UPDATING OCCASIONALLY (FOR NOW)

9 thoughts on “558 – Cotton Clad Calamity”

  1. Raznaak

    Yup, he’s a bastard XD

  2. Dr. Norman (not a real doctor)

    Are those pajamas available in XXXL in the gift shop?

  3. Otaku

    It’s been a while, so let me ask: Did we get a reason for him to WANT Susie dead? Not to backseat, but if we didn’t, I’m worried were about to move into “Stupid Evil” territory. Now, stupid happens, don’t get me wrong. It’s not bad storytelling for that to be the case here.

    You’ve just done a good job NOT having that be a driving factor, so the “Kill off the stars of my successful reality TV show.” seems shortsighted, otherwise. Oh, I guess I could be mistaken about the in-story reality TV show’s success. Like, if the company behind them is losing money, or they think a change in management at the ranch would make the whole thing more popular/profitable, then I can see the above scenario happening as well.

    I REALLY think I’m just forgetting something important, but that I don’t have time to deep dive to remind me of, hence the comment. >_<

    1. Deoxy

      It certainly has been stretched out over quite a while, but there have definitely been hints from quite near the beginning that whoever is running the reality TV show definitely wants her dead.

      But I certainly don’t recall any reason why.

      1. Clint

        Yeah it’s fair to not remember since it’s been a hot minute (many, many minutes) but if you feel like a refresher the most relevant bits would be the beginning of Episode 8 and the end of Episode 15. We haven’t explicitly spelled out exactly what The Exec means by his “side hustle” or who was on the other end of that phone call, though.

        I’m hoping that when the whole thing is eventually available it will make sense, or at least enough sense to have hung this narrative on.

        1. Otaku

          Thanks for the replies, Deoxy and Clint. Yeah, I’d totally forgotten about those things. Good to know!

  4. Evervigilant

    Seems about time for the two people who aren’t there to make a surprise entrance as the ace Susie didn’t even know she had.

  5. Scarsdale

    There’s still 3-5 people on her side that might be planning something. This guy is a megalomaniac with a god complex, so letting him think he’s the sharpest tool in the shed sets him up for a fall. Everything depends on those cameras, and I suspect their little stop over by the charging coffins had something to do with her actual plan, not the one the a-hole thinks it is.

  6. lyra

    Really enjoyed the opening of Zombie Ranch. I like the combination of the western setting with the zombie concept, it gives the story a really distinctive atmosphere. I’m a freelance illustrator and animator, and I’d be interested in seeing how some of these scenes could translate into motion, especially as a short animated teaser or character scene.

    If you’re ever interested in something like that, you can reach me here:

    IG: eve_verse_
    Email: [contact.lilaclines@gmail.com](mailto:contact.lilaclines@gmail.com)
    Discord: Lyralilac_

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558 – Cotton Clad Calamity
Posted on August 26, 2026 by Dawn

What would you call this? Armchair assassination? Merk-from-home?

Well, Suzie ain't dead (or undead) quite yet, so we'll just have to see if his gloating is justifiable.

Vulgar commonalities

Posted on June 26, 2019 by Clint

“The Moor’s abused by some most villainous knave./Some base, notorious knave”

— Shakespeare, Othello (Act 4 Scene 2, Line 143-5).​

When you’re a writer you naturally think a lot about words: how they sound, where they come from, what they mean. Words make up language, which is molded by our thoughts and molds our thoughts in turn. And every so often, in thinking about words I observe certain trends in human psychology that are old enough (but seemingly universal enough) I can quote Shakespeare to illustrate them.

To put it simply: we don’t like the simple. The plain. The common. The title of this piece is all but redundant, because the term “vulgar” has its roots in the Latin word “vulgus,” which just meant “common people.” I remember the original Vampire: The Masquerade RPG book had a section labeled “Vulgar Argot” — which was really just a fancy way of saying “here’s a bunch of slang terms modern vampires use informally.” But outside of academia the common meaning (heh) is to refer to something or someone crass, or gross, or generally not meeting the standards of polite society.

“Villain” is another interesting one. In modern usage it is the go-to term for an evildoer, to the point where in fiction if authors are going for a more grey area feel they tend to describe the person or persons who oppose their main characters as antagonists rather than using the loaded words hero and villain. Villains are bad guys, m’kay?

But “villain” comes from the Old French “villein,” and you’ll note it shares several letters with the word “village.” This is not an accident. A village was used to mean a rural township, and a villein was someone from a place like that. A rube. Rural, uncultured and ignorant, to be shunned and looked down on by a better class of folk. And I guess also considered prone to criminal behavior, given how we use the word now.

You might begin to get the idea that a bunch of hoity-toity city folk are responsible for all this, but here’s a really interesting one: ornery. Calling something “ornery” ain’t what you’d expect from some city slicker snob, but “ornery” turns out to be nothing more than a countrified contraction of “ordinary.” And there we are again. You’re not just average — you’re stubborn, mean-spirited and just a general pain to deal with.

Any fans of The Good Place here? Let’s bring this full circle:

 

Basic. Base. Our modern slang (sorry, “vulgar argot”) has come right back around to an insult Shakespeare and his audience would have totally understood.

It’s as simple as that.