#ik there's a lot to be said for the sheer number of them as a voting bloc

[dordey]

"who's the most dangerous fundie" listen. ik you'd rather hear that the highly accessible homesteading homeschooling christian influencers you already snark on are the Most Dangerous & you are doing the lord's work spending your time pointing out how awful they are for (checks notes) wearing dresses & having more than 2 kids & having a veggie garden, but i PROMISE you the kinds of christians you should be scared of are the kinds that do only have a couple of kids & are raking in millions from political agendas or their own megachurches / come from generational wealth & would not be caught dead tilling their own soil or giving their kids abeka homeschool curricula

[jkpng]

could u pls explain what drew you to koobi. like they are lowkey underrated and i adore them and i wanna hear you yap about them

omg ur about to regret asking. i love koobi so much wtf i have a bunch of word vomit bc im very bad at articulating my thoughts

okok first of all jungkook and hobi are both biases individually so whenever they’re in the same frame all my neurons set on fire. anyways ik jungkook has the golden maknae title (deserved) but i feel like its not widely recognized As Much the way hobi is also a golden ace like they’re both sooooo good at everything. and thats jungkooks Thing™️ but like. hoseok is SO fucking good at dancing and so good at rapping and so good at songwriting/producing and ALSO so good at singing and he (also jin) is such a morale booster and icebreaker and i feel like he warms up every room hes in. but also he takes his craft so seriously and his dance teacher side is so intense and respectable. and like ofc they’re all insanely talented and passionate but i feel like jungkook and hobi are kinda two sides of the same coin and idk im ENDEARED………and also their solo music i just . love nearly everything they put out like theyre batting 99.9% for me. (and their harmonizing drives me crazy) also i feel like i have weirdly a lot in common with jungkook and i wanna be him soooo bad while hobi is everything i am not but adore in other people 😭

+ tiktoks im submitting to the court as evidence (bc i cant add more than 1 vid to a post 🤬) cried. making the little one laugh. CRIED. CRIEDDDDD

BUT ANYWAYS the koobi of it all…………..i feel like out of all the dynamics in bts i understand why they’re underrated cuz like. for example namgi or vmin u could write fucking essays abt those pairs and the depth of their relationships. but for koobi i feel like its a lot quieter like idk if theres as much to Say abt their relationship but their closeness shows if ur paying attention yk. idk theres just this softness and warmth between them that rlly gets to me like everyone babies jk but i feel like hobi babies him in a really particular way where im like. wtf thats HIS BABY. but also his baby is gonna kill all the bugs for him. like idk the sheer number of clips where jungkook is hanging off hobi and cuddling him (and sniffing him 😭) is so touching to meeeee………like it just. gives the impression that hobi is such a safe space for him and it makes me wanna cry and throw up. and also how hobi said the maknae line follows him around. like little ducklings. like what the fuck they love and admire him so much and i love seeing hobi be adored like he DESERVESSSS

also 1) in bv4 when hobi is filming jungkook on the swing. 2) in soop1 when jungkook is playing lost stars on the guitar for hobi. 3) jungkook crying when hobi was going to leave. 4) jungkook scheduling around being able to send hobi off. cries so hard i start gagging like wtf. idk i just feel like theres so much love and admiration between them. and obv i dont Actually know but their dynamic just seems uncomplicated and safe like every time theyre around each other it just radiates WARMTH u know. idk. walking into the pacific ocean rn

anyways koobi compilation

[minwooks-moved]

ik i said i might check out tbz but the sheer number of members is overwhelming ngl fsdfsgd ik 11 isnt a lot for kpop but still

aHH — i get that anonie 😵‍💫 11 still feels like a lot to Me .. it’s a lot even if it’s trying to be the average number of members for groups currently NFNF — esp coming from groups that are slightly smaller (dripn .. 173 .. s.kz….) 🥹

so no worries abt like … checking them out if it’s too overwhelming for u !! honestly i didn’t like .. get into them as a Whole — i just kind of .. recognized all of them one day after picking them up one-by-one from the dash/ttok fy(back when i still used it) NENDDJ

[moemammon]

When I was in High School, my crush and I got into a fight and neither of us were talking to each other. One day I was headed up the stairwell to get to my science class, when I saw them coming up from behind... I don't think they had even noticed me yet considering that they were busy talking to their friend BUT I am slow going up stairs so even if I rushed up the stairs roadrunner style they would have caught up to me, well; the little corner that connects the steps going up to the second floor and the steps heading down to the ground floor had a large open window... and I jumped out, like I literally just jumped out. I didn't even think it through, I just saw the window and my body was like "Yep, IK what to do." I landed on a bush or tree? It's too big to call a bush but too small to call a tree, landed in a squat before my feet gave out and I fall onto my knees and got two large grass stains on my jeans knee part, couldn't walk right either after that landing, I was shaky all day lol but it was a risk well calculated bc the whole thing would have been so awkward. I mean we used to be like BFFS before the rumors began and then they started and we just stopped talking without warning, we couldn't even look at each other. Our science partners, bc we were in groups of four, literally got fed up of our bullshit bc we literally refused to acknowledge the others existence... anyway, I digress...

Anyway, this whole story is a long winded way of me requesting how the brothers would react to an MC that literally just jumps out windows to avoid awkward moments, or to dodge people that want to ask them for favors, or when they straight up want to avoid someone?

And sorry about the large ass message, but thanks for letting me vent

You have a special place in my heart, window-jumping anon. Just uhhhhhhh look down next time okay? Ily

The Demon Brothers react to GN!MC jumping out of a window to avoid an awkward moment

(Mario jumping sound effect)

Lucifer

He approached you after class to ask exactly what you were snickering at your D.D.D. about during class.

Must've been real funny if you weren't listening to your lecture, huh?

"I imagine you've somehow found something worthy of laughing about in Demonology 101?"

You do not have the guts to tell him that you and Mammon were texting back and forth, abusing a new photo editing app to alter pictures of the eldest himself.

I mean, take a wild guess about how he’d react to seeing how big you edited his head to be-

The avatar of pride lets his eyes pierce into you, like he's trying to stare a hole through your blanket of "uh"s and "um"s,

You don't exactly see a way out of this one, but you can NOT let Lucifer see your photo gallery.

So you glance to your left to the open classroom window, and do the only thing you can think of: you jump.

Luckily you're on the ground floor so you??? really didn't have to jump so dramatically. But the fact that you yeeted yourself into a bush JUST to escape has left Lucifer speechless.

Honestly? He so impressed with your dedication that he's not gonna stop you. Besides, he's gonna see you back at home anyway so-

Also thinks you might be hanging around Mammon too much because that 100% seems like a stunt he’d pull.

Mammon

GIVE GOLDIE BACK RIGHT NOW

He KNOWS Lucifer told you to bring the credit card to him, and he demands to know where it's hidden! He's positive you know where it is!

But you don't really though?? You just brought the card to him like you were asked. If anything, you're the victim here!

But Mammon isn't having that. The avatar of greed is circling around you like an angry cat, patting you all over like airport security to see if you've got his beloved card.

"Where is it, huh?! Ya really think you can steal from THE Mammon?! Even if Lucifer told ya to, who do ya think you are?!"

When he has confirmed that you don't in fact have his previous Goldie, he's now cornering you up against a wall.

If looks could kill, you would've exploded into a fine powder

And you feel like your mental strength is about to do just that. So what do you do after you notices the slightest of breezes caress your face?

You jump outta that open window, before Mammon can even finish his "Wh- Oi! What're ya-"

Even though you just face planted into the garden, you're up on your feet and making a mad dash for somewhere that wasn't here.

Mammon lets you run for ten while seconds before he's hopping out after you. You think you can outfox the Great Mammon?! Think again!!!

Levi

You... weren't interested in this movie in the slightest, but you didn't have the heart to tell Levi that. Especially not after he’d begged/harassed you for the past week about watching it with him!

Reluctantly you agreed, and now you were suffering,,,But Levi was ecstatic! This movie was a classic! Sure it was an old one and the acting was a little bad, but you could overlook that if you watched it with your heart, not your eyes!

According to Levi.

You managed to keep your eyes open for the grueling one and a half hour movie, enduring every corny line of bad acting, horrible CGI, and lame sound effects straight out of a 90s super hero movie, and now the hell was finally over...

Or so you though, until Levi followed that up by immediately pulling out a cosplay outfit worn by one of the supporting characters in the show.

Funny how it seemed specifically tailored to your measurements. Even funnier how Levi was looking at you with those damned eyes.

You knew what he wanted without him even having to say it. But one look at the gaudy outfit he presented to you made your heart burn with a sudden indescribable urge.... to escape.

Honestly you caught him so off guard by suddenly getting up and sprinting out of the room, that he makes a sound that's pretty much the noise equivalent of "?!?!?!?!?!?"

He watches you run down to the end of the hall, throw the window open, and fuckin JUMP. Pretty sure he just witnessed your death??

Also this kinda solidified his 'gross otaku' mentality, seeing as you literally jumped out of a window to get out of cosplaying with him. A simple no would've sufficed, MC.......,.,,..,,,

Hey gamers... can we get an F in the chat? 😔✌️💦

Satan

Satan lent you a book to read last week that he was sure you'd be interested in! He found it pretty interesting himself, so he wants to see if you'd like it as much as he did.

That being said, you don't have the heart to tell him that you,,, didn't read any of it. Well you kind of did, if the cover counts for anything.

You doubt he would accept that as an answer, considering how you told him how much you appreciated receiving the book, and how you'd definitely read it and let him know how it was.

So now, Satan had come into your room with two cups of tea, ready to settle down and have a nice, long talk about your thoughts on the riveting plot that you promised you would indulge in.

"I'm really glad you decided to read it. I found that the protagonist reminded me a lot like you. I'd like to know what you thought about it."

Satan sets down the tea cups, and one sip tells you that he brewed it exactly the way you like.

His expression is eager and warm as he waits for you to begin gushing about just how deeply the story touched you... how absolutely moved you are by the sheer majesty that was the book he lent you...

Okay yeah, you're sweating bullets. You can't imagine how the sparkly eyed avatar of wrath would react to learning that you chose the company of your D.D.D. over Satan's book.

You don't have such an ice cold hard that you can just crush this book nerds dreams like that! And every time you look at his expectant face, the weight of your crimes weigh heavier on you until... you break.

Satan watches in shock and awe as you almost perfectly reenact the big scene where the main character leaps out of the window of a building rigged to explode, before making their escape. And you did just that.

Wow.. he never thought you could be so moved by a story, but he completely understands...

Asmo

How many outfits, Asmo. HOW MANY OUTFTITS WILL IT TAKE TO APPEASE YOU?

He's made you model TWELVE outfits so far, and you swear if you see another ascot, you're gonna lose your mind.

Asmodeus doesn't seem to notice the way the light slowly fades from your eyes, because he's pulling out outfit number thirteen with that cheery smile of his.

"Isn't this one absolutely adorable? Look, this part will look lovely around your waist! This part here hugs your body in all the right places, and this-"

You can't do it. You've gotta get out of here. You'd love to stand around and get mild rug burn from trying on a billion different clothes, but-

Actually no you wouldn't.

You DID promise Asmo you'd hang out with him today, but this wasn't really your idea of a good time.

"-Oooh, just thinking about it makes me want to eat you up~! Here, put it on for me, will you? I'll give you a kiss as a reward!"

You would do no such thing.

You make a mad dash for his ornate window and push it open. He has no time to stop you as he helplessly watches you vault yourself out like the room was on fire.

"MC?! Wh-where are you going?? Come back here! Grass stains are impossible to get out of that fabric!!!"

Beel

He means well. I swear he does. It's just that Beel can be a little... overbearing when he's worried about you. He cares, okay?

But he hasn't seen you eat anything all day! You tell him it's because you've got a stomach ache from who knows what, and you promise you've had little snacks here and there to keep from starving, but he can't accept that!

Eating is important, and you need it to survive. So Beelzebub was currently trying to nudge your mouth open with a pizza slice, while you vehemently refused. "Just one bite. And then another after that. You have to eat, or you'll go hungry... and I don't want that."

Beel knows the true pain of being hungry, and he’d never wish that on you! So just forget about your stomach ache for two seconds and open up-

Not that you really can. The aroma of that pizza was not sitting well on your stomach, and you were pretty sure you needed a fast escape or you'd risk losing your lunch. Greasy foods didn't exactly mix well with sour stomachs...

Beel still won't let up. He has a strong hand planted firmly on the small of your back, as if trying to prevent you from leaning back any further in your attempt to escape the pizza.

"If you eat this, I'll treat you to dessert at Madam Screams," he says, as if bribing your refusal of food USING food will somehow work out.

You can't break his heart, but you seriously can't eat that! Your head is spinning, thoughts racing, face becoming greasier and greasier from the pizza pressed against it, and-

You snap. In a sudden burst of strength you break free from Beel's grasp, and sprint toward the nearest window. All you see is your chance for freedom, and you're taking it.

You leap out and tumble into the ground, all while Beelzebub wonders what?? Just happened???? Did you really hate pizza that much...?

He never knew you were such a picky eater... To think you'd go so far as to jump out of the window though...

Belphie

You thought it was cute at first, when Belphegor wanted you to join him for his naps. And you didn't mind much. It was the weekend, you were tired, and he makes a pretty good body pillow.

But you didn't realize he planned for this to become an everyday thing. The youngest might not act it, but he sure could be spoiled.

But seriously, if you slept any longer, you might never have a normal sleep schedule again! It never occurred to you just how often Belphie sleeps.

He's definitely not human, because there's no way you can keep up with that, and maintain a normal lifestyle.

But the way he quietly, gently grabs your sleeve to cue your next nap session makes your heart clench. Why was it so damned hard to say no to this gremlin??

You were trying your best though, but the words always seemed to get caught in your throat. Belphie picked apart your excuses, doing everything in his power to take you back to the attic.

"You can study when you wake up." "Mammon wants to go shopping? Reschedule." "Lucifer told you not to be late to the board meeting? Just hide."

You're starting to get sucked into the sleepy lull of his voice, and it feels like your entire body is becoming heavy with fatigue. But no.... you resist!

Since there's no escaping this through words, you have to think fast. Fortunately, your fast thinking has led to an amazing solution!

Jump out of the window, baby

Belphie is just??? Did you fuckin???? Are your legs okay??????????????

He probably stops asking you to nap with him for a while, since you're willing to almost break your legs just to get out of it. You're gonna make him have weird dreams....

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

So, playing Path of Radiance today, and being introduced to Soren, I had some bizarre personal revelation, and I invite you all to join me down memory lane on a very long, elaborate tale.

I know halfway through this you’re going to have forgotten where we started and be like “Roddy stop talking about your neurotic childhood playing Pokemon, what the fuck does this have to do with the character Soren from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, the ninth installment in the Fire Emblem series--” and I promise you it all comes full circle in the end. 

So to start, check out my Rayquaza from Ruby, the first Pokemon game I ever played, and his nickname.

I have a Rayquaza named Sorenn. (Second “N” added by me to avoid copyright claims or commit tax fraud, or actually just to pretend I was original because I was a kid at the time.)

I love him. He’s one of my handful Ruby babies, from a game where I only used and got attached to a few Pokemon, but man did I get attached once I did. He’s the only one of them with a nickname, and he’s had it since I caught him.

So, the name “Soren”, where was I borrowing that from? Good question. As a kid, I read the book series Guardians of Ga’hoole, which is about warrior owls, and the main character is named Soren. ...but my Sorenn is not named after that character, not directly, not by me. The first of those books came out in 2003, but I didn’t start reading them until probably 2007 or so.

I think...most likely, my Sorenn is named after Soren from Path of Radiance, a game which I of course literally just started playing today. And I think it’s likely, but I can’t know for sure. Yeah, I really don’t know what my own Rayquaza is named after, but it could be for a character from a game I never played. This seems on brand - the fact that it’s bizarre, convoluted, and a long explanation that gets weirdly personal right out the gate.

I was a neurotic kid when I was young and it came to Pokemon. I had a very “if I die in the game I die in real life” kind of attitude and I would...basically have anxiety attacks at the thought of losing a battle in the game. The thought of having a Pokemon faint instilled me with terror - whiting out would be unthinkable. I wish I was making a joke or exaggerating, but I still have clear, distinct memories of the sobbing mess that the rival battle at Nugget Bridge/Cerulean City left me. I don’t know why I became this way, or what made me stop, because I did, but my playthroughs of Ruby and FireRed were marked by this sheer panic at the thought of making a mistake. It took me years to get through FireRed because I was paralyzed by terror.

My childhood neuroses are yes, somehow relevant to the nickname of one of my Pokemon, because my inability to play the game own my own is where the two other people involved in my story come in - my brother, and a kid he knew who we’ll call J. J was the only person we knew (other than our cousins who live 7+ hours away by car) at the time who played Pokemon. He was a bully to my brother, too, and eventually my brother managed to cut ties with him and find better friends, but at the time, Bro would go over to his house to play Pokemon, and sometimes I would come along. 

J had many more games than we did, Pokemon and otherwise - he had a GameCube and Pokemon Colosseum, too. He played a lot, and restarted a lot, and didn’t really have too many sentimental attachments to his Pokemon, so he gave a lot of them away and never asked for them back. I still have tons of them in FireRed, and one in Ruby. (My Umbreon, the one that kickstarted my love for Umbreon, the spiritual predecessor to Tubbo, is his. He gave me it for the Mossdeep City Gym, because it was a double battle and literally my only good Pokemon, the only thing I had that was above level 30, was my Blaziken. He tried to take Umbreon back once and I cried. I still have it.)

I was terrified of the Elite Four in Ruby, even though I had a level 93 Blaziken and could’ve won only using it, but there was obviously nothing rational about anything I did with that game at the time. And Blaziken and my new Groudon were the only Pokemon I had that were vaguely good. So I borrowed two of my brother’s better Pokemon - his Swellow and Kyogre - and one of J’s, not counting the earlier Umbreon - his Rayquaza.

Note the one “N” and the different trainer ID number.

The other thing to know about how I played Ruby and FireRed was that I was a copycat. I wasn’t confident in my own decisions - I guess you can already tell that from everything I’ve already said. It was terror the whole way through. I was a weird, weird kid. But I copied so many of the decisions that my brother made - started with a Torchic because he did. Started with a Squirtle because he did, and chose the Helix Fossil in Mt Moon because he did. (Even though what I really wanted was a Charizard, and when I got one from J, who I still have, my Blastoise became a benchwarmer. Did I start with Mudkip in Emerald because my brother did or because I liked it better than Treecko? I don’t know.)

I copied nicknames, too, and gave them to some same Pokemon. Some from my brother.....and one from J. I just threw an extra “N” on there. That’s my Sorenn. I named him after someone else’s Soren the Rayquaza, and I don’t know who that Soren was named for.

I remember, though, J had a Tyranitar named Dante. It stuck with me because I’d never seen a Tyranitar before, nor heard the name Dante before. J played a lot of video games besides Pokemon, and I imagine his Dante was probably named after that one Video Game Man Protagonist named Dante, and not the Italian Bible fanfiction poet named Dante. I mention this to establish a vague possible precedent for J naming his Pokemon after other video game characters. 

A few years later, I started reading the Guardians of Ga’hoole books, with their protagonist named Soren, which was a name I’d never heard before besides J’s Rayquaza, and I think I thought “huh, maybe J read these books too? Maybe that’s it?”

But it feels more likely, with all I knew of J at the time, that his Soren was named after Fire Emblem’s Soren. He had a GameCube, after all, and played a lot of games. (Bro and I were Pokemon-and-Kirby-only people, at the time.)

The question is really if the timeline adds up, and I can offer you a solid maybe. Here’s some release dates.

Pokemon Ruby - March 2003

Guardians of Ga’hoole (book series) - June 2003 (first book published)

Pokemon Colosseum - March 2004

Pokemon FireRed - September 2004

Path of Radiance - October 2005

I know my brother and I didn’t play Ruby and Sapphire on release, but I don’t know how long after it was. And I don’t know how long it took me to get to the point when I was willing to take on the Elite Four. It would have had to have been at least the end of 2005 if my Soren namesake theory is correct. Going off of my age then, I think it’s likely that it was at least last quarter 2005 - I don’t think I started playing Pokemon much younger than that. And Colosseum was out by then, so J definitely had a GameCube by then. I included FireRed on my timeline even though I don’t know how long after its release I got it - it was Christmas, but I don’t know what year. And I don’t know if I was finished playing Ruby by the time I got FireRed.

But...this was over a decade ago, and it was my mother buying us those games, and Bro and I weren’t aware of new releases to want to get them, and maybe it’s just the haze of memory talking but I feel like games did have longer lifecycles back then? Maybe I was just a kid and couldn’t know otherwise. I only owned like five GBA games by the time the DS released. 

I could easily have just been playing Ruby at the end of 2005. J could’ve played Path of Radiance by then, and named his Rayquaza after a character from it. I think that’s probably the most likely scenario. It makes sense for all the pieces I have, and who I knew J to be. And maybe I’m just stretching to fit what I think, but hey, Soren’s a wind magic character, and FE wind magic is green, and Rayquaza is a green flying-type....

In conclusion, a game that I just started playing turned into a nostalgia bomb of the weirdest kid, and not for the “Ike is in Smash Bros and that’s a game I’ve played thousands of hours of” reason that I figured this game could nostalgia bomb me with.

And I grew up from being a weird kid to a weird adult, and that has me feeling rather fond of Soren Fire Emblem even though I just met him and he’s also kind of a jerk. He makes me think fondly on one of my most beloved Pokemon, who he may or may not be the namesake of. 

[heady-senpai]

One Piece 955: Enma

I took all day to write this up just so much to talk about from this chapter!

Let me just start by saying what a chapter!! 8.75/10

I was not expecting it to drop a day early & had no idea what to expect of this chapter until I saw the title...Enma 🤔😏

First things first. I believe Bege & company just stumbled upon Dressrosa. He mentioned they were stopping there for supplies. I wonder if any Straw Hat supporters are still around and if a conversation will strike up about Luffy.

------

Ok now to the chapter...

It starts off with Hiyori telling Zoro & Kawamatsu that she will not meet up with the rest of the alliance in order to not stir unneccessary emotions before the battle. Her brother stated this before so it wasn't a surprise. What surprised me was that Kawamatsu told the rest of the Scabbards that Hiyori was still alive & well.

I guess it's a morale booster but I have this weird feeling that something bad will happen to her now that everyone knows she's ok.

A couple random facts about Hiyori:

• She puts up a coarse attitude but is actually a crybaby

• She was a Tomboy who didn't typically speak refined & politely

(So funny how Momo was like, "A flying kick from someone 18yrs older would really hurt." Lol ik the struggle of being terrorized by a little sister hahah)

Now we get to the crazy good stuff!!!

O-Kiku might be one of the MVPs for finding the randomly lost Nidai Kitetsu. I had no idea where it was. Thought Kaido must've done something with it when Luffy was thrown into the Udon Prison Mines like kept it in a storage within the prison or something. Zoro states that he knew it was a Meito (famous/named blade) I guess with Sandai at his side he could feel the cursed vibes.

Rarely does Oda show us the actual tying of loose ends.

I guess Hiyori didn't go off to retrieve Enma & Orochi doesn't have Ame no Habakiri...Hitetsu Tenguyama had them both the whole time. That's why he had been patiently awaiting the return of the Kozuki Family.

I love every aspect of the design especially the sheath.

Seems as if both swords are of the same grade level as Shusui, O Wazamono, 21 Great Grade Swords. So Zoro won't be getting one of the 12 Supreme Grade Swords, Saijo O Wazamono, just yet and I'm fine with that.

Hitetsu tells Zoro only Oden was ever able to tame Enma & ODEN MUST'VE BEEN A BEAST because this sword is crazzyyyyy powerful. Kin'emon even said he himself would not even want to take the blade.

When testing out the sword Zoro tried to cut a tree but ended up cut off part of the cliff/island they were all on! Just insane lmao like I was not expecting that much of a power boost at all!

In the next panel we see the blade going black, coating in haki as Zoro's arm is also clad in haki, but looks drained & frail.

(Sanji's face was hilarious but damn I feel his pain lol Sanji is my favorite Straw Hat & just got a power boost now Zoro's power up makes Sanji's Raid Suit, look not as powerful so I have mixed feelings hahhaha but I love reading Zoro moments.)

So the thing with Enma is that it draws out its wielders haki to maximum extremes by itself. Any average sword wielder would've been drained completely and left dead.

Typically we've seen Zoro have swords with minds of their own but this one is just on another level.

Zoro yells for the sword to give him back his Ryou and takes it all back. Then we get that crazy Zoro smile like he knows this is going to be a challenge to tame the blade but he's ready to take that on to become even stronger. Hitetsu asks Zoro does he want another sword & obviously Zoro says he's keeping Enma, further impressing Kawamatsu.

[Now the text heavy part because I don't want to make 2 seperate posts for this review and want to only use my favorite images from the chapter]

Robin, Ashura Doji, & Kin'emon are discussing the sheer numbers that the alliance and their opposition have. Seems as if there will be approx. 30,000 enemies on Onigashima vs their 4000.

We then get quick panels of :

Franky yelling at his workers to prepare the boat to hold 10,000 men

(made me think hmmm Straw Hat Grand Fleet's over 5000 + the 4000+ men they already have...maybeeeee *Spongebob voice)

Luffy practicing Ryuo in Gear 4th stating that he used too much physical force

Zoro and Momo training in the forest and Zoro states an old man from his village is where he first heard Sunnachi (Snatch) & this surprises Momo.

With two days left before the raid Chopper, O-Tama, and Luffy return to meet with everyone else & the Yakuza bosses have added another 200 men to the resistance's ranks. (~4200 vs ~30,000)

Kin'emon states there hasn't been any word from Law (it's been a few days since he's been free & still hasn't contacted the group....hmmmm)

Silly Shinobu tells Kin'emon to forget about Law and Chopper has to speak some truth like hey Law is super strong. Law clearly makes a substantial difference, he's a cheat code in most situations!

There are still many men locked up in the Capital that wish to fight. I'm guessing only a few hundred more but still any help matters at this point. We also get to see many of the Wano townspeople discussing Yasu's encrypted message. Of course some still don't have faith but they will be proved wrong.

The alliance splits into its respective groups with the Scabbards, Shinobu, and Momo headed to the harbor, meeting Luffy there later.

The literature used here to describe the Scabbards and their shadows as the walked was magnificent. I also loved how the spelling for frost was shimo as in Shimotsuki. 🤔🤔

We see Pedro's & Lord Yasu's grave in the graveyard of Oden & his retainers. We also see Wanda & O-Toko shedding tears at theory loved one's graves. Carrot looks hardened & ready to go.

Hitetsu reveals to Zoro that he was the bladesmith of the Sandai Kitetsu. And states Enma & the Sandai cannot be wielded by the weak. Hitetsu also reveals why Zoro has had a quick take to Enma: the bladesmith who made Enma also created Zoro's main sword, the Wado Ichimonji. It was crafted by Yusaburo Shimotsuki, who fled Wano illegally over 50 years ago. Hiyori probably saw what swords Zoro held (Shusui, Wado Ichimonji, & Sandai Kitetsu) and decided he was worthy of her father's keepsake.

I just cannot believe that Hitetsu said that IN ZORO'S HANDS ENMA COULD RISE IN RANK & BECOME A BLACK BLADE! So then would it become O Saijo Wazamono???? Hmmmm I wonder.

It seems like Luffy has gotten a hell of a lot stronger! Didn't even get close to the tree and destroyed it from the other side (almost reminded me of that scene in Naruto when him and Sasuke battled on the roof of the hospital haha if you know you knowwww)

Law is definitely not the traitor. Like it's too obvious. Simply because Oda telegraphed this traitor vibe a couple times;I swear he's just messing with us.

Will Kyoshiro be revealed to be Denjiro soon?

I just wonder how Orochi found out this info.

And now we get a closing to Act II.

Just an epic chapter.

I swear Oda is hinting that Zoro may be a descendant/relative of the Shimotsuki family along with his teacher Koushirou.

Could even be a family tree like Hinata/Neji but I'm probably reaching there. Very interesting how bits and pieces of his past is flashed in front of us.

I guess only time will tell, but I bet Koushirou's father was Yusaburo Shimotsuki.

[femme-blem]

100 Follower Raffle Prize: Nephenee/Elincia

It’s finally here!! I want to thank the winner (who seems to have moved blogs - please contact me if you'd like me to tag you somewhere else!) for requesting this universe brain ship for their raffle prize. I had a lot of fun writing it and accidentally went all out so this ended up a LOT longer than 800 words lmao...if you're gonna create a new relationship tag on ao3 you might as well go hard!! I’d also like to thank @glitchsix for beta reading it and providing excellent critique 👌

hurt/comfort, injury, tw for violence

.......

Nephenee held the envelope high above her head as she weaved her way past her siblings to her ma's room, away from curious eyes and dangerously grabby hands. Only after locking the door did she take a good, long look at it. It looked far too nice to open - white, crisp, edged in gold leaf and sealed with wax stamped with the royal crest. Breaking the seal nearly felt like a sin, but her eagerness to hear from Elincia again outweighed her reverence.

Her heart skipped with some strange excitement as she took in every word of the queen's soft, elegantly curved handwriting. There was so much that needed to be done to return the kingdom to its former glory, and for that, the newly-crowned ruler knew she needed the full support of her people. So, Elincia, gathering her knights and closest companions, made plans to set off on a diplomatic journey to prove her worth as a leader by meeting her subjects and supporting the reconstruction efforts.

Nephenee firmly believed Elincia could. Despite their drastically different stations, the queen had always been remarkably kind to her during their time with Ike's band of mercenaries. She seemed to go out of her way to reach out to the shy villager, encouraging her to open up bit by bit, and with time they went from soldier and liege to something closer - Nephenee couldn't quite say what it was, herself. She held no notions of being able to remain as they were once the Mad King was defeated and tried to remain guarded, but leaving Elincia hurt all the same.

But now, holding the summons in her hands, Nephenee wondered if she'd been wrong on that assumption. Perhaps Elincia thought about Nephenee as much as Nephenee thought about her, even months after their farewells. Perhaps they could go back to those days in some way, not to the constant fighting for country and survival, but to the talks by the campfire late at night, the promises that they would return safe at the end of the day. Nephenee often wished she'd been bolder - even back then, she'd been so worried over screwing up or looking foolish that she always remained careful and professional in their interactions. Perhaps, this time...

Nephenee stopped and cursed herself. How could she think that way? She was talking about escorting the queen of all of Crimea, not reconnecting with an old friend at a tea shop. This was a serious task, one that Nephenee was honored to have been chosen for. She was a proven soldier being called back to duty. Nothing more.

.......

Nephenee accepted the call, and a month later was standing stiffly among the rest of the soldiers outside of the royal barracks. Now that she was here, surrounded by all these fancy capital guards, she wasn't sure she'd fit in much. No, she was certain she wouldn't fit in. She was surprised that she had made it in the first place; someone like her couldn't just waltz right up to Castle Crimea, could they? Surely someone would notice the hick in worn armor tromping over to the palace and see that she didn't belong; a guard would stop her in her tracks before she ever made it there, yell at her, send her back home-

But none of that happened. The guards had parted at the castle's gate before Nephenee could even pull the letter out and waved her inside. She was endlessly thankful for not having to explain herself, but knowing that she was expected by the castle staff was intimidating in its own way. What did they expect from her? And what about the rest of the soldiers going on the mission - would they just see her as a burden? Would they resent the no-name country girl who was simply handed a spot in the queen's entourage without having gone through any of the rigorous training the knights required?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of beating wings. The rumble of conversation died immediately as every knight stood at attention. Nephenee followed their gazes only to have her breath catch at the sight of Elincia descending from the skies on her pegasus, orange-and-cream regalia shining in the morning light. A rush of wind tousled Nephenee's hair as hooves touched earth and wings fluttered to a resting position. Elincia looked...different, somehow. Just as stunning as Nephenee had remembered, but with a surer air, more confident in her position. Or at least better at acting like it.

Elincia scanned her crowd of vassals, perking up at a glimpse of deep green hair among them. Her eyes locked with Nephenee's, and she smiled, and Nephenee felt the air escape her lungs.

.......

They marched for weeks, traveling from town to town to address crowds and offer aid. Next to the Crimean Royal Knights, Nephenee felt like an awkward bumpkin again, but she'd be damned if she let it on. The queen had chosen her for this mission, and she wasn't about to prove her majesty wrong.

Not that she actually saw much of her. She only caught glimpses at most: Elincia's head peeking over the masses that gathered for her speeches, her back as she lead the march, the flutter of her coattails that were the only thing visible between the guards that circled her near-constantly. Nephenee told herself not to get her hopes up about having a conversation with her, let alone the chance to say howd—hello, but she couldn't help but be shocked over how different it was here than with the militia or the Greil Mercenaries.

Those were the thoughts that nagged at Nephenee as she poked at the logs of the campfire, content to sit alone during the night watch and mull over the situation.

"Nephenee."

She shot up at the sound of her name, despite the shivers coursing through her veins. "Elin—Queen Elincia," she corrected, bowing.

"Come, now. You don't have to use such formalities with me. We're closer than that, after all."

We are? Nephenee straightened. "O-of course, your m—Elincia."

A troubled look crossed the queen's face, and a pang of anxiety struck through Nephenee, afraid she'd already done something wrong. "I deeply apologize for not speaking to you before now. Even at camp, it's difficult to get away from my duties."

"You ain't got—don't have anything to apologize for. I understand."

She said that, but Nephenee didn't understand, not really. Why should the queen worry so much over offending her in the first place? But Elincia seemed relieved, and that was fine enough.

"Would you like to accompany me on a walk?" Elincia asked. "It's such a lovely night, and I'd love the chance to catch up."

"A-alone?" The question tumbled out before Nephenee could stop it. The queen couldn't just run off with some hayseed, could she?

"I don't believe I'd be able to slip away with so little protection without raising alarm. There will be a few guards watching over from a distance. I'm sorry if that makes you uncomfortable...would you mind terribly?"

The thoughtfulness and concern Elincia was showing her was nearly too much to handle. More than she deserved.

Nephenee swallowed. "Don't mind at all."

.......

Nephenee's boots pounded against the dirt. Her breathing came in quick, heavy gasps, only barely able to get out her message as she approached the camp.

"Bandits! The Queen's, huff, she's in danger!"

Most bandits would have the good sense to leave a company of the Queen and her highly-trained, thoroughly-armed retainers alone. But this particular band was too large and too opportunistic to pass up the chance.

They came all at once, an endless stream of barbarians charging from within the dense forest and behind rolling hills. They had the party beat in sheer numbers, and even the most highly trained guardsmen were having difficulty keeping up with their brute force.

If it kept like this, they would be overwhelmed in a matter of moments. Elincia looked towards her and yelled something about reinforcements and alerting the camp. Ever the obedient soldier, Nephenee had turned and run.

Every head whipped towards Nephenee's cry before the camp exploded in a flurry of motion. Some shot to their feet and charged past her, weapons already drawn. Others clanked as they heaved their armor on, preparing for the fight. They saddled their horses, grabbed supplies. It wasn't fast enough. They needed to leave now.

Nephenee's lungs ached; her legs felt weak. But she couldn't stop here, couldn't wait for the rest of her allies, couldn't allow everyone else to fight while she caught her breath. Not when others might lose the opportunity.

Not while Elincia was still out there.

Nephenee tightened her grip on her spear and charged towards the fight once again. Her body complained with every step forward, but she didn't falter. She had to get back, just a little more-

A scream. Cold ran through Nephenee's veins at the sound. There, in the space between two brigands, Nephenee saw as deeply stained cream-and-sunset dropped to the earth.

The sounds of battle were dampened in her ears. Any ache she may have felt was gone - she couldn't really feel anything. Not rage, or sorrow, or the way her hands gripped the lance so tightly the handle threatened to break. There was nothing but the single-minded drive to take Elincia as far from the fighting as possible.

She barely registered the men charging at her with blades raised high, but the spearhead found its mark all the same. There was a dull thud against her upper back followed by a warmth that should have been worrying, but Nephenee pressed on, unable to give the sensation a second thought.

The action around her had slowed by the time she reached Elincia's form; the rest of the army must have arrived and forced the fiends back. Nephenee didn't care to check. As gingerly as the coursing adrenaline allowed, she hoisted Elincia across her shoulders and trudged back in the direction of camp. Every bump and dip in the earth jostled her charge, causing Nephenee to wince. Or maybe the wincing had something to do with the tightness near her shoulder and the sting in her legs.

Her captain suddenly came into her vision. The paleness of his face and shock etched into his features finally stirred an emotion: guilt. Failure. She had allowed her—their—liege to come to harm, and whatever happened next was entirely her fault. He mouthed something and gestured to someone else, and she felt as Elincia’s weight was lifted off of her. Strangely, the leader of the Royal Knights didn't move, putting a hand to Nephenee's shoulder. Mouthing something else she couldn't make out.

"...phenee? Nephenee?"

Shades of blue and gold blurred together, and Nephenee collapsed.

.......

Consciousness came slowly—her thoughts, even slower. She shifted and immediately regretted the movement, which sent a fresh wave of pain through her upper back and a deep ache everywhere else. There was some movement next to her, followed by a light and a soft warmth that eased the sharpness of the feeling.

Nephenee let her head loll to the side, squinting at the figure and blinking until her eyes were able to focus on verdant green hair and warm copper eyes. She frowned hazily, not fully comprehending the sight.

Then it all came back.

Nephenee shot upright in the cot, a motion Elincia mirrored out of pure surprise and a justifiable amount of worry. Nephenee's body fiercely protested, but aside from a split-second wince, she didn't seem to register it.

"Yer majesty! Are you feelin' all right? I s-saw you fall, and, I, um..."

"Nephenee! Nephenee, I'm perfectly fine," she hastily replied in an attempt to calm her. A hand against her good shoulder gently nudged her back against the sheets. Nephenee allowed it, the fading adrenaline leaving her too tired and sore to do much but comply. "Please, rest. The fighting is long over. You needn't concern yourself over me."

Nephenee pressed her lips in a tight line, clearly torn between the desire to obey her liege and to serve her. "You're sure you weren't hurt none?"

"I...wouldn't say that," she said slowly, trying not to upset her any further. "I was injured, yes, but not nearly as severely as you. We're not sure how you managed to carry me that far with such a deep axe wound."

So that's what that was. "It was nothin', honest."

"But it was. Your efforts saved us, Nephenee. All of us. And we...I was so worried."

As Elincia's voice cracked, so did Nephenee's heart. She reached out and hesitantly put a hand on Elincia's arm, rubbing it with her thumb in a way she hoped was comforting. In truth, she was blown away by the concern Elincia was showing her, but she chalked that up to her soft-hearted nature. "Hey, I might be a little banged up, but I ain't too-"

Nephenee's brain caught up with the rest of her as she realized with horror how casually she was talking to the queen. Her hand froze.

"I-I mean...I may be, uh, slightly worse for wear, milady, but..."

Nephenee's face heat up as she fumbled with her words. Elincia looked at her with confusion before the realization of what Nephenee was trying to do dawned on her. She giggled through the last of her sniffles, wiping her face to try and retain some shred of composure.

"There's our Nephenee," she chuckled. "You know, I've always found that accent of yours terribly cute."

And like that, her thought process screeched to a halt once more. "You, uh. You do?"

Elincia nodded. "I'll admit that I missed hearing it during our time apart. I thought to invite you because of your bravery and resilience, but...in truth, I'd hoped we could spend more time together." She sighed. "I knew it could be dangerous, with how unstable the kingdom is. And you've fought so hard to save it already. For me to ask you to leave your village once more, for my own selfish desires...you must think me cruel."

"I don't understand. You're one o' the most tender-hearted people I've ever met. Anybody'd be glad to fight for ya."

"I don't want you to fight for me, Nephenee. I can't bear the thought of you coming to harm on my behalf. I tried to protect you during the battle, and still, I only caused you pain."

"Protect...me? What would you wanna do that for?"

"Because I care for you." Elincia's other hand came to rest upon Nephenee's. "You may consider it foolish, but truly, I...I love you, Nephenee."

Looking into those eyes, hearing those words, Nephenee nearly forgot to breathe. She wondered if she was still out cold and dreaming. But the feeling of Elincia's warmth and presence, that expression of anxiety mixed with hopefulness...those couldn't be made up.

“The feelin’s mutual. I love you, Elincia. Reckon I always have, but I never dreamed…”

Elincia gently pressed herself against Nephenee's good side, placing her arms low enough to ensure the bandages wouldn’t be disturbed. Nephenee brought one arm around her, embraced her tightly in return, and vowed to never leave her side again.

[freakin-edikan]

More Unpopular Smash Onions

I have a lot of Smash Onions and here are most of them in one post. Be warned it’s long and stupid

Bayonetta Should Not Have Been in Smash Ever

The whole point of Bayonetta is that she whips out these crazy combos and super strong witch tricks to defeat her opponents. The only problem is...barely anyone else can do that because they’re not supposed to because it’s Smash Bros and not Street Fighter. There was no way to nerf Bayonetta without ruining her, and there was no way to keep the Bayonetta feel and style without her dominating the game.

Cloud Should Not Have Been in Smash Ever

He was too fast, he was too strong, he had a projectile. Sakurai specifically said he knew Ike had exactly these stats when Ike was added to Brawl in 2008. He intentionally left them out so as to not let Ike become too strong. But years later, Cloud strutted into Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS with these same attributes anyway. He’s a lot more tame now, but how many Peaches had to die?

The Zelda Characters Got the Short End of the Stick

A game with 30 years of history does not deserve to be represented by three Links, two Zeldas, and one Ganondorf. It’s clear that the development team was banking on the games sticking to its Ocarina formula, which is why they tried so hard to keep all the designs from one game and didn’t introduce anyone who wasn’t a Triforce bearer. By the time they finally stumbled on the idea of giving characters designs from different games, they had run out of space for any newcomers specific to particular games in the series, and the potential for new characters had run out.

I’m aware that Zelda isn’t as popular in Japan as it is in the United States; however, seeing how big Super Smash Bros. and its audience is, I think its representation could be a little better than that.

Zelda Got the Short End of the Stick

You mean to tell me it took 17 years for someone to look at that trainwreck of a moveset and finally do something about it? Y’all ugly.

There Doesn’t Need to be 15,897 Marths

If the devs over at Sora Ltd. played their cards right, our Fire Emblem lineup could have consisted of a balance of characters and assist trophies that could show off the most prominent aspects of the series. My idea is this:

Characters

Marth

Ike

Lyn

Robin

Assist Trophies

A Manakete (from any game)

A Pegasus Knight + Triangle Attack (any game but preferably the ones who made it famous—so Palla, Catria, and Est.)

A main villain (person, any game)

A main villain (monster, any game)

Ephraim?

Micaiah.

...and some cute lil spirits/stickers/trophies with some lore or references or something. If you ask me, we got the characters we got because of poor planning. I might not know the ins and outs of the process, but that’s what it looks like to me.

I Am Singling Out Corrin Specifically

This pick feels like an impulse because of the fact that FE14 was new, but besides that, I (a salty Peach main and Bandana Dee fan) first thought the character was busted. Never before had we a character with such ridiculous range—I thought Shulk’s energy sword Sunday was pushing it. It looks like Corrin set a precedent, though, because tall, adult characters who can reach across the entire stage seem to be the norm nowadays.

The Mario Characters are Out of Character

I think it’s telling when you can’t convey the character of Mario properly. Mario in Smash rather quickly moved away from his friendly everyman balancedness to a very aggressive, very angery Man who apparently just beats the living daylights out of people as the Smash Ultimate music blares in the background. Mario in his games is so much more friendly, eccentric, comical, fun. Smash Mario is way too serious; he doesn’t even smile in his renders anymore. I know, it’s a fighting game; you have to be serious to some extent. I just find this a little odd considering, um...

Peach was pretty similar when she first came to Melee. But when Brawl came around, her headbutt was replaced with hearts, her explosions with hearts, her diplomatic walk with a ditzy skip—it’s all incredibly suspicious. I talked about this before, but I think Smash makes Peach look dumb. I feel like it tries too hard to appeal to the girl who couldn’t pick any of the boy characters because they were icky so she picked the prettiest, girliest girl and that’s Peach. Her character feels like it’s making a mockery of her. (I mean, who remembers the tea time? I remember the tea time.) Nearly all of the nuance in Peach’s character is gone; I like the Toads and it feels like she’s commanding an army, but she herself with the rainbows and the hearts...I don’t know. It makes me. Uncomfortable. Peach has displayed far more competence before; she’s a very intelligent individual, but in Smash it’s not showing.

If I thought Peach was bad, imagine how I feel about Daisy! They barely changed a couple of animations and visuals but no attributes. It feels cheap and lazy and even though she’s an echo fighter, other “clones” had at least a little more thought put into them. And no “Hi, I’m Daisy”??? Preposterous. I think it goes to show that you really can’t make a clone of Peach because her moveset is too unique, and tinkering with it makes it fall apart. I think this was a bad call.

Bowser Jr. seems fine. He’s just a kid with some toys and it shows. Bowser...can at least walk straight, nowadays. But...

Luigi Baby I’m So Sorry That a Ugly Ass Bitch Would Even Do That

So when Smash 64 came out in 1999, Luigi had had his own voice for 3 years. Smash had decided to take Mario’s voice clips and pitch them up instead. This didn’t change until Brawl.

Luigi is Mario’s taller, slippery-er, eccentric younger brother, and Smash played the eccentric up to 11. (I mean, who remembers the Negative Zone? I remember the Negative Zone.) The hip bumps? And the weird dances? And the being able to fall over and be so round that he can just roll back up? I’ve never seen him do that anywhere but Smash. I don’t know who that is with the green hat in Smash. But it’s not Luigi.

The great thing is that he plays like Luigi! But he sure doesn’t act like it. And neither does Mario. And Mario and Luigi don’t play off each other at all, either. They’re so awkward to put together in this game; it’s like an attack on the sibling family unit.

We Don’t Stan Rosalina

We don’t stan her

“We Made Up Lore About EarthBound Hoping No One Would Notice Also We Really Like Pollyanna and the First Eight Melodies and We Exclusively Reference Mother 1 But We Still Won’t Put Ninten in This Game”

Ness is supposed to have defensive and support PSI because he has the highest physical offensive stats—and the lowest IQ—in EarthBound. He can’t use PK Starstorm, or PK Fire, or PK Thunder. He can use PSI Shield and Brainshock and Paralysis and um, PSI Rockin, and though I don’t mind using Ness and Lucas as they are now, I still can’t help but notice how inaccuracy-laden all the EarthBound references were, and that a moveset focused around trapping an opponent to go in for the beat down intrigues me.

Listen, no one else in this game has made-up lore about how their friends taught them certain moves after the end of their game, and how they channeled their big finisher into smaller bursts of energy while taking on the friend’s (much weaker!) signature move as their Final Smash. You could probably explain the magic Zelda uses as they come in crystals anyone could theoretically use, but the framing that they use for Ness and Lucas? It’s pretty silly.

Okay, about Ninten...he doesn’t have to be in Smash. But what’s the point of saying “Mother (Series)” and then making this weird conglomerate of ideas that doesn’t actually get the point across? All three games communicate very different ideas, but hardly any of what’s in Smash portrays any of it very well.

Where’s Bandana Dee

Where is he

Realistic Guns

Joker is about to enter this game with a literal fucking glock and I’m not okay

Final Smashes is the Same

It’s either a Mega Laser, a Giant Stage Hazard, a I’m Gonna Just Ram Into You Like Nobody’s Business, or a Barage of Attacks With One Final Hit. For all the crap I give Peach’s Final Smash, at least it’s different. Oh, there’s a new kind now: the We Stole Snake’s After We Thought He Was Never Coming Back And Oh God He’s Here. Oh No He’s Back. He’s Angry Oh N-

Kirby and Jigglypuff

They haven’t been great for years! I want them back to being good again.

Okay so Jigglypuff was OD’ing in Melee. But insta-death shield break just doesn’t tell me you care about them!

Speaking of Caring About Kirby

I see y’all only putting Kirby’s Adventure and Kirby Super Star content in your game. Look, whoever made Kirby 64 and friends disappeared the same year Sakurai left HAL Laboratory. The new Kirby games acknowledge all of Kirby’s history, and they take many cues from Smash. Smash is a big game, but the least it could do was reciprocate some of that.

The Music Selection is Underwhelming Me So Far

And it’s not the sheer number; I think that’s incredible. My problem is many of the songs are remixes with multiple versions. There are multiple versions of Light Plane from Pilotwings, multiple versions of Magicant, multiple Ballads of the Goddess, a billion Mario Main Themes. There are so many different musicians arranging for these games; are they all sitting there thinking “I’ll do you one better!!” making the same songs again? Some series have one song being remixed over and over while the rest of the soundtrack is just ripped from the original and chucked into the game. Other songs are just weak, which I expect, but they’re just so...mild.

The original music in Smash Ultimate I think is also pretty weak. It’s the same problem Brawl ran into and the only difference is the Ultimate themes are better orchestrated. The arrangement became stale to me and I think it’s because the game is so big that it couldn’t tie itself together as neatly as Smash 64 could (although only one, maybe two people worked on Smash 64’s music).

Stage Hazards

I don’t remember if it’s possible to turn them off but I am tired of the goddamn Flying Man.

So I think that’s about it. Thanks for reading and on the off chance that someone responds to it, you don’t have to go through the entire thing just to pick it apart bit by bit, I don’t want anyone to have to slog through that unless they want to, I guess. Happy New Year!

[jaketapper]

Remarks to the Canadian Journalism Foundation

Last night I was honored with the Tribute at the Canadian Journalism Foundation awards in Toronto, Canada. Below are my prepared remarks; I deviated from the text slightly and tried to make edits below to better reflect what I said.

I want to thank the CJF and more specifically the Gala Committee - David Walmsley, Maureen Shaughnessy Kitts and Natalie Turvey - for selecting me for this tribute.

I would also like to thank Peter Mansbridge for those lovely remarks and more importantly for his decades at the CBC, serving as a beacon for anchors across the continent, speaking truth to power, and calm to panic. I know this nation has come to depend on you to guide it through times of difficulty and joy, and I know she will miss your nightly presence.

It is such an honor to receive this award, especially as someone who isn’t Canadian, someone born in New York and raised in Philadelphia. I was seven during the American Bicentennial in Philadelphia, the heart of American democracy, so it was interesting when a few years ago i began doing some genealogical research and discovered that many of my ancestors, the Huffs, fought in the Revolutionary War. The surprise was that they fought for the British and then fled to Canada. They continued to fight on your side in the war of 1812. This was of course something of a rude awakening for a Philly boy.

Of course i knew of my Canadian roots -- My mother was born in Ottawa, and came to the U.S. with her family when she was 7. My grandfather Everett Palmatier fought with the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II serving on the HMCS Cobalt, a Flower-class corvette that participated in escorting convoys in the Atlantic. My grandmother Helen worked as a confidential secretary for the Canadian government. My great uncle Edwin Palmatier, a tailgunner, was shot down and killed by the Luftwaffe in that war. There is a lake named after him in this country. In January 1917, one hundred years ago, my great great grandfather David Dyson, a pickle and vinegar merchant was the mayor of Winnipeg -- for four days. He lost the recount.

Now, if I were Tom I would make a joke about how Peter Mansbridge covered that recount. But I am not so I will not.

Grammie and Grampie and Uncle Edwin and David Dyson are no longer with us, but i brought my mother here tonight and I want to take a moment to honor her for not only having been a loving and selfless mother but for having instilled in me concepts of compassion and decency that i hope have shaped the way i live and also how i perceive my responsibility as a journalist. Thank you, Mom. I love you.

I would also be remiss if i did not take a moment to thank another great son of Canada, a mentor to so many of us who had the pleasure of working with him, my former boss at ABC news, the late great Peter Jennings. Peter was a tireless and fearless and obstinate boss. And he taught me so much and the world, and the world of journalism, is lesser for his passing.

As for this award...just looking at the list of prior honorees -- Tina Brown and Sir Harold Evans, Malcolm Gladwell, Robert MacNeill, Morley Safer and Graydon Carter -- that is pretty august company. Though the ones who mean the most to me are the 2012 posthumous tribute to Jennings and the man who did more to make me a journalist than anyone else, the late great David Carr, honored in 2013. I like to think somewhere David and Peter are watching this presentation, frustrated that they can’t break through and criticize me and make sure that i’m not letting anything go to my head. Don’t worry guys, I got the lesson. You taught me well.

And of course as well all know, people like Peter and myself get the attention, but journalism is truly a team effort. From the lowest level intern to the highest executive, I couldn’t do what I do without everyone at CNN. Everyone in this room knows what a team effort journalism is. Three from my team are here -- Jessica Stanton, John Robinson, and Lauren Pratapas -- and without them and without the leadership of my boss Jeff Zucker, as well as John Martin and Jeff Bewkes, none of this would be possible.

In three days I’ll be giving my first commencement address ever, at my alma mater, Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, and Ive been thinking a lot about what then President Eisenhower told students in the 1953 commencement:

He said: “Don't join the book burners. Don't think you are going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. … How will we defeat communism unless we know what it is, and what it teaches, and why does it have such an appeal for men, why are so many people swearing allegiance to it?...And we have got to fight it with something better, not try to conceal the thinking of our own people. They are part of America. And even if they think ideas that are contrary to ours, their right to say them, their right to record them, and their right to have them at places where they are accessible to others is unquestioned, or it isn't America.”

This was Eisenhower talking about communism during the Cold War and the Red Scare -- and he was arguing that the Communists should come out and engage in the battle place of ideas and we should welcome them

That battleplace of ideas is something I think about a lot

Especially when liberals tell me not to put Republicans or Trump supporters on my shows. Using Ike’s words, I ask them, How will you win an election against Trump and Trumpism unless you know what it is, and what it teaches, to paraphrase Ike, and why does it have such an appeal for men, why are so many people swearing allegiance to it?

And for those in journalism who do not understand the appeal of President Trump to 62,979,636 Americans, it is also important to try to understand the phenomenon so many of us failed to see coming. If you strip away the falsehoods and the bigotry and the occasional indecencies -- more on them later -- but if you strip those away there are propositions that are completely legitimate -- fixing a broken system in Washington, making sure the elites and the government do more to protect American jobs and lives and livelihoods. We in the media need to rise to the moment and allow these disrupting debates to happen, and let the best ideas win.

But all that said, I am concerned about the weapons being deployed by the president and forces allegiant to him in this battlefield. I am concerned about the lies and smears, I am concerned about the moments of indecency, and for this audience especially I am referring of course to his calling stories he doesn’t like -- ones that are entirely 100% accurate -- “fake news,” and thus successfully undermining the 4th estate with a large segment of the population.

On January 12, a team of reporters including me, Jim Sciutto, Evan Perez, and Carl Bernstein reported the following: “Classified documents presented last week to President Obama and President-elect Trump included allegations that Russian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump, multiple US officials with direct knowledge of the briefings tell CNN. The allegations were presented in a two-page synopsis that was appended to a report on Russian interference in the 2016 election.” It went on from there.

There is not one word of this story that is not accurate. And yet this is the story President Trump used to first attack CNN as “fake news.” A term that used to refer to actual fake stories -- The Daily Show with Jon Stewart or more recently the such as the nonsense that there was a Satanic pedophilia ring linked to a pizzeria in Washington, D.C. with ties to the Hillary Clinton campaign. Now it stands for stories the president does not like.

And he does not like a lot of them. And while yes there have been some minor media missteps almost all of the stories he’s called fake news have been proven to be true.

Every politician lies. Hillary Clinton falsely claimed FBI “Director Comey said my answers were truthful.” Barack Obama claimed if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor.

But the sheer number of falsehoods and factual flip-flops coming from this White House is staggering. NATO is obsolete, now it isn’t. Jobless numbers are bogus, now they’re real.

And what’s worse we have a situation now where prevarications are not only supported by the administration and its allies in the media but by an entire dark Army of twitter trolls and meme creators here and abroad who work to undermine the work and reputations of those who either oppose the president and his policies within the party or Congress or those of us in the media who are attempting to provide basic non partisan guidance on what is going on while trying to uphold basic facts and decency.

The great discomfort here for Americans is we want our leaders to be credible. The great discomfort for journalists is that if a president declares war on truth, those who try to stand by truth and defend her are then labeled partisans, or biased.

We are not supposed to be fighters on the battlefield. We are not the opposition to President Trump, we are not the resistance.

We all are trying to figure out the way to cover this new world where fact and decency often seems to mean so little. And I do think that we as journalists need to defend truth and decency.

But I also think that too many journalists sometimes allow themselves to get swept up and we cannot have that, we cannot have a world where we act like the opposition. We in the 4th estate must rise to the occasion of this challenge. And by that I don’t only mean that we work harder than ever to avoid the kinds of mistakes that undermine our profession by avoiding stories that get key facts wrong, but that we also refrain from sharing every emotion the moment we experience it on twitter. And that we consider the low regard many members of the public have for us, and that we work hard to be fair to all points of view -- even the side whose members are attacking us and attempting to undermine us -- the policies they advocate, not the attacks.

And let me say a word about those attempts to undermine. Tom Friedman writes in his new book Thank You For Being Late about the advances of technology compared to the human ability to adapt to these changes. The chart of technology looks like this…..the chart of our ability to adapt to technology looks like this. We are way behind as a society where technology is -- i recently read that the average smartphone is millions of times more powerful than all of NASA’s combined computing in 1969

So what does that mean? It means that when your Uncle shared a website called the Denver Guardian -- and a story headlined “FBI Agent Suspected in Hillary Email Leaks Found Dead” -- and spreads the story using on Facebook -- he has no idea what’s going on. His sophistication is here on the chart. The technology is here.

I have seen US Senators and US Members of the House -- and I know no one would do this in your Parliament -- but members of the U.S. House and Senate have invoked websites I do not consider to be credible -- not just on the right but on the left. Recently after Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz of Utah announced he would be leaving Congress, Congresswoman Maxine Waters -- a Democrat of California recently lionized by the left -- went on MSNBC and said of him “There are those who think that he in some ways, have some connections to what is going on in the...Ukraine and perhaps in Russia itself, and knows something about all of this. I don’t really know. I can’t say, but he’s strange in the way that he’s conducting himself...Maybe [Chaffetz] thinks that if he rolls out and points to the fact that something is going on with Flynn ... that somehow this will raise [Chaffetz] above maybe what connections he may have with the Kremlin, we need to keep an eye on him.”

This is crazy; it’s madness. And to point out that this is going on on the Left is not to promote a false equivalence with the fact that it is going on at a much greater scale from a much larger platform on the right. 

But lies are lies. Irresponsible fact-free speculation does not become less irresponsible because of a conspiracy peddler’s political affiliation or gender or anything else.

I did not become a journalist to be a fact-checker or a truth-squadder, i became a journalist to hold people in power accountable, to try to tell stories other journalists weren’t telling, and to try to have serious discussions about the way policies impact people’s lives. Probably why a lot of people in this room became journalists.

I did not become a journalist to become a meme or to watch a younger far better looking man portray me on Saturday Night Live, although thanks for that.  But there is a lot of attention on us today as the fourth estate finds itself trying to stand up for basic standards of decency and truth.

And while it is important that we not take the bait and become the opposition that Trump and Bannon would like to cast us as -- thus de-legitimizing ourselves -- it is also important that we not sway the other direction. We cannot pretend that lies don’t need to be called out. We cannot shrug and talk about how a politician’s supporters don’t care about behavior that empirically is offensive. We cannot lower the standards that we as a society hold just for access to big name interviews. We have to be able to look our children in the eyes. We cannot not lower our standards because of attrition and exhaustion or because colleagues are making other decisions, or because Fox, Breitbart and online trolls will lie about us otherwise. 

This is a time for all of us in the 4th estate and indeed all of us in North America s to stand up for what we know is right. Objectivity. Truth. Decency. Facts.

My late grandmother, Helen McDowell Palmatier, born 101 years ago in Winnipeg, was an expert on Sir Winston Churchill, so with your permission I would like to end these remarks by quoting him.

Churchill once said: “A free press is the unsleeping guardian of every other right that free men prize; it is the most dangerous foe of tyranny… Under dictatorship the press is bound to languish…But where free institutions are indigenous to the soil and men have the habit of liberty, the press will continue to be the Fourth Estate, the vigilant guardian of the rights of the ordinary citizen.”

Thank you for this honor.

[brajeshupadhyay]

Days before the release of Kedarnath, I asked Sushant Singh Rajput whether he had a spiritual awakening while shooting for the film at the pilgrimage spot. "Of course! I never felt so close to the stars. I'd end up gazing at the sky every night. It was the same case in Chambal when we shot for Sonchiriya," he said, his wide eyes probably reimagining the spread of stars while looking up at the ceiling of JW Marriott Mumbai. A sky full of stars is an accurate term to describe Rajput's performances. Most of them were as serene and imbued with stillness, yet appropriately dazzling. Most of his performances were steeped in quietude that was extremely uncharacteristic of a leading star. This statement does not suggest his performances were, by any stretch, homogeneous. They all had a bit of him in them, but also marked pleasant detours from how a leading star would perform any of those characters. Within the 10 films across his seven-year-long film career, he covered a lot of ground: From a failed district-level cricket player (Kai Po Che!) to the Indian cricket team captain (MS Dhoni: The Untold Story); from a commitment-phobic disoriented Jaipur tour guide (Shuddh Desi Romance) to a pithoo who guides devotees through the pilgrimage (Kedarnath); from a Bengali detective (Detective Byomkesh Bakshi) to a Chambal dacoit (Sonchiriya); from a short role in Rajkumar Hirani's 2014 blockbuster PK to carrying a Rs 100-film on his shoulders in Nitesh Tiwari's 2019 film Chhichhore. His Chhichhore co-star Tahir Raj Bhasin told this writer about a sound suggestion Rajput offered him during his prep to play former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar in Kabir Khan's period sports drama 83. "He reminded me I had to play good cricket as Gavaskar, not as Tahir. So apart from the cricket training we all got, I kept watching a lot of Gavaskar's videos on the field. I studied his body language to incorporate it into my performance. But I was also mindful I didn't have to ape a cricket legend. So it was a fine balance to bring a lot of Gavaskar and a little bit of Tahir to my game." That is exactly what Rajput did when he played Dhoni. He was a carbon copy of the cricketer, yet never reduced his acting to a caricature. He was the Dhoni who knew every ball that goes up eventually comes down. He would act more through his shoulders, less through the perennially stoic face. Even though Rajput brought a lot of himself to his performance, he infused it into Dhoni so smoothly that one could never tell "that's Dhoni" and "that's Sushant" across his performance, unlike say a Ranbir Kapoor in Sanju. As ironical as it sounds, he seemed more Dhoni than Dhoni himself, only by bringing a lot of Sushant to his performance. Sushant Singh Rajput in a still from MS Dhoni: The Untold Story "Whenever I take up a role, I try to be that person. Some of me would naturally seep into. I don't do that intentionally but I don't stop it either. I just prep so hard that I'm confident my conscious will overpower the subconscious," Rajput told me ahead of Kedarnath. He was reminiscing his journey as an actor while talking about reuniting with director Abhishek Kapoor, who introduced him through Kai Po Che!. Sushant seems from the school of actors who prep extensively only to push it to the back of their minds when they perform on set. Between action and cut, they are somewhere in the sweet spot between spontaneity and method acting. Preparedness in any form and to any extent could not have accounted for the several times Rajput was sheer magic on screen. 'Besabriyan' from MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, for example, is my go-to song when I am running late for work. The visuals of Rajput running desperately to catch a train that takes him to the training ground always help me rush to work with the same childlike excitement, that is infectious but never overbearing. It is the same innocence that can be traced in certain flashes of his deeply meditative performance as Mansoor in Kedarnath. Writer Kanika Dhillon told me that the performance posed the same challenge as when she wrote the character. "He (Mansoor) has a clean heart, and is untouched by the corruption of religion and greed. He represents purity in every way. To write that was very difficult because as a writer, one has to be corrupt in every way. You have to be aware of all notions, get into all kinds of entrapment, and go down really dark alleys emotionally." Sushant Singh Rajput in a still from Kedarnath Similarly, as an actor, Rajput could not have helped but fallen prey to his past roles. How he could cleanse himself to play a man as unadulterated as the snow-peaked hills around him in Kedarnath remains a mystery. "I was well-prepared but was anxious of loopholes in my performance. But when I reached on location, I realised it wouldn't be so difficult," he said, invoking Amitabh Bhattacharya's lyrics from the song 'Qaafirana': "Dil na lagaya hum ne kisi se. Kisse sune hain yun toh kayi." Music was a key tool in his preparation for every role. He would maintain that no matter how much he reads up or talks to people, the execution would always be aided by an auditory incentive. He had a song for every role/situation, but refused to divulge details. His past experience as a member of Shiamak Davar's troupe explains the keen understanding of his body language. Watch out for the bits when he purses his lips in the song 'Ik Vaari' in Dinesh Vijan's Raabta or holds the cigarette between two fingers in the 'V' victory sign in Dibakar Banerjee's Detective Byomkesh Bakshi or punches into the air aggressively after scoring in a basketball match in Nitesh Tiwari's Chhichhore. Any young star would have relied on overstating in order to hold his own amidst the talented likes of Manoj Bajpayee, Ranvir Shorey, Ashutosh Rana, and Bhumi Pednekar in Sonchiriya. But Sushant held the audience captive only through the liberal use of restraint in his performance. He played a dacoit with a bleeding heart. Even in the singular author-backed superstar-moment he got in the climax, Rajput ensured the actor within him did not get the better of the star on the surface. One criminally underrated performance of Rajput is Raghu in Maneesh Sharma's 2013 romantic comedy Shuddh Desi Romance. His character navigated the grey area between the perception of a conventional man from a tier-2 city and the modern mindset of his generation infamous for evading commitment. The stammering in his voice and the self-awareness about his inability to lie convincingly were signs of Raghu's elusive nature. Sushant Singh Rajput and Parineeti Chopra in a still from Shuddh Desi Romance When I reminded him of the film, Rajput revealed it was his trickiest performance. "I'm very clear-headed and confrontational. Not with people but my own fears. I worked harder for Dhoni and Byomkesh Bakshy but with Raghu, the deal was to stay committed to playing a commitment-phobic guy. I related to him but also realised if I throw myself into that deep end, I'd never come back. It challenged my process as I had to invest equal hard work in a completely different direction." Notwithstanding his boundless talent, Rajput was one of the most hardworking actors of his generation. And that shows in the silences of his performances. He worked the hardest to unlearn because he believed in limitless opportunities. His stellar filmography is proof that like the stars Rajput so greatly admired, he did not go gentle into that good night. All images from YouTube. * A collection of Suicide prevention helpline numbers are available here. Please reach out if you or anyone you know is in need of support. The All-India helpline number is: 022 2754 6669

http://sansaartimes.blogspot.com/2020/06/sushant-singh-rajput-hardworking-actor.html

[the-grumpy-panda]

Eat Them Up, Yum!

No fish heads here. Just the remains of my counter top junk food blow out. I can use my counter again! The real treat within these treats may be the two (originally three, but one was cancelled on the sellers end, and of course it's the one I really wanted. Maybe next time...) chips I ordered from Canada, because why not? Thanks Ebay! I've already gotten candy from all over the world, so let's see what the Canadians are hiding. Besides the secret to producing attractive celebrities. Curse you Ryan Reynolds. Do you know how hard you make it for us average folk? Bastard. But I'm keeping Neve Campbell and Evangeline Lilly. They are mine now! Oh, and Emily VanCamp. Thanks so much. I'll probably just blow right through these and make any comments short and direct. I think I'm simply ready to be done with this phase of eating. **Quick note. Parts of this were written months ago. So excuse the fact that some of these treats may no longer be on shelves. Maybe I should change my nom de plume to "That Fuc*ing Lazy-Ass Panda." HEY! Even Grumpy Panda's get busy. Orphan Black marathons won't watch themselves. But don't ask me to tell you about the show. I'm merely in love with Tatiana Maslany. Wait a minute... lemme check this internet thing... WOW! Another Canadian! Yup. MINE. Seriously, Canada... what's in your water up there? On to the eaty (Fake word number 46.) things -Honey Roasted Reese's Peanut Butter Cups! Almost no discernible difference from a regular Reese's cup. The aftertaste is where this gets you, but not pleasantly. There's an acrid note coming way at the end, and a bit of an oily sensation somehow. -Barbecue Payday candy bar! Take a Payday, roll it in some dry rub barbecue seasoning, and you'd have this bar. It doesn't work all that well, though. It's not gross, and I think I've learned that peanuts coated with a dry rub barbecue mix would be delicious, but the barbecue does not mix well with the sweet nougat portion. At all. -Hershey's Cherry Cheesecake candy bar! An unpleasant smell is the first thing to greet you. It's like a cheap, institutional soap almost. Taste wise, I don't like it. Whatever they did to try to get the white chocolate (not something I'm a fan of to begin with) to taste a bit more like cheesecake is off, and it leaves me reminded of lavender candy... which is also not very good. This may be due to the cherry element. It's present, and were it not for the surrounding chocolate, it might be a decent flavor element. Maybe they'll try this part in another bar. Then there's the cookie bits, which make the bar look unappealing as well. Little dark pieces festooned like barnacles. I suppose this is meant to simulate a crust like element, and while it does add a needed crunch, that's about all it does right. -Strawberry Kit-Kats! Was strawberry a flavor in the mix from all those Japanese Kit-Kats I tried way back when? I can't recall, but if it was, I bet it was better than this one. Not that this one is wholly bad, it's just a bit mediocre. It smells of Frankenberry cereal, which is fine by me, but the taste is just too artificial and a bit too sweet. -Mike & Ike Cherry Cola candies! Aw, man. These smell like cinnamon. They taste like a cinnamon or spiced cola. It's cool the cola flavor comes through, but no cherry seems present and a spiced cola is not appealing. Anyone else remember when Pepsi tried that exact thing one holiday season? Yeah, it was gross, and these unfortunately remind me very much of that. Mike & Ike also have a Root Beer Float candy out, but I didn't see those whilst oot and aboot. (Is that Canadian enough to trick Mia Kirshner, you think? Yet ANOTHER fine example of prime Canadian genes.) -But wait! What's this that just became a thing in my life mere minutes ago.I kid you not. I wrote the preceding paragraph yesterday, and today this makes its existence known. How coincidental... and saddening.  Pepsi Fire soda! Pepsi with cinnamon. Didn't they learn from the spiced cola fiasco? If this wasn't handed to me, I never would have bought it of my own accord. It smells like dank beer. It tastes like sheer awfulness. That is all that need be said. -Mike & Ike Buttered Popcorn candies! I know I've had a popcorn jelly bean before, but I can't remember my thoughts about it. These can't be much different though, can they? To start with, they certainly nailed the stale popcorn smell of a run down theater. That's not necessarily a bad smell, just a distinct one. There is a surprisingly decent and understated buttered popcorn to these. Unfortunately the gelatin aspect of the candy overpowers the whole thing, so ultimately once the initial flavor burst subsides, it's like chewing a mouthful of unflavored goop. Which, I suppose, is exactly what candies like these are before getting flavor added. I will say I like them, and eventually I finish up the box, but I do think an extra dose of flavoring pumped into the mix would take these up a notch.   Ruffles Mozzarella & Marinara potato chips! These smell just like a cheap,  frozen mozzarella stick. If that's good or bad depends on how you feel about cheap, frozen mozzarella sticks. I'm okay with them. I don't get a lot of cheese flavor from these, but there is a very noticeable marinara with Italian seasoning element, and it's not bad. But not great, either. It's... fine. Were the marinara flavoring not so noticeably powdery, these would be better. Not bad, overall. I'd try them again down the road once I'd forgotten I'd had them before. -Ketchup flavored Pringles! These smell like a ketchupp packet left open in the bottom of a mop bucket. I think the bucket part might be the can permeating out. What are you making these cans from, Pringles? The taste isn't all that bad, though. I'm reminded very much of a cold, limp french fry dipped in ketchup, but with the crunch of a chip. I thought these would be gross, but they're serviceable. I wouldn't eat too many at one time, but I'll graze on them in the coming week. -Chocolate Peanut Butter Twinkies! I almost passed on these, because they just LOOK boring. Do they come out a winner, though. Nope. Dry as desert toast and a nearly missing filling makes these a quick trick by Hostess to use up leftover batter and get your dollars. Don't give them any! -Lay's Crispy Taco chips! Lay's Everything Bagel chips! Lay's Fried Green Tomato chips! Shoot. I can't remember enough for a full run down. So here's the quickness... The bagel ones were my least favorite. The fried green tomato ones were my favorite, but I also liked the taco ones. However, I thought the variety should have been different. The taco should have been the 'kettle cooked' version leaving the bagel for the regular chip. -Let's not forget Lay's Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Popper chips! I had them. Again, specifics escape me, but I was left unimpressed. I didn't hate them, but would ignore them if I saw them again. -Dunkin' Donuts Mocha Oreos! I liked these. Just enough mocha flavor complementing the chocolate cookie for an enjoyable treat. Goes great with a glass of whatever milk or milk like substance is your fancy. -Tropicle Fruit Punch flavored pickle! Because... because sometimes life is sh*t and fruit punch flavored pickles in a jar are there to hold your hand as you take that last step off the bridge. However... I found these unassaulting. (Fake word number 86.) They were fine. Not delicious, but just "Oh. So that's what a pickle soaked in Kool-Aid tastes like. Okay. This is a thing, though?" Wouldn't buy them again, but if I were at your cook out and you put one on my plate I'd eat it. And then dial the suicide hotline for you. I believe that brings me to a conclusion. And a respite. It is now close to mid August. That means... Halloween sweets are soon to be upon us. As early as August 7th, 2017, I saw Pumpkin Spice Cheerios and Pumpkin Spice Quaker oatmeal on shelves. Now THAT'S early. And just a couple of days after that, I saw the pumpkin shaped Reese's cups. Time to cash in savings bonds and get ready for a spooky treat fest. Or a trip to Canada. What are they building? They have subscriptions to those magazines. They never wave when they go by... what are they building up there?

[brajeshupadhyay]

Sushant Singh Rajput, a hardworking actor unfazed by stardom, made all the right noises with his silences

Days before the release of Kedarnath, I asked Sushant Singh Rajput whether he had a spiritual awakening while shooting for the film at the pilgrimage spot. "Of course! I never felt so close to the stars. I'd end up gazing at the sky every night. It was the same case in Chambal when we shot for Sonchiriya," he said, his wide eyes probably reimagining the spread of stars while looking up at the ceiling of JW Marriott Mumbai.

A sky full of stars is an accurate term to describe Rajput's performances. Most of them were as serene and imbued with stillness, yet appropriately dazzling. Most of his performances were steeped in quietude that was extremely uncharacteristic of a leading star. This statement does not suggest his performances were, by any stretch, homogeneous. They all had a bit of him in them, but also marked pleasant detours from how a leading star would perform any of those characters.

Within the 10 films across his seven-year-long film career, he covered a lot of ground: From a failed district-level cricket player (Kai Po Che!) to the Indian cricket team captain (MS Dhoni: The Untold Story); from a commitment-phobic disoriented Jaipur tour guide (Shuddh Desi Romance) to a pithoo who guides devotees through the pilgrimage (Kedarnath); from a Bengali detective (Detective Byomkesh Bakshi) to a Chambal dacoit (Sonchiriya); from a short role in Rajkumar Hirani's 2014 blockbuster PK to carrying a Rs 100-film on his shoulders in Nitesh Tiwari's 2019 film Chhichhore.

His Chhichhore co-star Tahir Raj Bhasin told this writer about a sound suggestion Rajput offered him during his prep to play former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar in Kabir Khan's period sports drama 83. "He reminded me I had to play good cricket as Gavaskar, not as Tahir. So apart from the cricket training we all got, I kept watching a lot of Gavaskar's videos on the field. I studied his body language to incorporate it into my performance. But I was also mindful I didn't have to ape a cricket legend. So it was a fine balance to bring a lot of Gavaskar and a little bit of Tahir to my game."

That is exactly what Rajput did when he played Dhoni. He was a carbon copy of the cricketer, yet never reduced his acting to a caricature. He was the Dhoni who knew every ball that goes up eventually comes down. He would act more through his shoulders, less through the perennially stoic face. Even though Rajput brought a lot of himself to his performance, he infused it into Dhoni so smoothly that one could never tell "that's Dhoni" and "that's Sushant" across his performance, unlike say a Ranbir Kapoor in Sanju. As ironical as it sounds, he seemed more Dhoni than Dhoni himself, only by bringing a lot of Sushant to his performance.

Sushant Singh Rajput in a still from MS Dhoni: The Untold Story

"Whenever I take up a role, I try to be that person. Some of me would naturally seep into. I don't do that intentionally but I don't stop it either. I just prep so hard that I'm confident my conscious will overpower the subconscious," Rajput told me ahead of Kedarnath. He was reminiscing his journey as an actor while talking about reuniting with director Abhishek Kapoor, who introduced him through Kai Po Che!.

Sushant seems from the school of actors who prep extensively only to push it to the back of their minds when they perform on set. Between action and cut, they are somewhere in the sweet spot between spontaneity and method acting.

Preparedness in any form and to any extent could not have accounted for the several times Rajput was sheer magic on screen. 'Besabriyan' from MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, for example, is my go-to song when I am running late for work. The visuals of Rajput running desperately to catch a train that takes him to the training ground always help me rush to work with the same childlike excitement, that is infectious but never overbearing.

It is the same innocence that can be traced in certain flashes of his deeply meditative performance as Mansoor in Kedarnath. Writer Kanika Dhillon told me that the performance posed the same challenge as when she wrote the character. "He (Mansoor) has a clean heart, and is untouched by the corruption of religion and greed. He represents purity in every way. To write that was very difficult because as a writer, one has to be corrupt in every way. You have to be aware of all notions, get into all kinds of entrapment, and go down really dark alleys emotionally."

Sushant Singh Rajput in a still from Kedarnath

Similarly, as an actor, Rajput could not have helped but fallen prey to his past roles. How he could cleanse himself to play a man as unadulterated as the snow-peaked hills around him in Kedarnath remains a mystery. "I was well-prepared but was anxious of loopholes in my performance. But when I reached on location, I realised it wouldn't be so difficult," he said, invoking Amitabh Bhattacharya's lyrics from the song 'Qaafirana': "Dil na lagaya hum ne kisi se. Kisse sune hain yun toh kayi."

Music was a key tool in his preparation for every role. He would maintain that no matter how much he reads up or talks to people, the execution would always be aided by an auditory incentive. He had a song for every role/situation, but refused to divulge details. His past experience as a member of Shiamak Davar's troupe explains the keen understanding of his body language. Watch out for the bits when he purses his lips in the song 'Ik Vaari' in Dinesh Vijan's Raabta or holds the cigarette between two fingers in the 'V' victory sign in Dibakar Banerjee's Detective Byomkesh Bakshi or punches into the air aggressively after scoring in a basketball match in Nitesh Tiwari's Chhichhore.

Any young star would have relied on overstating in order to hold his own amidst the talented likes of Manoj Bajpayee, Ranvir Shorey, Ashutosh Rana, and Bhumi Pednekar in Sonchiriya. But Sushant held the audience captive only through the liberal use of restraint in his performance. He played a dacoit with a bleeding heart. Even in the singular author-backed superstar-moment he got in the climax, Rajput ensured the actor within him did not get the better of the star on the surface.

One criminally underrated performance of Rajput is Raghu in Maneesh Sharma's 2013 romantic comedy Shuddh Desi Romance. His character navigated the grey area between the perception of a conventional man from a tier-2 city and the modern mindset of his generation infamous for evading commitment. The stammering in his voice and the self-awareness about his inability to lie convincingly were signs of Raghu's elusive nature.

Sushant Singh Rajput and Parineeti Chopra in a still from Shuddh Desi Romance

When I reminded him of the film, Rajput revealed it was his trickiest performance. "I'm very clear-headed and confrontational. Not with people but my own fears. I worked harder for Dhoni and Byomkesh Bakshy but with Raghu, the deal was to stay committed to playing a commitment-phobic guy. I related to him but also realised if I throw myself into that deep end, I'd never come back. It challenged my process as I had to invest equal hard work in a completely different direction."

Notwithstanding his boundless talent, Rajput was one of the most hardworking actors of his generation. And that shows in the silences of his performances. He worked the hardest to unlearn because he believed in limitless opportunities. His stellar filmography is proof that like the stars Rajput so greatly admired, he did not go gentle into that good night.

All images from YouTube.

*

A collection of Suicide prevention helpline numbers are available here. Please reach out if you or anyone you know is in need of support. The All-India helpline number is: 022 2754 6669

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