#prix op

[districtxii]

Thoughts upon finishing The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Spoilers unmarked ahead as it's been out for a while and the title of the post warns for them.

As I've mentioned in my other few posts about it so far, I came into TBOSAS as a movie-only watcher despite having been a book-first person back when the original Hunger Games films came out.

I've got to say that when I heard the idea of a prequel about President Snow which included a love story, my tumblr-raised self wasn't particularly interested. I remember seeing the book display at Walmart when it first came out and not really having time or interest at the time.

However, the movie trailer caught my attention, and I'm really glad that it did.

I am happy that TBOSAS, while having a single POV character in Snow, switched from first person narration to third person. I remember reading meta years ago that I wholeheartedly agree with. While one can make the argument that the "blindspots" one gets in the original trilogy themselves make a point, having a slightly more zoomed out, third person point of view just feels better for the scope of the story. As an English teacher, I can't help but feel like it's a little more mature, too.

But without the movie, I still don't know if I would have ever picked up this book in audio or visual format.

Funnily enough, looking back on the first four Hunger Games movies, I actually don't like them as much as I like the books for the most part. The visuals are good in parts, but I do not like the casting philosophy that was used. I sort of hope that we are around long enough to see remakes as a prestige miniseries or something like that.

Back to thoughts on TBOSAS: I remember seeing a few kind of poorly produced (sorry lol) thinkpieces on websites like ScreenRant that were insisting that you weren't getting the full picture from the movie, that the movie made Snow too sympathetic, that you have to understand he's a monster because he views Lucy Gray in an objectifying manner or because he gets Sejanus killed.

I think that those takes have a point. However, I think that they also miss the nuance of the narrative, and I am not even suggesting that the prose is particularly deep or esoteric. Just that people love to be reactionary.

What I saw in Snow's character throughout the book was someone who was warring with various philosophical and personal dilemmas without having anyone he ever really trusted to talk through it.

There are moments with Lucy Gray and with Sejanus when Coryo almost opens up completely. When he has real conversations with them. But, like Katniss, he is a traumatized person who has a lot of baggage which makes him strategize and behave defensively with every decision he makes.

If anything, Coryo is LESS closed off than Katniss is at first throughout most of the story.

I couldn't source it, but I distinctly remember reading someone suggest that they believed that Coriolanus became irredeemable when he got Sejanus killed. However, reading through his internal conflict about the decision to snitch on him was one of the times when I found Coriolanus the most human and relatable. He was torn in every direction. He is someone who is deeply propagandized into a fascist regime whose family has a personal narrative of power and meaning within that regime. He also believes that the Capitol is necessary and better than the alternative. He wants Sejanus to survive and to change his mind. He wants him to stop putting himself in danger. He wants him to stop implicating Coriolanus by association. And yet, Coriolanus does feel responsible and tied to him, however much he hates it.

Coriolanus defends himself from emotional attachment and the cost of loving anyone, romantically or platonically, as a defense mechanism.

It isn't until he works himself into a frenzy and narrates what Lucy Gray must be thinking out at the lake in the end that he finds himself so utterly alone in his own head that he has no choice in his mind except to give into his colder side that he associates with his father, the Capitol, and ruthlessness.

Interestingly, a running theme throughout the book - without ever being explicitly stated in these exact words - is that Coriolanus is irreligious and doesn't believe in gods, rituals, or an afterlife. Every time someone brings up the stars or fate or performs some kind of ritual associated with passing on an even in the scene where Lucy Gray sings about the hereafter and therebefore, he can't help but internally scoff at the idea. He holds himself as more enlightened than those who believe in such superstitions.

But then, when he is all alone and trying to navigate his way back to District 12 with his father's compass, he starts to believe that there is some kind of spiritual guidance and blessing from his father, whom he never even felt close to except as an idea.

I think that Coriolanus's internal journey is an exploration of opposites and the divide that Lucy Gray describes and how evil is rarely even a boundary over which one cannot cross back into good from. It's just that, at a certain point, Coriolanus cannot bear the weight of his own guilt and misgivings if he ever turns back to a "better" path.

On the subject of Lucy Gray: I've got to say that I thought the book was effective in showing Lucy Gray as someone with dimension and depth that Coriolanus saw glimpses of but never really fully understood. Had he stayed with her and not needed "civilization" so much, I believe he would have learned to see her as more and more of a full person. However, the way she is written in the book, it is really hard for me to get a mental image of her at all.

Again, I think that this is perhaps intentional as a part of this format of the story. However, I find that I appreciate Rachel Ziegler's portrayal of Lucy Gray so much because without it, I'm not sure I would find that much to emotionally invest in. This is actually quite the opposite, as I like my mental image of Katniss far more than JLaw's portrayal lol.

Anyway, those are my wrap-up thoughts.

[imprixnt]

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - SnowBaird 100x100 icons

Cross-posted from my Hunger Games sideblog @districtxii

Making icons primarily for dreamwidth, so they're 100x100 pixels, but you can use them. Due to their size, they will appear pixelated when zoomed in on the post, but if you right-click and look at the images themselves, they have been sharpened and optimized for appearance at 100x100. If you feel like giving credit or interacting with the post, I would appreciate it!

[overtake]

he's back :)

[stariightjoyy]

Lando and Oscar getting ready for the first qualifying for this season 🧡

📸: McLaren X account

[isawthesainz]

mclaren Mood.

[arom-antix]

Why Yuuri (before 2017) should not be allowed to write an autobiography

Okay, to those who might not follow figure skating as closely, I just need to point out that Yuuri, despite what he insists (unreliable narrator), did not do badly in the Sochi GPF.

We know from the flashback in episode 5 that Yuuri during his free skate fell on at least two of his jumps and touched down on one and it can be assumed he didn't do too well on his others. He says in episode 4 that he falls on jumps and makes up the gap with Program Component Scores (how artistic it was) which can also be seen on the protocol from his short program where his PCS is higher than his Technical Element Score (how technically sound it was). This is not how those scores usually relate except in certain cases (see Jason Brown, also known for his high PCS and (relatively) low TES though this is by choice).

This is Yuuri's short program protocol. If you don't know how to read this then all you need to know is that his total score was 82.80, 40.42 of that being TES and 42.38 being PCS.

Now, to relate that to the real world, in the 2015 Grand Prix Final, Daisuke Murakami scored a total of 235.49, scoring 83.47 in his short program and 152.02 in his free skate and placing 6th. As we can see, that's pretty darn close to Yuuri's score (82.80 in the short, 149.79 in the free, 232.59 total) and I would not be surprised if they were inspired by his scores since they're also PCS centric.

Sidenote: Looking at Yuuri's PCS here and comparing them to Murakami's, Yuuri's are higher, not having anything lower than 8.00. Based on the fact that he was likely very off-kilter, I'd say this is still a very respectable score (duh, Yuuri just can't accept that he's good). Boyang Jin who took 3rd in the short, 5th overall in the 2015 GPF had way lower PCS scores.

Anyway, here's Murakami's free skate protocol.

Murakami has 8 jumping passes in his free, 7 of which he lands with a two-footed landing on one and a stepout on another. He only falls ass on ice like Yuuri does once on his second quadruple salchow (which was supposed to be a combination. The << and REP are explained at the bottom of the protocol). He does not touch down at any point. Otherwise his jumps look fine to me, most of them barely having any ice spray and only his 3Lz+1Lo+2S combination getting a warning for an unclear edge.

If you don't know, falling is (kind of) the worst mistake you can make on a jump and the judges are required to both give a certain negative GEO (grade of execution) and a deduction of 1 point. Other mess-ups just give negative GEOs.

Murakami's FS score is 73.26 TES and 79.76 PCS which would mean Yuuri's scores are likely very similar. But he fell on two jumps, not one meaning his PCS would likely have been higher to make up the difference.

And if Yuuri's insinuation that he flubbed all his jumps in some manner is true (which I find highly unlikely, have some confidence) and he missed elements by either popping (opening too early which costs rotations but saves you from a fall) or just not doing them, his PCS would have needed to be even higher to make up for that.

Missing elements, like popping a double, triple or quadruple axel into a single (at least one double is required), results in that element not being counted at all. Zero. Zip. Nada. You get nothing for it if you can't make up for it later in the program. Even falling on a jump is better because that's at least a few points. So if that happened, he'd have a big gap to make up with his PCS.

To sum up: with everything that could have gone wrong for Yuuri, this is still a very good score, even on the international scene. And to highlight that, Murakami is happy when he finishes, even fist pumping.

And yes, there was still that 103.17 point gap between Yuuri and Viktor which is the same (okay, 94.95) for Murakami and Yuzuru Hanyu who took gold in the 2015 GPF. But, and I cannot stress this enough, Hanyu broke 3 world records with that score meaning Viktor likely did as well. No wait, scratch that, I know he did because Hanyu's score was 330.43 which Viktor beat by 5.33 points. Of course it's not going to be even close, are you kidding me?

Looking at the World Championships in 2016, Yuuri would, with that 232.59 score, still have taken 11th place. He'd have taken 16th in 2023 and that's with a single quad (I don't trust his quad salchow yet) in the age of quads (and that quad being the one with the lowest base value). I'm positive he'd have been able to do a Jason Brown whose PC scores are so good that he in 2023 placed 5th without a single quad and would have placed 3rd in 2016. Now, take that and throw Yuuri's quad toe loop and some confidence in there and you've got a Worlds podium finish before the series even starts.

And then in the season the show is in, he has his quad toe loop, quad salchow and quad flip. He might even have gotten the quad loop down in the 3.5 months between the Barcelona GFP and Worlds. I definitely see a world champion on the next level (if they'd give us it >:[ )

And scores always get higher over time, the world record having gone from Hanyu's 330.46 in 2015 to Nathan Chen's 335.30 in 2019 still standing in 2023 which is still less than Viktor's Sochi GFP score (335.76) (yes, the system has changed since 2015 but it's close enough that it doesn't really matter in this context. Viktor is OP no matter what).

Really, the fact that Yuuri's in the GFP at all should be all we need to know that he's insanely good. It might not technically be Worlds but my stars, Yuuri, it does basically make you 6th in the world.

BE. PROUD.

[sewellove-deactivated9782]

miami gp 2023

[violentdelightsandviolentends]

mclaren love being able to say “we’re fighting for both championships” without ever actually taking any action to fight for both championships.

it’s boring now, all talk and no action. tiring honestly. it feels like andrea stella and zak brown are watching an entirely different championship to the rest of us. it really says something when these podiums which should be celebrated just feel so disappointing

[brinelakes]

mm mario kart

[bright-and-burning]

oscar las vegas 11/15/23 👍

[brooklyn-dion]

Trouble at RB for Riccardo?

By Brooklyn Dion April 7, 2024

Going into this weekend I was hopeful for Daniel Riccardo. The eight time grand prix winner has shown in the past that he has a place in F1. But these last few years have proven difficult for the driver.

In 2022, he was let go by McLaren and replaced by Oscar Piastri. Then in 2023, he spent the first few races as a third driver for Red Bull. After doing PR for the team he was given the chance to drive for the Red Bull junior team, Alpha Tauri (now RB).

When the news came out that Daniel was replacing Nyck De Vries, I was excited to see what he had to offer after his poor performance at McLaren. To say that I was happy to see the old Daniel back was an understatement. I was more than happy to see him finish ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda in his first race back. This excitement was somewhat tempered by Daniel’s crash at Zandvoort where he broke his wrist and was out for the next few races until his comeback at Austin.

Now, looking back at his results from last year he placed ahead of Tsunoda in three of the six races he was able to compete in. A spectacular drive in Mexico landed him seventh place and at the end of the year he finished 17th in the Drivers Championship with six points.

Going into this season I had expectations to see Daniel scoring points and being competitive. These expectations have not been met at any of the four races this season. In the last four races Daniel has been out-qualified by Tsunoda and has yet to score a point.

Does this spell trouble for the driver? After last year's rumors that he could potentially replace Red Bull driver Sergio Perez due to his performance last year compared to his performance this year I would say so. Red Bull is notorious for dropping drivers that don’t perform. We saw this last year when they replaced De Vries with Daniel and with Pierre Gasly back in 2019.

The pressure is mounting after Daniel's crash at Suzuka on Lap 1 with Alex Albon. Daniel has admitted that his run so far this year is not the same as his run with McLaren. The driver has said that he knows the issues he’s having with the car and that he’s working with his engineers to improve them.

With thirteen drivers contracts, including Daniel’s, out this season there is potential that we won't see Daniel driving for RB next year. With the competition for a drive being at an all time high from the drivers within the sport and upcomers from the lower categories, such as Oliver Bearmean, it’s worth paying attention to.

If Daniel does not show increased performance with these next few races, I expect that we can see him not having a drive for next year.

Credit: Frederic Le Floc’h/ DPPI

[districtxii]

screencaps from kissthemgoodbye

Can I just say how much I like the design of the Academy uniforms in the movie?

We get the impression from the book that the Academy dress is based on older western standards of formal dress attire, with Coriolanus trying to wear ill-fitting dress shoes which are, understandably, not part of the issued uniform since they would need to be replaced more often.

I don't have deep insights about the costume design or my perception of its history, particularly about the accuracy of any of my thoughts, but I think it really works with the idea of Panem being a futuristic but reconstructed, post-apocalyptic society.

They hold America as a more recent but still-distant regime from which they're cherry-picking elements , just as they are with their recovered knowledge of Ancient Rome. They are people who have managed to obtain power and are trying to use everyone else's old homework to get it right to maintain that power and control.

I like that it reflects both conservatism and a kind of attempt toward progressive gender equality by including what used to be defining gender differentiating clothing as overlapping clothing for both young men and women. It feels like someone reenacting something or play-acting something which they have understood and partially understand or which they might have misunderstood.

I just have to wonder about the in-universe development of such an outfit, since it largely doesn't seem to be reflected by the style of dress in the Capitol as of the time of TBOSAS before the Capitol had quite returned to a freer sense of indulgence, consumerism, and prosperity as of Katniss's time.

[imprixnt]

Night Drive - carrd.co tumblr navigation page (preview)

Inspired by night-driving in the rain. I hate this activity, but sometimes I get nostalgic for driving to Taco Bell in desperation to feel something.

This is my very first attempt at doing something like this for distribution, though I used to play around with customizing tumblr themes for myself in the past. Basically, I was motivated to make a basis for a navigation/tags page based on what used to be popular on tumblr before tumblr started to disallow JavaScript, making many previously beautiful and useful codes impossible to implement unless you get lucky with tumblr support.

If you're familiar with carrd customization, this is absurdly easy to manipulate and change to your own liking. I just found this very old gif and liked it as a basis for a background. (I looked but unfortunately couldn't find anyway to attribute it as it's all over the place online from more than five years ago.)

Requirements

This template requires at least a Pro Lite subscription to carrd.co ($9/year - referral code here, if you like) due to the number of elements used. Any link-heavy site would require at least this much on carrd.

Instructions

Carrd has most of the instructions included on the interface. In some cases, I have tried to make things clearer by adding a tumblr link to the 'path' section of anything that is a link that you need to change.

Navigation - currently set as a link back to your tumblr in lieu of a back button. If you would like to keep this feature, type in your tumblr url where it says: https://URLHERE.tumblr.com

Tags - For each specific tag link, you will also need to add your URL and your tag where it says: https://URLHERE.tumblr.com/tagged/TAG

Sections - Each section corresponds to a category label. I did it by columns. You can change this to whatever makes sense to you, but right now:

TV Shows - section01

Movies - section02

Pictures - section03

Gifs - section04

Personal - section05

Music - section06

They're all arbitrary and have just got to match up to the path you assign.

Each section example contains a different number of tag buttons so you could see what different distributions would look like. They're mostly drag and drop and very customizable. I included one that hits the 'overflow' point so you could see what it does there, but it is possible to keep making the buttons wider to prevent this to a point.

How to Get

Use this link. I set it as a Pay What You Want link because I am an underpaid English teacher in Japan. If you're an adult and find this useful, I would be really appreciative if you threw a dollar or two my way. if you're a minor or in a bad spot financially, have fun for free.

As I learn more, I might make more, for free or cheap, if anyone is interested.

How to Implement

Instead of installing a custom page, the way I wish we could effectively still, use the option to add a page but make it a link to your card with this template in use.

Thanks!

Buy/Get Link: https://carrd.co/dashboard/account/library/buy/5371570f3b4b41e6

Preview Link: https://152c518dff5e174c.demo.carrd.co/

Referral Link: https://try.carrd.co/6s84vwkk

[haywire4]

staring at maps and decided to improve the monaco gp circuit by finding places where you could theoretically pass a car

hit the first left after turn one and bypass the casino entirely, then hang a right and hit a narrow, but long DRS zone along boulevard de moulins/italie, then go through some mid/high speed corners that will look good on camera

then finagle around the weird elevated roundabout on the french side of the border, and follow the twisty road down to to boulevard de larvotto, and hit another long, *very* narrow drs zone before bearing right onto a street that takes you up to the shopping mall

after that, take two lefts and rejoin the normal circuit (maybe go the wrong way around the roundabout before the main tunnel so you get more of a run up at it)

there are some problems:

a lot of arguments for preserving the monaco gp circuit as it is boil down to tradition, and making the track longer than spa isn't very traditional

a bunch of roundabouts and medians with trees in them would have to be flattened and replaced with movable planter boxes. many useful pedestrian blisters would also have to be eliminated and replaced with removable solutions

boulevard de larvotto would have to have its sidewalks converted into additional tarmac for the road, with removable curbs to delineate pedestrian areas on non-race days, otherwise it's straight up macau width through there

even with the widening of boulevard de larvotto, you might end up having to implement special overtaking rules where you straight up just stay in the right lane unless you're hitting the DRS, it is very narrow

also, the stretch of boulevard de larvotto/avenue de grand bretagne would effectively be a straightaway as long as the main straight at fuji but only 2-3 car lengths wide, which would be frowned on by anyone who cares about safety

the biggest obstacle would be the bit where the course briefly crosses the french border, which would be a bureaucratic nightmare thanks to this tiny city-state's existence

outside of these minor details i think it would be fun

[formulaheart]

i listened to a bunch of the driver onboards yesterday and it was absolutely chilling. there is no reason race engineers should spend the entire race talking their driver off a cliff. i have never heard that many distressed radios in one race.

someone could have died.

franco wishing to switch to wets only to get denied causing him to crash. ollie saying it’s dangerous and he’s trying not to die.

oscar normally so calm and collected constantly radioing in distress. fernando who’s been here longer than anyone saying there should be a red flag. all the other drivers having no visibility, having trouble staying on, saying it is dangerous, and the race should stop.

the stress of this race isn’t “who’s gonna win”. it’s “who’s gonna crash/hit the wall/collide with another driver/spin out”.

i’m thankful no major injuries came out of that, but if there were, it hurts more that it could have been preventable. says a lot.

safety is never a joke. death is never a joke. these are real people with lives.

someone could have died.

[isawthesainz]

oscarpiastri Think I’ll just keep declaring every race my home race