#London's economy

[aro-bird]

Okay, for aro awareness week, I need you all to start recognizing that:

NOT EVERYONE IN THE ARO COMMUNITY IS FROM THE UNITED STATES OR EUROPE.

Please, when we're having discussions about aphobia, allonormativity amatonormativity, and other issues for the love of god STOP PRETENDING THAT WE DON'T EXIST AND LISTEN TO US!

We aren't just your token aros that exist in the other side of the world just for you to prove that we are everywhere or whatever point you're trying to make, we are living, breathing human beings and members of the aro community and we deserve respect and to be remembered not as a point in your discourse but as equals.

I am sick and tired of people just assuming that everyone in the community is either from the United States or Europe and only centering those voices in the discussion. We exist too.

[zackstriker]

i’m done being silent the phouse was the hard launch

[thegreatyin]

pros of multiple fallen london characters: trading hallowmas confessions has never been more convenient!!!

cons of multiple fallen london characters: how do three entire fallen london accounts not have a single confession of impropriety between them.

[anna0826]

Experience Chinese barbecue in London, the taste is great, worth recommending.

📍Charcoal Champ Chinese BBQ 142 York Wy, London N1 0AX

[relaxedstyles]

If only all interviews were in this style ...

[violant-apologia]

man when are they going to scrap/fix the item rarity notes. like the "scarce" intriguing snippets can be upgraded into "commonplace" compromising documents? searing enigmas are "coveted," then dreadful surmises are "rare," then impossible theorems are back to "coveted" again?? and breaths of the void get to be "precious"?????

here's my take: (adding a couple new ones)

paltry: £0.01/£0.02 items, e.g. foxfire candle stubs

commonplace: £0.10 items, e.g. map scraps

fine: £0.50 items, e.g. memories of light

scarce: £2.50 items, e.g. blackmail material

coveted: £12.50 items, e.g. portfolios of souls

rare: £62.50 items, e.g. parabola-linen scraps

precious: £312.50 items, e.g. elemental secrets

treasured: £1,562.50 items, e.g. vials of master's blood

[hacash]

After two and a half years, your girl’s starting to come off Sertraline! (Zoloft for the Yanks) Good news hopefully for my mental health, probably for my energy levels, and definitely for my wallet.

[nevermindtheb0ll0cks]

Anyone else feel a bit lost in life? Tired of everything but not knowing how to change the feeling.

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

I made a very responsible choice today

[pineappleliar]

Fallen London forcing me to hire a boy toy to my lab for the sole purpose of acquiring drugs. Like a little Jesse Pinkman.

[head-post]

UK consumer prices rose by 2.6% in November

Consumer prices in the UK in November rose by 2.6% in annual terms, reported the country’s National Statistics Office (ONS).

Inflation thus accelerated from 2.3% in October and became the highest for eight months. Analysts polled by Trading Economics had also forecast an increase of 2.6 per cent on average.

The most significant increases in November were in the cost of recreation and leisure (up 3.6%), housing and utilities (up 3%), and food and non-alcoholic beverages (up 2%). Transport services fell in price by 0.9%.

Consumer prices in Britain increased by 0.1% in November compared to the previous month, while in October they increased by 0.6%.

Prices excluding the cost of food, alcohol, tobacco and energy (core inflation, CPI Core) increased by 3.5% in annual terms and did not change over the month. In October, the increases were 3.3% and 0.4%, respectively.

Retail price increases (RPI) accelerated last month to 3.6% annualised from October’s 3.4%. It is this indicator that is used by British employers when negotiating wages. The difference in the dynamics of the CPI and RPI indices is due to the inclusion of housing costs in the RPI, as well as the different weighting of airfares, insurance and petrol prices.

Read more HERE

[alpaca-clouds]

Castlevania Season 4

Currently seeing a lot of people watching Castlevania for the first time and being as confused as everyone else once was about season 4 and certain story developments.

Spoilers - Obviously.

The story decisions in question basically show up in all the storylines:

Why is Alucard just okay with everything about having talked to Greta for approximately two hours?

What the fuck is the deal with the entire Targoviste storyline, that kinda goes nowhere?

Why are Hector and Lenore just fine after everything that she did in the end of season 3?

Why was St. Germain so easily corrupted? (And why does his love interest not even get a name or voice lines?)

Why does Carmilla so suddenly go off the deep end?

Why don't the four storylines never meet up, ending the story without the main characters (that is the group of Hector and Isaac, vs the trio) ever meeting?

Why is Varney?

And I mean, we are never going to fully know. But chances are good, that Warren Ellis had thought he would get five seasons to tell his story - instead of only four. Now, we never got confirmation for that, but there are a lot of points speaking for it - most notably just that the last season feels rushed af.

Now, a big question is, why it got then cut down into four seasons. There is a lot of speculation. For once there is of course all the shit coming out about Warren Ellis at the time. So maybe Netflix wanted to cut him off, before all of that came out. There is also the fact, that season 4 went into production in 2020 and we all know what happened in 2020. So chances are, that the show might well have been impacted by the pandemic. There is also the fact, that Ellis was allegedly in general hard to work with for some people. Another fact. And, lastly, it might just have been a Netflix thing, even though we are getting Nocturne. (You know... *cries in Inside Job and DeadEnd*)

There is also the fact, that a lot of folks harrassed Netflix and the creators about everything season 3. Especially the Alucard scene and what happened to Hector. And if we look at Rise of Skywalker, we know it would not have been the first and only time that fans harassing a studio got them to backpaddle on story decisions.

But I think a lot of writing decisions for the most part can be explained with simple Story Economy under the idea that Ellis had if not calculated for five seasons, then at least for more episodes in that last season.

I have often heard people talk about "But why are Alucard, Trevor and Sypha even there?", because it is very clear that for the most parts season 3 and 4 are very much the story of Hector, Isaac and the Styria sisters. With everything else kinda feeling more like an obligation. (Even though, unpopular opinion: I do like both the Alucard and the Lindenfeld storylines in season 3.) And this is very noticable in season 4 of course. The entire Varney thing comes out of nowhere. St. Germain's Face-Heel-Turn comes out of nowhere. Death comes out of nowhere.

The simple answer is, of course, that the main trio is the main trio and it would probably not have been within the contract with Netflix or Konami or whoever to write them out. Not to mention that, yes, Alucard is probably half the reason some viewers are there. Hence, they needed a storyline.

Now, again, I am mostly just speculating. But I do assume that at some point the plan has been to pitch Carmilla against the main characters. It would not have been surprising to me, if the original plan was to have her slowly go off the deep end in season 4, have her make a deal with Death and maybe give her a redemption arc in season 5 (because she feels like a too well developed character for the development in season 4 being the original plan).

But given the "end it with season 4" and "main trio has to do stuff, because main trio" requirements that had probably have to be met, a lot of decisions make sense.

Why does Alucard get over his trauma within hours of meeting Greta? Well, because there was no time for him to have a proper recovery arc, before he had to be there for a finale to happen. Maybe, too, because of the harassment and some fans not wanting to see Alucard in a position of weakness.

What is the deal with Targoviste? Mostly just to give Trevor and Sypha something to do, before they could join for the finale. Also to introduce Varney.

Why is Varney? Because there was no character, who would believably get into "making a deal with Death" within just one season. Hence he was just a tool to bring Death into the plot. (Which kinda makes sense, given Death is a main antagonist in several of the games.)

Why are Hector and Lenore just fine? Because here, too, there was no time for a proper recovery arc. Also, maybe, because a lot of people got angry, too, about Hector being put into the position of weakness. So it was just swept aside.

Why does Carmilla go off the deep end so quickly? Because there was no time for a proper corruption arc either. But she needed to be the bad guy for that storyline, because otherwise there would not have been a proper finale for the entire Styria storyline, as it was unable to reconnect to the Wallachia storyline.

And why is St. Germain so easily corrupted? I would assume because some executive decision had been made that he had to be put into the season.

The thing is really, that if you just look at it logically, the plot points kinda make sense - but because they are so rushed, they do not feel right. And of course this does kinda ruin a lot of it, because the ending is what matters a lot in stories.

Now, personally, I am mostly fine with where all the arcs end. I personally am fine with the ending of building a village around the castle. I am fine with Isaac taking over Styria. I am fine with Dracula and Lisa coming back from the dead. And yes, I am fine with Lenore dying. But it does feel rushed and I do not like how the plot gets there.

Most of all, I wished that there was a bit more emotional fallout from season 3. I definitely do not like how Alucard is just suddenly fine - or how Hector and Lenore are suddenly fine. It does feel emotionally... unfullfilling. *sighs*

But nothing to do about it now.

What I am getting at with this ramble: I do not think that Ellis (who is a horrible human being, but also a pretty good writer) has suddenly forgotten how to write stuff. I mostly just think that there was a lot of Drama going on behind the scenes. Partly because Ellis is a bad human, but also because of pandemic being pandemic.

[vox-anglosphere]

A vintage poster to boost the British economy during the Depression

[thegreatyin]

it's always a delight to see OC lore backed up by canon.

[anna0826]

Streets of Germany

[relaxedstyles]

#Inflation #economy #NATO #europe #ukraine #syria

And absolutely banger of an interview.