#and instead was overdrawing

[lightblueminecraftorchid]

Me, yesterday, 5:30 PM: wow I’m honestly doing so great at my adult tasks; I’ve gotten some homework done, I went grocery shopping, my laundry is almost dry. I spent so many spoons and I barely feel tired! Maybe I’m finally fully recovering from burnout!

Me, yesterday, 6:00 PM: oh.

[gwydionmisha]

Personal: Housing Threat Update

For those following the HOA saga, I talked them into letting me pay in three installments. We reached funding goals for the "Special Assessment" towards the end of November and I sent them the second installment. Paying them so close to the end of the month apparently messes eveything up. Did they take the monthly housing payment or not? My bank account says they did, but the e recient sounds like they didn't and the "portal" is useless for finding out as it pretends the special assessments aren't happening.

I am waiting for third installment money to transfere and hoping I don't have to come up with another $550 because they insist on the shitty non-standard hard to use portal instead of any other system and are not willing to just tell me how much I actually owe them.

Bonus: Over last weekend they sent an emergancy message saying they could not take the Special assessment installment unless I fixed something on the portal, even though my bank said they had the money. They sent no link or directions to finding the semi-mythical page as unlike a website with a drop down menu, there is no site map or any way to find pages not on the set of tabs they offer. It was not in the tab that seemed most likely, which I checked five or six times including a click through to the next page between trying all the other tabs etc.. The help and site search tab required a seperate log in which required figuring out which password I was usong. It took most of an hour to work out the page I needed was three pages in from the tag I started out with. You had do figure out the maze of text hyperlinks to get there because no drop down menus.

Jesus fuck!

…and this odyssey also lead to the discovery they are planning to auto-withdraw payments owing nom-concentually from everyone's bank accounts on the 17th. O.o Too bad of you don't have it. Now you owe bank overdraw fees and HOA late fees all accrueing daily and they are planning to sue and evict you. This is terrifying, and they are doing this because of an illegal special assessment we would have to have a class action lawsuit to stop, which we very likely need because the emergancy fund was suddenly drained at the same time the Boomers put up an inceredibly broken security theater gate that does not work in all the ways I told them it would not work in writing when they announced it after the indoor waterfalls happened so they knew that expense was coming which they did not consult anyone about and now they are re refusing to release any financial statements about how they spent their funds in 2024, leading us to have very many questions about finances… anyway. Sigh.

I really wish they'd just fucking give me some sort of total that says what I actually fucking owe according to them instead of me having to trust my note and dyscalculia math to work it out and hope they aren't screwing me because of the lack of proof I paid.

[inbabylontheywept]

Healing+Lightning=

Wizard Launcher

Avalahn was already halfway through the anti-lightning sigil when he realized that the hedge wizard's spell was continuing. Surprising. Dual element spells were rare enough amongst polished circle elves. For a backwood self-taught like the human in front of him, they were signs of a prodigy.

Still, it was hardly worth worrying about for someone with his centuries of experience. He simply relooped his hand instead of closing his fist, preparing himself to charge his sigil with a second element in turn.

Or, so he thought. His almost bored counterspelling was replaced by consternation.

The first spell he’d identified clearly enough. Aerothurgy of the third ring, a lightning blast designed to cripple warriors by overdrawing their muscles. Atypical for wizard duels, but perhaps the hedge wizard was trying to avoid lethal options. He would be disappointed if he expected the same courtesy from Avalahn himself.

But the second spell, he’d never seen used in a duel before. It was a biomancy spell, but far more intricate than the lightning spell. At least sixth ring. He’d seen something like it used to reattach severed tendons.

Why would he try to heal me, right after harming me?

The hedge wizard maintained focus as he traced the last symbols through the air, completing the cast. Avalahn closed his fist and finished his sigil, protected from the lightning part of the attack. If there was a look of trepidation on the hedge wizard’s face as he finished, Avalahn assumed it was fear from fighting a superior mage.

He assumed wrong.

There was a sound like the rigging of a ship tearing loose, like a mighty cord breaking under unimaginable strain. The hedge wizard howled in pain, but more important than that, he flew. Avalahn had no time to cast a physical barrier. He’d been prepared for lightning and thunder, not for the filthy half-feral man to cross the thirty foot gap between them in half a second. His brain was still trying to process how healing plus lightning resulted in a wizard launcher.

The wizard slammed into him at waist level, a dagger sharp shoulder aimed perfectly at his diaphragm. The sound he made as every fragment of air left his body was similar to the noise a rat would make while getting run over by an oxcart.

The two bounded down the road, a knot of limbs and robes. Avalahn may have been caught unprepared for the dive tackle, but he wasn't completely useless in a scrap. His reflexes were still top notch, and even when he couldn’t tell up from down, he could still cast a ward against blows.

The hedge wizard was definitely slower and smaller than Avalahn himself was, but if nothing else he was in his element. Avalahn managed to throw a few sharp elbows into his ribs, but when the scramble stopped the human was the one on top.

The sigil was not focused enough to full stop the first blow, but it softened it. His head still bounced back against the grass, but it was hardly the crushing blow that the hermit had clearly hoped for. The second blow was also warded, but still went hard enough to draw a trickle of blood from one nostril. He tracked the recoiled fist of the human wizard and was surprised to see a large rock clutched in its palm. He must’ve snatched it off the path some point during the tumble.

Clever little bastard.

He did have an ace of his own, a little trick built into every ward he cast. Wrapped in all of his defensive casts he always threw in an energy trap, a way to turn the enemy's strength against them.

Between the tumbling and the punches, the physical ward was practically shimmering with built up charge.

He released it with a snarl. The hedge had no time to react, one second he was trying to pummel Avalahn to death with a rock, the next he was physically thrown ten feet back. If he’d landed on his back, Avalahn would’ve had enough time to finish him off with an ice spear, but the stupid, grimy, wicked little beast landed on both feet and charged foward like a bull.

Centuries of knowledge, analyzed in fractions of a second. Spells, wards, sigils, none could be cast before the human crossed the gap.

Only one choice.

He swung a haymaker at the humans jaw. His mind worked faster than his arm could alter course and he watched in slow motion horror as the human twisted his head and ducked, taking the blow on the forehead instead of the chin.

Avalahn’s punch had more power than sense behind it, and decades of sedentary life had made him soft. He barely had time to wince at the boxer's fracture he gave himself before he felt the little man’s arms wrap around him, surprisingly from behind. He must’ve managed to slide under his leg.

As he reached down to break the vice grip that the human had, he realized that the humans fingers were twitching the same lightning spell that they had before. He’d been too busy fighting for his life to process what the hell that opening move was, but in that split second, he realized what was about to happen.

The human didn’t use lightning spells to attack directly. He used them on himself, as a way to overload his muscles and gain a temporary and painful burst of superstrength.

The healing was just used to fix whatever horrible damage he did to his own muscles in that moment.

The twitching stopped and he knew that the convocation was complete. He could only sit in silent horror as he felt every muscle in the humans body bunch together in one powerful pulse.

The arms around his waist crushed together like a vice, harm enough to snap at least two of his lower ribs. He felt his feet lift off the ground as the muscles in the humans back pulled taut, saw the ground rush up to meet him as he was flung carelessly over the human’s shoulder.

It wasn’t a clean knockout. It was a filthy, vicious, visceral knockout, and in the human’s eyes, that was far better.

The hedge wizard spent a few seconds on the ground, quietly contemplating his choice to pull every muscle from his hamstrings to his shoulders. He didn’t have enough mana to fix himself right as rain, but he could work up enough to at least get himself onto his feet again. He took a moment to drag the unconscious elf into the shade under a tree before rummaging around the finely tooled leather bag the traveler had brought. There was a bag of candied nuts that he helped himself to, as well as a small bottle of brandy, but the rest he left be. He liked his creature comforts, but he wasn’t a bandit. He’d just wanted to make a point about what happened to people that tried to barge through his woods, only to threaten violence when told to leave. He couldn’t tolerate bullies, but he especially couldn’t tolerate bullies blessed with magic.

Still, he felt a little bad for his petty theft, and slightly impressed with the physicality of the fight. He hemmed and hawed for a few seconds before fishing through the pack again, this time pulling out a quill and some parchment. Using one of the hardbacks in the bag as a desk, he wrote a small note to leave on the unconscious elf's lap.

Nyce heighmayker. You can travil thru, provyded you bary your shits. When you retern to your Very Fancy Sercil, try to reed a book on how NOT to get suplecksed. Haha!

Syned,

Tom Bug

Ps. Your desent enuf for a book wizard. I gess you can stop by agen, if you behayv. Bet your frends are pricks tho. Tell them to stay away or I will kill them with a rok.

[peachykoii]

…

I–

All right, y’all, I’ve got some things to say.

Spoilers for ramblings about Dislyte Unknown Collection Story Mode:

First, some positives!

• There were some pretty interesting concepts introduced: Raven having premonition and memory-erasing powers, using her wings + comet/shooting star + all how it influences the EU: the use of stone tablets, giving out only pieces of information to the public, not interfering with the future, etc.

• I liked how the Esper Union felt more gray aligned than straight up black or white considering its origins.

• I enjoyed seeing Triki a bit fleshed out, but let me just say that I'm biased about this because I literally don't have him yet so I don't know too much about him aside from the basics. A little disappointed to not have seen the whole crew. I was also hoping to see Zora and Ren Shi too. 😭😭 I will say, I can appreciate Yamato just coming around to be a menace and have fun, lol

• The silly and cute things like the Draw and Guess game, Tevor’s photo with Hilda??? (When and how even was this/could this happen, lol), commander Xuan Pin post-Immortal Fire and her relationship with Mateo, Alexa and Abigail having their moments together, and Alexa being a Wattpad writer amateur romance novelist on the side, lol.

• Lots of lovely and memorable artwork especially! Sachiko was obviously the devs’ favorite since they drew her so adorably, lol Assassin’s Creed reference?

Negatives.

• Y’all… This felt like an alternate universe rather than an addition to literally everything we’ve ever been introduced to in canon, so I’m just going to treat it as such. I could've avoided this and wouldn’t missed out on anything.

• Also, as interesting as it is, Raven being clairvoyant came out of nowhere, lol There’s no mention, reference, or anything anywhere suggesting this in Dislyte canon, besides the fact that Odin (Norse Mythology) has that ability. I do miss her bike and wolf though, lol The [Player] character gave more Mary Sue isekai’d into the game vibes rather than someone literally not from this world who’s experiencing Grandis and Miracles for the first time. If Markiplier can be canon in the universe but not in a weird way, then they could’ve done something along those lines for him too. Why exactly did Tang Na turn into a “Miramon”? Usually, overdrawing on your powers (could) just kill(s) you like in Gaius’ or Leora’s event. I guess it changed for then humanity/divinity balance. Where’s Discboom? She could’ve been a good lock instead. 😔😔

• What was going on with the writing and pacing? There were lots of typos, weird wording, and kind of a strange flow from chapter to chapter. Maybe localization editing was rushed? Like, I could appreciate trying a new style, but it also felt off-putting a lot of times and not as cohesive or seamless as it could’ve been. The Shackled Collection, the OG story mode, was much better in this regard. And then, there’s…

The ending…

• Honestly, it’s a bit hard to play devil’s advocate with that ending because from the standpoint of a first-time new player, who hasn’t been through Gaius’, Norah’s, or Embla’s event, the OG main story/Shackled Collection, or any other big lore heavy events, it might feel like “whoa, plot twist! That’s interesting!” But it’s still a little lackluster.

As a long time player whose way too DEEP and invested in Dislyte lore, characters, and world building, I was very disappointed.

I mean, he didn’t even have a hinted-at “I want” moment or off-putting conversation with the [Player] to help build it up. All the Anesidora moments literally could’ve been her talking to Embla or Hyde for all I know. I think that I needed better breadcrumbs not because I didn’t see the twist coming, but because it didn't really pay off. As if they chose him to be the villain for the sake of shock value instead of any substance. Why does he want the power? Gaius. Union Hub Director and Researcher Gaius? He was just like, “Good job, Mayor Abigail. Pot, kettle. Yes, I’m bad. AND I want a new world order. 😈😈 What'd you wish for, Sachiko!???” And was anti-climatically blasted away.

The Shadow Decree is more than just “bwahaha evil villainy because evil” kind of people and we’ve seen that several times now so there was a lot to work with. Personally, I’m anti-evil Gaius, but if they wanted to make it a bit more believable, here’s three different scenarios off the top of my head that fits Gaius’ personality and the whole fate theme going on.

1. Desperate Gaius “It’s been more than a decade of fighting and failure and bloodshed. I’m tired of seeing Raven hurt because of her [powers™] and witnessing both the Esper Union and SD fail at achieving what for mere humans and Espers is impossible. But then, I remembered Hannah’s private research from long ago all this time about [insert gate of promotion info to explain how that even cropped up]. And it was all true. Yamato finding [Player], Raven’s vision, and Abigail’s intel confirmed that even further. Hyde, not believing in [insert gate and wish stuff], had tried to counter it with his artificial esper project, but it devolved into something entirely different [insert Sieg]. But I knew if I wanted to prove it, I needed to take measures beyond just the Union’s resources. So, I reached out to Yamato and Hyde and the rest was history. Hannah told me that I could use my powers for good. With the full power of the Starlight’s Miracle Nexus, I can save this world from the havoc and turmoil the Miracles created — by making a new one.”

Or like, 2. Slightly Ominous Positivity™ Derails into Deluded Gaius, “Don’t worry, Raven and [Player]. Just as I trust you, trust me. Even if that was her final premonition, I trust that all will play out according to fate. If fate brought us [Esper Seven] together, if it brought Hannah into my life, then I know that it will lead me to where I need to be to help everyone that I can.” Slowly turns into obsessive, corrupted selfishness as he stresses over of Raven’s prophecy, learning about the Gate of Promotion does through Yamato and the Shadow Decree, corrupted with thoughts of its unlimited potential and what it can do for him; “Can you believe it? Fate brought us to the Starlight Miracle’s Nexus that can grant me the power to do anything. Raven was wrong. This is true destiny [taking all the divine power for himself]. Hannah, give me the strength to best this fate like you did for me to save everyone. I will succeed no matter who’s against me!”

Heck, even a 3. Turned His Back on the Light to Save His Friends Gaius “They’re my friends. Us Seven have been through more than you [Player] can ever imagine. So, when Hyde and Embla came to us [Raven and Gaius] with a truce and told me that we could use this power for actual good for the world... I had to make a decision. One that could change the fate of everything Raven knew, regardless of what she saw, but be our only chance at saving everything. I know Raven would never forgive me after what I did… especially to her… but as the Esper Union Hub Director, I will do anything and sacrifice everything I have to save as many people as I can, even if it means colluding and sinking to the darkest places. Even breaking bread with the dark forces I once knew as my comrades. I promised Hannah that I would help others. You need to understand that the ends will always justify the means.”

Or something like that since we know he can be incredibly selfless/borderline sacrificial when it comes to saving people close to him and up keeping this position. Also, is Leora’s backstory still the same bc I feel like she would’ve already tried to tell everyone about Gaius being a shadow councilor when she defected since she was mentored by Embla, a shadow councilor. They hold annual end of year All-Hands, for crying out loud, lmfaooo Ain’t no way she didn’t know.

I don’t know, y’all. I’m just rambling at this point.

I really needed the seasoning Gaius was missing in his life if they’re going to make him bad. He wasn’t a very compelling bad guy. 🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️

Furthermore, it felt like they potentially retrofitted the general Dislyte lore/world building for a lot of stuff?

For me, one of the biggest things was everything around the Gate of Promotion in the Nexus. “The Miracle Nexus, the source of all Miracles,” Mkay, but how did they learn about the Gates? How did Narmer and Cang Ji, dudes who LOVE researching and exploring Miracles, not find it or learn about it years before? It’s been about 10+ years since the whole Miracle-Miramon situation began when the Esper Seven explored Miracle Prime and you’re telling me that supposedly somehow only now Yamato, Gaius, Raven, Abigail and the SD know about the Gates? And if Raven’s premonition gave that info, that still doesn’t explain why everyone else knew about it before then like Xuan Pin, Abigail, and Yamato. And about the lock too. Who gave everyone this knowledge? Like, Did the [Player] character come with a manual that Yamato’s been making leaks of or something, lol? He’s supposed to be a whole ��Miracle destroyer’ and no one else is interested in that?

All in all, all I can say is that it was a choice and I had fun if I just think of it as an OVA or Isekai AU or something.

Bonus pics bc Hall’s censored for some reason lol AND my bby girl, Jiang Man, is looking cute here.

[illarian-rambling]

Hiiii can you do cake and lollipop for the sweets ask game plzz?

Already answered cake here, but I can guarantee explaining the magic system is gonna make for a chunky post, so it's probably for the best lol

🍭Lollipop ~ Explain the magic system in your WIP (if applicable)

There are three types of magic on Illaros: sorcery, book magic, and divine magic. Sorcery and book magic draw from a mystery mirror dimension called the Veil. Divine magic draws from the gods.

The Veil is intangible when standing in the material dimension. No one knows much about it, except that certain shapes can draw it through onto the material plane. Think of it like a jello mold. If the Veil finds a certain shape, it will contort itself to fit through it. The resulting new form can be any number of magical effects; anything from a burst of fire to a transfer of memories.

Runes are the most direct application of this principle. A person can draw the right shape and summon a gout of ice or fire or whatnot. This person could be called by many names - rune scribe, draftsmage, witch - but the catchall term is book mage. Book mages also can dabble in potions, which is just chemistry using naturally magical organic sources, which become naturally magical due to Veil runoff, which I'm not going to get into now. It's like magic radiation. I'll leave it there.

Sorcerers are where things get weirder. There are particularly shaped enzymes in a sorcerer's blood that act as runes and draw on the Veil. Nothing so advanced as a particular magical effect - instead, sorcerer are able to pull raw, unshaped magic onto the material dimension. They twist it into different effects by the use of sigils. Sigils are certain hand placements (always two hands) in the rough approximation of runes that allow a sorcerer to shape the raw magic into a particular spell. By summoning magic from the Veil, sorcerers burn through their Veil enzymes. These regenerate after some time, though the process of burning through them can be painful, and it leaves a sorcerer mostly* without magic for the time.

*that 'mostly' connects to more runoff stuff, which again, gets complicated, and I'm not going to explain now

The last type of magic is the easiest - divine. If a god likes you a whole bunch, and you pray for power, they might give you some. Chosen are very rare, much rarer than book mages, who are just most of Illaros's scientists, or sorcerers, which make up 5% of a population on average. Chosen are also the only mages who can heal. A sorcerer can only cast a spell they sort of understand, and biology has not progressed to the point where they know enough about cells to cast spells. Runes just aren't powerful enough for healing, regardless of not needing any innate understanding. The Illarian gods (mostly) keep one Chosen each, while other, less powerful pantheons invest all their effort into a shared Chosen.

Thanks for the ask! Maybe I'll do a follow-up about runoff and overdrawal sometime, but this post is long enough as is, I think. Have a bitchin day <3

[psychoblush]

Andor - S1E1 "Kassa" - Structural Analysis

This is a written analysis of the plotting and structure of Andor from a screen/TV writing perspective. I'm an aspiring screenwriter studying TV, film, and theater writing in college and this is my pet-project: to examine the way Andor constructs story in order to achieve certain dramaturgical effects. I hope to do similar analyses for the rest of the season as well. Thank you for reading!

This will contain spoilers for all of episode 1, spoilers for the first arc (E1-E3) and mild spoilers for the rest of the season.

Show premise

Petty-thief Cassian Andor is hunted by the Empire while a revolutionary movement coalesces across the galaxy.

Ferrix Arc (S1E1-S1E3)

Stories (Arc-wide)

A-story: When a pursuit for information regarding the whereabouts of his long-lost sister leads to him being a wanted man, petty-thief Cassian Andor is forced to do anything he can to remove himself from the attentions of corporate security, but the ensuing confrontation leads to death and destruction within his community.

B-story: (in flashback) When a mysterious starship de-orbits over Kenari, young Kassa embarks on a quest to prove himself as a capable member of his community, but the confrontation results in the destruction of his community and his abduction by off-world scavengers, never to see his family or his sister again.

C-story: Deputy inspector Syril Karn seeks to prove himself as a capable officer and a force for justice by apprehending the killer, but does so by disregarding his orders and endangering the lives of his comrades.

D-story: When Timm gets jealous of Cassian’s reentry into Bix’s life, the relationship is strained by mutual secrecy and miscommunication, leading to Timm’s death at the hands of a corporate cop.

S1E1 - “Kassa”

dir. Toby Haynes, wri. Tony Gilroy

streamed September 21st, 2022

Stories

A-story: Petty-thief Cassian Andor seeks to lay low and cover his tracks after a fatal shake-down with two corrupt cops leaves him a wanted man, but finds that his community distrusts him after overdrawing one too many favors.

This A-story is very central to the entire episode and with the exception of the B-story, all other stories causally spring from this story and end up relating to it in some way by the end of the arc.

B-story: In flashbacks, young Kassa wants to prove his worth by embarking on a scouting mission with the other “adults”, but abandons his sister in doing so.

The B-story serves both in the arc and the episode as a way to provide an elegate symmetrical structure. There’s a scene in the beginning of the primary action of Cassian’s pursuit after the opening sequence, one in the middle, and one in the very end. At the same time, the flashback serves to articulate some of the internal dysfunctions of the character, even though it takes a few episodes for it to fully manifest.

C-story: Security deputy Syril Karn wants to solve the murder of the two cops to fulfill his vision of justice, but finds that nobody in his organization, especially his boss, wants to help with his pursuit of the killer.

Here, Tony starts to flex his muscles in devising institutional drama and plotting. The main antagonistic force in the story does not operate unimpeded; he instead is faced with his own antagonism that articulates two key themes: 1) the empire stifles the freedom of those that serve it, and 2) fascist societies generate fanaticism regardless of whether or not it advances their cause or helps to maintain the preferred status quo.

D-story: Cassian’s reentry into Bix’s life prompts friction and secrecy between Bix and her romantic/business partner, Timm.

This almost functions as an addendum to the A-story, but gets its own special attention in how it chooses to articulate the Bix/Timm relationship. But it comes to have a direct causal effect on the A-story in subsequent episodes. Infact, the way causality transcends the stories becomes extremely intricate in its own right. Dramatic action becomes an emergent property of these interactions.

Scene sequences

OPENING/CLOSING IMAGES

OPENING IMAGE: Streetlights moving rapidly in the rain; Cassian in pursuit of his sister.

CLOSING IMAGE: After Kassa leaves his sister for the last time, she watches him as he runs away.

1: I./E. BROTHEL, MORLANA ONE - NIGHT (A-STORY)

Cassian enters an upscale brothel in search of his sister. When he receives special attention from the hostess, two on-duty corporate cops start antagonizing him. Cassian gets too pushy in getting information from the hostess, prompting him to get kicked out of the club and his pursuit thwarted.

2: EXT. MORLANA ONE - NIGHT (A-STORY)

Cassian tries to exit discreetly, but is held at gunpoint and shaken down by the two offended corporate cops. They attempt to rob him, but Cassian is able to outwit them, inadvertently killing one of them in the scuffle, and recovering the gun. With the tables now turned, the remaining cop tries to persuade Cassian to spare him, but Cassian kills him to make his escape.

Let’s talk about these two scenes as a sequence, because they function as one discrete unit of storytelling. Andor doesn’t do cold opens - though this sequence could very easily serve as a riveting cold open if they moved the title card to right after this scene. Being a streaming exclusive without commercial breaks, Andor also doesn’t use hard act structure with distinct act outs, even though we’ll come to see Andor as employing techniques similar to traditional TV act structure at times.

In TV writing, we sometimes encounter this idea of cold opens or opening sequences serving as story microcosms. In the sense that the structure and action of the sequence is representative, in a small way, of the way the world we see in the episode, season, and series functions. Andor’s opening sequence has him engage in a seemingly innocuous pursuit, enter a highly dangerous yet extremely familiar situation of power-tripping LEO, and leads him to make a difficult choice to escape the dangerous situation. It’s telling us that this is a world where good people have to make hard choices to survive because of the danger of the society they live in, which we will come to see in subsequent story units, is a racist, fascist, imperialistic, and capitalist society.

3: I./E. FERRIX / MAARVA’S SHIP - MORNING (A-STORY)

An extremely quick scene introducing us to Ferrix before work-hours, B2’s winning personality, and establishes the pretenses for Cassian’s flashbacks in the B-story. 

This isn’t really a real scene because it doesn’t have conflict, it doesn’t have antagonism, and it doesn’t have pursuit. But it serves as a good framing device and orients us to where we are on Ferrix.

4: EXT. KENARI VILLAGE - DAY (B-STORY)

This scene introduces us to Kenari, Cassian’s sister, and Kassa (the young uncontacted version of Cassian). We don’t get much action or context in this scene, but discerning viewers are able to pick up on the fact that this is a society populated solely by children and teenagers wearing and using old industrial equipment. Something very bad clearly happened here. We also see the mysterious ship de-orbiting, and the reaction the community has tells us this isn’t something they’re used to.

The decision to completely eschew subtitles is a pretty fascinating directorial choice and one that has gotten a lot of attention online. But It does a lot to ground the movement solely on the acting and visual language, as opposed to dialogue construction - though arguably it makes the plotting of this story a bit more sparse.

5: INT. MAARVA’S SHIP - DAY (A-STORY)

We get a short scene with Cassian where he starts to formulate a plan. We also get some indication that Cassian has a community on this planet with Bee mentioning Maarva and Brasso. In some ways, Maarva’s the antagonist in this scene because she’s besmirching Cassian to the others, even though she’s not there and it’s coming from Bee.

“Spectral” antagonist: A representation of the antagonistic force in the story by a character who isn’t that main antagonistic force. Bee’s just passing on information from someone else, but in doing so, he’s softly acting as the antagonist for the moment. We see this technique employed a lot in this episode and this show, especially since shows operating in the prestige mode often go entire episodes without main oppositional characters meeting (i.e. Cass and Dedra still haven’t met).

6: EXT. RIX ROAD - DAY (A-STORY)

Cassian convinces Brasso to spin a lie for him, but in doing so, it becomes apparent that Cassian’s sleaziness has overstayed its welcome in the community.

This is when the main sense of antagonism in the episode starts to crystalize for Cassian. Maybe once, his petty crime and hustler antics were overlooked in the community, but those days are coming to an end as Cassian’s options dwindle. That’s the source of danger, more than the possibility that he’ll be caught for the time being.

7: INT. PRE-MOR SECURITY CHIEF’S OFFICE - DAY (C-STORY)

Syril delivers the report of the double-homicide to Chief Hyne - keen on making a good impression and presenting himself as a dutiful officer, but Hyne sees through the bullshit and orders him not to investigate the murder in an effort to sanitize Pre-Mor’s crime reports under Imperial jurisdiction, leading Syril to be incredulous.

This is a great scene. It works wonderfully schematically, the scripting is stellar, and the acting is spot-on. This is the scene where I was truly convinced of what Andor’s storytelling was capable of. Syril comes in with a pursuit (deliver a report) with a deeper motivation (pursuit of justice) which is fueled by dysfunction (he is deeply insecure about his position as an officer and is desperate to please). The pursuit is met with opposition (Hyne has a completely different perspective on justice, being a pragmatist and someone who doesn’t want to rock the ship) and reversal (Hyne orders him to drop the matter and implies he wants to fire him), which leads us with a clear emotional context from Syril (anger and disbelief) which propels him into action (go behind Hyne’s back) for the rest of the story arc. It’s Emmy-worthy writing in a single scene. And it all happens in 3 minutes.

8: I./E. TIMM AND BIX’S SALVAGE SHOP - DAY (A-STORY) / (D-STORY)

Cassian comes in to convince Bix to contact his black-market dealer so he can sell his Starpath unit for a premium, but it generates friction between him and Bix because Bix assumes he’s been undercutting him. When Bix offers to buy it off him, Cassian refuses and convinces her to make the call. Timm expresses resentment for Cassian’s past with Bix - when Cass tries to dissuade his concerns, Timm gets more jealous of the two of them.

This scene’s also a banger. It has a complex shape - the danger is threefold: Cass doesn’t want Bix to know what trouble he’s in, he’s externally threatened by the sense of fear he has over being caught, and neither Bix nor Cass want Timm to discover the extent of their black market side-hustle. Bix is an antagonist to Cass, Timm is an unknowing antagonist to both Cass and Bix, and Timm thinks Cass is his antagonist. It’s great, and from here the causality gets pretty wild.

9. EXT. KENARI VILLAGE - DAY (B-STORY)

Kassa tries to go on the war march by joining in on the face-painting, even though he knows it means abandoning his sister. An older boy tries to stop him from participating, but the older female leader lets him join, prompting him to paint his face the same way she did.

This is a good scene with sparse plotting befitting the style of this story. The antagonistic force is the sense that Kassa should stay with the community and be with his sister, while the pursuit is that Kassa thinks he’s of more service if he leaves with the war party. The two antagonists are his sister and the older boy. Kassa gets what he wants in this scene, like he does in all the scenes this episode. This is because this story functions on an inverted sense of danger: the closer Kassa gets to what he wants, the more dangerous things will be for him. So the stakes are actually higher if his actions aren’t opposed very firmly. His dysfunction drives the story forward, with opposition deferred until it gets extremely bad in the third episode.

10. INT. PRE-MOR CORRIDOR / AIR TRAFFIC OFFICE - DAY (C-STORY)

Two security workers laugh and greet Syril in the hallway - Syril’s awkward response causes him to feel isolated. Syril corners the air traffic controller into reviewing the logs for him, but when the controller expresses apathy over the matter, Syril threatens him into compliance by invoking his authority.

GREAT LITTLE SCENE. It illustrates dysfunction: Syril is lonely, all he has is his job and a black-and-white view of morality and justice. It shows him acting transgressive to get what he wants, specifically by abusing his power over others. And it articulates the antagonism the same as the previous scene with him: what he perceives as laziness and apathy is what keeps him from getting what he wants.

11: EXT. FERRIX BACKALLEY - DAY (A-STORY)

Cassian is cornered and hustled by Nurchi, a local to whom he’s greatly indebted. Nurchi attempts to intimidate him with the help of Vetch, but Cassian is able call Nurchi’s bluff and escape from the situation.

It’s a good scene, really short and sparse. Thing to track here is that the town is becoming increasingly hostile to him and he’s generally unliked by folks.

12: I./E. TIMM AND BIX’S SALVAGE SHOP / FERRIX STREETS - DAY (D-STORY)

Bix is cagey about where she’s headed when Timm asks. Bix leaves, Timm attempts following her but quickly loses her trail when it’s clear Bix knows the streets better than he does.

13: I./E. PAAK WORKSHOP / RADIO TOWER - DAY (A-STORY)

Bix goes to Salman and Wilmon Paak’s workshop, asking to use the radio. Bix radios the buyer to come to Ferrix.

I put this as A-story because this scene has more to do than the previous one with Cass’ situation than the friction emerging between Timm and Bix.

What’s important about this scene is that it clues us into a larger underground network on Ferrix - Salman, Bix, Cass. It's a community where folks otherwise look the other way at this kind of stuff. Otherwise it’s sparse, no conflict, no antagonism.

14. INT. PRE-MOR SECURITY HQ - DAY (C-STORY)

Syril recruits the main security IT staff to help him apprehend the killer, but the staff express a general unwillingness to help him - both because they don’t care and because Syril doesn’t actually possess the authority to sanction an operation like this. Syril bullies the staff into compliance, telling them to put out a notice for the killer on Ferrix, despite the lack of authority Pre-Mor has there.

I like this scene, it plays slightly double-beaty because Syril is employing the same tactics as before on different staffers, but it also establishes it as a pattern. Syril advances unopposed in this story - especially in the context of later events, we know this is because we need to see him get into danger faster. It's another example of inverted danger.

15: EXT. PEGLA’S JUNKYARD - DAY (A-STORY)

Cassian tries rewire the ship he borrowed’s transponder codes, but in trying to justify his actions, pisses off Pegla and tells him he’s no longer welcome to take out favors from him.

This is a pretty lowkey scene, but it’s the closest we get to a crisis/climax moment for Cass in this episode. I’ll talk more about why that is later; it refers specifically to the way Andor modulates story in ways that work distinctly from other TV shows. Still, it has everything a scene should. A pursuit/tactic, opposition, reversal. And those elements push the story forward in more dangerous ways, as we’ll come to see in the next two episodes.

16: EXT. KENARI VILLAGE - DAY (B-STORY)

His sister tries to plead with him to stay, but Kassa leaves with the other war party members - promising to return for his sister.

Yeah, this bookends the episode. The episode begins with Cass in pursuit of his sister, the episode ends with Cass leaving his sister, never to return for her.

What do we hear Bix say of Cass in the last episode? “Cass always comes back.” It’s a gut-punch.

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

Andor is a show that functions in a strange and specific way compared to a lot of serialized long-form narrative TV. Andor uses episode as building units to articulate larger discrete units of story within the season. In this sense, Andor’s “pilot episode” (I put this in quotes because most streaming dramas don’t have pilots) isn’t really the first episode, but all three of the episodes in its first season story-arc.

The way I was taught TV, is that all three-act narrative hinges on the elements of set up, play out, and pay off. Andor’s three tri-episode story arcs - which I will call the Ferrix Arc (S1E1-S1E3), the Aldhani Arc (S1E4-S1E6), and the Narkina Arc (S1E8-S1E10) - all hinge on this principle of modular three-act structure. Kassa doesn’t have a typical hard crisis/climax because it isn’t really a complete self-contained episode of TV. I suspect that’s also why the Ferrix Arc was ultimately aired all at one, as opposed to one episode at a time.

Still, Kassa is a strong and capable episode of TV because it demonstrates the strengths of Andor’s storytelling: the principles of causality, dysfunction, and institutional characterization.

causality: the chain of events in story that facilitate and heighten dramatic action in a linear manner. Andor shows us the investigation of the murders that happened in the first sequence - having the action of earlier scenes spiral into increasingly dramatic and complex action in subsequent scenes. The way the D-story with Bix and Timm loops into stuff that happens in the next two episodes is absolutely exquisitely done. Later in the show, the fallout of the Aldhani Arc is central to all of the action that happens in the second half of the season.

dysfunction: a character’s internal dilemma, ideology, or experiential understanding of themselves and the world that makes them operate transgressively within the world of the narrative. This is sometimes a character flaw, but can also be a sense of righteousness that puts them against unjust actors within the narrative. Cassian’s dysfunctions have to do with his desire for self-preservation and an easy payday, Syril’s dysfunctions relate to his inability to live up to his idealized notions of justice, and Timm’s dysfunctions come from the feeling that he can’t be as close to Bix as someone like Cassian can appear to be.

institution: the man-made structures that characters navigate within the story world and define the shape of the narrative. These institutions function as characters in their own right; Pre-Mor has as much of an effect on the narrative as a character like Cassian, as does Ferrix’s tightly knit working class community. And in subsequent episodes, we’ll look closely at how the empire’s administrations and power structures have material effects on the world. This principle is why Syril and Dedra spend much more time fighting their own institutions than fighting Cassian or the rebels. It’s a story about how highly-motivated actors navigate the challenges of their environments; dramaturgical complexity is almost an inevitable emergent property of this paradigm.

This episode and the one following it are among the least-tightly plotted of the season, but there’s still some intricate stuff. There are little moments in scenes where a single line provides an oppositional reversal that redirects the character’s trajectory for the rest of the episode. This isn’t a testament to Kassa’s weakness, it’s an appraisal of how Andor as a whole is a narrative that benefits from emergent complexity. When things go on for longer, more moving parts are in play, the story can move in unpredictable and highly dynamic ways. It’s a staple of prestige TV as a mode and Andor’s first season executes it exquisitely. With that being said, a lot of fans tend to underwrite the first arc of this season. And while I agree that it is personally my least favorite, it’s still really well-done. In the same way Andor has three tri-episode arcs, this is the “set up” one, and it does a lot of heavy lifting that allows the show to play uninhibited in future episodes. Don’t underwrite this one.

Thanks for reading! Let me know if there are any questions about terminology, theory, or just about the show in general, or my interests as a fan and writer.

[melmac78]

A PSA, now that I got my refund back:

If you have any bill that’s a direct pay from account either:

Draw from savings if you have more than the full amount of a payment plan,

Or - if not,

Flag your checking account to have it where the account cannot be deducted into a negative balance.

••••••

I say this because due to a glitch in this group’s system, I had my entire furniture amount deducted instead of $133/month (more then I have to, but in reason to cover bills).

For the past 3 weeks I’ve lived off one check and one month emergency funding instead of having 3 month’s.

I’ve gotten that one fixed (it has too weird a due date I just feel better doing autopay), but it isn’t fun trying to work out what’s more important bill wise and what you can consider dealing on interest wise. (Though only one I can double down on it just leaving the minimum this month - it’s an installment plan of no interest paid off by x month). The others I’ve since paid the full or one at $100 instead of the $85 to get it paid early.

I’m speaking as someone who was fortunate to have parents help me learn good banking and checking.

These screwups do occur: a system glitch can overdraw, human error, etc.

I just hope this helps someone in the future avoid frittering if they’re going to have to pay rent in a CC to simply be on time. (This could still occur with be pending if I have to wait a day for this check to clear - it’s I think possibly above the same day threshold - and when rent is due).

[ghostfruits]

Is there anywhere I can get like, full color comics of the ENEMY series? I love them and I love the colors but I remember back when enemy 001 was first released it was just black and white (totally understandable, also someone threw in a sketch with it on a chunk of cardboard and it was so sick) and was just wondering if you had found like a publisher or something.

this is a sumwht layered answer

those was phntm red & blu im pretty sure, me & mikah made them at like, staples, with like, zero planning, when mikah came 2 my house we did not even plan on doing any gf shit we was just regular kicking it and then we ended up doin it anyway. they was black and white bc we did 1 in color and realized very quickly it would just straight overdraw my acct to make like more than 8 of them so we compensated for tht fact by making like 100 additional things tht went inside of them, including like, tht cardboard chunk, and probably some yugiohs we vandalized. there was one where itwas like a guy holding 2 swords and mikah wrote "damn i got both" on it

2nd ring

enemy 1-4 is all physical & they have been sold out for a grip. i have like, Some, we went thru like a lot of them doin convention shit and store shit and whatever. i have been like waiting to determine wht th interest in like a reprint of them would be like & we wanted to do a bunch of like weird shit to them i wanted to do a variant thing for 001 at minimum w francines ghost on it insteads

3rd ring

i kinda wanna make

a fourth phntm

we wrote a bunch of phntm adjacent stuff or like stuff tht woulda required sum1 to have read any of those to like fuck with it but also enemy wasz inherently a kinda soft reset for us and iunno how many niggas ever touch any of tht shit or like remember it if they did. i dunno how many niggas even fw hammerdog like tht now and tht used to be our fuckin. megahit. tht was our lose urself for a grip and now its like prolly girbaud or slime miner or sum typea sumn. weve remade or expanded a bunch of stuff for enemy & i wanna glue all th phntms together and do sum like 140 pg freakshow nebula ultra thing with like 6 new ones at th back end of it. i wanna do dogmisers 2

u can tell im not lying when i promise nebula gon circle back cuz we suck our own dick this crazy behind a 3 issue run prolly a hundred niggas total ever read

i answered ur question but it probably wasnt helpful in the way u were hoping for

[minarcana]

okokokokokokokokok im in here im gonna do things the next couple days when its my weekend. im gonna queue so hard. ive been talking about supernatural creechur verses with yara and behold heres the them. u should let me know if u want to write with them..... ->

urianger- vampire. this ones been a verse. he lives within a library and has found and adopted ryne instead of thancred finding her. has a very bad habit of starving himself bc he doesnt like harming people even tho hes capable of eating without killing. rip. hes been around for about forever and maintaining his library slightly less than that

laurel- succubus. she eats emotions and sex and amplifies any emotions she feeds on, which can be Bad if people get addicted to it or she goes too far. mostly shes a traveling demon who craves little a snackie bc she keeps overusing her magical energy and needs to feed on feelings to refill.

rusia- fairy shapeshifter. they are studying how to blend in with different species. basically the exact same vibe as their normal self LOL

gaius- werewolf. artificially turned, abandoned to deal with it on his own after overdrawing his strength, failing the army, and being presumed dead. having a terrible time, as per usual, just furrier.

[aliciachimera]

Personal thoughts tonight

I suppose I don't really Want neverending happiness. I know that sometimes we feel sad, we feel angry, we feel scared, we feel things as a response to the world around us, and to what's inside of us.

It's hard getting a feel for what I need And having the ability to address that need. Its cold outside but I don't shiver, I get anxious instead. If I'm hungry my stomach doesn't growl, I get anxious instead. If I'm sleepy I can't just lie down in bed and sleep, I feel anxious in bed until my body is too tired to stay awake.

The changing of seasons feels a little more difficult for me to adapt to this year. Its not just the cold, the hunger, or the restlessness. I feel like I operate on time limits all the time, like there's always Something that needs doing on the back of my mind even when I try to relax and its been wearing me down for a very long time.

Sometimes I feel.. afraid of how well my friends have been doing. Of the things they're doing, what they're able to do for themselves. Its self-destructive to compare myself and my position in life to all of them and feel subpar for it. Legitimate reasons for needing to take my own pace start feeling like excuses, and the feeling of inadequacy sets in as I struggle to grow against the odds given to me. Beautiful blooms and bounties to share with each other, while I struggle to make a garden out a desert, long deprived of its water and resources.

With my mother in mexico, I haven't been disturbed as frequently which is supposed to feel nice, but the past few days I've been feeling more tired than usual. Hard to fall asleep, hard to get up out of bed when I do wake up. I think about my family and I just feel empty inside because I sometimes remember the good times we used to have, in between a lot of the bad and traumatic. There was a time where I felt like I could feel close to and trust my parents even amidst their fighting. And that didn't last. My dad Wants me to talk to him again but I am so, so tired of trying to argue with him about my life choices. About my gender, my sexuality, my dreams for the future. There was a point where it felt like it was me and my older sister working together and being there for each other when the rest of our family weren't. With my sister moved out, and my mom spending significantly more time with her relatives than expressing any interest in me, I just feel.. alone more often than not. The husk kept alive by online experiences, friends, and the hope for a future where I don't have to be so isolated anymore.

I struggle to save up money, and its becoming an increasing issue as each month goes by and I lose string after string of dependence on my parents for things like insurance, shelter, and food. I need my own insurance, which starts next year. I pay rent, but I ultimately want to save up my money before attempting to move out. And food, I don't know, I just, get tired of looking at so many things that I just have to pass on, leave behind because its just cheaper to get the same things week after week.

I used to feel afraid that every time I fell asleep, it'd be a different person waking up in my body. Nowadays, that feels like a blessing, a promise that maybe I really Can leave behind all of this trouble, and actually start living for myself without the cumulative financial destruction caused by each of my family. I would never have cosigned for my mother's car if she was going to stop paying for it and let it get repo'd, damaging my credit score. I would never have let my dad make me sign up for a school I didn't personally want, and get a loan in my name to pay for it that I'm now struggling to pay 5 years later. I would have never helped my older sister with her payments by overdrawing my bank account almost every two weeks and leaving very little, if any, for myself.

Everything I did, I did to appease them, help them, make them happy. And all I got were blames, shifts of responsibility, that I'm on my own, now. They won't help me. They can't.

I'm Alicia, I'm 26 years old, and I believe there's a better life out there for me somewhere.

[katyspersonal]

Should actually consult someone who is an expert in Victorian torture surgery tools to know what specifically to hang on his belt instead of tossing random stuff, but I still need to throw an idea of what he was wearing in Research Hall

(Also not me overdrawing a sketch of the shield only to realise it’s been the wrong angle AFTER I finished ;-; rip)

[gwydionmisha]

The Boomers Keep Finding New Ways to Endanger My Housing

So good news and bad news on the illegal "Special Assessment" all wrapped up together. For those following on Tumblr, I'd been waiting for the money for the third payment to arrive at my bank account after I transferred it on the 4th, so I could pay the third installment. I couldn't transfer it until the monthly housing auto-withdraw went past or risk my benefits because that would exceed the $2000 limit. My bank said paypal hadn't sent it when I called them. I got a live person at paypal who said it would be sorted today.

There was still only bill money in the account. This time my bank was able to go back further for me. (They were limited database when I'd called before).

HOA stole the whole third installment instead of taking the regular housing payment without informing me or sending a receipt. as of last Friday, their obnoxious customized "Portal" did not have any category for Illegal special assessments, nor did it show the payments for it in the regular legal housing payment category. (I discovered this evening it now does both.) My Social security in toto is significantly smaller than the third installment of the illegal special Assessment. This massively overdrew my account, wracking up fees, none of it anything anyone let me know about.

The operative word here is "Instead of." The Math doesn't add up. They did not take monthly housing. The email they sent threatening to auto-withdraw all accounts owing said it would pull on the 17th, whether we wanted it to or not. By my Math I now owe them the housing payment they did not take last week.

I would need $300ish more to cover the rest of housing I don't have, plus the auto-insurance autowithdraw.

This leaves nothing for bills at all, with is likely to be another 300-400, as I just had to over extend credit for gas for errands and medical stuff this month. I think I can float this part a little while, but January is also a month with extra bills in it and February is the other big semi-annual housing bill, so it's just going to keep getting uglier.

This is so cruel and exhausting and none of it didn't need to happen if the Boomers hadn't been set on (allegedly) wasting the emergency fund on a non-functional security theater fence they put up without asking anyone instead of doing necessary repairs to the buildings with the emergency funds, or if the HOA would just have taken what they were supposed to take and waited until I transferred the third payment as we agreed they would do.

So here I am stuck again, because I'm pretty sure they will overdraw me next Tuesday, causing cascading overdraft fees at the bank.

I hate to do this, but it's been one disaster after another this year, in large and small ways, and this absolutely blind-sided me. Twice.

If you can help: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/Gwydion

[kawaoneechan]

i thought the depth buffer just affected performance, not visuals? like doesn't it just prevent/minimize overdraw?

Okay so

A depth buffer does indeed help prevent overdraw. You can technically¹ draw the ground, a rock, and a tree behind that rock in any order and it'll basically Just Work.

Without a depth buffer, the program code itself must take care to pre-sort the ground, rock, and tree into the correct order. And that means if the viewpoint were to circle around, at some point the tree should be sorted in front of the rock instead.

You know that flickering effect when a character would almost bounce in place as an idle animation, arms in an "L" shape ready for action? You know how these characters would have completely separate meshes for each part of their body instead of using vertex deformation like they do nowadays?

Combine those two paragraphs and you'll understand why in the crook of their elbows, the forearm and upper arm would so often show Z-fighting.

If I remember correctly, the PS1 had a buffer with a depth of only one bit that merely indicated "something has been drawn here". Without any depth information. Sounds rather useless.

Of course, all the above is off the top of my head and it's 23:16 as I finish writing so take all of this with as much salt as you feel it needs.

¹: This is ignoring things like anti-aliasing and translucency. I should know from a little experiment I recently did in Project Special K.

[vanillabalanceme]

Vanillabalance

Savvy Spending: How To Effectively Manage Your Vanilla Prepaid Card

Managing a Vanilla prepaid balance card effectively involves understanding its features and implementing smart practices to maintain control over your finances. Here are some essential tips to help you make the most of your Vanilla prepaid card:

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Opt-In for Alerts:

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Email or Text Alerts:

Sign up for these alerts to stay informed about your spending and ensure you never unexpectedly run low on funds. This proactive approach helps you avoid overdrawing your account and lets you plan your expenses better.

Stay Informed:

By receiving regular alerts, you can monitor your spending habits closely. This awareness not only prevents financial surprises but also encourages responsible budgeting.

2. Register Your Card

Online Registration:

Registering your Vanillagiftcard online offers several advantages. It enhances security by associating your card with your personal information, making it easier to track and manage.

Lost or Stolen Cards:

Registered cards can typically be replaced if lost or stolen. This crucial benefit protects the remaining Vanilla Card balance on your card, ensuring you don't lose access to your funds unexpectedly.

3. Track Your Transactions

Keep Receipts:

Saving receipts from your purchases is a practical habit that helps you reconcile your expenditures with your card balance. This method serves as a backup in case of any discrepancies.

Review Statements:

Take advantage of online or mobile app access to your transaction history. Regularly reviewing your statements allows you to verify all charges and identify any unauthorized transactions promptly.

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Understand Fees:

Familiarize yourself with the fee structure associated with your Vanilla prepaid card. This includes potential charges such as monthly maintenance fees, ATM withdrawal fees, and any other applicable costs.

Avoid Fees:

To maximize your card balance, use it judiciously to minimize unnecessary fees. Choose fee-free methods for transactions whenever possible, such as using in-network ATMs or opting for direct purchases instead of cash withdrawals.

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By implementing these tips, you can maintain financial control, avoid unnecessary expenses, and make the most out of your prepaid card experience.

Stay informed, stay proactive, and enjoy the convenience and security that Vanilla prepaid cards offer for managing your finances.

[hardyorange]

Basically no, because over here they don't put our transactions through fast enough for that to be an option at most banks. Instead, charges to your card could be pending but not processed for a full day or more, so by the time the bank tells you that you've run out of money, you've already completed another purchase.

This gap in processing time allows our banks to do something even more insidious, though. Let's say you had $100, and make three purchases while out shopping. The first is for $25, the second is $50, and the third is $150. That means you had enough for the first two purchases, but not the third one. In theory your card should get declined for the third purchase, but instead the payment goes through and you overdraw your account.

The bank charges a fee for every purchase that overdraws your account, and sometimes charges more for additional overdrafts. The first one is $5, the second is $10, the third is $25, etc. (I'm making these fee numbers up, it varies a lot). Okay, so you made one purchase that overdrew your account and have to pay one fee, right?

Wrong.

The bank uses the processing time to reshuffle that day's purchases so that the largest purchases get processed first. That means the $150 goes through first, then the $50, and finally the $25. Since the $150 is immediately more than the $100 you had in your account, you get a fee for that transaction, and then another two fees for the $50 and $25. At our hypothetical bank, you aren't paying $5 in fees, you're paying 5+10+25=$40 in fees!!!

That's horrible and feels like it should be illegal, but it's hard to prove banks are doing it on purpose. That's why this change matters so much. Yeah, people would still be overcharged, but $9 is way less than $40 or whatever people are currently being charged to line their bank CEO's pockets.

cannot stress enough how insane it's making me that we're witnessing some of the best domestic policy in decades at the same time as the worst foreign policy atrocity since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

[iloveschiaparelli]

I am officially in debt to my bank (I don't own a credit card). Duolingo charged me 83 dollars for a 1 year subscription so before it hit my bank I moved all my money to cashapp. Thankfully my refund request was approved, but then I had to pay my rent and there were a bunch of other charges so now the -amount in my bank account exceeds what I'm holding in my cashapp.

I have leftover stock from going to otakon artist alley and I have some plants in painted pots so I'm thinking can earn money quick by

Attending the punk rock free market on Sunday 1 week away and just selling everything that I can. Not just art prints and buttons but plants & YA books too (I have leftover volumes I've been trying to get rid or including a signed copy). I can HOPE that people will like my stuff enough that I'll make 1-200 and be able to pay my bills but also have enough stock left over to pay for more. It was a $700 investment to stock my art business and if I sell everything now and don't put anything back in, i wont ve able to invest that amount again.

Doordash (includes taking -70 psychic damage) even though my area is SLOW and I probably won't make back that amount even in an afternoon

My mom owes me a $150 loan that I haven't asked her for yet. She probably forgot so that will be a hassle to obtain. I originally asked for the loan to pay for Otakon 2024 table if I get in, but I've been waitlisted and as it is right now, even with a loan from her I wouldn't be able to afford the table or the lodging costs. The downside is that then I would be in debt to my mom instead of the bank and it wouldn't actually be clearing any debt. But, then I wouldn't have to worry about my account closing or being charged overdraw fees.

Back to the punk rock market thing, I could sell family heirlooms including a couple of sarees I got from family members. I think one of them is that fancy silk(?) And they're both hand embroidered/woven so they would each go easily for 100+ if not several times more. But that is a TERRIBLE idea. I would ask my aunt for money before selling those. But I also have a Japanese jewelry box and a sword and some cool rocks just auugghhhhhhhh they're all either special gifts from people or i have a super emotional attachment to them. They could go to the pawn shop also IG or some antique seller i just don't. Want to. This is a last resort option.

I have a job, but there has only been $500 worth of work for in the last month because of problems upstream of my boss. I cleared out my savings last month and this month and the only reason I have money right now is because of the $200 in forgotten cash/from my grandma. I paid my rent and insurance for June so I have a little bit of time before it hits the fan but I'm about to be in big trouble if I don't start making money FAST.

Ive been aching for another part time or alternative full time job but my area is just Not Really Hiring right now and I'm not the only person who has been beating themselves senseless trying to find employment. Being autistic doesn't help because I can't do some jobs or I'll burn out within a week.