apart.

However, as she smoothed down the dress she was wearing and looked over herself one final time in the mirror, she was fairly confident that at least there wouldn’t be much criticism that could be made about her physical appearance at the event she was about to attend. She’d been worried when she picked out her outfit that the long, fitted dress that she’d chosen would be too unforgiving with the recent changes in her body - a natural occurrence as she shifted from professional dancer to teacher and after having a baby - but she was relieved to admit that she looked as sexy and elegant as the dress made her feel.

Leaving the bathroom before she had time to pick apart her appearance and find new insecurities, she headed into the living room where Scott and his boyfriend, Steve, were relaxing. She could hear the sounds of Chris’ team bustling around the house as they prepared him for the evening, but he was nowhere to be seen as Scott greeted her.

“Wow,” he grinned at the sight of her. “You look amazing!”

“So do you,” Madeline insisted. “You guys scrub up pretty well too.”

“Not as well as you, that dress is incredible.”

“Thank you,” she smiled. “I appreciate the confidence boost, I need all the support I can get tonight.”

“I thought you might,” Scott admitted, his smile suddenly taking on a more sympathetic twinge. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I’m about to stand in front of a firing squad.” It was an honest answer, but while it earned a laugh from Scott, Madeline noticed the look of confusion on Steve’s face that reminded her that he hadn’t been around the first time her and Chris were together. “This is our first big public appearance since we got back together and Chris’ fans hate me.”

“They don’t hate you…”

Chris’ voice pulled Madeline’s gaze over to the door where he’d appeared and the sight that greeted her almost entirely distracted her from the words that had come out of his mouth. He’d gone for a slightly simpler outfit than he’d worn at the last premier that Madeline had attended with him - way back in 2015 - but the minimalist look was working for him. Forcing herself to stay focused on the conversation at hand, she pulled her gaze off his impressive body and rolled her eyes.

“They absolutely do, most of them anyway.”

“Only because you used to tease them so much,” Scott smirked, glancing at Steve as he filled him in. “She used to drive them crazy.”

“I didn’t tease anyone,” Madeline protested. “I just refused to hide our relationship. I felt that it was perfectly reasonable for me to post my boyfriend on my social media if I wanted to. If people who dislike me choose to seek out my posts and then get mad about what they see then that’s their issue.”

Steve shrugged as he nodded in agreement.

“Sounds reasonable to me.”

“It does,” Chris admitted. “But it used to give me such a headache sometimes.”

“I didn’t even post that much,” Madeline huffed. “Usually it was just a glimpse of Chris at the end of a video or just his voice in the background, but even that drove people crazy.”

“Those posts bothered them the most, I think,” Scott mused. “It was enough to intrigue them, but not enough to satisfy their curiosity.”

“Well, even when I went rogue and posted more obvious things they still got upset so I really just couldn’t win.”

“Which is why it’s better to let it go and not even try.” The reminder from Chris was said with a smug smile and as much as Madeline wanted to disagree, she knew he was probably right. It was less of an issue for them than it had been in previous years as Madeline was far less active on social media than she used to be and Chris had managed to find a good balance between being open and honest about their relationship and keeping things private, but they’d been shown time and time again that no matter what they did someone would have something to say about it. When Madeline didn’t argue, Chris moved across the room and slid an arm around her waist as he changed the subject. “You look great, I’m really glad you’re coming with me tonight.”

“Me too,” Madeline smiled as Chris pressed a kiss against the side of her head. “It’s nice to get dressed up, all I wear these days are leotards or sweatpants.”

“That’s all you’ve ever worn,” Scott teased. “At least ninety percent of the time.”

“That’s not true,” Madeline protested. “I used to get dressed up to go out every once in a while, but now that we have Gracie I have no energy for any of that.”

“Okay, that’s fair,” Scott smiled, his eyes lighting up at the mention of his youngest niece. “It must be nice to get a break from mom life. How’s Grace doing?”

“She’s doing great, she’s getting so big now,” Chris jumped in, always eager to talk about his daughter. “Her little personality is really coming out now.”

“She’s almost a year and a half?” Steve queried, waiting for Chris and Madeline to nod before he continued. “That’s such a fun age. Is she talking much yet?”

“Oh, yeah,” Chris grinned proudly. “She’s talking a ton and she learns new words every day.”

“But her favourite one at the moment is ‘now’,” Madeline added. “So that gives you a little insight into her attitude. It’s all she ever seems to say to me so we’re working on patience.”

Snickering behind the glass he was holding, Scott mumbled a teasing comment about Grace getting her demanding nature from her mother, but as Madeline stuck her tongue out at him a smirk slid onto Chris’ face.

“That wasn’t what she was saying yesterday,” he reminded her. “It was all ‘no!’ when she saw you then.”

“That’s true, she’s not very happy with me right now,” Madeline sighed. “This is the first time I’ve left her for more than a few hours and she’s punishing me for it. We were Facetiming her and she wouldn’t even look at me, she only wanted to talk to Chris.”

“Even though he leaves her all the time?”

Scott’s comment had Chris protesting, but Madeline nodded eagerly, grateful that he understood the injustice.

“Exactly! I guess she’s used to him being gone, but she feels like I’ve betrayed her so I’m the bad guy.”

Her tone was light and jovial, but she knew from the way Chris squeezed her a little tighter against his side that he could tell that Grace’s frustration towards her bothered her more than she wanted to admit. They’d talked about it earlier and Chris had expressed how bittersweet it was - that while he was glad Grace wasn’t upset every time he left, it hurt that she was somewhat unfazed by his absence when it was so heart-wrenching for him - but dealing with the toddler’s resentment was harder than Madeline had expected.

“She’ll get over it pretty quick,” he assured her. “As soon as you get home she’ll be so excited to see you that she’ll forget all about how mad she is.”

“Unless she inherited your ability to hold a grudge,” Scott teased her. “Then she might never forgive you.”

“I do not hold grudges,” Madeline rolled her eyes. “But you better watch out, you haven’t visited in a long time and Grace is very impressionable. If you keep picking on me then I can turn her against you very easily.”

“I think you’re just proving my point,” Scott laughed. “But it’s not been that long since I was home, she can’t be forgetting about me already.”

Despite knowing that Grace was still well aware of who her uncle was, Madeline simply shrugged in faux uncertainty as she tried to antagonize him the same way he had with her, but Chris quickly jumped in to reassure him. She scolded him for ruining her fun, but Madeline had to admit that even with all the teasing and smart remarks from Scott, it was nice to be socializing with adults again. As they popped open a bottle of champagne to get their little pre-party started, she was so grateful that Chris’ mother and his sisters had agreed to help out with Grace for the weekend to give her some time away without any mom-guilt hanging over her. Knowing that Grace was in safe hands and knowing that she couldn’t cut her night short and race home to her even if she wanted to was freeing for Madeline and as much as she missed Grace, she was trying to embrace the break as much as she could.

Half an hour later - once the champagne had been split and polished off - the excitement began to bubble back up again as they were warned that it was almost time to leave. Wanting a minute to psych herself up, Madeline slipped away to the bathroom, but just as she finished touching up her lipstick there was a familiar knock on the door. She could tell immediately that it was Chris and she shouted for him to come in.

“Hey,” he murmured, closing the door behind him to give them some privacy. “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” she smiled as she put her lipstick back in the small purse she was taking with her. “Just making sure I look okay.”

“You don’t just look okay, you look amazing.” He flashed her a smirk as he leaned on the counter that had a blush rising in her cheeks, but his follow up question had her nerves flooding back in. “But are you really fine? I know these types of events are never easy for you and you seemed worried when I overheard you talking to Scott.”

“It’s a little nerve wracking, going out there when I know how unpopular I am,” Madeline admitted. “But it’s not the first time and I’ve got a pretty thick skin.”

“I know you do, but I also know that it gets to you sometimes.” Holding up a hand to stop Madeline when she went to argue, he continued. “It would get to anyone. I know you’re confident and you let a lot of it go, but I also know that you’d prefer it if people liked you.”

Madeline knew that they had to leave soon and it wasn’t the best time to have this kind of discussion, but she appreciated his concern and hoped she could put him at ease so that any anxiety she may have been feeling didn’t overshadow his big night.

“It bothers me sometimes because you’re right - it would bother anyone,” she conceded. “But probably not for the reasons you think. It’s not nice to be so disliked for no good reason, but I don’t really care what they say about me because I know that none of them actually know me. I just don’t want my presence to ruin anyone’s night. I know they all love you so much and I love you too so I wish we could just all come together and celebrate you instead of some people wasting their energy being mad that I exist. You know what I mean?”

A smile slid onto Chris’ face as he reached out to pull her into his arms.

“I do know what you mean,” he assured her. “But I think you’re a saint for being worried about ruining their night after some of the shit they’ve said over the years.”

Madeline laughed against his chest before pulling back to look up at him with a suspicious glint in her eye.

“Half an hour ago you were defending them and trying to convince me that they didn’t hate me.”

“Well, not all of them do. Some of them don’t care either way and some of them actually like you,” he reminded her. “But I know the ones that don’t are usually the most vocal and I just wanted to make sure that you’re holding up okay.”

“I am,” Madeline assured him. “At the end of the day, I’m the one who gets to show you off and brag about my amazing, talented and incredibly sexy husband so that makes it all worth it.”

A knock on the door briefly interrupted their moment as someone informed them that they really needed to start heading out, but as Madeline tried to slip out of Chris’ arms he pulled her back towards him.

“I hope you really are planning on telling everyone that tonight,” he informed her. “They’re all gonna need reminding that you’re mine when they see you in this dress.”

She felt her cheeks heating up again as he traced his hands down the curve of her body, but she let her own hands run over his tight shirt as she lifted her shoulders into a shrug.

“I could say the same about you. Your team has outdone themselves, everyone is going to die when they see you.”

The smirk on his face told her that he knew it was true even as he raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“What about you? Are you gonna be dying all night?”

“Mhmm,” Madeline admitted with a hum. “I’ll definitely be enjoying the view.”

Chris chuckled and leaned down to capture her lips in a kiss, but another - much firmer - knock on the door quickly interrupted and had them pulling apart to hurry out of the bathroom.

-

The premiere was chaotic to say the least, but Madeline had to admit that it was fun. 

Seeing Chris get showered with adoration had her bursting with pride and the way he continually sought her out to squeeze her hand or slip an arm around her waist as if her presence was a grounding force filled her heart with love. She knew that premieres weren’t exactly his element and she knew that being the center of so much attention wasn’t always easy for him, but she admired the way that he handled it all so masterfully as he posed for pictures, chatted with fans and did interviews like it was all second nature to him.

She also appreciated the incredibly attractive way that he was strutting down the red carpet. She wasn’t sure if he was doing it on purpose or if she’d just forgotten how he carried himself at these kinds of big events, but whatever it was it was proving to be very distracting for her. She could hardly keep her eyes off of him all night and she had a smug feeling of satisfaction as she noticed the starry-eyed look on the faces of almost every woman who caught a glimpse of him that evening.

The movie was one that she’d had somewhat low expectations for simply because it was much more action packed than she usually enjoyed, but she found herself pleasantly surprised. Chris stole the show - in her fair and completely unbiased opinion - but she’d been impressed by the entire cast and had high hopes that the movie would be a success.

The entire evening felt like a throwback to what almost seemed like a past life. She’d spent years attending movie premieres with Chris, but it was hard to wrap her head around how much had changed for them since she’d last been his date. It had her feeling quite sentimental, but the one thing that hadn’t changed was the feeling of admiration for Chris that she was left with. It had been the same since she attended his first opening night of his first community theatre performance and she knew that the pride would never fade even long after he stopped performing - if he ever did.

However, one very notable change from their previous wild red carpet nights was how exhausted Madeline was by the time they got home. She’d adjusted to a quieter life through the pandemic and while life as a parent was exhausting in its own way, it left her out of practice with the glitz, glamour and adrenaline that came with the world of Hollywood. Itching to get out of her dress, Madeline headed straight for their bedroom while Chris went to the kitchen to get them each a bottle of water and to call his mom and see how Grace’s evening had been. She took off her make-up while she waited, but the zipper of her dress was just out of reach and she was relieved when she heard Chris’ voice as he walked into the room.

“Ma said that Grace is doing great,” he informed her, taking a swig from his water bottle before putting hers on the nightstand. “She said that she misses us, but bath time and bedtime went better than yesterday.”

“That’s good,” Madeline breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that it had been a struggle the night before on their first night away. “I hate knowing that she was upset and I feel bad that your mom had to deal with it.”

“Oh, she’s fine. She had four kids, she’s a pro when it comes to tantrums.”

“True, especially with you and Scott,” Madeline teased. “But she was telling me this morning that I reacted pretty much the same way as Gracie the first time my parents left me with your family for a weekend so I guess she knew what she was in for.”

“I remember that,” Chris nodded as a fond smile slid onto his face. “I think I was five or six, but I remember that you just cried quietly for almost the entire weekend. No dramatics or anger, just complete devastation.”

“In my defense, they never used to go away together without me. One of them always stayed home or they took me with them so I probably thought they’d abandoned me and were never coming back.”

“That’s probably what Gracie thought too,” Chris pointed out. “But she’ll get used to it.”

“Or not,” Madeline sighed. “I miss her like crazy, I don’t think I could leave her again anytime soon.”

“It sucks,” Chris agreed, the dejected look on his face causing an ache in Madeline’s heart as she knew that he did really struggle every time he had to leave her. “But selfishly, I’m really glad you came with me. It was nice to have you there tonight.”

“Me too, I always love getting to see you shine like that,” she smiled. “But I’d also really love to get out of this dress. Can you help me with the zipper? I can’t reach it.”

Putting the cap back on his water and placing it on the nightstand beside him, Chris chuckled as Madeline demonstrated her attempts at unzipping herself and moved across the room to assist her. She turned her back towards him and swept her hair over her shoulder to keep it out of his way, but as his footsteps drew closer, she could feel a shift in the air. When his hands came to rest on her hips instead of going straight for the zipper, Madeline felt the urge to lean back into his warm embrace and as his short beard tickled the back of her neck when he leaned in to press a kiss against her skin, she felt a shiver of anticipation run down her spine.

“You know, I’ve been admiring how good you look in this dress all night,” he admitted, his voice low in her ear. “But now I can’t wait to see how good you look out of it.”

“Such a sweet talker,” Madeline murmured, but despite her teasing tone she couldn’t fight back the smile that his words had sliding onto her face. She knew that the cliche statement was said with absolute sincerity and she reveled in the fact that Chris was still so appreciative of her body after all their years together. “But I could still say the same about you.”

Chris traced his hands up along Madeline’s sides, making her shiver under his touch until he reached the zipper and slowly pulled it down. She let the straps slide from her shoulders and stepped out of the dress as it pooled at her feet. Chris quickly gathered it from the ground and hung it up on the closet door beside them, but as soon as he turned back around, Madeline slid her arms around his waist.

“I was right about all the women melting as soon as they saw you tonight,” Madeline informed him. “I’m surprised the red carpet didn’t turn into a river of drool.”

She felt Chris chuckle as he pulled her closer against his chest.

“I didn’t even notice, I only had eyes for you.”

“Well, everyone else was watching you,” Madeline informed him, a cheeky glint in her eye as she moved her hands up to his shoulders. He didn’t stop her as she pushed and pulled until the jacket he was wearing was off his body and in her hands, but - as she’d hoped - his eyes widened as she flipped it around and shrugged it onto her own shoulders. “I was thinking that maybe next time I should copy your minimal approach. Maybe just wear something like this?”

As she glanced down at herself, she noticed that the white lingerie that she’d chosen earlier that day contrasted nicely with the dark blazer, but when she looked back at Chris she could tell from the sudden intensity of his stare that the colour scheme was the last thing on his mind.

“You’d steal the show,” Chris agreed. “But you might be a little too distracting and I’m not sure I want anyone else getting their eyes on such a pretty sight.”

Madeline struck what she hoped was an enticing pose as she raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Yeah? You don’t want the world to see this?”

Chris smirked as his eyes roamed over her body.

“Not particularly.”

“That seems selfish. I think you should post me all over your Instagram with a comment about our little private after party and really get people talking.” Knowing the chaos that would cause and not being nearly confident enough to truly want her mostly naked body shared on the internet, Madeline had assumed that Chris would know she was teasing him, but when he slipped his phone out of his pocket, she rushed to clarify. “Chris, I was joking.”

“I know, but I’m going out on this press tour and it might be nice to have something to look at if I’m feeling lonely.” Chris paused and glanced at Madeline for approval before snapping a few pics as she nodded her consent and struck another pose. “Besides, I thought you said earlier you didn’t want to ruin anyone’s night.”

“That was before I had a few glasses of champagne,” she giggled. “Now I’m feeling a little more feisty.”

Chris chuckled as he snapped a few more pictures before tossing his phone on the bed and moving closer to Madeline until he could pull her body back against his.

“I think it would be cruel to show everyone what they’re missing. There would be a lot of disappointed men out there if I made a post like that when they all know they can’t have you.”

“Yes,” Madeline giggled at his deliberate misunderstanding. “That’s what would break hearts in this situation, not that you’re one of the most wanted men in the world and I get to have you all to myself.”

Flashing her a smirk, Chris didn’t bother arguing and settled for dipping his head low until he could press his lips against hers. The combination of his oversized jacket surrounding her with his scent, his warm hands pressing into the small of her back and the gentle way he was kissing her had Madeline melting into embrace. His softness only added to the sentimental wave that Madeline had been feeling all night and as he slowly pulled away and a hushed ‘I love you’ slipped from his lips, Madeline had an inkling that he was feeling it too.

“I love you too,” Madeline murmured in response as she let her head rest on his chest. They took a moment to enjoy the stillness around them after such a hectic day, but as Madeline found herself reflecting on the evening, she couldn’t stay quiet for long. “I’m really proud of you, Chris.”

She felt him squeeze her tighter as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head and mumbled his thanks into her hair, but Madeline felt compelled to continue.

“I really mean it,” she insisted, leaning back enough to look him in the eye and make sure that he knew she was being sincere. “Like, proud doesn’t even really feel like a strong enough word. You’re so good at what you do and so passionate. You keep pushing yourself and taking on these new challenges, proving to everyone how talented you are even though it's not always easy. I’m just…I’m so happy that I get to be your wife and that I get to build a family and share a life with someone as amazing as you.”

Chris had listened quietly while Madeline poured her heart out, but she could see his eyes growing glassy as she finished her impassioned little speech.

“I appreciate that,” Chris smiled, clearing his throat before he continued. “And I feel the same way about you. You’ve been through a lot the last few years, but you’ve still managed to achieve so much so whenever I’m feeling anxious or unmotivated, thinking about you is all the inspiration I need.”

“I think you’re giving me too much credit,” Madeline insisted. “But I wouldn’t have been able to do anything these last few years without you. I really don’t know where I’d be now if you hadn’t come back into my life.”

It was a conversation that they’d had several times over the years. Despite Chris’ firm belief that she was strong enough on her own, she really did doubt that she would have made it through her grief without him. Knowing that she had not only survived her pain, but pulled herself out of it enough to build a business and raise a child was still unbelievable to her some days and she knew she couldn’t have done it without Chris’ support.

She could see Chris’ mind spinning as he debated whether to take the compliment or continue his protests of that claim, but Madeline stretched up to press a kiss against his lips and silence any arguments he may have had. When she pulled away, Chris let out a contented sigh, but an earlier thought popped into her mind as she looked at his handsome face and she shot him a smirk.

“You know, I do have one controversial opinion about the movie…”

Madeline’s confession had Chris’ eyebrow raising with curiosity.

“What would that be?”

“I really liked the mustache.”

“Wow, that is controversial,” Chris chuckled. “Not many people thought it was a good look for me.”

“Well, I did. I definitely did,” Madeline admitted. “You really pulled it off and I thought it was very sexy.”

“You didn’t seem that into it when I had it.”

“I’d just had a baby,” Madeline reminded him. “I didn’t have the energy to take advantage of you looking sexy, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t appreciate it.”

“I guess it was bad timing,” Chris agreed. “But I wish you’d told me that you liked it, I would have kept it a little bit longer.”

“When’s your next break? Maybe you can grow it back…”

“Yeah?” Chris smirked. “You’d like that? You wanna find out what Lloyd Hansen is like in bed?”

The suggestion had Madeline biting her lip, but she lifted her shoulders into a shrug.

“I think it could be fun,” she confessed, but as she pressed her body close against his, she had a different idea in mind. “But tonight I just want you, Chris.”

Her voice was soft and the sheepish look on her face had Chris’ smirk shifting into a gentle smile.

“I’m all yours, Maddie,” he assured her. “However you want me.”

His words had a wave of relief washing over her because even though the idea of him revisiting the character was rather enticing, it wasn’t what she was craving. 

The night before - when they’d first arrived in L.A - had been a frenzy. Busy schedules and a toddler who was more than happy to ruin any mood or interrupt any stolen moment of alone time that her parents tried to find had them more than happy to take advantage of a big empty house. It had been a much needed marathon of reconnecting and release, but Madeline had something a little softer on her mind for that evening. After watching him work the red carpet and be adored by the hundreds of people swarming around him all evening, what she really wanted was a little piece of the closeness that only they could share. She wanted a reminder of the intimacy that belonged just to them when Chris shared with her the vulnerability that he didn’t show anyone else.

Stretching up, Madeline pressed her lips against Chris’ again. It was a small way to get the connection that she wanted, but she quickly felt the need growing and put up no fight when Chris moved his hands to slide his jacket off of her body. He tossed it aside with much less care than he’d taken with her dress, but Madeline was too distracted by his deepening of their kiss to scold him. Instead, she enjoyed the caress of his tongue against hers until her need for more was growing to be unignorable and she pulled back just enough to catch her breath before moving her lips to trail along his jaw. 

When she reached his neck and let her lips linger just below his ear, she heard his breath hitch in his throat and she smiled against his skin. However, he didn’t let her have the upper hand for long as he moved his fingers to the clasp of her bra and unhooked it with practiced expertise. As soon as it was out of his way, he slid one of his hands up to cup the newly exposed area. When his fingers found her nipple, he tweaked it just hard enough to be rewarded by a whimpered moan in his ear as Madeline leaned into the sensation.

“I’ll never get tired of hearing that sound,” Chris groaned, pinching a little harder just to pull another whimper from her lips. “You’re so fucking sexy, baby.”

Suddenly too distracted to think of a response, Madeline simply nuzzled her face into his neck as he continued to tease her. He chuckled at the way she’d turned so quickly to putty in his hands and after taking a moment to enjoy the feel of her squirming against his body, he slowly pressed his hips towards her and gently pushed her towards the bed. When the back of her knees hit the mattress, she flopped down and whined at the sudden disconnect of their bodies, but as Chris nodded his head towards the top of the bed, Madeline quickly slid her panties down her legs and eagerly pushed herself backwards until she was resting against the pillows.

She kept her eyes fixed on Chris as he slowly - almost tauntingly - pulled his shirt over his head and rid himself of his pants and underwear. The sight of his toned, beautiful body and the anticipation of what was to come had Madeline pressing her thighs together and she was relieved when he quickly joined her on the bed, crawling towards her like a tiger stalking his prey.

“Chris,” she murmured, reaching out to pull him over her body. “I need you.”

“Don’t worry, I’m right here.”

After mumbling his assurance, Chris dipped his chin and captured her lips with his, but when he moved his hand down to settle between her legs, she broke the kiss to voice her protests.

“No,” she gasped, her eyes squeezing shut as his fingers pressed against the sensitive bundle of nerves between her folds. “I want you inside me.”

Her very specific request had Chris twitching and growing against her thigh, but he was undeterred as he continued the firm motions of his fingers.

“I know, just making sure you’re ready for me first.”

“I’m ready,” she insisted, summoning all the will power she could to shift her hips away from the friction of his hand. “I’ve been ready since I saw you in that outfit tonight, I’m surprised I didn’t soak through my dress while we watched the movie…”

He let out a groan at the thought of her being so desperate for him, but his pleasure only grew as she let her hand drift down to gently take him in her hand. He let his forehead drop towards hers as his muscles tensed under her touch, but after a few strokes to make sure he was as ready as she was, Madeline moved her hand away and let it drift back up to the back of his neck.

“Please…”

Her plea was all the encouragement he needed to shift his hips close against hers. He wasted no time lining himself up with her entrance, pressing himself into the warmth of her wetness. The satisfaction of feeling herself stretching around him after an evening of anxiously waiting for that moment had a moan falling from Madeline’s lips and she hooked her feet around his back to pull him even deeper inside her. That simple movement was all the encouragement Chris needed to begin shifting his hips, but despite their mounting desperation he kept his thrusts slow.

Every snap of his hips was sharp and deep, but the measured and unhurried drag of each movement had all the nerves inside Madeline’s body tingling with pleasure. She could feel every inch of him pressing deep inside her and she fought to steady her breath as the pressure of release began building inside her. The feel of Chris’ hard body, the sound of his breath against her ear, the scent of the slight sheen of sweat starting to form on his body from the strain of his careful thrusts - he was overwhelming all of her senses and had her quivering with need. She arched her back and pressed her hips up to meet his, but Chris kept his pace steady until the tone of her moans grew desperate and pleading.

Shifting his weight, he moved a hand back down to her clit and relished in her reaction as her nails dug into his back and her body twitched beneath him.

“Let go, baby,” he panted against her neck. “I wanna feel it.”

His words were all Madeline needed to fall over the edge. His name fell from her lips in a strangled cry as she clenched around him. Her eyes were squeezed shut as she was unable to think of anything, but the pleasure coursing through her body. As she slowly came down from her high, she could hear Chris’ grunts in her ear with every continued rock of his hips, but when she found the mental clarity to murmur out some encouragement of her own it only took a few more strong thrusts for Chris to hit his own peak.

He buried himself deep inside her as his muscles shook with the strain of holding himself above her and the groan that slipped from his lips had Madeline quivering around him with the aftershocks of her own release rippled through her again.

They stayed locked in their embrace as their breathing steadied and their racing hearts slowed, but when Chris tried to pull out and move away from her, Madeline kept her grip on him tight.

“Stay,” she requested, her voice quiet as her eyes grew heavy. “Please, just for a minute. I want you close.”

Chris smiled and nodded his head, letting his weight rest on her a little more firmly as he lazily placed kisses against her neck. The room was quiet around them, but as their bodies still buzzed from the passion of the moment they’d just shared, Madeline found her mind drifting back to her earlier sentimental thoughts. 

A lot had changed in their lives over the years. From being clueless kids who were oblivious to the feelings that bubbled between them to being career driven young adults who fought to stay connected despite their busy lives to being madly in love and then hopelessly heartbroken to coming back together and getting their happily ever after. They’d been through a lot and overcome many obstacles, but through it all there was one thing that remained consistent - the complete adoration that they had for each other.

Nights like the one they’d just had were a good reminder of the importance of taking the time to focus on each other and connect as a couple and the refreshed feeling of intimacy that coursed through Madeline as she savoured the weight of Chris’ body against hers had her feeling incredibly grateful for the love that they shared.

-

Next

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[the-crimson]

I always love reading your takes and insight on q!bbhs character, you put what I keep thinking and see into words and is SO WONDERFUL to see someone get it :'). But speaking of which what do you think of q!bbh whole thing with anarchy rn?

Thank u so much :D I’m glad u appreciate my incoherent ramblings about a block man XD

Minecraft politics - and politics in general for that matter - are whole can of worms I usually try not to touch too closely. There is too much opportunity for misunderstandings and pointless arguments that discussions usually just feel like an excuse to get mad. So take all this in good fun, I’m not saying if q!bad is right or wrong to think this way, it’s not that serious lol

The thing we first need to understand is that - before the election - the islanders were essentially living in an anarchist commune. The federation existed but mostly left them alone and let them rule themselves, which they did. Everyone lived as they pleased and they all had an unspoken agreement: live and let live.

When someone became a problem, the islanders came together and dealt with it themselves. When Slime tried to kill all the eggs after Juanaflippa’s death, bbh, Jaiden, and Roier were able to talk him down. They held a trial - federation sponsored- but the islanders were the ones calling the shots. When Quackity plotted to murder the eggs, the islanders came together again and stopped him. When they were threatened by the code, the islanders came together to defend the eggs.

What is the point of a governing body? To create order and resolve conflict. The islanders were already doing this without a governing body. They didn’t need it.

What do most governments actually do? They consolidate power and oppress. Even the most benign progressive government is going to leave someone in the gutter. By creating a box to put society into, it is the very nature of the box that some things are not going to fit or are going to be forgotten.

This is what bbh is afraid of. This is why he dislikes government. Why should anyone have the power to decide that a few chairs going missing is a bigger threat to the island than land mines that cause ten times as much destruction? The actual principle of who is right is irrelevant. Why should someone have this power to decide for others what is an is not okay. Why should someone else tell you how to live your life if you aren’t hurting anyone.

Bad’s been saying this since the day the elections were announced. They don’t need this. A President is going to create unnecessary restrictions and is the gate way to federation overreach. Some people have said bbh is a hypocrite for running for office but it’d be even more hypocritical to do nothing. If you see a train barreling towards you and there is a lever within reach to change the tracks, would you not pull it? You could just step off the tracks but then everyone who is unaware of the danger behind you would still be struck.

I think q!bbh’s anarchism is one of the most misunderstood things about his character - partially because I think the common perception of anarchy is intentionally misconstrued by the media but that’s not a conversation to be had while I’m talking about block men XD

Thanks for the ask and I hope I answered ur question :3

[yuesya]

As much as I would like to continue speculating about the Shiki vs. Satoru snippet ad nauseam, there's a lot I'd like to discuss about the most recent chapter. 

The first of these topics is Geto. Now that the story in question is moving closer to the canon prologue (Jujutsu 0) I think now is an appropriate time to make my opinion on the movie known in that it was… meh. 

Don’t get me wrong there were many things I liked about the film, but unfortunately Geto fell into the dislike category for me. The reason for that was largely due to his portrayal. In the film he’s more or less presented as an egotistical genocidal maniac who is driven by an ideology of supernatural supremacy, which seems rather lackluster in a series that has an abundance of layered characters.

Because of this portrayal I’d say that Geto loses a great deal of nuance in the film, reducing him to what is essentially a one dimensional villain when that isn’t the case at all. As crazy as it sounds there is actually a method to Geto’s madness; if there are no more humans then there are no more curses and if there are no more curses then there are no more dead sorcerers. By eliminating the mundane society it simultaneously addresses the root cause of curses, essentially killing two birds with one stone. 

Moreover, this isn’t just some crazy conspiracy theory that he came up with out of nowhere since it’s substantiated by the fact that the countryside (where less people live) spawns less curses of lesser power. In that context Geto is more akin to someone with a twisted messiah complex rather than a divine Darwinist since he’s undertaking what he sees as a necessary evil to stop the suffering of all sorcerers. Unfortunately, it’s a message that he fails to get across throughout the film, which makes it extremely jarring when we explore his past via Satoru’s memories. 

Yes, I get that there’s a backstory arc that goes more in depth on the subject later, but it still doesn’t change for me what was a horrible first impression. So I suppose that I’m ultimately congratulating you for leveraging the advantages of written media to flesh out his character, so kudos you! I hope this characterization carries over to the canon timeline.

On a side note; if you're looking to implement that Cybele OC in Zenith of Stars, or any other story, why not make it so that Geto saves her instead of Satoru? That as you could imagine would be a disaster since he would more likely venerate her rather than try to constrain her. It could also serve as a parallel for Kara no Kyoukai's Shiki vs. Asagami fight.

The second topic I'd like to move on to is the Fushiguro siblings and how Shiki’s presence could affect them. More specifically, I’m referring to whether or not Shiki will be able to do anything for Tsumiki after she is cursed? After all, one of the big selling points of the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception is their ability to kill concepts, mainly manifested through nullifying mage-craft or in this instance curses but also capable of erasing abstract phenomena such as diseases. 

I’d imagine that Shiki would discover such an application of her cursed technique through Yuzuki, erasing his illness moments before it finally kills him. So the question remains whether or not Shiki would be able to do anything for Tsumiki once a curse befalls her, potentially altering Megumi’s entire character arc if the answer is ‘yes.’ 

Lots to touch on here! Let's seeee

I agree with you that the JJK0 movie casted Geto as more of a "flat villain," likely due to variety of factors and constraints. It probably didn't help that JJK0 was largely Okkotsu's story, so Geto's reasoning and motivation were never really explored in any detail. To Okkotsu, Geto was just a villain who waltzed in out of nowhere and tried to destroy everything and hurt his friends, so that's the portrayal we got I guess.

The only hint of something more to Geto as a character was in... what, the three lines of dialogue with Gojo right before he died?

I actually read the manga before finding the JJK0 short and later watching the movie, so for me I went into the pre-canon tidbit with context for things. If I'd read JJK0 first, I'd probably be a little unimpressed with Geto too; I think the Hidden Inventory arc definitely adds a lot more nuance to him (and Gojo as well). Hopefully at least a little bit of that is reflected in zenith of stars haha.

Cybele OC won't be added to the ongoing story! In terms of Mystic Eyes, the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception are the only ones we'll be seeing in zenith of stars.

It would be a fun thing to have the Cybele OC run into Geto, though. Although in that case, it's likely that Geto picks the OC up in the countryside at some point. If OC had their disastrous accident in the city, then there would be no escaping from the jujutsu administration.

I'd imagine that OC would be sent with Miguel to delay Gojo during the Night Parade? OC isn't able to 'petrify' Gojo, but they can hinder his movements with a sort of minor paralysis effect instead. And... maybe this extra delay gives Geto the few additional moments he needs to escape successfully.

Fushiguro siblings! I do intend to have the Fushiguro siblings show up again in the next chapter, although so far Gojo has been taking the spotlight haha.

In regards to Tsumiki being cursed, I have some loose plans in mind. I can confirm that I do plan on exploring the idea of 'killing concepts,' but that's all I'll say for now. :D

Thanks for sharing your speculations! It's fun to see what other people think and makes me excited to write more for future events haha.

[kidflashimpulse]

possible hot take: i actually like that YJA Bart has shorter hair and green eyes. and NOT because i dislike his classic, iconic big hair and gold eyes!! i love that shit so so much. official comic artists who don't give Bart those features are doing it wrong tbh. i just think, personally, that YJA Bart is different enough from his comic version that the visual distinction works and suits him. i like the idea of being able to immediately tell them apart if you saw them side by side.

that IS a hot take 👀 #cancelled

ok just kidding sorry lol yes i do understand what u mean and how it appeals to u !! it’s useful for fan content too for people to consume the content they enjoy more, which isn’t something that necessarily concerns me as i enjoy both a lot but i can see how some can appreciate that. it also allows for ppl to experiment with his appearance as a whole which personally is what i rlly like about it. similar to u, i absolutely adore his signature big hair and yellow eyes and they’ll always be iconic but i do love some of his shorter hair designs too. in the comics depending on artists they sometimes give him a style akin to his YJ version and im never mad at it ! because usually the bangs of his hair is still fairly long which i 😍 and in YJ beyond the beginning of S3 they do that too, so i (personally) don’t particularly find his overall appearance between comics and YJ too different as a result.

and as i’ve mentioned in some other posts i think the core principles of what makes bart himself is pretty prevalent in YJ bart too but i guess in terms of plot details like overall background and what is going on with him in their respective medias, it makes sense to have these distinctions :) and i think it helps us (as in YJ bart fans) to also grow as a fandom too which is really cool as we can cater more specifically to him

also i love to incorporate his popular design for my personal HC of YJ Bart that when he was younger during the apocalypse he had his signature big hair, like i find it just makes a lot of sense there ! and then he cut it for REASONS (either specific or not it’s up to u, i HC some semi deep specific reasons or two lol) later down the line like a couple years before he left his original timeline.

also major apologies for the super delayed answer (this is like the oldest ask i have) and to the many other asks in my inbox as well 😭🙏 i do hope u manage to see this ! i’ve always wanted to go through all of them in order but it just became impossible. i do hope to go through ALL of them, i can’t wait for that day lol

[softpine]

i’ve been so busy lately and then i get extremely sick and i’ve been in a haze from all the pain meds the past 2 weeks so if i already answered any of these asks or if i forgot any, please forgive me 😩 i really have no memory at the moment jfksjds

awww thank you :’) i have such a soft spot for those moments where a character who isn’t normally vulnerable opens up (but only for one special person). and so does elaine!!

@lullabysimblr​ omg thank you so much!!! reading my story from the beginning is a herculean task fjskjds i really appreciate it 💖 i looove giving my characters flaws, it’s one of my favorite aspects of writing!

technically they all have iphones because i just use the same phone accessory so that i can reuse poses and just quickly recolor the screen depending on the scene :/ but i honestly can’t imagine any of my characters dick riding for any corporations fjksjds

 @alltimefail​ fksdjskj words have never been casper’s strong suit but it’s always fun to write dialogue for him!! and i’m so happy you like reading the bts posts because i feel like a self absorbed weirdo if i post them without someone prompting me first lmao so i’ll definitely post one for you!! i know i already sent you a dm but yeah i plan to combine the last 3-ish posts into one behind the scenes post because i can barely remember what i’ve already said or didn’t say 😭

so let me just say that it’s been a while since i watched season 1 and i haven’t started season 2 yet, so some of this might not be accurate. but!! i had the same gripes when i watched it but i eventually changed my own mind. the shrooms scene is definitely not a realistic portrayal of what shrooms would make a normal person act like, but these aren’t normal people. they’re teenagers who have been removed from society, are starving, scared, beginning to think they’ll never go home again, combined with alcohol, and they don’t even know they’ve been drugged (that can make you feel real crazy REAL quick). the madness was already started to take hold in them while they were sober, the shrooms were just the gentlest little push they needed to give into it. personally i dislike how media treats shrooms in general (or like any hallucinogen) because it’s never realistic, but i don’t think yellowjackets was any more unrealistic than any other trip scene i’ve seen on tv. i agree that it was a cop-out and nothing more than a plot device which is pretty disappointing. i would’ve rather seen them descend into madness more gradually.

as for jackie’s death... if i remember correctly, all the girls had just fallen asleep outside the previous night and it was only a bit chilly, not dangerously cold. no one had reason to believe they were sending jackie to her death that night by making her sleep outside. and i live in an area where the weather fluctuates rapidly especially in the fall or spring, where one day i can be wearing a t-shirt outside but within a couple hours we’ll get 6 inches of snow. homeless people tragically die all the time in my city if they’re not able to take shelter when this kind of weather hits, because it happens so suddenly that you might not even wake up in time to realize that you’re freezing (or you’re half awake but your body is in shock and you become delirious). so i don’t find that part to be unrealistic at all. i can’t really remember where nat and travis were at the time so i can’t say why they would ignore jackie, but if it hadn’t started snowing yet, they probably just weren’t concerned. same with ben, he’s a voice of reason but he’s not really good at putting his foot down. taissa didn’t want to disagree with shauna and she didn’t think jackie would die, so she didn’t say anything. that’s all just my interpretation obviously but i’ve seen a lot of people call jackie’s death unrealistic and i just don’t agree

i don’t even know what the bed glitch is, i’m sorry :( is it not the same glitch you can fix with an s4s batch fix?

thank you so much for the advice! now that the weather is warming up i’ve been able to spend more time outside which has helped a lot. i’m sorry about your grandparents, i’m sending you & your family all the peace and love ♥

i believe they’re still these eyes but i’ve customized so much of my main sims cc that i can’t say it’ll look the same. i also edited their eyes in that post to make stevie look like she’d been crying and to make elaine’s eyes more dramatic!

i think they’re these ones :)

[avi17]

Choose violence: 7, 12, and 24

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them? For some reason I'm having a hard time thinking of these, though I know there have to be some. There's definitely characters fandom has made me dislike MORE, or ones where I don't hate them in canon but am over the fandom portrayal (usually due to woobification.) But I'm blanking on examples for some reason. (Also is a whole piece of media an option here because I literally hate Star Wars because of the fans not the movies >.>)

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them Hmm. The answer might at one point have been Boromir, but thankfully he seems to have had a reappraisal in recent years so it's only more casual fans who say stuff that makes me want to fight them XD

Actually you know what? My answer is going to be fucking Beautiful Suzuki from YYH. Is he absolutely ridiculous? Fuck yeah. Is Genkai wrecking his shit hilarious? Also yes. But Team Urameshi literally would have lost the tournament without his help- like indisputably, Kuwabara would have lost his match and Kurama (despite losing on a technicality either way) would have almost certainly been killed. He's actually smart and an incredibly skilled inventor trying to do his shit in a realm that seems to only value brute fighting skill (I love fandom portrayals of him as a bit of a mad scientist), and his little speech to them about wanting to help them prove that underdogs can win- even though they kicked his ass- always has me genuinely cheering. And he fights in the Dark Tournament because he's a famewhore, but he comes back to Kurama in s4 out of genuine loyalty and seems to have genuinely put the ego (mostly) in check. Also whatever he and Shishi have going on in s4 is cute XD

He is just a big gay diva who shoots rainbows out of his hands and I support him dammit Also NRS can still meet me in the pit over their treatment of Kung Lao but I'm not sure that counts either XD 24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

"Is Billy Hargrove racist?" which honestly shouldn't really be discourse because the answer is literally yes. Any discourse about if Seladon is evil or not- yes she mega fucks up, I would definitely agree for a little too long after being presented with the evidence (I don't actually lose my patience with her until she's in prison after that encounter with the Skeksis and still blames Brea, everything before that I basically understand where she's coming from even if she's wrong). But I've heard people say that she's WORSE than the Skeksis, and that she deserves her own genocide, in ways that always reek of misogyny, which. Wow fuck off. Also the champion personally is still "is LiuLao incest," because a) no, b) honestly don't even care at this point if it is, and c) fuck off forever. Any discourse about the Feanorians is always a mess but I kinda feel like that is appropriate because they are a mess and so are my feelings about them. Same with anything about Rhaenyra Targaryen/the rest of Fire and Blood/House of the Dragon. Any and all fandom purity culture horseshit. Also I have Very Strong opinions about which Fire Emblems are good and why but I just don't get into that anymore bc why bother

[kirkped]

Recently a call out post has been made about me and I am going to go over the stuff mentioned in the post.

I do have to put this disclaimer, but I’m sure some of you already know that I am severely mentally ill and live in a very hostile environment and this was and still is the case for all these points while I was 11-12 while most of this happened. Of course I am not using this as an excuse for my terrible actions but I feel like this is important to know in some context.

I do also have to mention that I have no access to psychiatric help and my medicine, which I need. Due to my guardian refusing to get me psychiatric help because she believes that the reason I am mentally ill is because I am brainwashed into thinking that I am ill. So at the moment I have no way of receiving help so the only way I keep myself occupied from all the bad things happening to me in real life Is through the internet so I can escape from reality which is why I will say that I will not leave the internet, I will only not be active on my social media accounts. I really wish I could properly step away from the internet but I am afraid this is not possible at the moment since the internet is the only way I can communicate with people. Again I will emphasize that I am not using this as an excuse for my actions. I will now go over the stuff.

Firstly I would like to talk about the racism and racefaking.

At the time I thought being edgy like that was hilarious, and being an edgelord 11-year-old I did some really awful things like saying the n-word which I can’t reclaim since I am fully Asian. But during that time I heard from somewhere claiming that it was okay for middle easterners to say the n word and claim to be black since “they have African blood in them”, you can see how ridiculous that sounds, but I was very gullible so I actually believed that and went around saying I was black, when in fact I was not.

In early 2022 is when I realized that what I was doing was wrong but I was too scared to tell my friends at the time because I was scared of them getting mad at me so I just lied. I wish I could to apologize to those friends who I deceived but I don’t think I have the chance. And I really regret what I’ve done to this day, and I now understand what I’ve done.

Next up, me abusing someone. I will go over our relationship.

Me and him first began dating back in mid-January 2023, when I was 12 and he was a month away from being 14.

Things pretty much went alright until it was his birthday. One thing I need to mention is that I have BPD and I am not using it as an excuse but I feel like it could explain my behaviors then. He was my FP [Favorite Person. Pretty much someone who PwBPD can’t live without] and I was very dependent on him so even tho a day before his birthday he did say he would be busy but that still sent me spiraling because I wanted to be with him all the times or I felt like he disliked me and I was scared being without him so I got mad when he wouldn’t answer. Which I know is an asshole move on my part and for that I am sorry, I should’ve just accepted that he was going to be busy rather getting mad at him for something he had no control of. Our relationship just kept deteriorating because of my poor ability to regulate my BPD symptoms at the time. I had no idea how to control myself nor how to cope properly with such things so I would end up splitting on him a few times due just how overwhelmed I would be in general and I was really mad that the relationship was going nowhere I was scared of losing him I didn’t know what to do to prevent him from abandoning.

It was one day when I was in a manic episode I decided I would “test people to see if they actually cared about me” which ended up in me writing a suicide note and sending it to multiple people. To be honest that day I did take a bunch of ibuprofen tablets, I think it was a whole box of them. You cannot overdose on ibuprofen but if you do take a lot you will be sick, which is what happened to me I would keep throwing up and I had to visit the hospital because I was awfully sick, I don’t remember how the visit went to be honest. But I still feel really bad for scaring them like that and deeply regret doing that.

Next I’m going over me not respecting boundaries

I have issues having to adapt to other boundaries in general I don’t know what the explanation could be for that.

I also tend to block evade because I just have this constant desire to make amends with him, I just am really desperate to try and prove myself that I am not a horrible person in general so I do anything to try and make things better between us. Which is bad because I just can’t seem to leave him alone no matter what due to just how desperate I am to try and improve things. So I am trying to slowly work on that.

To be honest I don’t know why I keep trying to get him to see that I am getting better despite it being the opposite, my mental health only keeps deteriorating more and more because my main focus in life is just to try and get him to forgive me even tho there’s no chance of that happening from what I think.

I think that I am just going to accept that he is moving on from me and distance myself because this whole thing took a huge toll on my health in general too and I want to get better I don’t want to be a horrible person but again I am not sure if I’ll ever get better. Not using this as an excuse for my actions again

And lastly

I am actively trying to get better but it’s just difficult with the environment I am in, I really am trying my best so please forgive me if I still make any mistakes and feel free to call me out on that I will listen and try to change. I am really sorry for all my actions and those I’ve hurt and the effects I’ve had on them.

I will be abandoning this account and it’s only going to be still up because I can’t delete it due to it being attached to an email I don’t have access to.

If you would like to discuss with me about anything I am available at @giantisopodic on discord since i wont be using this account anymore

Thank you for reading and goodbye.

- Xóchitl

[my-weird-news]

🚀 Decoding Elon Musk's Unbelievable Success Secrets!

Musk: The Quirky Space Cowboy 🚀 Elon Musk, the real-life mad scientist and rich dude extraordinaire, is like the modern-day version of Ozymandias – just without the ancient ruins and desolate wastelands, and with way more Twitter followers. This guy is like the king of the nerds, ruling over a kingdom of electric cars, reusable rockets, and memes that sometimes make even less sense than his grand plans. Picture this: one moment he's dancing like no one's watching (but everyone is) at a Tesla event, and the next he's launching a car into space like it's just another Wednesday. He's so rich that his net worth could buy you a whole fleet of Teslas, yet he tweets like he's just discovered the internet. Elon's CV reads like a superhero origin story. He's the CEO of not one, but two major companies. He owned the social media platform that birthed keyboard warriors, and oh, by the way, Marvel used his swag to craft Tony Stark. Talk about goals! Remember when Elon first sashayed onto the scene? He had this epic to-do list: end climate change, make Mars a vacation destination, unravel the mysteries of the universe using AI, and maybe just save humanity in his spare time. No biggie. For years, Musk's fan club treated his plans like gospel truth. Sure, he hadn't taken anyone to Mars yet, but he did make rockets that are basically the Energizer bunnies of space travel. And let's not forget how he jump-started the electric car scene – he basically made electric cars cool, like James Dean for the environmentally conscious. To decode the enigma that is Musk, we turn to Talulah Riley's book – not because Musk was her second and third husband (seriously, that's more commitment than I have to finishing a bag of chips), but because her romance novel Acts of Love sounds suspiciously like Elon's life. It's all about a misandrist writer who falls for a biotech billionaire on a mission to save the world. Sound familiar? Musk's public image is like his secret sauce. Back in the day, he was as socially awkward as a penguin at a disco. He even worried he wasn't as glamorous as the competition. But this dude turned things around – he morphed from "Shai Agassi, Founder of Glamour" to "Elon Musk, Lord of the Universe." Elon's social ascent was like a rocket launch. He needed people to know him to buy rocket parts, so he decided to become Mars' number one hype man. It worked, and suddenly everyone was like, "Hey, there's that dude who's all about Mars!" Then came the infamous year of 2018 – Musk called someone a "pedo guy," smoked weed on a podcast, and tweeted that he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private. Whoopsie daisy! Lawsuits rained down like confetti at a New Year's Eve party. But wait, there's more! In 2020, Musk said, "To hell with nice," and ditched his PR team. Now he's the press release king, and his favorite email response? The poop emoji. I kid you not. You know how they say a new Musk scandal a day keeps the actual news away? Well, it's kind of true. With a Musk controversy buffet, it's hard to focus on just one serving. It's like trying to pick a favorite ice cream flavor at Ben & Jerry's – you end up with brain freeze and no answers. So, is Musk a bad boss or are his employees just slackers? Acts of Love's Radley Blake could clear this up. Radley's a control freak who only fires people who don't give "maximum effort." His employees are so motivated they don't even need Red Bull to sprout wings. But in real life, Musk isn't exactly the "Employee of the Month" poster child. People report him stomping through Tesla factories, red-faced and firing folks like it's a carnival game. One executive said they had to stoop in meetings to seem smaller than Musk – like they were at a toddler tea party. And don't even get me started on workplace safety. Tesla factories were apparently more dangerous than your grandma's staircase in a haunted house. Musk's dislike for the color yellow (yellow tape, yellow paint) led to some questionable safety practices – it's like he's running a risk assessment in a Tim Burton movie. But Musk is a romantic hero in his own right. He's got a tragic past and a longing for love. Childhood bullies, check. Troubled relationship with his dad, check. He's like a wounded bird in a billionaire's body. No wonder he's looking for someone to save him from all that money. The dude's been married more times than I've accidentally sent screenshots to the wrong person. He's got enough kids to start a soccer team, and he's probably planning to send them to Mars for summer vacation. But hey, at least he's not alone, right? He's got Twitter, his second favorite significant other. So there you have it – Elon Musk, the eccentric entrepreneur who turned himself into the star of his own romantic novel. One minute he's making rockets, the next he's tweeting like a kid who just found out they can use their teacher's chalkboard. Will he save the world? Maybe. Will he keep us entertained? Absolutely. 🚀🎉# Musk: The Quirky Space Cowboy 🚀 Elon Musk, the real-life mad scientist and rich dude extraordinaire, is like the modern-day version of Ozymandias – just without the ancient ruins and desolate wastelands, and with way more Twitter followers. This guy is like the king of the nerds, ruling over a kingdom of electric cars, reusable rockets, and memes that sometimes make even less sense than his grand plans. Picture this: one moment he's dancing like no one's watching (but everyone is) at a Tesla event, and the next he's launching a car into space like it's just another Wednesday. He's so rich that his net worth could buy you a whole fleet of Teslas, yet he tweets like he's just discovered the internet. Elon's CV reads like a superhero origin story. He's the CEO of not one, but two major companies. He owned the social media platform that birthed keyboard warriors, and oh, by the way, Marvel used his swag to craft Tony Stark. Talk about goals! Remember when Elon first sashayed onto the scene? He had this epic to-do list: end climate change, make Mars a vacation destination, unravel the mysteries of the universe using AI, and maybe just save humanity in his spare time. No biggie. For years, Musk's fan club treated his plans like gospel truth. Sure, he hadn't taken anyone to Mars yet, but he did make rockets that are basically the Energizer bunnies of space travel. And let's not forget how he jump-started the electric car scene – he basically made electric cars cool, like James Dean for the environmentally conscious. To decode the enigma that is Musk, we turn to Talulah Riley's book – not because Musk was her second and third husband (seriously, that's more commitment than I have to finishing a bag of chips), but because her romance novel Acts of Love sounds suspiciously like Elon's life. It's all about a misandrist writer who falls for a biotech billionaire on a mission to save the world. Sound familiar? Musk's public image is like his secret sauce. Back in the day, he was as socially awkward as a penguin at a disco. He even worried he wasn't as glamorous as the competition. But this dude turned things around – he morphed from "Shai Agassi, Founder of Glamour" to "Elon Musk, Lord of the Universe." Elon's social ascent was like a rocket launch. He needed people to know him to buy rocket parts, so he decided to become Mars' number one hype man. It worked, and suddenly everyone was like, "Hey, there's that dude who's all about Mars!" Then came the infamous year of 2018 – Musk called someone a "pedo guy," smoked weed on a podcast, and tweeted that he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private. Whoopsie daisy! Lawsuits rained down like confetti at a New Year's Eve party. But wait, there's more! In 2020, Musk said, "To hell with nice," and ditched his PR team. Now he's the press release king, and his favorite email response? The poop emoji. I kid you not. You know how they say a new Musk scandal a day keeps the actual news away? Well, it's kind of true. With a Musk controversy buffet, it's hard to focus on just one serving. It's like trying to pick a favorite ice cream flavor at Ben & Jerry's – you end up with brain freeze and no answers. So, is Musk a bad boss or are his employees just slackers? Acts of Love's Radley Blake could clear this up. Radley's a control freak who only fires people who don't give "maximum effort." His employees are so motivated they don't even need Red Bull to sprout wings. But in real life, Musk isn't exactly the "Employee of the Month" poster child. People report him stomping through Tesla factories, red-faced and firing folks like it's a carnival game. One executive said they had to stoop in meetings to seem smaller than Musk – like they were at a toddler tea party. And don't even get me started on workplace safety. Tesla factories were apparently more dangerous than your grandma's staircase in a haunted house. Musk's dislike for the color yellow (yellow tape, yellow paint) led to some questionable safety practices – it's like he's running a risk assessment in a Tim Burton movie. But Musk is a romantic hero in his own right. He's got a tragic past and a longing for love. Childhood bullies, check. Troubled relationship with his dad, check. He's like a wounded bird in a billionaire's body. No wonder he's looking for someone to save him from all that money. The dude's been married more times than I've accidentally sent screenshots to the wrong person. He's got enough kids to start a soccer team, and he's probably planning to send them to Mars for summer vacation. But hey, at least he's not alone, right? He's got Twitter, his second favorite significant other. So there you have it – Elon Musk, the eccentric entrepreneur who turned himself into the star of his own romantic novel. One minute he's making rockets, the next he's tweeting like a kid who just found out they can use their teacher's chalkboard. Will he save the world? Maybe. Will he keep us entertained? Absolutely. 🚀🎉 Read the full article

[opedguy]

Trump Radioactive as GOP Candidate

LOS ANGELES (OnlineColumnist.com), Nov. 29, 2022.--Former President Donald Trump, 76, finds himself radioactive after announcing for president Nov. 15, with controversy following him wherever he goes.  When he hosted 45-year-old Kanye West and his 24-year-old white supremacist buddy Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago Friday, Nov. 26, it created a media uproar, again accusing Trump of racial insensitivity.  Everything Trump does carries negative publicity with the media, accusing him of planning the Jan. 6 Capitol riots and holding classified documents at his Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago estate.  So, whatever Trump does, the media demonizes him, leading 52-year-old former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to join the Republican anti-Trump coalition, the same group that did everything possible to sabotage his 2016 presidential campaign.  Trump wants to erase the past but he carries the kind baggage that makes him as less viable candidate. Ryan wants the GOP to move on from Trump, not because he disliked his presidency or his ideas on the economy and foreign policy, but precisely because he doesn’t think Trump is electable anymore.  Judging by the media hubbub over Trump’s brief dinner with Kanye and Nick Fuentes, everyone wants to jump on the anti-Trump bandwagon, accusing him of affiliating himself with white supremacists and anti-Semites.  Whether Kanye is really anti-Semitic or not is questionable.  Nick Fuentes, a lout on the Internet, shows how social networks gets young people notoriety.  Fuentes has been known for incendiary rhetoric about white nationalist and Holocaust denia..  Trump denied knowing anything about Fuentes but the media can’t stop using the brief dinner to highlight Trump’s insensitivity to racial and religious issues.  Whether the issue blows away or not, it shows the extent to which the press is out to get Trump. Moderate Republican governors like Chris Sunumu (R-N.H.) used Trump’s dinner meeting to prove he has no place running for president.  “Republicans, we’re looking in 2024 and we’re looking for a winner,” calling Trump’s dinner with Kanye and Nick Fuentes “absolutely reprehensible,” overstating his case against Trump.  “I think it makes him even less electable in November in November of 2024,” Sununu said.  But Sununu is no different that anyone in the press who has had it in for Trump’s four years in office.  Trump ran in 2016 on a anti-press platform, giving the public the term “fake new” for posterity.  But Trump real problem is that none one can run against the U.S. press establishment, thinking they can turn voters against the press.  Sununu reflects the fact that the media wants no part of Trump now or in the future.  Ryan too mirrors Trump’s abysmal press relations.  Press has already turned his brief meeting with Kanye and Nick Fuentes as another Aug. 8, 2018 “United the Right” rally in Charlottesville, where Black Lives Matter and White nationalist groups clashed over taking down Confederate monuments.  Trump was falsely quoted in the press as supporting White Supremacy, agreeing with Neo-Nazi groups in their hatred of Blacks and Jews.  Trump only said that there was passion on both sides of the Charlottesville march.  For that, Trump was crucified in the press, giving 80-year-old President Joe Biden something to get mad about.  Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) slammed Trump for hosting the Kanye and Nick Fuentes dinner.  “If you have people who are constantly creating distractions and taking you off message and forcing people to answer questions like the ones that you’re asking, that’s not a good thing,” said Thune. Thune and other GOP leaders don’t get it’s not what Trump does-or-says that breeds the controversy, it’s about the media literally finding anything to pick on the former president.  Thune, Ryan and others should be asking whether Trump’s past track record with the press makes him unelectable?  Whether it’s last weekend’s controversy or the next weekend, the media won’t let up on Trump no matter what he does-or-says.  “I had no idea what his views were and they weren’t expressed at the table in our very quick dinner, or it wouldn’t have been accepted,” Trump said, knowing, that no matter what he says, the press holds his feet to the fire.  Whether Kanye or Nick Fuentes mean anything or not, Trump’s Democrat or press enemies won’t stop milking the controversy anyway possible.  Trump’s problem as a viable candidate involves his abysmal press relation.   Something not going to change. Trump’s base accounts for about 25% of the electorate, assuming it continues to  hold strong during the next several months.  Trump’s no longer a novel candidate, having already served four years in office.  By the time Democrats campaigned against him in 2020, Trump was the personification of evil.  Democrats blamed Trump for the Covid-19 crisis and racism in America, following the May 25, 2020 death of George Floyd.  Trump talks about massive voter fraud but Democrats and the press demonized him to the extent  he was no longer electable for 75% of voters.  When it comes to running again, the same press problems promise to demonize him the same way Democrats and the press did in 2020.  Republicans should worry whether or no Trump’s a viable candidate.  Judging by the relentless press demonizationl, Trump’s chances in a national election look more unlikely by the day.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes poltically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.