For once, I'm speechless, Oda outdid himself in this chapter.

Sabo revealed himself as an absolute badass by assaulting the Gorosei in a one shot.

Not everyone has the guts to do it. It seems he mixes Ace's favorite move and adds some new ones.

It's his own way to remind them what they did to his brother and a way to honor his memory as well.

He then attacks Imu without fear. That man is really something else.

Imu is at the top of the world, Sabo has just met him/her, he didn't know about his/her existence.

And yet like Luffy, he doesn't display any kind of fear or hesitation. He just wants to protect Cobra.

Cobra's and Sabo's teamwork is impressive. It's sad they had to meet under such circumstances. They would get along greatly!

Can we also talk about Cobra? That man has the guts to talk about a very secret subject.

Can we talk about his ancestor, Nefertari D. Lili? Can we talk about Vivi? Badassery runs in the family!

He sacrifices himself in order to protect Sabo, he wants to unleash the truth to the world.

And believe me, he will be remembered pretty much like Pedro with Carrott.

Actually it also makes me sad for Vivi, Luffy and their friends. Ace died to protect Luffy, Cobra died to protect Sabo.

Let's make sure Dragon will fight to honor the memory of such a great king!

Just got two new books!!

I have started reading Youngblood and it is amazing

came across an interview mackenyu did a few years ago when rurouni kenshin: the final came out. he talked about the difficulties and the joys of playing enishi in such a way that it's so inspiring how much hard work he puts into his craft.

he mentioned in passing the fact that he had to think in the minds of three different people with only the script at hand. enishi's character had so much potential and the script limited him a little. this is also the main reason why i try to give enishi more than action, muscles and the thrill to kill via addicting taste.

i have so much admiration and respect for him. there's not a lot of behind content from his work on the movie, but i find a gem once in a blue moon like this one and just had to share :)

akigawa_aono on twt did an amazing job in translating this interview so do have a read!

https://x.com/akigawa_aono/status/1738590043453936001?s=46

Dead Ray's Comfort Series: The Monstrous Series by Lily Mayne

My goal is to be coherent in this review but I've yet to string together a solid readable sentence yet in all the attempts I've made to recommend it to all my pals because I am simply so fucking in love with this series. I love it so much I cannot think straight (pun intended). I'm not going to go over the plot as this is a seven book series with one novella and one short story anthology so far but I am going to rave about it, I'll give my general feelings on it, and I'll rank the books based on how much I liked each.

First of all, this is one of those series where I got to the end of the first book and just kept reading and rereading the last few paragraphs because I did not want it to end, and then, once I did, I sat there lost and feeling as though I had gone through an experience that I will never get to relive for the first time again. I even knew I had more books in the series to read and my first thought was still "What do I do now? Where do I go from here? How do I move on?"

I read one book of the series per day until I got to the final one, Lor, where I tried to pace myself to keep the high running for as long as possible. That's why it's taken me so long to get this out is because I refused to do so until I had consumed it entirely.

The world of this series is insane and amazing and fantastically horrifying and lovely all at the same time. A world where interdimensional rifts opened up and terrifying monsters streamed through and started slaughtering the world's population. Now humans are stuck living in military controlled cities where they can work for almost nothing, join the military or are left to fight for themselves out in The Wastes should they chose to leave.

Then there's the monsters, both the absolute nightmare fuel animalistic ones and the more human ones. Wyn is my favorite, from the very beginning and through the very end. Wyn is the best monster and his and Danny's story have my entire heart.

Lily Mayne is a phenomenal writer; she has snuck up on me and planted herself at #1 when it comes to authors (across all genres) I adore. Her perfectly balanced plots with just the right amounts of drama, comedy, and angst come with characters who are loveable and fall across a wide range of personalities. The plot never feels bogged down by too much happening at once and I love that it doesn't feel like the problems that arise have to have life-altering batshit insane solutions... Sometimes when you get kidnapped by a cult you just happen to be able to escape thanks to a disgruntled cult member and then sometimes your half-monster boyfriend sees the perfect chance to thrash your kidnapper in order to free you. As I sit here typing, I'm realizing what I like so much is they are big problems, complicated ones too, but they come with fairly uncomplicated and easy to accomplish fixes which means the story really can focus on the romance and these parts just add to the building of the relationships between the characters.

Okay, I'm starting to lose focus the more I think about them so my closing thoughts are: Holy shit I love this series so much, I immediately bought the physical copies of everything and I plan to spend my time between other books and the release of Lyri (hopefully in December) annotating them, perhaps I will share highlights of my favorite bits on here as I go through them again. Please Please Please Please Please, I will get on my knees, I will do anything if you read this series, I promise more than anything that these books are worth it. 10/10

And as promised, here is my ranking: note, the lower on the ranking doesn't mean I don't recommend it, it just means that these first four were ones I literally almost could not move on from, I will never get over them - but all of these books are stellar and the entire series should be read...

#1. Soul Eater (Wyn and Danny forever and ever, perhaps it's because they were the first ones but goddamn I can't move on from how much I love them and am so grateful they show up so frequently)

#2. Wyn (the novella between books three and four; it's Wyn and Danny so of course it's ranked second)

#3. Moth (Charlie and Moth giving some enemies to lovers vibesss)

#4. The Rycke (hjrfjkdwjkdjklew I am so fucking soft for Aury and Ghost ahhhhhhhhhh they are two precious beanssss)

#5. Lor (It strayed from the main group I had grown accustomed to but god Jugs and Lor are just so good, and it hurt my heart so much, and then it healed it, and it was just ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡)

#6. Seraph (Seraph has got to be the most monstrous love interest I've read about in any series and I adore him and his grumpy little Lilac fighting the odds and everyone around them to be together)

#7. Gloam (RIIIIGGGGG he's such a sweet little puppy and he will literally do anything, anything for Gloam who would do the same)

#8. Edin (Talk about a black cat and golden retriever pairing with Hunter and Edin, these two really make it work, and I hope Charlie did teach Edin the term size queen)

Would I read again? I plan to, I will be annotating these books and they are my treasured possessions now.

Would I recommend? What do I need to do to get this book in your hands right now? I'll do it. I think these are nothing short of a must read!

Anyone read “mirror flower water moon”, written i think by moovitch and MikiyaShiki.

Wow i can't let go at all.... yyyyyyyyy the ending was just too much, i wanted Hyunjin to be happy, at least if he had pretended to be insane maybe and then when in a farland marry Changbin??? Why author why? I loved it though.. now i need another good long story, something that makes me feel butterflies... the love that is stronggggg

U know what drew me to this book was this part of the summary

The more time he spends as a concubine, the less of the carefree smiling boy remains. And the more Chan loves him, the harder his life becomes

The more the hardships the more the love... wow i was already in love... finished it in one sitting..

And listened to this sad song 👇👇👇

Three Inches of Heaven in the drama Bu Bu Xing Jin.

Ang Jisung Noble Consort Han wow my lovely lovely Han Jisung was amazing ... that was by far the best character in the series... u could tell the author was Jisung biased... no one has ever created such a perfect and spotless character in the history of fanfiction ha ha ha..

Supervised Machine Learning

What Moves the Dead.

23.12.23

[i know i haven’t posted in a while.]

a lot of things happened btw. i got my heart broken in november in the worst possible way, i sat for the competitive exam in december which did not go well, i attended the pride walk this year in december which did not go well, i am scared of seeking therapy.

the good part however consists of me buying more books, reading more of them, filling up my bed, book racks and phone storage with more of them, cutting down people who drain my energy, preparing myself for the upcoming paper presentations, enjoying the small afternoon coffee and smoke break. i feel cozy, healed and soft. i feel good.

photos: my regular coffee mug and the road where i was frequent in my early teens, i always take once a year while returning from the pride rally which brings up a lot of bittersweet memories.

current book reading: the secretive world of hindutva pop stars by kunal purohit.

arguing with zionists is fucking worthless bc they only choose to acknowledge every fifth word you say, i told my sister "as a person of jewish descend i think its disgusting that israel is wants to associate all jewish people with its actions and they dont speak for jewish people, they speak for european colonizers" and she said "so you're saying all jewish people are european colonizers" no bitch, thats a whole different sentence, what the fuck are you talking abt

EDIT:

since some people are hung up on that part, no i didnt use my jewish descent against my sister, she used hers against me and i reminded her that im just as much of jewish descent as she is. this made sense to me from context as i was making the post, but in hindsight it obviously doesn't so thats my bad

also for all that u guys knew she couldve been my adoptive sister or stepsister or hals sister (which she is but we share the jewish descent)

🎪A lil continuation of sorts!🎪

Thus, started Jax's "if the gods allowed me to live one more day, I'm gonna make it everyone's problem" coping mechanism! /hj This is just a silly lil headcanon, by the way, in case that needs to be restated~

I drew a lil cameo of the other already-abstracted-folk to put a vague stamp to this period in time, which explains why Kinger here is a lil more "put together".

I just wanted to play around with the silly idea that maybe Kinger and Gangle were the first two people to ground Jax into his new normal. There's no real theory/justification behind this hc, I just love this trio so much and I noticed that a lot of Jax's frames have him between the two and thought that was pretty sweet~!

┏━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━┓ The first part's here 🎪 ┗━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━┛

list of my favorite things about jeremy knox:

he's an english major

he's a middle child

he says words like "heck" and "hecka" and "hecked"

his best friends are lesbians

barkbark von barkenstein

having different animal noises as ringtones for the trojans based on what position they play

uses a light racquet for more control over winning stick checks

bleached his entire head because he couldn't go through with frosted tips

"you are going to be my success story: jean moreau the person, not jean moreau of the perfect court."

gay

Drew a bunch of Marinettes in a bunch of different artists styles it was a lot of fun!!

Artists who's styles I mimicked: @buggachat @hamsternamedmarinette @ladybeug @sabertoothwalrus and @anna-scribbles all epic artists 🤟😎

AMAZING article about what it means to participate in anti-Zionism work both online and in person.

If your anti-zionism does not in any way acknowledge that it is a way of thought and practice led by and for Palestinians, then you need to reevaluate your "anti-zionism" label.

Some passages that felt especially relevant to tumblr:

If we accept, as those with even the most rudimentary understanding of history do, that zionism is an ongoing process of settler-colonialism, then the undoing of zionism requires anti-zionism, which should be understood as a process of decolonisation. Anti-zionism as a decolonial ideology then becomes rightly situated as an indigenous liberation movement. The resulting implication is two-fold. First, decolonial organising requires that we extract ourselves from the limitations of existing structures of power and knowledge and imagine a new, just world. Second, this understanding clarifies that the caretakers of anti-zionist thought are indigenous communities resisting colonial erasure, and it is from this analysis that the strategies, modes, and goals of decolonial praxis should flow. In simpler terms: Palestinians committed to decolonisation, not Western-based NGOs, are the primary authors of anti-zionist thought. We write this as a Palestinian and a Palestinian-American who live and work in Palestine, and have seen the impact of so-called ‘Western values’ and how the centring of the ‘human rights’ paradigm disrupts real decolonial efforts in Palestine and abroad. This is carried out in favour of maintaining the status quo and gaining proximity to power, using our slogans emptied of Palestinian historical analysis.

Anti-zionist organising is not a new notion, but until now the use of the term in organising circles has been mired with misunderstandings, vague definitions, or minimised outright. Some have incorrectly described anti-zionism as amounting to activities or thought limited to critiques of the present Israeli government – this is a dangerous misrepresentation. Understanding anti-zionism as decolonisation requires the articulation of a political movement with material, articulated goals: the restitution of ancestral territories and upholding the inviolable principle of indigenous repatriation and through the right of return, coupled with the deconstruction of zionist structures and the reconstitution of governing frameworks that are conceived, directed, and implemented by Palestinians.  Anti-zionism illuminates the necessity to return power to the indigenous community and the need for frameworks of justice and accountability for the settler communities that have waged a bloody, unrelenting hundred-year war on the people of Palestine. It means that anti-zionism is much more than a slogan. 

[...]

While our collective imaginations have not fully articulated what a liberated and decolonised Palestine looks like, the rough contours have been laid out repeatedly. Ask any Palestinian refugee displaced from Haifa, the lands of Sheikh Muwannis, or Deir Yassin – they will tell that a decolonised Palestine is, at a minimum, the right of Palestinians’ return to an autonomous political unit from the river to the sea. When self-proclaimed ‘anti-zionists’ use rhetoric like ‘Israel-Palestine’ – or worse, ‘Palestine-Israel’ – we wonder: where do you think ‘Israel’ exists? On which land does it lay, if not Palestine? This is nothing more than an attempt to legitimise a colonial state; the name you are looking for is Palestine – no hyphen required. At a minimum, anti-zionist formations should cut out language that forces upon Palestinians and non-Palestinian allies the violence of colonial theft. 

[...]

The common choice to centre the Oslo Accords, international humanitarian law, and the human rights paradigm over socio-historical Palestinian realities not only limits our analysis and political interventions; it restricts our imagination of what kind of future Palestinians deserve, sidelining questions of decolonization to convince us that it is the new, bad settlers in the West Bank who are the source of violence. Legitimate settlers, who reside within the bounds of Palestinian geographies stolen in 1948 like Tel Aviv and West Jerusalem, are different within this narrative. Like Breaking the Silence, they can be enlightened by learning the error of colonial violence carried out in service of the bad settlers. They can supposedly even be our solidarity partners – all without having to sacrifice a crumb of colonial privilege or denounce pre-1967 zionist violence in any of its cruel manifestations. As a result of this course of thought, solidarity organisations often showcase particular Israelis – those who renounce state violence in service of the bad settlers and their ongoing colonisation of the West Bank – in roles as professionals and peacemakers, positioning them on an equal intellectual, moral, or class footing with Palestinians. There is no recognition of the inherent imbalance of power between these Israelis and the Palestinians they purport to be in solidarity with – stripping away their settler status. The settler is taken out of the historical-political context which afforded them privileged status on stolen land, and is given the power to delineate the Palestinian experience. This is part of the historical occlusion of the zionist narrative, overlooking the context of settler-colonialism to read the settler as an individual, and omitting their class status as a settler. 

It is essential to note that Palestinians have never rejected Jewish indigeneity in Palestine. However, the liberation movement has differentiated between zionist settlers and Jewish natives. Palestinians have established a clear and rational framework for this distinction, like in the Thawabet, the National Charter of Palestine from 1968. Article 6 states, ‘The Jews who had normally resided in Palestine until the beginning of the Zionist invasion will be considered Palestinians.’ When individuals misread ‘decolonisation’ as ‘the mass killing or expulsion of Jews,’ it is often a reflection of their own entanglement in colonialism or a result of zionist propaganda. Perpetuating this rhetoric is a deliberate misinterpretation of Palestinian thought, which has maintained this position over a century of indigenous organising.  Even after 100 years of enduring ethnic cleansing, whole communities bombed and entire family lines erased, Palestinians have never, as a collective, called for the mass killing of Jews or Israelis. Anti-zionism cannot shy away from employing the historical-political definitions of ‘settler’ and ‘indigenous’ in their discourse to confront ahistorical readings of Palestinian decolonial thought and zionist propaganda. 

[...]

In the context of the United States, the most threatening zionist institutions are the entrenched political parties which function to maintain the status quo of the American empire, not Hillel groups on university campuses or even Christian zionist churches. While the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) engage in forms of violence that suppress Palestinian liberation and must not be minimised, it is crucial to recognise that the most consequential institutions in the context of settler-colonialism are not exclusively Jewish in their orientation or representation: the Republican and Democratic Party in the United States do arguably more to manufacture public consent for the slaughtering of Palestinians than the ADL and AIPAC combined. Even the Progressive Caucus and the majority of ‘The Squad’ are guilty of this.

Leila Shomali and Lara Kilani

scenes i loved from Real Enough to Get Me Through by @marriedzukka <333 [ids in alt]

edit: the commenter has a tumblr! go check out her blog @haintxblue

ocean vuong talking about how he/him pronouns make him feel and how his gender is... literally so fucking true shout out to that guy he gets it