#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

[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

[dickinfectionbez]

I'm scared to ask, but what happened on your bus ride yesterday?

So I was on a small bus not a double decker and the bus was PACKED so I was standing in the front right next to the driver and there were two buggies in their designated area and one baby was WAILING. We didn't even leave the stop after I got on before the driver turned the intercom on and started shouting at the dad of the wailing child to 'get off his phone and pick his baby up'. Nobody can hear over the crying of the child so this other man says 'nobody can hear you' and I relay the message that 'he says pick you baby up'. Dad gets PISSED and start going off on the bus driver that 'you don't know what my yute needs' and 'youre supposed to be a good Muslim brother but you're judging me'. He is still not picking his child up and does not get off the phone. This grandma takes the man's side and tells the bus driver to stop interfering. A seat frees up at the back of the bus and I rush to sit down on it (there is a cute black Labrador so yaaaay) but the dog gets off after three stops. The owner was nice and I'm 80% sure the owners son tried to flirt with my sister. The dad now is going on about 'wait until I get off then say it to my face'. We get to his stop and he gets off, leaves his child unattended in the pram (the stop is at the top of a hill) and gets back on the bus to scream at the driver. While he is shouting this other guys gets on and sits down in front of me. Shouty dad leaves and we drive off but the guy ahead of me stinks of weed and is sitting there eating a Tesco meal deal like he's never eaten before. But otherwise he's alright. There is also a guy my age two rows ahead of me and I can see him taking selfies but with a really realistic woman filter and is sending them to different people so I'm sure he's a fake woman sugar baby (get that bag ig)

Yeah so I got off and walked the last 15 mins home.

[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.

[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.

[head-post]

Protesters block tram lines, roads in Manchester after police brutality incident

Roads and tram lines were blocked in Manchester city centre on Thursday night by people outraged by an incident that led to the suspension of a Manchester police officer.

A police officer kicked a man lying on the ground in the face and head at Manchester Airport in England on Tuesday. Other police officers intervened by delivering stun guns. Video of the incident was posted on social media, provoking a storm of outrage.

Manchester Police said in a statement that a police officer trying to detain a man in the airport terminal was attacked by four people. One policewoman suffered a broken nose during the fist attack and three police officers were taken to hospital because of the assault.

The video also shows an officer punching a second man. Police said three of their officers, including a female constable who suffered a broken nose, were assaulted and four men were arrested.

Posting on social media, on Thursday night Rochdale Labour MP Paul Waugh said:

It is clear they (the victim’s family) are deeply traumatised by what happened.

He also added:

While there is clearly deep concern about this incident, there is also a vital need not to let extremists of any kind hijack these events for their own ends.

A group of more than 100 people gathered in front of the city’s central police building to protest after the incident. The protesters shouted: “Shame on the Manchester Police!”

They then marched through the city blocking roads and tram lines.

Protester Nahella Ashraf, co-chairwoman of Greater Manchester Stand up to Racism, said she was “horrified by the level of police brutality” and called for all the police officers involved to be suspended.

Fellow protester Shah Rahman, from Oldham, claimed communities were “very scared when police have no limits”.

Read more HERE

[vox-anglosphere]

A vintage poster to boost the British economy during the Depression

[kylewalker-peters]

Tyrique and Mitch open their mouths but all that comes out is the devil

[whereishermes]

From Stage to Tourism: Shakespeare's Influence on Travel and Culture

[officialkendallroy]

ooo they're broadcasting the a little life play at a cinema in berlin in september i might gooo :3

[dickinfectionbez]

Roasted so hard you deactivated rip adora ⚰️

— London anon

I'm gonna chew you like the devil chews sinners in the deepest circle of Dantes inferno

[empirearchives]

Article from the London School of Economics about the effect of Napoleon’s protectionism (Continental System)

Really fascinating excerpt:

“On the eve of the French Revolution in 1789, there were only 900 spinning jennies in France, while Britain boasted 18,000.

During the 10 ­year period of the blockade, cotton production capacity in the new technology quadrupled in France. But development was regionally uneven (see Figure 2). Consistent with increased protection in northern regions of the French Empire, spinning capacity in those regions increased enormously, while firms in areas around the Spanish border went bankrupt.”

The article explains how the northern ports of Europe were the ones that most complied with the continental blockade, whereas the blockade was not successful in Spain due to the Spanish insurgency against Napoleonic rule, which is why their firms went bankrupt.

The author also says that there was enduring impact of the blockade decades later:

“As late as 1850, more than three decades after the end of Napoleonic rule, Belgium and France, two areas of the empire that enjoyed high levels of protection from British trade, had larger cotton industries than other European countries. Most strikingly, the domestic cotton industry was generally small in countries that had been exposed to higher levels of British competition throughout the blockade.”