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paellegere · 3 days

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final thoughts: supernatural season 15

holy shit. i did it. i finished supernatural. i actually finished it a couple hours ago but i'm still having trouble processing it. i've been working at this for six months (but with a one-month break back in december) and i'm finally finished. honestly i don't think i really believed i would do it because shit this show is long, and i am not predisposed to enjoy shows like this. so this is a huge mark of pride for me, that i can finally say i did indeed sit down and watch all 327 episodes of supernatural :)

anyway all that to say i hated this season with a passion lmao, hasta la vista baby ✨

honestly i think i'll end up keeping this short because frankly most of my criticisms boil down to

how did you fuck up your own lore this badly

holy plotholes batman

this is so disrespectful and irreverent toward kripke's supernatural

nothing about this writing makes any kind of sense

well, that's convenient (in the most boring way imaginable)

so it's basically just a game of spin the wheel and see what it lands on.

the season started super weak; the concept was bad from the get-go and executed only to a mediocre standard, so i couldn't help but cringe my way through it. rowena's death was really well done, but her character was never well developed, in the same way most side characters on this show are never well developed, so while i appreciate the care that went into that scene it felt rather empty. it made me regret how poorly and inconsistently written she was. and yeah most side characters get this treatment—hell, cas gets this treatment which is why i don't care about him much—but she had such a provocative death scene that it had me lamenting that she didn't get a better foundation and better development. alas, that's just what it means to be someone other than sam and dean on supernatural.

after that was... the eileen subplot. i do really like eileen despite her being a rather flat and uninteresting character the way most women are on this show (y'know, kickass independent "girl power" women without nearly any other significant personality trait), but i really didn't appreciate the substantial pivot sam took from dean-focused to eileen-focused in this season. yes, season 12-14 did go to great efforts to make sure this wasn't The Sam And Dean Show anymore, but season 15 is so dramatically incongruous from even 12-14 that it just boggled my mind. the sam/eileen stuff was a major part of that, and it just didn't feel good because it was one more nail in the coffin with regards to how little the showrunners respected the foundation of the show (y'know, "the epic love story of sam and dean"). the only real salmondean moment in the entire season was the 7-minute incest speech in the finale—like what? i couldn't even properly enjoy that because of how poorly it was set up, thanks to the four seasons of retconning their relationship and making it less important to the series overall.

anyway all that to say, they had this massive sam/eileen subplot and then nothing even came of it. sam didn't even call to check if she was alive after jack resurrected everyone? he didn't meet up with her on screen even once? like if you're going to give him this season-long romance with someone other than dean, you could at least have the balls to commit to it. i find that just. godawful writing. eileen didn't have to be sam's blurry wife or anything, but he should have had some kind of resolution, literally anything at all, if we're meant to believe she's in any way important to him. c'mon.

more incongruous moments: dean got weirdly angry in this season. like what's with episode 17 man? there is nothing about dean in that episode that feels even remotely in character. from "jack's not family" to dean pulling a gun on sam, it all felt wildly overblown, way too melodramatic and sudden, and just not anything dean would do. yeah he's an angry guy, but???? this was too much, even for him. and the whole jack argument between sam and dean made me roll my eyes hard. because how do you expect me to believe that after all of the developments up to that point, that

dean wouldn't consider jack family. first of all that's stupid, dean drops the f-bomb on literally anyone he thinks is useful to further his goals. second of all it contradicts the bond they've formed since season 13, and it no longer fits with the parallel themes set up between sam, dean, and jack. it undermines what's been established, what's been developed, and what jack means to them on a thematic level. so so so stupid. cannot stress how dumb this move was. it just felt like the writers pulling out yet another OOC moment just so they can conveniently move the plot in the direction they wanted. so annoying.

sam and cas are equals in dean's eyes. like that's just hilarious to me. the last time cas died dean got sad for a little bit and burned his body on a pyre. the last time sam died dean committed suicide. these are not equal reactions. and sam and cas have never been equal to dean because dean always chooses sam over everyone, again evidenced in the series finale. so it was just hilarious for this one episode to pretend like sam and cas could ever be equal.

of course season 15 did really push a destiel agenda in the most unexpected and bizarre way. like wow, and i thought seasons 12-14 were a totally different show. no, season 15 is so much worse than that. i have absolutely no idea why they made the choices they did with this season, but they were not good, they routinely disrespected kripke's foundations of the show, and they ignored every theme ever laid out up until then. all for... what, exactly? so dean and cas can have a weird little non-romance together for 18 episodes only for them to slip wincest back in at the end? what's up with that? no like seriously, what were they trying to do here????

i told my friend this earlier, but i do think it's funny how cas's death speech is just straight-up factually incorrect regarding dean. i'm 100% fully willing to believe that castiel was blinded with lust by dean winchester that he simply made up some guy in his head who looked like dean. and that will be my headcanon going forth because wow it's shocking and funny as hell how much he got wrong while waxing poetic about dean. "you're the most selfless man i know" when kripke spent 5 seasons pounding it into our heads how fundamentally selfish dean (and sam, obviously, but the speech is about dean) is. girl what are you saying. dick so good he rewrote dean's basic character traits to be more convenient to him. i respect it truly i do.

anyway the finale. i hated it! to absolutely no one's surprise. a few days ago i wrote out what i thought would have been the most thematically cogent endings for supernatural. i knew what actually happens, obviously (hard to miss tbh), but my resolve on this front was only strengthened by actually watching it. yes the 7 minutes of incest were very nice and compelling, but... wow. this episode has some of the worst pacing i've ever seen in my life. dean died halfway into the episode? and the rest of that was... a sequence of short scenes that are too drawn-out to be a montage??? like there was no tension, no buildup, and no setup for what they did. it felt so lazy and underdeveloped, lacking any kind of poignancy or thematic cohesion. and then i had to watch TWENTY MINUTES of half-baked scenes of dean in heaven and sam growing old. i wouldn't have hated this ending so much if they had better pacing, i'm serious. like the outrage i feel is predominantly because of how badly it was written. the concepts aren't good, but they were par for the course. but TWENTY MINUTES OF MONTAGE. A MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH WITH NO EMOTIONAL BUILDUP, WHICH ACTIVELY CONTRADICTS THE THEMES OF THE SHOW. WHAT!!!!!!! WERE THEY THINKING!!!!!!!!!!

anyway i disliked that a little bit.

so overall i pretty much hated every part of this season and there were very, very, very few redeeming features sprinkled in. it's fine though! i'm fine. it's all over now :)

a few brief thoughts on the series overall: i regret ever speaking badly of kripke's supernatural; i didn't know how good i had it until it was gone. in hindsight, a lot of the seasons i thought were dogshit were actually not the worst things ever—i just didn't realize how bad bad could get. i know now. i will carry that knowledge with me forever.

dramatics aside, i honestly did enjoy watching the show. as much as i hated so many of the writing choices, the plotholes, the retcons, the way the writers just handwaved away anything inconvenient and rewrote characters entirely just to force them into the story they way they wanted them—it was still, like, fun. the agony was enjoyable (things masochists say). i think it helps that the fandom at large generally agrees that the writing is bad; it gives a sense of community and solidarity in the misery. there's no uneasy disconnect between myself and the rest of the fanbase, and that honestly does make all the difference. it's fun to suffer together, and i don't regret watching this show one bit :)

so with that said, here's my final ranking for every season:

season 1 (thematically strong, tight writing, incredible vision, truly foundational in its establishment of overarching themes, tone, and genre)

season 2 (such an interesting plot which builds on what was established in season 1. this is where the meat of the show is, where the heart is exposed to daylight as the chest is ripped open)

season 3 (well written, though disappointing in some areas largely due to kripke dropping the special children plot thus leaving a hole. not very noticeable due to the good writing, but still there. i'll never forgive them for killing off henricksen)

season 4 (this is the first real drop in quality imo, but it's relatively insignificant. the writing feels more meandering, and the tone shifts rather drastically away from the horror of its origin. the introduction of angels destroys a lot of the religious anxiety that formed the foundation of the show, but at the same time introduces a fantastic story about fate and doom)

season 5 (same as season 4, but with the flaws a bit more glaring. castiel's unclear motivations and underdeveloped shift in perspective are a major point of contention for me; i don't think it was handled well and could have been written better to make him a stronger character from the get-go, possibly allowing him to be a better character in later seasons instead of the conflicting mess we ended up with)

season 9 (the writing is atrocious, but the vision is so good. i still don't know how they managed that. they had such a great idea and they took kripke's supernatural and expanded on it in such a satisfying way. it drove me crazy! but holy shit the actual writing is so bad)

season 8 (i feel largely the same about 8 as i do 9, but i just think the writing was overall worse. it does get brownie points for having benny in it, though)

season 10 (boring. boring and paced so, so, so badly. the sole redeeming feature was how committed it was to its vision. it has the exact opposite problem as season 6 in that it has too little content to fill out the season. but god, the vision. you'll hear me waxing poetic about the season 8-10 vision on my death bed)

season 7 (it did a lot to pave the road for seasons 8-10 which i can't ignore. it also got itself fairly settled after the mess season 6 was and didn't try to bite off more than it could chew. i didn't love it, but it had a lot of moments that were provocative and interesting, and it provided pretty good setup for season 8. the writing was not good, but i think that goes without saying)

season 6 (introduced really interesting ideas, but tried to cram so much into one season that it failed to deliver satisfying payoffs for any of its setup. soulless sam was an interesting exception and really redeemed it for me)

season 12 (12 and 13 are about equal for me because i hate the plots, i hate the intense diversion away from The Sam And Dean Show, i hate the writing, i hate the concepts, etc etc. but they both introduce supporting characters which show off new and interesting sides to sam and dean: mary in 12 and jack in 13. it allows for focus to stay on sam and dean's relationship a little longer even though they're no longer generating any organic conflict between them, so i appreciate that at least)

season 13 (i fucking HATE the apocalypse world. that is my deciding factor between seasons 12 and 13. also i hate what they did to mary here)

season 14 (honestly an inoffensive season. i still hate the writing way more than anything else pre-12, and it doesn't have the benefits of a new character introduced to provide external conflict between sam and dean, so while it was relatively inoffensive it was also boring, lacking, and really obvious how little the writers cared about maintaining sam and dean's relationship as the emotional core of the show)

season 11 (the writing all things considered wasn't the absolute worst thing i've ever seen, if i'm being fair. on the other hand, i hated everything about this season conceptually, and i hate that it vouched for christianity as the ~one true religion~ which again undermines kripke's original series. this is me being petty and i'm okay with that)

season 15 (see above. oh but i'm honestly surprised it managed to surpass my ire toward season 11. like honestly it's impressive because i hold a massive grudge toward 11 which should have been insurmountable. a feat has certainly been achieved here!)

anyway. i said this wasn't going to be long but then i just kept on writing and writing. because that's what i do. i never learn 😔 i'll end it here then. i intend to go back and rewatch seasons 1-5 now that i'm finally finished, so i'm looking forward to that. i want to see if my rose-tinted glasses that i've been looking at kripke era with are based on reality or simply a longing to return to less terrible times :P

#liveblogging: supernatural #oh my god o h my god <3 #i did indeed rank every season from 1 to 15 in here. for funsies #spn reviews #.txt

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a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire · 4 months

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I finished acotar a while ago and I was gonna write a review right away but then christmas happened and I was pretty busy and wanted to enjoy myself so youre getting like two weeks late

It was fine, I really didnt have any strong feelings about the book itself. Like, my main complaints are that it was pretty boring and directionless for most of it and stuff thats mainly related to the next books, if I just look at it as a standalone I would describe it as "not for me, but not that bad"

That is, until we get to Under The Mountain, where everything just gets really stupid and convoluted. That whole section, which is a solid fourth or fifth of the whole book, severely clashes with the sweet fairytale romance that came before it. It reminds me of how all those twilight-knockoff trilogies in the 2010s would have two pretty low-stakes books worth of basically only romance with some weird magic sprinkled on top, and then in the last book it would turn out that the protagonist and her beloved need to Go To War or the world will end except even worse (also now that I think about it, the first three acotar books also seem to be structed like that, so youre getting two shitty plot structures in one. yayyyyyyy)

There was literally no reason for all of that happen, it was honestly just unpleasant reading about Feyre, who had spent the book recovering from her trauma in a way that was genuinely pretty nice to read about, being tortured for three months until she was feeling worse than she ever had before. And some people might say "oh, thats the point, its meant to be tragic" but it didnt feel like tragedy, it just felt tonally dissonant. Also, the entire ending was so weird and dragged out, like that bit where she and Tamlin are staying one last night UTM for some reason and then she talks to Rhysand before they finally leave and its like, BRO dont stay in the Palace of Torments for any longer than you have to, just leave through that portal-tunnel thing

Speaking of Rhysand, he wasnt that bad in this book but Im sure my opinion on him will change. The main thing that sticks out about him is how sjm simply could not resist ALREADY explaining all of his motivations and portraying him as someone whos obviously so noble, despite all the obviously horrific and completely unecessary shit hes doing. Like, theres that scene where Rhysand crushes that guy's brain when Amarantha ordered him to crush his mind and the narration goes "that was actually an act of mercy from Rhysand" ??? that mightve worked better in third person limited where youre working without the implication that the prose is the pov character's actual thoughts, but since its first person and meant to be Feyre's thoughts I was just like "why is she thinking that when she should be thinking 'holy fucking shit, i just signed my life over to a guy who could squish my mind like a grape if he wanted to?!?!?!!'"

Also, theres that scene where Rhysand comes into Feyres cell to "escape from it all" or whatever and he basically monologues to her about his sympathetic motivations and I just. sarah, girlie, you shouldve saved this shit for the second book. Like, rewrite the scene so that he just comes in eithout a word, hes totally unresponsive to Feyre insulting him or trying to ask him what hes doing here, he just sits down in the corner, knees pulled to his chest, he mutters something vague about just wanting to be left alone, maybe he's even got tears in his idk. I think that would be a far more effective way to have him be sympathetic in a more subtle way than just having him monologue his tragic circumstances and noble intentions at Feyre

Thats about it so far, I'll probably start reading ACOMAF in january when winter break is over and I can read it on the bus and in class again

#anti acotar #anti sjm #thorns and roses liveblog #book review

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capfalcon · 7 months

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im gonna watch the thing about harry, which is apparently about two ex high school enemies who r gay. this is promising

#whooo #block jordan reviews if u don't wanna see me liveblogging this #jordan reviews #the thing about harry #if this ends sad im gonna be UPSET

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phoenixyfriend · 1 year

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Those Economics/Architecture Videos I've Been Bingeing

But eating less bandwidth than the previous version of this post.

This post has 100 links, because that's how many tumblr lets me add before it refuses to save the post anymore. (Legacy editor allows up to 250, but then I would have the colors.)

A lot of these are about NYC, because that's my personal main focus, but there are a few others. Also, I have absolutely no training in this field and only started watching these a few days ago but Ya Girl Is Bingeing and Really Loves Edutainment. All the descriptions are my own, btw. I'm not looking to gain clicks or references, I want you guys to know what you're getting into.

I was not involved in creating any of these videos, but it did take me over a week to watch them all and decide which ones to include, how to organize, and how to describe the contents.

I cannot speak to a lot of the deeper issues touched on, and do not agree with all the political or economic points brought up in these videos (as this is a wide range of people and topics), but they are by and large a good look at much of an industry that most people, myself included, don't know enough about, considering how crucial it is to our lives.

I'm open to channel/video recs but there are a few I ran into that seem well-done but have an audio quality I can't work with, so that's... unfortunate.

Stewart Hicks - Chicago-based, professor of architecture at the University of Illinois

Why Skyscrapers Are Losing Their Tops - Stewart Hicks - The general history of architectural styles for skyscrapers from the 1930s to the near future.

Why Do Architects Insist on Using Flat Roofs? - Stewart Hicks - Compares and contrasts the strengths and weaknesses of flat vs gabled roofs.

How Buildings Changed After the Eiffel Tower - Stewart Hicks - Thirteen minutes of history on structural engineering in bridges and skyscrapers.

The Bewildering Architecture of Indoor Cities - Stewart Hicks - Goes into the planned and unplanned variants of this phenomenon, which ranges from giant buildings intended to act as an entire community, to the unplanned network of underground tunnels or overstreet enclosed walkways that let people cross blocks upon blocks of a city without having to step outside.

How This Tower Barely Touches the Ground - Stewart Hicks - Addresses the engineering behind 150 N. Riverside in Chicago, and the zoning laws that caused its rather unique Y-shaped base in the first place, along with the requirements causing things like custom giant I-beams and necessitating a barge to host the crane since they had nowhere to anchor one on the ground.

How Chicago is Being Unbuilt: Back to Nature - Stewart Hicks - Explores the ways in which Chicago is undoing prior urbanization, and implementing some new eco-friendly infrastructure and various projects.

Why We Should Live in Our Office Buildings - Stewart Hicks - More and more office buildings are standing empty. With movements towards more mixed zoning and the return to walkable city models, some of those office buildings are getting retrofitted to be livable spaces and mixed-use locations.

How Architects Design for Less Lonely Living - Stewart Hicks - In a lot of places, like the US, the way we interact or avoid other people is impacted heavily by the organization of the buildings we live in.

House Sizes Are Getting Absurd - Stewart Hicks - Just a fun romp comparing the range of sizes (from the bare minimum of capsule hotels to the absurd mass of some modern estates) for various dwellings. Lots of very deliberate visualization.

Shopping Malls are Getting Desperate - Stewart Hicks - Discusses the decline of shopping malls, and the 'tricks' they employ to try to keep people happy and coming by.

The Architecture of Curb Appeal - Stewart Hicks - There's a lot that goes into making a house look good in a way that gets it sold. A lot of people hate it.

The Controversy Over Accessory Dwelling Units - Stewart Hicks - In many places, it's illegal to build a smaller livable space in your backyard. You know, places you put an adult child who wants their own space, or your mother-in-law, or just rent out to college students for the next ten months. But, at least in a few places, it's not going to be illegal much longer.

Toilets Need to Change - Stewart Hicks - Plumbing is such an important part of our daily lives, and it's still evolving!

The Hidden Meaning and Logistics of Fountains - Stewart Hicks - This one is just fun. 😊

The Genius of 2x4 Framing - Stewart Hicks - So apparently the US is a bit odd in how much of our architectural/construction industry uses light wood framing as a standard.

The B1M - Hosted by Fred Mills (British), more generally about construction, rather than just architecture

Why America Is Tearing Down Its Highways - The B1M - Explores the history of the interstate highway system, and how much of it was used for redlining and general segregation, along with the challenges faced by the plans to tear those highways down.

The $1.2 Trillion Plan to Rebuild America - The B1M - NGL I'm like. Ludicrously excited about this one. There's a lot going on! I hope it works out!

Why a Billionaire Tried to Stop This Bridge - The B1M - There's a new bridge being built between Detroit, MI and Windsor, ON. This bridge is going to help with the ongoing trade between the US and Canada; these two cities are already a major hub for one of the largest trading partnerships in the world (the largest where one side is not the European Union), so building another bridge is a reasonable undertaking. However, the new bridge will be just a few miles down from an existing bridge that is currently owned by a billionaire who makes a killing over his control of a major portion of this bottleneck of the trade route. (Also, more engineering challenges!)

The Statue of Liberty: Building an Icon - The B1M - Someone actually asked me about this recently and anyway you should all go learn about how the Statue of Liberty happened, she's a gem.

Why New York’s Billionaires’ Row Is Half Empty - The B1M- The usage of NYC luxury housing as a semi-liquid asset used as investment by the megarich, along with the rights acquisitions that led to their building in the first place, the gentrification they contribute to, and the tax write-offs they get for it.

Why Our Cities Are So Expensive - The B1M - How infrastructure investment by governments can and does frequently lead to gentrification. Focuses on London's Battersea Power Station revitalization plan.

Why New York's Skyscrapers Keep Changing Shape - The B1M - This is actually an exploration of more than just New York, covering much of the same topics as the above 'history of skyscraper design' video, with a great focus on the Chrysler building.

Why No One Wants This New York Skyscraper - The B1M - Investigates the ways in which the development of Two World Trade Center has been delayed over the past decade and change, along with a handful of other projects in the area.

The Wild Story of New York’s Abandoned Skyscraper - The B1M - There's a half-finished skyscraper on the western shore of Manhattan, and due to the errors in laying the foundation, there's an 8cm tilt in it. The parties involved in construction are duking it out in court about who's at fault, and until they're done, that thing is just... sitting there.

New York's Latest $3BN Skyscraper Explained - The B1M - Another stupidly tall skyscraper for midtown. You know. Because we need another one.

The $7BN Plan to Save New York's Most Hated Train Station - The B1M - Explores the history, current state, and planned upgrades to Penn Station of NYC.

New York's Most Hated Highway is Falling Apart - The B1M - The issues hitting the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, and the difficulties in repairing it.

The Secret Subway That Could Save New York - The B1M - Hey do you want to hear about how we might finally be getting that Queens-Brooklyn line that doesn't need to pass through Manhattan first?

The Tunnel That's Failing New York City - The B1M - The tunnel that handles a massive amount of the human traffic between NJ and NYC is starting to break down due to age. This one included a line that actually gave me feelings: "Look, it's a 110-year-old system, you know, it's done its job. Like, we really can't ask any more of it." It did its best! For a long time! Thank you!

The US Government Wants to Destroy These Towers - The B1M - The federal government just wants to demolish some Historic Skyscrapers in Chicago, no biggie.

The Secret $4BN Tunnel Network Under Chicago - The B1M - Since the 1970s, Chicago has been building an absolutely massive set of tunnels hundreds of feet under the surface to handle regular flooding from storms and the climate crisis.

The Fight to Fix the Tilting Millennium Tower - The B1M - There's this skyscraper in San Francisco that's leaning a few centimeters to the side, which doesn't sound like a lot, until you learn that just a few more will mean the plumbing and elevators stop working.

The £100BN Railway Dividing a Nation - The B1M - Goes over the political, economic, and environmental arguments and concerns behind the highspeed rail intended to connect London to the North of England.

Inside London's £19BN New Railway (and its Nightmare Station) - The B1M - Genuinely fascinated at the number of Train Problems that England seems to be having.

Why Europe Doesn't Build Skyscrapers - The B1M - Explains the historical and modern reasons that limit the addition of supertall buildings across most of Europe.

The Insane Scale of Europe's New Mega-Tunnel - The B1M - Explores the engineering and environmental challenges of the Fehmarntunnel, a passage from Germany to Denmark of terrifying size.

Why Europe is Building a 57KM Tunnel Through a Mountain - The B1M - No, a different one. This one is between Italy and France.

We Went Inside the Largest Nuclear Fusion Reactor - The B1M - It's in France, there are over 35 countries involved, and it's just a Lot.

Inside The Lab That Tests Elevator Free-Falls - The B1M - There's this active mine in Finland where they test elevators for safety and it's pretty cool.

Finland Might Have Solved Nuclear Power’s Biggest Problem - The B1M - Finland has a new way of storing nuclear waste.

Nord Stream 2: The $11BN Megaproject That's Dividing - The B1M - It's an oil pipeline and it is causing problems for Everyone.

Why Russia is Building an Arctic Silk Road - The B1M - Russia is taking advantage of the melting ice caps to set up a new trade route through the arctic so shipping can go up through the north instead of down around South Asia and through the Suez Canal.

The $10BN Railway in the Jungle - The B1M - Mexico is building a new, very long high-speed rail line, and it's incredibly controversial.

Hong Kong's $11BN Underwater Railway Explained - The B1M - Hong Kong is putting in a new underwater tunnel (as part of a larger network expansion) for its subway system, and it's. Difficult.

China's Skyscraper Boom is Officially Over - The B1M - Just learned that China is outlawing most skyscrapers. There are a few cases where you can still maybe make one happen, if you can convince the government it's needed, but in most cases... nah. They're cutting you off.

The Unstoppable Growth of China's High-Speed Rail Network - The B1M - [insert gif screaming about trains here]

The Insane Engineering of Tokyo's First Supertall Skyscraper - The B1M - While the focus is ostensibly Main Tower, the video covers a lot of ground regarding earthquakes and the necessary engineering to resist the incredibly frequent occurrence. (Warning: Came out shortly after the Feb. 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake, and contains references to the event, urging people contribute what they could to help. The video was already almost finished when the Turkey-Syria earthquake happened, and rather than delay it for fear of it being in bad taste, they decided to use it to encourage people to help the victims.)

Japan’s $64BN Gamble on Levitating Bullet Trains Explained - The B1M - Let's talk about maglev, pros and cons.

Is This Asia's Next Financial Capital? - The B1M - Malaysia is building a lot, and it might herald a new financial superpower for the continent and the world.

Why India Doesn’t Build Skyscrapers - The B1M - The short answer is 'zoning laws that didn't achieve what the legislators hoped,' but it's changing.

The $4BN Railway Reshaping Delhi - The B1M - What it says on the tin.

The World's Most Extreme Construction Site - The B1M - Antarctica!!!

Egypt Built a Supertall Skyscraper in the Desert - The B1M - Egypt is straight up building an entire city in the middle of nowhere, primarily as a new seat of government, because Cairo is overcrowded... and a frequent site of protests.

Top 10 Projects Completing in 2023 - The B1M - Some impressive, expensive, and possibly unnecessary projects that are happening.

Tomorrow's Build is a second channel under The B1M, also hosted by Fred Mills. It's more focused on hypothetical, future projects than ongoing ones.

Barcelona’s Car-Free Superblocks Explained - Tomorrow's Build - Barcelona is planning to block off entire parts of the city from most car usage, excepting local delivery, mass transit, and emergency services.

The Hidden Crisis With Renewable Energy - Tomorrow's Build - Storage of energy from renewable sources that are not consistently available (e.g. solar is only available when the sun is out) is difficult, so here are a few options.

This Nuclear Plant is Built in 3 Months - Tomorrow's Build - Mail-order nuclear power is going to be a thing.

Greece is Turning its Olympic Ruins into a Casino - Tomorrow's Build - [good for them dot gif]

This Could Stop Construction Everywhere - Tomorrow's Build - So it turns out we're running out of sand. Which is important, because we need sand for concrete, and the easiest stuff to get (desert sand), doesn't work for that, which is why Dubai has to import sand for construction. So uh. Kind of a crisis. Sand pirates are a whole thing.

Architectural Digest - channel for the architectural magazine that dates back to 1920

Architect Breaks Down 5 of the Most Common New York Apartments - Architectural Digest - Just what it says on the tin! An architect explains brownstones, classics, railroad apartments, and loft/studio apartments. Lots of history, specifically that of the late 19th century tenement buildings and the art community and subsequent gentrification of SoHo.

Architect Breaks Down 6 Luxury Apartments from Billions, Gossip Girl & More - Architectural Digest - On the other end of NYC housing, we got the Rich People Places.

Architect Breaks Down Secret Details Of The Chrysler Building - Architectural Digest - An exploration of the external details of the Chrysler, with commentary on the historical context of art deco and related art movements.

Architect Breaks Down 3 Demolished New York Landmarks - Architectural Digest - Goes over the original Penn Station, Madison Square Garden,and the New York Herald building.

Architect Breaks Down The Evolving Skyscrapers Of New - Architectural Digest - I'm... not going to pretend I'm less than obsessed with NYC videos. Sorry! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Covers setback/wedding cake tiered, glass curtain wall, plaza towers, expressed structures, and the (hated) supertall.

Architect Breaks Down NYC Subway Stations (Oldest & Newest) - Architectural Digest - And we continue on NYC infrastructure history because I am insatiable.

Architect Explores New York City's Greenwich Village | Walking Tour - Architectural Digest - What a beautiful and inconvenient neighborhood, full of so many dead bodies.

Top Luxury - Despite the name, is about construction in general, including critique of megearich projects, so don't go in expecting it to be About The Luxury

World's Most Useless Megaprojects - Top Luxury - Did you know there are entire cities lying around empty? I already knew that, but there are just. So many giant projects that never got finished, ate up a lot of money, and are just kind of sitting around now.

5 Skyscrapers that Never Existed - Top Luxury - Some of these never got past the concept stage, and some ran out of funding, and at least one got turned into a fish farm by locals after it was abandoned.

Biggest Megaprojects in the World - Top Luxury - Exactly what it says on the tin! Guys, there are so many giant projects happening, and so many of them are controversial As Heck.

Why these Megacities are Still Empty - Top Luxury - Not entirely empty, but yeah, there are some megacities designed for one purpose or another that are more Ghost Town than Bustling Metropolis. Other than Naypyidaw, though, most of them are expected to gain larger populations soon, particularly Nusantara (which is being built specifically due to the sinking of Jakarta).

The Most Terrifying Bridges in the World - Top Luxury - Like half of these are in a specific region of China that just has. So many mountains.

Most Expensive Construction Mistakes in the World (Part 3) - Top Luxury - Have you ever fucked up so incredibly that it cost six billion USD to fix?

Not Just Bikes - Canadian living in Europe; city planning with focus on N. American car-centric zoning

Why City Design is Important (and Why I Hate Houston) - Not Just Bikes - Do you want more ammo to show people when they try to argue with you about walkable cities?

America Always Gets This Wrong (when building transit) - Not Just Bikes - How zoning and city planning needs to adjust in order for mass transit to actually work for people.

Suburbs that don't Suck - Streetcar Suburbs (Riverdale, Toronto) - Not Just Bikes - So there actually are good suburbs in the US and Canada, we just can't build them anymore because zoning laws make it impossible.

Stroads are Ugly, Expensive, and Dangerous (and they're everywhere) - Not Just Bikes - So there's this really popular and horrible form of street/road in the US and Canada that is bad at its job.

Would You Fall for It? - Not Just Bikes - 1950s pro-highway propaganda (which is referenced in many other videos from this channel), and the ways in which it was misleading and effective.

These Stupid Trucks are Literally Killing Us - Not Just Bikes - This video actually did numbers on tumblr a few months ago. You know those stupidly big SUVs and Pick-ups? Yeah! They suck!

Cities Aren't Loud: Cars Are Loud - Not Just Bikes - With a few small changes, you too could live in a city that doesn't make you want to wear noise-cancelling headphones every moment of the day.

IT'S HISTORY - Various historic places... mostly NYC

Why can't you visit the Statue of Liberty's Torch? - IT'S HISTORY - Has some confusing image choices (photos from the early 20th century while talking about events from the 18th), but delivers on a fun history of the Statue of Liberty (and includes some facts that the other Lady Liberty video didn't get around to).

What's Left of New York's Lost Reservoir? - IT'S HISTORY - Apparently it turned into Bryant Park.

When Chicago built the Tallest Building in the World | The story of Sears Tower - IT'S HISTORY - Just what it says on the tin.. Big building, big history!

The Secret Tunnels Beneath New York - IT'S HISTORY - NYC has lost so many tunnels? Lost track of, forgotten, rediscovered... it's ridiculous. Half of these are for TRAINS. Those are HUGE. Led to me making this post (which contains a meme or two, but also a very important trigger warning).

Other

The lost neighborhood under New York's Central Park - Vox - Explains the history of Seneca Village: a primarily-black community of newly wealthy, often first-generation-freed peoples that was destroyed to make way for Central Park.

The Rise and Fall of American Malls - Bloomberg Originals - Covers the factors that led to malls becoming so common, and the many things that are contributing to the move away from them.

Megastructures: Building the Burj Al Arab | Dubai Engineering - Reel Truth Science Documentaries - This is fifty minutes of engineering and architecture, and really well done/presented. Mostly steers clear of the larger political controversy in favor of focusing on the math, though it can't entirely avoid the political and economic conflicts due to direct influence on the design by a the Crown Prince.

Why Venice is Europe’s Worst Placed City - Real Life Lore - We all know Venice is sinking, but this explains why and how (it's not just global climate change).

Why Wyoming is VASTLY Emptier Than Colorado - Real Life Lore - More of a general history lesson than architecture, but still fun.

Why Engineers Can't Control Rivers - Practical Engineering - I've had a few classes touch on this topic, but it was mostly back in high school. This video has some really good visualization on the main elements, and addresses that there are some places working on actual fixes!

Why Construction Projects Always Go Over Budget - Practical Engineering - Goes over the process by which costs are estimated, the limitations of those processes, and the risks that inevitably force the budget higher.

Czechia's Incredible 1960s Supervillain-Lair Hotel (And Why Its Architect Got Banned By The Regime) - The Tim Traveller - There's this really cool hotel that recently got refurbished.

Why Egypt Is Building a New Capital City - neo - Another video on the new city in Egypt, but with more in-depth exploration of the specific planning choices (where certain buildings are, especially).

The Forgotten Story of Modulex: LEGO's Lost Cousin - Peter Dibble - LEGO had a brand called Modulex that was used for architecture and city planning for a few decades. These days they mostly do signage.

Why Airplanes Are Still Worth Millions After They Stop Flying - CNBC - The various ways planes are broken down, sold for parts, and otherwise recycled.

#architecture #construction #phoenix recs #phoenix liveblogs #industry #green movement #technology #current events #I'm allowing tips because this is a recommendation list that took me several days to complete rather than derivative/transformative/repost #Kind of like a blogger getting paid to do rec lists for local restaurants or something #that said I've gotten tumblr tips MAYBE twice so these tags are only a preventative measure for 'why are they allowed'#as I don't actually expect any money out of this #product reviews #kinda

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sleepymarmot · 4 months

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Sunshine (2007)

[Watched on December 16th-17th]

When this movie came out, or at least when I first heard of it, I thought “Nah, not gonna watch it, sounds scary”. Then I forgot about its existence until this year, when I came across a clever diorama based on a scene from it and became mildly curious. Then this week I rewatched the Doctor Who episode “Midnight”, then the Doctor Who episode “42”, and I remembered that there was a movie with a plot that sounded kind of similar. I’ve seen a lot of horror and a lot of stories set in space since 2007, so I should be able to handle this one fine, right?

Well guess what, I knowingly watched an unsettling movie and ended up very unsettled by it. *surprised Pikachu face*

Liveblog:

Oh this is the kind of movie clearly tailored to the big screen. This opening shot of the ship is supposed to make the viewer feel tiny.

The very first scene after the intro, and someone’s already acting like a TMA avatar.

Oh all of these nice looking people are going to die gruesomely very soon, aren’t they. Is this a suicide mission by design, are things going to go terribly wrong, or both?

Shouldn’t they have known in advance when they would have a good view of planets? It’s not like they’re flying manually, the course was charted a long time ago…

Only sixteen minutes in, and I’m already so nervous.

Oh, the payload looks like an eye… Like the closeups of human eyes that the film has shown us so often already.

(Disclaimer: I took a day-long pause in the middle of the shield repair scene. And in general I take breaks like every five minutes. This movie is not easy on my nerves.)

I’m surprised they reached Icarus I so quickly and without further misadventures. I was expecting And Then There Were None In Space for another half hour.

They really have only one person on the ship who can operate the payload? That’s fucking absurd. What if he, like, randomly had a heart attack in his sleep? What if something happened to him when he was repairing the shield? Here I thought the mission was about delivering a bomb, but turns out it’s first and foremost about Cillian Murphy’s safety.

Did Cassie just change her mind within half a minute?

This painful-looking rotating blade doesn’t seem like much of a “kindness”.

How convenient of this guy to have killed himself already and free the crew from the responsibility…

And why exactly is our precious irreplaceable protagonist going to confront the amogus all by himself without even warning the crew, let alone taking someone as a backup?

Bro you’re about to burn your pretty blue eyes to two pieces of coal, and how are you going to launch the payload then?

The amogus is monologuing and meanwhile I’m sitting here considering which entities to enter for this film in my list.

He is still not calling for help for some reason. Dude I know you’re an introvert who is only capable of talking when alone with Cassie, but get a grip?

Oh great, now the computer is offline. How did the bad guy even get to the mainframe? Do these people not have passwords? Has the password not changed between Icaruses I and II? I guess “everyone has physical access to the mainframe” at least has redundancy unlike “only one person is capable of finishing the mission”, but why are there NO security measures at all?

I was about to type “Is Michelle Yeoh going to be stabbed in the back while she’s admiring the sapling” and then she was.

A shame that the avatar guy is just stabbing people. He should have had the sun shining out of his eyes, 42 style. Or some other kind of light/heat/radiation themed attack. I thought the genre turn would be into religion or fantasy, not into a banal slasher.

How many times per hour can Chris Evans almost freeze to death?

Gonna lanch your girl inside the bomb into the sun, huh?

Explosive bolts, huh? 2001 says hello.

Weren’t they supposed to be at a very specific point of the sun’s orbit to launch the payload so that it would go into a specific place on the sun?

Why is he going to get into the payload? Does he somehow know Cassie is in there? Does he want to die with her or something?

Icarus burning also looks like an eye, nice.

There’s 13 more minutes. Is most of this going to be end titles, or is the amogus going to sabotage this part of the mission too somehow?

The subtitles say “We're flying into the sun” but what I hear is “I’m flying you into the sun”.

Why did Cassie suddenly wake up and make it worse?

What is going on? What are the stakes? The bomb is already launched; the characters are all effectively dead; is there anything the bad guy can ruin now?

Oh, so because the payload was launched in a weird way, it needs some kind of additional manual on-site calibration?

[End of liveblog]

The cinematography and visual design of this film are gorgeous. Sleek modern cinema at its finest.

Did it have a good story? I literally can’t tell.

Did I enjoy the viewing? Well, as you might guess from the liveblog, no.

Apparently I still cannot handle suspense. Or space. Other people are talking about the screenplay’s merits or lack thereof, and I have no way to saying anything objective about it because I did everything to ground myself and to stop myself from being immersed in the story. I kept thinking that back in the day I must have powered through Interstellar only because I was in the theater with a friend and couldn’t just pause or leave. As you might see from the density of the liveblog, the viewing became easier when the film became less tense and more openly violent, and the script started getting incoherent. Clearly, this isn’t the intended reaction to the film, so I have no idea what the director was going for. I wonder how it would feel on a second viewing, when there’s no more worry about the plot anymore.

I tagged the film as “horror”, and later saw several reviews call it horror too… But only in relation to the slasher segment. That’s the opposite of my own impression! I’d classify it as horror on the basis of 1) the excruciating suspense, and 2) the relationship between the humans and the sun that fits the definition of transcendental horror to a T. Even the close-up of Capa’s face as he meets the sun looks just the closeup of The Lighthouse’s protagonist as he gazes into the light! The sun is the source of deadly danger and awe; it is simultaneously the primary antagonist and the object of the characters’ hopes and aspirations; the protagonist fears contact with it at the beginning, and ecstatically reaches out and lets himself be consumed by it at the end.

While I’m on the topic, here’s a breakdown of character deaths:

Kaneda, Searle, Capa, Pinbacker are fascinated by the sun and are killed by the sun

Mace is fascinated by waves and is killed by cold liquid

Corazon is fascinated by plants and is killed while distracted by a plant

What about Cassie (sun), Harvey (space), and Trey (blade)?

The opening scene gave me the false hope that the film will focus much more on various characters’ different ways of being obsessed with the sun. The theme is still there, but not as much as could have been. I still stand by what I said in the liveblog: unlike most other reviewers, I don’t mind the turn from hard sci-fi, but if it happens, I want it to be even wilder. Go full Desolation avatar on these guys! The sun worshipper should have killed people by subjecting them to the wrath of his god! I think it’s implied that’s what he did to his own crew (by luring them into the observation deck and disabling the filter), and he’s already a bit supernatural (where did that strength come from? do the distortion effects also exist in-universe?), so I think he deserved to pulverize people with light shining out of his eyeballs while hissing something like “Burn with me”. Can’t believe I’m saying this, but the run-off-the-mill episode written by Chris Chibnall in the same year did this better. …Or, you know, the film could stay with hard sci-fi and incorporate the sun obsession in a more realistic way. One of these two.

(The opening scene might still be my favorite part of the movie. And now I want a sun bath. It’s a few days before the winter solstice right now, and I just realized that I miss the sun.)

I think one of the weaknesses of the script is how unconvincing Capa is as a protagonist. At first the film looks like an ensemble story. Then it’s revealed that for some reason the mission depends on Capa alone, and that his life is more valuable than anyone else’s. Then we see that launching the payload is as easy as pressing a few buttons. Then he goes into the payload after the separation and has to fix something inside it. So what was he supposed to do according to the original plan? Was he always supposed to go down with the bomb and monitor it until the last second, was his message for the family to wait for him a lie? The stakes are very unclear throughout the final act.

The ship computer is also immersion-breaking. Why doesn’t it immediately raise the alarm about the misaligned shields, or the fire in the garden, or the intruder on board? Also, the structure of the Icarus, as far as I understood it, was: big shield – payload – smaller shield – main ship, correct? So why did the smaller shield immediately burn up after the separation? Wait, hold on, another question: if everything immediately starts burning if the ship is misaligned even to one degree, and the shield and the payload are always between the sun and the ship — then how does the observation deck with the direct view of the sun work?! This analysis of the ship on Youtube says that the observation window is cut in the middle of the payload section that’s not covered by the same panels as the rest of the shield, which sounds utterly bizarre to me.

I have to say, I lost a bit of respect for Alex Garland because of this script. There’s nothing here even close to the sharpness and nuance I saw in Ex Machina. Did he grow as a writer, or was that a lucky accident?

Media connections:

Let’s look on the bright side: even this film that took my entire weekend still wasn’t as stressful as another story about blowing up the sun that I encountered this year! If you know, you know.

I can’t not mention another soft sci-fi universe that I am currently immersed in and that has been influencing my expectations of spirituality in space stories. The way some characters in Sunshine faced the approaching wave of sunlight reminded me of how the characters in Rogue One faced the approaching wave of the light from the Death Star…

I want to mention “42” again, because I just found out that not only was the episode released almost at the same time as Sunshine, but the ship in it was also called “Icarus” and had to be renamed in post-production (source). That’s hilarious. Find another mythological reference!

Icarus, play “Hellfire” by The Mechanisms. Now that would have been the perfect song for the final titles…

#sunshine 2007 #liveblogs and reviews #blah blah blah

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doll1-s2 · 4 months

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“was ashamed of myself when I realised life was a costume party and I attended with my real face”

-Franz Kafka

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bookreviewcoffee · 3 months

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Babylon. The Hidden History by Rebecca Quang

Babylon is a story about life, friendship, betrayal, search for truth, justice and self. A story that touches on many themes, makes you stop and think about what happened then and what is happening now. The story begins with Robin's entire family dying during a cholera epidemic in Canton. The boy was taken in and taken into the care of Professor Lovell, who happened to be passing through China and saved him with a silver plate. On arrival in London, Robin was hired Greek and Latin teachers and began to prepare him for Oxford. Robin began to dream of the Institute of Translation - Babylon, and after seven years he finally got there. But his happiness was fleeting and fickle, for he discovered the downside of silver plates and a luxurious university. This was the beginning of a long and gruelling struggle - with friends, society and himself.

There are many colourful, memorable characters in this story. Characters that are quite contradictory and unexpectedly obvious. Those we empathise with and others who are rendered speechless by their actions. Robin, from his very first day in London, struggles to adjust to his new life and find his place in the city. He admires Babylon, books and the power of words, the power of translation. He has his own concept of justice. He is loyal to his loved ones and to his idea of the rightness of the world. This is a character you can't help but listen to and empathise with. He reflects on everything often and a lot. With his arrival in Babylon, Robin made friends for the first time - Rami, Victoire and Letty. For the first time in a long time he did not feel alone. Rami's responsibility, Victoire's honesty and discretion, Letty's carefree nature, there was so much he got from them being part of this foursome. Robin is a character with grey morals. Yes, he fights for justice, honesty and independence, but the methods he chooses are not always the right ones. There is a personal overlay to this struggle that brings chaos to his thoughts and decisions. As a support and anchor for him were Rami and Victoire, who held back a part of him that he was not aware of before. I would like to give special mention to Professors Kraft and Chakravarti who contributed to the history, student learning and set an example of wisdom and integrity. It was a shame that so little time was given to Robin and Griffin's relationship, and that Griffin himself remained for the most part a mysterious and intriguing enigma. There wasn't enough of a chapter on his behalf to better understand his thoughts and feelings about everything. Towards the end of the book I purposely procrastinated because, on the one hand, I wanted to read more, and on the other hand, it was scary to finish. Of course, I liked the book, it is honest and strong. It's a behind-the-scenes look at the translation business, partly at a secret society, but most importantly an inside look at class, racial and national inequality.

#academia aesthetic #chaotic academia #classic academia #dark academia #dead poets society #aesthetic #light academia #book review #romantic academia #donna tartt #books & libraries #books #reading #wine red #dark aesthetic #liveblogging #book quotes #gilmore girls

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stuckasmain · 5 months

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My copy of the book has photo inserts, here’s the highlights

It’s sort of funny that it does, considering it’s not exactly a novelization? But 🤷‍♀️

My favorites are “Rip Frank” and “commander bowman experiences the horrors™️”

#full book review in a bit because I have THOUGHTS #2001 a space odyssey #aso book liveblog #2001 aso #dave bowman #david bowman #frank poole #photo

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loveabledirtbag · 7 months

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1.06 - ceres

the one second lead in: the music, the handwashing, the VOICE, and then it’s him! jon bernthal!!! jon bernthal is mikey

and the moment you realize he’s mikey, it makes you hit your head. because you saw the back of his head for a second and who else could it be? you heard him speak to carmy in carmy’s head and who else sounds like that? every rewatch you will see him and hear him before this episode and think to yourself: “how the FUCK did i not know it was him the moment we got that glimpse of him?”

i love that mikey is wearing a beef shirt, just like richie does in the present day

i love the charisma of this story. that mikey can talk about being drunk and high at 6:45am with richie and we the audience are just like “hell yeah, what a night!” and how in the flash forward and in future episodes we see the immediate narration from the creative team behind the scenes telling us: no, no, no. this is BAD

this is the most chicago story of all time. ceres bar, savvy, bill murrey, blackhawks. just pure chicago

i love that the quick mention that richie went behind the bar to grab a informational pamphlet about ceres, the goddess of agriculture, and about ceres the bar, and how it will come back to play in the episode when richie talks to syd

fun fact: in the restaurant where present day richie is on a date; the kitchen of that (real chicagoan) restaurant is where they filmed carmy’s new york kitchen flashback in episode two. it’s funny that the kitchen was played off as new york, but the dining room was set in chicago where it actually is

the quick snap to the present to listen to richie/no-charisma richie/lost-without-his-best-friend-richie is so good. because mikey is so engaging that we totally forgive and forget the element of the story where he was drunk and high at 6:45 in the morning at a bar. but when richie tells the story it’s deeply sad and we realize it’s sad. and it makes me wonder how much of mikey’s problems weren’t dealt with because he was charismatic? how many people thought he was totally fine until he died, and then looked at the people around him and saw how sad they were and realized how sad mikey must have been?

i saw a really funny post online where someone was saying they thought richie must have been skimming off the top of the bear because he was wearing a $6,000 suit that was perfectly tailored to him. which is hilarious to me, because this is a tv show. carmy is wearing a $60-$120 t-shirt. A T-SHIRT! we’re being told that both of these guys are broke-ish, operating a broke sandwich shop. they’re not stealing from the shop, they’re characters on a tv show. i love the idea of richie skimming from the top, but as we see more and more as the show goes on, richie is committed and wouldn’t do that

that song that plays as we come into the beef. i’m blanking on the name, but it also played in ferris bueller’s day off, which is also set in chicago. i’m just assuming it’s a “chicago song”? i like it though

richie twisting his poor date as HER fault as he recounts it to tina. so real. i’ve talked to a lot of richie’s who go on a lotta dates and when they tell me about it afterwards it’s always THEIR DATES fault, and never their own. “no sense of humor, no sense of chicago history”. not, “we’re in our 40’s and i’m trying to entertain and impress her with a bill murrey story about being high and drunk at a bar at 6:45am”

“OK LISTEN UP! okay, i just yelled like that?” “yeah, make it worth it” THATS HOW YOU RUN A FUCKING KITCHEN! like, i know carmy gets so much shit for how he runs the kitchen, and i’m not trying to excuse his NUMEROUS faults. like with his mental health, how he expresses his feelings in a professional setting, and his obvious shortcomings with managing a shop. BUT a dishwasher felt empowered to make an announcement to the whole shop about taking tape off of bins they toss in the sink, and i love it. it’s the little details that show that carmy IS actually a good, caring, empowering boss who probably deserves to be the boss. he just also has his struggles, which is why he needs sydney. which is kinda the point of the show? or at least one of the points

ok. i know that i complain about syd a lot; WHICH I DONT WANT TO, because syd is the best. BUT i think it’s overlooked that the show does try to balance syd and carmy. neither are perfect. and it shows here where syd is diving into a conversation about her new dish, and carmy REPEATEDLY tells her “now is not a good time, can we do this later”, but she barrels on ahead. now, can we assume that she’s probably tried to talk with him more than just this once? sure. but how do you expect to get carmy’s OK if he’s saying “not right now” and you insist “now”? i really like how this show gives both carmy and sydney faults. i like that syd is as excited and peppy as carmy is hesitant and a bit cynical. it’s very: elder service industry vs. new service industry. when i started out i was very syd, and by the time i left i was very carmy

another mention of the story arch for risotto, and the to-go! now they’re lumped together. risotto to go (which is fun to say) AND also, is kinda weird and hard to do. risotto is a sticky mess and if it’s anything less than perfect is barely worth eating and to-go’s thrive on food that is worth eating when it’s less than perfect. because it’s been sitting in a box for 10min - 1 hour. 15 minutes in and risotto is crap

the fact that carmy says: “i’m thinking about it. have you thought about the work flow? have you talked to manny and angel (about dishes)?” and when syd says “yes” he says “okay. now you know where i’m coming from. we have just gotten this place to a kinda functioning, chill place. i’d like to keep it that way for just a bit.” shows a good amount of managerial insight. like, i love syd for wanting to jump into these ideas and work towards creating the restaurant she dreams of with carmy. but the hardened realism from carmy of “this is a journey, and there are a lot of working parts, and a lot of those working parts are human beings who we need to make sure are onboard with coming in this journey with us. so we can’t just forge ahead and have them dragging their feet behind us”

of course, that good moment of managing then follows right into carmy not knowing how to work with the irs with the beefs taxes. which is so fitting. carmy is good with food, and (in my opinion) respecting people who aren’t pretentious. he’s not good at business. but nat is (…foreshadowing!!!!!)

carmy and cat saying “you’re yikes” to richie is so on point. and richie hopping into their sibling chat, like he thinks he belongs (because he does think he belongs in family talks) is also on point.

“i know exactly where it is” SMASH CUT to nat and carm in the office NOT FINDING IT. this is comedy gold. rough, gritty, painful, amazing, comedy gold

it’s interesting that in a scene where we focus on the end of it, the beginning of it we see richie burst out the door and sigh looking like he’s absolutely exhausted and the ONLY thing that can save him is a cigarette. thats when he looks over and sees the bar closed. but why would he be exhausted? we know the place hasn’t opened yet. we also know he doesn’t do anything except man the register (and “manage”, whatever he thinks that means for himself). so his job hasn’t really started yet, but he’s exhausted already??? we know he suffers from dread (from episode four) and takes xanax. i wonder if he was having a panic attack come on and a quick smoke was going to help soothe the nerves. not that i know from experience or anything….

if you think marcus sleeping on the floor of the kitchen isn’t something that has happened at your favorite restaurant…HAHA, so sorry to disappoint you. for a million reasons it happens. sometimes there are people so obsessed with getting something that they stay late and don’t want to go home just to come back, sometimes they are homeless (either short or long term) and it’s all they got. but it has probably happened at your favorite restaurant. sorry if that bothers you

i like the back and forth between syd and richie here. syd is reaching out in a generally nice and friendly manner, and richie responds mostly in kind. but richie’s somewhat hypocritical response of being sad the bar is closing, because it is another spot that he see’s as “his” that is closing. even if he was pseudo-banned from the bar. it wasn’t the bar he went to, but it was in HIS neighborhood. that makes it HIS community. like family. you don’t have to see eye to eye, to appreciate them in your life and be sad when something bad happens to them

but it’s also nice to hear syd’s side of things: these older (maybe dingier) places are shutting down and being replaced by “nicer” spots, because in her mind the people of the neighborhood deserve nice drinks and food

i love the sorta surface level debate about gentrification this show brings up. because richie likes what the river north neighborhood had to offer: the beef. the bar next door. these familiar places for working class, everyday people. sydney likes that nicer/trendier places are coming in because that’s gotta be “good for the community” as everyone says when something like that goes into a “rougher” neighborhood. i remember like 15 years ago gentrification was a GOOD THING in so many (white, conservative and neo-liberal) circles. a “good restaurant” was going to bring jobs, class, and clientele from outside the neighborhood to come into the neighborhood and spend their money, and then there will be more money for this neighborhood. of course, most of the people in those neighborhoods learned that as time went on, more “nice” places moved in, and they brought in more “nice” people from outside neighborhoods, and suddenly real estate prices went up, and suddenly rent went up, and suddenly those “nice” people from out of the neighborhood started moving in, and suddenly the businesses and the people who had been in that neighborhood for generations were getting squeezed out. i know richie is concerned about gentrification (even if that word is never used) out of his own selfish purposes, and his own fears of himself being squeezed out as the beef gets better. but i don’t think he’s fully wrong in what he’s saying. the owner of that bar lost his business, people who worked there lost their jobs. a sweet green is going in across the street. the river north he was raised in is disappearing, and without the love and anchoring of his best friend, he might disappear too.

in this talk between richie and sydney, we see richie pull out his knowledge of cerses again! he clearly read that pamphlet deeply. and also he must have identified with cerses a lot if he has retained all this info. but again, richie isn’t dumb, he loves phillip k. dick. he reads. he might be bad at stories, and explaining his analogies properly, but he’s not dumb. i love the poorly spoken idea of richie talking about the ceres statue not having a face, because when it was built it was the tallest building in chicago, no one could see it, so why would it need a face if no one could see its face? but then as time went on buildings rose up higher than the statue and now everyone could see it has no face. we know richie feels connected to ceres (his voicemail is bill murrey saying that they’ve reached “the goddess of agriculture”). he’s the statue with no face. he used to feel like he was on top of chicago, but now everyone is rising up past him, the beef is getting updated with a classically trained menu, and they can see that he has no face. which actually says more about him, than the others around him. he says they’re ruining things by making “bigger buildings”/changing the beef/improving the beef. but he’s actually scared that they’re going to improve to a place where everyone can see that he actually “has no face”/he’s not as good or important as he says he is. they’re going to grow up around him, and not need him anymore. he sees it as ruining a perfectly good statue, but really he’s reacting out of fear

i love that his talk about gentrification and the neighborhood changing too much is then interrupted by a bullet going through the window. the neighborhood isn’t changing too much

plus, his first move is to talk to the mobsters that hang out next door about if they knew anything…the neighborhood still has some ways to go

i also love that these gangsters are also soprano stereotypes, but it’s also spot on for a lot of italian mobsters in chicago

we see a little inking of who richie is, and his real role at the beef and his skill set with his talk with crooked john. he talks to him without fear, with an obvious previous relationship, and they share a conversation with respect. richie knows they exist and in his eyes they’re a part of his community, his little family, and as such they also deserve his respect. and after their talk, richie asks him if he could find anything out about who shot the window, and crooked john immediately gets guys to go and check it out. this is richie being the tallest point in chicago; this world is being squeezed out, but for a long time this was him being top dog of his world. but now the sweet greens are moving in, the buildings are growing in taller than him

also, i LOVE that crooked john says “alright, don’t go calling the police.” and richie says “what do you take me for? this is me we’re talking about.” ACAB, we love it. no police! (okay, it’s not strictly ACAB, but it IS a wide belief of working class people that cops aren’t going to do shit for you if you’re not rich enough. you gotta look out for yourself, and your community). this is what neighborhood watches were made to be, until white upper-middle class suburbanites made them into gossipy-call-the-cops-on-people-of-color-just-out-walking-their-dogs-at-night kind of things. so many studies show that neighbor and community solidarity actually does a better job at keeping the community safe and people cared for than any amount of money invested into police presence. just sayin’

sugar, in this moment, is SUCH a upper middle class individual. we’ve seen her nice house. we know she��s not living in the area anymore. she had an urban flight. she’s so upset that she owns a spot where bullets can fly through the window. and, yes, in this moment we’re supposed to focus on the fact that carmy is pushing for everyone to keep working so that they can open on time and not lose business. it’s more about carmy’s denial of feelings and always working and pushing so he doesn’t have to deal with his own issues. BUT notice how everyone is working together without qualm. for them, this is a part of life. and yes, not a good part. but if they don’t open, the shop probably closes and they lose their jobs. when nat asks to call the cops, in unison they all say “no cops” (ACAB ACAB) why? because cops aren’t going to help, and they know. some of them might be illegal immigrants. and again, if you think illegal immigrants aren’t in your favorite restaurant, or even cooking you your favorite meal…sorry for the rude awakening. everyone in the restaurant is dealing with the issue themselves, as they always have, because they live in a place where cops don’t come to help, but only cause more problems. nat, who lives in a more residential area, most likely a suburb outside chicago (from the looks of her house), and her whiteness and blonde hair, means she’s probably more used to the cops helping her. this show is about class and race, and anyone who says otherwise is wrong

a rare moment of harmony between carmy and richie. “paperwork’s not really my jam” “me neither”. they didn’t teach paperwork at noma, nor at devry. we have this sweet moment that shows richie and carmy’s long history together, and the fact that they’re cut from the same cloth. they even share a cigarette

“is there a name for that feeling where you’re scared of something good happening because you think something bad is going to happen?” “i don’t know. life?”

richie being in his ex-wife’s phone as “richie bad news” is so harsh. i have never been divorced, but i can’t imagine trying to poison my kids image of their parent to the point where they think their dads last name is bad news. but we’re just seeing so much of richie’s life

“oh shit! it’s the man with the golden dick! how are ya tom?” is……just a wild line to say to a customer when they come into your shop. i have so many questions. why does this man have a golden dick? why are you commenting on it? what transpired between the two of you (a guy behind a register, and his customer) that you have “golden dick” as context, and you feel comfortable bringing up said golden dick? ALSO, i’d love to know if this was pre-written by the writers, or if ebon ad libbed it himself. it feels like ad lib but, if it is written, i want to meet the person who wrote it. or, even more, IF THEY PITCHED the line in a writers room. like if someone sat at a table with the rest of the writers and someone was like “what should richie say to this customer?” “what about…’oh shit, it’s the man with the golden dick’?”

BUT i LOVE that this scene shows that richie IS GOOD at his job. i feel like it’s skipped over a lot this season. but richie is personable. he’s good with people. he talks with people friendly, personably, and it’s obvious why he’s front of house

ok. syd’s dish she wants to add to the menu does look AMAZING

but see, syd asks carmy if now is a good time to try her dish, he says yes, and he thanks her for asking. like…before syd was rushing things and pushing. carmy owns a business, he’s looking for tax shit, he’s got a million other business things he’s working on to make sure the place doesn’t close, and he’s working the beginning of the dinner rush and overseeing the line, which means he’s keeping track of every dish and what everyone is doing to make sure it all is up to quality. so, he’s busy. telling syd he can’t do something right then isn’t a dick move, he’s BUSY. but now he can talk with her, and try her dish

WHAT I WILL SAY THOUGH, and i’ll say it now and bring it back up when it comes up in future episodes is that he doesn’t tell her what’s wrong with her dish BECAUSE HE DOESNT KNOW. and he has to be the best chef, and not knowing drives him crazy and he doesn’t want to admit he’s stumped. he tells her it’s tremendous but it’s missing something, but he won’t tell her what it’s missing because he doesn’t know himself. this is a dick move. some might say he’s trying to teach her, but he has no problem pointing out other flaws in the dish that she says she’ll fix. he also has no problem correcting others to help dishes be better. but for this dish, he can’t tell her what’s wrong. not because he’s “wax on/wax off” teaching her, but because he really doesn’t know. i’ll talk about how i know that carmy doesn’t know what’s missing from the dish as the clues pop up (but that will be in a different episode). but this is a dick move on carmy’s part. a real golden dick move.

i’ve seen people say they’re so confused why syd would’ve given her dish to a customer. but i’ve seen that all the time. it’s not enough for a family meal. plus it’s not time for a family meal. it’s during dinner rush. so she can either toss it, or give it away. and giving it away makes that customers day. i’ve both given stuff away, and received stuff. and it did make my day. the fact that he happens to be an “immensely important customer” (that we’ll learn about next episode) is just a bit of tv happenstance

i just realized with this watch through that nat says it pisses her off that carmy never asks her how she’s doing. and that made me think about the flashback episode in season two. we’ll talk more when we get there, but it’s interesting that nat always asks her mom if she’s okay. and she’s mad at carm for not asking her.

i love the duality of where nat and carmy place their blame. nat blames the restaurant for their mom, for mikey, and now for carmy. and she’s scared the restaurant is going to do the same thing to carmy that it did to mikey. carmy blames their mom and mikey for their own faults and sees the restaurant as a neutral place that happened to take the brunt of their faults. it’s also telling that carmy’s happiest memories with mikey are when they’re cooking, and he found cooking to be an escape from his traumatic and toxic family. but nat seems to not find cooking an escape and does it occasionally and for family care, and nothing else

i love the slow opening up of carmy. he admits he feels trapped and that he doesn’t want to ask how others are feeling because he doesn’t know how he feels. it’s just that little bit closer on carmy’s journey to personal mental and emotional health

i also think it’s symbolic that as the restaurant is failing, and carmy and nat are fighting over the restaurant but also fighting over their relationship and what the restaurant represents for their family, their own wellbeing, and how carmy’s attempts to save the restaurant are slowly killing him and leading him down a path that nat fears will repeat mikey’s mistakes, it’s only after carmy and nat have a heart to heart and share their feelings that carmy (as the one who finally opened up) found the tax documents that they needed to give to the irs to save the shop. because it’s only through mental and emotional health that the shop is going to be saved. like nat was saying: less chaos, solid footing

the repeat of the lowboy checks, and it’s nice to see them look perfectly adequate. i mean….we’re dealing with lowboys, it’s not like i’m going to be blown away by good food storage

i’m not sure if i’ve mentioned this in these live bloggings before. but i’ve been to chicago a few times, and i’ve seen a few fights break out on more than one trip. so, the fact that two gangs begin to fight outside of an italian beef sandwich shop…….that tracks for me? i’m not saying it’s a specifically chicago thing, i’ve seen other fights break out in other places (i once went to a bar twice, and each time a fight broke out) but like…this doesn’t feel like tv happenstance to me. it kinda feels like a chicago scene to see two rival old school gangs fight

“WHERES MY GUN, ANY OF YOU MOTHERFUCKERS TAKE MY GUN???” ohhhhhhh richie

the fact that syd, a tiny tiny human being shoves herself between to tall and large men, who are clearly mob connected, is WILD. she’s a better person than i am. but whatta great save: pop and sandwiches for everyone if they just calm down. but keep it on the DL. i love sweeps asking these people to betray their gangs rivalries for food and they’re like “eh. ok.”

i also love the slow undercurrent of sweeps’ backstory. sweeps tells marcus that when he used to play for the cubs he had to sleep in a few creative places. crooked john asks him about the changes and sweeps says “this is what happens when you sweep the padres but fail the drug test”. i love it

it’s wild to me that not being able to get into a fight between the two arguing gangs is what sets richie off. we know he’s having a bad day. he’s missing his best friend especially bad, he’s reminded that his daughter thinks his last name is bad news because his ex-wife has his name in her phone as richie bad news because she says he always calls with bad news. he feels like the ceres statue being passed up by every new building being built. but like…..the fact that he couldn’t be the mediator between two warring factions of mobsters is wild. it’s wild.

i love that the scene of richie flying off the handle; of lashing out by telling a loud raucous story that disrupts everyone’s routine, their system, (the new system), is kicked off by ebra dunking his hands into ice water to handle a bunch of hot meat on a grill. that method is OLD SCHOOL, maybe old school like richie is old school. the kind of old school that thinks yelling and laughing and slapping people on the back is okay during a dinner rush

it’s also so good that this is how richie lashes out. he has the cigarettes in his hand, even though just a few weeks ago he took the blame for leaving cigarettes out during a health inspection. he’s interrupting the workflow, even though we’ve repeatedly seen carmy yell at him about getting back to work and letting everyone get into their zone. he’s lashing out like this intentionally. and his outburst at sydney makes sense because she’s the biggest threat to him. carmy is family, his “cousin”, in his community. even as carmy is threatening to build taller towers that surpass richie, it’s more okay because carmy is in the family. but sydney isn’t. richie doesn’t know sydney, or care about her past. they didn’t grow up together. she’s an outsider, and so when she yells at him to get back to work, it allows him to freak out at her. she symbolizes everything he’s scared of, and she’s the one who solved the gangsters, the last bit of usefulness he thought he had

and it’s also so good and powerful that it’s tina that talks to him. tina is the one who was with richie the most. she was the most resistant to the new system. she laughed when things failed, she was making things harder for syd. but now she’s better. she’s figured it out. this new system is better. she’s more efficient, she’s cooking better food. she works at a place she believes in, and she believes in herself for the first time in a long time, if not for the first time ever

so tina telling richie he needs to go home, and cool off, and if he quits where else is he gonna go is simply so powerful and good. because that’s kind of the point, and richie doesn’t realize it. most people in that shop have nowhere else to go. maybe they’d find another job, but maybe they wouldn’t. they were just people working in a struggling sandwich shop and carmy (and sydney) have allowed them to believe in something more, because sydney and carmy believe in them. and richie either needs to realize that, yes, he’s ceres statue and everybody else is a taller tower, but he’s being offered a ride to the top of one of those towers if he’d just let go of his pride that he used to be the tallest one around. “where are you gonna go?” is so cutting. he’s got this misplaced pride and tina is saying he’s got to let it go. because if he can, someone is willing to help pick him up and take him to bigger and better things

and the fact that it’s so wrapped up in the past. tina brings up mikey “seemingly” out of the blue, but it’s because richie talks about the place being cool before. he calls syd and carm kids. because richie is a middle aged man who realized that he pissed his life away attaching himself to “the wrong person”. which also probably has guilt attached to it. he followed mikey to the gates of hell and then mikey left him there. richie is divorced, friendless, working a register at a sandwich shop, with a strained relationship with his daughter who is the only person he seems to really care about, and now these young people are coming in and changing everything and he’s scared that he’s going to get pushed out. it’s a midlife crisis to end all midlife crises. his best years are behind him (in his eyes) and he never thought about the future and now the futures here and he’s unprepared and it’s partially mikey’s fault but you can’t be mad at the dead, right? there’s so much guilt, and pain, and trauma, and everything in this convo between tina and richie, because tina gets it. but tina jumped over to another building and rode it to taller heights, and so she’s trying to get richie to do the same

AND THEN AND THEN: right after richie leaves it’s so smooth in the kitchen. and that’s the point. people are moving in and out, swapping to different stations, starting prep the moment someone finishes theirs without even waiting to look to see if they’re finished because they know they’re done. it’s a well-oiled machine, and richie not being there is truly for the better. there’s even a poppy little tune, people are smiling, it almost crosses the line into weird fantastical daydream territory, but it doesn’t

carmy asks if he wants to know what happened out there and sydney says no, just that she gave some people some leftovers. i just realized this now: is she talking about the gangsters or her dish? obviously, she’s talking about the gangsters, that’s the most immediate thing that just happened, but she also gave away her dish and that’s been the conflict between her and carly all day. is it a duel meaning? am i just high as i watch this episode? idk, you tell me

but also, carmy then apologizes to syd if he was shitty to her and she acts as if it’s no big deal. like, he’s trying. like he says in season two, he’s not trying to be shitty. idk, i just feel like people always talk about carry being angry and mad, but he really is shown trying

the poppy song and scene being cut to richie outside having called the cops (ACAB RICHIE, ACAB) on the gangsters is so good (i know i say good a lot). because specifically was insulted when crooked john said “don’t call the cops” and crooked john smiled and nodded, like “yeah, yeah. it is you. you’d never do that.” but this is like a real low point for him. he’s been talking about the delicate ecosystem, showing respect for the people in his community even if he disagrees with them (like carmy, like the bar owner, like these gangsters) and now he’s betraying his own morals, the morals of the staff at the beef, and fucking with the ecosystem he said he cared about and worried about how delicate it was. it’s showing that instead of just getting on the elevator to a taller building, he’s fighting a losing fight to hold onto his pride. syd took his pride when she handled the dangerous, scary gangsters, so he made the gangsters go away

but what’s also so good about this closing scene is that it still goes against what carmy is all about and the work he’s doing at the beef. carmy is fighting to not have the people of the beef be squeezed out with the changing of the neighborhood. he’s trying to teach people with no formal training — cooks — classically trained recipes and elevated methods to make them into chefs. but carly doesn’t want to change who they are. like he said in the third episode, he doesn’t want to change their dynamic but harness their potential. he even joins in the choir saying “no cops” when nat suggests it. carmy would never call the cops on the gangsters. case in point, he DIDN’T call the cops on the gangsters. no one did. there was this universal understanding; almost a respecting of the delicate ecosystem. and richie is the one who threatens to fuck it up by betraying everything he believes in just to hold onto his pride, and to push against carmy’s system. it’s almost like he knows mikey’s system is truly, completely dead in this moment. carmy’s system has won. and as the last holdout to join carmy’s system, and with mikey’s system destroyed, instead of moving forward richie becomes a free agent doing whatever he feels like, without a system, or a code, that he draws on. which is kinda scary if you think about it.

BUT THATS THE EPISODE

it’s so good. final thoughts: i love last episode and this one; these sort of break from the carmy show (and i love the carmy show) and allowing us to get a little deeper into the lives of the other main characters. i think it’s done even better next season (and we’ll talk about it later when it comes up)

my last thought has nothing to do with anything that happened this episode, but just something i thought of while watching the show: carmen, michael, richard. but we their nicknames are carmY, mikeY, richIE. they all have that “ee” sound. natalIE, sydneY. they also have that “ee” sound, but their nicknames are nat and syd. no “ee” sound. is there a reason the guys have “ee” nicknames (and that their nicknames are used more than their regular names) and the women have “ee” names but their nicknames don’t? is this something? or am i just high?

anywho

that’s the episode and the next one is EPISODE SEVEN and i’m not emotionally ready. see ya then!

Season Two

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