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mostlysignssomeportents · 2 years

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$100 billion later, autonomous vehicles are still a car-wreck

Autonomous vehicles were always a shell-game. The last time I wrote about them was a year ago, when Uber declared massive losses. Uber’s profitability story was always, “Sure, we’re losing money now, but once we create self-driving cars, we can fire our drivers and make a bundle.”

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/30/death-to-all-monopoly/#pogo-stick-problem

But Uber never came close to building an AV. After blowing $2.5b, the company invented a car whose mean-distance-to-fatal-crash was half a mile. Uber had to pay another company — $400 million! — to take the self-driving unit off its hands.

It’s tempting to say that Uber just deluded itself into thinking that AVs were a viable, near-term technology. But $2.5b was a bargain, because it allowed the company’s original investors (notably the Saudi royals) to offload their Uber shares on credulous suckers when the company IPOed.

Likewise Tesla, a company that has promised fully self-driving autonomous vehicles “within two years” for more than a decade. The story that Teslas will someday drive themselves is key to attracting retail investors to the company.

Tesla’s overvaluation isn’t solely a product of the cult of personality around Musk, nor is it just that its investors can’t read a balance-sheet and so miss the fact that the company is reliant upon selling the carbon-credits that allow gas-guzzling SUVs to fill America’s streets.

Key to Tesla’s claims to eventual profitability was that AVs would overcome geometry itself, and end the Red Queen’s Race whereby adding more cars to the road means you need more roads, which means everything gets farther apart, which means you need more cars — lather, rinse, repeat.

Geometry hates cars, but Elon Musk hates public transit (he says you might end up seated next to “a serial killer”). So Musk spun this story where tightly orchestrated AVs would best geometry and create big cities served speedy, individualized private vehicles. You could even make passive income from your Tesla, turning it over to drive strangers (including, presumably, serial killers?) around as a taxicab.

But Teslas are no closer to full self-driving than Ubers. In fact, no one has come close to making an AV. In a characteristically brilliant and scorching article for Bloomberg, Max Chafkin takes stock of the failed AV project:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-10-06/even-after-100-billion-self-driving-cars-are-going-nowhere

Chafkin calculates that the global R&D budget for AVs has now exceeded $100 billion, and demonstrates that we have next to nothing to show for it, and that whatever you think you know about AV success is just spin, hype and bullshit.

Take the much-vaunted terribleness of human drivers, which the AV industry likes to tout. It’s true that the other dumdums on the road cutting you off and changing lanes without their turn-signals are pretty bad drivers, but actual, professional drivers are amazing. The average school-bus driver clocks up 500 million miles without a fatal crash (but of course, bus drivers are part of the public transit system).

Even dopes like you and me are better than you may think — while cars do kill the shit out of Americans, it’s because Americans drive so goddamned much. US traffic deaths are a mere one per 100 million miles driven, and most of those deaths are due to recklessness, not inability. Drunks, speeders, texters and sleepy drivers cause traffic fatalities — they may be skilled drivers, but they are also reckless.

But even the most reckless driver is safer than a driverless car, which “lasts a few seconds before crapping out.” The best robot drivers are Waymos, which mostly operate in the sunbelt, “because they still can’t handle weather patterns trickier than Partly Cloudy.”

Waymo claims to have driven 20m miles — that is, 4% of the distance we’d expect a human school-bus driver to go before having a fatal wreck. Tesla, meanwhile, has stopped even reporting how many miles its autopilot has mananged on public roads. The last time it disclosed, in 2019, the total was zero.

Using “deep learning” to solve the problems of self-driving cars is a dead-end. As NYU psych prof Gary Marcus told Chafkin, “deep learning is something similar to memorization…It only works if the situations are sufficiently akin.”

Which is why self-driving cars are so useless when they come up against something unexpected — human drivers weaving through traffic, cyclists, an eagle, a drone, a low-flying plane, a deer, even some pigeons on the road.

Self-driving car huxters call this “the pogo-stick problem” — as in “you never can tell when someone will try to cross the road on a pogo-stick.” They propose coming up with strict rules for humans to make life easier for robots.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/3/17530232/self-driving-ai-winter-full-autonomy-waymo-tesla-uber

But as stupid as this is, it’s even stupider than it appears at first blush. It’s not that AVs are confused by pogo sticks — they’re confused by shadowsand clouds and squirrels. They’re confused by left turns that are a little different than the last left turn they tried.

If you’ve been thinking that AVs were right around the corner, don’t feel too foolish. The AV companies have certainly acted like they believed their own bullshit. Chafkin reminds us of the high-stakes litigation when AV engineer Anthony Levandowski left Google for Uber and was sued for stealing trade secrets.

The result was millions in fines (Levandowski declared bankruptcy) and even a prison sentence for Levandowski (Trump pardoned him, seemingly at the behest of Peter Thiel and other Trumpist tech cronies). Why would companies go to all that trouble if they weren’t serious about their own claims?

It’s possible that they are, but that doesn’t mean we have to take those claims at face-value ourselves. Companies often get high on their own supplies. The litigation over Levandowski can be thought of as a species of criti-hype, Lee Vinsel’s extraordinarily useful term for criticism that serves to bolster the claims of its target:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/02/euthanize-rentiers/#dont-believe-the-hype

Another example of criti-hype: the claims about the risks of ubiquitous drone delivery — which, like AVs, is half-bullshit, half self-delusion:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/05/comprehensive-sex-ed/#droned

Today, Levandowski has scaled back his plans to build autonomous vehicles. Instead, he’s built autonomous dump-trucks that never leave a literal sandbox, and trundle back and forth on the same road all day, moving rocks from a pit to a crusher.

$100 billion later, that’s what the AV market has produced.

Image:

Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

Gartner (modified): https://www.gartner.com/en/research/methodologies/gartner-hype-cycle

[Image ID: A chart illustrating the Gartner hype-cycle; racing down the slope from the 'peak of inflated expectations' to the 'trough of disillusionment' is the staring eye of HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, chased by speed-lines.]

#pluralistic

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thewertsearch · 1 year

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Trolls Made Our Universe: The Analysis

Let's talk about it.

Looking back, it's pretty clear that this was always our destination. The comic's scope has been on an upward trajectory for thousands of pages, and the Ultimate Alchemy hype has been building since midway through Act 4.

Hell, even I thought the planet I theorized about was just going to be a stepping stone to something bigger. Homestuck just keeps escalating - we might not even stop here, although I can't predict what the next step would be, since we're working with multiple varieties of multiverse already.

Anyway, this reveal confirms that Sburb's grandstanding about the Players' importance isn't just hot air - they really do serve a critical purpose. Assertions that this 'purpose' is more important than saving Earth are still dubious - but now, I can at least understand the coldly utilitarian place the game is coming from.

I still don't know why it has to work this way, but now I finally know what's happening. Earth's universe was born from the blood of Alternia, and the kids were created to perpetuate the cycle again, creating a new universe from the blood of Earth.

Close! It was less of a gasp, though, and more of an under-the-breath 'what the fuck'. I don't know why a universe surprised me as much as it did - like I said, I was already half-expecting a planet!

I think the real sticking point is the difference in scale - and, as a consequence, the difference in Grist cost.

It makes a certain intuitive sense that you could convert the Denizen Grist into a planet - comparable in size, presumably, to the planetoids that the Denizens call home. But a universe is an entirely different animal, one which would dwarf the Incipisphere by dozens of orders of magnitude.

Extrapolating from the typical volume of a Grist piece, four Land-sized vaults of the stuff wouldn't be nearly enough. Even if Denizen Grist is a million times more valuable than normal, and each Denizen released a million times the Incipisphere's volume in Grist, it still wouldn't be nearly enough.

I guess the game could just hardcode the Grist cost of a universe down to a manageable value, but that would break the game's own rules, and doesn't seem in spirit with how its progression system works.

No, I think something screwy must be going on with the Denizen hoards. Maybe they're full of special Grist, each piece of which is worth 1e70 normal pieces - or maybe picking them up actually multiplies the value of your grist cache, rather than adding to it.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the hoards are this comically large. After all, their value is beyond even Vriska's imagination.

The exact mechanics here are definitely worth speculating about. Let's talk about how, exactly, this universe may have come to be. The trolls obviously can't have crafted this thing atom-by-atom, or even planet-by-planet - not unless Aradia took them into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber for a billion years of blueprinting.

A lot of Alternian culture is integrated into Earth, though, and it had to get there somehow. In keeping with what anon said, I think these ideas were sort of 'merged' into the universe when it was created.

After all, Sburb is all about merging ideas, and we've been working with idea-merging machines since day one!

The trolls alchemized their universe, even if they didn't use a traditional Alchemiter to do so. If they wanted their universe to exhibit certain traits, all they needed to do was feed it certain ingredients, merging them with whatever 'universe' object they presumably gained access to at the end of the game. I'm just going to call it the seed.

Maybe the reason humans look so much like trolls is because the trolls inserted their codes into their universe's alchemy recipe, perhaps attempting to revive the troll species without the Matriorb.

Wait, scratch that.

Maybe the reason humans look so much like trolls, and have red blood, is because one specific troll's code ended up in their recipe.

Come to think of it - since we're already doing large-scale alchemy, there's a pretty easy way for the trolls to ensure that every trait they want ends up in their new universe.

All they'd need is a fetch modus and a drawing tablet.

If you're being evicted into a new universe, you might as well make it feel like home.

Adding Alternia's code to the seed would, in one fell swoop, explain all the facets of troll culture observed on Earth. It would also, in a way, 'resurrect' the troll homeworld without truly reviving it - a bittersweet prize for our victorious Players.

As mentioned above, it would be weird if Earth was the only planet to inherit DNA from Old Man Alternia. It would make sense if each civilization exhibited different Alternian traits - like, maybe there's an exoplanet out there somewhere where lusi evolved, and another where everyone has the same necromantic powers as Aradia.

It also means the universe was probably full of space empires. If the meteors didn't get Earth, Neo-Alternia might have eventually come knocking...

I also think I was conflating the signs on the trolls' clothes with the signs of the Alternian Zodiac, without considering that those might be two entirely different sets of 'signs'. The trolls themselves never refer to Cancer or Aquarius as Zodiac signs, after all. Maybe the Extended Zodiac is a different thing entirely.

Anyway - yeah, that is interesting. The kids' universe was created by twelve Players, and now its stars bear their signature - so whose signature is embedded in the trolls' stars?

An implied 48-Player session sounds amazing. Doubly so, if Hussie's using Squiddles to imply a Horrorterror session. That's an absolutely fascinating idea, on so many levels, and I do hope we see the trolls speculating about their own creators at some point.

Of course, this 48-sign Squiddles stuff could also be a red herring. I'm getting used to how this comic works, and just so it's on record...

...this is what I suspect is actually going on.

In any case, I'm as hyped as you all are!

Hussie's hand has finally been shown, and Homestuck has been revealed as the creation myth that had been built up all along. I can't wait to see what's next.

#homestuck liveblog #full liveblog #act 5 #theories #deep dives #asks

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justmenoworries · 2 months

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Lore Olmypus Episode 271 Spoilers

We're in the endgame now. I guess.

And I feel absolutely nothing. Any tension that could have hyped me up for this moment was squashed by my frustration with every character's lack of thinking skills.

Why exactly are Hera and Persie passed out on the ground? Kronos didn't even do anything yet, all that happened was that he closed the door after Hera and Persie managed to squeeze through at the last moment.

Speaking of, this episode shows us that Kronos is huddled up in (what is presumably) his cell deep down in Tartarus so how exactly did he control the door?

It will never be not funny to me that Kronos, ancient tyrant and titan of time (*rolls eyes*) sounds like a modern-day incel whenever he talks. And then other times RS remembers she's writing the supposed Big Bad and has him switch to more appropriate language on the fly. The whiplash is unreal.

Persephone: "Kronos is powerful but erratic. This makes his behavior hard to anticipate."

Oh, is that RS's in-universe excuse for Kronos switching motivations every time we see him? First he wants to return to the world of the living, then he wants to take revenge on Hades, then he suddenly wants Persephone but actually he wants Hera. And now he wants... Hera again, I guess. Holy constantly shifting goals, Batman!

Kronos: "I will take pleasure in your gradual and painful destruction!"

also Kronos: *proceeds to sit in his cell and do nothing for the entirety of the episode*

If you want to make Kronos actually menacing instead of just annoying, maybe have him do more than an occasional supervillain-laugh RS.

I will admit, the visual of Hera and Persephone slowly descending into Tartarus and past all these human souls reaching out for them from their cells is cool. It makes the whole situation actually feel tense and scary, knowing there's something terrible waiting for the protags down this endless pit but also knowing that they have no choice but slowly climb towards it.

Or it would be if RS didn't ruin it with Persie doing very obvious cover-ups for story flaws a lot of critics pointed out while she's descending.

Like "Oh, I don't talk or think about how the fuck Apollo managed to channel my powers or where Hades actually is because I'm disassociating from it as a defense mechanism."

Persie that would be way more convincing if you'd done literally anything besides sitting on your ass and whining this season.

This constant narrative that everything is just too much for poor girlboss Persie and that's why she's doing fuck all doesn't really work when all that happened is that people rightfully called Persie out for making a mess while Persie hid away in the Underworld. Rather than work on solutions to the problems she caused or at least try to help with the fall-out.

She hasn't tried to learn more about her powers or about her deal. She didn't try to get in contact with Erebus. She hasn't done anything to try and free Melinoe from Kronos. She didn't help with the preparations for the sleep dive, neither did she even offer to take part in it even though it concerns both her and Hades' kingdom. She refused to participate in the meeting between the gods on what to do about the "plague" but still felt the need to make commentary over the phone. She hasn't come forward about Apollo's numerous crimes to keep him from taking over Olympus, even though she has several powerful deities to back up her claims.

Every time Persie could have chosen to become more than a passive bystander, she had some other character step up and do or say something instead.

Hera: "So are the fertility goddess stories real and you are one?"

Is... is that not common knowledge at this point?

The Fertility Goddess Mystery Box is becoming bloated with how much shit RS keeps putting in.

So apparently whatever Apollo did with the help of Ouranos at the broadcast was only "manufactured" and any greenery he managed to create with Persie has presumably died again by now. Okay. Persie knows this how?

The irony of RS making Hades look exactly like Kronos in the flashback to him and Persie accidentally doing the going giant-thing.

Persephone: "I did make [Apollo] bleed from his eyes and ears though, so that's a win."

Huh?

Persephone: "It's something I can do with my new powers; I was sort of able to rot his physical form from the inside."

Huh?

Persephone: "I think I can do some damage to Kronos that way."

HUH???

Hold on, so does Persie know how her powers work or does she not??? What is it with this cloud somersault in logic???? When the fuck did she figure this out????

Hera: "I'm not really one for combat."

Girl you fought in the fucking Titanomachy, what do you mean???

(The way RS repeatedly portrays women as physically helpless and incapable of defending themselves without outside help, I want to throw up all of my organs)

Alright, as much as I hate everything leading up to it I actually like the conversation between Hera and Kronos. Hera using Kronos' victim complex and egocentrism against him is actually really clever. And I like the small glimpse we get into Kronos' past and how Ouranos' abuse helped shape him into the monster we know today.

Kronos justifying his own cruelty by comparing it to Ouranos' allegedly much more evil deeds while completely missing that his actions have made him no better than Ouranos is neat. That's abusers for you. "I know I hurt you but I could've been worse! Also I had it way worse than you! Pity me!"

I did not expect Hera drawing this paralell between her and Kronos, of being deities who did horrible things for the greater good and ended up despised despite the sacrifices they made, but it's cool.

It's bullshit, but it's bullshit Hera knows Kronos will buy because of just how blind he is to his own faults.

Okay, final thoughts.

Someone else pointed this out, but this is literally just the season 3 finale again.

Kronos takes over a large part of the Underworld and controls the bodies of a bunch of powerful deities, Hades among them.

Persephone has to descend to the Underworld.

Another powerful god tags along with Persie and does 80% of the work to set up Persie's #Girlboss victory.

Not RS building up a different villain all season and then just going "Sike! It's Kronos again!"

At this point, I fully expect Ouranos and Apollo to be defeated off-screen.

#lore olympus critical #anti lore olympus #lo critical #anti lo

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evstostuff · 1 year

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A Rose Between Several Thorns

Pairing: Female Driver Reader x Lando Norris

Warning: Major fluff, language, no proper smut but a little bit

Word count: 2,127

A/N: I just want to apologise to whoever requested this for how long it has taken me to write this. Didn't know if you wanted any smut so I've left it out and made it fluffy. The request gave me major Lando feels and honestly I think I'm going into my Lando girl era....

Being the only female driver in Formula One had its ups and downs. The sport was dominated by men. Even being a fan of the sport was difficult for women.

Your first season was off to a bit of a wobbly start. You had scored points in a couple of races, the team were happy with your results. Zac and Andreas had invited you in for a chat to reassure you after your crash with Sainz in Imola that they weren't mad and believed in you even with you finishing the race last.

Miami was the next race. It came with a lot of pressure. You were closing on a sponsorship deal with Calvin Klein. Formula One wasn't all just about ability, you had to bring money into the team normally through sponsorships. Compared to Lando, you had minimal sponsorships but somehow you had sparked the interests of clothing, perfume brand Calvin Klein. The deal was nearly officially, CK just wanted to trial run a few outfits and accessories to see the amount of hype you could attract from the fans and media.

The media was your version of a living hell. Their headlines and questions were sexist and always negative. You didn’t smile enough, you were too close with Lando or with the other drivers, you wore boys clothes, you didn’t care about your appearance. They were just some of the topics the media would over analyse when it came to you. The media didn’t care if you had crashed out or won the race, your driving ability was never good enough for them to discuss.

Many of the drivers expressed their distain for the line of questioning you received. Lewis and Seb had become your personal bodyguards within press conferences and were always the first to defend any driving mistake you had made, pointing out that many drivers had made the exact same mistake and that it was shrugged off. Press conferences without them were always difficult as some of the drivers were under strict instructions to not get involved and create extra PR work.

However, Carlos was extremely forgiving and sympathetic towards you especially after Imola. He even defended you in the press.

Lando had gone on to get a podium at Imola. You were buzzing for him. Like a good team mate, you watched his podium much to the FIA's protests.

You sat staring at the brand new Calvin Klein dresses laid out on your bed.

There was a sunset orange, strappy dress that stood out to you. It wasn't quite the papaya that you raced in but the colour embodied the team. You ran your fingers over the dress, the fabric was soft and stretchy. Your stomach dropped. The dress was going to be clingy. The thought of wearing something that showed skin and your figure was daunting especially being surrounded by men.

A knock on your hotel door broke you from your thoughts.

“Come in.” You shouted presuming it would either be your PR manager or personal trainer.

Lando waltzed in.

“You okay buttercup? You look a bit grey.” Lando approached you with a concerned look on his face.

The nickname made you smile. You and Lando had built up a great friendship over the winter break and it only got stronger as you raced together, supported one another and developed the car hoping you guys could help create something special.

You could be honest with Lando, you trusted him.

You gulped and explained the reason for your nerves. Blabbing on about the dresses and how everyone is going to laugh at you.

Lando grabbed your hands, pulled you up from the chair and into a hug. You head rested perfectly on his chest as you listened to the steady beat of his heart.

You were safe. He was warm and the comfort you needed.

“Go try on the dress Y/N, if you hate it then I'm sure we can figure something out.” Lando gently pushed the strands of your hair out of your face.

You nodded.

In the bathroom, you twirled around looking at your reflection in the mirror. You felt pretty. The colour complimented your skin tone, the neckline was safe but revealed a small amount of cleavage. You slipped the white sandals that had been sent to be worn alongside the dress on.

“Y/N come on I wanna see the dress!” Lando shouted, excitement clearly getting the better of him.

You opened the door and stepped out.

Lando’s eyes went wide. He was just staring at you, not saying a thing.

“It’s horrific isn’t it?” You were embarrassed.

You turned and walked back to the bathroom.

“You…you look beautiful y/n.” The young driver stuttered. His words caused butterflies to erupt in your stomach.

Lando’s eyes were running laps over your body, taking in every single detail. The small freckle you had on your shoulder, how chiselled your collar bone was, the way you had curves in all the right places.

“Should I wear it to the paddock then? Is it a bit much for media day?” You fiddled with your fingers and looked to the ground.

“It’s not too much at all for media day, you look incredible.” Lando reassured you.

You looked at Lando gobsmacked by his words.

"Are you sure? I'm pretty sure I just look like an orange, everyone is just going to laugh at me, I bet you're even lying to me. You think it's hideous."

You were cut off by Lando marching up to you. He grabbed your cheeks and crashed his lips to yours.

What was happening?

Instincts kicked in, you moved your lips against Lando's and laced your fingers in his hair. His tongue slipped across your bottom lip as one of his hands gently dropped to your hip, tugging you closer to him.

The fabric of the dress was thin, Lando's fingers were burning through and igniting flushes of heat to run through your body. You couldn't help but moan as Lando bucked his hip forward slightly to feel a bit of friction against you on his growing hard on.

That's when it hit you. You were kissing Lando Norris, your team mate. You panicked and gently pushed Lando away from you.

Lando's eyes filled with worry "I'm sorry I shou..."

You cut Lando off "We're gonna be late, we need to get to the track."

Before Lando could reply, you were half way out the door with your bag. Lando followed your lead, grabbed his bag and hurried to try catch you.

The car journey was silent. It was awkward. Luckily, it wasn't too far to the circuit.

You hoped out the car and gulped, the entrance was surrounded by paparazzi. Lights instantly flashing in your face. Lando waved and said hello to some fans.

You couldn't be seen to being cold and ignoring fans so you slapped your biggest smile on your face and walked over to Lando and the fans he was with.

"Y/N"

"You look amazing."

"Where is your dress from?"

"You look beautiful."

Multiple fans and paparazzi shouted out praise to you. You couldn't help but properly smile.

"I told you so, you look beautiful Y/N" Lando whispered in your ear.

A blush ran up your cheeks. You just smiled at Lando and continued to sign fan posters and hats, the awkwardness completely gone.

Eventually, you waved goodbye to the fans and tried to make your way through the endless camera men. Lando could see you struggling. He pushed back through the crowd and grabbed your hand, pulling you through them.

You muttered a small thank you to him.

Both of you made your way into the paddock. You smiled at the Netflix cameraman.

Lando jokingly twirled you around to show off the dress to the cameraman, you let out a giggle.

Lando couldn't help but look at you in awe. Your eyes sparkled and your smile could light up the room. He couldn't understand why you wanted to hide this side of yourself.

A few of the other drivers were walking through the paddock. You and Lando walked alongside each other making your way to the Mclaren garage.

"Y/N?" you twirled around to be met by the Spaniard you had crashed into last week.

"You look amazing! The Calvin Klein sponsorship suits you." Carlos smiled at you, taking in your appearance.

You couldn't help but blush, the male attention wasn't something you were used to.

"Thank you Carlos." You smiled.

"Alright chilli stop checking my team mate out." Lando grumbled as he wrapped his arm around your waist.

Carlos' eyes shifted to see Lando's hand on your hip.

He smirked "Mate no need to get jealous, just appreciating Y/N"

Lando rolled his eyes and walked away. The lost of his touch made you shiver.

"I'll see you on track Sainz." You smiled at him and turned around to try locate Lando.

He was nowhere to be seen so you carried on walking towards the garage.

You noticed Pierre, Charles, Zhou and Max stood talking near the Mclaren garage. Charles noticed you first.

"Y/N wow. You look stunning." Charles smiled at you, inviting you over.

The other drivers turned around, eyes landing on you and going wide.

"Take a picture it'll last longer." You joked with them.

"I might just have to." Pierre smirked taking his phone out his pocket.

"Come on lads get in." Pierre motioned for the others to join.

You all smiled and Pierre typed away on his phone. Your phone buzzed in your bag.

Opening instagram, you watched Pierre's story. A group photo with you, Max, Charles and Zhou all smiling. Pierre's caption made you laugh 'A Calvin Klein dressed rose between several thorns'. He had tagged you all and Calvin Klein. You reposted to your story and watched the notification come in, new followers, likes and loads of positive comments about the dress.

"Right I've got to get to the car, can't let Lando suffer PR prep on his own." You giggled and waved goodbye to the boys.

Just as the door closed to the garage you heard "Why the fuck does she hide herself, she's beautiful." You couldn't make out which driver said it but the thought started to play on your mind.

You made your way to your driver room.

None stop vibrations were coming from your bag. Your instagram was going mental.

Lewis, Seb and Lando all tagging you in Instagram stories.

All contained the same paparazzi photo of you mid twirl with the biggest smile on your face.

Lewis' caption made you chuckle "The King of fashion now has some competition."

Seb's caption was super sweet "The biggest and best smile around the paddock."

Lando's caption made you blush "Beautiful."

The fans were reacting really well to the dress and your interactions with the other drivers.

You were being tagged in the comments by fans on a couple of paddock update accounts posts.

The post opened on your screen. You skipped through several pictures mainly of you in the dress walking down the paddock but the last few were pictures of you and Lando. One of you holding hands, another of him twirling you around looking at you with a twinkle in his eyes and then last one was when you were talking to Carlos, Lando's eyes fixed on you.

His eyes were laced with something and you couldn't figure out what it was.

You got up and walked across the hall and barged into Lando's driver room.

"Why are you looking at me like that in these photos?" You held the phone infant of Lando's face.

Lando looked at the pictures and then back to you. He smiled and stood up from the sofa.

"I am looking at you like that because you are the most beautiful girl I have ever laid my eyes on and I really do not understand why you hide that side to yourself."

He brushed a small piece of your hair out of your face. You were stood there gobsmacked.

"Everyone should be able to witness how your smile brightens every single room you walk into. You are amazing Y/N you shouldn't be afraid to show off who you are and what you look like."

Lando's thumb brushed over your cheek.

You couldn't help yourself, you didn't know what to say so you showed Lando instead. Your lips met his. Both of you melted into each other, fireworks exploding in your stomach.

Lando pulled away and rested his forehead against yours, both of your eyes still shut.

"Will you let me take you on a date after the race?" Lando whispered.

"Yes Lando you can." You whispered back to him.

#lando norris #formula 1 #formula one #formula one fluff #lando norris fluff #carlos sainz jr #charles leclerc #max verstappen #zhou guanyu #pierre gasly #mclaren f1 #mclaren #lando norris x reader

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undrgrnd-nft · 5 months

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Tezos Goes Big

I really didn’t want to write this, I swear. I have real work to do, podcasts to edit and my daughter is home sick; but, it’s like holding in a sneeze, when I have something to say it’s best to get it out.

This is not about the @tezos event at Art Basel Miami. It may be what is driving the conversation but this is not really about the displays in a lobby of a hotel.

This is the culmination of years of disrespect to a driving force of adoption and endemic of the crypto space (and society) at large.

Art rejuvenating dead space is not a novel concept. In fact, in Miami, there’s an entire area that could have been used as a template by all blockchains. It’s called Wynnewood, look it up and you’ll get the New York Times article I reference all the time.

What was once an industrial park became a hub for restaurants, music and entertainment: culture.

Why? Because some graffiti artists began painting on the cold gray walls of a concrete jungle.

Did those artists share any of the financial gain brought to the neighborhood? No, but think of the exposure!

Web3 was not built by nor built for creatives like us (yea, I’m putting myself in that group, shut up about it). It was built by boys and men that look, talk and act like me (white, male, presumable douchey based on appearance) but lack a moral and emotional foundation.

They use the right words, have picked up key phrases and platitudes, but at the core it’s not about the things many of us value. It’s not about art.

It’s not about a reorganization of institutions that were built to keep specific classes, races and sexes subservient.

It is not building a utopian-Marxist future where the moral and decent are rewarded financially for their collective effort.

Look at the state of streaming services: Netflix, Hulu, Paramount, Peacock, Max. What was once meant to disrupt the cable industry has now become Cable Networks 2.0.

The same is true in crypto. What started as a revolution has become a hype parade led by influencers masquerading as cultural relevance.

Remember the @TezosFoundation Permanent Collection drama? In a Twitter space shortly after things began to spiral downward, one of the leads made a comment on the criticisms, “if this is the response maybe we won’t do this again.”

We all knew it then.

But many of us came here to create something better. So we, many of them my friends, gave second chances, put a positive spin on it and took their opportunity when it was offered.

I was jealous.

Because I would have done the same.

UNDRGRND is just me: a stay at home dad, taking care of a toddler who disrupts the means of production constantly. I know how hard it is to put together something and share it with an audience.

But so does every artist I write about.

So when we watch people with large budgets, people who are able to make a living on crypto already, getting paid to present the work of others and the result is done with the level of care it takes to hang a Missing Cat poster on a telephone pole, it’s infuriating.

Many of the artists I’ve gotten to know over these past three years were creative directors in their web2 lives. Do you know what they could have done with a fraction the amount of money @tezos has in its war chest?

It’s disrespectful.

It always has been.

I’m going to push post on this in a few minutes and the anxiety is rising. I know others are going to criticize what I’m launching in the coming months.

I’m in a glass house throwing rocks.

The difference is I’m not deluded enough to think I have all the answers or have an ego like I’ve done anything yet.

I’m just a guy writing about the things I like while my four-year-old sleeps on me.

This was never about the display.

It was about the devaluation of creatives for years and the continuation of a broken social contract that promised an idealistic future.

So heed the lesson because we’re tired of this shit.

And I’m fucking coming…

- Founder of UNDRGRND, @NFTjoe

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doomdoomofdoom · 2 months

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Since it keeps getting brought up together with Nimona (which is currently free on YouTube and you should watch it a thousand times), I decided to watch Disneys Wish and,,,

I mean it's not an awful movie. I'm on the fence whether I'd call it bad, but it definitely is inadequate.

The movie refuses to commit to anything. The animation style is caught between storybook and refusal to let go of their 3D formula. The story has several beats it could play off really strongly, but refuses to engage with: The kingdom can't decide if it's a fascist state or a free land under a kinda wack dude. It can't even decide if the people there are happy or not. The dissonance in language is ridiculous, especially within the songs. Your villain song by the medieval king sorcerer should not start with "Peep the name" or randomly talk about genetics?? (I'm pretty sure they only included this so they could make a vague joke about his ass, since the line is "I got these genes from outer space", with "genes" sounding the same as "jeans" - which also have no place in the setting.) I don't think anything could have prepared me for the sucker punch that is a bunch of woodland creatures singing about being shareholders.

I also feel like the audio mixing during the songs is off, I think it's because it doesn't account for atmosphere and the acoustics of its locations, but I do not have a good audio brain. Someone else is more qualified for that.

There's a bunch of cinema sins level criticisms I could make about the story, like "why doesnt anyone outisde the kingdom learn magic" or "mathematically it makes no sense to assume every wish would be granted", but I think that goes against good faith criticism.

The movie also has a huge problem with showing vs telling. We have two characters dedicated to hyping up how much Asha cares for everyone, and within the movie she acts pretty much opposite to that claim. Similarly, we're told that the king clearly rose to this power and status by being so cool and charismatic, but every time he opens his mouth he sounds like a pseudo-intellectual twitter thread.

And don't get me started on the whole self-references thing. I'm normally fond of easter eggs like that, but these just shatter immersion into little pieces. There's a scene where the villain just describes the plots of three different Disney movies. Instead of giving the protagonist a distinct outfit, she spends half the movie wearing the Fairy Godmother's cloak. The entire movie's premise is just "When You Wish Upon A Star".

I do like the attempt at diversity, Asha's best friend using a crutch to get around is never pointed out as unusual and her friend group is presumably diverse in character and race. Unfortunately, I can only name two of them. I can't even tell you how many people the group consists of, that's how undefined they are.

I don't like shitting on a piece of media/art because even if it was created by a shitty greedy garbage studio to hit their ridiculous release schedule, there are always genuinely passionate artists involved in the production. It's a shame they didn't get to shine in this mediocre disappointment.

Anyway, go watch Nimona.

#ramble #wish #disney #disney wish #nimona #go watch nimona #animated movies #movie critique #also yes you can make this movie about being trans and i will prove it

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cannibalismyuri · 1 year

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i feel like i'm only this interested in byler because of shipping culture ykwim? like of course shipping is good and fine, but people tend to pay less attention to characters out of ships and ive made like. 10 posts about that already because it really gets to me, and i'm adhd, so when someone else is hyped abt something, i'll be hyped abt smth too, and thats why i GOT into shipping byler, because i made posts and curated my following around it, so i don't post about other ships i enjoy that much.

and also because there just isn't enough content about lumax/elmax/max (ships i really enjoy) in general, because a. lumax is canon, nothing needs to be "proved" or "analysed", it is also a straight ship. b. elmax isn't straight, but many people view it as only platonic, and there comes a time where there isn't enough material to work off of in elmax, since max was introduced in s2 and they became friends in s3. c. max as a character isn't interesting enough to people because people ARE more interested in shipping culture, and that's fine! but it means that there isn't enough content about her. that's why i sorta got out of my max phase because, i feel like i can only like something when other people like it cuz my mindset doesn't let me be unique iykwim. thats why im really grateful for my elmax/lumax/max mutuals and followers, because here people recognise that people might need validation in stuff, and yall are feral about max which makes ME feral about max and honestly? i need that in my life.

i feel like bylers (as the st ship with the most active tag) should make a conscious effort to seek out or create more content about other ships and/or support other ships' content with likes and reblogs. and maybe bylers should also get out of their comfort zone and consume content of other ships, and maybe i'm being a bit hypocritical, but i have this thing where my brain wont allow me to like something if many other people don't like it, so yeah. many lumaxes and elmaxes and ronances also feel like this i presume, since byler is getting so much traction and content daily and their ships aren't getting much because people wont step out of byler. so yeah.

tldr; pls pls pls pls think of characters as separate from their ships and hype them up! reblog fanart of a ship you only slightly like just because the fanart is good! give other ships' creators traction! this applies to byler and steddie, who have the most active st ship tags iirc <3

#fandom critical #byler #steddie #lumax #elmax #ronance #stranger things #stranger things (sara's version)

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arabian-batboy · 8 months

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Since your mainly a dc blog, I think comics divisions of companies don’t really work with adaptators often these days. I have a running theory that dc presume Damian would stay dead after Morrison’s run and be a one note character in Batman mythos. Then WB animation came along and told them that Damian is the Robin for dcma. Thus why he still around, make sense?

Damian permanently dying in Batman Inc was fully Morrison's intentions and plan since the day they created him, however even though they were Damian's creator, they don't have full ownership to his character or a say to what will happen to him after they're done writing him.

Damian was brought back simply because he has already become a very popular character with a prevalent presence in Batman's comics, so it was foolish on their part to think that they can just treat him as a one note character after all of these years and again, killing him was solely Morrison's decision. In fact Tomasi and Gleason both said they didn't like what has been done to him and that they wanted to waste no time undoing his death, which is why he only stayed dead for 2 years before coming back.

It actually makes me wonder if the reason his death was taken so seriously in-universe and why we saw so many characters mourn him on-panel (which is rare to see in comics in modern-day) is because other writers genuinely thought he wouldn't come back and wanted to give him a proper send-off?

As for your theory......I can see why you would think that since Damian died in the comics one year before the released of the first movie with him, but I think its safe to say that WB animation don't have any type of authority over what happens in the comics, especially for the sake of the DCMU, whose movies lose all hype just a couple of months of after getting released and its not like the SoB movie was THAT much of a hit.

#I feel like I was all over the place and unorganized in my answer #but I hope the message was delivered

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spotsupstuff · 2 years

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rambling bout the mandarin dub of s3 special (part 2)

before i do skedaddle onto more mandarin, i do actually wanna say- grollow has said a few times that they find Porty's sudden appearance very random which i do kinda agree with, but it also makes me think a tad. my three thoughts as to why He poked his head out are so far this: 1. shameless fanservice, as Porty is prolly the most liked Xiaotian clone 2. the crew needed a hype man more than anything to go thru their plan, so Xiaotian summoned Porty cuz das basically all that the clone does, did while he stayed and literally self-destructed the moment danger showed up instead of helpin 3. as per ar-blackshaw's and sketching-shark's theory convo, Porty has been alikened to Six Ear in the theory that Six is a clone of Sun Wukong's. Six is on the team now! Why not bring in the new generation of version of him in as well, yanno! sounds like a fun lore poke for the fandom ✨

Him Mouth... BUT ALSO he doesn't say "C'MOOOON" in the mandarin one which means he just Makes Noises n those are always fuckin PEAK up in this bitch, shit's fuckin hilarious

someone else pointed this out on twitter before i did a "try to understand now" rewatch actually, but SWK here calls Xiaotian "my little hero" which like fuck my heart, i guess

there's this tiny little quick inhale n exhale from Six Ear here and it fuckin Kills me

still not over Six Ear pullin THAT shit outta him chest n still not over Sun Wukong just BLASTIN that shit outta his hand like that, everytime i hear the fuckin sound effect of him shootin the energy i just go "Jaysus Fuck" like its so strong compared to Six Ear's wimpy ass weak sauce bullshit of a shadow emo energy stream it takes me out without fail, that thing could be aliken to a damb Spaceship Take Off

two things: 1. instead of "monkey" she only calls Xiaotian "little hero", for those wondering 2. her mandarin "no. it's pain/suffering." actually sounds so Tired and Pained- the no especially makes me think that at this point she's as far as struggling to get any words out

THIS MANS SAYS SHIIIIIIFU SO FUCKIN SMUGLY N BITCHY IM GON BITE HIS MINERAL ASS GO OFF KING

so mandarin Six Ear is known especially to me to have a VERY steady voice. he's incredibly calm almost thru fuckin Everything, including this special. his voice never rises up- it's almost as if he was stuck in a suave manipulative threat mode constantly

Except This One Fucking Time.

THIS interaction is what BREAKS his calm demeanor after ALL the seasons- he did NOT go squeaky in his debut episode (not countin the trainin sesh cuz that was more like choked up/running out of breath), he did NOT go squeaky upon recounting the events that build him up into what he is, he did NOT go squeaky over bein abducted by the not-mayor, basically enslaved by the White Bone Spirit and later on INFUSED with the bone demon's powers, no.

what fuckin breaks him is bein compared to the one person he was presumably created from. (very tempted to say sib culture wins here)

i was quite a tad worried at first that the mandarin dub would end up not giving SWK the emotional weak moments because the voice acting when he breaks out of WBS's control n thanks Xiaotian did not have the same shaky hit to it like the og english version had

i was... pleasantly surprised at the same time as distraught over how small and... Weak and lost THE Great Sage sounds when he gives his apology to his kid, though

he is So genuinely sorry. it hurts him that he hurt his little hero

after Xiaotian makes his joke with the noodles, he sounds close to tears. first he panics over being misunderstood, he stumbles thru his words and then he curls up, voice stretched out in a way that makes me think of my own before i cry. and then his words fade out in a raspy sigh

and it is still Weak and Raspy and charmingly Imperfect in the last sentences we hear from Sun Wukong

#Spot says stuff #lmk #man... swk's apology scene actually made me tear up n smile at the same time- made my heart warm and made me feel comforted #i fuckin love this dub so much #its kinda funny too i was worryin lately bout me fuckin up six ears characterization in ft n now this came out n im like -dabs- Sick-#-Im Still In My Lane

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duskydrawings · 1 year

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Sooo is Lurien like, the Batman of the capital but with none of the martial arts/weaponry and all of the top-notch spying? He even has an Alfred™. Maybe, a more apt comparison would be Soundwave — whom is fiercely loyal to his leader and reconnaissance-focused.

I wonder what the job entails. Is it solely just about looking out of a telescope and alerting someone else when shit looks mad sussy? Say, if some rando is being shanked out in the streets, would he notice that? What would he do? The thought of a highly prestigious job that's mostly about sitting on your ass is something I can appreciate from a comedic viewpoint, but is otherwise a bit underwhelming.

Also, do you think the role of Watcher is something relatively new?Like, is it something uniquely created for Lurien, or is it more of an old position that's since gone through a number of watchers prior to cyclops boy? I'd like to imagine the latter. Like, imagine being hyped to get such a position ordained, presumably, by the King himself* and it turns out to be suuuper boring. That'd be funny. Many thoughts rn.

*in my head it's the first time he laid eyes on PK as well, so like, emotional double whammy of entering a prestigious position AND meeting the cryptic, barely-existent god slash ruler of the kingdom? Nuts. Bonkers. Also turns out the dude is pretty short and cute even though most of his statues are big and imposing. Like ummm please report for misleading advertising...

#lurien the watcher #hk lurien #my hk thoughts #hollow knight

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musicalrecs · 5 months

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Today's musical Christmas song is "Christmas Bells" from RENT. Presumably you saw this coming.

youtube

When I was a young musical fan who largely knew musicals from movies and soundtracks, I didn't "get" RENT. Although I missed out on most of the hype (we didn't have social media back then), I didn't understand why these people thought they shouldn't have to pay rent after living in a place for a whole year, and the AIDS crisis was something largely abstract to me, a privileged, "good" teenager.

It wasn't until I first saw the musical performed live that I really understood what the show was trying to tell me, and appreciated its themes of compassion and the desire to create and leave your mark. The struggle of living when the world seems so cruel and unfair. The joy still to be shared by people whom society has already written off.

RENT deserved that hype.

#rent #christmas bells #musical christmas song #christmas musical songs #jonathan larson #Youtube

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lydias--stiles · 1 year

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#12 and #14 for the kiss prompts? :)

12. Sneaking away to a hidden corner to share a secretive kiss + 14. A kiss so desperate that the two wind around each other, refusing to let go until they are finished.

(secret dating + celeb au)

Her phone had been exploding by the time she woke up. Her personal phone, which meant personal issues, which meant her stomach churned with nausea before she drank her morning coffee.

Her alarm clock indicated it was seven am. Ten am in New York, her brain calculated, and she itched to text Luke about his morning. But if she grabbed her phone, she'd have to be confronted with whatever was going on.

Taking a steadying breath, she pushed herself upright, wiping a curl from her cheek, and unlocked her phone.

Shit.

Flynn sent her a link to a tabloid that broke the news, to which other publications quickly picked it up. Or rather: gossip. They had no actual news. Julie harrumphed. She hated the tabloids and those teenybopper papers; she knew it boosted her popularity, but she also wished they stopped existing altogether.

Luke and her hadn't even noticed the paparazzi, or fan, taking the picture. They had foolishly presumed no one cared about pedestrians in New York, so by extension, them as well. Luke lived bicoastal and rarely got approached on the East Coast.

But they pushed their luck.

The other texts were from her management, her P.A., her record label, Carlos, Carrie, Reggie, Alex, and Luke. She skipped all of them to reply to him first.

Luke: are you okay???

Julie smiled. Of course, he wanted to make sure she was okay first. She hadn't checked the comment section under the Teen Vogue post yet, but she imagined several were nasty towards her. Luke Patterson was the sexy golden boy after all, the one that revived punk and headlined festivals all summer long.

Not that she wasn't talented, too. Julie was just... quieter, she supposed, a presence felt but not as boisterous as Sunset Curve. Pop ballads were her forte.

She texted a response. yeah, i'm fine. surprised though. i didn't realise we were being watched. how are you feeling?

He read it immediately and replied. kinda relieved?? is that bad to say??? i wanna show you off jules

The singer rolled her eyes. It was no secret that Luke fell first and harder for her, which showed in all his actions. Deeply physically affectionate, always showering her in compliments and hyping her up, and saying stuff like this: wanting to show her off. It sounded so boyish.

A public relationship was the last thing she wanted, however. It never ended well. So many celebrity couples broke up, or got divorced, while in the public eye and indirectly forced fans to pick a side when it was none of their business. She wasn't intending on breaking up with Luke any time soon, but she didn't want to entertain the public's fantasy in the first place.

This photo wasn't helping.

Albeit not incriminating - they were just talking - it did add to the pattern people were noticing between them. Both were 'single', conventionally attractive, around the same age and in the same industry. It made sense. Stranger assumptions have been created.

Luke sent another text. i'm back in la tonight. catch up tmw morning?

Logically, she should say no and wait for the rumour to die down. In reality, she wanted to see him all the time, and so she agreed and sent a cute selfie with a thumbs up.

~*~*~*~

She noticed him immediately. A twill hat, sunglasses, a vintage t-shirt and cargo pants, hopping on his heels while he waited for her outside a brunch spot. Julie willed herself to not speed up and grab someone's attention, keeping her face in check when he caught her eye.

"Hey- oh!"

Luke snatched her hand and dragged her into an alleyway in between the brunch place and a laundromat. Grinning, he got rid of his glasses and swooped down to kiss.

Julie gently clasped his cheek, enjoying the moment. Yesterday, she was so afraid everything was ruined, their careers and their relationship. Now the kiss stilled her thoughts.

"Hey," he exhaled. "You look nice."

The compliment widened her smile. "Thank you."

Luke and Julie met at the afterparty of an award show. She had won Best Pop Album and his band won Best Alternative Music Album. The entire night, they drank champagne and giggled about the weird sides of the music industry, lamenting about snobby producers and reminiscing the greatest venues. They exchanged numbers and the rest was history.

He just got her, in a way no else did. Though he had a totally different personality, they shared the same norms and values. She was, like, kind of in love with him. A perfect smile did that to a girl.

"How was the rest of your trip?" she asked.

His mouth twitched, gazing at her in that overwhelming, fond way. "I missed you. The boys are so done with me."

Julie laughed. "I can imagine. And I missed you, too."

The hands on her waist tightened. "Explain to me again why no one can know?"

"It's not that 'no one' can know. Everyone in our close circle knows. I just don't want the public to put their noses in our business. But... I didn't think it would be this hard." Her eyes averted to the dirty asphalt. Even their shoes matched. "I don't... I don't want you to feel like I'm ashamed of you, or something."

An incredulous chuckle left his lips. "Jules, the only thing I'm feeling is luck, okay? Trust me. You-" He paused. She looked up to find him struggling with his words. That never happened.

"Luke?"

"You're the best thing that's ever happened to me," he rushed out.

Oh. That was kind of like a love confession, wasn't it? Before she second-guessed herself, Julie threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, hard, humming in delight when he responded just as intensely. His thumbs pressed in her hipbones, raking down her bum and up her spine. It felt desperate. More than a 'hello' or 'goodbye' kiss. It felt like a promise. And they refused to let go of it.

His mouth was hot against hers. Ragged breaths shared when they separated for split seconds before chasing the other again. With Luke's back pressed against the brick wall, she felt powerful, and wanted, and happy.

This was insane, making out like this in an shadowy alleyway in broad daylight, but she couldn't find it within herself to care. Because he was one of the best things that has happened to her as well. She got it now. The thought of someone else shooting their shot with Luke made her ill, to the point that hard-launching Luke on her socials just once to get it over with sounded rather appealing.

Damn it.

Pressing her hands into his shoulders, she let go and took a deep breath. Luke stared at her, dazed and puffy-lipped, with messy hair. She felt like a frenzied high schooler that just made out for the first time.

"Um," she trailed, blinking, "let's... let's go eat."

He shook his head with a laugh. "Yeah, sure." Luke placed the sunglasses back on his head and went to move back into the daylight, but Julie grabbed his bicep before he could.

"And after," she added, nervous, "I'll... announce our relationship on my socials. Because you're really important to me, too."

~*~*~*~

send me a kiss prompt for juke

#i read hidden corner and immediately thought about a regal au where the princess and her guard kiss in the shadows of an alcove but #i went with this instead lmao #juke #julie and the phantoms #jatp fics #kiss prompts

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writingmochi · 1 year

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cast: txt all members & enhypen hyung line ✗ fem.reader

synopsis: an anthology series for txt and enhypen; a love letter from the author to “loveless”, my bloody valentine, and the shoegaze genre

genre: variative for each member

based on: music my bloody valentine’s “loveless” album (1991)

message from the moon: do remember that this is fiction and all the actions the idols do in these works do not reflect what they are in the real world. this is a non-priority anthology so all stories are standalone, won't have any schedule for deadlines, and will be written on my availability! also, noted that the infos written below aren't the final one so i can add/subtract anything.

i had this on the back burner for almost a year now, but i want to create hype (for others and myself) since this has been in my wip from the moment i posted it and since i have the desire to write the stories…

taglist? right here

writing order? here’s the poll result!

only shallow

cast: rebel!sunghoon ✗ outcast!fem.reader

synopsis: watching the goonies on vhs in the corner behind a counter, you are working your night shift in a gas station in the center of downtown. head tilts up from the chiming bell, you see your school’s rebel and his red ford mustang behind him, a smirk on his face as you roll your eyes

genre: kinda enemies to lovers, 80s au, high school au,

warning(s): tba

inspired by: a bit of movie dazed and confused (1993) and the breakfast club (1985)

loomer (visualizer) • an entry for equinox: the escapist

cast: jay ✗ fem.reader

synopsis: jay has always been a loomer, an introvert, and an outsider in a group of people others presumed are bad. looming in the shadows in the corner of the parties full of drinks, drugs, and sex, only can be seen with the flamed blunt of his cigarette in the dark. out of the blue, an orange flame is ignited in the dark corner, creating a silhouette of another person, another loomer, standing beside him

genre: lonely people in neon cities, drama, romance, early 00s au, bad boy au, angst, mature content (consumption of drugs, explicit smut)

warning(s): tba

inspired by: movie fallen angels (1995) and millennium mambo (2001)

when you sleep

cast: hueningkai ✗ fem.reader

synopsis: a soulmate's connection can be different for each of them. kai’s connection to his soulmate comes every time he sleeps: when he relieved the highlights of the day that isn’t his, but his soulmate’s. kai didn’t like that his friend ask him to go on a double date with their soulmate and their friend. yet, the date doesn’t seem to be that bad

genre: soulmate au, college/uni au

warning(s): tba

i only said

cast: soobin ✗ fem.reader

synopsis: your body sways as you stood in the middle of a crowded train car on the way home. you can see a glimpse of your crush, soobin, that stands, only a few people between you. as you see he turns his head and looks into your eyes, sending you into a trance for milliseconds. the train car is empty and light shines into the car, realizing you are not underground and sand fills the floor of the car

genre: magical realism, urban fantasy, silent lovers, meet ugly, hurt/comfort

warning(s): tba

inspired by: music video txt's "magic island" (2019) and "eternally" (2020)

come in alone

cast: drummer!jake ✗ videographer!fem.reader

synopsis: the crowd cheers as you watch from the sideline from behind your camera, the band closing their shows for the night as they have to prepare for their next stop. a whistle can be heard as you see the drummer standing against the doorframe, waiting for you to be tangled in his arm. that is until your past haunts you in one of the shows

genre: band au, tour au, acquaintances with benefits

warning(s): traumatic experience

sometimes

cast: rogue chaebol!beomgyu ✗ supermodel!fem.reader

synopsis: flashes of lights filled the dark void as you run the runway for the last time in your show in italy. what you didn’t see is a man whose importance people knew, hidden in the crowd as he looks at the glitz and glamour. only then do you see him in your sight as you sit in the back alley of the after-party, in solace as you join into an adventure you never expected to go

genre: existentialism, travel au, runaways, set in italy

warning(s): tba

inspired by: movie lost in translation (2003) with a tinge of call me by your name (2017)

blown a wish

cast: taehyun ✗ fem.reader

synopsis: the eighteenth birthday is the one that you’ve been excited about since you enter high school. so excited that you even bought a candle set from one to 18 in counting down the days to your birthday, each candle represents a wish you want to achieve by 18. with taehyun beside you, surely you can achieve all your wishes, right? ...right?

genre: magical realism, romantic comedy

warning(s): tba

inspired by: movie 16 wishes (2010)

what you want

cast: heeseung ✗ fem.reader

synopsis: sweats trickle down your forehead as you look at the track before you. all the training and hardships have come to this but you have an underlying thought crossing through your mind. is it worth it?

genre: drama, rivals to ???, athlete au

warning(s): tba

inspired by: movie i, tonya (2017)

soon

cast: dance prodigy!yeonjun ✗ dance amateur!fem.reader

synopsis: a mirror wall resides on one side of the practice room you’re in. stretching your stiff body, you overcome yourself to follow your interest after a long time. dancing. not knowing that the room was actually bigger as there is someone on the other side of the mirror, looking and wanting to guide you to your glory

genre: dancer au, mystery

warning(s): tba

inspired by: the phantom of the opera meets movie step up (2006)

taglist: @endzii23 @fluffyywoo @camipendragon @hiqhkey @haechanswaifu @wccycc @cha0thicpisces @y4wnjunz @stayzentiny @rebsmoonn @boba-beom @angelbythewindow @ttyunz @reallysmolrenjun

#txt imagines #enhypen imagines #txt scenarios #enhypen scenarios #txt x reader #enhypen x reader #rsc: loveless #cr: yeonjun #cr: soobin #cr: beomgyu #cr: taehyun #cr: hueningkai #cr: heeseung #cr: jay #cr: jake #cr: sunghoon #cs: txt #cs: enhypen #sc: regina

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lilac-liliales · 1 year

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Sumire Yoshizawa

Ok so back to P5R backstage narrative and what’s going on with Sumire! This analysis is backed on this post by burningfestivalpersona who makes really crucial observations.

Though the backstory of the sisters is unexplored, Kasumi’s death evidenced Sumire’s long term issues: she was suicidally depressed, suffering from (heavily implied) quick fatigue, utterly convinced of her own worthlessness, and constantly experiencing the delusional, escapist desire of becoming Kasumi, or dying. Beside Sumire’s survivor’s guilt, it’s fair to recognize that her negative reaction to Kasumi’s comfort resulted in her sister’s sacrifice.

I think Sumire’s issues festered on several factors. Her sister’s undeniable superiority coupled with Kasumi’s overcompensating support was one. Sumire’s inferiority complex towards her near-perfect sister was fueled by being helped throughout her life by Kasumi herself, instilling resentment to any attempts of goodwill. Her self-loathing created a despondent reaction to Kasumi's attempts at consoling her, believing it to be patronization rather than genuine care. However, the depth of Sumire’s depression can only be understood through her lack of a support system, as she begins to be able to confront the truth by becoming acquaintances with Joker and the Phantom Thieves.

What do I mean by lacking a support system? On this I refer to the observations stated on the mentioned post. Sumire wasn’t on a first-name basis with any of her classmates. She didn’t have friends from her previous school, and even Kasumi, though more extroverted and popular, didn’t have friends that would keep tabs on Sumire’s deteriorating mental health. I think this is meant to imply that both sisters were so absorbed in their gymnastic training, they didn’t have time to establish lasting bonds with their peers. They were isolated by their rigorous schedule and pressure to succeed. We’ll get back to this.

At her core, Sumire felt that Kasumi was more deserving of love and affection than her. The names of the twins reflect on this dynamic: Kasumi is often translated as "mist," while Sumire alludes to violets- this creates the imagery of Sumire being overshadowed by Kasumi. This was ingrained into her psyche, and it went beyond jealousy or low esteem. I think I know why.

This is an image from Kasumi’s Death Cutscene. When Sumire begins recalling all the reasons why she’s inferior to Kasumi, we witness this tournament. The press is hyping Kasumi, and all the spectators are there to see her.

From Sumire’s point of view, we see Kasumi hold up thew winner’s trophy from up-close. She was next to her sister when Kasumi won, likely in 2nd or 3rd place. We don’t understands this at first: it feels like Kasumi is the only one competing. Her overwhelming presence makes us feel that way.

We first realize Sumire was competing because we see her fanfare in the stands, dressed in sky blue. However, it’s easy to lose them in the crowd of pink, cheering for Kasumi. This is when it gets interesting.

These are the Yoshizawas, dressed in pink. Both sisters were competing, yet their mother and (presumably?) grandmother were cheering for Kasumi only. Their mother also looks unmistakably like Kasumi herself.

This is all pure speculation, but I think Sumire’s deep-seated insecurities were nurtured in her very household. As far as meeting her family goes, the player only comes face to face with Shinichi Yoshizawa, the director of Good Morning Japan at Akasaka Mitsuke. He’s a busy man, yet a caring father. He was the first to get treatment for Sumire’s deteriorating mental health, and even defied Maruki’s Ideal Reality on the 1st of January by refusing, against all odds, to mistake Sumire for Kasumi. A testament to his fidelity.

To contrast him, I think Sumire’s mother was the first to push Kasumi’s identity onto Sumire. I imagine she used to be a gymnastic herself, but was unable to succeed. She became a stay at home wife after marrying, and later propelled the twins into gymnastics; her passion. She placed all her expectations and love on her look-alike daughter, vicariously living through Kasumi’s success, while -ignorantly- neglecting Sumire. Referencing Naoya & Kazuya from the Persona Manga, their mother hit a depressive low when Kasumi died, worsening Sumire’s survivor’s guilt - so when Sumire began acting as Kasumi, her mother was quick to follow the charade.

Backing on my previous note, I hypothesize the reason for the sisters’ lack of acquaintances on a first-name basis had to be related to their rigorous schedule. This was imposed by their overbearing mother, as their father, though overprotective, never isolated Sumire from her peers. The sisters’ rivalry was fueled by their mother’s favoritism, thus explaining Sumire’s severe inferiority complex. I see it in a similar fashion to Omeleto’s Second Best, and with this lenses, I can more easily understand Sumire’s trauma.

#persona 5 #p5 #persona 5 royal #p5r #sumire yoshizawa #kasumi yoshizawa #my thoughts #theory #pure speculation

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