#Slam Dunk 2021

[adamari2001]

Hana

[motorsportbarbie13]

What's A Soulmate? Part 3

In which your best friend comes back to you. But is it too late?

Warnings: oof the angst. swearing. that's it. Pairing: Lando Norris X SainzSister!Reader Word Count: 2.5k words

(a/n: this is how i cope after that hot mess of a race today. i hate everything and everyone except for my pookie bear lando norris)

- What's A Soulmate? - Part 1 - What's A Soulmate? - Part 2 - What's A Soulmate? - Part 2.5 - Master List

2021 You keep your promises. 

2022  And then he started dating her. 

2023 Silence.

March, 2024Australia 

“We are so excited to have you join the team.” Your new boss beams back at you as you follow her through the corridor. “Thank you for making the flight at such short notice. Had we known Summer was going to quit so abruptly, we would have had you come out with the team earlier in the week.” 

You nod, adjusting the collar of your new papaya and black polo. “Of course, I’m just happy it all worked out.” 

The heat of the Australian sun beats down outside the McLaren hospitality building, but inside the air is cool and dry. You’d landed in the country last night after what felt like the longest flight you’ve ever taken from New York into Melbourne but were so happy to be back in the paddock after what felt like ages. 

“Like we discussed earlier in the month, you’ll be working with Oscar as his primary press officer. I’m sure you know what that entails and everything, not much has changed since Carlos was with the team, but if you have any questions you have my number.” Brenda smiles down at you as she hands you your new McLaren issued iPhone.  

Three weeks ago, you had graduated from NYU with a double degree in public relations and business management. One week later, you had accepted a job offer from McLaren to join the communications team working with Oscar. Between your dual degree and experience working in the paddock with your brother, the job had been a slam dunk for you.

“The boys are just finishing up some filming up stairs. Let’s go up and introduce you to Oscar. You already know Lando.” She says, with a bit of a smile. Your friendship with the Brit was well known back during the years you were still working with Carlos. No one knew how much it had changed since though. 

Nerves fluttered around in your stomach as you follow Brenda up to the second floor where you could hear Oscar and Lando loudly laughing at something. As far as you knew, Lando was unaware that you had taken a job with McLaren. You had asked Carlos and Charles to keep your new job quiet around the paddock, not wanting to create drama before it was necessary. This was certainly going to be a shock, you knew that. 

The last time you saw him flashes through your memory, quick and painful, as Brenda approaches where Oscar and Lando stand each holding dry erase boards. 

Early 2022

“What do you mean she doesn’t want me around?” You nearly laugh, the absurdity of what your best friend is telling you not fully computing. 

Lando grips the back of his neck, eyes looking everywhere but at you. “Our friendship makes her uncomfortable.” 

Now you really do laugh. “What friendship, Lan? I’ve barely seen you this year!” 

It was the truth. Ever since you had started classes in New York last year, your time to see your best friend had dwindled down into nearly nothing. You went to as many races as you could but going from spending nearly 24/7 with your brother and Lando to barely seeing them once every few months was more painful than you had anticipated. It hurt so much to watch him continue on, seemingly so unbothered by losing you, but this? This was the last straw. 

He had been dating the Portuguese model for a bit now and you had to admit, she was pretty and wonderfully nice. You truly had no issue with her, having met her once at a Grand Prix you had attended before classes had started this year. She was quiet, sweet, and obviously adored Lando so her being with him was fine with you. You wanted to see your best friend happy. But now? Now she was threatened by someone who wasn’t even a second thought in Lando’s head? 

You had spent the last few months desperately trying to believe that Lando wasn’t pulling away, that he wasn’t purposefully putting distance between you and him. Texts would go unanswered, calls went unreturned. You had chalked it up to him being busy and adjusting to having a new teammate but now you guess you had the truth: he was avoiding you. 

“If that’s what you want, I’ll respect your wishes.” You murmur, taking a step away, suddenly wanting nothing more than to retreat back into the Ferrari motorhome where you could nurse your embarrassment in peace. 

“It’s not…” Lando fumbles, but you know what he’s about to say isn’t true. This is exactly what he wants. 

“No, I get it Lan. She’s threatened by me. I respect that and I’ll make myself scarce this weekend. You and her won’t have to worry about me anymore.” 

The pain of your words slices through Lando. He hadn’t wanted to do this, far from it. But the fight that she had started last night when she had seen you in the pit lane laughing with Carlos and Charles had put him in a tight spot. You were his best friend, but she was his girlfriend. He owed her the respect, right? Even if he knew that nothing was going on, nothing could happen. It wasn’t in the cards for the two of you. 

“I’m sorry.” He says. 

“Me too, Lan.

You blink rapidly, erasing the painful memory from your brain as your boss steps towards Oscar and Lando, who are watching you approach. The look on Lando’s face sends your pulse skyrocketing. It’s a look that’s somewhere between surprise, confusion, and maybe even a bit of betrayal and you hate every bit of it. 

“Oscar, I wanted to introduce you to your new press officer. She just landed last night so I’m sure she’s a bit jet lagged but she insisted on getting to work straight away. She’ll be taking you around for media duties after FP2 today so be nice, okay?” 

“I’m always nice.” The Aussie says, soft smile on his lips. “It’s nice to meet you. Lando talks about you all the time.” 

Your eyes dart towards Lando, who is still somewhat glaring at you like he can’t believe you’re in front of him. He talks about you? Still? Your stomach does an involuntary somersault at this bit of information, blush creeping its way high up on your cheek bones. 

The phone in your hand chimes with a reminder. Oscar is due to an Australian media outlet in ten minutes for an interview. “Well, that’s my cue.” You turn to the girl that had been filming the segment with a friendly smile. “Is he good to go?” 

“He’s all yours!” 

With permission to leave, you turn on your heel and walk towards the staircase, Oscar in tow. Lando watches after you, still struggling to process what just happened. You worked for McLaren now? As Oscar’s press officer? He had just played padel with Carlos this fucking morning and he hadn’t said a single word about this. Surly Carlos had known about your taking the job so why hadn’t he told him? Did you not want him to know? Did you hate him so much that you didn’t even care if he knew or not? How had the most important person in his life become someone he just used to know once? 

That last fight before he…said some of the the most shameful thing he’s ever said flashes through his mind as he wanders down to his drivers room, suddenly needing a break. 

“You literally never shut up about her. ‘She does this.’ And ‘she does that’. Jesus Christ, Lando you could not be more obvious about it.” The anger in her voice had set his teeth on edge. “And now I have to sit and watch the, what did they call you guys? The Chaos Gremlins? Now I have to sit and watch The Chaos Gremlins be reunited for the entire fucking weekend and just sit back and take it?” 

“There is nothing going on between us.” Lando insists, running his hands through his curls. “I haven’t seen her in months. Months!” 

“But there would be if she was here, right?” 

He had no answer for her. Because she was probably right in her assumption. If you had stayed, Lando had no idea what would’ve happened. 

“It’s her or me, Lando.” 

The rest of the day passes in what feels like the blink of an eye. By the time Oscar is done with all of his interviews at the end of the evening, you feel dead on your feet. You’ve lost all sense of time, feeling like you’ve been hit with a truck and you want nothing more than to get back to your hotel room and sleep for the next 5 to 10 business days. Or the last free practice tomorrow afternoon. 

The Uber to the hotel takes far too long but just as your eyes are about to shutter closed in the back seat, you arrive and drag your near lifeless body up to your room. A quick shower is all you have the energy for, desperately needing to get the germs of the day off and then, you’re in bed, blissfully tucked between soft white cotton sheets watching some weird Australian soap opera. 

Your eyes are heavy when the alert dings and you nearly ignore it, assuming it’s Carlos checking in. He could wait until you saw him tomorrow. But a quick glance shows you it isn’t Carlos. 

You don’t fully understand why you gave him your room number. Not when the only thing on your mind is going to sleep. This is probably a really bad time to have such an important conversation too but a part of you, that part of you that never stopped hoping that maybe one day your best friend would come back to you, that part of you wanted to get this out of the way so you could move on, with or without him. 

Ten minutes later, there’s a soft knock on the door and you haul yourself out of bed, still bone numbingly tired but also strangely keyed up with nervous energy. This would be the first time you had really spoken to Lando since that night two years ago. Sure, you two had exchanged pleasantries when you found yourself in the paddock for a race weekend but most of the time you kept to yourself in the Ferrari garage and motorhome, making sure your presence wasn’t noticed by anyone outside of your brother and Charles. 

Tugging on your favorite NYU crewneck, you pad towards the door while willing your racing heart beat to slow. This is fine. This is going to be okay. You two needed to talk if you were going to be working closely this year so this had to happen sooner or later. 

The door swings open and Lando stands in front of you looking just as exhausted and devastated as you feel. 

“Hi.” He breathes, hands wringing together. 

“Hi Lan.” You sigh. 

His smile widens at the nickname and you open the door a bit wider to allow him in. You cross the room, settling on the king size bed before staring up at him. “You wanted to talk?” 

The pain in his eyes cuts such a deep slice through you, it’s a wonder you don’t start bleeding out on the bedspread. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming back?” He crosses the room towards you, setting every nerve ending in your body firing. He’s too close and you can’t control yourself when he’s like this. 

You shrug, wondering how you’re still able to hold yourself together at this point. “I didn’t think you’d care.” 

Lando drops his gaze away from you then, shame and anger surging across his handsome features. “Of course I’d care.” 

“You didn’t when you chose her over me.” 

He drags a hand over his face, the look of misery that sits on his face is reminiscent of the night you told him you were moving to New York City all those years ago. The memory brings a surge of white hot pain that cuts you so deeply it steals the breath from your lungs. If you had known that this was where you’d end up, you didn’t know if you would have made the same decision. 

“And listen, that was fine, I guess. You had to respect your relationship with her but the most confusing thing was afterwards. Why the radio silence after?” You fold your hands into your lap, unable to meet the gaze that you feel so heavy on your skin. He’s practically begging you to look at him but you simply can’t. 

“I was ashamed.” He admits and you feel the tears prick at the back of your eyes, a hot and painful sting that reminds you of how much you’ve lost. “I was ashamed at how I treated you and couldn’t face it.” 

“Rightfully so.” You mutter, rolling your eyes.

“I’m sorry.” He murmurs while reaching for your hand. “I’m so sorry for how I treated you. I should have told her to fuck off for making me choose between her and you. I should have chosen my best friend and I’ve regretted that decision every day of my life since.” 

The fact that you’re finally hearing the words you’ve been dreaming of hearing for nearly two years hits you like a ton of bricks. Here he was, your best friend, finally apologizing and owning up to his mistakes and for some reason, it felt like it was all just too little too late. How many nights had you stayed up, sobbing on your living room couch with your roommates over the stupid boy who was mean to you? Wondering what you had done to make him treat you like this? Hadn’t your friendship meant more than what it had ended up being? 

And now, here you were, back in his orbit again and it just…didn’t matter. You had spent so many nights wishing this would come and now that he was finally taking responsibility and owning up to his actions, it just didn’t feel like it was enough. 

“I think you should go.” 

“What?” He stutters, fingers gripping yours almost desperately. 

“I am exhausted and need some time to process this Lando. And you have quali tomorrow, you need to be focusing on racing, not on our issues.” 

“I don’t give a fuck about racing.” He bites out, blue eyes turning stormy gray with anger. “I want to fix this.” 

“This isn’t something that can be fixed with a single conversation.” 

You didn’t even know if it could be fixed at all, if you were being honest with yourself. 

“Then I’ll keep going until it is fixed, I promise.” 

“Don’t make promises you don’t intend to keep, Lando.” You warn, rising from the bed. “I need to get some sleep, okay? I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

Lando feels like his heart is being ripped from his chest. He had never intended for your friendship to end up like this. It just…slipped away from him and he was so swept away by his lifestyle the last year that he convinced himself you were both better off where you were instead of together like the universe intended. He had been so scared to admit how wrong he had been, choosing her over you that night that he had allowed it to spiral so out of control it might never come back to him. You might never come back to him. 

Tag List: @anilovessadbooks, @shelbyteller, @formulaal, @martygraciesversion381, @longhairkoo, @samantha-chicago, @stelena-klayley @dark-night-sky-99 @luckylampzonkland, @chlmtfilms , @inarabee @aykxz98 @forensicheart @cheer-bear-go-vroom @charlesgirl16 @lieutenantchaos @willowsnook @sltwins @linnygirl09 @powerfulmess @technicallypleasanttree @meglouise00

[dizzyduck44]

Oh Wow. I’m a McLaren fan but the groups HOLY SHIT!

Listen I get it. I do.

When he was driving into people ending his own race every other weekend, we heard Max was young and he will just grow out of it.

In 2020 and 2021 we heard that it was because he was under such pressure to be a world champion for the first time.

At 25 and three championships later, no one is accepting this behaviour.

From a cool calm perspective (which is so hard for a Lewis and Lando fan in this situation) it’s easy to see Max was rattled by a slow pitstop. He then found Lando was quicker. Sadly Max retaliated. And it has come as a shock to everyone who thought Max had matured past this.

Andrea Stella is taking no prisoners and is actually calling out the fact that the stewards did not deal with this years ago and now Max feels he can race like this. However at the end of the day one person has been punished for wrong doing and the other hasn’t.

At the end of the day, he ended another driver’s race and lost points for himself and his team. He has also set himself a precedent, that if he tries that again, he’s got a history of it he’s probably getting a penalty.

I’m glad out of the car Max has calmed a little and is beginning to question if he was actually right. Ant Davidson has shown the onboards the stewards have seen and it’s a slam dunk penalty, Lando was side by side and there was over a car’s width, then Max drove across him and I’m hoping Max sees that.

However in the meantime no one, or as Stella said, “everyone in the world bar one small group” is giving him the benefit of the doubt. In one race we have gone from talking about how well Max drives to him being branded a cheat and a dirty driver again.

Silverstone is going to be tough weekend for him.

[rjzimmerman]

I'm going to invite these scientists to our house and yard. We have dozens and dozens of grackles at our feeders, making their grackle noises and bullying away our other "resident" birds. But in case they're right, here's an excerpt from an Audubon story:

As people have remade the American landscape, they’ve also shaped the fortunes of Common Grackles. The iridescent blackbirds flourished in the grain fields and pastures that European settlers cultivated after cutting down forests in the 18th and 19th centuries. By the 1970s, an estimated 150 million grackles inhabited a vast stretch from the East Coast to the Rocky Mountains, and today they are regulars across much of the continent. But the birds are disappearing—and no one knows why. A new tracking project aims to reveal what’s driving the mysterious decline.

Birders were among the first to gather evidence of the species’ troubling trajectory. In winter, grackles join Red-winged Blackbirds, European Starlings, and other birds in giant swirling congregations. Audubon’s annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) long tallied roosts of up to tens of millions of birds. But in the past couple of decades, participants have rarely found flocks of more than a few million, says former CBC director Geoff LeBaron. Other blackbirds are in decline, too, but grackles have become noticeably absent from winter roosts.

According to CBC data, Common Grackles have been dropping at a rate of 3 percent per year, which amounts to a roughly 78 percent decline since 1970, says Tim Meehan, a quantitative scientist at Audubon. Meanwhile, federal Breeding Bird Surveys, which take place each summer, have found at least a 50 percent decline over the past half century. These data clearly indicate that there are fewer grackles across the board, Meehan says: “It’s a slam dunk.”

Michael Ward, a University of Illinois biologist, is one of the lead scientists delving into the conundrum. In 2021 he and his colleagues ruled out a hunch that grackles were failing to produce young: 60 percent of chicks in nearly 200 nests that he monitored fledged successfully, a higher rate than most songbirds achieve. Whatever is harming grackles is likely affecting adults, Ward says.

It’s possible the resourceful foragers, which eat everything from grubs to grains to garbage, are exposed to something dangerous in their diet. The researchers suspect insects and corn could be hazardous meals: Both may contain high levels of neonicotinoids—insecticides commonly applied to grains that have been linked to a decline in avian biodiversity in North America and beyond. Ward’s group plans to study what grackles eat on their breeding grounds to help determine how great a risk their food poses.

Meanwhile, the scientists want to better understand the challenges grackles face after leaving their breeding grounds. In addition to stringing up mist nets to snag birds in residential neighborhoods and at roost sites, Ward and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Kelly VanBeek set live traps baited with seed and mealworms at Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance’s Goose Pond Sanctuary. They outfitted 14 Common Grackles with satellite tags throughout the summer and early fall of 2023 as the birds prepared to depart for their wintering grounds in the Southeast and southern Midwest.

On those journeys, VanBeek says, there are plenty of opportunities for the migrants to encounter other possible chemical culprits like fungicides, which may disrupt birds’ hormones and metabolism and are typically applied in the fall when grackles are on the move. Blackbirds’ penchant for foraging on farmland in large flocks makes them a target for culling as well. Between 1974 and 1992, the federal government killed up to 18 million Common Grackles in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama to reduce damage to agricultural crops. The pace has slowed, but the practice continues: Wildlife Services, a USDA division, killed more than 630,000 Common Grackles over the past decade. That’s on top of birds taken by farmers under FWS permits.

[ralfmaximus]

Tesla vehicles using Autopilot have been subject to numerous recalls and involved in hundreds of crashes over the years, dozens of which have been fatal. The most recent recall, which applied to every single Tesla sold to date, has now come under a new investigation for its failure to prevent driver misuse and correct the flaws identified in the first recall. Wire fraud involves deceiving customers in interstate communications, whereas securities fraud relates to misleading investors. The Securities and Exchange Commission is also looking into whether Tesla lied in its communications about self-driving vehicles, Reuters says.

Welcome news, but a few things bother me:

Investigation ongoing since 2021, into what should be an obvious slam dunk case, and here it is -- three years later -- and it's still "an investigation" and not "Elon Musk on trial for many criminal acts"?

Killing people with a terrible product is a bit sketchy but WHOA BUDDY YOU DEFRAUDED INVESTORS?!! is where they draw the line apparently. Huh.

He's been promising Full Self Driving™ autonomy level 4 since fucking 2008 and here it is -- sixteen years later -- and FSD costs $12,000 and is still only marginally better than the adaptive cruise control we've had on other cars for a decade.

When it's not actively killing people, of course. THIS is what I mean by "slam dunk". Why isn't he in jail??

[marzipanandminutiae]

Are there any movies similar to Crimson Peak you might recommend? I want to get into horror/thriller entertainment, but the grimy atmosphere of most horror movies makes me feel like I need to take a shower. Are there any more glamorous scary films you know of without lots of gore and the uncanny valley?

Oh, that's rather a hard ask, I'm afraid.

Maybe try some vintage horror/thriller? It tends to be less gory, in my experience. The Innocents, Dragonwyck, and Gaslight come to mind. The Haunting of Hill House (1963) is a particular favorite of mine. I also love House of Wax (1953) but that leans HEAVILY on the uncanny valley effect.

Modern movies don't tend to go in for that sort of thing, unfortunately. Crimson Peak is kind of an outlier.

Interview With The Vampire (1990s version- haven't seen the show, so I can't speak to it on any of those fronts) has some gore and grime, but not much.

Bram Stoker's Dracula fits the bill nicely...but at the cost of a frankly cheesy movie with a tired interpretation of the text

Nightmare Alley (2021) is another Del Toro slam dunk, in my opinion, with the most stunning Art Deco interiors I've ever seen on film. However, it IS gorier than CPeak (mostly near the end)

any version of Picnic at Hanging Rock is usually a safe bet; I didn't LIKE the more recent miniseries adaptation due to some corset weirdness and lack of historical nuance, bit it is visually stunning

I've only heard about the TV show Dark Shadows, but this kiiiiind of seems like a brief it matches? maybe?

anyone else care to suggest something?

[yuurei20]

Hi!! I hope you had a good start to the year!! 😁 I had a question, is there a Popularity Poll for the characters? Or hasn't one been done yet?

Thank you so much for this question!!

For those who may not know: I put together JP-server Twst Character Rankings for 2021 and 2022 based on the combination of seven different popularity surveys by major local outlets like nijimen, ITmedia and more.

Ranking of JP-Server Character Popularity in 2021 (Top 5: Floyd, Riddle, Leona, Jade, Azul)

Ranking of JP-Server Character Popularity in 2022 (Top 5: Floyd, Leona, Riddle/Idia, Jade, Azul)

I checked in periodically throughout 2023 but I was only able to find three! With less than half of the usual sample size I thought that it might be a less accurate representation than we've had in the past and presenting it in the same way might be misleading, so I opted not to make one for 2023 :<

Most Twst-related articles in 2023 have been about what cards are the strongest, Twst-character family members, etc, but the characters do turn up in other surveys! For example!

Twisted Wonderland Characters with the Most Tags on Pixiv (#10 Kalim, #9 Jamil, #8 Ace, #7 Leona, #6 Ruggie, #5 Idia, #4 Azul, #3 Riddle, #2 Jade, #1 Floyd)

Twisted Wonderland Dorm Popularity Ranking! Which dorm is the most popular in Twisted Wonderland? (#7 Ignihyde, #6 Savanaclaw, #5 Pomefiore, #4 Scarabia, #3 Diasomnia, #2 Heartslabyul, #1 Octavinelle)

When you think of "dragon" characters, who comes to mind? #3 is Dragon Ball's Shenron #2 is Twisted Wonderland's Malleus #1 is… <2023 Edition> (#1 is Veldora Tempest from "That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime")

Top 10 Ranking of Pompous Characters! Featuring Characters from "The Prince of Tennis" and "Promise of Wizard." (#3 is Leona)

Vote for your favorite character voiced by Ito Kent! Doppo? Or maybe Yasu? (#3 is Crewel)

Celebrating Midorikawa Hikaru-san's birthday! Who is his favorite character? #3 is Slam Dunk's Kaede Rukawa #2 is Twisted Wonderland's Lilia #1 is... <2023 Edition> (#1 is Detective Conan's Morofushi Hiromitsu) (not a survey but cute)

Will also be checking in throughout 2024, and there is always a chance of belated articles representing 2023 coming out in January! :> We shall see! Thank you again!

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 09/05/2024

edge of a balcony

Season 8 Featured on: The Joke​-​Explainer 7000​™​'s Highest Quality Rips: Sunrise

Ripped by Emm Bee Sea

Requested by Fezaki! (Request Form)

Tentative rip name: A Balcony atop the Labyrinth of Lights

Remember back on guess what​?​?​?​?​?​?​?​?, when I talked about a "secret" recurring gag on the SiIvaGunner channel that I'd been completely oblivious to for the longest time? We're talking about another one of those today - only now, its one that I actually have noticed and been decently familiar with. On almost every April 4th since 2021, a certain Mori Calliope's birthday has been celebrated with a small bevvy of rips made in her honor. Funny enough, I've known of this joke since it started despite having no real attachment to Calliope or her music - but the rips themselves have been consistently good enough for me to always remember to check in on the channel on April 4th every year. It would seem as if my efforts paid off in spades this year: edge of a balcony, more than celebrating Calliope, doubles as a surprise celebration of SiIvaGunner itself, making it an incredibly rewarding and heartwarming listen to long-time fans like myself.

Which is oddly fitting, when you think about it: I learned in reading up for this post that Mori has been an open fan of the SiIvaGunner channel since a long time ago, and has referenced it openly from time to time. 2022's event for her was notable enough to get a page on the Wiki, and through this she eventually learned of the event's existence in 2023 and was overjoyed seeing all the rips made for it. I've made it clear before that I don't really follow the VTuber scene at all in posts like Shiny Smily TALE, but that mutual love between channels is just so fun to see from a distance - especially given that Morio's original music just so happens to work really well within rips. Given that distance from her channel, end of a life wasn't a tune I'd really heard before tuning in to edge of a balcony in particular, but it struck a chord with me that I genuinely wasn't expecting it to. I hate to say it - but it was like a repeat of the exact same feelings I had upon discovering Logan Paul's Shop - only now even moreso, given that it was from an artist I already knew had some genuine merit.

Because yeah, end of a life is a fantastic tune. It's a rather melancholy, reflective piece, where Mori reflects on how many things she's been through in life, her friendships, her opportunities, what she's grateful for, all that which led her to where she is now. That's befitting enough to be used for Balcony - a theme I've already spilled far too much love over back on Balcon Fusion Collab, but one that to summarize also hits those very same thematic beats within Cave Story itself. So that's a slam dunk of a rip concept right out the gate! But if there's anyone who I know knows her SiIvaGunner lore, it would be Emm Bee Sea, someone I've been seeing in the comment sections to just about half of the channel's uploads since way back in Season 2 - and one who's not shy to express her affection for what she loves through rips like Staff Roll (SM64) Fusion. And indeed, through that knowledge, through that love for the channel's life, Emm Bee Sea was able to turn edge of a balcony into a celebration of Balcony not just as a theme, but of its eight years worth of rips throughout SiIvaGunner's life.

It might not shock you to learn that Balcony Cruise was not the first rip of the song to be featured on the channel. Cave Story as a game is immensely popular for its music, how much it resonates with the exact kind of person who would also grow attached to SiIvaGunner - hell, Quote as a character in the King for Another Day Tournament was added specifically due to winning the MAGFest 2019 character ballot in vote popularity. And as the chorus begins in edge of a balcony, as Mori's vocals continue leading the melody of end of a life forward, keen-eared viewers will identify the melodies being played by Balcony's original lead instrument in the background - The Flintstones theme from Balcony - Cave Story, music by clipping. from balcony., Subwoofer Lullaby from Moog Island...its all remarkably understated, never taking attention away from the central focus of the rip, never turning it into another Fusion Collab. Yet I find that it plays to the theming of end of a life, and to the theming of small-scale celebration of the day as a whole, so beautifully. Not everyone who follows SiIvaGunner cares all that much about this VTuber girl - I myself am far out of my depth there - yet, for those who care to listen in, there's an unmistakable beating heart to edge of a balcony that makes listening an absolutely magical experience.

On a personal note...It's easy for me to worry sometimes, having ran this blog for so long, with so many words spilled on the most minute details, that I'm more invested in this whole thing than I should be. I still regularly meet people confused over how this channel could even HAVE "seasons", befuddled as to what there is to be taken seriously in its storytelling let alone that it has theming, and most importantly, unable to see the channel's beating heart of creativity as anything more than a tired running joke. I'm not going to act all superior over other people not "getting it", I know full well that SiIvaGunner is not a channel for everyone. But that's part of what makes getting rips like edge of a balcony feel so unbelievably reassuring - to see such unfiltered and pure expressions of love toward not just the entire SiIvaGunner channel, but toward a creator with just as loyal and undying of a fanbase, toward yet another part of the internet many simply "don't get". That the kind of love that I needlessly worry about being too open about is not just allowed to exist, but allowed to flourish, blossom, into something this beautiful. It's the kind of reminder I keep getting from the SiIvaGunner channel at a regular basis, and the kind that'll keep me coming back to this blog through thick and thin.

♫ We were singing at the top of our lungs to the numbness ♫ ♫ This city never died... ♫

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Spirit warned investors that merging with Jetblue would be illegal

++++

Jetblue is trying to buy Spirit Airlines. It’s a terrible idea. Consolidation in the US aviation industry has resulted in higher fares, less reliable planes, spiraling junk-fees, and brutal conditions for flight- and ground-crews. The four remaining US major airlines, who gobbled their rivals, are three times more profitable than their European counterparts:

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2017/04/22/a-lack-of-competition-explains-the-flaws-in-american-aviation

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/12/they-put-it-in-writing/#that-was-then

That’s great news if you’re an airline shareholder. It’s terrible news if you’re hunting for your lost bags, or if you’re a flight attendant or pilot being squeezed, or if you’re being hit for billions in covid bailouts — or if you’re one of one million Americans who were stranded during Christmas week by the failure of Southwest Airlines’ IT systems, which use duct-tape and wishful thinking to hold together the IT systems of all the airlines SWA bought:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/16/for-petes-sake/#unfair-and-deceptive

The collapse of competition in the US airline industry is the result of a deliberate policy, the “consumer welfare” theory of antitrust, which says that monopolies are “efficient” and good for the public. It’s a theory that took root under Reagan, and was reaffirmed and expanded by every president, R or D, since.

Until now. For the first time in two generations, the Biden administration has taken up the neglected, noble art of trustbusting, blocking mergers and promising to break up the mergers we’ve already seen, through enforcers like Jonathan Kanter at the DoJ Antitrust Division and Lina Khan at the FTC:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/08/party-its-1979-og-antitrust-back-baby

Which is bad news for the proposed Jetblue/Spirit merger. Last week, the DoJ filed suit to block the merger, joined by the AGs from NY, MA and DC.

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.254267/gov.uscourts.mad.254267.1.0.pdf

Notably, Pete Buttigieg — who has been historically shy of using his prodigious powers as the boss of a large agency — will also block the merger:

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/usdot-statement-justice-departments-lawsuit-block-proposed-jetblue-spirit-merger

Spirit’s shares are in the toilet. Writing in his BIG newsletter, Matt Stoller explains why shareholders are bolting for the doors: the case against the Jetblue/Spirit merger is incredibly strong. A slam-dunk, even:

https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/an-end-to-airline-consolidation

Spirit, after all, is America’s most famous budget airline. That means that it attracts fliers by undercutting the Big Four. That puts downward pressure on the Big Four, who are faced with the choice of taking lower profits to retain fliers’ business, or losing all the profit when those fliers take Spirit. Remove Spirit from play and that downward pressure on fares disappears. You don’t need newfangled “neo-Brandeisian” antitrust to see why this is bad — even under “consumer welfare” antitrust, anything that will obviously make prices go up is prohibited (indeed, this is the only thing consumer welfare antitrust cares about).

How do we know that a Jetblue/Spirit merger is a price-increasing, illegal antitrust violation? Spirit says so.

[Image ID: A slide prepared for Spirit Airlines’ board, titled ‘Shareholders should think about the conversation with regulators,’ and laying out the case that a Jetblue/Spirit merger is illegal.]

This is truly delicious! You see, last year, there was a bidding war for Spirit and Jetblue was the outside bidder. Spirit’s board wanted to convince their shareholders to reject Jetblue’s bid, so they commissioned some aviation economists to do a study on the matter, which Spirit then circulated to its investors.

That report is unequivocal: it estimates that a Jetblue/Spirit merger will be a disaster. Spirit’s participation in a route lowers fares by 17%. When Spirit stops competing on a route, fares go up by 30%. Spirit CEO Ted Christie called the proposed merger “unlawful” and “unethical”:

https://simpleflying.com/spirit-ceo-shareholder-rejection-jetblue-cynical-disruptive-offer/

Spirit is a major competitor to Jetblue. As Stoller notes, they compete on hundreds of routes, and are adding more all the time. Jetblue clearly understands that removing Spirit as a competitor would let it raise fares. As one Jetblue manager — quoted by the DoJ — explained: “I don’t think we should be selling the [Spirit] fare if [Spirit] is not serving the market.” Jetblue’s internal memos on the merger include an executive stating that the merger will allow the airline to realize “efficiencies” by reducing service and increasing fares. This isn’t the kind of “efficiency” we want.

Stoller notes that even with this damning evidence, there are still some spoilers. Florida governor Ron DeSantis has cut a deal to back the merger, even though Florida stands to suffer the most of any state from this merger due to the number of Spirit flights taking off from its airports. And, Stoller notes, the judge presiding over the case is an 82 year old Reagan appointee — a ideology-addled dotard named William Young.

But, Stoller notes, with Buttigieg and the DOT on the case, it’s hard to see how this merger can go through — the DOT has very broad powers to block mergers that reduce routes and don’t have to meet the same evidentiary standards as the DoJ would in court.

Stoller thinks Buttigieg has had a “moment of truth” — that outside pressure from activists and critics convinced the secretary that his future political fortunes would be better served, on balance, by boldly using his powers (and pleasing the public), rather than sitting on his hands (and pleasing future industry donors):

https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/pete-buttigiegs-moment-of-truth

If that’s so, it’s welcome news. While I would prefer that our political leaders acted boldly in the public interest out of a sense of duty, I will happily settle for bold action motivated by fear of the voters’ wrath.

[Image ID: A crashed WWI biplane, redecorated in Spirit airlines livery. The scene is decorated with text-snippets cut out of a Spirit Airlines internal investor presentation slide advising that merging with Jetblue is ill-advised and possibly illegal.]

[dystini]

Indycar Driver Lore

Indycar Driver Lore Masterlist

Josef Nicolai Newgarden

His name was originally Joseph Edgar Newgarden but it was changed when he was 6

Birthdate: Dec. 22, 1990 Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Residence: Nashville, Tennessee Height/Weight: 6’0/177lbs

Rookie Year: 2012

Team: Penske

Follow him on: Instagram Twitter YouTube

Career Stats

2012: Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing - 23rd Overall 2013: Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing - 14th Overall 2014: Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing - 13th Overall 2015: CFH Racing - 7th Overall 2016: Ed Carpenter Racing - 4th Overall 2017: Team Penske - 1st Overall 2018: Team Penske - 5th Overall 2019: Team Penske - 1st Overall 2020: Team Penske - 2nd Overall 2021: Team Penske - 2nd Overall 2022: Team Penske - 2nd Overall 2023: Team Penske - 5th Overall

Cohosted (as of 2024 on indefinite hiatus) fan-favorite behind-the-scenes video series Bus Bros with teammate Scott McLaughlin. Bus Bros Playlist

Behind-the-scenes race weekend videos. Admit1 playlist

SRX - 2022 Nashville, 2023 Motor Mile

IMSA 2023 - Tower Motorsports - Daytona 24 | Porsche Penske Motorsport – Petite Le Mans 2024 - Porsche Penske Motorsport – Daytona 24 win

-a versatile athlete, who appeared on a 2016 episode of “American Ninja Warrior” with other NTT Indycar Series drivers and has participated in the NFL Combine and the Indiana Pacers Slam Dunk contest. He played baseball and basketball before turning to racing. -Listens to R&B and dance/EDM and is a fan of Twenty One Pilots, The Weekend, Skrillex, and Diplo -Avid gamer; is a brand ambassador for Forza Motorsport and is featured in voiceovers for multiple versions of the game, including Forza Motorsport 7 -Is an outstanding ping pong player and hosts an annual celebrity ping pong tournament around the Music City Grand Prix. It serves as a fundraiser for SeriousFun Children’s Network -Enjoys rock climbing and most outdoor activities; an avid Forza player

-cannot resist chocolate chip cookies or brownies

-doesn't like heights

Iconic/memorable moments

The rainbow cake deep throat at 15:00 "I may just put this in my crotch." 11:55 (keep watching for shirtless, sweaty Josef) Pullups with chains around his neck 0:15 (plus other drivers working out and highlights) The infamous Milk Gimp Indy 500 ad (viewer discretion advised) Drivers of the Corn - starring: Simon Pagenaud & Josef Newgarden BUS BROS Episode 12: We Got You My Favorite Summer Salad! (Because the world needs Josef Newgarden squeezing the life out food to make a salad.) starting at 0:50 Josef and Sage Karam at the 2015(?) NFL Combine 2022 INSIDE THE RACE // JOSEF NEWGARDEN Josef Newgarden shares BBQ Turkey Burger recipe LET THERE BE MILK. IndyCar off-season training hits different. Indy 500 Champ Josef Newgarden Shows Us His Workout | Train Like | Men's Health Josef Newgarden and James Hinchcliffe Visit Space Camp 2023 Indy 500: Josef Newgarden Victory Celebration Speech Josef Newgarden relives 'the worst wreck I've ever had' at Texas | 'I Survived' | Motorsports on NBC Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin are teammates, friends, competitors | Motorsports on NBC PLAYING THE NEWLYWED GAME WITH THE BUS BROS: SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN & JOSEF NEWGARDEN!!!! Josef Newgarden: Defending a Championship Google Search - Josef Newgarden IndyCar Chronicles with Josef Newgarden INDYCAR 101: Driver Fitness with Josef Newgarden Josef Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud | No. 1 Josef Newgarden III (Incognito 3) INDYCAR FANswers: Josef Newgarden INDYCAR Travels: Josef Newgarden in Milwaukee Josef Newgarden Undercover

The INDYCAR Off-Season with Marco Andretti, James Hinchcliffe, Josef Newgarden and Conor Daly IndyCar: Robin Miller with Josef Newgarden at Road America Driver Josef Newgarden Red Carpet Interview from the INDYCAR Championship Celebration Josef Newgarden | Christmas Movie Quotes Reddit Asks Josef Newgarden Anything! 2022 Edition Reddit Asks Me Anything! Part 1 Reddit Asks Me Anything! Part 2 Josef Newgarden goes INTO THE CROWD to celebrate his Indy 500 victory! James Hinchcliffe talks donuts, mac & cheese and chocolate with Josef Newgarden , Romain Grosjean Will Power and more. Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin | Hot Seats with Hinch

2024 Cheating scandal Team Penske hit with penalties over Push to Pass use; O’Ward declared St. Petersburg winner How Team Penske took push-to-pass beyond the limit

Penske Perfect and Details Matter are two phrases often used in conjunction with the Penske organization. And when they can be used to dunk on Ferrucci, all the better.

Josef is a perfectionist. This is a combo of his highly competitive nature - which has been said about him from a young age - and the Penske Perfect motto which he has taken to heart. He is highly critical of himself - getting very down on himself if he makes a mistake and taking the blame for things not wholly under his control. But he tried to maintain a genial if slightly arrogant image in public. He slips sometimes - there have been a few angry Twitter interactions that he later apologized for and on occasion after a race, his temper will get the better of him and he'll say things he probably shouldn't.

He can be goofy as hell as seen on Bus Bros. Scott McLaughlin has brought this out of him since becoming teammates. Josef has said that Scott makes him feel more comfortable being his real self.

I would be remiss if I did not point out Josef's thighs. He is a specimen in general but those thighs should get special attention.

Fanfic Lore

Frequently paired with teammate Scott McLaughlin. As of 2024 there has been a cooling of their friendship as Josef pulls back to focus on racing/the championship.

Historically paired with Conor Daly. They raced together in karts and lower-series cars.

[russilton]

Sorry if i am irritating you or being so annoying just ignore friend

So is this disqualified reason mechanical issue ? Or them running more than half of the race with same tyre and no change has something to do with it

It’s maybe something long time ago but I literally joined before season End by 4 races

And now i am trying to understand this world more and watching the season backwards, though some sad moments i will ignoring intentionally

No worries at all! I’m happy to help, and welcome! You sure picked a time to join us haha

So what George received was a technical DSQ, and those come around when something to do with the car doesn’t meet the incredibly strict scrutineering standard set by the FIA. Every car must meet these minimums and will be immediately disqualified if they don’t. There are very, very, very few chances for a technical infringement to be argued against. It can happen but in 9/10 cases, it’s a slam dunk dsq, even if like with George in spa or Lewis in Brazil 2021, they later find that the disqualifying factor caused no aid real to the car. The point isn’t the benefits, but that you didn’t meet the standard.

George came in as underweight- I don’t have the time at this second to give you the exact numbers but I believe it was something like 1.5kg underweight with a 500g margin of error. If you’ve ever picked up a kilogram, it’s not a lot. Mercedes never found one clear smoking gun that caused this problem, but concluded it was a mix of plank wear (the car rubbing against the ground and wearing away parts), driver weight (George said he was slightly under weight for the day), tire wear (from him running so much longer than expected on one set of tires) and the specific way the final lap for spa works, where George had less time than normal to pick up tire marbles (little flecks of rubber all over the road worn off by the cars during the race) and add weight back to the car like they normally do.

F1 teams run cars as close to the minimum as they can possibly get away with. Mercedes should have accounted for all these things with additional driver ballast in the car to make up for the loss, but they failed to account for it in spa, and that’s what lead to George’s DSQ

Hope that helps!

[atmosphericradar]

Homelessness is a problem across American cities right now because the systems of society and governance currently in place are striking downward at homeless people.

Here is an example of a small project to extend some basic sanitation services to the homeless people of Seattle, WA (a historically left-leaning major city in the USA): installing some public hand-washing stations.

Here is an article from the Seattle Times trying to identify why a $100,000 community project to install less than 50 public sinks, started in 2020 to help combat the pandemic, yielded only 5 installed sinks as of early 2023.

"It was with urgency that council members approved the $100,000 for the street sinks, based on a cheap and easy-to-install prototype by the Clean Hands Collective — a group formed in 2020 of architects, University of Washington professors and students, and a then-middle-school-age student who teamed up with Real Change, Seattle’s street newspaper. The design uses plants and soil to filter gray water.

An original pitch by the Clean Hands Collective estimated $100,000 could pay for 63 sinks.

Later, after the money was awarded between Clean Hands’ and a more high-tech design, the two groups estimated closer to 43 sinks."

This is a slam dunk project for the city! It's cheap, it's feel-good, and it helps vulnerable people during a time of crisis. Remember that most public places with washrooms and restrooms closed their doors during the Pandemic. These public sinks are intended to provide a temporary solution for homeless people unable to access previously-available sanitation services. In November of 2020 this was an easy political win, so of course the City signed on.

What happened? Well, the City abandoned the public sinks project, letting it slam directly into the wall of bureaucracy that currently impeeds an untold number of other grassroots public works infrastructure projects.

Firstly, the City took six months to actually provide any of the allotted $100,000. Seattle Public Utilities (under then-Mayor Jenny Durkan) "wanted to open up bidding to more people, expand the scope of the project to include things like food waste disposal, and address concerns such as ADA compliance, greywater disposal, and tripping hazards, among a long list of other issues," according to this article published in the South Seattle Emerald. All of these stumbling blocks are common in US politics: feature/scope creep, opening the project to additional bidders, and safety concerns & ADA compliance. The last thing in that list is the most reasonable, IMO.

But the first two are classic American Political Bungles. There's a pandemic, and homeless people in the city are also dying of various other preventable diseases. So instead of moving forward on a cheap and good enough sanitation solution, the City wastes time by: looking their gift horse in the mouth by asking for an additional solution to another unrelated problem, and also by asking around for other organizations to propose a competing solution. And the City did find another competitor: the City directly asked a makerspace in South Lake Union, Seattle Makers, to propose a design. Seattle Makers proposed a more expensive sink design, which successfully won the bid and got 40% of the total $100,000 project money.

OK, so it's now May of 2021. This $100,000 quick-fix public sink project now has two separate volunteer-driven feel-good organizations making two separate sink emplacements (one of which is signifigantly more expensive), and no sinks on the ground after six months. At least the sinks are ADA compliant? Sure, but the cheap portable restrooms that the city has also been deploying during the pandemic (aka "portapotties" or "sanicans") are not ADA compliant. The City is imposing restrictions on this lightly-funded volunteer project that the City won't hold itself to! Rules for thee, not for me.

Now it comes time to deploy the sinks. Except there are rules on where the sinks can and can't be. As the South Seattle Emerald reports: "The Clean Hands Collective hired a contractor to work with the seven district-based councilmembers to identify appropriate sites for 63 sinks — nine in each council district — but the City now requires the sinks to be near a storm drain and a fire hydrant, which knocks many sites off the list. “If we’d known these specifications [from the beginning], we could have saved a lot of work and money,” McCoy said." If the City truly wanted these sinks deployed ASAP, they would have presented these restrictions to the organizations building and deploying the sinks at the start of the project, ideally during the bidding process they demanded occur, so that the organizations signing on have the clearest possible idea of what they are signing up for.

And you had better believe it doesn't stop there, because according to the earlier Seattle Times article: "organizers have not installed one sink on city land due to strict permitting requirements and “outright anti-homeless sentiments.”" That's right, the City refused to allow the sinks on any City-owned land as of early 2023! The same government that paid for these public-access sinks to be installed won't permit them to be installed on public land!

As a result of this, all of the deployed sinks are on private land. And both sink-making organizations are having trouble finding additional landowners who are willing to host the public sinks (shocking, I know).

There have been other hurdles as well. Real Change claims that the City required: "every site had to receive an individual permit, versus receiving a blanket permit that could work across sites." This follows the trend of the City obstructing its own project. Seattle Makers ran into an issue with insurance: "Jeremy Hanson, director of Seattle Makers... spent the first several months getting appropriate insurance so he could haul the sinks and large amounts of water. He also had to get the sink design approved by Seattle Public Utilities." Note that these "first several months" occured after the City's six-month post-approval rigamarole. And why couldn't the city send insured tow trucks or City-owned maintenance vehicles to move these sinks? Surely that would be a better use of time and money, both of which are at a premium as people are dying.

What does the City of Seattle have to say about all this? A lot, and very little. Firstly, the City as an organization clearly understands the need for such facilities. According to the Seattle Times: "[the City] stood up six sinks around the city, separate from the street sink program. And today, the city currently manages three shower trailers and eight hygiene stations." So the City was deploying it's own hygiene project in parallel.

This begs the question of why the City invested in this community-driven public sink project in the first place, if they planned to deploy their own facilities? In the same Seattle Times article as above, the paper reports:

"Jamie Housen, spokesperson for [now-Mayor] Harrell, said he sees this delay as evidence that city-led implementation would have worked better than community-based implementation.

“The city’s staff are equipped to site and install this kind of facility,” Housen said, “as they did when they used their ongoing experience with hygiene programs to quickly deploy portable toilets, sinks, showers and laundry facilities for flood victims in South Park earlier this year.”"

Fuckers! If the City has the best ability to install these public sinks, why isn't it doing anything to help install them??? This was supposed to be a cheap and fast-deploying temporary relief measure! The City is the one holding up the process for years via red tape and denying use of public land!

As of early 2023, Seattle Makers "have four sinks that are built and looking for a home," and Real Change said "a few sinks are built and sitting in storage, waiting to be installed." But it's doubtful the city will ever allow them to be installed. It appears as though Seattle spent $100,000 on optics, then got cold feet and strangled the project. Gallingly, the City also went so far as to deploy 6 of its own sinks, despite the fact that the community project had built sinks available to deploy! In theory and practice this is a good thing, but the City imposed onerous restrictions in order to subdue it's own homeless aid response, from more than 40 sinks down to just 11. And this is just sinks!

Seattle is commonly touted as one of the most progressive cities in America, and its citizen community might embody that, but the City itself certainly does not. It refuses to help homeless people, and it refuses in the most Neoliberal way possible. If it truly cared, it would lift the bureaucratic barriers to helping them. It could clearly deploy all kinds of emergency sanitation services to the South Park flood victims; but those people were homeowners.

Governments should enable the community to help the community. The people of Seattle want to help the homeless, but the City won't let them. I can only imagine what cities with less progressive reputations are doing to their homeless people.

[slow-button-off]

I'm completely with you. Taking into account his on track behavior, him stirring the pot in the media, his family spouting pure nonsense whenever they can, the absolute bullshit that comes from the spanish media, having him on the team has more cons than pros. Added to that Ferrari having to sacrifice their other driver to keep him/his family/his country happy on numerous occasions (both on track and in the media), it really begs the question "what does carlos sainz even do".

Anyway, I have come to the conclusion that unfortunately we'll still get a renewal for him, but it will work out worse for everyone involved. I don't think Ferrari will be able to justify dropping him, especially since he's their last race winner and will probably finish in front of charles in the championship again this year (knowing Charles luck, I can see another 2021 situation happening). If the car next year is better and a repeat of early 2022 happens (🤞) then maybe they can justify it, but if discussions happen before that, which they probably will, I really don't see them dropping him (if they do, I'm sure carlos/carlos snr will be spreading all Ferrari's dirty laundry plus some more in the media). I think Ferrari will be scared to drop him because they'll probably face a lot of criticism. So I think that they'll give him a contract, but not as good a deal as charles will get. And he'll be mad about it, and this behavior will only worsen. And he'll try even harder to be "number 1" and we'll have to put up with everything tenfold. I really see this happening, and it makes me scared.

The only hope I have is if audi or someone else offers him something better.

It's the impeding in quali, the borderline moves while defending that should've been a penalty especially in Monza where had they not been teammates it would've been a slam dunk penalty. But Ferrari isn't going to complain about that.

I also don't like that the spanish media and his dad are stirring the pot sometimes saying it out loud sometimes just implying that Carlos is treated worse and then he goes and gives interviews blaming the fans for that. It's weird.

Idk if he is getting a new contract. Charles has already signed one, and Carlos has been acting especially weird when he is asked about his contract lately. He clearly wants the same contract as Charles which is why his family friend was pushing for that in the media and claiming that Ferrari fans will not take it if they get different contracts. And lately his behaviour as gotten a bit worse so I am genuinely starting to think that it's not going well for him.

at max he'll get a short term extension and rumours say that Ferrari are for example somewhat talking to Alex (and probably others too).

I think his behaviour rn and how much his dad was talking about Audi really hurt his leverage for an extension. They were trying to shop him around to other teams back in Canada already.

Either he is out or he is getting a worse contract than Charles which will be fun.

[magicwithclass]

Energy bolt is a card I actually have in two of my commander decks. I use one in my firesong and sunspeaker deck and I think it is a slam dunk there. Every firesong and subspeaker deck should consider this card because it is so synergistic. It is a boros card that can deal damage or gain you life and that is exactly what the commander wants to do. That deck really wants multicolor cards and while there are boros cards with a similar effect, commander decks need consistency and options are always appreciated. I also run this card in my Aurelia deck. My Aurelia deck is all about manipulating damage. It has ways to deal damage, gain life, halve damage, double damage, prevent damage, and redirect damage. I probably should not be playing energy bolt in my Aurelia deck but I have had the deck so long that I left in some suboptimal choices. I have also seen a few General ferrous decks playing this but every year they print more and more multicolor boros cards so I do not think it is a staple in that deck at all. In fact, I really couldn't fault you for not playing this card in any deck. This card has just been outclassed. There are actually cards that deal damage and gain you life so you don't have to choose. This card also might see play in a new commander from modern horizons 3. Phlage, a new titan from theros, also wants to deal damage and gain life. Is this better than deflecting palm or even lightning helix? Of course not, but there's something to be said about using a reserved list bulk card in your deck. It is certainly a flex. This card spiked hard in 2021 as did most card on the reserved list but this is not the first or only time there has been market speculation on this card. In 2018 some cards on the reserved list spiked. This did not include every reserved list cards and some spiked more than other. However, if a card spiked in 2018 that is an indicator that there is some interest in this cars outside of a buyout. Somone thought this card was one of the more playable cards on the reserved list and moved in on this card before the great reserved list buyout of 2021. In 2021 this card reached about ten dollars and there was even a rebound as late as summer 2022. I would see that this card is one to keep a close eye. I could easily see it spiking if an x spell commander is released that really wants you to use multicolor cards. I am looking at this card because recently mark rosewater said that they are not doing many damage redirection cards anymore and thus card is kind of in the realm of cards you might play in such a deck. I personally like building decks based on manipulating damage so I hope we get a few redirection effects.

[detachedminxsfics]

This might not interest you but I’ve recently fallen into a long overdue JDM fixation and found and started reading your fics on here - love them by the way!!

Then tonight I watched the losers for the first time and looked for some tiktoks of it bc he was so hot in that movie (I’m also thirsty for Chris evans and idris Elba so it was a slam dunk for me). And literally the 5th TikTok my search recommended me was an edit you made for Clay (I also literally adored it)! I saw the bio said that this editor writes fics and it brought me right back to your blog I’ve been reading for days so I discovered it was you and I’d come full slutty circle 😭😭😭.

It amused me so much. Just so you know you’re a wonderful fixture of this little community lmao. Can I ask what stuff of his you’d recommend watching? I’m not sure I’m super into TWD but I’m open to lots of other stuff esp movies in his peak dilf era.

Hi lovely, first of all tysm! 🙈 And ofc I can give recs! Towards the end of last year I made a huge list of anything JDM has ever been in and just binged to my heart's content lmao, so here are some that stuck out to me. ♡

Movies:

Heist (2015)

The Courier (2012)

The Postcard Killings (2020)

The Unholy (2021)

The Resident (2011)

Rampage (2018)

Watchmen (2009) - he's not in it for long but I'm a huge comic nerd and this hit the spot

Shows:

Magic City (2012-2013)

Extant (2015) - introduced in S2

The Good Wife (2009-2016) - introduced in S7

But if you do manage to get into TWD honestly Negan stays on top, and Dead City Negan is well...gorgeous.

[ao3feed-supercorp]

Slam Dunk Love

by StevenTheTurtleWeiner, VioletTheWriter4Hire (Violetthecutienightreaper)

"You bought me a basketball team to go head to head with our mother to win LuthorCorp?" Lena asked with disbelief.

Lex shrugged with a large smirk on his face. "If you and Mother intend on continuing this type of rivalry, I might as well add some fun and high stakes to it."

Thanks to Lex Luthor's competitive nature and general enjoyment of her misery, a twenty-two-year-old Lena Luthor is gifted a newly created basketball team called the National City Supers while her Mother is gifted the multi-time world champion basketball team, the Metropolis Dreams.

The rule is simple. Lena has one year to change the rookie basketball team into champions and beat her mother's basketball team to victory and if she wins, LuthorCorp is hers.

If only Lex had warned her about the range of personalities she would encounter when meeting her newly bought team….And their Team Captain with dazzling blue eyes and an infectious smile.

Words: 1423, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Supergirl (TV 2015), The Owl House (Cartoon), Arcane: League of Legends (Cartoon 2021), Avatar: Legend of Korra, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018), Amphibia (Cartoon)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi

Characters: Kara Danvers, Lena Luthor, Amity Blight, Luz Noceda, Adora (She-Ra), Catra (She-Ra), Korra (Avatar), Asami Sato, Caitlyn (League of Legends), Vi (League of Legends), Anne Boonchuy, Sasha Waybright, Marcy Wu, Other Character Tags to Be Added

Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Korra/Asami Sato, Caitlyn/Vi (League of Legends), Anne Boonchuy/Sasha Waybright/Marcy Wu, Samantha "Sam" Arias/Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen, James "Jimmy" Olsen/Winn Schott Jr., Hunter | The Golden Guard/Willow Park, Eda Clawthorne/Camila Noceda/Raine Whispers, Eliza Danvers/J'onn J'onzz | Hank Henshaw, Kuvira/Opal (Avatar), Bolin/Ginger (Avatar), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Ekko/Jinx (League of Legends), Lin Beifong/Kya II, Pema/Tenzin (Avatar), Masha/Vee (The Owl House), Mako (Avatar)/Nia Nal

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Basketball, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Crossover Pairings, Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Rivals With Benefits, Endgame Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Endgame Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Endgame Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Eventual Caitlyn/Vi (League of Legends), Endgame Anne Boonchuy/Sasha Waybright/Marcy Wu, Lex Luthor is a Petty Bitch, Meet-Cute, Race to the Playoffs, oh wow sports, everyone gets the spotlight, Team as Family, Teambuilding, Team Dynamics

from AO3 works tagged 'Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor' https://ift.tt/A8URDcK via IFTTT https://ift.tt/A8URDcK