lmamp

[lmamp]

Post #4

I’d like to briefly speak about a slightly disturbing trend I’ve noticed in large platforms such as Twitter and Reddit. This will be part of a string of more political posts I’ll be making (expect a post on Tiktok and Congress soon because oh boy, I got stuff to say). I just want to get my thoughts out there and I am by no means an expert. This is mostly going to be a rant about my issues with what I view to be “capitalism, but worse than usual”, aka owners of large companies screwing over users in hopes of making larger profits. Also, to be clear, while I don’t think I could call myself a socialist, I do think it’s the superior system, at least for the time being. Alas, we are stuck in this capitalist nightmare. Alright, enough waffling. Let's begin!

So, for simplicity’s sake, let's make something clear: there’s what capitalism wants to be and then there’s what capitalism is. Capitalism wants to be a merit-based system that rewards those that put in the work. On paper, this is not a bad idea. You work hard, move up in the system, and get paid more. You come up with innovative ideas, move up in the system, get paid more, and then have more opportunities to innovate. Sounds fair. The problems start with the fact that not everyone has the opportunity to enter the system. I could go on and on about the ways the system pushes down and punishes poorer people, especially minorities, but I want to focus on how it disproportionately rewards those who are born into money. Trust-fund babies can win simply by being lucky enough to be born into a family that was already rich, and these families got rich by exploiting workers and stealing resources (hi Elon Musk Emerald Mine, how’s it going? Yeah, I didn’t forget about you). 

Full disclosure, I bought into the “Elon Musk is a genius” narrative when I was younger. I have sung his praises. But now, with Tesla cars having a predisposition for catching on fire and Twitter alienating advertisers left and right, I regret everything. Elon Musk probably is a very smart person: IQ is somewhat of a bullshit metric of intelligence, but I do think that it says something that his IQ is 150-155. For comparison, Einstein’s IQ was 160, and Einstein was a genius who made leaps and bounds in his field, and to argue otherwise makes you look stupid. But god, he is an idiot businessman. His choices while running Twitter have been baffling. I’m not going to pretend that I’m a genius at business but when your main source of revenue for your company comes from advertisers and you then make choices that alienate those advertisers, I’m going to wonder what you’re thinking. The rollout for Twitter Blue was just as much of a mess. We all know what happened to Eli Lily’s stock. How this genius man (who is also very familiar with how shit-posting and trolling works) could not have predicted how this may have gone bad is inconceivable. Furthermore, the never-ending waves of bad takes from users who have bought into the blue check is at best annoying and at worst nauseating. Not only is he alienating advertisers, his main sources of income, but he’s alienating users too who hate how polarizing the site has become. I literally could not use the site without seeing something vilely misogynistic, racist, homophobic, or transphobic. I deleted the app yesterday because I couldn’t stand it anymore (Which reminds me, I really want to talk about digital self-harm at some point). 

Reddit is another good example. What the hell is going on over there? Well, basically moderators like to use third-party tools to moderate subreddits. However, Reddit is instituting changes to its API (Application Program Interface, which basically allows moderators to use third-party programs to moderate) that creates a paywall to use these tools. This completely screws over moderators and their ability to moderate. And to be clear, most moderator teams are unpaid volunteers who want to serve a community they care about. So, subreddits are going private en masse in protest. It’s pissing off users. I don’t even use Reddit and it’s making me pissed. These moderators are volunteering their time to communities they care about and Reddit, in the name of making more money, is basically cucking them. And they know this! Their API was designed to make moderators’ jobs easier because they knew that they needed tools to manage their communities. If they really cared about their platform and wanted to weed out third-party programs they would create their own tool for moderation. But no, they instead decided to put the burden, both labor-wise and monetarily, entirely on the community. This also stifles the creativity of these third-party apps which will be forced to shut down due to the monetary constraints the company is placing on its communities. “Capitalism encourages innovation!” we are told and then watch as the system literally forces innovators to shut down their projects because they cannot keep up with the increasing demands for profit. These third-party tools were created out of love for a community, and lo and behold, it all turned out to be for nothing. People play by the rules and what do they get?

This is what capitalism actually is: profit over everything. People do not matter: they are at best an inconvenience and at worst an active nuisance, but they are always a cog in the machine. Elon doesn’t care about his users. Steve Huffman, the Reddit CEO, does not care about his users. It is always about profit. This is only the beginning. The internet will become increasingly hostile to its users as companies continue to harvest data (which is an entirely different and dangerous issue) and create policies that put profit over people. Enjoy reality, for you are not a human, but a cog in a machine you cannot even fucking see.

Note: If you disagree with any of this, please feel free to give me a comment! Keep it respectful of course, but I love engaging in discussion. Also, if I got anything wrong let me know! I’m no expert and even if I was I’d still probably get something wrong. Also, a lot of the ideas expressed here were informed primarily from this article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/reddit-blackout-1.6873756. It’s a good read and tackles not just things going on at Reddit but also things happening at Twitter, Twitch, Facebook, and Instagram.

lmamp (1098 words)

#post 4 #reddit

[lmamp]

[lmamp]

I spent the last 2 years working on spider verse and I can't believe it's over and I'm seeing it in cinemas now.

[lmamp]

Post #3

Hola. Just gonna jump right into it. Spoilers ahead of TOTK if you care about that.

Today I’m going to talk about Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and how it was the first video game to make me cry. I’m not joking. I know it’s cringe. I’m cringing. 

Lets get the biggest talking point haters (ew) like to bring up when discussing this game: “It’s the same game as before!” Okay yes! Congrats, you noticed the obvious. The art style is the exact same as in Breath of the Wild. HOWEVER, it is not the same game, not even close. Several key mechanics from Breath of the Wild (the rune function) have been completely scrapped in favor of several new functions that allow players to express themselves through their own unique playstyles. In Breath of the Wild you were somewhat limited in the ways that you could play. In Tears of the Kingdom there is no limit and I think that sets it apart from Breath of the Wild. Furthermore, Tears of the Kingdom is so, so, so much larger. Not only is the overworld brimming with new things to do, but the Depths and the Sky Islands provide the player with new places to explore. The Depths are especially huge and somewhat overwhelming. The entire game (especially at first but even now) is somewhat overwhelming in sheer scale. In Breath of the Wild I always knew exactly what I wanted to do next. In Tears of the Kingdom I was somewhat paralyzed by the opportunities presented to me. I have never felt this way in Breath of the Wild, even at the beginning. This, combined with the unique ways players can play the game makes the game almost feel like a sandbox with a story that you can experience, but you don’t have to in order to get the most out of the game.

Speaking of the story…

It, specifically Zelda’s story, made me cry. The majority of it is told through flashback sequences that the player experiences by finding Dragon Tears scattered around Hyrule. They detail what happened to Zelda after she was transported 10,000 years into the past and took part in the first Sealing War. While she and her comrades manage to seal Gannon away, her three friends and most likely chances at getting home die in the process. So she sacrafices her sanity and basically turns into an immortal dragon and proceeds to wait 10,000 years for Link to show up and hopefully find a way to transform her back into a human. 

Okay, so why did this make me cry? Well, it was probably due to the sheer amount of trust that Zelda put into Link during that moment. While we, the player, control Link’s actions, Link is very much a character separate from us and has his own relationships that we get to experience through his eyes while we play as him. This includes Link’s relationship with Zelda. We know from the previous game that he and Zelda has a rocky relationship, as Zelda projected her inability to access her own abilities onto Link, who seemed to fill his role without much effort. By the end of Breath of the Wild, their relationship has fully smoothed out and by Tears of the Kingdom they seem to be living together and are very close. Whether this is in a romantic sense is up to player interpretation (and I interpret that it is romantic lol). 

But the fact that Zelda waited literally 10,000 years for this blond twink to show up, having so much faith that he would be able to save the day, sacrificing her sanity and humanity to wander Hyrule for 10,000 years. Ten. Thousand. Years. I can barely sit still for 10 minutes. 

Anyways. It made me cry.

Yeah, that’s all. Bye!

lmamp (646 words)

(Edit: I don't think I adequately expressed that these characters, specifically Zelda, mean a lot to me. Zelda, whose favorite flower is the endangered Silent Princess, Zelda who fought Gannon for 100 years until Link finally woke up, Zelda who waited 10,000 years for Link to find her, Zelda who never felt like she could live up to her potential as the princess of Hyrule and the inheritor of Godlike abilities, Zelda who only wanted to make her father proud. I don't know, her story just means a lot to me. That's all.)

#post 3

[lmamp]

just remembered that technically everyone can see these and not just my father (who told me to do this btw). i hate being seen.

#if you’ve noticed the dramatic writing style #i do it cause i think it’s funny #and because he probably thinks it’s stupid #haha

[lmamp]

Another day, another post. I am on a roll! Shall we?

I didn’t read the book from last time today, so I’ll be gushing about my favorite Webtoon Nevermore and Edgar Allan Poe (I swear they’re related). My profile pic is a screen grab of one of the main characters, Lenore. Just in case you were curious. I think it’s pretty. 

Nevermore is a gothic romance set in a boarding school for those who have died. If you do well enough at Nevermore Academy (the name of the boarding school) and get enough merits, you get a second chance at life. Only one person is going to get that chance, however. Everyone else goes to the Land of the Dead. And, no one remembers who they were when they were alive. Once you start to remember, however, you have the potential to unlock a Spectre, which is basically a ghost that has powers. Students use the Spectres as a leg-up within the school. Simple enough of a premise, until you consider the characters involved. Enter Lenore and Annabel, two students who meet during the first episode. It’s very clear that they care for each other, for reasons that elude them until they start remembering who they were in life. The extent of their relationship while alive is still a mystery, but there is plenty of room for speculation. The subtext (and just the text in general) however, is clear: they were definitely close. Still, only one person can leave.

Thus begins the game the two must play. Annabel will keep the other students and the deans of the academy distracted so that they won’t target her or Lenore, while Lenore must find another exit out of Nevermore Academy. The problem is, while Annabel is great at games and plays them well, Lenore has mixed feelings about leaving the friends she has made while at the academy to lose themselves in the Land of the Dead. It’s made worse when the reader (and Lenore) is made aware that Annabel doesn’t really care about anyone else except her and Lenore and the life she believes they were unjustly taken from. This begs the question as to how exactly they died.

We know Annabel died on her wedding day because of her Spectre being the Lady in White, a woman betrayed on her wedding day. But betrayed by who? And why? We haven’t met Lenore’s Spectre, but we can assume they died around the same time based on their arrival at Nevermore Academy. So how did Lenore die? So many questions! I like mysteries though, so I love it. 

The comic is kind of infuriating because it’s a brain worm. I swear I look forward to its Thursday night updates more than I look forward to Friday itself at this point. And it’s so pretty. I’ve already said this, but I can say it again, and again, and again. I’ll put some pictures on here too.

Okay, but how does Edgar Allan Poe fit in? Well, the comic is based on his poetry. There are a few excerpts from some of his work sprinkled throughout the panels. It’s caused me to read some of his works as well. It’s so delightfully morbid. I’ll put my favorite one below. 

Cheers, dear reader!

lmamp (548)

Ah broken is the golden bowl! the spirit flown forever!

Let the bell toll!--a saintly soul floats on the Stygian river;

And, Guy De Vere, hast thou no tear?--weep now or never more!

See! on yon drear and rigid bier low lies thy love, Lenore!

Come! let the burial rite be read--the funeral song be sung!--

An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young--

A dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young.

"Wretches! ye loved her for her wealth and hated her for her pride,

"And when she fell in feeble health, ye blessed her--that she died!

"How shall the ritual, then, be read?--the requiem how be sung

"By you--by yours, the evil eye,--by yours, the slanderous tongue

"That did to death the innocent that died, and died so young?"

Peccavimus; but rave not thus! and let a Sabbath song

Go up to God so solemnly the dead may feel so wrong!

The sweet Lenore hath "gone before," with Hope, that flew beside

Leaving thee wild for the dear child that should have been thy bride--

For her, the fair and debonair, that now so lowly lies,

The life upon her yellow hair but not within her eyes--

The life still there, upon her hair--the death upon her eyes.

"Avaunt! to-night my heart is light. No dirge will I upraise,

"But waft the angel on her flight with a Pæan of old days!

"Let no bell toll!--lest her sweet soul, amid its hallowed mirth,

"Should catch the note, as it doth float up from the damnéd Earth.

"To friends above, from fiends below, the indignant ghost is riven--

"From Hell unto a high estate far up within the Heaven--

"From grief and groan, to a golden throne, beside the King of Heaven."

Lenore, By Edgar Allan Poe

(I apologize for the quality of some of these. I swear the art is insane, tumblr may or may not deliver on that)

(Also they're so hot and cold. Very Katy Perry, very dramatic, very nice, I love it so much)

#post 2

[lmamp]

First Post

I've always been a writer, but now I find myself with the goal of making one 500 word blog post about anything that interests me, and I will do this every day until I go back to college. Such a task is not daunting, at least on paper, but I worry I will run out of things to talk about. Regardless, I begin.

I started "This Is How You Lose the Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. It had been sitting on my desk for a little over a week and I figured I should pick it up. Time travel is always different in different forms of media. This one treats each change in the continuum as a different branch (called "strands" in the novel). The strands can be woven together and broken apart depending on different actions taken in various strands. It's fascinating. It appears the space-time continuum can bend and bend and bend without breaking completely, although that may not be the case as I continue reading. I imagine strands eventually come to a close, as most things do.

Time travel is such a difficult concept to wrap my head around. It would require not just bending time, but also bending space. It would require us to literally revert the space around us back to a time when it was different. Going to the future is even more confusing, as it would require us to create a space that doesn't even exist yet. At least going back in time feels a bit more plausible in my head, and for what it's worth, the novel doesn't have any time travel to the future (as far as I know). There's also the question of continuity, though the novel does actual address this when the protagonists are corresponding with one another.

I still don't know how these waring sides started fighting, though I have a feeling it had to do with competing ideologies. I also don't know how they are time traveling either, though they probably both have their own, separate methods, as indicated by the text.

The protagonists navigate a very fractured world and an extremely uncertain future through various forms of meddling in the past to win what seems to be a never-ending war. For two characters that are part of these amorphous collectives, and named after prime colors, they certainly have a lot of personality. Looks like they'll fall in love at some point. While the novel is intriguing it's also a little straight-forward in that sense.

I like time travel stories, in part because I'm almost constantly wishing that I could go back and time and fix something I messed up or redo an interaction that was unfavorable. However, if my invention of time travel led to a time war then I probably would go back in time and convince myself that it was all a very, very bad idea. But would that mean there's a strand where I invent time travel and a strand where I didn't? Who knows

Until next time (ha!)

lmamp (505 words)

#post 1