#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]

🕰Big Ben + Westminster: I didn't go inside Big Ben, but Westminster is worth visiting. Tickets can be booked every Saturday, and there will be a voice guide (Chinese version). It is a magnificent building. You can also see where their members of parliament hold daily meetings. It is the place where the popular video "ORDER!" took place. It is very interesting. 🎡London Eye: When I went there, it happened to be a rare sunny day, so I bought a ticket to go up. The weather was good and the scenery below was also very beautiful. A cable car can accommodate many people. It is still scary at high places, especially for people who are afraid of heights.

[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.

[head-post]

Rachel Reeves “happy” to look at UK joining pan-European trade area

Rachel Reeves has said she is “absolutely delighted” to consider joining a pan-European customs area to ease restrictions on trade, Mirror reports.

Maroš Sefcovic, the new head of the EU’s trade body, said last week that the UK joining the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention (PEM) is “something we could consider” as part of the post-Brexit reset. It would allow tariff-free trade in goods across Europe, as well as some countries in North Africa and the Levant.

The Chancellor told Sky:

“We are absolutely happy to look at these different proposals because we know that the deal that the previous government secured is not working well enough. It’s not working well enough for small businesses trying to export, it’s not working well enough for larger businesses either. We’re grown-ups who admit that, whereas the previous government said there were no problems at all. And where there are constructive ideas we are happy to look at those, as long as they’re consistent with the red lines we set out in our manifesto.”

Labour has ruled out joining the EU customs union or single market before the 2024 election. But Keir Starmer wants to seek closer ties with Europe after years of fighting over Brexit.

The comments immediately sparked howls of outrage from the Tories, who said it risked “cancelling Brexit from the back door.” Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith said:

“This scheme is not the silver bullet to growth the Government thinks it is. Whenever Labour negotiates, Britain loses. So, we need to make sure they don’t surrender important assets like our fishing rights. We must avoid undoing Brexit by the back door by aligning with the EU’s low-growth model.”

Expressing a more optimistic tone than in recent months, she told the BBC:

“My optimism for Britain has never burned brighter than it does now and that’s why we are going further and faster in removing those things that are blocking investment and blocking businesses from creating the wealth and prosperity in our country.”

“Rachel from accounts”

Reeves also noted that people had “underestimated” her before and she had “spent her life proving people wrong” when asked if she was offended by critics calling her “Rachel from accounts.”

Asked if she thought she would be labelled condescending if she were a man, the chancellor told Sky News:

“Some people don’t want this Government to succeed. Some people don’t want me to succeed. I spend my life proving people wrong, proving that I can do stuff, that I’ve been underestimated.”

Asked if she was hurt by the nickname, she said:

“I’ve probably been called worse things… in the end people are going to judge me on the job that I’m doing now, that I’m doing as Chancellor of the Exchequer.”

Read more HERE

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

I made a very responsible choice today

[everiistence]

i have been saving ac syndicate until After my apps were done and now they're done and i havent had a chance to play But! tomorrow! i have time! and i am so excited

[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.

[thegreatyin]

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

[anna0826]

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

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

[relaxedstyles]

Here we go ... 2.0! Just in time for Trump's return to office.