demonicmoth13

[crest-of-gautier]

some screenshots of the bionis shoulder from future redeemed!

[toasttt11]

london boy; lando norris

summary: five times people find out about their relationship and one time they tell everyone

lando norris x kaarina raikkonen

tag list: @faithm120601 @chelawrites

kaarina emilia raikkonen; the daughter of the iceman kimi raikkonen and marie de vos the angel of the fashion world, known as the ice princess of formula one, joined formula three at sixteen and winning the championship in her rookie year with prema and heading straight into formula two winning the championship her rookie year again in 2018, and then joining formula one in 2019 at 18 and signing straight with Mercedes formula one team coming from their junior team and coming second in the championship her rookie year, winning the WDC in 2020 only in her second year of formula one, she continued to come second in 2021 and 2022 in the standings but so far in 2023 she is breaking records and leading the championship miles head any competition.

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Zero.

November 27, 2022

Lando put his key into Kaarina’s front door to her penthouse, he walked in putting his bag on the front bench by the door and suitcase next to it, so he remembers to put it in his apartment later having choose not to stop by his floor first wanting to go to Kaarina first, he set his keys and sunglasses in the bowl on the entry table sliding his shoes off and putting them on the rack by the front door.

He walked though the entry way hearing the silence around the penthouse knowing Kaarina is still sleeping as the sun is not even up yet, as he chose to take a flight late at night instead waiting to leave in the morning to fly home.

Lando walked towards the living room before passing the kitchen and walking through the long hallway all the way to the end where Kaarina’s bedroom was and gently pushing the cracked door open seeing the tall window blinds being shut being sure to block the bright sunlight when it comes up, in the center of the bed was a sleeping Kaarina who was peaceful sleeping with something snuggled in her arms, and the white duvet cuddled around her.

Lando paused leaned on the door smiling admiring his girlfriend having not been with her in a week as the season just ended and they had separate things they had to do with there teams, he could feel the tension and anxiety release from him being so close by Kaarina again.

Lando knew he should go shower from coming off the plane but all he wanted right now was to cuddle with his girl and go back to sleep with her in his arms, He walked over setting his phone on his side of the bed and his nightstand that Kaarina had specifically had empty when Lando started coming over, he slighty smiled seeing the phone cord still there for him he plugged in his phone setting it on his table before sliding off his hoodie and socks throwing them on a large chair in the room before lifting the side of the duvet and sliding in the bed.

He stopped seeing the thing between her arms feeling his lips beginning to lift up, seeing the one of the many jelly cats he got her, specifically her favorite the croissant, cuddled up in her arms and she had on a LN hoodie that he knew was his as she liked the smell better of his better than her own and a pair of purple quadrant sweat shorts.

Lando gently scooted closer to her, making Kaarina stir before she scooted closer and naturally nuzzled her head into his side as her body began relaxing against him. Lando brushed his hand though her hair tucking it behind her ear, just as her eyes slighty flutterd open looking up seeing Lando, her eyes soften and her lips turned into a tiny sleepy soft smile, the smile that is one of Lando’s favorite as it’s he the one only for who will ever see it.

“Hi baby.” Lando cooed grinned at a sleepy Kaarina slowly kissing her forehead, Kaarina hummed feeling Lando cup her cheek and she nuzzled into the palm of his hand, her eyes slowly began fluttering back to sleep as she fell asleep quickly to the sound of Lando’s heartbeat, Lando not quick behind her, easily falling asleep with Kaarina in his arms.

Kaarina was the one who woke up a few hours later her head still tightly pressed against Lando’s side as his arm were wrapped around her, she could not stop the smile forming on her lips, seeing her favorite person home with her again, she gently moved her eyes around his face admiring him having missed seeing him, FaceTime and photos not the same.

Lando slowly began to wake up feeling Kaarina scoot up resting her head next to his and her eyes staying on him, he turned his head to the right leaning on the pillow opening his eyes looking right into the crystal blue eyes he loves so much. Lando leaned his head forward making his nose brush her’s, Kaarina nudged her nose against Lando’s before resting her forehead against his and closing her eyes.

Lando looked at the love of his life before whispering words quickly, “Let’s tell everyone.” Kaarina slowly opened her eyes hearing Lando.

The two been dating for over two years, and while they have never hide their relationship they weren’t really showing anything that would hint to it, not because they didn’t want anyone to know but they wanted it to just be them in the beginning learning each other and then they were just comfortable with it being private and kinda a secret, they have told family obviously and they both told their closet friend but they never felt the need to tell the world liking their private relationship.

“Yeah?” Kaarina hummed running her hand through her boys hair, her favorite curls especially when he lets them grow out.

“I just want everyone to know you’re mine.” Lando simply said relishing in the feeling of her fingers in his hair.

“Ok.” Kaarina agreed just smiling slighty.

“Yeah.” Lando perked up, seeing Kaarina nod her head making him grin more, He leaned forward kissing her slowly not caring that either of them had not brushed their teeth yet, before gently pulling back and setting a quick kiss on her nose loving how it scrunched up.

“We can just stop hiding it and let people figure it out.” Lando mischievously grinned knowing they both love messing with people.

“I like the way you think.” Kaarina grinned laughing slightly, before cuddling into Lando’s neck enjoying the quiet time between the two.

One.

Charles, Alex, Lily, George, Carmen

January 6, 2023

Carmen, Lily and Karrtina sat around the top deck of a boat as Kaarina showed different outfits and photos from recent shoots and upcoming events to the girls, when the loud sounds of the boys became louder and closer to them.

Alex, Charles and George walked towards the girls, Alex sitting on the larger chair scooting in next to Lily, George settling down next to Carmen on the couch dropping his arm around her shoulders and Charles sitting on a couch by himself having broken up with his girlfriend two months ago.

It was peaceful silence between the group just the sound of the water moving below them and the late night breeze, before they all heard the last pair of footsteps, showing Lando who walked over to the couch were Kaarina was sitting alone, and cuddled up into her side intwining one of her hands with his and her other running though his hair, as she relaxed against him.

Lando grumbled cuddling closer to his girlfriend making her look down as her whole face soften looking at him and her lips turned up, shocking the others even more as she is known to not love any physical touch and is not the biggest smiler, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t smile but Kaarina is more reversed to her self and a select few.

“How long how this been going on?” Lily gently smiled figuring it out the fastest, glad her friend has found someone she can be relaxed and happy with.

Kaarina looked up at the people she would call friends not that she would ever tell them that but felt comfortable answering them knowing it came from a good place, “Two and half years.”

“TWO AND HALF YEARS!!!” Charles yelped in shock staring at the two people he would consider some of his closest friends. Lando head lifted from her side sliding closer and resting his head on her shoulder instead, his thumb soft brushing the back of her hand, beginning to fiddle with her rings that he picked out for her today.

“Why didn’t you say guys say anything?” Alex curiously questioned looking between the two and noticing how calm the two were next to each other, and wondering how he didn’t notice it before.

“We didn’t hide we just did not feel the need to announce to everyone.” Lando explained, before he grinned slighty, “And Kaar wanted to mess with everyone.” Lando laughed as he said it.

“Of course she did.” George fondly chuckled, knowing how his teammate is, him seemingly the least surprised as everyone else, as he sees Kaarina the most and have seen her with Lando, the way they act towards each other and has seen her home screen which is a picture of the two smiling together with Lando chin on her shoulder and arms around her waist.

Lando just grinned proudly kissing his favorite persons cheek, whose nose got slight dusted with pink.

Lily and Carmen shared a aww look loving how cute the two were together already.

“I wanna see photos!!!” Lily smiled clapping her hands while Carmen nodded quickly looking at the two.

“Alright, Alright.” Karina fondly rolled her eyes grabbing her phone and opening it up to her camera roll heading to a folder of photos of the two of them together or ones Kaarina and Lando took of each other, she tossed her phone to Lily who quickly caught it and began looking at it with Carmen.

“So how did you get Kaarina to go out with you?” Alex grinned teasing Lando, looking at the two.

“With my great looks.” Lando sassed back with a smirk, Kaarina shook her head a small snicker leaving her knowing that’s not the reason, Lando who heard her looked at her in fake offence, “It is not?” Lando grinned teasing his girl knowing the real reason they got together.

“If it was i wouldn’t have said yes.” Kaarina snarked back, joking knowing she thinks Lando handsome but that is not reason she said yes to him.

“Ouch love.” Lando pouted as the boys were dying laughing.

Carmen and Lily gasped at the same time as they looked at the phone, Lily looked up, “That is so cute!” Kaarina raised an eye brow as Carmen turned the phone showing a photo of the two of them in a grass field with her sitting on a blanket and her legs crossed and Lando laying on his back and his head in her lap as he looked up at her and she was smiling looking at him and her hand was resting on his face.

“Oh, yeah it is.” Kaarina softened looking at the photo, it’s one of her favorite photos of the two and one Lando loves to look at because of her smile.

“It’s one of my favorites.” Lando chimed in with a smile not only is her girl smiling at him but the picture shows how she looks at him too.

“It is actually cute.” Alex smiled looking at the picture and anyone would eyes could tell the two loved each other a lot.

Two.

Lewis Toto, and Mick

March 19, 2023

Kaarina was curled in a tight ball on her favorite all black couch that’s in her driver room, she had a white and green flower fluffy blanket covered over her whole body that was a gift from Lando and she brought with her everywhere and the two use the blanket at home together so it has Lando scent on it, she had on her sand speedco hoodie on and the hood over all her hair, in her arms was a sun jelly cat from Lando, a heating pad on her stomach to try and help with the pain and cramps in her stomach.

Their was a knock and quickly then three following after making her know exactly who as the door and she called out a quiet come in, Lando opened the door frowning slightly at Kaarina hiding in her blanket before quickly shutting the door behind having snuck in the Mercedes garage with George’s help.

“Hi baby.” Lando softly cooed, walking and sitting by her head and slowly lifted the blanket from her head and gently brushed her hair from her face leaning down and putting four kisses on her forehead, “How you feeling my love.”

Kaarina answer was a pained groan and she brought her knees up tighter to her stomach.

“Is there anything that will make you feel better?” Lando gently asked always feeing hopeless when she wasn’t feeling good.

“Hold me?” Kaarina softy whispered. Kaarina being more vulnerable as she is in pain and usually she wouldn’t want anyone near her but she’s always been comfortable with Lando and never worried about protecting her self from him, and knows she’s safe with him.

“That i can do.” Lando smiled before gently scooting under her letting her whole body weight lay on top of him and putting a hand on her stomach where the heating pad is and gently massaging knowing they can help her when her periods bad. Kaarina slowly fell asleep to the feeling of his hand and the sound of Lando’s heartbeat. Lando felt her breathing slow down and knew she had at least a twenty minutes before either of them were needed. He slowly rested his eyes too and before he knew he was fast asleep.

Toto knocked on Kaarina driver door with Lewis and Mick behind both told by Savanna, Maya and George that Kaarina isn’t feeling well and they could all tell this morning when she walked in she didn’t look too great, there wasn’t an answer on the door figuring she was sleeping he slowly opened the door raising a eye brown as the scene in front of him, his number one driver cuddling with Mclaren number one driver, though he isn’t as surprised as he should be but he always felt there was something between the two.

Lewis nodded smiling looking at the two thinking they are so different but they probably balance each other nicely, and Kaarina is a great judge of character and if she is comfortable enough to cuddle and fall asleep on someone then there good for her.

Mick smiled he thought the two had something as she brought him on family trips but they acted like best friends he wasn’t sure if they ever became more but it looks like they have.

The three shared a look before slowly closing the door and walking out knowing they can still rest for a few more minutes.

Lando slowly woke up to a buzz ok his phone clicking it on noticing it’s probably a good idea to wake up her up, he gently moved his hand to her back rubbing it with his hand up and down, “Kaar baby you got to get up.” She groaned trying to cuddle closer and Lando wanted nothing more to stay here and cuddle but he knew they had to get up, “Cmon angel let me see those pretty eyes.” Lando cooed cupping her face with his hands. Kaarina slowly fluttered her eyes open making Lando smile and kiss her cheek.

She leaned up stretching her arms and rubbing her eyes, she slowly slid off Lando knowing he has to go to his garage, Lando leaned up as well kissing the top of her head, “I’ll see you in few minutes yeah.”

Kaarina nodded kissing his cheek watching him walk to the door opening and closing it behind him.

Lando walked out of her driver room down the hallway past a door that was open when he heard his name being called by Toto he turned seeing Toto, George, Lewis, Maya and Mick sitting in a room that had couches and a long table, he walked in slowly looking at them.

“Next time you come to see Kaarina you’ll be allowed in without sneaking it.” Toto calmly told Lando trying not smirk.

“What?” Lando raised and eyebrow looking between them all.

“They saw you cuddling Rina.” George simply piped in, enjoying the slight panic on Lando’s face when he turned around to look at Toto.

“Oh.” Lando realized they knew about him and Kaarina, he nodded, “Cool thank you.”

“Hey Toto-” Kaarina stopped mid sentence as she stopped in the doorway as she was walking braiding her hair but stopped seeing Lando stand in the room with her team. She turned slightly to Toto raising her eyebrow in question as she finished her fishtail braid and tied it off.

“Might want to lock your doors next time.” Toto explained seeing the questioned she was asking.

“Oh.” Kaarina just shrugged not looking bothered they knew, in which she wasn’t bothered she wanted them to know anyways, and she knew Maya already knew as she comes to her house on training days anyways and has seen Lando there, and both of their trainers know about their relationship.

Savanna, Kaarina’s personal assistant and a good friend of hers, came walking in with her heels clacking looking down at her ipad and a handful of stuff in her hands, she was grabbing what Kaarina is allowed to have before the race and was approved by her trainer Maya. She stopped in front of Kaarina handing a pain medication for her cramps and the pain in her stomach and head, few different vitamins that help her when she is on her period and a pre race smoothie, Kaarina threw the handful of pills in her mouth sipping the smoothie to swallow them down. Savanna seemed to continue to work on ipad before showing Kaarina a picture of her for approval to he posted on her stories, Kaarina nodded to the photo before turning to Lando.

“You probably have to go get ready.” Kaarina looked at Lando knowing they are getting close to race time and he a pre race ritual he does.

“Yeah, Later.” Lando nodded in agreement waving bye to the others in room, walking to Kaarina kissing her cheek before looking in her eyes and the two seemed to have a unspoken conversation with their eyes, leaving them both in small smiles before Kaarina gave him a small shove towards the door knowing he really needed to get going.

Kaarina closed her eyes feeling the teasings looks from the whole room, “Don’t say a word.”

Three.

Quadrant

August 5, 2023

The Summer break had just started and Lando and Kaarina had to do a few days at their headquarters for their teams filming and shooting a few things for summer break, so the two stayed at their house they have together in London right in the middle of the two factories, mostly during the season they don’t get a lot of time to get home to Monaco as when they have a off week they usually have to be at the factory so they bought a house together so they could be more comfortable and not have to stay in hotels as much.

Lando was having his Qudrant team come over for a few hours to film a challenge video and a few other videos, while Kaarina was out doing a photo shoot with a brand for the day.

They had finished filming their video and was done for they day so most of them decided to stay and they ordered in, they all sat around the large island in the open kitchen eating Chinese food, when they heard the sound of heels clicking, and Kaarina walked in with blue jeans with a few rips, a black laced tank, a leather jacket and heeled boots, her long blonde hair was waved and down.

Ria grinned waving at Kaarina as she’s become a good friend of hers, Kaarina smirked a little waving back. There was Niran, Max, Aarave and Ethan still there as well as they all looked up at the sound of her heels saying hello.

“Hey.” Kaarina greeted back walking over to Lando standing next to to him, closer to his height with her shoes on, she gave a look and he answered in a nod leaning down to kiss her cheek as she took on one of his spring rolls, happily munching on the food as Lando grabbed a box on the island he got specifically for her knowing she loves these, he handed her the box watching her open them and he sees her light up seeing her favorite potstickers and she quickly picked one up eating it.

Lando wrapped and arm around her waist leaning his chin on her shoulder wacthing her happily eat some food, he knows on shoot days they can be long and stressful and she usually doesn’t have time to eat or doing to much and doesn’t realize she hasn’t eaten yet.

Niran, Max, Aarav and Ethan went back to their discussion they were having but Ria was wacthing the two wondering if there was something there, she always thought they would be perfect together, she means they do own a house together and they balance each other out nicely, and as she watched Lando get food for Kaarina resting his chin on her shoulder as Kaarina fed him his spring rolls she knew right there they were together already especially when Lando leaned down and pecked her lips in what seemed like a thank you.

Ria squealed grinning as she clapped her hands, Max cursed flinching away as he was the closest to her well his ear was, “Jesus christ Ria.”

“Sorry.” Ria grinned not looking sorry as she was still looking at Kaarina and Lando, “Oh my god how long has this been going on.”

“What are you on about?” Ethan questioned looking genuinely confused, Max titled his head seeing Ria stare at his best mate and one of his closer friends and figured she probably saw them do something as a couple, as Max had known since ever as Lando needed help getting Kaarina to go on a date with him, and Lando’s his best mate.

“Kaarina and Lando!” Ria grinned answering the question, Ethan still looked confused looking at her for answer.

“There together you muppet.” Max rolled his eyes explaining it to Ethan, as he knew Kaarina and Lando were fine with people knowing.

Ethan looked at Max, then looked at Ria and then Kaarina and Lando, Lando who was smirking seeing Ethan be so slow, Ethan slowly nodded, “Ohhhhh.”

“Woah!” Niran mumbled suprised Lando and Kaarina are together, not that Kaarina’s ever been rude or bitchy to any of the Quadrant team she just is more reserved and likes to keep to herself, but he could see why it makes sense as Kaarina and Lando have been best friends from what Niran knows a lot time so it makes sense.

“Almost three years.” Kaarina answered the question Ria wanted to know leaning into Landos side more as his hand rested on her waist.

“Awww.” Ria grinned looking at the two.

“Try third wheeling with these two muppets.” Max jested pointing towards them, Lando was sliding his fried rice in front of Kaarina giving her look to eat, making her fondly roll her eyes taking a bite being thankful for Lando protective and caring nature.

“They can’t be that bad.” Aarav looked at Max for an answer. Max playful grimaced instead of answering.

Kaarina picked a piece of rice flicking across the island at Max’s forehead, “We are not that bad.”

Max looked offended once he realized what hit him in the forehead, as the rest of the people in the kitchen was laughing at Max getting hit with rice.

“Your terrible.” Max exclaimed, Lando just chuckled knowing they weren’t that bad, if anything Max was worse with his girlfriend.

A few hours had gone before they all left leaving Lando and Kaarina alone.

Kaarina had hopped up on the island awhile ago with Lando standing between her legs and her hand in his hair. Lando leaned forward letting his head rest against her chest.

“Are you excited.” Lando questioned against her chest relaxing at the the feeling of her hands in his curls.

“Very.” Kaarina smiled leaning down to kiss his head.

The two have been doing a lot of extra work with their teams and businesses, filming extra content in the first week of summer break so they could spend two weeks off in Greece for a break just the two of them, and to celebrate there upcoming three years together.

Lando lifted his head cupping her face with both of her hand smiling as he leaned closer to her face, “Good.” He pressed their lips together feeling her smile into the kiss.

Four.

Max, Daniel, Pierre, Carlos, Oscar, Logan

September 3, 2023

Some of the drivers on the grid sat around a large table booth in the corner of a large huge club, hidden away from the blaring lights and other bodies dancing around the floor, empty glasses were flitted around the table as they celebrated there race from that day in Monza or was getting drunk to forget about their race, They also were celebrating Kaartina breaking the record for most consecutive wins ever.

Multiple conversations were being held around the table all talking about different things.

Lando arm was draped around the back of Kaartina seats as he leaned his mouth to her ear, “Dance with me baby?” Her eyes flickered up towards Lando, whose was pulling out his puppy eyes knowing they always work on her.

Kaartina fondly rolled her eyes before nodding making Lando grin brightly before he jumped up off his seat that was at edge of the bench and put his hands on her waist lifting her up before she could change her mind, Kartina lightly smiled as her hands landed right on Lando’s chest and she saw his mischievous smirk, before he dragged her to middle of the room as her fluffy ponytail whipped around.

“Did Rina just let Lando touch her willingly?” Daniel sputtered out in shock, Chalres and Alex shared a looked snickering, George smiled drinking from his glass, Max raised his eyebrow before nodding not seemingly that suprised, Pierre opened and closed him mouth.

Carlos titled his head muttering to himself, “You muppet.”

Oscar was nonchalantly drinking from the glass already knowing about the his best friend and teammate. Logan next to him having alreadly see the two together.

Lando spun Kaarina around pulling her close to him by her waist as her arms looped around his neck and her fingers threaded through the base of his hair.

Lando leaned down putting his forehead against hers, “I love you Kaar.”

Kaarina eyes soften and she mumbled back, “I love you too Lan.” Lando smiled brightly before connecting his lips to her as one of his hand cupped her cheek and the other squeezed her waist pulling her even closer.

Daniel jaw dropped looking at the two, Carlos looked genuinely surprised most likely with the fact Lando is actually with someone, Pierre just rapidly blinked and Max just kept drinking his drink.

Alex and Charles could not contain their laughter, the two dying laughing realizing they probably looked just a shocked when they found out.

“How long has that been going on.” Carlos questioned out loud, not thinking anyone at the table knew about those two.

“Three years.” Five voice all chimed in at the same time.

Carlos whipped his his head back at the table hearing Charles, Alex, George, Oscar and Logan all speak, surprising him as he thought, one no one knew and two how the two have been dating for that long and he never found out, “That long?”

Oscar nodded, “Yeah.”

“How have we never figured it out before.” Daniel questioned looking genuinely stumped.

“They kept it kinda private for awhile and this season they have been letting people figure it out.” George simply explained, understanding the two wanting to keep it private especially the sport they are in and the hate Kaarina gets as a female driver it would make since for them not wanting everyone to know about their relationship.

“Makes sense.” Max nodded he too likes the more private side of a relationship, his relationship is public but they keep many things private between just them.

Kaarina slid back into her seat Lando sliding in right next to her, they shared a mischievous look knowing the others probably saw them.

“I’m surprised you manage to keep it a secret that long.” Carlos was the first to speak looking between the two wondering how he didn’t see the subtle things between them.

“I’m still surprised Lando kept it a secret too.” Kaarina smirked knowing Lando is the worse at keeping secrets and was genuinely surprised they kept their relationship to themselves for so long.

“Hey!” Lando complained from getting teamed up on by one of his best mates and his girlfriend. Lando tried to poke Kaarina side where she’s ticklish but she caught his finger just in them giving him a warning look but all it did was making him grin and lean down and to kiss her forehead, He slid his arm around her shoulders letting her lean under his arm on his side.

Five.

Sebastian, Lance, Valterri, Esteban, Zhou, Yuki, Liam.

September 20, 2023

Kaarina had one of her hands on the steering wheel and the other intertwined with Lando laying on his thigh, The car was silent with the sound of August by Taylor swift playing on the radio, Kaarina lightly hummed to her favorite singers as she pulled in the parking lot, putting the car into park and shutting it off.

She grabbed her purse throwing the rental car keys into the bag grabbing her Christian Dior lip oil and about to open it when Lando gently took it from her hands, “Let me my love.”

Kaarina softly smiled watching Lando look so concentrated putting on her lip oli, one thing Lando loves to do is help her get ready, from learning how to use hair tools and do hair styles, to helping her get on a outift or zip a zipper, kneeling down to tie her shoe and he loves helping her with her makeup. Lando just loves being able to send time with his girlfriend and this gives him more time to do so.

“There perfect.” Lando grinned brushing back a stray hair of Kaarina’s golden blonde hair from her face and tucking it behind her ear, her hair curled into the perfect curls wearring a black and slight red dress and a velvet black blazer and all black stiletto heeled boots, with a all red Christian Dior purse, “You look beautiful.” Lando smiled watching Kaarina purse her lips to hide her blush making Lando fill with pride knowing he can still make her blush after three years.

“I know you told me already.” Kaarina softly snarked back having Lando tell her at least ever five minutes.

“Good.” Lando grinned cupping her cheek and kissing her lips softly before pulling back making her try and move forward pouting trying to reconnect their lips, “Sorry love we’re already late.” Lando smiled kissing her cheek before she cupped his face and gently wiped off the lip oil that transferred to his lips, before turning around and getting out the car.

The two walked up the stairs inside the building walking towards the elevator and sliding in with the door closing behind them with only the two of them in the elevator.

Lando leaned in the corner of the elevator as they waited for it to take them up all the way to the top of tall building, Kaarina walked towards Lando leaning her chin on his chest looking up at him making him smile as he tilted his head to kiss her forehead as Karina fingers fiddled with his turquoise shark tooth necklace that she got for him, the two gently pulled apart when the elevator dinged and the doors opened revealing the view from the top of the large skyscraper and its restaurant on the top floor, the view over looking japan.

They saw the restaurant empty expect for one big table and noticed almost ever driver from the grid was there, the two saw Roscoe curled up on a bed on a chair.

“There they are.” Daniel grinned seeing the two walk in about twenty minutes late as he gave them a suggestive eyebrow wiggle making Lando laugh and Kaarina roll her eyes.

Sebastian stood up shaking Landos hand before turning towards his niece, who grinned “Hi uncle Seb.” He smiled pulling her into a hug being reminded so much of his best friend, her mother Marie.

“Thank you for coming.” Seb grinned as Kaarina nodded in response before walking towards the only two seats open and one seat was next to Oscar and Kaarina quickly sat down in seat giving Lando a smirk.

“Hey he’s my teammate.” Lando squawked out in protest as he sat in the seat next to her and Alex.

“He’s my best friend.” Kaarina snarked back making Oscar chuckled quietly. Lando fondly rolled his eyes.

The next hour was filled with chatter and conversation as they all got their dinner served to them, Sebastian who is in town for the race as well, invited all the drivers for a dinner after media day to talk with them all and see how everyone is doing.

Roscoe woke up sticking his nose in the air smelling a scent and jumping up and running around the table to Kaarina and hitting his paw on her chair making her look down seeing Roscoe looking at her she stood up and kneeled down in front of the dog shaking his paw before giving him pets, making him roll onto the ground on his back.

“Hi boy.” Kaarina smiled as she pet him, Kaarina always been a big dog person but hasn’t had time to have a dog or go get a dog.

Lewis looked up seeing Roscoe out of his bed and saw Kaarina kneeling down with his dog, Lewis smiled knowing Roscoe adores Kaarina and the feeling is extremely mutual. Kaarina stood back up and sat back in her chair as the waiters came out with dessert plates, as many of the drivers just raced in Singapore and have weight to play with so they can have a few cheat meals or snacks.

“Thank you.” Kaarina said as the plate was put in front of her a freshly baked warm double chocolate brownie with homemade caramel drizzle on top, one of her favorite desserts. Lando got the simple vanilla ice cream as he’s the most picky of all of them but Kaarina’s looked really good so he grabbed his spoon and snuck it on her plate and grabbed a put quickly bringing the spoon to his mouth.

Kaarina chuckled watching Lando try and sneak a bite she fondly rolled her eyes scooping a bit and putting in front of his mouth for him, “You know you could have asked and i would of gave it to you.” Kaarina whispered looking at Lando, watching him take the bite off her spoon.

Lando smiled simply shrugging his shoulders, “Yeah but i got you to laugh so i like my idea better.” Kaarina softy smiled trying to keep her cheeks from turning red.

Sebastian who turned from his conversation from the sound of his niece laugh saw her smiling at Lando, not even surprised knowing Lando is extremely special to her as she brought him many times to meet her family and when her mother was alive Kaarina would bring Lando to see her as Marie always loved Lando like a son. Marie always said Lando would be the one for Kaarina as he brought out a side of her no one else ever has.

Lando most of made a good joke because Kaarina and Lando were dying of laughter, the two laughing so hard attracting the rest of the table’s attention towards them, most of the table had barely see Kaarina truly laugh, besides a fake PR laugh.

Kaarina giggled leaning forward learning forward resting her forehead on Lando’s arm, as the two tried to catch their breaths.

If one of the drivers haven’t realized the two are together by now it was obvious watching the two, how they were in their own world, Lando kissing a kiss to her forehead as she easily leaning into it, Kaarina resting her head on Lando’s shoulder or arm, or maybe the way the two looked at each other.

No one had ask anymore questions as the actions spoke loud enough.

The night seemed to end quickly and before everyone knew it they were heading back to their hotel room, Lando and Kaarina stood in a elevator alone, Kaarina leaning her head on his arm.

“Think the rest of them figured it out.” Kaarina lips turned in a small smirk.

“For sure, there’s no way they didn’t.” Lando chuckled, the two having planned to let the rest of the grid figured out about them.

“Good.” Kaarina nodded.

“Good.” Lando smirked questioning her.

“Good.” Kaarina smirked back lifting her head from his arm and standing in front of him wrapping her arms around Lando’s neck and her fingers tugging on his hair on the bottom of his neck, She leaned towards him pressing her lips tightly against his feeling Lando’s smile grow as they kissed.

+One.

September 23, 2023

“KAARINA YOU ARE A TWO TIME WORLD CHAMPION!!” Lewis shouted happily though the radio, Kaarina brightly grinned as her hands shook happily around her steering wheel, she slowly slowed down the car going through through her cool down lap.

“Thank you, thank you everyone on the team, everyone back at the factory, thank you Toto and Susie, thank you George for being a great teammate and thank you Lewis i couldn’t of done this without you.” Kaarina voice calm despite being the opposite right now, her car parked in the number one spot as she quickly unbluckled throwing her steering weel on the side of the car quickly standing up and standing on her car throwing her hands in air listening to the cheers fill her ears and catching sight of her father standing proudly with a smile gracing his face, a site not seen by many.

Kaarina jumped off her car kneeling to her tire and resting her forehead taking a minute to breath, while she was ecstatic to prove everyone wrong a second time all she wanted was her mother to have been able to see this.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Lando who’s viser was up and she could see his crinkled eyes that were watery as he looked at her, Kaarina stood up and Lando hugged her tightly spinning her around. Kaarina rested her forhead through her helmet on his shoulder as his gloved hand came to the back of her helmet holding her steadily.

“I’m so proud of you baby.” Lando voice shook as he spoke quietly to her holding her tightly a moment just the two of them before everyone stole her.

“Thank you.” Kaarina whispered back before gently pulling a way before putting her gloved hand on the cheek of Lando’s helmet feeling the flash of cameras not caring, before she felt a poke in the shoulder and turned seeing her best friend grinning, as he came P3 behind Lando and her.

Oscar was the first person who she choose to be her friend, her first teammate and someone who she would consider one of her best friends and someone she knows she will always have in her life.

“Glad i got to see this one K.” Oscar grinned his little grin putting his hand out for their handshake they have had since they were 9.

“Me too O.” Kaarina grinned back leaning into the side hug he gave her, Karina turned to the barricade where her team was celebrating, she uncliped her helmet pulling of her balaclava, she jogged over to her father stopping in front of him.

“I beat your record.” Karina cheekily smirked nonchalantly shrugging.

“Good.” Kimi responded smiling at his first born pulling her head to him and resting their foreheads together, the way they two show they love to each other, “I’m proud of you tytar.” Kimi whispered in Finnish to just his daughter ignoring everyone around them, “And so is she.” Kimi knew his best friend is so proud of their daughter from where she’s watching over the two.

“Thank you papa.” Kaarina blinked back the slight wet in her eyes.

“Go.” Kimi gently shoved her towards her team and the other drivers who were coming towards her. Kaarina nodded before turning and jogging at her team letting her self be patted on the back and shaking their hands, she got to the end of the barricade seeing Mick, Gina, Lewis and Toto.

“Well done.” Toto smiled pulling her into a hug patting her back, “Your proved everybody wrong again.” Toto grinned, he’s always been someone who supported her career being the first girl to get to formula one, get a podium win a race, and win a world championship not once but twice.

“Thank you.” Kaarina smiled slightly enjoying the happiness she’s feeling, she moved to Lewis moving first and hugging him tightly, Lewis has been her biggest supporter and became a friend she relied on and he has helped her a lot to win this year, “Thank you Lewis.”

“No thank you.” Lewis smiled being glad to watch her gain her dream for the second time and being able to help her achieve it.

Gina smiled wider when Kaarina looked at her, “Look at you superstar.” Kaarina smiled at her bestfriend accepting her hug and letting Gina rock her back and forth.

Kaarina turned towards Mick, who was grinning widely and looking so much like her godfather in that moment, Mick moved forward tightly hugging her godsister, “I’m so proud of you Mila, So is dad and aunty m.” Kaarina grip tightened on her god brother.

Kaarina pulled away smirking in a thank you, turning around seeing other drivers out and getting out of their cars, George who came in fourth that race already had his helmet off and was walking towards her.

“Well done Rina!” George smiled putting his hand out knowing she doesn’t love touching but Kaarina just fondly rolled her eyes before pulling her teammate in her arms, not that she would ever tell him but he’s always been an older brother to her.

“Thanks Georgie.” They pulled away from each other, she turned watching more of the drivers come and congratulate her.

Before she knew it she had already been drenched in champagne and been given her trophy, been through her after race interviews and conferences.

She was back in her hotel before going out later that night, she heard the key card reader going off and knew who it was as only one person has a card to her room, she stayed in the comfy hotel bed with her freshly clean hair still dripping wet from her cold shower.

“Kaar love!” Lando voice called out as he walked through the entrance of her large hotel suite, he heard the sound of her hum walking into the bedroom seeing her laying in the bed he smiled walking over watching her eyes look over at him, he sat on the bed leaning on the headboard as Kaarina moved close to him settling between his legs and cuddling into him, as Lando made sure the blanket stays over her.

Kaarina’s chin was settled on Lando’s chest as she looked at him feeling his eyes on her, “Hi.”

“Hi angel.” Lando smiled caressing her cheek before leaning down and beginning to pepper kisses all over her face, over and over muttering how proud he is and how much he loves her, Kaarina laughed as Lando kept kissing a ticklish spot under her jaw, Lando flipped them over his knees spread over her hips as his fingers carefully dug in the spot under her ribs and peppering kisses on her face.

Kaarina’s face was softened with laughter as Lando slowly began stopping tickling her. Lando smiled happy to hear his favorite sound and see his favorite site, her smile. He pressed one more kiss to her forehead as one of his hand intertwined with Kaarina’s bringing it to his mouth kissing the back of her hand and kissing her ring finger that was empty but hopefully in a few years it wasn’t.

Kaaarina looked at her boyfriend making her decision, “Let’s post pictures of us.” Kaarina deciding she wanted to just post their relationship as most of their friends and the grid have found about them now anyways.

Lando raised an eyebrow grinning, “Yeah?” Kaarina smiled nodding. Lando pulled out his phone turning it on the lock screen a photo of the back of Kaarina’s head as she faces the waves on the beach and opened the screen to reveal the home screen a selfie of the two of them where Kaarina’s hand is squeezing his cheeks and her lips are in a full smile with teeth and everything, it’s one of his favorite photos as they both of smiling and their eyes both look so happy.

Kaarina reached her hand out to the nightstand grabbing her phone, the front screen the photo of the two of them, where Lando has a backwards hat on and turned away from the camera and Kaarina is kissing his cheek hiding her face as her braid is half over her shoulder, her home screen a photo of the two of them where Lando has his arms wrapped around her from behind as his chin leaned down on her shoulder and they smiled at the camera.

The two both picked out a few of their favorite photos and both got them on their instagram, tagging each other and then posting them at the same time.

kaarinaraikkonen posted

liked by landonorris, maxverstappen, lewishamilton and 12,873,000 others

kaarinaraikkonen i guess i’ll keep him 🖤

tagged landonorris

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-kaarinaraikkonen thanks lew

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hater178 she’s always been a slut and a gold digger

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landonorris posted

liked by kaarinaraikkonen, alexalbon, georgerussel and 9,566,888 others

landonorris my girl 🖤

tagged kaarinaraikkonen

kaarinaraikkonen 🖤

maxverstappen happy for you guys mate!

landoandKaarina101 finallyyyyyy my ship!!!

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[covid-safer-hotties]

Paris 2024 Was Supposed to Be ‘Normal’—But You Can’t Compete With COVID - Published Aug 2, 2024

Some athletes are taking their own precautions, but the responsibility shouldn’t be solely on them

In the lead-up to the Paris Games, we couldn’t escape how “normal” it was all supposed to be: Media outlets touted the return of cheering spectators in place of empty stadiums, a hyped opening ceremony packed with hundreds of thousands of fans, arrivals of friends and families to help athletes celebrate huge wins (and process tough losses)—and no masks in sight.

All in all, as the Associated Press wrote at the beginning of July, the Paris Games would mark the return to “post-pandemic” “normal,” following “a stretch when host cities turned into closed-off shells of themselves, depriving those who had earned their way inside the so-called Olympic ‘bubble’ of a true Olympic experience.”

But as we’re learning as the 2024 Summer Games go on, popping that bubble might have been more than a little premature—and the athletes could be the ones paying the price.

To be clear, the lack of spectators, family support, and ability to connect with others wasn’t easy for the athletes. As fencer Kat Holmes told SELF, the atmosphere was “very restrictive.” “In Rio, it was like, ‘We’re here together, we’re gonna get to know each other,’” she said. “In Tokyo, it was like, ‘Oh my God, don’t breathe on me.’” So we totally get the desire to avoid that—it’s just that, unfortunately, COVID hasn’t gotten the memo.

The strict rules of Tokyo and Beijing didn’t exactly make it to Paris. In Tokyo, the rules for the athletes were strict, so much so that the term “intimacy ban” kept getting thrown around. The reason for the “safety first” policies, according to a 70-page playbook released one month before the 2020 Games (which actually happened in 2021), was to protect all athletes, participants, and the people of Japan from the spread of COVID-19. As such, it detailed policies including mask wearing “at all times” (except for sleeping, eating or drinking, training, or competing); avoiding the “3 C’s” (spaces that are confined, crowded, or involve close contact); testing regularly for COVID-19, whether you were symptomatic or not; and isolating yourself if you do test positive, among others.

Strict, yes, but also effective. According to the annual report released by the IOC in 2021, there were only 33 cases of COVID-19 out of 11,300 athletes—and no confirmed spread of the virus between Games participants and the local population. As a result, those learnings went on to influence the policies for the Winter Games in Beijing in 2022, which maintained many of those strict rules too.

Fast forward two years later. We’re now several variants away from the virus that was circulating during the Tokyo and Beijing Games, and while fewer people are dying from the current strain, it’s definitely not “just a cold.” It’s still dangerous, linked to heart problems and lung damage, and the threat of long COVID is real too. Folks with underlying conditions are particularly at risk, and while you may not realize it, that includes a lot of athletes—yep, even those at the top of their game. According to a 2023 review in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, about 15 to 30% of Olympians have asthma, and, recently, athletes like Suni Lee and Katie Ledecky have shared their own experiences living with chronic illnesses. And anyone, even seemingly healthy adults, can get seriously ill from it, whether that’s from the infection itself or the long COVID that can come after it.

Problem is, pandemic fatigue is real, and folks are understandably ready to get back to that elusive “normal.” But you can’t just wish away COVID—something other sporting events have been forced to acknowledge. In July, the Tour de France got rocked by COVID, with several top cyclists getting sick and withdrawing from competition. The Tour even reinstated mask mandates, requiring race organizers, media, and guests to wear them around contact with riders and team staff, Bicycling reported.

While the Games started just a couple weeks later (and in the same country!), the guidelines didn’t follow suit: According to Reuters, there’s no strict policy for COVID-19 at the Paris Games. “We have a protocol (that) any athlete that has tested positive has to wear a mask and we remind everyone to follow best practices, but in terms of monitoring COVID, cases are quite low in France,” Anne Descamps, Paris 2024 chief communications director, told Reuters.

When SELF asked Paris Games organizers on July 15 whether the Tour’s reinstatement of COVID prevention measures and mask mandates would influence theirs, a spokesperson simply said: “Paris 2024 is following the evolution of public health issues closely, together with the French Ministry of Health and Santé Publique France (Public Health France).” On July 19, Julie Dussliere, chief of Paralympics for the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) told SELF that while Team USA was encouraging a lot of “proactive behaviors for people to stay healthy,” like wearing masks on the plane “if they’re comfortable doing so” and “consistently using hand sanitizer,” there are “no specific COVID protocols in place from Paris 2024 for either the Olympics or the Paralympics.”

“Our team USA campaign for the games actually is called Don’t Let A Cold Keep You from the Gold,” Dussliere said. “And so we’ve provided a little travel packet to all members of our delegation athletes and coaches with things like hand sanitizer and masks, eye masks, earplugs for sleeping on the plane, things of that nature, to help with their travel and to try to keep them healthy while they’re traveling.”

So unlike the Tokyo Games, where visual reminders of COVID-19 were everywhere—from the empty stands to the masks athletes wore on podiums—Paris kicked off looking a lot more like a pre-2020 Games. Dig a little deeper, though, and it’s a different story.

To read the rest of the article, follow either link!

[himluv]

DA Review Series: Tevinter Nights

<<< Previous Review: Absolution

I've read this anthology once before, and I'm happy to say it holds up beautifully on a re-read. Since this features multiple stories, I'm going to review the whole work, and then do little reviews of each individual tale.

Title: Tevinter Nights Editors: Chris Bain, Trick Weekes, Matthew Goldman, and Christopher Morgan Year Published: 2020 In-World Year: ~9:45+ Verdict: Required reading. This is a fantastic look at the state of Thedas after Trespasser, as well as an introduction to a few of our companions and factions in Veilguard. If you only consume one piece of tie-in content leading up to release day, make it this one.

Tevinter Nights is a collection of short stories all set after the fall of Ventus. We meet Strife and Irelin, Evka Ivo and Antoine, Lucanis and Illario Dellamorte, Andarateia Cantori and Viago de Riva, Emmrich and Manfred, and Neve Gallus, among others. We also see all of our factions — Inquisition, Lords of Fortune, Veil Jumpers, Shadow Dragons, Antivan Crows, the Mourn Watch, and the Grey Wardens. This book really feels like a primer for the next game and is a ton of fun. I enjoyed my second reading as much as the first!

1. Title: Three Trees to Midnight Author: Trick Weekes Verdict: Set in the aftermath of the invasion of Ventus, this story feels like the perfect jumping off point. It picks up from the comics and introduces us to the Veil Jumpers and Arlathan Forest — a very exciting first story for longtime fans.

2. Title: Down Among the Dead Men Author: Sylvia Feketekuty Verdict: Undead murder mystery, what's not to love? Plus, we meet Emmrich and Manfred and it's absolutely adorable. And, I'll be honest, I'd do anything for Audric. This story makes the Mourn Watch seem pretty darn cool.

3. Title: The Horror of Hormak Author: John Epler Verdict: Absolute nightmare fuel. If you're worried that Veilguard isn't going to be dark enough... Read this story. A pair of Wardens are investigating a missing unit, and discover a very messed up underground lab of some sort. This story very much gave that same creeping dread as meeting the Broodmother in DAO. And if I have one fear for Veilguard, it's a Broodmother in 4k.

4. Title: Callback Author: Lukas Kristjanson Verdict: Heartbreaking. But also a really moving farewell to Skyhold. I love this story even though it kills me. In fact, I loved it enough to write some fanfic revolving around it! That's how good it is.

5. Title: Luck in the Gardens Author: Sylvia Feketekuty Verdict: This story introduces us to the Lords of Fortune faction. Hollix takes a job from none other than Dorian Pavus (and we see him with Mae!!!) to find out what's been hunting people in the docks. And it's uhhhh not anything you might expect. We see more evidence of gross, tentacled, briny-blooded monsters lurking underground. Again, things are getting real messed up in Thedas y'all.

6. Title: Hunger Author: Brianne Battye Verdict: In another throwback to Origins, werewolves are back babeyyy! This time a pair of Wardens (Evka Ivo and Antoine) are on their way back to Weisshaupt when they come across a cursed village. The pair decide to lend a hand and quickly realize they might have taken on more than they bargained for...

7. Title: Murder by Death Mages Author: Caitlin Sullivan Kelly Verdict: More Mortalitasi in this one. We get a peek at Nevarran politics, a brief glimpse of Cassandra, and more insight into the Mortalitasi. I will say, this is probably my least favorite story in the collection. While it showed Inquisition agent Sidony's power, it didn't really come together for me plot-wise.

8. Title: Streets of Minrathous Author: Brianne Battye Verdict: Helloooo Neve Gallus! This is an utterly stunning introduction to our private detective companion. A great noir-style tale that confirms that the Venatori are very much still a problem in Tevinter.

9. Title: The Wigmaker Job Author: Courtney Woods Verdict: Oh man. This is one of my favorite stories. There's just so much to love here! Lucanis and Illario are great together (I fell in love with Lucanis here and have rooted for him to be a companion since I first read it). The action sequences are great, and again, some real nasty, dark things are happening in Thedas.

10. Title: Genitivi Dies in the End Author: Lukas Kristjanson Verdict: This story is So. Much. Fun! It's also a pretty deep cut for fans, featuring Brother Ferdinand Genitivi (from DAO) and Philliam, a Bard!, as well as a few references to the Randy Dowager. All figures you'll only know if you are a lore hound in Inquisition. We also meet another Lord of Fortune and get a fun romp into elven ruins. What's not to love?

11. Title: Herold Had the Plan Author: Ryan Cormier Verdict: More Lords of Fortune, this time stealing an artifact from the Grand Tourney in Starkhaven. We also see Vaea and Ser Aaron at the end, which was a nice little treat. I will say though, this one had me a bit misty-eyed by the end. I usually want to see more of characters I love, but I hope Bharv retires to his farm and never treasure hunts again. Man has earned it.

12. Title: An Old Crow's Old Tricks Author: Arone Le Bray Verdict: After a troop of Tevinter soldiers attack a Dalish clan to make way for their camp, the Dalish seek revenge. That vengeance comes in the from of an old woman named Lessef. Watching her decimate the soldiers was gruesome good fun, and I cheered each time she said "Lessef of the Antivan Crows has fulfilled the contract."

13. Title: Eight Little Talons Author: Courtney Woods Verdict: This is the longest of the stories (I'd probably consider it a novelette) and it is maybe my favorite. I love a good whodunnit, and this one has a remote lake house, Antivan Crows, murders that replicate historically famous assassinations, AND sexual tension through the roof! We are formally introduced to Andarateia Cantori and Viago de Riva in this story, though we can infer from the text that they are the unnamed Crows we met in the comic Deception. I love them and NEED them to kiss on screen on Veilguard, okay?????

14. Title: Half Up Front Author: John Epler Verdict: It's hard to follow up Teia and Viago, but this little heist story is good fun. We see Gatt, and go to Kont-Arr! We also learn that the Agents of Fen'Harel are uhhhh real intense, Solas is after yet another artifact, and his feud with the Qunari is alive and well. We also learn that Dorian hired the narrator of this story to steal something from the Archon(?!) and at the end Gatt suggests the narrator and her girlfriend Irian head to Kirkwall to meet Varric. So, I guess we'll see if they show up in Veilguard?

15. Title: The Dread Wolf Take You Author: Trick Weekes Verdict: Look. As a Solavellan, I was never going to be normal about this story. I remember screaming (and crying) the first time I read it. It's a really interesting look at some different groups around Thedas, including the Carta, the Mortalitasi, and the Executors. We get to see Charter again, and she mentions Tessa! But the real gem here is that Solas himself shows up, and he somehow manages to break my heart all over again all while leaving me we more questions than answers. What an absolute banger of an ending for this anthology!

[thornsofthefuture]

an interview with witchita — a talk about underground music, anxiety and corruption

today's thorns of the future guest is witchita, once an electronic/witch house artist, now a latin urbano artist from mexico. witchita has been in the scene since 2019, when he released his first ever EP called "untitled" through distrokid. the songs from the EP could be described as energetic, with a dose of experimentality.

[this interview includes strong language and possibly triggering content. viewer discretion is advised.]

thorns of the future: what was the first song you've ever made?

witchita: Witchita from my first EP, named "Untitled" I wanted it to sound like "Baptism" by Crystal Castles, obviously it doesn't resemble that song that much due to lack of expertise at that point, but I do like that the first song I ever produced did ended up in a official release of mine, brings a lot of memories and transports me to that time when I first started learning Ableton, and what's mixing/mastering.

thorns of the future: what are some artists that you really like?

witchita: Crystal Castles, Skrillex, Playboy Carti, Yung Lean, Noisia, Dillom, Snow Strippers, 100 gecs, are like some "big names" I tend to always listen to underground and local projects to know what's really happening in the scenes I'm interested. As a fun fact, the last album I've recently listened is "1" by "estratosfera" from Argentina, I've also recently listened to a band called "Garbage People" they're like "garage rock?" sounded cool too.

thorns of the future: tell us about your craziest live show experience.

witchita: I had a show in Villahermosa, in my home state "Tabasco" in mid 2023, that was one of the first time, playing a couple of new songs, and the response to them from the audience was amazing, I saw everybody connecting and enjoying themselves, at least this was crazy for me, and also hearing the feedback from them at the end was super uplifting, I know this isn't very "crazy" lol but it was for me.

thorns of the future: do you have any new planned releases?

witchita: Yes, there's three songs for upcoming releases, one is called "Olas de un ayer" produced by a friend called Rodrigo, that's a "nostalgic" song about my teenage years. I have another one at the moment called "Por Dentro" produced by Trillfox, that's resembles my anxiety and dumb ways to deal with it. The third one, doesn't have a name yet, but it's a "hoodtrap", that's more on some gansta shit, produced by me, and co produced by razorz.

thorns of the future: tell us about the riskiest or the dumbest thing you've ever done.

witchita: Trusting the wrong people back in 2018 led me to being in a vulnerable situation, caused me to not have any money for basic needs, damaged relationships with friends and family, not having a stable living situation, I had to crash friends couches, all of this while I was student, luckily enough I hustled enough to get out of that situation with call center jobs and side businesses and I'm okay since late 2020, shit was awful. When I released "untitled" in 2019 I thought I was going to die any day.

thorns of the future: if you could resolve one major problem on earth, what would it be?

witchita: War. I'm in awe that we're getting a genocide basically being streamed in front of our eyes, and no one's doing shit to stop it. I'm as dumb as the next guy about these topics, but I think bombing children is just wrong and evil. Although I don't think this will ever be resolved, we will see wars until the sun explodes.

thorns of the future: what's your favourite song that you produced?

witchita: HUMX, my latest single at the moment, it's a very simple beat that combines those Witch House elements with a Jersey and urban percussions. I've gotten feedback from listeners that this one's their favourite song of mine.

thorns of the future: what software do you use to make your music?

witchita: Ableton and I will never leave it, great for producing, great for playing live, my favourite producers use it, but to each it's own, FL Studio, Logic, even if you only have Bandlab, you can make great music, the goal is to have the purpose to create.

thorns of the future: what's the artist you'd love to collaborate with?

witchita: Like, DREAM collab, shit, Skrillex, 100gecs, besides that, I'm really almost open to collaborate with any artist that it's "outside" the box, that might have some cool or fresh sounds going on.

thorns of the future: what's the artist you'd never like to collaborate with?

witchita: I wouldn't like to collaborate with artists that don't want try to make things a bit differently or that their shit doesn't sound authentic, type beat type of crowd, that make songs like is a recipe, like making 2001's pop punk exactly as it sounded in effing 2001.

thorns of the future: how did you come up with the name for your project?

witchita: The project used to be under the name "Cry Horror" but I started to feel less identified overtime with that name, razorz (aka EPILEPTICS) suggested me to use the name of my first track for the new project name when I started really getting into more urban and hyperpop influence, he also pushed me to really dive in, into producing these type of genres more.

thorns of the future: what is your song "V" about?

witchita: V is a song about how we're all corrupted, it's in our nature, that you shouldn't trust your governments and police.

thorns of the future: tell us about your hobbies.

witchita: I'm always listening to music, or try to educate myself more about the craft, I don't consider it a hobby, but a passion though. I really enjoy watching films, I wish I could draw better, since I believe is a great way to express youself artistically, I really like cooking as well.

thorns of the future: what's your biggest regret?

witchita: I wish I started taking this music shit more seriosuly earlier, when I was young there was a lot of scammy producers that didn't even finished your songs, or delivered super late. I wish I could started recroding and producing myself since I was a teen. I did write songs there but they're lost in my mind or in some lazy ass's PC.

thorns of the future: tell us about your biggest wish when it comes to your music.

witchita: I hope to drop music until I pass, my biggest wish is to keep trying to innovate, to make better songs and to my music to find it's audience, so it can fulfill it's purpose.

we would like to thank witchita for answering all of our questions. we really appreciate you. that's all for now.

images & videos: witchita

spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4EEA2IvXRTLbllO4FvM0sX

instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/witchitamusic/

hyperfollow:

https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/witchita

peace.

[magicalhideoutengineer]

It all started in December of 2018, with a sneak peek on social media from the author and screenwriter of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them franchise, J.K. Rowling, who, after announcing the completion of her newest screenplay, posted the following phrase on her Twitter: “Rio de Janeiro had better brace itself.”

A month earlier, Rowling had already made a mention about 1930’s Rio de Janeiro in a tweet that led to curious speculation from Brazilian fans of the franchise: what did old Rio have to do with the creator of Harry Potter? 

In the following weeks, it was discovered that the author had set her newest film creation in the marvelous city of Rio. The project’s production team, following her lead, began to plan trips to Brazil in order to film certain older areas of downtown Rio and use them as backgrounds for the 3rd episode film of the film series. And Brazil Production Services was the Brazilian production company chosen to head the production unit in Brazil of this international mega-blockbuster. 

When Warner Brothers contacted BPS, the job at hand involved the mapping and scanning of dozens of buildings and areas in downtown Rio de Janeiro, where several buildings from the city’s colonial, imperial, and turn-of-the-century periods are located.  This material would then be used by the film’s visual effects team to digitally reconstruct the city circa 1930 by way of computer graphics. The idea was to do something big, exploring the city’s beautiful backdrop that could transport the fans to a magical version of Rio de Janeiro of that time.

However, the coronavirus arrived in Brazil in March of 2020, causing the production plan and the script to undergo dramatic changes. 

Actor Eddie Redmayne, in an interview, spoke about the final version of the film that was released worldwide in April 2022: “The whole section that is set in Bhutan was meant to be set in Brazil … we were meant to travel and go and shoot there. Then COVID hit.” The actor lamented the cancellation of Rio as a main location – and so did we at BPS…

And so, what was supposed to be an intricate shoot in Rio showcasing some of its most interesting architecture turned out to be a production with only one of these locations.  This location was a quick shot at an iconic location in Rio, in which the magical community of the city celebrates the victory of Vicência, a character played by the Brazilian actress Maria Fernanda Cândido. 

The location in question was none other than the big house at Parque Lage in Rio de Janeiro, a world-renowned location with that also features Rio’s famous statue of Christ the Redeemer in the background. 

The beautiful house was scanned by the BPS team using LIDAR technology, which, according to the company’s Executive Manager Valéria Costa, is a tool widely used for building digital environments nowadays. The technology captures and measures properties of reflected light falling upon structures and, from that data, accurately documents a building’s 3D characteristics, providing the post-production team with high quality raw material to work on for the creation of digital backgrounds. 

Anyone who blinks might miss the lightning-fast appearance of Rio in the final version of the film, but at least it gave a taste, however small, of Rio��s beautiful scenery.  In short, after months of doubt as to whether or not Rio would be the setting for the film, the image below was what was left of the author’s original conception in the final form of the film.

Although disappointed with the shrinking of Brazil’s participation in the project, we look back on the experience philosophically affirming that one scene is better than no scene at all, right? 

[spindlebeforesunset]

Artemiy Artemivich Pinker Theory

how incoherent are my thoughts reduxed

Ok this has always been ruminating at the back of my brain since the start of TWST's release back in 2020 regarding Chenya's position, not as Riddle's and Trey's friend but in the Queendom of Roses.

Sidenotes: this is going to take from both the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll and the Disney adaptation. Arguably, while TWST is very much based off existing canon Disney IP, TWST has also been seen to pull insporation from the actual base fairytales as mini tidbits (example: Jade's Dorm Groovy where he gives Vil the red shoes the latter wanted - a reference to one of the older Snow White ends where the Evil Queen is placed into red hot iron shoes, although obviously in TWST, this gruesome end is not warranted).

In the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice first encounters the Cheshire Cat in the Duchess' (not present in the Disney film) house, lying by the hearth and grinning ear to ear then encountering the Cat again thrice face to face. The second is the famous Cheshire Cat scene "I'm mad. You're mad. We're all mad here." The third is when the Cat appears (just as a head) when she is playing croquet with the Queen to ask of her opinion about the Quewn. The last time she encounters the Cat, it's because the King and Queen of Hearts, plus the executioner are at their wit's end because they don't know how to behead someone who is just... a head. Alice herself does not know either what to do and claims the best course of action is to ask the Duchess because Cheshire Puss here is the Duchess'.

In the Disney adaptation, the Duchess' house and character are completely wiped out and the last scene we have of the Cat is him causing a ruckus in Alice's trial.

How does this tie back to Chenya? Theory time with a whole load of mixing and nonsense. Then again where is the sense Wonderland.

The theory is that the Pinker family is minor nobility and a a longtime vassal family of a Duchess in the Rose Queendom. Exactly like how Lilia served Meleanor and Silver keeps up tradition (as Lilia's adoptive son) by serving Malleus. Chenya only makes mention of his grandfather so I'm just going to assume his parents have been given the Disney treatment but nothing more than that. Granted, he's a side character so we don't know much about him, so let's just keep being delulu and follow this train of thought. Unless Chenya has older siblings, he's the de facto heir of this maybe nobility grandfather. I'm willing to theorize that despite being playful and mischievous, he was given topnotch education like Riddle, though not as controlling as the latter and had a much happier childhood and disposition as a result. But on the flip note, maybe Chenya feels stifled by the fact he is set to inherit a title he was born into and that could be why we know him as being lackadaisical and a gremlin to others as a way to escape the confines of what theoretically could be demanded of him in terms of decorum. It might also just be freeing on this note that him being playful is his true side he shows his closest friends when he's not being Sir or Lord Pinker. Being in RSA right now also helps because he has quite the freedom in doing literally anything he wants in the Isle that the Queendom might limit him to.

Ok next, we all know that the Clover family were all scolded to hell by Mrs. Rosehearts, but what about the Pinker family? All things considered, given how Trey and Chenya were playing with Riddle, we don't have any input from Riddle or Trey of all people if Mrs. Rosehearts met with Chenya's grandfather is odd. Probably its because the Clover bakery is close by? Is it because we don't have any of Chenya's input given how he is a side character? Or is Mrs. Rosehearts not in any position despite being a well-known magical healer to run her mouth off at Grandpa Pinker that his grandson dearest has "misbehaved". If the Pinkers were nobility, it might make sense (also whatever rules the Queendom has could factor into play) to why she can't lay a finger on them. And if they were a vassal noble family, and the other nobles heard of it, the Rosehearts might lose their reputation. If this is the case, Chenya gets away scot free of any scolding but still leaves with a bad taste in his mouth that that is what his friends went through.

I don't doubt the fact he feels guilty for what happened in the past, even very much aghast by it, but we do not see this fact haunt him the way it does Trey in the Heartslabyul chapter. They're both powerless as children and if theory holds he is nobility and did manage to tell his grandfather about what happened, law would see it as a mother just giving her son discipline and having to go to another kid's parents to sort the matter out. He will not be able to help any further on that matter. Instead in the Heartslabyul chapter as a teen, he sticks to the sidelines but provides guidance to the main group.

What could dispute this theory is either new TWST Canon that hasn't been given to us yet, the fact both Trey and Riddle speak casually together, and the fact Chenya doesn't act like typical nobility (then again, no one in TWST does except for Malleus)

In short, I don't know what the hell I'm actually on and I should get back to studying because why did I really find time enough for this. K thx bye.

[thecinemarattifilmclub]

Join us as we celebrate the films that we love starting with Movies That Make You Want to HUG the Weekend! The List, in no particular order:

Tenet In Her Shoes John Wick Chicago It's Complicated Train to Busan Honorable Mention: Call Me By Your Name, I Am Legend

Tenet, 2020 From the opening scene, Tenet is an electrifying blend of heart-pounding action and mind-bending science fiction. Director Christopher Nolan delivers a captivating and visually stunning film. The Protagonist, portrayed by John David Washington, is a complex figure who moves through the film asking the same questions we have as viewers. The cast is fantastic, and there's this one unforgettable scene towards the end where The Protagonist has a revelatory, emotionally charged moment with Neil, Robert Pattinson's character, that leaves you heartbroken. I love this movie and will watch it again and again! -Alana

In Her Shoes, 2005 Often overlooked in the flurry of rom-coms released in the early aughts, director Curtis Hanson’s In Her Shoes exists as one of the most endearing films of the genre. In this 2005 gem, the film’s leads, Toni Collette, Cameron Diaz, and Shirley MacLaine, each deliver performances that are beautifully nuanced in telling the story of two estranged sisters finding their way back to each other, and themselves, after reconnecting with their estranged grandmother. Yes, this is a story about love - the unexpected ways we might find it, learning to permit ourselves to experience it, how it profoundly changes us, and what we are willing to do to rebuild it after it’s been broken - but this film is about so much more than that. In Her Shoes pulls the curtain back on how grief and mental illness change our relationships in ways that can reverberate through generations and how we might be able to pick up the pieces and build something beautiful for ourselves. This movie fundamentally changed me when I first watched it. I love watching movies exploring the depths of sisterhood, both loving and complicated, and this one just means so much to me. -Victoria John Wick, 2014 Keanu Reeves, a fan favorite, is dynamite in the John Wick series. The movies are action-packed, well-acted, and feature a simple yet intriguing storyline. Whenever I'm in the mood for an exciting film with snappy dialogue and an interesting cast, I always turn to a John Wick film. Among the series, the original John Wick is my go-to because what's more exhilarating than a grieving hitman seeking vengeance for his puppy and his car? I mean, if "you've effed with the wrong one" was a person, it'd be John Wick. I'm here for it! -Alana Chicago, 2002 Based on the 1926 play and 1975 stage musical of the same name, 2002’s Chicago is a soaring accomplishment from director Rob Marshall. This musical crime dramedy tells the spellbinding tale of Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, both inmates on Murderess’ Row at Cook County Jail, as they chase celebrity and notoriety while awaiting trial. What is at once a tour-de-force of its own merit is also an enchanting homage to its source material, this film is one I simply cannot get enough of. The performances from Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, and Queen Latifah are electrifying and completely mesmerizing, each wholly embodying their lauded characters. Aside from the spectacular acting each delivers in this film, the musical performances are simply out of this world, with credit to the original music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb respectively, of course, but the production comes to life in a whole new way on the big screen. I watch this film a few times a year and highly recommend keeping the soundtrack in your rotation. -Victoria It’s Complicated, 2009 Oscar-nominated writer and director Nancy Meyers followed up a legendary four-film run (The Parent Trap, What Women Want, Something’s Gotta Give, and The Holiday) with 2009’s rom-com It’s Complicated. Starring Meryl Streep, with charming supporting performances from Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, this film follows a 10-years divorced baker as she navigates life as an empty-nester and discovers what might be next for her - which appears to include an affair with her now-married ex-husband (Baldwin) and a blossoming romance with the architect remodeling her home (Martin). This film explores the complications of divorce and moving on, while highlighting the joys and pits of rediscovering yourself, especially in your golden years. While this film was met with mixed reviews from critics, there is an undeniable sense of the Nancy Meyers charm that makes it the cozy and beloved film it is to me. Like any Meyers film, the set design is a character and story to discover in itself and perhaps one of my favorite elements of this movie - it’s an aesthetic feast! I have loved this movie for years and it’s one of those movies that pulls on your heartstrings, tickles your funny bone, and makes you feel hopeful for the future by the final scene. -Victoria

Train to Busan, 2016 Train to Busan is an electrifying and almost unmatched zombie film. Like any good movie, it has emotional depth. Your investment in the characters and their survival catapults you from scene to scene. Yeon Sang-ho’s directorial choices build the tension and suspense required for the film’s propulsion, but he also incorporates space for you to catch your breath. And with this plot, you'll need it. Gong Yoo and Ma Dong-seok are a great pair, using their ingenuity and sheer power to fight their way through zombie hoards. Whenever I'm looking for something exciting to watch, this film never fails to deliver. -Alana

[a-moth-to-the-light]

Most-Listened of April 2024

[last month]

Last month, I was just sooo excited about so much music (see: the giant five-star songs list)--I must have used up a whole lot of my enjoying-music energy, since this month I withdrew a bit & got super picky. (Which, for some reason, meant only enjoying three artists--Repion, Majiko, and Mon Laferte--for a solid week. No, I have no idea why my brain chose those three in particular!) So, I'm not feeling as sparkly as I did when I wrote last month's post, but there was still some awesome stuff this month (which is why I'm doing a top 20 instead of my usual 15!!).

Most of my favorite releases this month ended up being not-kpop, but my top 3 kpop releases of the month would be: "Undefeated" by XG (*insert obligatory acknowledgement of the "is XG kpop?" debate here*), "I'll See You There Tomorrow" by TXT, and "Candy Crush" by ARTMS!

1 . El Imán - Remix -- Delfina Campos, Santiago Martínez

If you, like me, still aren't over Tiffany's "I Just Wanna Dance", allow me to introduce you to...

2. La venganza de los Sith -- Comic Sans

By FAR my favorite release this month. This has the same indie-boy euphoria as "joyrider" by second thoughts, which is an instant win in my book!

3. Abittipsy -- Youha

I think I'm a normal amount of angsty for a college student! "Abittipsy" signifies an about-average amount of angst... right?

4. It Was Coming All Along -- Maggie Rogers

I don't really understand these lyrics, but they've been haunting me anyway. I guess I never get tired of this kind of apocalypse song--the ones that aren't even all that angry or scared anymore, they just sound completely exhausted. For me, they're always the most powerful.

5. Solo en Vos -- Luciana Tagliapietra

Loving the trend of synthy music that sounds straight out of a video game! And this synth is especially well-produced--the texture is IMPECCABLE.

6. Death To My Hometown -- Bruce Springsteen

Down two spots from last month, but still awesome!

7. Luz -- Ine Güemes

Another repeat offender! (I told you, this month wasn't all that exciting.) It's moved up a spot from last month, though. This album has a stranglehold on my soul btw.

8. Hemofilia - Remix -- Delfina Campos, Ferla

Re: Tiffany's "I Just Wanna Dance" !!

9. El día no me da -- Repion

Just an average Repion song--which, of course, means it's fantastic and has been my go-to song every single day for the last month.

10. Altas Nubes -- Adrià Salas, Repion

It's sooooo DND coded.

11. Spotlight -- Creepy Nuts

I love Creepy Nuts so much, and this one encapsulates everything that got them on my stan list in the first place--the incessant energy, the creative instrumentals, the rock influences !!!

12. Undefeated -- XG, Valorant

Yessssss sound design for the win!! There's never a dull moment in this song--XG really are bringing the thrill back to girl crush, and I couldn't be happier!

13. Nightshift -- Bruce Springsteen

This month's sulking song, I dare say? I'm SOOOO lucky I got to hear it live in March, and I've been addicted since. And it makes me SO SAD OH MY GOD--

14. Stayaway - Now, Now Remix -- MUNA

I still love the original, but this one had me at house keys!

15. Martes -- Repion

I'm getting sooo tired of complimenting Repion (look, I've been doing it nonstop since the release of their album last February). So I'll just say: harmonies good yes.

16. The Kill -- Maggie Rogers

Watching the live performance on YouTube broke me a little. This isn't the most exciting song, but Maggie Rogers makes it SO emotional in the most wonderfully subtle ways--a little sentimental, a little resigned. As Phoebe Bridgers once said, "I feel something."

17. Dice -- Onew

The album is better, but this is really cute! I must have left it on repeat while doing homework or something this month.

18. Alley Rose -- Conan Gray

This goes out everyone who cried to "Wish You Were Sober" in 2020 !!!

19. Found Heaven -- Conan Gray

I like the lyrics way more than I like the actual song, but I like the lyrics a LOT. "There's a God / in the sky / don't believe him." GODDAMN.

20. .tumblr -- Saramalacara

I want big clumsy melody-heavy EDM back!!!! Make dark-concept kpop like this again pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee

Five-Star Songs (& Albums!) This Month

Alley Rose -- Conan Gray (Now THIS is how you make retro exciting again. "Alley Rose" has disco and psychedelic rock built into the bones of its Elton John tribute, and the layers and layers of influences are just so endlessly fascinating to me!)

Amárrame -- Mon Laferte, Juanes (I ran across this during that weird week where I could only enjoy like 3 artists, and I'm so glad I did! I already expect Mon Laferte choruses to be wonderful, but this one still managed to take my breath away. Love at first listen, the vocal layering and the drums and the VOCAL LAYERING GUYS GUYS LISTEN TO THAT CHORUS. To my 10th grade Spanish teacher--I like a Juanes song now! Sorry it took me so long lol)

World -- MUCC (I've liked this since it came out, but it just hit differently this month. I don't know, maybe I'm just more obsessed with multilayered vocals than usual this month--which would explain the Repion obsession, actually...)

Como Bailan los Demás (Lado B) -- Delfina Campos (I think I'll always be that guy who wants my albums aesthetic, and this selection of hazy, muted club tracks is exactly what I'm looking for in an album worth leaving on repeat. It all flows together so effortlessly, and Delfina Campos really got my attention with these performances--so delicate, and so captivating. I'll have to go back and check out their other stuff!)

[subliminalbo]

Left: 2013 original/Right: 2020 remastered

Deep Cuts #1: Angels Mind Controlled

I have hundreds of unused manips just kind of sitting there in my folder, but there's definitely a reason that these manips have never seen the light of day. Sometimes I made them for a specific chapter of a story that I ended up scrapping entirely, but the vast majority of these unused manips are just early ones that looked like absolute trash. That's the case with this one, one of the very first manips I ever attempted.

Deep Cuts is a series that focuses on those cases that never really worked out. I'll share unused manips and even dig into some story ideas that were abandoned. Manips are remastered so that they don't look like absolute garbage, just mostly garbage.

I'm three laptops removed by now so I can't exactly say when this was made, but it's definitely in the first wave of manips from 2013. I had my eye on this shoot before I even started making manips. I can see what drew me to this particular shot: the blocking of the image set itself up nicely for a hypno story. In hindsight it's kind of a terrible image for a manip. It's a magazine scan which is obvious from the quality of the photo and I generally avoid pictures with writing over them. But in the days that this shoot was originally published, it wasn't common for digital photos to be released as well. I was also still following a white eyes manip tutorial that suggested turning the contrast way up which is why it…looks like that. What can you do?

This was almost definitely going to be used for a story, but what that story was about I don't know anymore. I think it would have been a Fleur-de-lis chapter involving Lindsay Ellingson and Candice Swanepoel trapping Lily Aldridge and turning her into a fellow slave. Like I said, the blocking was obvious.

At this time I was super into Lindsay Ellingson who I felt was an overlooked Victoria's Secret model. She has these big eyes that just work really well for hypnotized expression. As a result Lindsay could be the undisputed Deep Cuts champion.

Fun fact: Back in the day I uploaded this manip to Hypno Hub and it was swiftly removed.

[flincher]

9 and 12! For the book ask.

adi! hope you're doing well m8

9. Did you get into any new genres?

historical fiction! i started off 2022 with david mitchell's the thousand autumns of jacob de zoet, which I've had for quite some time but never got around to (fully) reading until this year. set during the sakoku years of japan, it's about a dutch clerk who falls in love with a japanese midwife and must subsequently rescue her when a cult abducts her. really thoroughly researched, and the prose is sublime. also has my favorite final sentence of any novel—"A well-waxed paper door slides open." followed it up later in the year with cloud atlas (watched the film after) from the same author. next year i'm planning to get into hillary mantel's wolf hall trilogy once i've cleared my backlog some more. not really a genre, but i've also started to read more classics, which i think i appreciate way more now than back when they'd be required reading for school. notable mention: emily wilson's translation of the odyssey, which uses unadorned modern language to lay bare some of the themes that more flowery existing approaches obscured. i think she's going to release her own translation of the iliad late next year; i'm looking forward to that as well. also mentioning mary shelley's frankenstein, which i read in preparation for a d&d character that i had. i don't know why it took me so long to finally read frankenstein, but i'm glad i did.

12. Any books that disappointed you?

douglas stuart's shuggie bain, which won the 2020 booker. it's about a young queer boy growing up in 1980s glasgow with his alcoholic mother. i expected to love it; only ended up feeling okay about it. maybe i wasn't in the right mind for it? i could stomach misery, and it's far from the most miserable thing i've read, but i think i wanted to meet these characters beyond the train of suffering they get put through. i was planning to read stuart's second novel young mungo right after but i've pushed it down my queue since.

[parin-gurumin]

I started doing these, like, lists of “what media I indulged in this year” in 2021, I love talking about the things i’ve dove into and expressing my thoughts on them in great detail. The first time I did this was on Twitter so the text limit was frustrating to articulate my thoughts in as few rampant replies as I could muster. I no longer have to worry about being annoying as hell with dominating people’s timelines because I can just totally isolate it all in this one post and just let people read it at their own leisure if they so please. 

With the introductory and some backstory out of the way I will now talk about all the media I indulged in throughout the year. I will be giving my honest opinions on these things so please keep in mind that my opinions are my own and you might possibly not share the same ones as me. Your opinions are important and you’re free to think about things however you want. (monkey’s paw kind of thing when I say that)

THE MEDIA CAN BE: SHOWS, MOVIES, GAMES, ETC.

Since the year isn’t over yet I will keep adding on to this, so check back if you want to.

In no particular order, other than the order in which I remember.

moon: Remix RPG Adventure

Developed by Love-de-Lic* and released in 1997 for the Playstation, but never got to release worldwide until 2020 where it was released for the Switch then later on PC in 2021.

Ever since Chibi robo I’ve always been a fan of LDL* and getting to play the games they made prior to Chibi robo is a refreshing experience. I have to return to this game because I haven’t beaten the game yet, however the time I've spent playing the game thus far has been pleasant. The game is very vague and hands off with having you collect the animals, and I personally find that fun and engaging. Though there are some animals that are legit so vague and precise that you essentially have to look up how to obtain them. I love the music, art, design, environments, etc in Moon and everything feels so lively and full of love so I eagerly await my return to the game. 

Murder by Numbers

Developed by Mediatonic and released on Switch and PC in 2020.

  Let it be known that I have never played a picross game and at the moment I am too stupid to figure it out still. Whenever I think I’ve figured out how this kind of game works I always find out that I’m still painfully wrong. For a beginner it is very simple looking from the outside view but when you start playing it makes you feel dumb. I like the game’s art and visual novel story style, in addition to the investigations incorporating the picross aspect very cleverly. I need to return to this game; but I'll need to figure out how to properly play first.

Subway Midnight

Developed by Bubby Darkstar and released on PC in 2021.

For me this game is all about the visuals and not so much about the story because that was always what I was drawn to from the outset. A short and sweet game with many colorful and fun visuals to be had. I like to lump this game in the same category as YUMENIKKI DREAM DIARY for the similarities they share in gameplay and visuals, not at all the stories they convey. The most standout character for me was Benson as a human, because I relate to that kind of character.

Terraria

Developed by Relogic and released on PC in 2011.

Look, man. I’ve had this game for so many fucking years and never played it “properly” until this year. As a kid I always just played it how I saw fit, I used any weapon I wanted to use and same goes for the accessories because I didn’t think that the gameplay could possibly have complexity to it because of Minecraft numbing my brain. With my newly acquired enlightenment I jumped back in, playing as a designated class of my choice making sure to acquire the optimal accessories for said class that suited my play style as well as actually….utilizing the potions and buffs. Eventually I grew weary of the lax normal difficulty so I made the leap into Expert and it made the game far more engaging along with all the difficulty exclusive items that I could now use. I started getting some of the fun visual mods that the steam workshop has to offer and even  made my own Yume 2kki music pack. Eventually I got tired of the vanilla Terraria experience so I turned to Calamity, I felt so refreshed. I could really feel that I had truly improved at the game at this point but now with the inclusion of Calamity I had a new world ahead of me.

I’m a fuckin addict when it comes to Terraria, I initially had about 300 hours or so in the game from years prior but I managed to add 200+ more hours on to the game in a stupidly short amount of time. I FIRMLY prefer Terraria over Minecraft.

Grub house lol

Team Fortress 2

Developed by Valve and released on PC in 2007.

SO, from Terraria to TF2 the theme is: Returning to games I used to play as a kid. Originally I dropped TF2 simply out of boredom because I didn’t have anyone to play with, but I think I returned to it again in 2019(?) temporarily because I now had friends (at the time) to play with; but that was short lived because eventually we just stopped playing together altogether. I started playing Apex in 2021 for a few months but dropped it due to my growing concerns with the developers’ employees rapidly leaving and it overall having a lot of strain on me when playing with my friends and/or my boyfriend. Ever since then I was assbroke and craving an FPS game to play but have no interest in/don’t want to play any of the modern release ones. This year I finally went back to TF2 and while yes I do not have any friends to play with I still have a lot of fun anyway. 

I used to play as Pyro when I was a kid, but now I play as Engie, Medic and Heavy sometimes Soldier or Demo. But honestly if I’m looking to fuck around I’ll play as anyone even if I suck at someone like the Spy, fun is fun.

Also fun fact, when I would play as a kid I only had a trackpad. A FUCKIng trackpad and no mouse, but I somehow had the balls to play like that. I could only freely look around when I was standing still but I eventually figured out that as long as I was walking I could eventually unstick the camera by jiggling my cursor around. I’d have to repeat this any time I died or stopped moving, so I think it’s obvious why I played as Pyro LOL.

Also initially the game I fell back on after Apex depressed me was playing Titanfall 2’s multiplayer, but always the harvester gamemode. After TiF2 went to shit I REALLY had no FPS games to play, I miss my wife. (Titanfall 2)

Wobbledogs

Developed by Animal Uprising and released on PC in 2022.

Because my computer is 6 years old it’s not the best at dealing with modern games like this when too much is happening at once on screen. The game runs extremely well but it WILL have frequent spurts of just lagging my whole computer to shit and ultimately hindering my ability to truly enjoy the game more.

BUT, my computer aside…I had a lot of fun with this game and wish to return to it whenever I get a new computer. Wobbledogs is what I would call a mix up of Viva Pinata and Cubivore and that rules. I love my doggies.

AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES - nirvanA Initiative

Developed by Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. and released in 2022.

I have not been so disappointed in my liiiiiiife, I AM SO SAD ABOUT THIS GAME. I loved the first game when I played it in 2019 and still love it to this day. I was ecstatic to see that it was going to get a second installment, but I was overall confused with how they were going to expand on the story. I’m no newbie to Uchikoshi’s works and LOVE the nonary games series, specifically VLR. I was somehow hoping for the same treatment like 999 to VLR with taking a good game and making it a MASTER CLASS game but I was let down.

This game was way too easy, I know people had problems with the somniums in the first game being tedious but that’s the point of them. Dreams are nonsensical in real life, a majority of your average everyday dreams won’t make sense, they may even contain subjects and people whom you met/experienced THAT day but they’ll become perplexing utter nonsense. The somniums in the first game had so many red herring interactables that it made the time so much more cut throat especially when you don’t know what to expect from the cast. Aini greatly downsized on interactables and made them so blatantly obvious to notice with the labels that oftentimes I had so much time left over that I questioned why the time limit was so high still. Outside of the fact that I knew that that’s just the function of somniums with that being the final time limit every time in canon but also because a huge advertisement point was how this SEQUEL was beginner friendly so I can see why it turned out this way.

I was so…so…so unhappy with the game being beginner friendly because it made everything from the first game seem so irrelevant that it actually pisses me off to think about. A huge issue I have with the game is that the game just feels like it doesn't care if you played the first game or not because the “spoiler mode” was so insignificant that you’re essentially not missing out on anything whether or not you have it toggled. Outside of the characters making a different comment about a certain subject, that was also in the first game, in spoiler mode the only other thing “worth” mentioning is the anecdotes Tama or Aiba leave on the top of the screen for you to read. They’re…I guess neat to have there at all but otherwise completely unnecessary had they actually done anything substantial in the spoiler mode.

Look, I get the gimmick of this game with the whole pairs of two and the flowchart being in the shape of dna, but come on. The concept of the flowcharts containing many endings with different characters as the highlight of them has been extremely integral for enjoying both the stories and characters as a whole. The removal of that very system made so many of the characters into one trick ponies that are just there to be there until they’re relevant for all of 5 seconds and then someone else gets their time in the spotlight. Each character has their own internal struggles, secrets and motives which is why the multiple character ending system was SO important. The characters in this game are all over the place and you can’t get a very good read on them outside of what their entire purpose of carrying the plot on for Mizuki to obviously then take over. I hated that so much, the thing about Uchikoshi games is how cast forward they are especially with giving even the unexpected seemingly unimportant character the spotlight and getting to be fleshed out. I have practically no attachment to any character from this game as a result, because everyone BUT the main focus characters (protagonists and antagonists, but a few friends as well) for the most part don’t have too much going for them. 

I could go on and on and on about how disappointed I am with this game and how had I known that this game would be how it was I would have just chosen to keep the first game as a one off but I’ll rein it in with this last thought. I am greatly worried about the future of the series because of this game and how it’s confirmed to be getting a third installment. Also, it doesn’t surprise me that a majority of the people who love this game are Persona 5 lovers, FUCK.

Placid Plastic Duck Simulator

Published and developed by turbolelento games and released in 2022.

From talking about a game I am so utterly disappointed in to talking about a nice and peaceful game. Although it WILL do the same thing that Wobbledogs does to my computer I still loved the fuck outta sitting idle waiting for my next duck to spawn. I loved watching the day to night cycle with the weather system, random encounters off in the horizon and music adding to the atmosphere. I cry thinking about the propeller hat duck escaping the pool and flying away every time. (that is a joke about being moved to tears but the propeller hat duck WILL escape pool containment) I also love water as a whole so just chilling out watching the ducks idly float by in a pretty pool is very :) for me.

I love the little mini baby ducks that eventually spawn given that enough ducks are currently in the pool.

Should have won GOTY.

[jcmarchi]

Searching for a New CSS Logo

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/searching-for-a-new-css-logo/

Searching for a New CSS Logo

There is an amazing community effort happening in search of a new logo for CSS. I was a bit skeptical at first, as I never really considered CSS a “brand.” Why does it need a logo? For starters, the current logo seems… a bit dated.

Displayed quite prominently is the number 3. As in CSS version 3, or simply CSS3. Depending on your IDE’s selected icon pack of choice, CSS file icons are often only the number 3.

To give an incredibly glossed-over history of CSS3:

Earliest draft specification was in 1999!

Adoption began in 2011, when it was published as the W3C Recommendation.

It’s been used ever since? That can’t be right…

CSS is certainly not stuck in 2011. Take a look at all the features added to CSS in the past five years (warning, scrolling animation ahead):

(Courtesy of Alex Riviere)

Seems like this stems mainly from the discontinuation of version numbering for CSS. These days, we mostly reference newer CSS features by their individual specification level, such as Selectors Level 4 being the current Selectors specification, for example.

A far more general observation on the “progress” of CSS could be taking a look at features being implemented — things like Caniuse and Baseline are great for seeing when certain browsers implemented certain features. Similarly, the Interop Project is a group consisting of browsers figuring out what to implement next.

There are ongoing discussions about the “eras” of CSS, though, and how those may be a way of framing the way we refer to CSS features.

Chris posted about CSS4 here on CSS-Tricks (five years ago!), discussing how successful CSS3 was from a marketing perspective. Jen Simmons also started a discussion back in 2020 on the CSS Working Group’s GitHub about defining CSS4. Knowing that, are you at least somewhat surprised that we have blown right by CSS4 and are technically using CSS5?

The CSS-Next Community Group is leading the charge here, something that member Brecht de Ruyte introduced earlier this year at Smashing Magazine. The purpose of this group is to, well, determine what’s next for CSS! The group defines the CSS versions as:

CSS3 (~2009-2012): Level 3 CSS specs as defined by the CSSWG

CSS4 (~2013-2018): Essential features that were not part of CSS3, but are already a fundamental part of CSS.

CSS5 (~2019-2024): Newer features whose adoption is steadily growing.

CSS6 (~2025+): Early-stage features that are planned for future CSS.

Check out this slide deck from November 2023 detailing the need for defining stronger versioning. Their goals are clear in my opinion:

Help developers learn CSS.

Help educators teach CSS.

Help employers define modern web skil…

Help the community understand the progression of CSS capabilities over time.

Circling back around to the logo, I have to agree: Yes, it’s time for a change.

Back in August, Adam Argyle opened an issue on the CSS-Next project on GitHub to drum up ideas. The thread is active and ongoing, though appears to be honing in on a release candidate. Let’s take a look at some proposals!

Nils Binder, from 9elements, proposed this lovely design, riffing on the “cascade.” Note the river-like “S” shape flowing through the design.

Chris Kirk-Nielson pitched a neat interactive logo concept he put together a while back. The suggestion plays into the “CSS is Awesome” meme, where the content overflows the wrapper. While playful and recognizable, Nils raised an excellent point:

Regarding the reference to the ‘CSS IS AWESOME’ meme, I initially chuckled, of course. However, at the same time, the meme also represents CSS as something quirky, unpredictable, and full of bugs. I’m not sure if that’s the exact message that needs to be repeated in the logo. It feels like it reinforces the recurring ‘CSS is broken’ mantra. To exaggerate: CSS is subordinate to JS and somehow broken.

Wow, is this the end of an era for the familiar meme? 

It’s looking that way, as the current candidate builds off of Javi Aguilar’s proposal. Javi’s design is being iterated upon by the group, it’s shaping up and looks great hanging with friends:

Javi describes the design considerations in the thread. Personally, I’m a fan of the color choice, and the softer shape differentiates it from the more rigid JavaScript and Typescript logos.

As mentioned, the discussion is ongoing and the design is actively being worked on. You can check out the latest versions in Adam’s CodePen demo:

Or if checking out design files is more your speed, take a look in Figma.

I think the thing that impresses me most about community initiatives like this is the collaboration involved. If you have opinions on the design of the logo, feel free to chime in on the discussion thread!

Once the versions are defined and the logo finalized, the only thing left to decide on will be a mascot for CSS. A chameleon? A peacock? I’m sure the community will choose wisely.

[ayearwithoutwater]

Six.

“Love Again” was one of my immediate favorites upon the release of Dua Lipa’s 2020 album Future Nostalgia. I remember thinking that that album was a solid pop record: its sledgehammer hooks are underpinned by immaculate grooves, and its sonic palette yearns for the disco ‘70s. It’s no surprise, therefore, that 2020 was also the year that I finally educated myself about the music of the inimitable Donna Summer.

I was raised on the piano. My mother had a great love for the instrument but never had the time to learn, so she would live her dreams through me. Beginning as early as age five, I was expected to practice daily on the household piano, originally an old upright piano that was later swapped out for a baby grand Kawai. During car trips, the radio was only ever attuned to classical stations.

Naturally, as I grew up, I developed my own likes and dislikes. Through my bedroom radio, I discovered the likes of Michelle Branch, Avril Lavigne, and Hilary Duff via Radio Disney. Classmates introduced me to LimeWire, which came into my life just before MySpace did, too. Although it was more widely known for being the proto-Facebook, MySpace was also the premier venue for music discovery, in which I would get lost for hours as I scoured for new music. I wanted the coolest song to display on my profile by musicians who were obscure-but-not-too-obscure, and it’s how I came to be a fan of Taking Back Sunday, Something Corporate, and Senses Fail. Music became my first love because I, like so many others, sought to escape an unhappy home; a catchy melody could take up residence in my head, and obsessing over lyrics occupied my mind. My school journals from this period of my life are still covered in my scrawled doodling as I incorporated into my imagination the lyrics of Hot Fuss, my favorite album by The Killers.

One June day after my big breakup, I wandered SoHo with my sister. In the downstairs section of the MoMA Design Store, she played the opening chords of “Clair de Lune”—one of my favorite melodies of all time—on a standing keyboard, evoking a deep sense of nostalgia from within me. As she played, I told myself that, if I managed to patch things up with Henry, I would play the piano with him.

I can pinpoint the exact moment I realized Henry was falling for me. We had been dating for a couple of months, and I was randomly scrolling through his Instagram feed. (Habitually, on social media, I mute or suppress notifications from the men I date unless I think it’s become serious enough to unmute.) I came across a recent video he’d uploaded of himself sitting at an upright piano in his parents’ home, playing his way through and singing “Love Again.” Partway through watching the video, it struck me that he was singing about me.

I have to admit, I was charmed.

We were still in the early stages of our relationship at that point, but all the signs were there of something more taking root. We were spending all of our time together and I had begun to meet his close friends. He was constantly in my apartment to the point that we were starting to discuss eventually moving in together. I knew he was special, I knew I needed to protect him, yet still I feel like I ultimately screwed it up.

When it all ended, I tried to find refuge in music. (I was basically catatonic, anyways, so all I could do was lay in bed and listen to the same sad songs on repeat.) Each year, I create a playlist of songs that I’ve come to enjoy during that year; 2022’s playlist, however, is still a field of landmines for me all this time later—listening, even now, only transports me back to the darkest chapter of my life, where all I could think about was him, him, and him.

Some of those songs include: Tina Turner, “Private Dancer” Harry Styles, “As It Was” Percy Sledge, “Love Me Tender” Kehlani, “altar”

In my time of need, music also had a funny way of finding me.

Before this, I’d never spoken to my parents about my love life. It’s a subject for another time, but suffice it to say that credit should be given where it is due: my mother tried. When she learned what had happened, she suggested that I go back to California for a brief reprieve. So, with my tail tucked between my legs, I went home. That year, I returned to California more times than I did in the past half-decade combined.

In my (American) hometown, I tried to recuperate. Being away from the hustle of New York and being away from Henry, I hate to admit, did bring me some measure of relief. I spent time with my loving, dopey, three-legged dog as well as my friends from high school. I even tried to shoehorn myself into (ill-advised) hookups, rationalizing that I needed to learn how to mingle once more.

I agreed to meet one man, someone I'd met only once before, but neither of us was able to host this time. He came up with a solution, claiming that he had a friend who'd offered us their house for our use. The address he gave me looked suspiciously familiar, but still I drove to it, bad idea notwithstanding, because I was a shell of myself and I no longer cared about propriety.

I showed up. I knocked on the front door, he let me in, and we did the deed. Post-coitus an hour later, after I had put myself back together, I left, and—instead of going straight to my parked car—I went next door and rang the doorbell.

The door opened, and I was greeted by my childhood piano teacher.

Because I don’t often revisit my hometown, I’m sometimes asked to look in on her. As I took a seat in her living room, I looked around—two grand pianos side by side, a couple of dogs, a few cats—and recalled all the years I spent in that very same room, oftentimes a welcome reprieve from my quarrelsome parents. She was a fierce, blunt instructor who hailed from Beijing and possessed a strong streak of kindness. She taught me more than just music theory: her home was where I learned how to regularly interact with pet dogs and cats, and it was where I had my first taste of (my now-beloved) oxtail. After one instance of my childhood self breaking down in tears as a result of her tough reprimands, she softened her approach with me and we developed a good rapport.

I hadn’t seen her since I graduated college, so we had a lot to talk about. I told her about my life in New York and that I was in town to attend a wedding, which prompted the evergreen question of when I myself would be getting married. I wasn’t quite in the mood to come out to her at that moment, so I explained to her my ongoing breakup with my “girlfriend.”

She admonished me, telling me not to give up. She told me to go back to “her” apartment every day, with flowers and gifts, until “she” either shooed me away or, God willing, took me back, because that’s what a man does when he’s truly devoted to his partner.

I merely nodded along. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I’d spent months sending “her” red roses and apologies between New York and Singapore, that I’d bawled my eyes out every night, every week, that I grieved the disappearance of the one person out of all my past lovers I ever wanted to marry, that I was functionally a zombie because I’d lost my better half forever. Thus, I listened to my piano teacher and pretended to agree that I would go back to New York and make all my amends. By then, I already knew that “she” wasn’t ever coming back.

My teacher switched topics to idle gossip. I updated her on the activities of my immediate family; she talked about her neighbors. Interestingly, there was one neighbor in particular who she’d known since he was six years old. Now in his thirties, he was openly gay and still lived in the same house. She’d installed security cameras all over her property and even once called the police to investigate the strange men coming and going from his home…because he lived right next door.

After our visit ended, I drove to a random plaza, where I sat on a nondescript bench and mulled my thoughts over a blended taro slush drink and pan-fried soup dumplings, alone. She’d told me not to give up, but I knew I had to; I was certain that I needed to move on.

As I ate, I pulled out my phone—with its battery at less than five percent—and began another listen of my 2022 playlist.

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, May 28, 2024

China has threatened trade with some countries after feuds. They’re calling ‘the firm’ for help (AP) Business is good at “the firm.” The eight-person team at the State Department is leading Washington’s efforts to ease the economic blowback for countries targeted by China. Led by State Department senior adviser Melanie Hart, the group reviews vulnerabilities and develops responses for countries that are cut off or fear losing trade with global powerhouse China. More than a dozen countries have sought their help. For example, when a Norwegian committee in 2010 awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to a Chinese dissident, Beijing stopped buying salmon from the Nordic country. Two years later, China rejected banana imports from the Philippines over a territorial dispute in the South China Sea. In 2020, Beijing responded to Australia’s call for an investigation into the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic by raising tariffs on Australian barley and wines. Lithuania allowed Taiwan’s de-facto embassy in Vilnius to bear the name Taiwan, instead of Taipei—Taiwan’s capital city—as preferred by Beijing. Lithuanian businesses saw their cargo shipments to and from China stranded, and they were warned by major European businesses that Lithuanian-made auto parts would be barred from products for the Chinese market. While it takes years to reorient global supply chains to reduce reliance on countries such as China, the team tries to offer a quicker way to ease a crisis, an official said, comparing the team to ambulance services that “help you get past that scary emergency time.”

U.S. screens record 2.95 million airline passengers in a day (Reuters) The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said it screened 2.95 million airline passengers on Friday, the highest number ever on a single day. The record travel coincides with the Memorial Day weekend that marks the beginning of the U.S. summer travel season. Airlines for America said U.S carriers plan to fly more than 26,000 daily flights this summer, up nearly 1,400 over 2023, or 5.6%, when they carried 255 million passengers. The summer travel season forecast is for June 1 to Aug. 31.

Police sell used guns (CBS News) A reasonable person might believe it is a core function of policing to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. And yet, police departments around the country have been selling old service weapons out the back door for a little extra cash. Over a 16-year period ending in 2022, the ATF identified more than 52,000 guns formerly used by various police agencies that were recovered at crime scenes. The ATF only released the data under court order; it had attempted to keep secret the fact that police departments indirectly supply more than 3,000 weapons to criminals each year.

The graying gig economy (Rest of World) Six or seven days a week, Gilberto Alves de Souza drives through the bustling streets of São Paulo. He drives at least 12 hours a day and sometimes even longer, picking up one passenger after another. At 62, he doesn’t see himself stopping anytime soon. The money he makes as a ride-hailing app driver—roughly 4000 reais ($790) per month after he’s paid off all expenses—is his household’s only income. It supports him, his wife, and a teenage granddaughter who lives with them. In a country where the monthly minimum wage is 1,412 reais ($273), it’s a good income. “I don’t think about quitting driving,” de Souza told Rest of World. “Only when the guy up there tells me my time has come, there’s no way for me to work. But as long as God gives me health, I’ll be a driver.” Most gig workers around the world are relatively young, but Rest of World reporting suggests that older individuals are turning to gig work, too—and their numbers are expected to grow in the coming years. For all its challenges and pitfalls, gig work can represent an accessible, flexible, low-barrier activity that enables older workers to offset expenses and continue to be active.

UK competitors embrace quirky extreme races (AP) Dairy-loving daredevils threw caution to the wind Monday for one of Britain’s most extreme annual events: Cheese rolling. Cheered by several thousand spectators, scores of reckless racers chased 7-pound (3 kilogram) wheels of Double Gloucester cheese down the near-vertical Cooper’s Hill, near Gloucester in southwest England. The first racer to finish behind the fast-rolling cheese in each race gets to keep it. The races have been held at Cooper’s Hill, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of London, since at least 1826, and the sport of cheese-rolling is believed to be much older. The rough-and-tumble event often comes with safety concerns. Few competitors manage to stay on their feet all the way down the 200-yard (180 meter) hill. This year’s hill was especially slippery and muddy after recent rain. Members of a local rugby club lined up at the bottom to catch the tumbling competitors.

Russia Steps Up a Covert Sabotage Campaign Aimed at Europe (NYT) U.S. and allied intelligence officials are tracking an increase in low-level sabotage operations in Europe that they say are part of a Russian campaign to undermine support for Ukraine’s war effort. The covert operations have mostly been arsons or attempted arsons targeting a wide range of sites, including a warehouse in England, a paint factory in Poland, homes in Latvia and, most oddly, an Ikea store in Lithuania. But people accused of being Russian operatives have also been arrested on charges of plotting attacks on U.S. military bases. While the acts might appear random, American and European security officials say they are part of a concerted effort by Russia to slow arms transfers to Kyiv and create the appearance of growing European opposition to support for Ukraine. And the officials say Russia’s military intelligence arm, the G.R.U., is leading the campaign.

Free Food? Modi Makes Sure Every Indian Knows Whom to Thank for It. (NYT) Durga Prasad, an 80-year-old farmer, was resting under the shade of a tree in front of his home when the party workers came. An app on their smartphones could tell them in an instant who Mr. Prasad was, whom he might vote for—and why he should be grateful to India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi. “You get installments of 2,000 rupees, right?” asked a local official from Mr. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, or B.J.P. Mr. Prasad concurred. He receives $72 a year through a farmers’ welfare program started and branded by Mr. Modi. “Do you get rations?” the official then asked, though he already knew the answer. He had made his point. Such handouts are among the most distinctive parts of Mr. Modi’s mass appeal. The country’s new airports, diplomatic prestige and booming stock markets may look like Mr. Modi’s calling card, but for the 95 percent of Indians who earn too little to file income taxes, small infusions of cash and household goods matter more. And Mr. Modi’s party is organized to make the most of them in the national election that ends early next month.

Cyclone floods coastal villages, blows away thatched roofs and cuts power in Bangladesh and India (AP) A cyclone flooded coastal villages, blew away thatched roofs and left hundreds of thousands of people without power Monday in southern Bangladesh and eastern India. At least seven deaths were reported. Dozens of Bangladeshi villages were flooded after flood protection embankments either washed away or were damaged by the storm surge, TV stations reported. Nearly 800,000 people had been evacuated from vulnerable areas in Bangladesh on Sunday. Authorities have given no casualty figures yet, but Dhaka-based Somoy TV reported that at least seven people died.

New Caledonia state of emergency to be lifted, says Paris (Reuters) Seven more mobile force units will soon arrive as reinforcements in New Caledonia, the Elysée said in a statement on Monday, also indicating a state of emergency would end as planned in the French Pacific territory on Tuesday morning local time. Seven people have been killed, hundreds arrested and large numbers of buildings and cars destroyed in a fortnight of upheaval triggered by a contested electoral reform and fuelled by sharp economic disparities between the indigenous Kanak population and people of European background. Macron’s decision not to renew the state of emergency illustrates Paris’s desire to start the process of de-escalation and re-establish conditions for dialogue, the statement added.

Far-right Israeli settlers step up attacks on aid trucks bound for Gaza (Washington Post) Radical Israeli settlers have expanded their attacks on aid trucks passing through the West Bank this month, blocking food from reaching Gaza as humanitarian groups warn that the enclave is sinking deeper into famine. Groups of settler youth are tailing relief convoys, setting up checkpoints and interrogating drivers. In some cases, far-right attackers have ransacked and burned trucks and beaten Palestinian drivers, leaving at least two hospitalized. The assailants use a web of publicly accessible WhatsApp groups to track the trucks and coordinate attacks, providing a window into their activities. Working off what they say are tips from Israeli soldiers and police, in addition to the public, members pore over photos to work out which vehicles might be carrying aid to Gaza and mobilize local supporters to block them. The violence and vandalism, committed with near-total impunity, raises questions about the willingness of Israel’s security forces to restrain extremist settlers and protect Palestinians. It also challenges the Israeli government’s claim that it is doing all it can to ensure that aid flows to Gaza, where the humanitarian situation has deteriorated rapidly since IDF forces moved into the southern city of Rafah. As bands of teenagers become the arbiters of who can and cannot pass along main roads in the West Bank, any trucks carrying food have become vulnerable to attack.

Netanyahu says deadly Israeli strike in Rafah was the result of a ‘tragic mistake’ (AP) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that a “tragic mistake” was made in an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah that set fire to a camp housing displaced Palestinians and, according to local officials, killed at least 45 people. The strike only added to the surging international criticism Israel has faced over its war with Hamas, with even its closest allies expressing outrage at civilian deaths. Israel insists it adheres to international law even as it faces scrutiny in the world’s top courts, one of which last week demanded that it halt the offensive in Rafah. Sunday night’s attack, which appeared to be one of the war’s deadliest, helped push the overall Palestinian death toll in the war above 36,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

[katholicguilt]

“do you think you fell out of a coconut tree? you exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you”

these words recently became a meme through going viral on x/twitter and then becoming a popularized sound snippet on tiktok and the meme taking off on other platforms as well.

the context of this phrase is kamala harris giving a speech at the  swearing-in ceremony of commissioners for the white house initiative on “advancing educational equity, excellence, and economic opportunity for hispanics.”

the full phrase being:

“part of the extension of the work you will do is, yes, focused on our young leaders and our young people, but understanding we also then have to be clear about the needs of their parents and their grandparents and their teachers and their communities because none of us just live in a silo. everything is in context.

continuing she added: “my mother used to — she would give us a hard time sometimes, and she would say to us, ‘i don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. you think you just fell out of a coconut tree?' you exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you."

these words have been echoing in my ears for reasons beyond the meme’s popularity. for one, the context itself is interesting. after reading up on it on knowyourmeme.com i learned the origin of it started through being posted by a far right platform on youtube. from there mostly far right white nationalists used the video on x/twitter until eventually it was posted by larger humor accounts on x/twitter and then used de-contextualized from it’s original space by the general population. i had started using the meme, and thinking about it, because the phrase itself is pretty grave and wise and humorous. however realizing how it originated forced me to draw comparisons to wojaks, meme characters that originated from alt right 4chan users, or the “reject modernity, embrace tradition” meme which also originated with fascists and then got picked up out of context after increased popularity and use. 

thinking back to the meme in question, do memes exist in the context of all in which they live and what came before them? 

i question the severity of the impact of fascist memes on popular culture, seeing as much of the election was also influenced by his meme-ing, and twitter(since being bought by loser technofascist elon musk and becoming x on july 23, 2023) has become even more openly overrun by white supremacist fascists. considering this, memes created by fascists seem to tend to serve as propaganda, infiltrating the sub-conscious of popular culture. 

i wonder how long before the state itself picks up this meme, as a way to try to feed into celebrity-dom and infantilize itself with  perceived lightheartedness to cover for directly being  involved with upholding ongoing genocides and slavery. there are implied respectability politics involved in the phrasing of the event, of “equity, excellence, and economic opportunity for “hispanics”” what does the state mean by “excellence”? what does economic opportunity mean, at who’s expense it ? for what? “hispanics” ? another ambiguous term which says nothing about the positionality of someone outside of having been geographically been born in so-called “latin america”. representation politics within representation politics. 

when reflecting on cultural shifts since the uprisings in 2020, there are many ways in which representation politics shape and inform the political landscape under a liberal fascist president like genocide joe. what does it mean for kamala harris to bring up her mother’s phrase in this setting ? it means everything and nothing in the context of destruction, co-optation and decay by the empire, changing very little only because it is now at the hands of a woman of color. the world we hope to build shouldn’t mean diversified oppressors, but rather complete liberation and release from oppression, hierarchy, and the death cult that is white supremacy.