#Betting Culture

[slots-a-fun]

The Grand Opening of the Jockey Club Las Vegas

Step back in time to an evening of glitz, glamour, and high-stakes excitement that marked the birth of an iconic Las Vegas legend. The grand opening of the Jockey Club Las Vegas was more than just an event; it was a spectacle

A Night of Glitz and Glamour that Sparked a Vegas Legend Las Vegas, a city that thrives on extravagance and entertainment, has witnessed countless grand openings, but few have left an indelible mark quite like the inaugural night of the Jockey Club Las Vegas. It was a gala that would go down in the annals of Sin City’s history, setting the stage for a legendary establishment that would captivate…

[khruschevshoe]

You know, it's rather interesting to me that Taylor Swift's parasocial relationship with her fans is honestly more akin to a YouTuber than a writer's. When I scroll through her tag on tumblr/Twitter, it's far more regarding the connection to her personal life/relationship developments than the actual metaphors/fictional story she might be telling. Everything comes back to how her songs reflect back on her relationships with Joe/Matty/Travis/Jake/insert ex-boyfriend here. And what fascinates me about it is that even though she complains about it, she leans into that very perception because it strengthens the parasocial bond.

The marketing for TTPD so clearly being about Joe Alwyn and the songs to Matty Healy. The marketing/video for Red TV so CLEARLY being about Jake Gyllenhaal, with so many of the new lines in All Too Well specifically being digs at him (I'll get older but your lovers stay my age, casting an actor that looks like him for the video, specific lines in I Bet You Think About Me). The fact that songs like Getaway Car and Bejeweled and Gorgeous and London Boy and Lavender Haze being picked apart at time of release and long after for signs of relationships crumbling. The way she uses surprise songs in relation to her relationship development with Joe/Matty/Travis. The damn TTPD "stages of grief" playlists where she deliberately undid/changed the meanings of old songs just to keep her audience speculating on her love life.

It's not sexist to point out that her wielding her love life is a marketing tool and that the strongest connection to her audience isn't the strength of her writing/the composition of her music- it's her deliberate crafting of a connection between her music and her personal life, leaving the audience invested in her music as an extension of Taylor the Person/Girlfriend rather than Taylor the Artist.

[cordeliawhohung]

i do not have the time nor energy to explain how rape fantasies are normal and can be healing for trauma survivors. nor is it my job. feel free to research yourself but don't come into my inbox talking about how people are self harming by consuming that type of content and enjoying it. stay out of my inbox about it. and don't fucking compare my work or anyone else's work to the actual rape videos uploaded online because they're not even slightly comparable. but sure, yell at the women as if we are the problem, and not the men actual perpetuating real life rape culture. we are always the easier scapegoats, yeah?

asks are off until you purity freaks learn to block and move on <3

[louisbxne]

VICTORIA MONÉT at the Renaissance World Tour

BEYONCÉ performing Déjà Vu at the 2006 BET Awards

[oxtoxtoxto]

You know, Carrie probably stuck around in the public consciousness in a much more active way on Earth Bet than it did in our own universe.

Think about it: Carrie - the novel - was published in 1974, and it was in 1987 when the active parahumans at the time decided to go public. We can assume that, because they could decide to go public in the first place, there were probably not that many parahumans around at the time, but even so, there had to be some people with powers by that point. So that's our baseline: 1987 is when people had powers.

1974 to 1987 is a little over a decade, which is a while, don't get me wrong, but it also isn't really enough time for something as widely popular as Carrie to fully leave public consciousness, like how there are plenty of books from the mid-2000s and early-2010s that sold well enough to stick around as something people are aware of and talk about in 2023.

Seeing as how the emergence of powers seemed to ramp up after 1987 in the Worm universe, it likely was not that long (late-80s, early-90s) until you had a mass casualty event which echoed the events that transpired in Carrie. Some kid in highschool going postal with powers nobody thought were possible and had no reason to expect.

I mean, shit, technically the Slaughterhouse 9 was around in 1987.

And people would want to look for some way to contextualize that, to understand horrible tragedy like that, or just find a reference frame for it, and waiting for them, as if by design, would be Carrie, which was likely not even fully out of the public consciousness by this point. A story that has paranormal elements that aren't quite mystical, where the powers are fantastical but the situation itself is almost mundane in its cruelty and ends in a lot of dead teenagers.

I can only imagine Carrie reasserted itself in mainstream culture at that point.

I never really dwelled on Taylor making a reference to Carrie back in the story. I could put two-and-two together. But I imagine her thinking that probably carries a whole lot more weight in her world, where that shit can and almost certainly has happened, then it would here, where Carrie is mainly known for being a good novel that kickstarted Stephen King's career, and where "going Carrie" is an evocative phrase, but nothing more than that.

It also makes me wonder what kind of existential crisis Stephen King would have gone through in Earth Bet. Imagine being The Guy Who Predicted The Horrors.

[eliounora]

applied for a job I really want and I know I probably won't even get interviewed though I'm perfectly qualified and they will give it to somebody who went to a fancier university and who can afford to live in the capital and if they see me from the 400 applicants they'll think I'm some provincial country girl but I'm the best there is I am so smart and analytic and most importantly I have heart and I'm tired of compressing my potential because other people won't see it!!!!!!!

[marlynnofmany]

Someone should write a very practical and down-to-earth story about a dragonriding culture and how they deal with the potential for whiplash and related injuries. I just saw a gifset from a certain realistic dragon show, and watching those tiny CG riders bobbing around up there makes me concerned for the sake of their spines.

Do the saddles have backs and headrests? Does part of training involve teaching the dragon to hold its back unnaturally steady? Is there a handy magic spell to counteract inertia/gravity? Or are a number of riders lost each year to snapped necks, along with the ones who pass out from G-forces and are forbidden from flying?

[cree-n-jewish-thoughts]

GOYIUM STOP USING THE WORD "ZIONISM", IT IS OUR WORD, IT BELONGS TO ONLY JEWS! IT IS NOT AN ENGLISH WORD, WE TELL YOU WHAT IT MEANS AND YOU IGNORE US. SO YOU KNOW YOU ARE STEALING OUR CULTURE, RIGHT? HIJACKING IT THEN USING IT TO SUPPORT TERRORISM AND MAKE YOU FEEL LESS GUILTY YOU FUCKING CHAZZERS!

For people who hate us soo much, they sure like to appropriate our culture but at the same time ignore those who actually practice and live the culture.

[slots-a-fun]

The Inception and Vision of the Jockey Club Las Vegas

In the dazzling world of Las Vegas, where extravagance and entertainment reign supreme, there exists a hidden history that deserves to be celebrated. Welcome to the Jockey Club Las Vegas,

Unveiling the Origins of a Las Vegas Icon In the heart of the neon-lit desert oasis that is Las Vegas, a story unfolds that traces its roots to the glamour of a bygone era. The tale of the Jockey Club Las Vegas is one not only of opulence and entertainment but also of vision and determination. In this exploration of the club’s inception and vision, we take a step back in time to reveal the…

[hazellvsq]

headcanon that hazel had the most parasocial beef imaginable with shirley temple. 8 year old hazel was writing hate mail to the local paper with her crayons calling the also 8 year old shirley a sellout and an industry plant. in 2010 hazel's watching nick at nite on the fifth cohort rec room tv and sees the 2 minute long shirley temple box set commercial and loses her fucking mind.

[anonymouspuzzler]

in the world of Villain Coded, are there still superhero comics? Leaving aside 'creepy promotional comics about real life people'.

oh there's absolutely still fictional superhero comics. they probably fill a little bit of a different entertainment niche than in Our universe - the vibes are wildly different but I imagine VERY roughly analogous to how, say, something like Columbo exists as a story and character even though he is Not a real human live detective. or maybe as an even more fictionalized version of something like True Psychic Tales (stuff like True Psychic Tales where it's sensationalized versions of Real Hero Exploits also definitely exists, but that's a different question). (god the in universe discourse about Superhero Comics As Propaganda is probably rancid)

this is tangential to the original question but thinking about it also made me realize there's probably a HUGE underground/indie comics scene around both real and fictional superheroes/supervillains. "supervillain as the protagonist" indie comics are probably a particularly big niche and probably just as controversial as a lot of Underground Comix of the real life Back In Da Day, especially if your Evil Guy Of Interest is inspired by/actually Is one of the big heavy hitter evils. anyway all this to say if you go looking I'm almost certain you can find at least One zine about The Invincible Bulkhead that's pretty openly Comic By and For People Who Like Bears

[salsa-di-pomodoro]

Ok but can we talk about the absolute horror of being watched and monitored 24/7 that the ancients must have had. The citizenship drones being like an Alexa that's constantly following and listening to you (except it's five pebbles and not Alexa lmao). The fucking OVERSEERS. THEY'RE CALLED THAT FOR A REASON. BECAUSE THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE WATCHING THEIR CITIZENS AS WELL AS THE ENVIRONMENT ALL THE TIME. (I would talk about the fact that they all show arti fucking ads as well but honestly idk what else to say about that. Capitalism got yet another society 😔). That's some fucking nightmare fuel dystopian society settings we are being hinted at. You know the Big Brother Is Watching You thing. The book. Yeah that's what it reminds me of.

The Iterator Is Watching You.

[liesmyth]

Thinking about soul permeability in regards to Cristabel and Mercymorn. Mainly the quasi religious reverence Mercy holds for John, despite everything, after ten thousand years of bitterness and regrets and sex parties. Mercy in Act 4 isn't just a woman who feels betrayed; she's a faithful who's lost her religion.

I've always been fascinated by the way Mercy acts around John; he's both her Emperor and sort of friends and her God, in a way that I don't think any of the other Lyctors ever come close to. They have personal loyalties to John, except when they don't, and a lovehate thing going on, but I don't think they truly worship him the way Mercy does, even when she's scolding him.

Pre TUG, I always thought that this was something Mercy did to honour Cristabel’s memory. Cristabel killed herself out of devotion and Mercy dedicated her whole existence to her remembrance; of course she needed to believe in John's divinity, to keep Cristabel’s faith alive. I thought it was a role Mercy performed, that of the fanatic, because turning her back on that side of Cristabel meant agreeing with Augustine that Cristabel hurt her by taking away her choice.

But what if it's not a mannerism Mercy developed? What if it's Cristabel’s soul peeking through?

[worstloki]

Avengers genderbend where every member backstory or appearance is SO DRASTICALLY different due to the gender switch. except Loki who is exactly the same

[secondbeatsongs]

oh. ao3 is being DDoS'd.

welp

[sincerely-sofie]

People seemed to really like the last Hollow Knight art dump. Here's some more!