Given the opportunity, Branagh abridges everyone’s lines except his own. Much like the Guardian’s columnist, I found it surprising to encounter a Lear with abs – and not by accident. Branagh’s muscles seemed to have been deliberately contoured with mud to add maximum definition, as if in a Kardashian make-up video. This is ego, not theatre...

...For me, this was a reminder of Branagh at his worst and at his best. He shines as a talent-spotter, nurturing young British actors. Yes, his Lear was preposterous. But did you notice Jessica Revell, making her West End debut in the dual role of Cordelia and the Fool? Or her fellow 2023 RADA graduate Melanie-Joyce Bermudez, who was often electrifying as Regan?

Branagh has taken full advantage of his presidency of RADA to give opportunities to its brightest students – Jessie Buckley’s Perdita in his 2015 The Winter’s Tale was pivotal to her career. Eleanor de Rohan, here playing Kent, is another talented recent graduate who owes much to Branagh – I first saw her as Guildenstern while she was still at the school, when Branagh directed Hamlet with its students. (Tom Hiddleston, another Branagh RADA protégé, made a superb return in the title role.) Branagh’s mentoring of RADA’s finest is something to celebrate – the only ethical question is whether other drama schools have cause to complain.

Sleeping on her desk xD Commission for wonderful Caervec!

i think one of the biggest factors for why the dynamic of tophabe is so addicting at least to me and Maybe other people who enjoy them is the way their motivations and needs as characters fit into eachother so perfectly. and i think the most basic summary of that is topher is very possessive of things and likes to be the one in control of things, and abe, while also wishing to be in a position of responsibility and authority, more often just wants to be accepted at all. any sort of relationship that topher has with anyone - apart from the bleacher creatures - is always doomed from the moment they meet because of how overbearing and entitled he is, however with abe, even after topher crossed him like he does with pretty much everyone at some point, abe holds pretty much no grudge against him because that’s just the type of person he is. abe’s absolute biggest weakness in the entire show apart from his cluelessness and naivety, is how he doesnt stand up for himself. this is probably going to be disproven since they haven’t even had a proper interaction at all since the whole thing so hold pretty much nothing to this, but not once has he said something like wait why am i talking to you?? you blackmailed me!! while talking to topher. abe’s whole thing is he never stops viewing people as his friends even when they mistreat him. once abe sees you as a friend of his there’s almost no turning back. and while im not entirely sure what he thought of topher during the time in season 2 where they appeared to be regularly talking to eachother, that seems to still hold true with them. tldr its the same features that hinder both of them from having truly good relationships and deter other people from them that really make them click as a duo

student loans paid fuck you joe biden and everyone leave me alone

suddenly thinking about the classic "dating one brother, meet the family and oh no the other brother is hot" trope

it'd be so good with the yeager brothers

trying to decide if there will be cheating (before vs after you meet) or you were fwb/exes with the brother before dating your boyfriend

fellow degenerates, who y'all wanna be dating? Zeke or Eren?

Young Americans are piling the blame for their student debt balances on conservatives, according to a poll by Generation Lab provided exclusively to Axios.

Why It Matters: The high court's recent decisions on education, including student loans and affirmative action, could drive young voters to the polls.

• Tens of millions of borrowers in the U.S. collectively owe more than $1 trillion.

Catch Up Quick: The Supreme Court's six conservative Justices recently killed President Biden's historic forgiveness plan — and the coming payment resumption carries significant economic and political implications.

• Under Biden's plan, qualifying borrowers would have been forgiven for loans up to $10,000 if they made under $125,000 per year or $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients. Its announcement last summer incited immediate GOP backlash.

• Republicans drove the lawsuits challenging it, criticizing it as a "bailout for the wealthy," and GOP presidential candidates immediately praised the Supreme Court's decision.

By the numbers: Most respondents blamed SCOTUS and the GOP for student debt going unforgiven:

• 47% said the Supreme Court was responsible.

• 38% said the Republicans were responsible.

• 10% said Biden was responsible.

• 5% said Democrats were responsible.

More than half of respondents did not agree with the court's ruling last month, according to Generation Lab.

• 17% agreed with the decision, and 21% were unsure.

• ¾ of people polled said they were aware of the SCOTUS ruling prior to the poll.

Driving The News: Meanwhile, Biden has begun rolling out his plan B and aims to appeal to young voters.

• The administration said Friday it would alleviate $39 billion of debt for 804,000 borrowers.

The Biden re-election campaign could lose voters who care about student debt forgiveness if it doesn't clearly align with them, said Analilia Mejia, co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy Action.

• "They obviously need to ensure that there is high enthusiasm across the voting bloc to secure victory" in 2024, she said.

Of Note: Public confidence in the Supreme Court has been staggeringly low in recent months, particularly since it overturned Roe v. Wade.

• "Young people are right. It's a radicalized Supreme Court," Mejia said.

The Big Picture: The coming student loan cliff is the latest in a string of withdrawals of pandemic-era supports.

• Federal student loan payments will resume in October after years of COVID-related pauses.

• Americans with student loan debt tend to be younger, with lower incomes — they're spending a higher share of their income already, so an additional monthly payment will hurt.

Methodology: The Generation Lab, which measures youth trends and perspectives, polled 783 college students and recent graduates nationwide July 12–17 about who's responsible for student loans not being forgiven.

Go Deeper: Who owes the most in federal student loans

Timothy: surely nothing too bad can happen to pay these off :D!

Irreversible surgery to look like someone else and trapped in a casino: oh…oh no

14/9 Apple Word Count: 567

@jegulus-microfic

The door to the astronomy tower creeks open. In response Regulus’ heart flutters. He knows it’s wishful thinking but he has his fingers crossed that the person who just entered the tower is James.

Recently James and Regulus have been spending more time together. Bickering in the halls in between classes, booking the same times to go practice alone at the quidditch pitch, arguing over homework answers in the library. And Regulus’ favorite, sitting together in the astronomy tower staring at the stars. Regulus makes comments on certain constellations from time to time and James asks him questions about himself in return.

He knows it’s not fair to enjoy their time together so much. He’s getting his hopes up, he knows James doesn’t think of him the same way, but he likes to live in a bit of delusion.

Regulus sits against the wall of the tower, prepared to make a mad dash for it in case it’s not James. He pretends he didn’t hear the door, as the footsteps grow closer. Soft, slow, steps towards the ledge that Regulus sits by. He grows more and more certain that the footsteps belong to James.

“Regulus, I know you heard me come in.” He hears James say, barely breaking a whisper.

Regulus continues looking up ahead of him, into the abyss.

“Regulus?” James prompts.

Regulus only answers with a slight hum.

James moves from where he stands behind Regulus to sit next to him.

“There's something I need to tell you,” James starts.

At this sudden news Regulus’ heart stops, the butterflies in his stomach take flight, and the color drains from his already ghostly face. He feels like he’s already fallen off of the balcony before him.

“I’m just gonna say this now if I won’t have the courage to say it at all, which is strange cause I consider myself a relatively brave person. It’s just things like this that make me nervous. Hell you make me nervous-“ James starts to ramble.

“Just spit it out James,” Regulus commands, he’s given up on the whole Potter thing.

James takes a deep breath, preparing his thoughts before he speaks again.

“Ok, I just really like you and I know that you probably don’t like my back. I honestly don’t even know if you don’t hate me. But like I really, really, really like you. Like a lot. And you can just tell me to go away and I will. I’ll stop bothering you and leave to let you be at peace again. But I really like you Regulus Black and I don’t give a damn what Sirius says or anything like that. I’m not scared of him-“

Regulus can feel the blush rising to the apples of his cheeks. Unsure of any other way to respond, he grabs James face. Forcing him to stop talking and look him dead in the eyes instead of down on the stone floor beneath them. And Regulus kisses him, square on the lips. It’s a quick kiss, their lips barely meeting, but it’s a kiss nonetheless. And it means a lot to both of them.

James breaks out into a wicked grin of relief. Prompting Regulus to smile in response. The blush remained prominent on the apples of his cheeks and the back of his neck.

“I like you too, like a lot!” Regulus replies, resting his head on James’ shoulder.

also this comic im not going to finish. its just tighnari introducing himself and being really nice to 12 year old collei

I give the death school lore just so Merle takes it all away when Malistaire goes Evil Mode

I'm pretty sure the way I cook in my apartment would be offensive to anyone who knows how to cook

i dont knowwwwwwwwwww i just. my thing is that i think the changelings could have an interesting place in the narrative given jims whole conflict is about trying to navigate his place in two worlds neither of which he completely fits in but both of which he needs to be his complete and authentic self. but they shoot themselves in the foot by making strickler the main one and they get sooooo close to doing this with nomura before getting bored and doing it again but worse with strickler. so in my mind i think this is why i was so set on addy being a changeling because i want her to fill that narrative role of someone who's ACTUALLY chill about this dichotomy and who really loves this part of herself without the baggage inherent to nomnoms situation (not acknowledging strickler he did most of that to himself). i just think he needs someone who can show him that its actually genuinely very possible to have both halves of his heart especially post-potion. but man. you cant really get there without dancing around the janus order stuff. and i know if she was real it would just be a cheap lampshade like "welllll shes a polymorph so. no familiar no problem" but that opens up a can of worms that i feel responsible for. and just in general the entire thing has so much baggage. i wish this show was GOOD.

the humiliation of taking the the bus at 5 and a half with a huge duffel bag just to take another bus for a four hour trip to your parents house waiting to be further on shouted at and deal with homophobia defines the new age peasants - poor/working class neurodivergent homosexuals from gen z